Thursday Next Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) The rolling thing got to me the most. I'm not sure what it was about it, but for some reason I just felt no tension at any point during the entire movie. It was so predictable; at no point did I think someone would/might die and they didn't, or vice-versa. After the beginning, where I was intrigued about what was going on, the only things I felt during the movie were irritation at the characters, confusion as to why they were doing what they were doing, and boredom due to the way it dragged toward the end. Agreed. Though I could put up with any of it if they'd just made everyone's motivations clear. There had better be a sequel that explains it all. Edited June 9, 2012 by Thursday Next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Seriously, I agree with the above statements. As I said in the OK thread, there was only one intense moment to me. Fanatic Scientist dopes herself up, jumps into a surgery pod, alien baby is practically on the verge of burst out, she's cut and octobaby is woggling around. Also, are we to believe that all the Xenomorphs came from... A process of different biological weapons? First, David infects Douchebag Scientist with a parasite that turns him into a superpowered zombie with elephantiasis. Though, before that he bangs Fanatic Scientist after making her cry (all of a sudden) about being unable to birth kids. I guess parasite sperm make it to an egg and she develops a giant octo-facehugger. Hey, it's still around and not dead, but use it on the Space Jockey. Now we have our Xenomorph Queen, though early on the movie hinted at such a creature existing before, but whatever... you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 I'm guessing it's not really that complicated, it's just that the Engineers are the ones who created the Xenomorphs straight up. We've always known that the Xenomorphs take on some of the characteristics of whatever being they use to reproduce, so that can be handwaived to explain the changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 I don't think that was the Queen, though Alien fans are divided on this. Remember, this was not a prequel to Alien--it wasn't even the same planet. I don't know how you'd get that creature off LV223 over to LV426. It could be a Queen I suppose, but probably not the one on LV426. As for the goo,it does radical things depending on what's done with it. Tiny worms become cobras, take a facefull of it and become Zombie Superman, ingest a drop and get very sick with parasitic sperm, impregnate a woman and create something horrible. Recall too that there was already an engraving of a Xeno on the door, so it does seem that the Engineers had already made or planned to make the Xenos. Also, this: Two interesting links: Ridley Scott & Lindelof interview -- sheds some light on some of the events. Spoiler heavy Random blogpost -- some interesting insight on the symbolism in the film. I think he reads a little too much into a few things, but he's got some nice ideas. Spoiler-heavy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Tycho from Penny-Arcade on Prometheus: ... Oh, and there were only like seven people in the theater! I don’t know why, but those nonexistent viewers had the right idea. If I tell you that it is bad, which is something I genuinely believe, it will inoculate you against it; no matter how bad it might be, it won’t be as bad as I said it was, and your moviegoing experience will be improved. I’m only too happy to provide this service, as someone should be able to enjoy this movie, even if it’s only as a result of these quantum-cinematic abstractions. Gabriel and I tried to figure it out most of the flight home, only to realize that even if it we did figure it out, what would we have then? Sometimes you get to The Emerald City, like, all the way there, but it is only a Sizzler someone has painted green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Next good movie you saw. for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgi Duke of Frisbee Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Indie Game: The Movie. It captures the devs at their most vulnerable, and the passion they put behind their games is simply incredible. I know many of you have some less-than-pleasant opinions about at least two of them (Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow, though Frosted also seems to dislike Edmund Mcmillen), but I'd still recommend giving it a watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 I'm sorry, I can't help it. Prometheus spoilers: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Eh, sick of hearing about that. It's a trope, yes, but there are logical explanations for it. Like how the ship is gigantic and actually not falling straight down but at a slight angle, how their boots and uniforms would have been heavy (not to mention the giant glass bubble around their heads messing up their perception). How debris was falling around them, dust kicked up in their faces, and they didn't have much time to assess the situation and try to get out of the way. Plus, the one chick DID do that finally, and the alien horseshoe proceeded to fall sideways anyway. Accept it or don't, but there are hundreds of examples of less believable action and writing in the theaters each year. Not sure why this one scene makes people so angry. There are legitimate complaints people have with the movie, but I don't feel this is worth harping on. PA is particularly smug and annoying about it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 I think it irritates people so much because it's a trope, and we've seen it so many times in so many movies that when we see it in a new movie it brings back irritation from all those prior times as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 For a movie that's asking deep questions and providing a rich atmosphere for its characters, it is frustrating when you see these things and have to suffer through flat characters. I mean, here's another... Biologist gets freaked out by giant dead bodies, but is willing to touch a living giant phallic albino alien creature. I wasn't hyped for the movie, but I can only imagine the level of frustration those who were (Penny Arcade) are feeling now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 That was about the only thing that really bugged me and I won't defend it. I'd like to say it was homage to old horror films like Alien, but in all likelihood it was lazy writing for the sake of plot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 I want to watch this movie really bad and people are complaining about the plot? Wasn't the original Alien just a bunch of guys in a ship surviving the onslaught from an alien? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 That's it though. Alien had a very straight forward plot with a decent amount of complex subtext and imagery. Prometheus has a convoluted unseemly mess of a plot plus a huge amount of complex, vague subtext and imagery. You need to know the entire background of the whole Alien franchise to even hope to grasp what is going on in Prometheus. You can watch Alien as a monster movie. People go to space because their employer tells them to, they find a monster, it kills nearly all of them. Motivation is not an issue, the Alien is a monster. It kills things. It doesn't need a higher purpose. It's never even established if it even eats what it kills. It just kills because it is a monster. Beyond that you can look at the subtext, the way that the Alien perverts recreation, the themes of rape and all that. But on the surface, it's just a brutal simple monster movie. I don't think you can sum up Prometheus in such a concise way. People go to space to meet their maker. Most of them die from a variety of mishaps and idiocy. Their maker kills most of the rest. The survivors go on to try again at another planet. Because in all that you have issues of motivation. It is not clear why anyone is doing anything protagonist, antagonist or gloop, makes no difference. You have little idea of what it is doing and less idea why. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Perfectly said. I knew it wasn't analogous to Alien, but I couldn't articulate why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 I want to watch this movie really bad and people are complaining about the plot? Wasn't the original Alien just a bunch of guys in a ship surviving the onslaught from an alien? Thursday is right in that the focus of the plot is significantly different than Alien. Alien was a haunted house movie in space; Prometheus is something much bigger. It focuses on our origins and what it means to be human. It's much more At the Mountains of Madness and much less Amityville Horror. However, you are correct in that Alien did not have a spectacular plot either. In fact, its characters did dumb things, there wasn't much explanation for what was going on or why, and hey--critics gave it a pretty lukewarm response at first, moreso than Prometheus, which has actually garnered a lot of critical praise. Also, as the president of your local chapter of the Prometheus Defense Counsel, I am obligated to tell you to not listen to the criticism and go enjoy the movie anyway. It blew me away and is one of the best movies of the year. Some plot elements are not explained in full, but that is by design. The overall ambiguity of a lot of the plot seems to have inflamed a certain section of its target audience against it, and certain flat characters and tropish moments have incited rage. But rest assured that plenty of us love it, warts and all. You need to know the entire background of the whole Alien franchise to even hope to grasp what is going on in Prometheus.. I could not disagree more. There are little references you will catch, and obviously you'll go in there with some background info on Weyland Industries, androids, and the like. But the movie fleshes out new elements of the Alien universe without treading on established areas. I don't think you need that background at all, though I do recommend it for an enriched experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 For me it wasn't that the plot was ambiguous, it was that very little that the characters did made any sense in the context. It wasn't even that they did dumb things, dumb things I can handle, real people do dumb things, it was that their actions seemed to have no cause. As was already pointed out, why did the captain not know where the two guys in the structure were? And how did they get lost in the first place, given that they'd already created a computer map of the area? And why did David suddenly decide he was done trying to kill people? The strange thing is, as much as I thought the movie was a great big pile of meh, I really would like to see a sequel, because a lot of the setting elements and questions are interesting and I'd like to see them explored. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Seeing Alien at the time it was released probably would've been pretty cool, even without being aware of the chestbursting surprise, because there's the bit where the tough guy goes to be tough but then you see that he's not so tough and it's like, "Oh, crap! The tough guy was not so tough after all!" And then that dude turns out to be a robot and he tries to choke Ripley in a pseudo-sexual way. And then there's that cat who is just like, "No way, dude, that thing's dangerous. I'm going over here." And then it's the woman who is the smart one. That was my summary of Alien. Thank you for reading. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I should get around to watching Alien.. I watched Kill List yesterday. It's an Indie film out of the UK. It got some pretty great reviews, and for £2.50 on Blu Ray you can't really argue. The film itself was really enjoyable, but it definitely nose dives in the last 5 minutes. If you've seen the film you'll know what i mean. Shit gets crazy, and not in a good way. I'd give it a 3.5/5. Had it not lost me in the final scene's it would have been worth a 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgi Duke of Frisbee Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder". Neat little detective story that takes place almost entirely in one room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangelove Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) The Dictator. A lot better than I ever thought it was going to be. I loved Borat and Bruno, but everyone seemed to dislike this one before they even saw it. I admit its kind of a shitty premise, but it works. This one has a ton more jokes than the other 2, so some of them work and some of them don't, but when they do work, Jesus Christ. Some really good stuff in there. And it kind of solidifies the fact that Baron Cohen doesn't really need to do the reality stuff. He's fine doing a conventional comedy. Almost everyone liked Borat, but a lot of people hated Bruno. If you liked Bruno, I think The Dictator is worth seeing. Otherwise, I cant imagine people liking this one either. Edited June 22, 2012 by Strangelove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 That film has made like 10x what Moonrise Kingdom has made, and that makes me very very sad. On a side note. Attack the Block is on C4 Sunday night. It's a brilliant little film, definitely worth a watch if you get a chance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangelove Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 I hate Wes Anderson films, so Im not gonna agree. They're just not for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangelove Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 (edited) Jeff Who Lives At Home. Good, but not as good as I was expecting. Jason Segel has done better, Ed Helms has not. This was a good one for Ed Helms. Edited June 23, 2012 by Strangelove Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 Ed Helms is great. Which reminds me, I want to see Cedar Rapids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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