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Prometheus
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Moogs
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2012-06-04, 11:34

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky View Post
I've seen it. The minor issues are certainly present. The script is hackneyed, for instance, and there are cases of bad acting and scenes that don't quite end (or have much of a point -- take for instance a scene about a self administered severe medical procedure to remove a foreign object).

I also don't think it adds anything to either the Alien universe, nor for that matter does it justify its existence.

Honestly the only *good* thing about the film is that the 3d isn't terribly invasive.

I have to say as well that the movie wasn't terrifying... not in the least because the characters aren't terrified. There's not one thing specific killing them. No real challenges that they face -- all are sort of self-imposed. Hell even the origin story within the origin story is just dumb.

So count me as a very very disappointed meh vote.

Strike 1. Two more and I'll wait for video. Damn. I was getting excited to see it too.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
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2012-06-04, 11:36

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky View Post
I've seen it.
Where/how, out of curiosity? A leaked preview copy, or a friend in the reviewing/writing business? Or are you overseas?
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709
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2012-06-04, 11:58

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0 View Post
Where/how, out of curiosity? A leaked preview copy, or a friend in the reviewing/writing business? Or are you overseas?
He's at Oxford now helping them figure out some shit that nobody understands.


I'll still be there on opening day with bells on. Hell, I even dragged my gf to AVP. 2.

Yes, I am that person. And she hates/loves me for it.

So it goes.
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Moogs
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2012-06-04, 14:33

I saw the original AVP on tv last night (not for the first time; it was on while we were waiting for another show) ... pains me to know video game-turned-movie cheese like that is grouped in with the original Alien series. Although it even pained me to know the 4th movie was grouped in with the first 3. Or that the third was grouped with the first 2. Although the third was still infinitely better than anything that came after it.

So what happened in AVP 2? Did the little bastard that pops out of the predator's gut at the end of part the first, wreak havok and return on the mother ship to kill the whole earth before we were saved by Keanu Reeves and Klaatu?

...into the light of a dark black night.
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murbot
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2012-06-04, 15:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moogs View Post
Strike 1. Two more and I'll wait for video. Damn. I was getting excited to see it too.
It's a movie, not an engagement. Throw caution to the wind and jump in with both feet, you spineless bastard.
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billybobsky
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2012-06-04, 17:48

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0 View Post
Where/how, out of curiosity? A leaked preview copy, or a friend in the reviewing/writing business? Or are you overseas?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 709 View Post
He's at Oxford now helping them figure out some shit that nobody understands.
Yes that.

It was the first movie I've gone to in a long time that people just walked out of in silence with no buzz of interest.
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Moogs
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2012-06-04, 21:57

Quote:
Originally Posted by murbot View Post
It's a movie, not an engagement. Throw caution to the wind and jump in with both feet, you spineless bastard.
Hey man... $30 is $30. If I see a bunch of people saying it's weak sauce I ain't droppin that kind of money on a movie. Would rather take the wife out for dinner or buy 4 six packs of fine imported beer. The enjoyment will last far longer.

...into the light of a dark black night.
  quote
psmith2.0
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2012-06-04, 22:35

This is how out of the loop I am...I saw The Avengers at a matinee and it was right at $7. I told the girl in the window "no, the 3:15 showing, please...".

It was $6 this time last year, or late 2010 (when I saw True Grit and one of those Harry Potter things).

That's the shame of it...they're too price-y to keep throwing money at anything remotely half-assed or lame. Back when you could get into an afternoon showing for $3.25 or so, I'd roll the dice on a potential turd, just to be at the movies. But you're looking at almost $20 now for a matinee and a small-medium Coke and popcorn (I'm physically incapable of sitting in a two-hour darkened theater without popcorn...I tried it once and nearly killed everyone in sight). I don't know what to do with my hands if I try to watch a movie without it.

As for Prometheus, the more I'm reading and hearing about it, the more I'm cooling on it. I was never going to camp out or see it at the midnight showing, but I definitely had it on my list. But now, I don't know.

And I kinda hate how Ridley Scott and some egghead reviewers have gone out of their way to downplay the Alien angle, when everyone on the planet knows damn good and well that's exactly what it is (and, frankly, it's just another "throw some people on a ship, make them land somewhere weird, have all hell break loose, have everyone picked off one-by-one, make sure there's an android, a double-cross/ulterior motives, a narrow escape, some high-tech weaponry, a last-(wo)man-standing, etc." entry into the series, from all I've heard and read. Frankly, this stuff is fairly derivative and one-note if you really get past all the Ridley Scott/James Cameron hero worship and goo-goo eyes and see it for what it is.

This is just the 2012 take, but the template seems fairly set.



Screw it, I just talked myself out of seeing this. I'll save it up for Batman possibly getting killed to death...
  quote
Eugene
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2012-06-04, 23:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0 View Post
This is how out of the loop I am...I saw The Avengers at a matinee and it was right at $7. I told the girl in the window "no, the 3:15 showing, please...".
I think I'd go to movies more if I knew I didn't have to get in line for an hour ahead of time just for good seats. In Hong Kong and I'm sure money other regions, movie theaters have assigned seats. You pick them at the ticket window. I don't get the whole movie date thing either...it's such an anti-social atmosphere unless you're a bunch of obnoxious teens who talk throughout the entire show.

It won't be long until every major film gets released outside the US first. Take Battleship for example. Terrible movie, but it's made 235M worldwide and only 55M domestically.
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Eugene
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2012-06-08, 05:10

Okay, now that I've seen it, I just don't see all the obvious problems. I'm trying to think of who in particular Billybobsky meant when it comes to scenes bad acting. Rapace and Marshall-Green?

My assumption is the film wasn't supposed to be sci-fi slash horror like the original Alien...making a carbon copy of the original would be pointless. The origin story so far is intentionally incomplete. There is a question posed multiple times in the final quarter of the film that will inevitably lead to a sequel, and I suspect it the Alien universe won't even really be a major part of it.
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billybobsky
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2012-06-08, 06:27

But that's just it... It was a rubber stamped version of the original movies. If it wasn't meant to be that, I am not sure what it was going for...

Problems: there were no shocking reveals. As soon as Guy Pearce said that he was dead by then, you knew he was on the ship. It wasn't believable that the characters hadn't interacted before getting on the ship. The list goes on... but I will stop there lest i ruin more of it.
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Eugene
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2012-06-08, 06:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky View Post
Problems: there were no shocking reveals. As soon as Guy Pearce said that he was dead by then, you knew he was on the ship. It wasn't believable that the characters hadn't interacted before getting on the ship. The list goes on... but I will stop there lest i ruin more of it.
Spoiler (click to toggle):
You know, but do specific characters know? I'm not looking for M. Night Shyamalan twists in every movie, whether they are well concealed or not.

I'm not sure what you mean by about the plausibility of the characters having no previous interaction. Vickers herself said she had met with several of the team personally, presumably people like Ford and a bunch of other expendable co-conspirators. It seemed like the only people not part of a Weyland plot were Janek, Ravel, Chance, Shaw, Holloway, Fifield and Millburn. That's 7 out of 17-18 total.
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Kraetos
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2012-06-08, 08:15

Saw it last night. Really liked it. Visually stunning and scary. And I don't usually like scary. There was even a little bit of philosophy which is rare for mainstream scifi the days.

That said, there are four big things about the plot I'm not quite wrapping me head around:

Spoiler (click to toggle):
1) The Big One: Why did David infect Holloway? Just because Weyland wanted to know what would happen?

2) Is this the Xenomorph origin story? Are the Xenomorphs just a weapon created by the Space Jockeys, or did the Space Jockeys find the Xenomorphs and weaponize them?

3) Why did the black liquid disintegrate the Space Jockey in the beginning? I thought the black liquid was a weapon, not an abiogenesis tool? (Indeed, you couldn't have two more polar uses of a substance.) Are they different black liquids? Because that's damned confusing.

4) What's the relationship between the worm things (they looked like chestbursters) found in the black liquid chamber, the squid thing that came out of Shaw's belly, and the Xenomorphs?

Logic, logic, logic. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.
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billybobsky
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2012-06-08, 08:19

Spoiler (click to toggle):


1) Because it *might* have been the cure for his ailments.

2) Unknown -- Space jockey's probably made them.

3) I think the beginning is the human origin story -- the survival of the bits of dna which eventually recombined to make man. Its the same black goo. Just in much higher doses (dna needs to be broken down to be exchanged etc).

4) Worm things are xenomorphized worms. Theres a longish shot of the worms swimming in it before hand...
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murbot
Hoonigan
 
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2012-06-08, 08:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moogs View Post
Hey man... $30 is $30. If I see a bunch of people saying it's weak sauce I ain't dropping that kind of money on a movie. Would rather take the wife out for dinner or buy 4 six packs of fine imported beer. The enjoyment will last far longer.
Hey man, I get the $30 thing for sure. But this is a movie I've been waiting for and talking about for a long time. Just because I read about a few people who didn't like it, I'm not going to change my mind and wait several more months to see it.

Run of the mill movies, sure, but one like this with months of waiting, I'm rolling the dice. Have some faith.
  quote
drewprops
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Join Date: May 2004
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2012-06-09, 00:02

Just got back from seeing it.

You can safely skip the 3D, it's not an immersive experience like Avatar.

It answers some questions and opens up new ones, they really could take this farther if they wanted.

I give it a 7 or maybe an 8 out of 10.



...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
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Eugene
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2012-06-09, 00:26

Yeah, I skipped 3D altogether even though it meant not seeing it on a bigger screen. I just don't enjoy 3D at all, even in films designed around it. Oh and I'm not paying $17.50 for fake IMAX in 3D.
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Moogs
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2012-06-10, 09:37

Just saw that there is a 2D version (that wasn't listed initially). That's a plus.

Murboid: fair points. I wasn't geared up to see this in advance. Didn't know what it was until a couple weeks ago as noted, but yah maybe there's enough mixed review to take a chance on it.

...into the light of a dark black night.
  quote
Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-06-10, 10:36

I am underwhelmed. I felt like the story was very weak.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
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2012-06-10, 11:26

I read a spoiler review (a couple of them). Man, it seems this Alien stuff truly does follow a template.
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Moogs
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2012-06-10, 15:54

Hollywood is an industry built 90% off of formulas and 10% creativity.

Old TV shows remade into movies
Video games made into movies
Lovable 3D animated characters that have clever flaws like farting
Old movies remade into new movies
Cartoons made into movies
Good movies turned into 3-5 part series where parts 2-5 are almost always crap

Then occasionally you get:

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (only successful because the stories were already written)
The Bourne Trilogy (although far from masterpieces they are well done)
The Cohen Brothers (lots of good stuff)


But even amazing movies like Jaws, Indiana Jones, Alien were completely trashed / sullied by the sequels, threequels and quadquels. I hate that there was a Jaws II, another Indy... leave the original the fuck alone and let it stand on its own greatness! I mean even Alien II, while very good in parts, had some really wonky awkward parts like the little screaming Newt and Paul Reiser. Paul REISER? Are you fucking kidding me? Granted he's believable as a weasel but he doesn't belong in an ALIEN flick.

Point is, this is going to be formulaic... but hopefully at least interesting in the sense of new characters and some sort of interesting history of the alien species. [/rant]

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Mac+
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2012-06-10, 18:06

I haven't seen it yet, but this was a good read. (contains spoilers)

http://digitaldigging.net/prometheus...l-perspective/
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Eugene
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2012-06-10, 18:10

The movie does follow a formula...it's a big budget Ridley Scott film...of course it does. It also has holes to obsess over if you choose to. However I'm not going to complain about loose-ends, the vagueness of it all is purposeful. The film begs you to speculate about the Engineers...about David's intentions in particular.

Alien/Aliens hasn't happened yet. Think about the scope of this film by itself and then see if you agree with some of the opinions in the link below...

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/112267
http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html#cutid1

Last edited by Eugene : 2012-06-10 at 21:15.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
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2012-06-10, 18:43

All the Alien flicks - even the three not from Ridley Scott - go by a formula. Mismatched, "everyman" crew stumbles on something, somebody's an android, "the company" tries to get something back they shouldn't, a double-cross or "twist", a famous gross-out scene, an alien always manages to squirm his way onto the last "lifeboat" ship, final standoff, female survivor, etc.

I'm not bitching, but, seriously...if you've seen one, you've kinda seen the others in terms of the basic gist and structure. Everything starts out nice and calm, a reason is found to go to someplace nobody in their right mind would ever want to go...then all hell breaks loose and everyone acts crazy for about an hour and 45 minutes.



I love the first two. As I get older, there are parts about the third one I like. The fourth one was just goofy and seemed like a desperate cash-grab (although I thought Sigourney was quite sexy in her leather get-up and icy, bad-ass Ripley clone character). I saw parts 2 and 3 in the theater, part one on HBO or video years after the fact and part 4 on cable or Netflix one night.

I hear Ridley Scott is working on a Blade Runner follow-up. You can fill in your own response, based on how you feel about his current release.
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drewprops
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2012-06-10, 19:56

LOVE the review, Mac+


...
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murbot
Hoonigan
 
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2012-06-16, 21:31

Red Letter Media talks about Prometheus - SPOILERS

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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
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2012-11-24, 04:22

Apologies for the bump, but it's relevant...

Saw "Prometheus" tonight, finally. My previous post (three up, from June 10) still stands, truer than ever.

It was gorgeous to look at, and had such an eye-popping look throughout (the planet, the clouds/atmosphere shots, the terrain, the tech design, the interiors, etc.). But it was "familiar retread" territory, for sure.

I also watched Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which I had no idea Noomi Rapace was the female lead. So a double-dose of Ms. Rapace, which is just fine in my book. I think she's beautiful.

And I also re-watched Watchmen (the director's cut, which was three hours). So it was quite a movie night. Gonna do it again tomorrow as well...gonna slowly start catching up on all these things that have passed me by in recent years.
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turtle
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2012-11-24, 21:51

I'm actually finally watching it. I'm doing it in doses though. Stopping for +2 hours to watch this when my wife hates these movies isn't easy. Anyway, I'm about half way through now. So far the post 4 up is right on track.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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turtle
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2012-11-25, 19:37

I finished this movie today. I would have been better off not watching it I think. So cookie cutter like pacates2.0 said.

I enjoyed certain points of it though. I kept envisioning the alien coming out of the guy's gut in Space Balls though.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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Moogs
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2012-11-26, 10:30

There must be another Prometheus thread somewhere because I posted some comments after I saw it, that I don't see here. For sure the visuals were on the money. Great effects that look like a real place, not effects. Immersive, man, immersive.

Having had more time to think about the story itself, I think I'm going to reserve my judgement of this until I see the next one. I have a suspicion something is going to happen / be revealed that will create some



moments.

On the whole it was disjointed in spots, but I didn't see as many "holes in the story" as other people did. I think it poses more questions for the next movie vs. not answering everything in the years immediately pre-Riddley. My biggest gripe is that this guy did not do a good job acting / felt more cliche than the other characters. Movie would've been better with someone else playing the part and having the part be less hot-shot-smart-ass, and carrying it through to a different ending than just becoming a transmogrified ogre. However I suspect that this is one of those actors who "plays himself" in many roles and thus can't escape being a hot-shot-smart-ass.


...into the light of a dark black night.
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