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Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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johnson1010
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Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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Alien, and Aliens are some of the very best sci-fi ever put on a screen.

Ridley is going to take a swing at fixing all the garbage we have seen dumped into the alien mythology, and make us fear the xenomorph once again.

For this series, this is very good news.

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles ... tory.jhtml
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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Well, this rules out Sigourney Weaver as the star, since she's too old now to do a prequel of a movie she was a young woman in. I wonder what the premise will be, obviously dealing with the "Space Jockey," and if it will look too cheesy now compared to the old ones because of the enormous use of CGI I imagine will occur (see any of the Star Wars prequels for a good example of CGI outweighing plot and dialogue, when the original films did better with far less technology)?
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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There is nothing inherantly bad about CG. Like every other tool, its all in how it is used.

The problem is that producers are so pumped about their cool CG creatures that they want to show them off. All the same, the more exposure you give to your monster the more an audience is able to cope with what they are seeing and adjust so that it is no longer scary.

Also, because they don't have to work to overcome physics directors tend to ignore the rules when animating CG characters. They seem to think, well, if we get this alien to zip across the cieling going 30 mph that will be really scary, but all it really does is take that CG element out of the real world because it is behaving in an unnatural way.

As for Star wars. As always, i blame George Lucas.
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Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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I agree with you 100% about the abuse of CG and the blaming of the poor quality of the Star Wars prequels on George Lucas.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with CG, just that many times it is overused as a cop out or compensation for not having more in the way of actual writing (see the 2007 version of Beowulf -- even Neil Gaiman couldn't save that movie). I also agree that the buildup of a monster is far scarier than showing the monster able to do physics altering feats. I, personally, like the original version of the ice monster on Hoth in the first few scenes of The Empire Strikes Back, where you hear him growling but do not see him, then only see his face for about three seconds and then just the arm that falls when Luke slashes him with a lightsaber. That scene was far more intense and exciting the original way, but when Lucas revamped the movies, he showed more of the monster, taking away a lot of the suspense that (I think) was crucial to the scene. In an interview Lucas said that he originally wanted us to see the creature, and that the "less is more" idea of suspense and monsters wasn't his original intention.

Sometimes when you're on a low budget and pressed for time and you create a film that becomes an instant cult success for 25 years when you did the thing on the seat of your pants, you should probably listen to the fans and accept the fact that whatever you did was successful, no matter how fast or low budget or without certain elements. The only good thing I saw in the Special Edition releases was that I got to see the Star Wars trilogy in the theater, which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise, but because of the changes and the fact that it led to the horrible prequels, I sometimes wish Lucas had just left it alone.

He then did the same thing to E.T., which I never saw so I can't complain, but at some point you just have to say, give it a rest, old man!

As for Alien, the first one was all buildup and no delivery (in my opinion), there were some good scenes but overall I was left scratching my head. I liked the second movie a lot, especially the way they dragged Ripley back out to the planet that traumatized her (seriously, would you ever go back if you'd seen that stuff happen to your crew?? I sure as hell wouldn't), and then she feels compassion for the little girl, and that story became, for me, even more intriguing than the first one. The third one wasn't horrible, but it wasn't spectacular, but it was fun to watch, especially to watch Ripley make herself like one of the guys by shaving her head, so as to keep them from seeing her as a woman, which they hadn't seen in years, and also to try to have them accept her. I always liked Ripley's character in that she is vulnerable, yes, but she does whatever it takes to survive, and to help others survive. I hope whatever female character Scott writes for the prequel will be even close to what Ripley was.

I never saw any of the Alien movies past Aliens 3, and I haven't seen any of the Alien vs. Predator movies because I never saw Predator. I liked what I saw, and decided to leave it at that, because I didn't want to see how they'd get Ripley out of molten lava to be the lead in the next film (which I know they did, but I don't particularly feel the need to see it).

I watched all of the first three Alien movies in one night, and had dreams about aliens for about a week afterward. :lol: I love sci-fi, not particularly aliens unless it's done in a funny way, but Ridley Scott's aliens were as close to scary aliens as I think I'll ever see. I hope he can repeat that fear in his prequel. That would be awesome.
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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Agreed.

The first predator movie is a classic. Predator 2 is pretty decent.

Skip both alien vs predator movies and Alien 4 (though alien 4 does have some moments with the new creature which were genuinely disturbing).
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Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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I am cringing and dying to hear you haven't seen Predator. PREDATOR! One of the great sci-fi action movies of all time! Though I die more to hear Alien described as "all buildup and no delivery". I would assume you prefer action to suspense from that description, but then you say you haven't watched Predator and I don't know what to think! Up is down, left is right......

I loved Alien and Aliens. The third and fourth I thought were fine, as well as the first AvP movie (I've not seen the second). They were all crap compared to Alien and Aliens, but they were fine if you consider them on their own. Ridley is one of my favourite characters in film, ever. I especially love that she's a person who kicks ass, not "a woman", if you know what I mean. Traditionally women in action movies are either pointless T&A or they have incredibly lame motivations (either: was raped, avenging family, doing it for love). I liked that Ridley was just a person who did what she had to do.

As to the prequel, I am cautiously optimistic. One needs to consider the director - Lucas isn't a very good writer and his creative input should be severely limited. Unfortunately he's rich and successful and is no doubt surrounded by sycophants who tell him everything he spews is gold. I dunno that Ridley Scott has lost perspective in that way, so I have hope. However, I try not to look forward to movies because invariably I get terribly disappointed. The last movie I was excited about was Terminator: Salvation. Now I'm a sad panda.
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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theomanic wrote:Traditionally women in action movies are either pointless T&A or they have incredibly lame motivations (either: was raped, avenging family, doing it for love). I liked that Ridley was just a person who did what she had to do.
Alice in the Resident Evil movies does what she does "because it's what she has to do." She still has vulnerable moments, but that obviously just makes her more human, and more admirable.
theomanic wrote:I am cringing and dying to hear you haven't seen Predator. PREDATOR! One of the great sci-fi action movies of all time! Though I die more to hear Alien described as "all buildup and no delivery". I would assume you prefer action to suspense from that description, but then you say you haven't watched Predator and I don't know what to think! Up is down, left is right......
I'm sorry to tell you I haven't seen Predator yet, although it is in my Netflix queue, but I don't think that shows a lacking on my part. I tend to find out about awesome things much later than everyone else, but then dive at them with an obsessive passion most people who've known the thing all along can't match and doesn't understand. I was only recently drawn to action movies, so not having seen Predator isn't shocking in my world of understanding, but I can see how it would be in yours. I'm also sorry I can't tell you I liked the first Alien movie as much as you or anyone else does, but that doesn't mean "I don't like suspense and prefer action," it just means I didn't find Alien itself all that compelling on its own, end of story.

When dealing with the emotional arena of subjective taste, it's best not to generalize based on dislike of one movie/book/whatever in a genre, because that says nothing about how they feel about any other work of art in that genre, no matter how strongly you may personally feel. It seems silly to me that your whole world is turned upside down because Alien isn't one of my favorites and I haven't had a chance yet to see Predator. It says nothing about my character or who I am, and has no affect on your life, either, so I just don't get it.

I'm sorry for the lecture, but I felt a little offended and taken aback that you would presume to know my tastes overall based on my lack of enthusiasm for one movie and lack of chance to view another. It leads me to assume that you are quick to judge and write off people who don't share your exact opinions. I'm probably wrong as this a first impression, but based on your snap judgment of me based on what I had said, that is what I can assume. If you think I'm wrong, I suggest you look at your own reaction to my original post and think about how snap generalizations can make someone feel.
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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It honestly did not for a moment occur to me one could possibly take it seriously that someones life would be turned askew because someone else had not seen a movie. I will endeavour not to reply to you in a flippant manner as it is clearly offensive to you and I've no wish to start a brawl.
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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The internet needs "layers of subtlety" and "sarcasm" buttons.

I didn't mean to take offense, but it's hard to tell what people's reactions really are online because there are no body language or facial cues to hint at humor. Sorry for overreacting. I'm known to take things a bit too seriously, and it gets worse in the internet with the lack of inferences that I have mentioned. No brawling necessary. Sorry. :(
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Re: Ridley Scott talks about his upcoming Alien prequel.

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My appologies to fans,

But my heart is swollen with hate for all things related to the resident evil movies.

Resident evil was a game just begging to be made into a movie at a time when there were very few games with plots worth seeing, just for the plot.

Then the movie.
In the absence of God, I found Man.
-Guillermo Del Torro

Are you pushing your own short comings on us and safely hating them from a distance?

Is this the virtue of faith? To never change your mind: especially when you should?

Young Earth Creationists take offense at the idea that we have a common heritage with other animals. Why is being the descendant of a mud golem any better?
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