They're Remaking 'Alien' -- the 'Prometheus' thread

And pretty much every important scene of death/violence in the movie involves a parent killing/trying to kill its children, or vice versa (except for the first scene where a parent dies for its children). I mean, this is a movie in whose most memorable scene the main character, who's explicitly said to be unable to have kids, gives herself a Caesarean to get out a mutant kid that she then tries to kill. So I'd say parenthood is a pretty important theme in Prometheus.

(x-post)

hey guys, i have this cheeto we could be discussing instead. I think it represents the hunger for greater representation, both politically and socially, by all the children of god. Let's talk about that.

What's a cheeto?

accept the mystery

Actually, I'd like to retract what I said above... I guess an extended cut could explain all the irrational behaviour by having the opening scenes on Earth, where we learn that no respectable scientist would take a 5 year trip to a planet they know nothing about, for a reason that can't be disclosed to them, so Weyland has no other alternative but to hire wackos and stoners desperate for money. But I suspect such a scene was never scripted or filmed.

I kind of like it as a comment on leader-driven companies, particularly those where the leader has enough of a hold that he can both keep it until he dies, and give it to his kids (hi dere News Corp). The scientists aren't there to be the best, they're there because Weyland liked them, and it's Weyland's company paying for the mission, and unfortunately Weyland is a stupid dying fool.

Yeah, actually everything goes wrong specifically because he's a parent who won't let the children grow up and decide things for themselves. I don't think Tuomas is flailing wildly to come up with this theme, especially given that all the Alien pictures have attempted to thematized parent-child stuff (in various directions with various degrees of success). It's just that Prometheus doesn't do it well, or coherently. As with The Dark Knight (which I did like much more than this), the lack of competence in delivering basic story mechanics and characterization makes me less willing to give anybody involved credit for purposeful thematic ambiguity. It just looks like a mess on multiple fronts.

I think right after I saw it I was still riding the entertainment factor of the parts that worked, but man, relative to the excitement provoked by the trailer, this had to be one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen.

i recently rewatched alien (and alien iii) but even in alien it was kind of hard to follow what was happening, but maybe in alien you could ascribe that to only showing as much of the alien as was prosthetically feasible at the time. we're not given much character motivation in alien either. maybe it's just a much better movie for its constraints rather than the director's abilities?

He did have some wacky ideas even then

Scott had wanted the Alien to bite off Ripley's head and then make the final log entry in her voice, but the producers vetoed this idea as they believed that the Alien had to die at the end of the film.

yeesh!

a lot of the effects hold up really well, especially the organ dissection stuff (that apparently used real organs), but the part where the chestburster wheels off is so puppet-like, it reminds me of the parody scene in spaceballs.

even in alien it was kind of hard to follow what was happening

haha waht

i think tuomas readings are spot on but they're not very deep (movies' fault not tuomas') and they're not executed that well in the movie and they're pretty obvious on top of that

i think the third one is the most religious and the most thematically inscrutable

alien3 = most religious and inscrutable

re: hard to follow -- well for example, without looking for model photos, can you draw what the nostromo looked like? what was ripley's job -- was she a navigator or something?

What does drawing what the Nostromo looked like have to do with following the plot of the movie? Do you mean, like, the interior spaces? Yeah, I could probably come up with a reasonable approximation, but what relevance it has is beyond me.

Ripley's job is clearly akin to a kind of XO or CPO job in the Navy. (She identifies herself as "Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley" at the end. Based on what's seen in the movie she supervises the engineering staff and serves as ranking officer when the Captain and First Officer are not on board.

how did the alien grow from chestburster to hunter -- does it actually eat the humans? the scene where veronica cartwright is stunned between yaphet kotto's flamethrower and the alien, why can't yaphet kotto move around her, was there something blocking movement?

the relevance re: being able to draw nostromo is that it's emblematic of the rest of the movie where they don't show in clear enough detail what is going on in order to have a grounding (which might be a horror movie move but still)

i also don't remember seeing jonesy in the initial hypersleep wake scene -- was he just mousing about for 8 months or whatever?

Why did an Engineer pose as a religious leader?

If someone asks if you're a god, say yes!

alien3 had similar "what the hell is going on" but it was restricted to the alien tunnel scenes and ended up being more disorienting than anything. at least the characters seemed much more grounded. there's also plot problems in how the alien infested the colony, but seeing how they were shooting without a script, the whole production seems like a miracle. it looks really pretty! i think it's the prettiest of all the alien movies.

like if you were going to make an alien-themed bread and breakfast inn, definitely go for alien3.

Why did an Engineer pose as a religious leader?

and when you kill a man, you're a murderer
kill many, and you're a conqueror
kill them all... ooh ... ooh ... you're a god!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYW_lPlekiQ

Kind of thought Jesus was supposed to be the end-run of earth's evolution, humans reaching ascendance engineer-style (although not necessarily as engineers) and we fucked it up by killing him, so the engineers were coming back to terminate a failed experiment.

it was probably just a coincidence, just look miss vickers getting squashed and noomi surviving, unless you believe in miracles DO YOU SEE

i dunno that stuff felt a lot like george lucas-style "rhyming"

I don't think Tuomas is flailing wildly to come up with this theme, especially given that all the Alien pictures have attempted to thematized parent-child stuff (in various directions with various degrees of success). It's just that Prometheus doesn't do it well, or coherently.

Well yeah, that was exactly the point was I was trying to make, if they'd taken these themes that clearly were there in the material, and done them more coherently, and scrapped some other themes that only confused things (seriously, what was the point of the crucific xenomorph?), they might've gotten a good movie out of it. As such, it's only an good-looking, semi-interesting mess.

a good-looking, semi-interesting mess

rowr

did you guys liked the way it looked? the apple store in space look?

yeah i thought the ship design + 3d cameras was a masterclass

beats the apple store on earth at least right?

yeah say whatever you want about it but it's beautifully shot and designed

particularly the "flight deck". that was the sickest shit ever (ok stolen from halo but whatever)

i think i liked the fake david ad more than the look of the movie. something about putting it in space makes it look really hilarious, like there should be a tiffany's deck as well, with a frozen yogurt pod upstairs. did the aesthetic carry over to the look of the engineers as well? i don't remember, but did they iDesign their nipples away?

uh, isn't that vicker's cabin

Life lessons from Prometheus

-Ultimately, we're all working/dying for some rich asshole's vanity project
-The sought-after Answers to Life's Big Questions are unsatisfying and nearly incomprehensible.
-the only ones thriving in the modern work environment are psychopaths (androids)
-don't ever let Damon Lindelof near a computer again

i can't argue with any of that

Re: the last: he is far too self-aware now:

https://twitter.com/DamonLindelof/status/251043815576711168

hahahahahaha A+++ summation of life lessons

i think i liked the fake david ad more than the look of the movie. something about putting it in space makes it look really hilarious, like there should be a tiffany's deck as well, with a frozen yogurt pod upstairs. did the aesthetic carry over to the look of the engineers as well? i don't remember, but did they iDesign their nipples away?

― Philip Nunez, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 3:32 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, the david commercial was so much better than the movie

it had that in common with that ben stiller joint

one day we will all evolve to be giant pale bald gym bros

in space no one can hear you max out your delts

I enjoy this movie immensely. I don't understand taking apart the movie to see if it works or fit together, I wouldn't enjoy hardly any movies if I did that regularly.

that's cuz most movies are terrible

most movies don't invite it tbf

If any movie requires you to "turn off your brain to enjoy it, bro", you should set fire to it immediately

I like being surprised by movies, not figuring out who the killer is or what's going to happened next. Not saying I turn off my brain, but I'm not critical of a movie until the second time around. Unless it's just really bad and it can't cast a spell over me, Prometheus did manage to pull me under it's spell.

I also don't read review, try to avoid trailers and won't read a thread about a movie until I've seen it. Prometheus was beautiful to watch if anything, and yeah the plot had potholes in it, but I liked how ambitious it was.

guous surely

Less potholes, more they failed to build the whole fucking road.

"ALTERNATE BEGINNING AND ENDING" is an odd way to sell a dvd. i might be up for it if it has an alternate middle as well