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AvP Requiem Convention II Report Downtown Los Angeles, California -- location: the Los Angeles Theatre -- an opulent historic monument that represents the grandeur and spectacle of Hollywood's yesteryears -- a fantastic setting for those fortunate enough to attend the heralded "Aliens vs. Predator" night on December 14th (part of the "Jules Verne Film Festival"). Ironically, this incredible theatre is just a mere short walk from the infamous "Bradbury Building" (literally being on the same street) -- the filming location of the climatic showdown between Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer in "Alien" director Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner". Half of the theatre was regulated to Alien fans, while the other half for Predator fans -- and it was clearly a divisive crowd about who stood for which of the Alien species. Dividing the audience proved to be beneficial as tensions were running high -- some of the fans in attendance either tried to throw "Alien acid blood" at the Predator fans... or the Predator fans tried to impale the Alien fans with shurikens... ultimately, the Predator fans were forced up into the balcony area... where they belong.... Ugh! Did I just say type that? I mean, where they respectively had equally as nice viewing area seats as that of the Alien fans who sat in the Orchestra. OK... reality check, the second paragraph didn't happen... but ah... in a perfect world... What did happen was a jammin' night for cinema and sci-fi/horror aficionados to indulge in -- retrospective showings of the original "Alien" (the 2003 Director's Cut) and original "Predator" -- a synergy of a double feature to celebrate the coming of AVP-R. The evening kicked off with a Q&A discussion with AVP-R directors the Brothers Strause (who made their "movie convention debut" in Downtown LA a month prior discussing AVP-R -- see my previous article). The brothers were on hand to further discuss and elaborate on their creative insight and direction into manifesting the eagerly awaited next entry of the Alien and Predator species -- and to share more teaser footage from AVP-R. The founder and director of the "Jules Verne Film Festival" -- Jean-Christophe Jeuauffre -- moderated questions for the brothers, and as with the previous convention panel, Colin and Greg displayed great candor and knowledge of both franchises -- and shared how they've worked hard to incorporate the best of both into AVP-R. Greg: "When we got the got the script for AVP-R... Colin and I wanted to make a scary horror film... we wanted to make the Aliens scary again... that was one of the reasons that made the first 'Alien' movie so striking... it was such a landmark film...". Colin: "We wanted to get back to an adult tone... that was the really big thing... because the last couple of installments of both franchises kind of drifted off a little bit from what Ridley and Cameron kind of set up in the franchise... we are big fans ourselves... and there's a lot of cool things that we wanted to do with the movie. The good news was that the studio was very much on board with going back to more of that 'hard core' type horror movie... the last one was much more kind of a fantasy and sci-fi based... they wanted to do something a lot more grittier... a lot more adult... and just hearing that from them... we knew everyone was kind of going to be on the same page with this thing." The Brothers Strause introduced a couple of sequences from AVP-R -- which consisted of footage that has been previously been made mention of on the net -- with the added bonus here of seeing the footage displayed in a theatrical setting with stunning dynamic digital picture and sound. One sequence depicted the arrival of the "Wolf" Predator on Earth and his inspection of the crashed Predator ship and it's remains (as a result of the Predalien's attack at the beginning of the movie) -- this provided a fascinating look and vantage point of a Predator in ways not seen in previous installments -- and the other sequence, a longer version of scenes previously shown at last month's LA Movie and Sci-fi Convention, showed the Predator engaged in an intense battle with the Predalien and Alien Warriors in an Alien hive while human characters are attempting to make their escape -- this showcased the riveting action and energy that one can expect from AVP-R come Christmas Day... After the film sequences were shown, Jeaauffre asked Colin and Greg the loaded question "Who is stronger... the Alien or the Predator...?" Greg: (answering with a sly grin) "Actually... in our film... the Predalien is the strongest... and that's what really matters..." Jeaauffre then posed the question to Colin -- and before he could answer -- Colin got a good 'ole brotherly ribbing from Greg: "Colin is already known as the Predator 'fan boy' on the internet...". Both brothers and the audience laughed -- and Colin then replied... "a little bit... the thing with the Predator, you can relate to him more... just because he's got tools, he's got weapons, there's culture, there's something kinda cool about him. The Aliens I like because they scare the living crap out of people... so I mean it's a different thing... as we always say -- you don't really 'root' for the Aliens necessarily -- what you do, is that you hope that they create a level of fear around them... that when they kill people... you feel bad that the humans are dying... because at the end of the day -- it's the humans you should really be rooting for out of any of the creatures... 'cause it's like, they're the ones who are getting slaughtered in the middle of this thing." To which Greg promptly followed up in a low, booming voice: "Predator fan boy..!" -- which elicited laughs again from his brother and the audience -- with Colin concurring: "... a little bit..!". The brothers added that humans are the "third" versus party in AVP-R -- and that the movie also explores the theme of man as being the most dangerous predator. Jeaauffre asked if there's going to be an AVP 3 -- and Colin replied: "Our idea is that it returns to space.. to us, AVP-R is kind of the end of the earth part of the story... that would be the plan if we were involved in that." Jeaauffre poised a question about the probability of an "Alien 5" with any prospective return of the Ripley character. Greg: "There's definitely a lot more cross appeal in the AVP franchise (at Fox) -- you can get a larger fan base... for people who are sometimes just a fan of the Predator... they wouldn't necessarily go see an Alien film... so there's a little bit wider, more mass appeal to the AVP franchise...". The Brothers Strause then fielded various questions from the audience, one of which regarded the continuity of AVP-R in the context of the previous installments. Colin: "We kind of have a secret ending scene thing that we did -- just right before the end credits -- that for us helped tie things together... and there's a couple of tie-ins to what was going on in "Predator 2" as well." Greg (quickly adding an addendum) : "But the easiest way to fix that continuity concern was to kill everyone!" -- which was met by a big "ya!" from an audience member -- as well as laughs from the audience. "I would say that consideration was made and maintained with preserving continuity with the Alien series". Jeaauffre asked if the movie was "ready to go" -- Colin confirmed the completion of the movie and said that the prints for theaters are currently being made -- and then also added an interesting bit of "Holiday Cheer" news... certain cities will be screening the film at Midnight on Christmas Eve -- a "Midnight Massacre" -- so folks, when you look up in the sky this year, it could very well be Aliens pulling a Predator in a sleigh rather than reindeer and Saint Nick... bring it on! The theatre then darkened... and the familiar 20th Century Fox logo and drum roll greeted the audience... "Alien" began... met by cheers from the audience... then thereafter, "Predator" was shown -- met by "hisses" from the Alien fans... ah, there I digress again -- as "Triumph - the Insult Comic Dog" would say... "I kid, I kid..." -- ah yes, "Predator" was also met by cheers from the audience...! Advertisement Viewing "Alien" and "Predator" in this theatrical setting were sights to behold -- the sheer size of the canvas of the screen, framed by the incredible "movie palace" architecture -- represented a rare indulgence for cinema aficionados -- especially given that multiplex movie auditoriums these days rarely differ from any notable degree from one multiplex to another -- and are typically radically smaller in size. Both movies where shown digitally -- and they looked spectacular. While I've seen retrospective screenings of "Alien" in theaters before, and saw "Predator" theatrically when it was first released -- I have never seen either movie with the resolution, clarity and dynamic picture quality as seen on this evening -- and the surround sound was spectacular as well. Kudos must be given to the "Jules Verne Film Festival" for taking such great lengths and strides to present these classics in such exemplary fashion, rather than just settling on dusting off "old vault" prints. Ultimately, it's easy to see not only how these movies have stood the test of time for their sheer entertainment value (on many levels) -- but for their communal movie experience that they both create. Watching both original installments with all of these elements exhibited the magic that can occur at the movies... and how audiences can be spellbound by a cinematic experience that captivates when truly great story telling and filmmaking is realized. It will be fascinating to see how the Alien/Predator franchise(s) continue to thrive and grow -- especially given that AVP-R looks like it's on track to revive and invigorate the series in ways not seen since the inceptions of each of the creatures' sagas. By Jay Comments? Flames? Praise? Mail feedback!