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Posted

Back in the day, when Alien came out, before the Web and i-phones.... you just knew you had to go and see Alien, by the fantastic "word-of-mouth" recommendations.

Few movies prior to that had created the kind of buzz on the street that Alien had.

The Exorcist did. Jaws did. 2001:A Space Odyssey did. Star Wars did.

I remember seeing Alien at one of the few large single screen theaters left in Dallas, The Medallion, where it was shown as an exclusive engagment in the summer of 1979.

The Saturday night crowd packed the theater. There were no cell phones then, but what I do recall is that everyone in the audience sat spellbound, watching Alien. There was no looking down or filddling with things or "chatting" with their friends.... And because it was a night show, there were no crying babies, or really any children in the theater. Very few people got up and left for a bathroom break.

It was one of those rare, magical times when seeing a movie was an "experience".

Perhaps this Ridley Scott presentation will indeed live up to that high expectation.

The music played with some of the Prometheus trailers made me think of the group, The Crystal Method, that had it's music used in several Sc-Fi films...

"Busy Child"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uxwfohzuaE

Posted (edited)

I'm always struck by how CGI is so soulless....the effects in films like Alien & Bladerunner were just more realistic & believable to me. I think these days, filmmakers rely too much on digital effects & the gimmick that is 3D & not enough on the actual plot...the trailer isn't really doing much to quell my fears on this....

Edited by Pagesbow
Posted

I'm always struck by how CGI is so soulless....the effects in films like Alien & Bladerunner were just more realistic & believable to me. I think these days, filmmakers rely too much on digital effects & the gimmick that is 3D & not enough on the actual plot...the trailer isn't really doing much to quell my fears on this....

Meh.

I'm a big fan of "suspension of disbelief", and CGI helps tremendously.

However, overkill (2012) is a bad thing.

But I don't dislike CGI simply for it's existence or use.

Posted

I think they're beaten the Alien movie franchise to death. Ridley Scott makes epic movies but I don't see this prequel as something I'll be rushing to see.

Posted

I'm always struck by how CGI is so soulless....the effects in films like Alien & Bladerunner were just more realistic & believable to me. I think these days, filmmakers rely too much on digital effects & the gimmick that is 3D & not enough on the actual plot...the trailer isn't really doing much to quell my fears on this....

I'd say the problem is that the extra effort needed to create the old physical effects ment that they ended up being used by directors with a clear and interesting vision(Lucas, Spielberg, Scott, Carpinter etc), CGI is sio much easier to get "off the shelf" and so often ends up in the hands of talentless hacks.

Looks like a very interesting film to me, while its a "prequal" the focus does not seem to be in the Alien itself and Ripley isnt present, the two aspects that I think have really been done to death. The most interesting part of the original film for me was always the spookey Alien ship and the greater history it hinted at which seems like its exactly what this film is going to explore. The trouble is that when you have these hints at depth its often hard for a director to equal the mystery and the fans imagination, that sense of Lovecraftian "unknowability" is going to be hard to equal.

Posted

I think they're beaten the Alien movie franchise to death. Ridley Scott makes epic movies but I don't see this prequel as something I'll be rushing to see.

Ridley Scott has said it's not a direct prequel to ALIEN, but is set in the same universe. I'm looking forward to it.

Posted

The trouble is that when you have these hints at depth its often hard for a director to equal the mystery and the fans imagination, that sense of Lovecraftian "unknowability" is going to be hard to equal.

Yeah, that's very true. If he can recreate that atmosphere and sense of dread like he did with ALIEN though, I'll be happy.

Posted

Prequel, schmequel...

Nawww, since it's Ridley Scott, I'll probably give it a shot. As long as he keeps Hayden Christensen and Jar Jar Binks far, far away from it, it should be okay.

I'm always struck by how CGI is so soulless....the effects in films like Alien & Bladerunner were just more realistic & believable to me. I think these days, filmmakers rely too much on digital effects & the gimmick that is 3D & not enough on the actual plot...the trailer isn't really doing much to quell my fears on this....

That's why Christopher Nolan has developed such a large group of devotees; he is one of the few modern action directors that doesn't overdo the CGI. He prefers doing it the old-fashioned way...think of that amazing gravity-free fight sequence in "Inception". They actually built a long replica of that hallway that they could rotate while the actors were inside to simulate weightlessness. That scene wouldn't have looked as good or as cool if they just CGIed it.

Nolan is also one of the few who has resisted the 3D gimmick.

Posted

^^

True...obviously CGI has it's place and is not going anywhere, but when it's too overused you might as well be watching a computer game. Hopefully Ridley has used it sparingly like George Lucas did in the Star Wars prequels.

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