Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[The Cat]

Promethius will always be a movie about betrayal; Ridley Scott knew Guiermo Del Toro was scouting the same areas from Promethius for At the Mountains of Madness, which is why Promethius spends a good chunk of itself not even looking like an Alien movie. I'll never forgive Ridley Scott for giving us Promethius and Covenant when we could have have a visually stunning and truly psychologically horrifying cosmic horror movie....instead of a prequel about Peter Weyland's first psychotic robit and the girls who couldnt zig zag, and the team that swallowed their own tongues at every step of the way.

 

[Totenkindly]

What's ironic is that pyramids and Egyptian visual elements factored heavily in predesign for Alien, but really showed up in Prometheus instead.

Giger definitely had a cosmic / Lovecraft influence. So did Bannon.

 

[The Cat]

What's ironic is that pyramids and Egyptian visual elements factored heavily in predesign for Alien, but really showed up in Prometheus instead.

Giger definitely had a cosmic / Lovecraft influence. So did Bannon.

For sure, it even ties the alien and predator franchise in with Robert E Howard's Conan mythos, as the Engineers are based upon the Giant Kings who were a non human race in Howard's Hypoporean Age stories of Conan and the Atlantean mythos of Kull. So tell me fellow cinemascochists deep down how cool would it be in this dystopian glut of franchise content to see an Alien vs Predator movie with Jason Mimoa as Conan the Barbarian? I'd enjoy that.

 

[Totenkindly]

Bizarre. Has this happened before, where they make a sequel based on the original ending that never released in the theater because test audiences didn't like it and they instead killed off the main character in the theatrical release?

'I Am Legend 2' with Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, will follow an alternate ending, filmmaker says

Filmmaker Akiva Goldsman tells Deadline that the "I am Legend" sequel will more closely follow the route of the book by Richard Matheson.

www.yahoo.com

The book's pretty decent, I read it as a kid -- fascinating (AND THE WHOLE POINT OF THE FREAKING TITLE) in that the race we knew is now the evolutionary dead end, and what looks to the human remnants to be monsters are actually the next stage of human evolution and look back at us as the scary ones.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Promethius will always be a movie about betrayal; Ridley Scott knew Guiermo Del Toro was scouting the same areas from Promethius for At the Mountains of Madness, which is why Promethius spends a good chunk of itself not even looking like an Alien movie. I'll never forgive Ridley Scott for giving us Promethius and Covenant when we could have have a visually stunning and truly psychologically horrifying cosmic horror movie....instead of a prequel about Peter Weyland's first psychotic robit and the girls who couldnt zig zag, and the team that swallowed their own tongues at every step of the way.

I liked Prometheus, but I haven't rewatched it. I admit I liked the first half better that evoked a certain sense of wonder.

But I prefer it to Convenant, about which not much sticks out.

Guy Pearce in bad old age makeup was pretty dumb, though.

 

[The Cat]

What's ironic is that pyramids and Egyptian visual elements factored heavily in predesign for Alien, but really showed up in Prometheus instead.

Giger definitely had a cosmic / Lovecraft influence. So did Bannon.

For sure they did,

Bizarre. Has this happened before, where they make a sequel based on the original ending that never released in the theater because test audiences didn't like it and they instead killed off the main character in the theatrical release?

'I Am Legend 2' with Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, will follow an alternate ending, filmmaker says

Filmmaker Akiva Goldsman tells Deadline that the "I am Legend" sequel will more closely follow the route of the book by Richard Matheson.

www.yahoo.com

The book's pretty decent, I read it as a kid -- fascinating (AND THE WHOLE POINT OF THE FREAKING TITLE) in that the race we knew is now the evolutionary dead end, and what looks to the human remnants to be monsters are actually the next stage of human evolution and look back at us as the scary ones.

Yeah I was really disappointed with this movie. Last man on Earth which was remade into Omega Man is a much better version of I am Legend. Vincent Price in Suburbia is much better than Will Smith in New York City for the story of Robert Neville.

 

[Totenkindly]

Cutting back to Alien briefly (which I just blew through in 4K -- I gotta tell you guys, the 40th anniversary release is lovely, the colors pop nicely, and you can actually see a ton of detail in what normally is fuzzy black/grey in DVD and early bluray releases! And also the sound palette, I can actually understand a lot of the background dialogue now) ....

... because I figure @Doctor Cringelord might know this...

Any official reason why Scott swapped out Goldsmith's score on the closing credits for Howard Hanson's Symphony 2 here (it's about 10:30 min into the original score of Hanson, in case you're curious)? He didn't get permission from Goldsmith or Hanson from what I understand, but supposedly Hanson did not sue because (1) money and (2) it put his music back into the public notice again. [This piece was first performed in 1930 Boston Symphony Orchestra, was apparently a long term staple in American concerts, and two years after Alien John Williams apparently based a lot of E.T. music around Hanson's style.]

The best explanation I read was that Goldsmith's cues included the bit near the end where we think the Alien is dead but is not, but Scott is now truly signaling with this change in sound that the Alien is really gone. And honestly, it feels like a happy dream-filled ending to a film of horror, to let us know that we can finally rest, in its lush, sweet full orchestra sound. And it kind of does make it all feel like it might have been a bad dream but now everything is okay. I do like it.

EDIT: Also, another hats off to Jonesy. He manages to get Brett killed, scares the shit out of Ripley, and then has a face-to-face encounter with a xenomorph, and lives. He's a very accomplished cat.

Which leads to one of my favorite side lines from Aliens: "And you, you little shithead... you're staying here."

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

For sure they did,

Yeah I was really disappointed with this movie. Last man on Earth which was remade into Omega Man is a much better version of I am Legend. Vincent Price in Suburbia is much better than Will Smith in New York City for the story of Robert Neville.

Need to see this. I'll watch Vincent Price in anything. Maybe it's his egg magic.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

EDIT: Also, another hats off to Jonesy. He manages to get Brett killed, scares the shit out of Ripley, and then has a face-to-face encounter with a xenomorph, and lives. He's a very accomplished cat.

Which leads to one of my favorite side lines from Aliens: "And you, you little shithead... you're staying here."

That is another reason I prefer Alien. Aliens does not have enough Jonesy.

 

[Totenkindly]

Soo.... screw the critic base, maybe? I guess I'll find out this weekend.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA
CRITIC TOMATOMETER -- 48% (214)
AUDIENCE SCORE -- 85% (250+)

Hilariously, Eternals was 47% critic, 77% audience. I was kind of disappointed with Eternals on first watch but actually have enjoyed it on later viewings.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

@Totenkindly

Scott used the Hanson piece in the temp track while the film was still in editing, and as often happens with directors, he became so accustomed to it that he kept it in the theatrical cut. He also used pieces from Goldsmith’s earlier Freud score (can be heard when the acid burns a hole through the decks, and also during the shaft sequence when Dallas is taken). This majorly pissed Goldsmith off. They worked together again on Legend but I’m less familiar with the background on that one. I seem to remember reading he wasn’t thrilled about having most of his score replaced by the alternate Tangerine Dream score.

Horner had similar problems wi th Cameron on Aliens. Intended cues were either unused or shuffled around a lot. The airlock sequence with the queen near the end has the intended music cut out (that same unused piece was used in Die Hard when Al saves the day by shooting the crazed brother at the end, not sure why they used it over Kamen’s score) and they instead tracked the music over it that originally played during the final escape flight from the exploding facility. Horner was majorly pissed but only so much since they did work together again

 

[The Cat]

@Totenkindly

Scott used the Hanson piece in the temp track while the film was still in editing, and as often happens with directors, he became so accustomed to it that he kept it in the theatrical cut. He also used pieces from Goldsmith’s earlier Freud score (can be heard when the acid burns a hole through the decks, and also during the shaft sequence when Dallas is taken). This majorly pissed Goldsmith off. They worked together again on Legend but I’m less familiar with the background on that one. I seem to remember reading he wasn’t thrilled about having most of his score replaced by the alternate Tangerine Dream score.

Horner had similar problems wi th Cameron on Aliens. Intended cues were either unused or shuffled around a lot. The airlock sequence with the queen near the end has the intended music cut out (that same unused piece was used in Die Hard when Al saves the day by shooting the crazed brother at the end, not sure why they used it over Kamen’s score) and they instead tracked the music over it that originally played during the final escape flight from the exploding facility. Horner was majorly pissed but only so much since they did work together again

tbh I like the Tangerine Dream music. Similar kind of cosmic sword and sorcery to Toto in Dune. Muad Dib Blessed the Rains in Arrakis

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

tbh I like the Tangerine Dream music. Similar kind of cosmic sword and sorcery to Toto in Dune. Muad Dib Blessed the Rains in Arrakis

Yeah, probably a better fit, but I understand Jerry’s frustration

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

tbh I like the Tangerine Dream music. Similar kind of cosmic sword and sorcery to Toto in Dune. Muad Dib Blessed the Rains in Arrakis

Wait, I read the sequel. MuadDib didn't bring peace, lol. That narration is a pretty big departure.

 

[The Cat]

Wait, I read the sequel. MuadDib didn't bring peace, lol. That narration is a pretty big departure.

How far did you read? Did you get to the Preacher, and The Golden Path yet and the tens of thousands of year reign of The God Emperor of Dune where Arrakis is a green garden world, or Heretics where it comes back around, what about ChapterHouse where shit gets really crazy?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

How far did you read? Did you get to the Preacher, and The Golden Path yet and the tens of thousands of year reign of The God Emperor of Dune where Arrakis is a green garden world, or Heretics where it comes back around, what about ChapterHouse where shit gets really crazy?

No! I want to read Children of Dune, I just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[The Cat]

No! I want to read Children of Dune, I just haven't gotten around to it.

Due to the limitations of the Library in my area when i read through as a kid, I actually read children of Dune first, ironically I also saw Return of the Jedi first. come to think of it i think the only series Ive ever read or saw in order was Hobbit and LOTR.

How cool was it that they brought Duncan Idaho back as a ghola?

 

[Totenkindly]

Due to the limitations of the Library in my area when i read through as a kid, I actually read children of Dune first, ironically I also saw Return of the Jedi first. come to think of it i think the only series Ive ever read or saw in order was Hobbit and LOTR.

How cool was it that they brought Duncan Idaho back as a ghola?

The Lord of the Rings was checked out so much at the library (and I was in fifth grade at the time), I ended up reading Two Towers -> Return of the King -> Fellowship of the Ring.

To this day I still remember reading the words "Aragorn sped up the hill" or something as my first words read of LotR and wondering wtf Aragorn was and why he was running up a hill.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Due to the limitations of the Library in my area when i read through as a kid, I actually read children of Dune first, ironically I also saw Return of the Jedi first. come to think of it i think the only series Ive ever read or saw in order was Hobbit and LOTR.

How cool was it that they brought Duncan Idaho back as a ghola?

Hayted it.

No, I liked how the plan was for him to work so well as a ghola that Paul would want them to clone Chani. There wasn't anything sinister built into Hayt, that was the entire point.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Lord of the Rings was checked out so much at the library (and I was in fifth grade at the time), I ended up reading Two Towers -> Return of the King -> Fellowship of the Ring.

To this day I still remember reading the words "Aragorn sped up the hill" or something as my first words read of LotR and wondering wtf Aragorn was and why he was running up a hill.

I did that with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and read the second book first. Wondered why Ackbar was in prison.