THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Red Letter Media for so succinctly summing up everything that was confusing about Prometheus.
Alien worked because of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ellen Ripley. She was a normal person like you and me, who found enormous inner strength when thrown into the middle of the ultimate claustrophobic nightmare, with nowhere to run. There were no giant, rolling spaceships. There were no screaming, alien-ooze-infected zombie attacks. There were no deus ex machina squid monsters to save her. There was a woman and her fear, and nothing to save her but her wits and an indomitable will to survive. She was the opposite of the Xenomorph, the opposite of the murderous android, Ash. Ripley was human, and she embodied the very reason why scientists would travel to distant worlds to find out who and why we are.
Prometheus has no Ellen Ripley, no humanity, and as a result, says absolutely nothing about us worth hearing.
submission from pastelfae:
Read this. You can’t just look with your eyes, you need to look with your mind.
You can’t see with your mind if what you first see with your eyes makes no sense. But this is a very interesting and well-thought-out review. I admit, I couldn’t get past the plot holes and poor characterizations to analyze the themes behind Prometheus, so my review was devoid of any discussion of deeper meaning.
At the time of viewing, and moreso after reading this article, I acknowledge that there were interesting themes running throughout Prometheus, especially regarding the mythical titan Prometheus, such as self-sacrifice and humanity’s fear of death.
However, if Scott and Lindelof really intended that the black goo was responding to humanity’s “psychic atmosphere” and if proper interpretation of the film requires us to realize that Jesus Christ was actually Space Jockey Jesus and his crucifixion is what first angered our heretofore-benevolent creators, then Prometheus missed its mark far more than I first thought.
Well it's not really a review, ha, but I thought since I was lucky enough to see it today in Moscow, I needed to share. I quickly checked some infamous magazines/sites like Empire, and they ARE right about some rushed moments etc. But I think, this epic is going to be somewhere between Solyaris and Watchmen soon. It's a grower, I guess. People might like it in 4 years time. And it's definetely not a money-maker like the Thing prequel/reboot.
Interesting. Thanks for writing!
I say what: don't expect much from Prometheus, and don't expect a failure either. This picture is on a completely new level of story-telling. I won't compare it to Alien because it's bollocks-talk, but if you are into film vs film quality-wise rounds, then okay - it's as good. Might be better. Screenplay, cinematography, flaws which are actually not flaws - all is as good as. Phew, I thought I was going to have a heart attack (pessimist here, see).
Thanks for the review! It doesn’t come out here in the US for another week :( but I’m excited! I’ll try to have low expectations
I read a lot of the Aliens novels when I was in middle school. The ones from the 90's were all based on comic book series' spun off from the movies. Earth Hive is a good place to start. It's based on the original Dark Horse Comics series simply titled "Aliens," which was originally meant to be a direct sequel to the film Aliens before Alien3 came around. Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum, and The Female War are a trilogy which follow Wilks (Hicks) and Billie (Newt) on a series of adventur
Great input on the alien books, thanks!
As far as the Alien novels go, the only ones I remember clearly enough to give my opinion on was Alien Resurrection and Earth Hive. Earth Hive being the better of the two. They're definitely worth reading.
More great novel reviews! Thanks, Caleb!
krza:
Last night, I went to Cinemagic to see David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake. The film was great, but that’s a whole different blog post. What I really got excited about was a film trailer.
So there I was, settling into the old, creaky theater seat, pouring myself a paper cup of Cotes du Rhone from a screw top bottle, when I recognized the straight graphic lines on the screen slowly developing into letters, a la 1979 Alien trailer. I immediately knew what was happening. Prometheus.
Considering that the trailer is supposed to hit tomorrow, it’s no surprise that it is running before Dragon Tattoo, one of the most highly anticipated films of this season.
Aside from the throwback style to Scott’s original Alien film, the Prometheus trailer was filled with stunning images of distant worlds. Waterfalls; cloudscapes; spacesuits; fire; vast, open spaces with things crashing into them; giant, stone faces; gloomy, Alien-esque color palettes; and— almost most importantly— the space jockey. No reveals or detailed shots of the space jockey, but instead just glimpses of our friend, the original chestbuster host. The images were cut with no dialog, but instead just deep, booming bass (Inception trend, anyone?) and indistinguishable, high pitched, pulsating sound— which, again, feels reminiscent of the 1979 Alien trailer.
But I don’t really need to take more time describing it— the trailer will be available for everyone to see soon enough. Even some pretty basic Google skills will reveal bootleg, shaky camera captures of the trailer (wait for the HD thing; it’s worth it).
Which sort-of leads me to my overall point: I’m very, very excited about this film. I usually can keep it together when it comes to cinema; I mean, it’s just a film. But something about this one has me hooked, and I can’t wait to see this.
Nice work, Mr. Scott, and whoever else is closely guarding the marketing of this thing.
RAD
I’m more excited than ever!
So I watched the re-mastered Alien blu-ray tonight in the dark and with the sound up…
SO pretty, I wouldn’t have thought it could look so good, definitely worth getting on blu-ray compared to my DVD set…
Thanks for the review!
Elder predator from NECA series 3.
This dude is seen at the end of Predator 2 giving Danny Glover a gift for kicking that other predator’s ass.
Aliens: Infestation (2011)
This marks the first new game I’ve played in a very long time, and it didn’t take a very long time to beat, two days to be precise. Aliens: Infestation is a Metroidvania style side-scroller set in the aftermath of the film Aliens from the studio that will be bringing us Aliens: Colonial Marines…someday. It’s a decent game, way too short and a little repetitive, but still engrossing enough to make it hard to put down. Except for a really miserable zero gravity platforming section near the end of the game the difficultly is pretty simple, especially once you get the flamethrower. The story is pretty threadbare, and most of the characters are nothing more this disposable grunts, but I did really like the goth chick marine, I made sure to play as her and keep her alive all through the game for amusement’s sake. So overall you could find better games in this style, but if you’re a big fan of the franchise or genre then Aliens: Infestation is well worth a look.
I don’t know how else to describe this: The movie made me feel bad. It filled me with feelings of unease and disquiet and anxiety. I walked outside and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I was drained. I’m not sure “Aliens” is what we mean by entertainment. Yet I have to be accurate about this movie: It is a superb example of filmmaking craft. The director, James Cameron, has been assigned to make an intense and horrifying thriller, and he has delivered. Weaver, who is onscreen almost all the time, comes through with a very strong, sympathetic performance: She’s the thread that holds everything together. The supporting players are sharply drawn. The special effects are professional. I’m giving the movie a high rating for its skill and professionalism and because it does the job it says it will do. I am also advising you not to eat before you go to see it.
“
| — | excerpt from Roger Ebert’s original July 18, 1986 review of “Aliens” |
(Late) Day 24 of my Horror-Icon-A-Day Project
The Alien (Alien)
I don’t care who you are. If you saw this in the middle of the night all up in your face, you’d probably cry like I did the first time I saw this as a 5 year old
When Predator first came out on DVD in the UK many fans were extremely disappointed to find that it had been pointlessly snipped by censors to the point where it resembled a TV edit.
Thankfully, the mistake was soon rectified with a two disc special edition that had the snipped footage restored and came complete with a truck load of extras including a retrospective making of, a tribute to the Predator himself, Kevin Peter Hall and some great anecdotes…
Click for the rest of the review
