MOVIES

[doom]

i loved seeing a sci-fi movie in theaters that actually felt VERY sci-fi and on an epic scale. everything looks crisp. the story to fill in the gaps made a lot of sense to me, and really made me want to go back and watch Alien 1-3 again after knowing what i do.

the amount of sexual undertone in this series is almost hilarious, but besides that i thought the film had a lot of cool, traumatizing scenarios and it was done really well. i want to see it again, actually.

it had its "campy" moments, but what is sci-fi if it doesn't? they could've taken the violence futher in my opinion, but i give it a strong B.

i never trust 3D nowadays, and that sounds horrible for a double charge, i would've raged.

[Static]

Lol Prometheus....

[spoiler]So the fact that the Space Jockey completely changed it's physiology since Alien wasn't a big deal to anyone then?   They weren't humanoid with our DNA, that thing in the chair in Alien was a creature not a suit, they even state its ribcage has been blown through and you can quite clearly see that the 'helmet' is not a helmet but the creatures face, its bones go into its chest around the 'trunk'.

Then there's gaping plot holes where nobody apparently bats an eyelid, such as when Shaw beats off two crew members, has unauthorised surgery to extract an alien lifeform, leaves it in the fucking room, stumbles into a supposedly dead Weyland, his daughter and the Android and instead of wondering what the fuck this bloody, stapled woman that 5 seconds ago you wanted to freeze is doing, you instead just say, "hey, lets go see the cryotubes!".

Amongst other things that I just found plain dumb or insulting was the idea that at the end, Shaw and the androids head just zip off on a spare ship (?!?) in search of the origin.  Awesome, lets fuck up the Alien franchise and throw in a ton of plot holes that apparently had no thought whatsoever and hint at a sequel in it's own franchise.

Ridely Scott might as well have been George Lucas making this movie as far as I'm concerned.  The effects and the production was beautiful, but that's the only positive thing I can say about Prometheus.  It felt like watching AVP all over again with the washy ancient civilisation links and then instead of a temple filled with Aliens and Predators, we've got the Derelict from LV426 (yes I know Promtheus landed on LV223).  Hell, they even use the same "oh noes we're locked in the ship/temple all on our own" with the stereotypical moron who has far too much testosterone but turns into a pussy when it's actually time for any combat.

Ridley fucked up and he knows it, he's now comepletely about-turned on it being an Alien prequel, despie on several occassions saying it was (then wasn't again).  I guess at least he'll stop flip-flopping now.

I'm genuinely concerned for his proposed Blade Runner sequel, I had so much faith in Scott before Prometheus.
[/spoiler]

[luna]

I'd also like to mention that I saw a preview for a total recall remake that made me cry

[rynne]

Re: Prometheus

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***








So I got out of the movie and was like, "WTF, I thought Scott said this wasn't an Alien prequel, and it frickin' ends with the creation of the first xenomorph." But after thinking about it more, I think I understand what he means.  I think that Prometheus doesn't set up Alien at all. I think it is an intimately related, but separate story.

The key is to look at Scott's conception of the Space Jockey from Alien. (As far as I'm concerned, the other films don't matter to this discussion because they're the visions of other directors.) Scott said that he thought the derelict Space Jockey ship in Alien was a warship and the xenomorph eggs were bioweapons. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure he's said before that what the Nostromo crew saw wasn't the Space Jockey itself but its suit, which matches Prometheus.

In Prometheus, we again see the Engineers with a potent bioweapon---the mutagenic black goo---that is related to but different than the xenomorphs. Perhaps the black goo is something that alters local fauna into xenomorph-type creatures (and thus may be the origin of the xenomorphs) or maybe it's somehow derived from the preexisting xenomorph species. Whatever it is, the Engineers seemingly store and transport it in the same manner as they do with facehugger eggs, which implies a simialr function.

However, the events in Prometheus are separate from Alien; the occurences in the former do not directly lead to the latter. The first indication of this is in the "tomb," where the bas reliefs clearly depict a xenomorph. Ergo, xenomorphs were well known to the Engineers when the facility was built 2000+ years ago, leaving literally millennia to account for the derelict that appears in Alien. The second is that none of the creatures in the film are xenomorphs as we know them. The creature at the end of the film was superficially similar, but was obviously different (e.g., it burst fully formed without going through a chestburster stage). What you're seeing in Prometheus is the chance creation of an alternate line of xenomorph-type creatures. It makes sense, I think.

That being said, I don't know why the biologist was all, "Oh hay an alien cobra I'm gonna pet you now."









*** SPOILERS END ***

[r00]

I saw Prometheus in 3D over the weekend and loved it.  It was visually beautiful and the best 3D I have seen since Avatar.   Ridley Scott still has a great sense of ambiance and visual detail when it comes to sci-fi.



**spoiler alert**

-To touch more on what Rynne was talking about...  I saw the xenomorphs and their parasites as virii, but on a multicellular level.  They are mutating with each infection at the same rate that a single cell virus does within an outbreak scenario.

- I loved the fact that it was a great standalone movie but also a prequel or sort.  I found it fun picking out all the connections to the original Alien movie as I watched it. 

- Everything from the crispness of the screens to the tech of the mapping drones, to the look of the ship Prometheus, to the lanscapes, to the acting and the Peter O'Toole bits and David 8  made me squee.  It was just the kind of sci-fi flick that has been missing from the theaters for years now, IMO.

- One thing that made me give out a "bah" though...  All that tech and they still have fuzzy non-HD, non-self stabilizing suit cams?   

[doom]

Ted was pretty funny

[Static]

Re: Prometheus

The key is to look at Scott's conception of the Space Jockey from Alien. (As far as I'm concerned, the other films don't matter to this discussion because they're the visions of other directors.) Scott said that he thought the derelict Space Jockey ship in Alien was a warship and the xenomorph eggs were bioweapons. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure he's said before that what the Nostromo crew saw wasn't the Space Jockey itself but its suit, which matches Prometheus.

I have to strongly disagree.  The original space jockey stands 26 feet tall.  That's not something you can then scale down and pretend is a suit.  Giger was brought on to the Alien project to handle all of the alien creature modelling and the LV426 environment.  He designed the 'Space Jockey' as an alien creature (not a suit) and has been acknowledged as such by Scott.  It was also designed by Giger as 'Pilot', not Space Jockey.  I just feel like he pulled a George Lucas.

[doom]

i wish i liked dark knight rises more than i did.

[TPD]

rynne, r00, i also liked prometheus. it left me with my mouth agape during much of it. haven't reacted to something like that since i was a kid. and he totally gets how to use 3D. that was the best 3d I ever saw.


having said that:

spoilers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1YuvUQFJ0&feature=player_embedded

[r00]

this:

haven't reacted to something like that since i was a kid.

and this:

and he totally gets how to use 3D. that was the best 3d I ever saw.

I couldn't agree more. 

It reminded me so much of the first time I saw Alien that I picked up the Alien Anthology on blu-ray.  (Amazon had it for $28.99!)

[r00]

I want to see this bad.  It's good that Ice-T directed this documentary too.  A director that wasn't there at the beginning wouldn't do it justice and dig out some of the forgotten talent of that golden era.

The Art of Rap

[TPD]

Been catching a lot of stuff at the Fantasia Fest...

Three awesome flicks you should keep an eye open for when they get widely distributed soon:

Chained by Jennifer Lynch!
Killer Joe by William Friedkin!
and Excision (by I forget who, but starring a 90210 Redux chick)

if you want legitimate holyfuck moments those are 3 that keep you on the edge of your seat..

more on the fest when i get time to digest...

but R00, being another 80s kid, will get a kick out the following doc i'm catching the world premiere of:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754780/

[r00]

but R00, being another 80s kid, will get a kick out the following doc i'm catching the world premiere of:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754780/

O_O!!!  By the power of Grayskull!
It will bring back many memories of parents confiscating said "satanic toys" from me and my friends.

[doom]

I loved ParaNorman.

[Aaron]

I just streamed Jiro Dreams of Sushi from amazon. Great movie. While I do love me some sushi. I can't say I know to much about it. And it really shows a very in depth look at Jiro's life. And his two sons, and how much super hard work dude does. When I'm 85 (if I live that long...) I sure as hell don't want to be working.


Even if you don't really care for sushi. It's a kick ass film about a guy that worked his ass off to get where he is at. I really liked it.



I also plan on watching a lot more videos now... Well like documentaries and stuff.