The Official Movie Thread
- Thread starter Manic Ferocity
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Einherjar86
Active Member
Finally saw Alien: Romulus...
I agree with you entirely about mixed bag; I'd actually even say it was a pretty bad movie, especially toward the end. But I weirdly was not expecting the
to be the thing that made your theater laugh. My friends and I could barely contain ourselves when
made its first appearance. At first, you just see the silhouette, and I was like "oh, that's tasteful." Then it's fully visible, and it just looked terrible. Who signed off on that?
I was also excited by the opening, which I felt did some nice world-building. Also, the "Bar" sign you see on the colony is the same one from Aliens, which I thought was a nice touch. But then the film got way too into its elaborate set pieces and stunt acrobatics, and any subtle tension was just lost. Pretty remarkable this film has 80% on RT. It was very disappointing.
I also get wanting to pay homage to the old films, but enough with the word-for-word callbacks! fucking hell.
15 storylines? lol there were two, and they come together about 20 minutes into the film.
I agree with you entirely about mixed bag; I'd actually even say it was a pretty bad movie, especially toward the end. But I weirdly was not expecting the
human xenomorph
CGI Ian Holm
I was also excited by the opening, which I felt did some nice world-building. Also, the "Bar" sign you see on the colony is the same one from Aliens, which I thought was a nice touch. But then the film got way too into its elaborate set pieces and stunt acrobatics, and any subtle tension was just lost. Pretty remarkable this film has 80% on RT. It was very disappointing.
I also get wanting to pay homage to the old films, but enough with the word-for-word callbacks! fucking hell.
How did you love the 15 storylines introduction that almost had no impact or valuethe hell Vegard.
15 storylines? lol there were two, and they come together about 20 minutes into the film.
Vegard Pompey
ALLY TO GOOD, NIGHTMARE TO YOU
I feel silly because I did not recognize Rook as the android from the first movie. It's been a while since I've seen the first Alien, and I mistakenly thought Lance Henriksen played the android in both 1 and 2. There was definitely something off about him I couldn't put my finger on, but it didn't even occur to me that I was watching a CGI reanimation of a dead actor.
And the funny thing is, I probably enjoyed the movie more because I didn't pick up on it. I've seen several reviewers who otherwise enjoyed the movie specifically criticize the digital reanimation and meanwhile I'm over here enjoying this eerie original character who seems to reflect our troubled relationships with megacorps in the real world; being of great utility, but without our best interests at heart and with a complete apathy to our continued existence.
And the funny thing is, I probably enjoyed the movie more because I didn't pick up on it. I've seen several reviewers who otherwise enjoyed the movie specifically criticize the digital reanimation and meanwhile I'm over here enjoying this eerie original character who seems to reflect our troubled relationships with megacorps in the real world; being of great utility, but without our best interests at heart and with a complete apathy to our continued existence.
Einherjar86
Active Member
lol that's pretty funny. My friends and I were joking afterward, "What if it's actually the director's crafty take on continued corporate exploitation of actors in Hollywood, a la Weyland Yutani's unending exploitation of its labor force???" Alas, the film wishes it was that intelligent.
rms
Active Member
I didn't respond just because I realized there was no point in going forward.
But you have the main characters who wants to humanize her droid, and her own escape from hellacious life as a miner. There's two. Then you have the rest of the crew which I thought was some of the worst characters construction and "world building" I've seen in awhile. Can't believe the annoying dude lived for so long
Some of the most forced "how do we get them on that ship" in sometime.
Not that the movie matters at all, but how the hell do some ragtag losers take a ship and fly it into orbit? Am I forgetting the logic on that?
Some of the most forced "how do we get them on that ship" in sometime.
Not that the movie matters at all, but how the hell do some ragtag losers take a ship and fly it into orbit? Am I forgetting the logic on that?
Einherjar86
Active Member
I didn't respond just because I realized there was no point in going forward.
But you have the main characters who wants to humanize her droid, and her own escape from hellacious life as a miner. There's two. Then you have the rest of the crew which I thought was some of the worst characters construction and "world building" I've seen in awhile. Can't believe the annoying dude lived for so long
Some of the most forced "how do we get them on that ship" in sometime.
Not that the movie matters at all, but how the hell do some ragtag losers take a ship and fly it into orbit? Am I forgetting the logic on that?
Oh you're not wrong about the logic, especially concerning how they managed to actually leave the planet. That seemed far-fetched.
I just don't see all the elements you listed as being all that discrete. Rain, her brother, their friends, that's all part of the same storyline, I'd say. Working-class laborers trying to escape their shitty life.
As far as the plausibility of the characters, that I also agree with. My friends and I afterward were like "Who are all these gen Z kids?" At no point did we see them doing actual work, or really giving off miner vibes. The only person who felt real and cool to me was the pilot. Don't send the youths to do Sigourney Weaver's job, I guess.
Einherjar86
Active Member
I'm home alone tonight, so decided to put on the original Alien. I've been thinking about it since being underwhelmed by Romulus.
The first thirty minutes of the first film are damn near cinematic perfection. The slow tracking visuals of the ship, virtually lifeless while the crew is in stasis, combined with the gentle ambient music by Jerry Goldsmith, is one of the most impressive, patient, gorgeous, and unnerving opening sequences in any film. The script captures the authenticity of a labor class crew working for a massive multinational (or multi-planetary, at this point?) conglomerate, and the sheer lack of autonomy in such a situation (Dallas: "Standard procedure is to do what the hell they tell you to do."). Critiques of capitalism and political economy in film are so ubiquitous and ham-fisted these days, scripts typically just pay lip service without any actual skin in the game. And of course, mainstream Hollywood can't actually be anti-capitalist because it thrives on capitalism. Alien feels like a rare moment of a film betraying the real material inequities, bleakness, and deep despair of life under a massive, interstellar extractive capitalism.
After walking out of Romulus, my friends and I complained that the characters didn't feel entirely real, that the film didn't convince us of their plight. From Rain's dream of a sunrise to their implausible plan of escape, everything felt too manufactured, a product itself of Weyland-Yutani. To paraphrase one of my friends, there's no hope in Alien. The first film knew that all too well.
The first thirty minutes of the first film are damn near cinematic perfection. The slow tracking visuals of the ship, virtually lifeless while the crew is in stasis, combined with the gentle ambient music by Jerry Goldsmith, is one of the most impressive, patient, gorgeous, and unnerving opening sequences in any film. The script captures the authenticity of a labor class crew working for a massive multinational (or multi-planetary, at this point?) conglomerate, and the sheer lack of autonomy in such a situation (Dallas: "Standard procedure is to do what the hell they tell you to do."). Critiques of capitalism and political economy in film are so ubiquitous and ham-fisted these days, scripts typically just pay lip service without any actual skin in the game. And of course, mainstream Hollywood can't actually be anti-capitalist because it thrives on capitalism. Alien feels like a rare moment of a film betraying the real material inequities, bleakness, and deep despair of life under a massive, interstellar extractive capitalism.
After walking out of Romulus, my friends and I complained that the characters didn't feel entirely real, that the film didn't convince us of their plight. From Rain's dream of a sunrise to their implausible plan of escape, everything felt too manufactured, a product itself of Weyland-Yutani. To paraphrase one of my friends, there's no hope in Alien. The first film knew that all too well.
WorldObliteration33
Member
- Jul 13, 2023
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CiG
Harbinger of Metal
Trailer for the new Bong Joon Ho.
Edit:
Big Nick is back! Fuck I had no idea this was so close to being released.
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