Alien Prequel - Prometheus - Page 34

Why set the bar so low?

Sorry Eric, I am philosophically (???) opposed to reading ANYTHING about Prometheus until I have seen it.

Between you and I:...would you recommend watching Alien BEFORE going to Prom.?

Not sure it's the right mood for prom!

Fair enough...

Jeeesh that review wasn't very positive.

Other than our forum members, Ebert is the only "critic" whose opinion interests me.

I have entered the theater, report back in a couple of hours, movieswede signing off.

I feel the opposite: Years ago, Ebert's opinions lost all meaning to me.

Understood - the link was not for you of course
I'd say no, but ..

All this reading on Prometheus put me in the mood to revisit Alien. I memorized the film years ago, but there's so many great moments that never get old. Last night it was Bret's search through the 2 mechanical rooms to find Jones. The moving chains and water in the dark room. Stopping to wet his face & the sound of water hitting the cap. No score, just the sounds of those chains in the room and our fear. Harry Dean was perfect.

These days, it's hard to imagine a director shooting people hanging out and thinking for minutes at a time. What a shame.

Reviews for Blade Runner were largely negative. It is a film that has warmed up over time and caused numerous critics to conveniently 'flip' their opinions when the extended cut came out back in the 90s.

Other than film buffs, everyone I know dislikes the film, calling it boring or dull. To me it is the atmosphere that makes it what it is.

By the way, my wife had never seen ALIEN so last night we sat down to watch it on Blu-Ray. She thought it was a snoozfest and kept falling asleep. She has no desire to see ALIENS or PROMETHEUS.

Yes, and I didn't care for it until I passed it years later. Then it was the actors selling the atmosphere that pulled me in. Batty, Gaff, Bryant, Priss, Zhora.

So just came home.

The movie is a good scifi movie, not as good as Alien but its not fair to compare them either since Prometheus doesnt aim to be another Alien movie.

It certainly can stand on its own, and is the most rewarding when its watched as a standalone movie, and not as a part of the Alien movies.

Prometheus, Alien and Blade Runner are just 3 different flavors of Ridley Scott scifi. I enjoy all 3.

Thanks - nice to hear a positive review

I know this is very subjective but how would you rank it for the years movies so far? Also, did you watch in 3D? How was the quality?

Same here.

I'm as big a BladeRunner fanatic as anyone else, having seen it something like 20 times in the theaters and countless times on home formats over the years.

However, I was disappointed by my first few viewings, finding the drama and characters generally pretty flat. It was the incredible visuals and sounds, the texture of the world, that drew me back. I think it's the same for most folks.

The thing about BladeRunner getting "better" over repeat viewings is that I think it's somewhat murky what is actually happening, subjectively. For me it got "better" insofar as my initial disappointment lowered the bar, as in "ok, the drama is pretty flat, but I'm going to enjoy the atmosphere." In which case, the drama no longer had to rise to my original expectations, or even to the level of interest I hold for many other films. So in that way the film "got better" over time because it I appreciated the very high bar it set visually, but had lowered the bar dramatically.

Further, since the texture of the movie brought me back so often, there is the familiarity effect, where little things grow on you over time. I'm well acquainted with this: as a sound FX editor/designer, over many years I've worked on everything from movies and TV series with excellent writing, acting, scripts to completely lame on all counts. But what happens is that over time working on a movie or especially a TV series, after the first go it no longer has to meet your expectations, and then as you grow more and more familiar with the characters, you start to see more things in the acting and script that you can pick up on and like. It seems to happen with any content, no matter how lame, at least with me.

So when it comes to a movie like Bladerunner being initially underappreciated, as if it's brilliance were there only to be found over time, I'm a little skeptical about it. Pretty much everyone acknowledged it's visual and sonic brilliance. It's what brought most of us back to repeated viewings. But I think initial reactions to the drama and characters tend to actually be pretty accurate. And it's why people who haven't seen the film many times over have the perspective that, yeah, it really does tend to be dramatically a bit dodgy. (Though I love the film totally at this point).

That's one reason why I don't go along with the "They called Bladerunner disappointing" apologetics for Prometheus. They initially called Bladerunner disappointing for good reason, not necessarily as some oversight. The question seems to be whether Prometheus will offer as much stylistic incentive for many of us to come back to it over time, and start to look over it's failings - failings that really are failing compared to what could have been, and what has been often accomplished in other more fully rounded movies.

And speaking of more fully rounded movies...


I weep for you brother, but I share your fate. My wife would never watch Alien with me anyway.

I just watched Alien again last night with a friend (on my projection system).
Blown away, as usual. Unlike Bladerunner, when I saw Alien for the first time in the theaters EVERYTHING in it seemed to be hitting a bulls-eye. Aside from the obvious visuals and art direction, editing, story etc. the acting was so nuanced and authentic it helped sell the whole package (Tom Skerritt's underplayed ship captain is the stand out for me, next being Sigourney Weaver who has never been better...after Alien she's always struck me as somewhat wooden). When I watch it today it's all around excellence is what sticks out.

I can't quite figure out the source of Scott's inconsistency in regards to writing and acting in the films comprising his career. It careens from such excellence to abysmal "was there anyone actually at the wheel here?" incompetence. It's almost like he has a tin-ear for drama and character, and this his successes amount to some form of lucky circumstances that just the right writers/cast come together and do THEIR job, to get it right. (Though I can't totally go with that, given how indispensable some of Scott's touches are to the process, like the way he coddled the realism of the "lived in" effect of cast and ship in Alien).

I hope you guys don't think this is unique among females. I'm battin' 0% with any females I've known being interested in Alien anything. I'm guessing they're out there, somewhere.

Perhaps Canada?

There is so much visual data packed into almost every scene that it overwhelms the viewer. It is one of those films that has to be seen at least 2 or 3 times to enjoy. Or to comprehend - IMO.

Good analysis, Rich (edited down your post here merely for the sake of brevity).

Prop Images - Non Spoil

http://www.portfolio.curlytopjim.com...ometheus#63322

I think it comes down to expectations.


Havnt watched many of the years movies so far, in fact this was the first time I was in a theater since Avatar. (Being a dad does complicate things) I was going to see it in 3D on friday but got sick so it was 2D on saturday instead. And I guess my biggest disappointment was the digital projector they used, maybe I sat to close, but I could detect the screendoor effect plus aliasing in the credits and subtitles.


I saw females in the theater, but I would look creppy if I walked around and took photos to show you.

Yesterday, I was listening to a local radio personality who has also been doing film reviews for his show for the last 25 years or so. He was talking to some other reviewers last night and he made a very veiled comment. Some to the effect of, "I'm extremely curious how people are going to react to this film when it opens next week" (Chicago/Midwest).

I got the vague sense that he thought this film was going to mess with expectations in a significantly negative way. But that could be my own false projection.

C'mon, that had to be the worst "gagged by a wad of newspaper" scene by Sigourney Weaver. She really needed to research that a bit deeper, just to be convincing...that was just horrendously bad!

We really need to compare this to a Charlize Theron "gagged by a wad of newspaper" scene to get to the bottom of this!

Does not compute.

oink, guess I was one of the first 5000 I received my certificate yesterday. Have you received yours?

When I met my wife she already owned the Alien Quadrilogy on DVD.

By the way, you DO know that's grounds for divorce in most states. Just sayin'.

Got mine for PROMETHEUS. Still waiting for the MIB 3 cert. (I ordered both at the same time.)

Holy Cow, you da man!

Must have been like finding treasure for a moment at least

Must have been Ukrainian chicks

as far a sci-fi goes, does this movie stack up to the 2009 Star Trek? I know it's a silly question, but just wanted to know.....