- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 27,786
Doesn't make the rest any less true.
Alien: Romulus 08/16/24
- Thread starter GhostSeed
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 14,370
Okay.
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2018
- Posts
- 3,234
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2003
- Posts
- 11,471
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 14,370
Yeah, because some of the crew might have survived if Ash hadn't been working against them the whole time. The chestburster would have come out of Kane while they were all waiting for the quarantine period to end, the creature would have been contained in the airlock and Dallas and Lambert might have just opened the outside door and let the fucker leave.
EDIT: If you're interested, read the core rulebook for Free League's Alien roleplaying game. The world that has been crafted from the first film's imagination is pretty compelling.
EDIT: If you're interested, read the core rulebook for Free League's Alien roleplaying game. The world that has been crafted from the first film's imagination is pretty compelling.
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Posts
- 47,918
I didn’t even know there was an Alien RPG. I’m down for a world-building read.
In an unrelated note but the mention of an Alien RPG reminded me: there was a Terminator tabletop miniatures game. Once per game each player can get a reroll on a single roll. The rules state when you reroll you have to explain how time travel was used, in game, to change the results of the action that you rerolled for. LOL.
In an unrelated note but the mention of an Alien RPG reminded me: there was a Terminator tabletop miniatures game. Once per game each player can get a reroll on a single roll. The rules state when you reroll you have to explain how time travel was used, in game, to change the results of the action that you rerolled for. LOL.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 14,370
Yes, the creatures work better on a conceptual level as a mere hostile invasive species. I appreciate Scott trying to take the franchise in some new directions but establishing that an android constructed by Weyland is the father of the monster, and that David did it to prove that constructs can outgrow their constructors was just too contrived. This IP didn't need all of that.
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 27,786
I disagree. Unless all you want are mindless repeats and rehashes of the original couple movies, the only reason to continue the "franchise" at all is to world build and explore the mythology. If you want to argue that Alien never should have had any sequels in the first place, I could agree with that.
- Joined
- May 12, 2006
- Posts
- 1,312
the only option left when your pulse rifles runs out of ammunition.
- Joined
- May 4, 2004
- Posts
- 12,318
What's you guys opinions on Cameron remastering Aliens, The Abyss and True Lies in 4k with AI, claiming them the definitive versions and not making a normal remaster available?
He did the same thing with T2 and it looked so fucking bad I had to track down the old blu-ray.
He did the same thing with T2 and it looked so fucking bad I had to track down the old blu-ray.
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2013
- Posts
- 2,225
I stopped expecting him to do anything worthwhile after True Lies.
Remasters for stuff like movies and music just always feel wrong to me. I dunno if "soulless" is the right word for it or not but it just feels wrong listening/watching to older stuff with all the newer production applied.
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2018
- Posts
- 3,234
I'm fine with the Blu-rays, already bought them more than once. Looks at Terminator 2 HD DVD. Fuck that George Lucas shit.
- Joined
- May 4, 2004
- Posts
- 12,318
If it's just a straight up remastering I'm fine with that and it can make a world of difference especially with old movies. It's the revisionist tinkering/technology obsession that gets me. It never looks natural. Using AI to eliminate film grain is ludicrous and frankly insulting to the medium.
Unfortunately The Abyss never got an HD release until the 4k AI one that just came out. The best you could get before that was DVD and Laserdisc.
I don't get why it's so hard for these guys to understand that yes it's their movie and they can do whatever they want to it but you still need to make the original version available. It always just comes off as spiteful to the fans.
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Posts
- 27,786
And Lucas was one of the guys who petitioned studios not to colorize their black and white movies. That's what I don't get.
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2014
- Posts
- 3,862
I've always chalked it up to Martha leaving him but who knows... boomers got weird and selfish in their old age.
- Joined
- May 4, 2004
- Posts
- 12,318
That's different though.
Cameron is trying to make old movies look like they were just released and shot in digital HD. Removing all the film grain and by extension existing detail then replacing it with AI generated details as well as extensive color tweaking and some other shenanigans. It all has that uncanny unnatural look to it.
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2014
- Posts
- 3,862
Oh right. The movie.
Alien Romulus - Decent. Not great. Really good first two acts with some solid world building, practical effects and subtle nods to the first two films and a turd of a final act stuffed to the brim with horror movie brain damage moments (people doing dumb shit because it moves the plot along and not because it makes sense for their characters or the moment they're in) as well as some way less subtle references that feel like cheap nostalgia bait. I actually liked CG Ian Holm (it's one of the few situations where that obnoxious trend actually makes sense) but the direct line pulls (including the egregious one from Andy toward the end) are completely unearned and pulled me right out of the movie.
Also... I like Aliens but, at some point, we have to admit that it forever ruined the mystique of the xenomorph. It just became another cannon fodder creature that can be mowed down indiscriminately by any dipshit with a pulse rifle.
Alien Romulus - Decent. Not great. Really good first two acts with some solid world building, practical effects and subtle nods to the first two films and a turd of a final act stuffed to the brim with horror movie brain damage moments (people doing dumb shit because it moves the plot along and not because it makes sense for their characters or the moment they're in) as well as some way less subtle references that feel like cheap nostalgia bait. I actually liked CG Ian Holm (it's one of the few situations where that obnoxious trend actually makes sense) but the direct line pulls (including the egregious one from Andy toward the end) are completely unearned and pulled me right out of the movie.
Also... I like Aliens but, at some point, we have to admit that it forever ruined the mystique of the xenomorph. It just became another cannon fodder creature that can be mowed down indiscriminately by any dipshit with a pulse rifle.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2008
- Posts
- 11,303
Oof that is bad. This fuckin guy.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 14,370
I think you can still tell stories in this world without going in the directions that the franchise has gone in after the second film. Alien: Romulus' first two thirds are actually pretty inventive in that regard. And the creature is just a killer waiting to be loosed on the cast during that part of the film. It doesn't hurt the potency of the film at all. But when you see how wrong everything has gone by way of how the movie's final third incorporates a bit of everything, it's clear that in their attempts to expand the franchise, they've rendered the creature effectively impotent. I think Prometheus would have worked better as its own thing rather than being burdened by the films that preceded it.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 14,370
Seems like you and I are of a like mind as it regards this film. Our opinions are almost identical in all respects.
And like you, I just feel that there's nowhere else to go with the creature after Aliens as it stands, while at the same time feeling as though they work best as we see it in the first two films. That's why I can appreciate Scott making the effort with Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. I don't think either of those films are good additions to the mythology but at least it was an effort to do something new. I probably would have welcomed a third entry in that trilogy. For its many flaws, I still enjoyed Alien: Covenant despite the mistakes it makes with the mythology.
Man, they really had something going with the first two thirds of Romulus. Seeing how the creature's imperative to progenate its own species intersected with a brand new motivation for a film's characters in this setting was quite compelling.