donbot

Hate to be a buzzkill, but I d/led' the Russian CAM and read the imdb forums (full of complaints) /storyline to save a potential trip to the theater (after hearing that it was a *** out of ***** film.) The trailers got me pumped' up, but the intel changed my mind :-/

One more sleep to go

I can't believe you recon movies like that.. I like going into a movie knowing as little as possible about it

^

Oh yeah, I definitely don't do this if the movie gets good marks and thus makes me want to see it. For instance, I saw the 'Dark Knight' without watching anything but the trailer. It's the 3 star movies that tend to make me reconsider and commit cinematographic sin...

So the 'template' for most hollywood movies are very much familiar, even tired.. to me. It is quite often that I just 'recon' the film for setpieces, key scenes and design instead of deploying 3 hours + change...:-p Separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak........ :evil:

Oh yeah, so do tell us how it is, I may change my mind if the whole production actually works.

It is quite often that I just 'recon' the film for setpieces, key scenes and design...

Don't you get a good enough sense of these things from the trailer? That's pretty much exactly what it showcases

Do you ever walk out of a movie if you're not into it?

Don't you get a good enough sense of these things from the trailer? That's pretty much exactly what it showcases

Do you ever walk out of a movie if you're not into it?

Yea, I have, but I generally do due diligence first in order to avoid such a situation.

Trailers display the things that they're proud of and where the big money was spent. My sense of curiosity tends to gravitate towards seeing these pieces in their entirety if the film isn't driven by a quality story. The Prometheus trailer displayed a lot of interesting, out of context images. I went into the cam, and discovered their context, and thus my curiosity was satisfied....

I recall going to drastic lengths to escape any allusion to the then upcoming The Phantom Menace (yeah, I know I shouldn't have bothered!).

I was so excited when I knew it was a certain thing, but aside from the casting of Neeson and McGregor I managed to avoid pretty much everything until sitting in almost ludicrous anticipation of the first trailer. And that, at least, was brilliant.

Even after that I avoided all those silly puff-pieces and entertainment show lead-ups to the release date. But you never do know, do you?

There are also lots of films I've enjoyed that are so reliant on the cinematography, the soundtrack and atmosphere that a trailer and any imDb shenanigans won't do it justice. I'm thinking of the weirdness of a film like Picnic At Hanging Rock, with it's pervading dread, or similarly The Wicker Man - which has it's climatic set-piece, but it's all the freakiness before it which is "scary". And then a film like Winter's Bone, which on paper is pretty damn boring, but was (in my opinion) a fantastic piece of cinema. Even a film like The Dark Knight is so much more than it's special-effects and fight-sequences. If it was just down to that then you might as well be watching Jason Statham go through the motions!

I re-watched Alien this weekend - as a kind of 'reminder' before I go and see Prometheus. It kind of is just Jaws in space(!), but it's that lead-up to John Hurt getting face-hugged and the weird 'Space-Jockey'and ship that makes it creepy. The visuals and sets are great - which weren't ever harked back to in it's sequels. I guess that's why Ridley Scott felt the need to take control again?

Hey, Don. How are things? Haven't spoken to you since the update.

The type of science-fiction that I like are more along the lines of Blade Runner, the Thing, and AI (yes, I liked this..). Then there are the action-driven ones, like Minority Report and Aliens.

Overall, I hesitate to talk too much about Prometheus because you guys haven't seen it but...

I found the 'Space Jockey' to be a disappointment. They were violent, and not profound like the figure in the chair was supposed to be. I expected them to be 'enlightened' creatures, nobler and greater than man....They should have been elegant, fascinating, and incomprehensible and not a boogeyman of sorts. This is where the 'vision' thing comes in. And if they were greater than they were depicted (as in Prometheus), then their presumably higher motives should have been made clear in that very film. In Prometheus, they are no more than 'Space Thugs'.

Ridley Scott has stated that the Space Jockeys designed the Xenomorph to be a biological weapon, and the fossilized one in Alien was a pilot of a 'bomber/war ship' of sorts. The Space Jockeys are supposed to be so advanced in Genetics that they can create entirely new forms of intelligent life.

I recall going to drastic lengths to escape any allusion to the then upcoming The Phantom Menace (yeah, I know I shouldn't have bothered!).

I was so excited when I knew it was a certain thing, but aside from the casting of Neeson and McGregor I managed to avoid pretty much everything until sitting in almost ludicrous anticipation of the first trailer. And that, at least, was brilliant.

Even after that I avoided all those silly puff-pieces and entertainment show lead-ups to the release date. But you never do know, do you?

There are also lots of films I've enjoyed that are so reliant on the cinematography, the soundtrack and atmosphere that a trailer and any imDb shenanigans won't do it justice. I'm thinking of the weirdness of a film like Picnic At Hanging Rock, with it's pervading dread, or similarly The Wicker Man - which has it's climatic set-piece, but it's all the freakiness before it which is "scary". And then a film like Winter's Bone, which on paper is pretty damn boring, but was (in my opinion) a fantastic piece of cinema. Even a film like The Dark Knight is so much more than it's special-effects and fight-sequences. If it was just down to that then you might as well be watching Jason Statham go through the motions!

I re-watched Alien this weekend - as a kind of 'reminder' before I go and see Prometheus. It kind of is just Jaws in space(!), but it's that lead-up to John Hurt getting face-hugged and the weird 'Space-Jockey'and ship that makes it creepy. The visuals and sets are great - which weren't ever harked back to in it's sequels. I guess that's why Ridley Scott felt the need to take control again?

There's going to be two more Prometheus films.

Don't get me wrong, it's worth seeing I think. There's a few good scenes (And David F. is one of the best movie Androids, ever..). And you're absolutely right about a film being the sequential sum of its parts.

I knoow but I never really heard about it

I need to go and see that movie finally... but first I need to deal with the doctors, then Spanish, THEN cinema

Hey, Don. How are things? Haven't spoken to you since the update.

Yes you have, but you ignored my reply --> [link]

Don't you get a good enough sense of these things from the trailer? That's pretty much exactly what it showcases

Do you ever walk out of a movie if you're not into it?

Yea, I have, but I generally do due diligence first in order to avoid such a situation.

Trailers display the things that they're proud of and where the big money was spent. My sense of curiosity tends to gravitate towards seeing these pieces in their entirety if the film isn't driven by a quality story. The Prometheus trailer displayed a lot of interesting, out of context images. I went into the cam, and discovered their context, and thus my curiosity was satisfied....

I guess I just don't see it as being such a big deal if a movie turns out to be mediocre or worse. Time and money spent, but I don't really care

Sometimes I test the water a little by reading the odd comment/forum post about it, but to actually download it and skim through it seems mental to me

Giving yourself spoilers and all. I mean the clue is in the word there

I re-watched Alien this weekend - as a kind of 'reminder' before I go and see Prometheus. It kind of is just Jaws in space(!), but it's that lead-up to John Hurt getting face-hugged and the weird 'Space-Jockey'and ship that makes it creepy. The visuals and sets are great - which weren't ever harked back to in it's sequels. I guess that's why Ridley Scott felt the need to take control again?

Some of my favourite movies have been ones I've seen without knowing a thing about them beforehand.

Alien was an absolute classic one of a kind. How inspired to unleash Giger's artistry and design into the world of film. No movie monster has ever come close to topping what they created together

Oh Sarah

Alien was an absolute classic one of a kind. How inspired to unleash Giger's artistry and design into the world of film. No movie monster has ever come close to topping what they created together

Oh Sarah

Oh and, I'm still waiting nearly 2 months later for a reply/acknowledgement from Danni :

First time I've been around this part of BZ.... Not sure how I feel about it.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.... Thought I'd drop by, have a little chit-chat

How was your weekend/day, etc.. Barron?

^You are most welcome, Danni. ¡Encantado!

Tell me though, why so unsure? It's friendlier and far more fun that 'Babe Polls' Have a spot of tea and tell me what ails you...

First time I've been around this part of BZ.... Not sure how I feel about it.

Tut tut, this is where it's at

^She never came back! Danni, what gives?

You're not Limerlight, are you?!

(Uhf - those emoticon gremlins from the upgrade have certainly had their way with this post!)

Hey, Don. How are things? Haven't spoken to you since the update.

Yes you have, but you ignored my reply --> [link]

Ah, well... Things were a bit :| back then. You'll have to forgive me!

I guess I'm happy some of the bugs are fixed and stuff. Though I do much prefer the old layout. But hopefully when the new skin arrives it's much better than what we have now.

I saw this and thought of you. I´m speechless now.

Overall, I hesitate to talk too much about Prometheus because you guys haven't seen it but...

Well then. I saw it last night.

First of all, it was an absolute feast visually. Gorgeous cinemaography, cgi, set design, costumes and all the rest of it - both in its own right, and the way it aligned itself with the first couple of films in the franchise. Personally, if you're an Alien fan I think you'd be crazy to not go see it (and I mean properly - not through a Russian's shady camera work ).

I thought they cast very well, in so much as there wasn't anyone with that overt 'star power' (with Charlize Theron I suppose being the exception, and she rather stood out as one) which kept everything grounded to a certain degree. I think everyone turned in a pretty honest performance, however I think one of the film's flaws was its almost laughably clichéd stereotypes chosen to make up the numbers on the crew. There were also more than a few moments where supposedly intelligent people did incredibly stupid things - but I suppose you always get that to a degree in movies. You're right about Michael Fassbender hitting it out of the park though. Lance Henriksen's Bishop I think is the best and most iconic of all the Alien androids, but Ian Holm's Ash is one for the ages too (the less said about Winona the better ) - and there was a lot of him in the character of David, although a good part of Ash's creepiness was replaced with David's curiosity and naivity.

I found that the story and pacing really started to become clumsy towards the back end of the movie. There were some really strange shifts in momentum where some scenes passed over as anti-climactic or total non-events. I find the whole reveal of the engineers to be quite interesting - the way you were quite disappointed to learn how they actually are, in the same way the characters were. You probably won't quite understand this reference, but the exact same thing happened in the game the came out earlier this year Mass Effect 3, where you get to meet and interact with a Prothean - a long extinct alien race that was talked about and alluded to in the two games prior. They were incredibly advanced, enlightened and mysterious - revered by most, and even thought of as gods by some. Then the one you meet is kind of a jerk and a warmonger. It shattered the image of them to characters in the game, as well as to players in the real world. I don't think that revelation is an inherenty bad thing - the dichotomy between the two versions of them is an interesting notion in itself.

Regardless, we still don't really know anything about them at all - we know how one from a particular ship acted. It's been suggested that there's a divide amongst the engineers - those who are pro human, and those who want to destroy them, stemming from the origin of our relationship with them. It's still unclear as to whether they actually were our creators or not; and if so, whether it was by accident or by design. It will be interesting to see where the sequels go from here, although it's a bit disappointing that we didn't really learn much at all about anything.

Alien was an absolute classic one of a kind. How inspired to unleash Giger's artistry and design into the world of film. No movie monster has ever come close to topping what they created together

^I would have loved to have seen that proposed "wooden planet" imagining from the aborted Alien³ script. I believe it was called 'the greatest sci-fi movie never made' or something like that? But, yeah, a little more Giger in the sequels would have been good. I was surprised how little stylistic flourishes were in Alien Resurrection considering the brilliant visuals of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. it was a disappointment. I appreciate that David Fincher didn't have much control (and it was his first major film) when he helmed one - but, overall, I like the fact that the intention was to give the sequels to directors with distinctive and different takes...

Indeed. I still really like Alien 3, but on another level to the first two. If nothing else, it has some of the most awesome behind the scenes footage ever, from their tests of using live shots of a whippet in a suit for the alien. Turns out its dainty trots weren't quite as menacing as the full-legged lunges they were hoping for

Oh Sarah

^That's a beaut of a shot - I saw that Lindsay Lohan is playing Elizabeth Taylor in some tv-movie ( ), given this shot I'd be looking at acting lessons!

My money's already on the table for that

Hey, Don. How are things? Haven't spoken to you since the update.

Yes you have, but you ignored my reply --> [link]

Ah, well... Things were a bit :| back then. You'll have to forgive me!

I guess I'm happy some of the bugs are fixed and stuff. Though I do much prefer the old layout. But hopefully when the new skin arrives it's much better than what we have now.

But you snubbed Baron again! :persuazn:

You're still not too happy with this new design then? I'm starting to forget the old one already

I saw this and thought of you. I´m speechless now.

Love it!

Did you ever have a toy like that?