Duke Togo Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 You know, I can't say I've seen this yet, but the impression I get from most of the details I've read reminds me of my overall impression of "The Great Gatsby" when I had to read it for a lit class. I don't remember much of the book, but my overall impression was that the story was full of the completely meaningless fluff that people filled their lives with. I think I got away with an A on a paper explaining that the point of the book was that there actually was no point at all. Gatsby is Fitzgerald's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 1920's. Just sayin'. Quote
renegadeleader1 Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 Gatsby is Fitzgerald's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 1920's. Just sayin'. Yes and Jersey Shore is reality tv's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 2010's. Just because its old doesn't make it good. Quote
jenius Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 Bashing The Great Gatsby is extremely silly. That book is well written, there's a reason we've all read it. Takes me back to senior year of high school just thinking about it... I think we spent two months on that book. On the suspension of disbelief thing, I think that's what's causing a lot of the negative reaction to Prometheus. Ignoring the 100 nitpicks article I linked to, there were two points which actually took me out of the movie upon my first watching it (and I'm sure I'll watch it again). That was the stupid biologist who fears dead bodies but loves alien snakes and Shaw running around after having an emergency c-section. Basically, the movie jumped the shark there and everything that happened after that I was like "Oh really? THIS now?" Up until it rolled credits. It's like the writer's gave up. Yes, the forced C-section and how it was filmed was pretty cool... but it shouldn't have happened to Shaw's character... it should have happened to someone who didn't spend the rest of the movie running, jumping, and doing pull-ups. Either that or it should have relied on nano-technology or some other scifi magic and extended out the time frame a bit. As it was, I spent the last 15 minutes scoffing at the film rather than enjoying it. I will echo that I found the pacing disjointed and the opening sequence had me thinking long and hard about how it couldn't be Earth but was probably supposed to be... but it wasn't enough to pull me out of the suspension of disbelief like the items above. Quote
taksraven Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 I think that the real strength of the original Aliens films, for all of their individual faults and weaknesses, was Sigourney's incredible portrayal of Ellen Ripley, and I don't see anything of the like in Prometheus. It seems like a lot of fanboys are ignoring this. Quote
TehPW Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 (edited) Yes and Jersey Shore is reality tv's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 2010's. Just because its old doesn't make it good. :US Navy: 237 years old = Not good. Roman Empire: Hella Old = Not good, questionable Fail Darwin: Old, dead = Not good (if your a certain religion or live in texas) SDF-1: HELLA OLD = Not good? WWII: Old = Not good? sometimes i wish folks would say more blanket statements about worth, values, etc. Just to make sure your words are as flame proof as possible. That book might be questionable but its sure hella worth more than Jersey Shore? If your watching that tripe, then the only people winning are the Advertisers... i thought i asked already: Lock the thread and less discuss the NEXT FILM and how they are gonna screw up the material (potentially that is), more? Edited October 20, 2012 by TehPW Quote
Duke Togo Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 Yes and Jersey Shore is reality tv's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 2010's. Just because its old doesn't make it good. That's right, it's not good; it's great. I assume Dan Brown is more your speed? Considering some of the movies you guys get excited about, the bashing of Prometheus smacks of fanboyism. Which, I get--we've all done it. However, there is plenty to praise about this movie, and the reviews back it up. I do wonder where all of you were when Looper was a hot topic of discussion. Seems like all the gun play and psychic powers distracted people from the glaring issues with the time travel plot. Quote
rotorhead Posted October 20, 2012 Posted October 20, 2012 Yes and Jersey Shore is reality tv's commentary on the "American Dream," wealth, and materialism in the 2010's. Just because its old doesn't make it good. I think what he was saying is: old does not necessarily mean good, it could be good, but just by virtue of being old doesn't mean it is. The Black Plague is old, and definitely wasn't good, unless you are the grim reaper. Anyways, although Gatsby wasn't my favorite read, I wouldn't go so low as to equate it to Jersey Shore. The basic comparison nonetheless I did find hiLARious! Quote
taksraven Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 : i thought i asked already: Lock the thread and less discuss the NEXT FILM and how they are gonna screw up the material (potentially that is), more? And it's already been stated by a mod, why lock this thread when it is more fun than the film? Quote
renegadeleader1 Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 I think what he was saying is: old does not necessarily mean good, it could be good, but just by virtue of being old doesn't mean it is. The Black Plague is old, and definitely wasn't good, unless you are the grim reaper. Anyways, although Gatsby wasn't my favorite read, I wouldn't go so low as to equate it to Jersey Shore. The basic comparison nonetheless I did find hiLARious! Yeah I was just being a wise arse nothing more, I don't exactly hate Gatsby, but I don't much care for required reading in school. Especially books like Bridge To Terabithia(yeah I'm going on a cool trip, forget telling my one only friend, and leave her to die alone in a forest creek), The Giver(dystopian anti-conformist garbage), That Was Then This Is Now(jerkwad teens do drugs and steal cars untill bad stuff happens), To Kill A Mockingbird(well written, but it all comes down to racist hicks convict innocent black man, father gets away with abusing daughter), and worst of all A Catcher In The Rye(obnoxious emo douche with OCD invades New York can't even lay a hooker and makes fun of gays). I did like Macbeth, War & Peace, Hamlet, and several others all of which were better written than Prometheus. Btw who is Dan Brown? The Da Vinci guy? The last none sci-fi/fantasy novels I've read have been Rainbow Six, Sun Tzu's Art Of War, and Bernard Cornwell's various historical fiction. And it's already been stated by a mod, why lock this thread when it is more fun than the film? This... Quote
Duke Togo Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 Yeah I was just being a wise arse nothing more, I don't exactly hate Gatsby, but I don't much care for required reading in school. It's OK to read books outside of school. #truestory Quote
myk Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 Yeah I was just being a wise arse nothing more, I don't exactly hate Gatsby, but I don't much care for required reading in school. Especially books like Bridge To Terabithia(yeah I'm going on a cool trip, forget telling my one only friend, and leave her to die alone in a forest creek), The Giver(dystopian anti-conformist garbage), That Was Then This Is Now(jerkwad teens do drugs and steal cars untill bad stuff happens), To Kill A Mockingbird(well written, but it all comes down to racist hicks convict innocent black man, father gets away with abusing daughter), and worst of all A Catcher In The Rye(obnoxious emo douche with OCD invades New York can't even lay a hooker and makes fun of gays). *SIGH* Spoiler tags, guys! Quote
Mr March Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 Just a brief off topic piece of trivia since it came up, they are making a new adaptation of The Great Gatsby: Baz Luhrmann is directing. Trailer is here: http://www.slashfilm.com/heres-a-slightly-revised-trailer-for-the-great-gatsby/ OT, the trick to enjoy Prometheus is not minding that it sucks Quote
taksraven Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 (edited) OT, the trick to enjoy Prometheus is not minding that it sucks The best thing about Prometheus were the trailers and promotional campaign preceding it. They made it seem like it was going to be a fantastic film. (Just go back to the earlier pages of this thread for some indicator of the excitement that was building up pre-release...... Edited October 21, 2012 by taksraven Quote
Duke Togo Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 I am curious: how many of you here (besides me) saw it in IMAX 3D? Quote
TehPW Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 And it's already been stated by a mod, why lock this thread when it is more fun than the film? *sigh* ok ill agree with that. Im trying to prevent a flame war on a old subject... I dont think i ever read the Great Gaspy (sp) though. I just remember the Lords of the Rings and Sword of Sharrah? (sp) and something called Robowreck? The best thing about Prometheus were the trailers and promotional campaign preceding it. They made it seem like it was going to be a fantastic film. (Just go back to the earlier pages of this thread for some indicator of the excitement that was building up pre-release...... does that imply that they knew the film, once it came out, wasnt gonna make their returns until the DVD came out? Quote
Golden Arms Posted October 21, 2012 Posted October 21, 2012 I think his point is that we were all initially excited about Ridley Scott returning the the Alien series. Once everyone saw the film reality sunk in about how underwhelming it was post all the intial excitement. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 *SIGH* Spoiler tags, guys! While I basically agree in principal, isn't there a time-limit at some point? (and I'll admit I'd not read one of those stories despite planning to for years and am now spoiled) Pssst.....Titanic sinks in the end. Quote
taksraven Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 does that imply that they knew the film, once it came out, wasnt gonna make their returns until the DVD came out? That's really hard to say. Studio's are famous for picking hits and misses wrong. Even audience-testing has been known to stuff up on occasion. Problem with this film is that with a big director like Ridley working on it, even if the studio had concerns it was unlikely that they would step in. It does happen, I think that the most recent Judge Dredd had the director replaced either during or after production and they reckon studio execs have recently travelled to the latest Mad Max set to get things back on track. The first things studio's get worried about during production are budgets and running overtime on the shooting. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Of course, Disney was very worried about Johnny Depp's performance in the first POTC movie, and considered firing him early on and re-shooting all of Capt Sparrow's scenes---they thought people would hate the character. Good thing they were not totally sure, and decided to let Johnny Depp keep doing it how he did. Quote
myk Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 While I basically agree in principal, isn't there a time-limit at some point? (and I'll admit I'd not read one of those stories despite planning to for years and am now spoiled) Pssst.....Titanic sinks in the end. I was joking, lol... Quote
taksraven Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Of course, Disney was very worried about Johnny Depp's performance in the first POTC movie, and considered firing him early on and re-shooting all of Capt Sparrow's scenes---they thought people would hate the character. Good thing they were not totally sure, and decided to let Johnny Depp keep doing it how he did. Heh, like the way that Eric Stoltz was nearly Marty Mcfly (in fact he was for the initial shooting)..... and of course, some of the worst SF casting ever in the next example that was quickly fixed....... Quote
myk Posted October 23, 2012 Posted October 23, 2012 Was the would-be-Janeway a joke? Her presence was completely dwarfed by the other actors; something made even worse by her low, scratchy voice. Say what you will about Mulgrew but she had "Captain" written all over her face... Quote
sketchley Posted October 23, 2012 Posted October 23, 2012 Was the would-be-Janeway a joke? Nope. I remember it in the local (= Canadian) newspaper: "Canadian actress to play the first female Captain in Star Trek". See here: Geneviève Bujold was originally cast to play Captain Janeway, but a few days into filming the first episode, she abruptly quit. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112178/trivia I've never seen that clip until now, and I can appreciate why she quit - she looked totally out of her element and like she didn't want to do it after realizing what was involved. Her presence was completely dwarfed by the other actors; something made even worse by her low, scratchy voice. Say what you will about Mulgrew but she had "Captain" written all over her face... I agree. Quote
azrael Posted October 23, 2012 Posted October 23, 2012 The best thing about Prometheus were the trailers and promotional campaign preceding it. They made it seem like it was going to be a fantastic film. (Just go back to the earlier pages of this thread for some indicator of the excitement that was building up pre-release...... This is probably closer to the truth. I'm actually glad I didn't pay for this (and yes, I just downloaded it and watched it, which I'm starting to regret). Visually it was great, but character and plot-wise.... I want those 2-some hours of my life sleep back. Quote
Tober Posted November 13, 2012 Posted November 13, 2012 From IGN Read The Alien Prequel That Almost Was Jon Spaiht's original Alien prequel script is now available to the public. Alien: Engineers PDF Quote
Knight26 Posted November 13, 2012 Posted November 13, 2012 Interesting read, it is much more of an one the nose prequel, and not a new franchise starter like Prometheus ended up being. Honestly I think I preferred it to what we got. Quote
mechaninac Posted November 14, 2012 Posted November 14, 2012 I finally watched it off a Redbox rental and I must agree with the majority of the criticisms levied against this movie. It is visually stunning, but the acting, action and plot were totally wooden, unappealing, and uninspired; as a stand-alone it was mediocre a best, but as a prequel to Alien it's a total failure: a lot of plot twists felt like forced shoehorning to make tie-ins with the existing franchise, but were so poorly handled that they seemed pointless and/or absurd... heck, the whole main premise of the engineers' motives was preposterous from the get go, and the android's actions were unexplainable. Quote
TehPW Posted November 15, 2012 Posted November 15, 2012 From IGN Read The Alien Prequel That Almost Was Jon Spaiht's original Alien prequel script is now available to the public. Alien: Engineers PDF yeah, reading the screen play... it would have been a LOT awesomer. totally glad i didnt see it... Quote
taksraven Posted November 15, 2012 Posted November 15, 2012 From IGN Read The Alien Prequel That Almost Was Jon Spaiht's original Alien prequel script is now available to the public. Alien: Engineers PDF Early versions of scripts and even synopsis of films are pretty useless. ON PAPER, a lot of films can be made to look great. I read an accurate synopsis for Star Trek:First Contact before it came out and I thought it sounded like a great film. My opinion changed quickly once I saw it. I think that this film was going to be a stuff up one way or another. Quote
Omegablue Posted November 15, 2012 Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) Early versions of scripts and even synopsis of films are pretty useless. ON PAPER, a lot of films can be made to look great. I read an accurate synopsis for Star Trek:First Contact before it came out and I thought it sounded like a great film. My opinion changed quickly once I saw it. I think that this film was going to be a stuff up one way or another. It also comes down to how the director translates it along with the editing team and the music. Remember the documentary about the original cut of SW, and was saved by the editing and score. Edited November 15, 2012 by Omegablue Quote
aerocombatpilot Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 (edited) OK, I'm probably the LAST person to see this film and it was "WORTH" the wait. Why? Not because it was a great film or even a good film, but because somebody put the entire film on YOUTUBE. It's gone now, but at least I didn't pay any money for this! After watching Prometheus, I got the feeling that I had been watching an old sci-fi b film; only with better special effects. The editing was horrible. It seemed like the film had litte or no continuity; just a bunch of scenes with no transition between them. The ship Prometheus(one of the things I was looking foward to seeing)had very few scenes beyond what had been revealed in the trailers. As far as the characters go,the ONLY ones I cared about was SHAW and Janek. Holloway was a pure jackass that deserved to have his punk@ss lit-up, I was litterly cheering when he died. The rest of the crew were nameless "cannon fodder" as far as I was concerned. Much of this film didn't make sense BUT I don't mind. I'll probably get the 4 disc set in order to get the bonus material. Maybe they'll explain How Vickers managed to get crushed by the juggernaut, when her escapepod was ejected AWAY from the Prometheus as it was on a collision course with it. Edited December 3, 2012 by aerocombatpilot Quote
myk Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 It's a Ridley Scott joint-that's all you need to know... Quote
aerocombatpilot Posted December 3, 2012 Posted December 3, 2012 It's a Ridley Scott joint-that's all you need to know... Yeah and I think he smoked that sucka when he shot this film!!! Quote
electric indigo Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 If you thought the movie could have been better, you can make alternative scenes with these excellent action figures. Quote
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