Prometheus (Ridley Scott's new movie) ***SPOILERS***

[ReaPsTA]

Yeah that's right.  Holloway never came back - it was Fifield - the ginger mohawk

That.  Reap', I'm not sure how you could have confused them.

Because what apparently actually happened is so stupid that my mind never even considered it.  They brought his corpse to the ship and then threw it outside like a garbage bag on your driveway?  What?

[Sigz]

No, they never found his body until it showed up outside the ship. That's why they investigated it when they saw it outside the door.

[Zantera]

Yeah that's right.  Holloway never came back - it was Fifield - the ginger mohawk

That.  Reap', I'm not sure how you could have confused them.

Because what apparently actually happened is so stupid that my mind never even considered it.  They brought his corpse to the ship and then threw it outside like a garbage bag on your driveway?  What?

Didn't they only find the other scientist? From what I recall they only found the other guy, and then the crazy scientist turned up eventually.

[bosk1]

No, they never found his body until it showed up outside the ship. That's why they investigated it when they saw it outside the door.

This.  Reap', what movie did you see? 

[ReaPsTA]

No, they never found his body until it showed up outside the ship. That's why they investigated it when they saw it outside the door.

Then that's even more stupid.  Aren't these unintelligent tentacle monsters things or something?  How did the Zombie know to get back to the ship?  How was it able to think with sufficient tactical ability curl up into a ball to lure people out.  Maybe it did possess this intelligence, but it displayed no signs of this.

And, even if it in fact does perfectly make sense, it was still a waste of time.

Reap', what movie did you see? 

One that I'm hating more and more as I think about it.

And just because it makes me think doesn't mean it's good.  Being intellectually frustrating is not the same as being intellectually challenging.

[Sigz]

And, even if it in fact does perfectly make sense, it was still a waste of time.

I'd totally agree with that actually, I thought the zombie thing was completely pointless. It only served to kill off characters that, with one semi-exception, had no purpose in the story anyways.

No, they never found his body until it showed up outside the ship. That's why they investigated it when they saw it outside the door.

Then that's even more stupid.  Aren't these unintelligent tentacle monsters things or something?  How did the Zombie know to get back to the ship?  How was it able to think with sufficient tactical ability curl up into a ball to lure people out.  Maybe it did possess this intelligence, but it displayed no signs of this.

There's really no explanation one way or the other. We don't know how he became a zombie, or what turned him, so there's really no way to know. It wasn't the tentacle thing that did it, other wise the other dude who got one down the throat would have turned as well.

[ReaPsTA]

And, even if it in fact does perfectly make sense, it was still a waste of time.

I'd totally agree with that actually, I thought the zombie thing was completely pointless. It only served to kill off characters that, with one semi-exception, had no purpose in the story anyways.

No, they never found his body until it showed up outside the ship. That's why they investigated it when they saw it outside the door.

Then that's even more stupid.  Aren't these unintelligent tentacle monsters things or something?  How did the Zombie know to get back to the ship?  How was it able to think with sufficient tactical ability curl up into a ball to lure people out.  Maybe it did possess this intelligence, but it displayed no signs of this.

There's really no explanation one way or the other. We don't know how he became a zombie, or what turned him, so there's really no way to know. It wasn't the tentacle thing that did it, other wise the other dude who got one down the throat would have turned as well.

Now do you see why I didn't even consider the possibility of any of this happening?

[bosk1]

Now do you see why I didn't even consider the possibility of any of this happening?

No.  Because it was pretty clear, actually.  The acid ate through his helmet, and he fell face first into a big puddle of the black virus.  So while it is somewhat left up to the audience to connect the dots, it is fairly obvious the virus transformed him (as it appears to do with all life it comes into contact with).  Not surprising then that it would have been able to use his memories to get back to the ship.  I completely agree with you that the scene was stupid, pointless, and a waste of time (other than, perhaps, to try to continue to illustrate and reinforce that the virus acts on different organisms in a variety of ways, which is valid, but could have been handled in a much less hamfisted way).  But not remotely for the reasons you are citing, which don't seem to be founded on anything other than the fact that you didn't really pay attention and are raging based on incorrect assumptions.

[TioJorge]

This is why bosk is the computer. My friends said the same thing to me after the movie... "That was dumb whenever the male-protagonist turned into that zombie-thing!" I had argued with them for about an hour about how it was the ginger-tat and the acid and blah blah blah... but let it be and shook my head as I walked away, leaving them to wallow in their ignorance. Then I ate a big bowl of black liquid and watched my friends as they left me on the desolate planet alone. Then I turned to dust. Right down to my DNA.

I liked the movie very much and have little to complain about. Alien mythos or not, it was good as a standalone movie and the fact that I'm a fan of Alien lore made it all the better. It wasn't the revolutionary Sci-Fi flick I imagined, but it was certainly the best one in years and I imagine I'll be watching it again and again, continuously dissecting the lore and possibilities of the second. Which, from the sound of Ridley, sounds like it could be the true reason for setting up this little side-verse of lore. Meeting the creator of the creators...now that sounds epic. Sans zombie-goo-people.

[The King in Crimson]

I think, the very fact that it was an issue with some people, shows that the pacing for the movie was a bit fucked.  When that scene came up, I was convinced it was Shaw's boyfriend (even though they looked nothing alike), mostly because I thought there was a shot of Fifeld's body in the vase room, a body with a burned face and a shattered helmet.  It wasn't until later that I realized that 'Oh, it was Fifeld... that makes more sense.'  Still a dumb scene that was probably added in just to inject some tension and action.

Even though I think it was very flawed, I still enjoyed it and I'm glad that it's the basis for a lot of discussion.

[Chino]

The thing that irritated the shit out of me ... Our DNA was a match to the engineers... How did the DNA of the rest of the animal kingdom, primarily primates, get so similar to ours?

[marztacy]

the one premise of the movie that i had an issue with (and apologies if this is explained more in detail in the movie but i must've missed it) Is that this whole $1 trillion expedition was seemingly based on 6 cave paintings? Is the fact that there is a constellation of stars identical to 6 cave paintings enough scientific premise to fund a 1 trillion dollar expedition to a constellation 10^14 light years away?

[Sigz]

I think it was:

1) all of the images weren't just sharing a constellation, but a general theme of the humans worshiping the same greater being who was pointing to this same constellation.

2) The constellation was so far away that it wasn't even visible with the naked eye, thus the pattern had to have come from some other source

3) Weyland was obsessed with immortality to the point of desperation

[Gadough]

I saw it tonight.

My brain is full of fuck.

[The Dark Master]

The thing that irritated the shit out of me ... Our DNA was a match to the engineers... How did the DNA of the rest of the animal kingdom, primarily primates, get so similar to ours?

There are two possible answers to this:

1) Given the scene at the very beginning of the film, (which shows a very primordial world with no apparent life), I felt that it was implied that the engineer's DNA forms the basis of all life on the newly created world, with the intentional end evolutionary result being engineer-esque humanoids, like homo sapiens.

2) The engineer DNA mixes with a species already present on the planet, and causes that species to evolves into something like the engineers.  Of course, that would mean that primate DNA was already similar to that of the engineers in the first place, which is why I personally thing option 1 is the more logical conclusion.

[BlackInk]

So I finally saw this and I liked it. It was a good and half scary sci-fi movie. Though we were left with very few questions answered, but I guess they wanted us to figure stuff out for yourself and to see it in your own way and that's fine.

[Zantera]

So Metty, did you ever see Resurrection?

[Kotowboy]

Ugh.. Resurrection is so Hollywood and lame. Like all pointless sequels it offers nothing new and changes what has gone before.

On the other hand - I think Alien V Predator is much better despite the same problems I mentioned earlier :

Like all pointless sequels it offers nothing new and changes what has gone before.

[MykeHavoc]

Resurrection does offer the next step in Ripley's evolution. She goes from battling one xenomorph, to many, to having one inside of her, then to being genetically fused with the species. There's still plenty to enjoy in it, even though it is certainly the low point of the initial franchise (if we're taking all films into consideration, then AVP: Requiem takes the cake).

[Adami]

Decided that before I see Prometheus, I am going to watch all 4 official Alien movies, since I haven't seen them in over a decade.

So far Alien and Aliens (directs cut of each) have been great. I'll do Alien3 tonight and the Alien Abortion one tuesday night most likely.

Enjoying it so far. I forgot how awesome Bishop from Aliens was.

[The King in Crimson]

I watched Alien and Aliens last night.  Both hold up remarkably well, though the visual clarity on the blu ray makes some of the effects stand out a bit more (in a not so good way).  Aside from whenever anybody uses a computer, the effects mostly stand up better than CGI from a few years ago.

Oh yeah and Hudson's last stand is awesome. 

[Adami]

The only effect that seemed awful to me was the ship exploding at the end of Alien. Just bad effects, that one might have been a good idea to replace.

[The King in Crimson]

The only effect that seemed awful to me was the ship exploding at the end of Alien. Just bad effects, that one might have been a good idea to replace.

Yeah, that one screamed 70's early 80's. I don't think it's worth it to replace it, but it stands out quite a bit nowadays.

Another is when Bishop is flying the shuttle into the exploding cooling tower to drop Ripley off near the end.  The shuttle looks very obviously fake.  Not a big deal, but certainly noticeable.

[MykeHavoc]

Alien is one of the theatrical cuts that I prefer to the extended version. The major additional scene creates a huge continuity issue, since it adds an element to the xenomorph's life cycle that contradicts what is established in Aliens. Also, most of the snippets added don't flesh out all that much, and if anything, strain the pacing a bit.
While I certainly enjoy the added footage in Aliens, it still suffers from the same pacing issues. Cameron knew how to make a theatrical cut perfectly balanced. The special editions of his films are excellent supplements, but to me, his release versions are superior (Abyss may be an exception). T2 is an obvious one. Theatrical cut is a perfect film. All the edits made the film better. The deleted footage is certainly fun to see though.
Now with Alien 3, that's an entirely different beast all together. While I still, in spite of it's flaws, greatly enjoyed the film in it's theatrical form, the assembly cut was a revelation. Nearly every hole was patched up. This was an example of proper expansion.
Resurrection...didn't notice much of a difference between cuts.

[Kotowboy]

Resurrection does offer the next step in Ripley's evolution. She goes from battling one xenomorph, to many, to having one inside of her, then to being genetically fused with the species. There's still plenty to enjoy in it, even though it is certainly the low point of the initial franchise (if we're taking all films into consideration, then AVP: Requiem takes the cake).

AVP:R is the only one I haven't seen but based on what i've heard - I shall not bother.

I think AVP is much better than A:R though

[Zantera]

I saw the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 yesterday actually, first time. Really good stuff, and I think Alien 3 is much better than people give it credit for.
I'd probably rank Alien Resurrection over AvP though. I still enjoy the latter.

[MykeHavoc]

AVP:R is the only one I haven't seen but based on what i've heard - I shall not bother.

I think AVP is much better than A:R though

Smart move. AVP:R just incites anger. It's as if the filmmakers did everything in their power to intentionally make you hate it.
From an awful script to awful acting to throwing out all the established science of both franchises. And then, to essentially ruin the only thing going for it, mainly gore and monster effects, they master the film so remarkably dark that you have no friggin' clue what the hell is going on at any point. This is by far the most depressing completist purchase I've ever made, as I already knew I hated it. But I suppose it's good to have around in the event that I'm discussing worst films ever made with someone and they haven't seen it yet.

As for the first AVP...I'm not sure where I rank it. To me, it sort of sits with Resurrection. I guess I find them to be on even keel.
Both enjoyable, flawed films. If I rated the series:

Alien: 5 out of 5
Aliens: 5 out of 5
Alien III: 4 out of 5
Alien Resurrection: 3.5 out of 5
AVP: 3.5 out of 5
AVP Requiem: .5 out of 5
Prometheus: 4 out of 5

and if we're taking the Predator films into consideration:

Predator: 5 out of 5
Predator II: 3.5 out of 5
Predators: 4 out of 5

[Kotowboy]

The one daft scene that stands out in my memory from AVP is when The Predator allows Weyland to live and then Weyland tries to kill The Predator anyway resulting in his own death.

If a massively superior hunter alien allows you to live - WALK AWAY.

[chrisbDTM]

I saw it tonight.

My brain is full of fuck.

this. but it definitely inspired me to read as many theories as I can about the movie, so I would consider it good and very interesting


also fassbender was great, as usual

[Kotowboy]

The trick, william potter... is not minding that it hurts.

Fassbender actually resembled Peter O Toole in that segment.

[chrisbDTM]

found this on reddit. kinda interesting, i dont think its that accurate but

[Adami]

Isn't he doing a blade-runner follow up next? Be neat if he put them in the same universe.

[MykeHavoc]

Prometheus takes place 70 years after Blade Runner, so not sure where they are going with that.

[Sigz]

Don't worry, he'll just retcon the date in the final ultimate definitive director's cut of Blade Runner, out this christmas.

[chrisbDTM]

also need to see if the 'are you a robot?' pickup line will work in real life