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seanotron

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Posts posted by seanotron


  1. I think the biggest problem (despite the aforementioned plot/editing issues) was one of tone. They couldn't decide whether Prometheus was a Science-Fiction movie or a Horror movie. I'm generalizing here, but Sci-Fi generally concerns itself with asking Big Questions about the nature of existence, what it means to be human, our place in the universe, etc. It's intellectual. Horror is interested in terrifying you (or shocking you). It's visceral.

     

    The original Alien was a horror movie that just happened to take place in a science-fiction context. It followed horror rules. it had interesting concepts buried within, but it was mostly about running away from scary things in the dark. And it maintained that tone throughout. If it had been a Big Questions movie, they would have talked about the Space Jockey, they would have dived into the origins of the eggs, etc. But they knew what they were going for and stuck to it.

     

    In horror, people do things because the plot needs them to. There's a reason why People Doing Stupid Things In Horror Movies is such a cliche. Even when a movie is skewering that cliche, it still tends to indulge in it (Scream, for example). Horror movies need people to open the hatch in the floor leading to the dark, scary basement, no matter how completely stupid that is. Sci-Fi expects the characters can do dumb things, but it's usually because of some fatal flaw or hubris or they don't have the complete story. Sci-Fi allows for characters to get lost, but it's because the compass fails or the tricorder is experiencing interference, not because the geologist responsible for mapping the alien pyramid is too high to remember where he's at.

     

    Prometheus probably would have been better if it had picked one or the other. As it was, the constant switching between genres kind of gave me whiplash. That being said, I actually liked the Science-Fiction part of the movie. Its reach exceeded its grasp, but I like that it at least tried to reach.

     

    It's also worth remembering that you had a script by Jon Spaihts that was apparently a more straight-up Alien prequel with lots of clear connections to that story (and more horror-ish), and then you had Damon Lindelhof come in and write a script that was more about the Engineers and What It Means To Be Human (leaning closer to Sci-Fi), and that might explain why the movie can't decide what it wants to be.

     

    Or none of this is right and I'm just typing a lot of nonsense.

    • Like 3

  2. I was pretty disappointed by that one, I just felt like nobody in the film acted anything remotely like anyone in that type of situation would. That is always the most frustrating sin in a horror movie.

     

    Really? I actually thought it was nicely done. I don't remember anyone doing anything especially stupid or especially odd, but I haven't seen it recently.


  3. Well, I have seen the movie, so no, I still don't think it would work even though I believe you are a trustworthy person.

     

    If they did do it, it would be one of the most critically well-received movies they've done (just below Fast Five on Rotten Tomatoes).


  4. Aykroyd was actually a rap early adopter. He put a lot of rap & hip-hop artists in his film soundtracks before it was such a commonplace thing.

     

    This doesn't mean we should forgive him for the horrors he has perpetuated on us, but it's a fun fact.


  5. It's what I like to call divas who go beyond being a diva, think Linda Fiorentino and all of the stories about her. That and Julia Roberts has had a history or being really difficult to work with, though I think that may be because she has a baboon's ass for lips.

     

    Ahhh okay, I thought there were stories she was sleeping with everyone on set or something.

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