The last really good sci-fi movie you saw in a theater

[ToddMcF2002]

DArtagnan - the public hated Bladerunner at first too

I feel like a complete idiot missing most of the now seemingly obvious sub text to Prometheus. This clarifies everything. I'm going to have to see it again of course. Ridley you sneaky little bastard!

This is a fantastic and enlightening read.
http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

 

[DArtagnan]

DArtagnan - the public hated Bladerunner at first too

I feel like a complete idiot missing most of the now seemingly obvious sub text to Prometheus. This clarifies everything. I'm going to have to see it again of course. Ridley you sneaky little bastard!

This is a fantastic and enlightening read.
http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

I wouldn't have hated Blade Runner in 1982 - and I'm pretty sure I don't represent "the public".

That said, I don't think Blade Runner is quite as good as people make it out to be, but it's most certainly a visual revolution.

But Scott lost his touch many years ago - and I never expected Prometheus to match the likes of Alien. However, I didn't expect him to greenlight a no-talent hack like Lindelof to write the script along with another unknown.

Then again, Scott never had a good nose for scripts.

If you like Prometheus - you're among the majority, as it's getting pretty good feedback overall. 7.7 on IMDb is not that bad.

I can't say I understand what people find appealing about it, but to each his own.

I read the article you linked a few days ago, and it does absolutely nothing to explain the behavior or profiles of the people in the movie. Again, I don't care about the plot - because before I can even start caring about it, I need interesting/appealing/plausible characters.

It's kinda like Avatar without a plot, instead of just a cliché for a plot.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Take a look at that link, it's pretty interesting.

 

[DArtagnan]

I read the article you linked a few days ago, and it does absolutely nothing to explain the behavior or profiles of the people in the movie. Again, I don't care about the plot - because before I can even start caring about it, I need interesting/appealing/plausible characters.

What part of the above quote from my post didn't you get?

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Somehow I missed that last paragraph when I read your post. No need to be nasty dude.

 

[DArtagnan]

I wasn't being nasty, just pointing something out in confusion - since I've already explained twice what my problem with the movie is. The article does nothing to explain that. I could pick apart the "theory" in the article in two seconds - but the plot still isn't my primary issue with the movie.

It's written by the guy who did Lost. I know it will never have a good plot no matter what I tell myself, so I'm past that.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

It's written by the guy who did Lost. I know it will never have a good plot no matter what I tell myself, so I'm past that.

I quite liked Lost and its script (aside from the soap-opera episodes), but found this script to be very superficial and I've felt nothing while watching it. It could have tackled some pretty major themes and handled them at least decently. But they went for the easy way out. They used the same cliche things we've seen a hundred times. Master creates something and then wants to destroy it. Boring.

 

[rossrjensen]

I went to Prometheus the other day. It was entertaining and had good special effects, but it left far too much unanswered and too vague even for interpretation for me to think it was that good. It's too bad, because there was all sorts of interesting philosophical quandaries that could have been explored in its concept.

Thanks for the suggestions people have made, which led me to watch Mr. Nobody and Monsters, both of with were pretty decent. A low budget suggestion I have for everyone to check out, which I found to be quite intriguing, is Primer.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Thanks for the suggestions people have made, which led me to watch Mr. Nobody and Monsters, both of with were pretty decent.

Pretty decent? Personally, I thought Mr. Nobody was very cool. It stroke a very nice sentimental cord with me.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

So I'm the only one on this forum that liked Prometheus? Really? I'm seeing it again Monday with the gf and then Thursday with my brother, who has also already seen it and loved it.

I saw Alien with my brother for the first time in 1980 on a crappy "Pay TV" over the air movie service called "Starcase". I think I watched it about 15 times before they stopped airing it. I was 10 at the time. Its my favorite movie of all time and I guess I'll have to add Prometheus to the apologist list next to Alien 3&4 on this forum.

 

[rossrjensen]

Pretty decent? Personally, I thought Mr. Nobody was very cool. It stroke a very nice sentimental cord with me.

I thought it was thoughtful and interesting, though perhaps a tad slow (which doesn't generally bother me). I would give it a solid B.

So I'm the only one on this forum that liked Prometheus? Really? I'm seeing it again Monday with the gf and then Thursday with my brother, who has also already seen it and loved it.

Alien is one of my favorite flicks. I had high expectations but I don't think that's why I came out a little underwhelmed. It just wasn't very cerebral (which I love a sci-fi flick to be), and it very easily could have been. That being said, I didn't think it was outright bad by any means.

 

[Drithius]

I'll have to add Prometheus to the apologist list next to Alien 3&4 on this forum.

I liked Alien 3, especially recent versions with added content. Prometheus though… just suffers from too much WTF for my tastes. I mean, really, if some

Spoiler

android tried forcing you into giving birth to some alien hybrid squid, would you seriously just give him little more than a casual glance the next time you ran into him?

It was all just a very piecemeal script that failed to explore questions that it itself raised in prior scenes, and instead focused on jumping off to the next sequence of events that had you scratching your head yet again.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I liked Alien 3, especially recent versions with added content. Prometheus though… just suffers from too much WTF for my tastes. I mean, really, if some

Spoiler

android tried forcing you into giving birth to some alien hybrid squid, would you seriously just give him little more than a casual glance the next time you ran into him?

It was all just a very piecemeal script that failed to explore questions that it itself raised in prior scenes, and instead focused on jumping off to the next sequence of events that had you scratching your head yet again.

I also liked Alien 3, quite a bit actually. It was very atmospheric, and don't know why a lot of people say the series went bad with it. Sure, it's not as actiony or grand-scale as Aliens, but I found it quite nice.

Some interesting and funny reviews of Prometheus:
Spoony reviews Prometheus
Red Letter Media talks Prometheus

 

[rossrjensen]

It was all just a very piecemeal script that failed to explore questions that it itself raised in prior scenes, and instead focused on jumping off to the next sequence of events that had you scratching your head yet again.

This was exactly my problem with Prometheus (better articulated than I could manage). That being said, it's been a long time since I saw Alien Resurrection in the theatre, but I liked it as a kid (or teenager or whatever I was). Alien 3 I am not quite as sure about, but it seems to have grown on me more as I've gotten older. I am going to check out the Assembly Cut that someone mentioned earlier.

It was very atmospheric, and don't know why a lot of people say the series went bad with it.

I would actually say it probably took it a better direction. Don't get me wrong, Aliens is a classic, but it really deviated from what made Alien so great (the tension, claustrophobic atmosphere, etc). I think James Cameron flicks just don't have the same appeal for me that they used to -- except the original Terminator, that movie still rocks!

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Saw Prometheus again and I will agree there are script problems. The most glaring one I noticed tonight was the Captain's profound "revelation" about the nature of the ruins and its contents - aka

Spoiler

it is merely an isolated military facility with WMDs

. While the dialog is helpful for the audience, this sort of insight should have been delivered by Meredith Vickers in a confrontational scene, perhaps after she

Spoiler

torched Charlie

or

Spoiler

after she confronts Weyland with the king metaphor and reveals her relationship to him

. The Captain simply has no business having this insight.

So overall I think were it fails is in establishing continuity and flow with the cast. While David has purposeful dialog and motivations there are scant few others that can claim the same. Most of the cast are in the film seemingly for no better reason than to fill the ship. Charlize is way under utilized. She is only there as a vehicle to reveal plot points via dialog, but not enough of the important ones. Finally, both Charlie and the geologist are outright annoying and

Spoiler

can't die soon enough

On the other hand, I think where the movie really succeeds is in atmosphere, a sense of wonder, dread and pure visuals. It also does a nice job dropping enough symbolism and hints to the Engineers true motivation.

I still really enjoy this movie. Last viewing for me is this Thursday.

 

[Drithius]

Well, it wasn't a theater, but I happened to stumble upon Natural City last night. The story is quite similar to that of Bladerunner. If you are a fan of scifi set in a dystopian future with questions on humanity, I recommend it. Unfortunately, it doesn't delve into such questions as deeply as Bladerunner (nor does it have any scenes comparable to that of Rutger Hauer's inspired death of Roy Batty), but it's still enjoyable nonetheless.

And, can someone tell me why the hell Rutger Hauer went on to do so very many B-movies after such a seminal performance? sigh.

 

[Jaz]

Ahhh, finally. The other guy who saw Natural City .

 

[Myrkrel]

I've had Natural City in my Netflix queue for a while now - wasn't sure about it but now I'll definitely check it out.

 

[Arhu]

Ahhh, finally. The other guy who saw Natural City .

Now I'm intrigued.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

I've tried Natural City several times and I keep passing out. I'll keep trying. It looked vaguely interesting.