Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

101
Like you guys have already said, he was trying to include too much and the end result is just all over the place. Also, I'd say most of the characters in the film serve no real purpose. Vickers, for instance, why was she even in the film, really? And Shaw, also. Scott clearly wanted her to be his megaphone, with her being both a scientist and religious, with doubts about both. But nothing really materialized from that. In the end, she just served the purpose of being Ripley's stand-in.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

102
Okay, so I went in with zero expectations and ended up having a reasonably good time. The ideas and some of the ambiguities carry you through to the end and even leave you thinking, which is more than can be said for most recent tentpoles. The pacing and sensible average shot length, both of-a-piece with the first two Alien movies, are equally alien in the modern Hollywood landscape. The use of a flawed Christian protagonist is also brave - that Shaw and Holloway can be seen as two rather stupid, racist evangelicals whose belligerence and faith gets everyone else killed - especially given the fervent climate in the USA right now. Unfortunately, as I understand it, the studio was less keen on this latter idea and forced them to tone it down with reshoots, which in places just makes their characters look inconsistent. Fassbender's character thus works the best perhaps, remaining sympathetic whilst carrying out some fairly dastardly acts. Sadly, supporting characters are weak and implausible - that anyone as idiotic as Mr. Mohawk would be hired for such a mission, a mapping expert who gets lost in his own maze, despite advanced GPS technology and communication with the bridge... Indeed inconsistencies and idiocies like this build as the film goes on, isolated niggles that accumulate into a feeling of annoyance. Basically, the script was desperately in need of another draft or two, but I guess everyone was more focused on how to blow shit up. Nevertheless, this is the best thing that Scott Senior has done in quite a while (although maybe that's not saying much) and imho ditching Lindelof for the sequel is a mistake. At the least, you'll get a nostalgic thrill from the Giger-inspired production design.

Score = 2 and a half out of 5.

nb. couldn't get more than ten minutes into Legend... elves and shit.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

103
klimov wrote:Okay, so I went in with zero expectations and ended up having a reasonably good time. The ideas and some of the ambiguities carry you through to the end and even leave you thinking, which is more than can be said for most recent tentpoles. The pacing and sensible average shot length, both of-a-piece with the first two Alien movies, are equally alien in the modern Hollywood landscape. The use of a flawed Christian protagonist is also brave - that Shaw and Holloway can be seen as two rather stupid, racist evangelicals whose belligerence and faith gets everyone else killed - especially given the fervent climate in the USA right now. Unfortunately, as I understand it, the studio was less keen on this latter idea and forced them to tone it down with reshoots, which in places just makes their characters look inconsistent. Fassbender's character thus works the best perhaps, remaining sympathetic whilst carrying out some fairly dastardly acts. Sadly, supporting characters are weak and implausible - that anyone as idiotic as Mr. Mohawk would be hired for such a mission, a mapping expert who gets lost in his own maze, despite advanced GPS technology and communication with the bridge... Indeed inconsistencies and idiocies like this build as the film goes on, isolated niggles that accumulate into a feeling of annoyance. Basically, the script was desperately in need of another draft or two, but I guess everyone was more focused on how to blow shit up. Nevertheless, this is the best thing that Scott Senior has done in quite a while (although maybe that's not saying much) and imho ditching Lindelof for the sequel is a mistake. At the least, you'll get a nostalgic thrill from the Giger-inspired production design.
I'd agree with pretty much all of this. Very unfortunate that they had to tone down the religious nut/evangelical view, that would have made it much more interesting. And as you say, some of the flaws in character writing was just too big not to notice.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

106
io9 wrote:Michael Fassbender Confirms Prometheus 2 Is A Go

Ridley Scott confirmed months ago that the script to Prometheus 2 was in the bag. Filming is slated to begin this fall, with a projected release date of March 2016. Now, in unsurprising but auspicious news, Michael Fassbender has confirmed he's "doing a sequel," presumable reprising his role as David (Davids?).

Fassbender's confirmation came during an interview with Collider while promoting X-Men: Days of Future Past:
Regarding the specific exchange on Prometheus 2, Steve asked Fassbender if he was looking forward to working with Scott on sequel, and he replied, "For sure. I love Ridley. He's a master filmmaker," at which point James McAvoy, who was also part of the interview, turned to Fassbender and asked, "Are you doing a sequel?"

Fassbender turned to his X-Men co-star and replied, "Yeah, but when I don't know."

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

107
io9 wrote:Ridley Scott Says Prometheus 2 Is Xenomorph-Free

When Noomi Rapace and the severed head of Michael Fassbeder resume their interstellar adventures in Prometheus 2, they can take comfort in the fact that they won't be bothered by any more xenomorphs. Ridley Scott says the sequel to his 2012 quasi-prequel to Alien will be completely devoid of Aliens. Yay?

Scott told Yahoo Movies UK:
"The beast is done. Cooked," he says simply. "I got lucky meeting Giger all those years ago. It's very hard to repeat that. I just happen to be the one who forced it through because they said it's obscene. They didn't want to do it and I said, 'I want to do it, it's fantastic'. But after four [he has conveniently forgotten the 'AvP' movies], I think it wears out a little bit. There's only so much snarling you can do. I think you've got to come back with something more interesting. And I think we've found the next step. I thought the Engineers were quite a good start."
I'm not exactly sure why Scott thought it was a great idea to include the Xenomorphs in the first Prometheus movie if putting them in Prometheus 2 is complete and total overkill, but whatever. Seeing as Scott's next movie will probably the adaptation of Andy Weir's novel The Martian, and he's been working on the sequels to both Prometheus and Blade Runner for several years now with no apparent progress, it will be years before we'll need to bemoan the lack of Aliens in Prometheus 2: The Search for the Scientist Who Touched The Vagina Monster's Gold, if ever.
hrm.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

108
Guardian wrote:Ridley Scott plans three more Prometheus films before linking to Alien
Long-gestating ... the origin of the xenomorphs could remain untold for years.

Ridley Scott is now planning up to four Prometheus films, with the final instalment linking up to the events of his classic 1979 space horror Alien, the veteran film-maker has said.

Interviewed for German site FilmFutter, Scott confirmed that plans to eventually connect the two space sagas and explain the origins of the hideous xenomorph extraterrestrials remained intact, but suggested his upcoming sequel to 2012’s Prometheus would expand rather than contract the narrative.

“It won’t be in the next one,” said the British film-maker. “It will be in the one after this one or maybe even a fourth film before we get back into the Alien franchise.”

Prometheus was originally billed as a film “sharing strands of Alien’s DNA”, but only a prototype version of the xenomorph ultimately appeared on screen. The space thriller instead focused its attention on the Engineers, a race of human-like beings who may have created life on Earth, but ultimately failed to explain very much about them.

Scott said “the whole point” of Prometheus was “to explain the how and why of the creation of the Alien itself”. He added: “I always thought of the Alien as kind of a piece of bacterial warfare. I always thought that that original ship, which I call the Croissant, was a battleship, holding these biomechanoid creatures that were all about destruction.”

To complicate matters a fifth Alien film, from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, is also moving forward, though it is thought Prometheus 2 will arrive first on our screens. The sequel is set to debut in 2017, so if the final two movies arrive in 2019 and 2021 (based on a reasonable gap of two years between films), Scott would be at least 83 by the time the saga is finally complete.

The Gladiator director’s next movie in cinemas also takes place beyond Earth’s borders. The space drama The Martian, starring Matt Damon as an astronaut left stranded and alone on the red planet, debuted at the Toronto film festival earlier this month to positive reviews. Also featuring Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña and Chiwetel Ejiofor, it hits UK cinemas on 30 September and arrives in the US on 2 October.
haha, holy shit.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

109
I probably liked Prometheus better than most here (not saying much), but the idea of yet more installments has me about as excited as three more Avatar sequels and ... oh, wait.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

114
TC wrote:
Alexhead wrote:I think one more would pretty much do it. Count me as a fan as well, but yes, he's what, 77?
dude will be 83 if his schedule plays out exactly as described (because that always happens).
Maybe Tony Scott sacrificed his remaining lifeforce so Ridley could absorb it and keep going.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

115
had to pick a thread, guess it'll be this one:
SciFi wrote:Alien 5 officially enters cryosleep while production on Prometheus 2 (Alien: Paradise Lost) gets underway...

Alien 5 is on hold. At least, for now. It was rumored early on that Fox may have put the breaks on the film's production since filming for Ridley Scott's Prometheus sequel, Alien: Paradise Lost is set to begin this January. However, in recent interviews with Scott himself, who remains a producer on Blomkamp's fifth Alien instalment, confirmed Alien 5 would hit theaters sometime in 2017 - two years from now. It was also confirmed that Alien 5 would release after Alien: Paradise Lost so as to not interfere with the parallel storylines being explored.

Just recently, Blomkamp himself took to Twitter and wrote the following: "alien is kinda holding/ pending prometheus 2. So I shall be working on other things... as much as I love the xeno- and Lt ripley". This update comes not even a week after he teased the look of Alien 5's new Pulse Rifles...

It seems Fox is more focused on Scott's Prometheus 2 / Paradise Lost at the moment, which is undertsandable - the Alien franchise is fairly limited and Alien 5 is likely to be a one-off because of how it fits into the canonical timeline. Prometheus on the other hand has many avenues which can be explored and expanded. Fox and Scott have already set in motion, plans to release up to three more sequels to 2012's Prometheus before they close the door on the mysterious Space Jockey / LV-426 situation.

Is Alien 5 cancelled? No. All this means is that production will remain at a standstill while production on Alien: Paradise Lost continues. As more information surrounding this news develops, we'll be sure to keep you posted.

Directed by Neill Blomkamp, written by Neill Blomkamp and starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Alien 5 releases 2017.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

116
/film wrote:‘Alien: Covenant’ Official Synopsis Reveals a Surely Doomed Ship, a Surely Doomed World and a Familiar Robot

It’s been an interesting couple of months for the upcoming Prometheus sequel/Alien prequel. As The Martian continues to hang around at the box office and build some unexpected awards season momentum, director Ridley Scott has had plenty of opportunities to tease the upcoming film and he’s said a lot of things. Like how it was titled Alien: Paradise Lost and how Spectre writer John Logan is currently rewriting the script. And then over the weekend, word surfaced that the film was being retitled and now, it’s completely 100% official.

The next movie in the Alien series is titled Alien: Covenant and 20th Century Fox has released a title treatment and an official plot synopsis and everything. Interestingly, the shreds of plot align with much of what we’ve heard in the past year, but with a few key differences.

First of all, here’s the title treatment. While it may seem unremarkable at first, you’ll note that this is the first sequel in this series to use the font design from the original 1979 film. Hmm, it’s like Scott wants to make sure that audiences realize (consciously or subconsciously) that this is directly connected to the first movie in the series. You know, the one that he directed.
alien-covenant.png

And can you blame him? The first Alien is one of the best movies ever made. Why not make that a selling point?

Of course, the real meat here is the official synopsis. As we’ve known for some time, Alien: Covenant (or Prometheus 2 or Alien: Paradise Lost) will see the return of Michael Fassbender‘s quietly sinister android David as well as a new ship packed with fresh meat. So, without further ado:
Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ALIEN with ALIEN: COVENANT, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with PROMETHEUS — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.
There are a few points of interest here. First, the Covenant title comes from the name the ship that carries our new cast into the story, echoing how Prometheus took its title from the spaceship at the center of the story. Second, this synopsis makes it sound like Alien: Covenant will be told from the point of view of the Covenant crew, who get to land on a planet and discover horrors beyond imagination. Since most previous plot discussion has centered around continuing the cliffhanger at the end of Prometheus, this is an interesting development. What happened to David and Noomi Rapace‘s Elizabeth Shaw after they set out into space at the end of the previous film? How did David end up on this planet? And where did Elizabeth go? How much time has passed?

Most importantly, just how many lives will David ruin this time around? Remember when he poisoned not-Tom Hardy with alien fluid and caused the entire Prometheus mission to go belly-up?

That fact that we’re curious to discover the answers to these questions is a good sign for Alien: Covenant, which begins filming early next year for an October 6, 2017 release.
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Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

117
So new editions of Alien blu-rays will be now titled Alien: Nostromo by this Lucasfilm logic. Anyway, just hope it's good fun, that's all.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

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Alexhead wrote:So new editions of Alien blu-rays will be now titled Alien: Nostromo by this Lucasfilm logic. Anyway, just hope it's good fun, that's all.
Actually they'll be called Indiana Jones and the Alien: Nostromo.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

119
Guess I'll put this here since this is the thread for future Alien movies. Concept art from Blomkamp. It appears Alien 3 and 4 never happened.
13102535_223284324706837_1682497181_n.jpg
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Just cut them up like regular chickens