Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted June 2, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted June 2, 2012 - It's in 3D, the Technique which Can't Ever Work. - It's an obvious cash-in on an old, old brand, despite their claims to the contrary - One of the leading cast can't act, and this is appallingly obvious from the trailer; am I the only person to see this? - They've already put out BTS material in which their production designer describes how innovative and new their spaceship is, only it isn't. - Ridley Scott is a miserable-looking bastard in every circumstance in which I've seen him interviewed. Maybe he just doens't like doing press. Usually I find it easy to divorce the makers of a piece of art from the art itself, but that whining northern git does have a unique way of getting on my nerves. For God's sake, you're a major film director. Cheer the **(obscenity removed)** up. - And finally, and most tellingly, the local Odeon will take great pleasure in allowing me to wade through drifts of discarded popcorn in order to sit in a chair two thirds the width of the average human backside, in order to stare at the dancing white specks of a dozen cellphone screens, listen to half of a dozen cellphone conversations. It will then project onto a screen having the consistency of a bathtowel an image corrupted to a fuzzy pink-and-green mess by projection facilities whose consumable parts are 150% over their rated life. And for this it will charge me considerably more money than the Arclight on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles charges for an experience approximately nineteen thousand times better. I'm not going to go and see Prometheus, because the experience will be horrible, the film will be horrible, and it will cost too much money. And that's deeply depressing to me, because I love science fiction. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted June 2, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted June 2, 2012 - It's in 3D, the Technique which Can't Ever Work. - It's an obvious cash-in on an old, old brand, despite their claims to the contrary - One of the leading cast can't act, and this is appallingly obvious from the trailer; am I the only person to see this? - They've already put out BTS material in which their production designer describes how innovative and new their spaceship is, only it isn't. - Ridley Scott is a miserable-looking bastard in every circumstance in which I've seen him interviewed. Maybe he just doens't like doing press. Usually I find it easy to divorce the makers of a piece of art from the art itself, but that whining northern git does have a unique way of getting on my nerves. For God's sake, you're a major film director. Cheer the **(obscenity removed)** up. - And finally, and most tellingly, the local Odeon will take great pleasure in allowing me to wade through drifts of discarded popcorn in order to sit in a chair two thirds the width of the average human backside, in order to stare at the dancing white specks of a dozen cellphone screens, listen to half of a dozen cellphone conversations. It will then project onto a screen having the consistency of a bathtowel an image corrupted to a fuzzy pink-and-green mess by projection facilities whose consumable parts are 150% over their rated life. And for this it will charge me considerably more money than the Arclight on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles charges for an experience approximately nineteen thousand times better. I'm not going to go and see Prometheus, because the experience will be horrible, the film will be horrible, and it will cost too much money. And that's deeply depressing to me, because I love science fiction. P Okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Sorry about the last post, that seems to just happen sometimes lately. *shrug* - One of the leading cast can't act, and this is appallingly obvious from the trailer; am I the only person to see this? No. I've mentioned problems with the acting in the trailer at least a couple of times to absolute silence. It worries me this stuff is in the trailer because it makes me question if there is more bad stuff in the actual film. A lot of the subsequent stuff that came out didn't seem as bad tho, so it swung me the other way for a while. If the trailer does have the worst bits in the film, you have to question why nobody realised this. It blows my mind when this kind of thing happens. It's like the BBC TV series outcasts. You wonder that nobody spotted before, some of it could have been easily fixed or edited out but they seem oblivious to the issues. There is also really, really, badly written dialogue. "it's changing..." "Changing into what?" "Look I never f****in said it was changing into anything, it's just turning green okay..." love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 - Ridley Scott is a miserable-looking bastard in every circumstance in which I've seen him interviewed. Maybe he just doens't like doing press. Usually I find it easy to divorce the makers of a piece of art from the art I really like to hear him talk strangely. I find it way more interesting when he isn't talking about his films tho. This might go with your theory of him not liking to do press. itself, but that whining northern git does have a unique way of getting on my nerves. For God's sake, you're a major film director. Yeah but to be fair he is a major film director who made some of the most incredible films ever but over 20 years ago. Since then he has squandered his talent and done things he should be ashamed of. He now has not much longer to live. That's hard. Cheer the **(obscenity removed)** up. Now this really made me giggle! :) Pot, kettle, black. love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 -And that's deeply depressing to me, because I love science fiction. P On the up side, even if the film is terrible (and I suspect it isn't, it just isn't anywhere near as good as it is being hyped to be), the success of the film may mean that more intelligent sci-fi films get made. Some of them might be quite good! love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Brereton Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 A friend of mine, who has apparently seen it, says 'Don't Bother'. I hope he's not right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steven Beverly Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Yeah but to be fair he is a major film director who made some of the most incredible films ever but over 20 years ago. Since then he has squandered his talent and done things he should be ashamed of. He now has not much longer to live. That's hard. love Freya Freya, You know I'm your buddy, but are you freakin'kidding?! Gladiator 2000 Black Hawk Down 2001 Kingdom of Heaven 2005 American Gangster 2007 Robin Hood 2010 He has CONSISTENTLY make INCREDIBLE films. Any one of these pictures would have made an unknown a superstar. Scott is one of my favorite all time directors. You must be thinking of Tony Scott, who in my opinion, is a journeyman director but doesn't have that spark of genius that Ridley does and make NO MISTAKE, Ridley Scott is a genius. I will be seeing Prometheus and am looking forward with bells on to see it B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Christopher Sheneman Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Prometheus has the Inception soundtrack of the year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bartok Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Freya, You know I'm your buddy, but are you freakin'kidding?! Gladiator 2000 Black Hawk Down 2001 Kingdom of Heaven 2005 American Gangster 2007 Robin Hood 2010 He has CONSISTENTLY make INCREDIBLE films. Any one of these pictures would have made an unknown a superstar. Scott is one of my favorite all time directors. You must be thinking of Tony Scott, who in my opinion, is a journeyman director but doesn't have that spark of genius that Ridley does and make NO MISTAKE, Ridley Scott is a genius. I will be seeing Prometheus and am looking forward with bells on to see it B) Too much Russel crow for my liking lol, he forgot that one with leo and Russel "body of lies", im sure he'll make a cameo :P haha I like most his films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Millar Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Must admit the line in the trailer "Prometheus has landed" rubbed me the wrong way. Sounded like it was pulled from a cut scene in a mid 90's computer game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Freya, You know I'm your buddy, but are you freakin'kidding?! Gladiator 2000 Black Hawk Down 2001 Kingdom of Heaven 2005 American Gangster 2007 Robin Hood 2010 He has CONSISTENTLY make INCREDIBLE films. Any one of these pictures would have made an unknown a superstar. Scott is one of my favorite all time directors. You must be thinking of Tony Scott, who in my opinion, is a journeyman director but doesn't have that spark of genius that Ridley does and make NO MISTAKE, Ridley Scott is a genius. I will be seeing Prometheus and am looking forward with bells on to see it B) You completely misunderstand me James! No argument that Ridley is amazingly talented. That is exactly what I'm talking about. Can't disagree that he has made good films that would have made any unknown a superstar (tho he has generally worked to preety huge budgets, so not an easy comparison) Not seen Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down. They are both on my watch list. I actually have KOH on VHS here! :) Of the stuff I have seen that I would say definitely check out, I'd pick American Gangster and body of lies. Really good films. I even thought "a good year" was fun in a trivial kinda way. Worth a look too. Robin Hood doesn't make the list for me. It is a flawed masterpiece. Gladiator can't be disputed for being his big bounce back after going severely off the rails. What I'm arguing tho, is that Ridley has talent that goes way beyond that. He made 3 films that rank IMHO as 3 of the most important films of all time. Films that made people rethink the way they saw cinema. It's a long story but Ridley Scott is the man that changed the way I saw cinema. I grew up in an age of TV and home video. I had no real relationship with cinema at all beyond that. A friend had free tickets and he wanted me to come to the cinema with him as nobody else was up for it either. He had to talk me into it. I left that cinema absolutely stunned and blown away. love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Must admit the line in the trailer "Prometheus has landed" rubbed me the wrong way. Sounded like it was pulled from a cut scene in a mid 90's computer game. Heh heh! Tho presumably he was half joking, like a riff on "the eagle has landed" ...and to be fair, this is supposed to be a big historic moment for them. Glad they didn't make a speech tho! love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 You must be thinking of Tony Scott, who in my opinion, is a journeyman director but doesn't have that spark of genius that Ridley does and make NO MISTAKE, Ridley Scott is a genius. er yeah. I wish I had been. It's funny you should mention that. I remember when I heard that he was making that Hannibal film. They only mentioned Scott Free in the announcement, and I thought "It must be Tony Scott, Ridley would never do something like that!" I was still shocked at Scott free having anything to do with it, and you can't imagine how I felt when I realised it was Ridley Scott. Let down would be an understatement. Definitely took the edge off the comeback with gladiator after 10 years in the wilderness. It could have been a fantastic pairing. Tony making the tacky crap (I think deja vu might still be on the iplayer for those who didn't catch it. Kinda fun and silly) and Ridley making the intelligent masterpieces but it didn't quite work out that way. love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 This has been a real hit and miss year for the big budget stuff from Hollywood, Disney and Universal, have both had major flops so far this year. I guess time will tell what happens with this one. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steven Beverly Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 You completely misunderstand me James! No argument that Ridley is amazingly talented. That is exactly what I'm talking about. Can't disagree that he has made good films that would have made any unknown a superstar (tho he has generally worked to preety huge budgets, so not an easy comparison) Not seen Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down. They are both on my watch list. I actually have KOH on VHS here! :) He has been a big influence on me as well. If you have never seen Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down stop denying yourself the true joy of watching these powerful works of art. Black Hawk Down is so powerful as to be unforgettable, I would say on a par with Gladiator and his other great works. Kingdom of Heaven is stunning and Orlando Blooms best work to date. III have not seen Body of Lies and now it has become a must see because of your and others recommendations. B) Of the stuff I have seen that I would say definitely check out, I'd pick American Gangster and body of lies. Really good films. I even thought "a good year" was fun in a trivial kinda way. Worth a look too. Robin Hood doesn't make the list for me. It is a flawed masterpiece. Gladiator can't be disputed for being his big bounce back after going severely off the rails. What I'm arguing tho, is that Ridley has talent that goes way beyond that. He made 3 films that rank IMHO as 3 of the most important films of all time. Films that made people rethink the way they saw cinema. It's a long story but Ridley Scott is the man that changed the way I saw cinema. I grew up in an age of TV and home video. I had no real relationship with cinema at all beyond that. A friend had free tickets and he wanted me to come to the cinema with him as nobody else was up for it either. He had to talk me into it. I left that cinema absolutely stunned and blown away. love Freya He has been a big influence on me as well. If you have never seen Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down stop denying yourself the true joy of watching these powerful works of art. Black Hawk Down is so powerful as to be unforgettable, I would say on a par with Gladiator and his other great works. Kingdom of Heaven is stunning and Orlando Blooms best work to date. III have not seen Body of Lies and now it has become a must see because of your and others recommendations. B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 (edited) He has been a big influence on me as well. If you have never seen Kingdom of Heaven or Black Hawk Down stop denying yourself the true joy of watching these powerful works of art. Black Hawk Down is so powerful as to be unforgettable, I would say on a par with Gladiator and his other great works. Kingdom of Heaven is stunning and Orlando Blooms best work to date. III have not seen Body of Lies and now it has become a must see because of your and others recommendations. B) Body of lies is good. The Leo di Caprio thing is a bit of an issue with it but get past that and it's an intelligent film which you can get something out of. Russel Crowe is great in this as a rather unpleasant man too! :) Do check it out! love Freya Edited June 3, 2012 by Freya Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Keith Walters Posted June 4, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted June 4, 2012 I'm not going to go and see Prometheus, because the experience will be horrible, the film will be horrible, and it will cost too much money. And that's deeply depressing to me, because I love science fiction. P The fact that the film is taking quite a hammering even over on Reduser says it all really. It starts here next Thursday, and there is a really good digital theatre close by, but I think I'll be giving it a miss. If it's a movie even a fanboy has a hard time loving.... There's something funny going on here. Over the last few years there have been quite a few cinematic turkies: Producers' pet projects, old scripts that have been kicking around for decades, various other half-arsed odds and sods, all Science Fiction of one sort or another, and always shot with RED cameras. With the budgets involved, the choice of camera would never be a financial issue.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 From what I gather, it's worth checking out for the 3D. Other aspects, like the story and script may indicate too many cooks getting involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Stevens Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 The studio insisted on a big name writer coming aboard because the screenplay had been written by an unknown. Because unknowns are an unknown quantity to the studios and they cannot have that. They need to feel assured by a 'name' writer being aboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris D Walker Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I'm reminded of a game you can play to gauge the 'hit rate' of a director. One person picks the director and names a good film of theirs, then the second person has to name a bad film. You alternate back and forth until you either run out of titles or someone can't name a title in their favour. There is a margin of error dependent on people's tastes but it's fun. My brother and I once played Ridley Scott and figured he had a hit rate of 60/40 of good films to bad. It went along the lines of: Alien, Hannibal, Blade Runner, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Gladiator, Legend, Black Hawk Down, G.I. Jane etc. This was a while back so I'll have to play Ridley Scott again. Other director's hit rates: Stanley Kubrick - 80/20, Martin Scorcese - 80/20, Steven Spielberg - 70/30, Christopher Nolan - 80/20, David Fincher - 60/40, Francis Ford Coppola - 60/40. This is very subjective but also an interesting way to examine other people's thoughts about a director and their body of work. I doubt there is a director living or dead with a perfect score. Unfortunately I would use 'Prometheus' against Ridley Scott, Mr. "I wanna scare the s**t out of you". His actual words describing the film whereas in reality he missed the mark in creating any kind of tension or horror during the 124 minute running time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Orwell Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) Martin Scorcese - 80/20 Mean Streets. Taxi Driver. Raging Bull. Cape Fear. Edited June 5, 2012 by Rex Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted June 5, 2012 Author Premium Member Share Posted June 5, 2012 The studio insisted on a big name writer coming aboard because the screenplay had been written by an unknown. Who were these people? What else had they done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georg lamshöft Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Just judging the skill of the director by the filmography seems risky. Ridley Scott has a very "mixed" filmography, in fact, I can hardly remember anyone capable of filming Alien, Gladiator... AND G.I.Jane, Hannibal... (who would have thought that Ratners Red Dragon is much better than Scotts Hannibal?). But a director has to rely on many other people to create a film, especially the story/script and production/studio (golden cut?), some directors are just more picky selecting scripts (Scorsese) or write their own (Cameron/Nolan) but that doesn't necessarily mean Ridley Scott is not in the same league directing-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 (edited) Who were these people? What else had they done? heh heh! You already know the answer to that one Phil! Playing all innocent! ;) Edited June 5, 2012 by Freya Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Steven Beverly Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 (edited) My brother and I once played Ridley Scott and figured he had a hit rate of 60/40 of good films to bad. It went along the lines of: Alien, Hannibal, Blade Runner, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Gladiator, Legend, Black Hawk Down, G.I. Jane etc. HEY! "Legend" KICKED ASS six ways from Sunday and is probably the best pure fantasy film ever made!! ESPECIALLY the Ultimate Edition version which has "Gump" as a MUCH darker character and dumped the dated "Tangerine Dream" score for a much more effective score. It is in the top 20 of my favorite films of all times and I watch a LOT of films!! B) Edited June 6, 2012 by James Steven Beverly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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