Alien Covenant

[MechAg94]

So when are they going to do the reverse and show an Alien ship exploring a planet and finding humans who try to kill them. 

[AZRedhawk44]

So this is the only thread in all of APS where the words "Bladerunner 2049" return any results in a search.  So, time for some thread-necromancy.

The new Alien/Engineer movies are sh*t.
The new Jurassic World movies are sh*t.
The new Star Wars movies are sh*t.
All the Michael Bay TMNT/Transformers stuff is sh*t.
Roland Emmerich's ID4-2 was sh*t.
Game of Thrones turned into a steaming burning overfilled port-a-john in its last season.
WB/DC is missing the hole in the john and leaving steaming piles on the floor, with the DCEU (excepting Wonder Woman).
The MCU had a great 10 year run, except for a couple forgivable lemons in a 25 film anthology, but that train has left the station and blown on by now.

But... I've been holding out a ray of hope for the 2020 Dune movie that Denis Villeneuve is writing and directing.  His prior accreditations include Bladerunner 2049.

I'm acquainted with the original film, but the last time I watched it was on TBS as a teenager while bored on a weekend.  I didn't really dive into it, despite a strong SciFi affinity at that time.  So I re-watched the original Bladerunner to make sure I was well acquainted with the franchise's themes and environment, then sat down and watched BR2049 for the first time, yesterday.

A masterpiece.

Does anyone disagree on that?  I'd love to talk about this movie.  Villeneuve is holding the last flickering spark of hope I have for a decent movie from Hollywood any time in the immediate future, in Dune 2020.  BR2049's score was perfect, the plot honored the original movie and was not one-dimensional at all, and the air of sinister mystery and misspent wonder of the original was carried through.

[AJ Dual]

Blade Runner 2049 was awesome. 

I loved it. Can't say enough good about it.

[zahc]

BR 2049 had a lot of flaws. It could be improved greatly by chopping out a lot of things that didn't resolve well. Then again the original BR was flawed too; how many cuts did it take trying to get something more coherent? This is basically the same writing problem that impacted all the other crap films you mentioned, which I also agree are crap, but BR2049 had so much other goodness, that I feel it was saved. Again, in almost an identical fashion to how the original BR was saved by awesomeness. I would watch it again.

The original Dune novel is a masterpiece, but I hold no high hopes for a good film. It's clear that hollywood will epicfail even when handed good material on a silver platter. With the curious exception of comic books. So maybe if they could get somebody from the comic adaptations.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've about given up on TV and movies. Doing more reading. Just finished the first book in the MHI series.

[MechAg94]

BR 2049 had a lot of flaws. It could be improved greatly by chopping out a lot of things that didn't resolve well. Then again the original BR was flawed too; how many cuts did it take trying to get something more coherent? This is basically the same writing problem that impacted all the other crap films you mentioned, which I also agree are crap, but BR2049 had so much other goodness, that I feel it was saved. Again, in almost an identical fashion to how the original BR was saved by awesomeness. I would watch it again.

The original Dune novel is a masterpiece, but I hold no high hopes for a good film. It's clear that hollywood will epicfail even when handed good material on a silver platter. With the curious exception of comic books. So maybe if they could get somebody from the comic adaptations.

Dune is an extremely complex book.  Trying to make one movie that covers it would be tough.  You might be able to make a movie trilogy like Lord of the Rings, but even that would be tough.

[AZRedhawk44]

Dune is an extremely complex book.  Trying to make one movie that covers it would be tough.  You might be able to make a movie trilogy like Lord of the Rings, but even that would be tough.

He's doing it as two movies.  Much like Jackson with LotR.

I expect part 1 will deal with exposition and the Harkonnen betrayal, up to Paul befriending the Fremen and meeting Stilgar and Shani and finding his place among them.  Then part 2 is bringing the war back to the Baron and Emperor.

The big question I have is how one accomplishes filming this book without all the Lynch style whispered dialogue?  I was unimpressed by the SyFy Dune series.  Costumes were ridiculous and the sets were all tiny and special effects terrible.  I did watch it all the way through but I found it un-memorable and shabby.  I'm a fan of the Lynch film despite its variances from the source material.

I expect Villeneuve will be departing from the source material as well, ditching the energy shields in favor of some form of physical armor.  Kevlar on steroids, stops anything high velocity I expect, so guns have the same limited utility and melee combat is necessary.  Though the laser/shield dynamic of the book then becomes a problem for book purists much like the Weirding Modules from the Lynch film.

[HankB]

. . .  It's clear that hollywood will epicfail even when handed good material on a silver platter. With the curious exception of comic books. . . .

Political correctness and foreign influence (e.g., international distribution considerations) also greatly influence book-to-film adaptations. Tom Clancy noted this before his death - just look at the film adaptation of The Sum of All Fears where the nuclear terrorists morphed from Islamofascists to European Nazis. Or the massive editing in the remake of Red Dawn where the Chinese became North Koreans after the Chicoms objected to being portrayed as the bad guys.

And of course the left went berserk over Mel Gibson's movie The Patriot which had mere children not only handling GUNS, but using them to shoot Redcoats.

[Perd Hapley]

Wait, I thought this thread was about Alien: Convent, where the aliens go up against that scary demon nun.

[TommyGunn]

So this is the only thread in all of APS where the words "Bladerunner 2049" return any results in a search.  So, time for some thread-necromancy.

The new Alien/Engineer movies are sh*t.
The new Jurassic World movies are sh*t.
The new Star Wars movies are sh*t.
All the Michael Bay TMNT/Transformers stuff is sh*t.
Roland Emmerich's ID4-2 was sh*t.
Game of Thrones turned into a steaming burning overfilled port-a-john in its last season.
WB/DC is missing the hole in the john and leaving steaming piles on the floor, with the DCEU (excepting Wonder Woman).
The MCU had a great 10 year run, except for a couple forgivable lemons in a 25 film anthology, but that train has left the station and blown on by now.

But... I've been holding out a ray of hope for the 2020 Dune movie that Denis Villeneuve is writing and directing.  His prior accreditations include Bladerunner 2049.

I'm acquainted with the original film, but the last time I watched it was on TBS as a teenager while bored on a weekend.  I didn't really dive into it, despite a strong SciFi affinity at that time.  So I re-watched the original Bladerunner to make sure I was well acquainted with the franchise's themes and environment, then sat down and watched BR2049 for the first time, yesterday.

A masterpiece.

Does anyone disagree on that?  I'd love to talk about this movie.  Villeneuve is holding the last flickering spark of hope I have for a decent movie from Hollywood any time in the immediate future, in Dune 2020.  BR2049's score was perfect, the plot honored the original movie and was not one-dimensional at all, and the air of sinister mystery and misspent wonder of the original was carried through.

Hey!  I won't argue about some of the OTHER MOVIES (some I haven't seen) but dissing Dino movies doesn't sit well with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      I love dinosaur movies!  I have ALWAYS loved dinosaur movies!   I started loving them when I was like 8 or 9 years old and I REFUSE to stop now!!!
It's my one "guilty pleasure" left (aside from a couple others   )  and I'm NOT abandoning it!   I don't care if the movie uses modern quality cgi or was made in 1958 and used men in rubber suits!!!

[WLJ]

WB/DC is missing the hole in the john and leaving steaming piles on the floor, with the DCEU (excepting Wonder Woman).

They're working on releasing and actually spending a large amount of money on the Synder (The original director) cut of Justice League. Many are saying it's a far different movie from the the Whedon (the replacement dir who did an almost complete reshoot of large sections) version which was what was originally released. Due out next year.
so there's hope there.

BTW: You left out Star Trek and Dr. Who. The new stuff has been *expletive deleted*it.

[MechAg94]

Hey!  I won't argue about some of the OTHER MOVIES (some I haven't seen) but dissing Dino movies doesn't sit well with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      I love dinosaur movies!  I have ALWAYS loved dinosaur movies!   I started loving them when I was like 8 or 9 years old and I REFUSE to stop now!!!
It's my one "guilty pleasure" left (aside from a couple others   )  and I'm NOT abandoning it!   I don't care if the movie uses modern quality cgi or was made in 1958 and used men in rubber suits!!!

So you loved the Land of the Lost movie from a few years back?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457400/

It actually wasn't too bad as long as you expect to it be a Will Ferrell comedy.


Intelligent Sleestak dinosaurs taking over the island would have been a pretty good premise for Jurassic World.  Better than the story they used. 

[TommyGunn]

So you loved the Land of the Lost movie from a few years back?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457400/

It actually wasn't too bad as long as you expect to it be a Will Ferrell comedy.


Intelligent Sleestak dinosaurs taking over the island would have been a pretty good premise for Jurassic World.  Better than the story they used.  

Some parts of it were clever.... the main character remarks the T-Rex had a brain the size of a walnut... and a gargantuan walnut rolls by ....  

In all seriousness    these films are just for fun.  Jurassic World maybe took the theme park idea a bit to.... extreme (the first film in 1993 showed how they might go sideways   )  but,  hey,   watching raptor fights and Tyrannosauruses scarfing up lawyers never gets old (enough to become a fossil).  

[WLJ]

Some parts of it were clever.... the main character remarks the T-Rex had a brain the size of a walnut... and a gargantuan walnut rolls by ....  

In all seriousness    these films are just for fun.  Jurassic World maybe took the theme park idea a bit to.... extreme (the first film in 1993 showed how they might go sideways   )  but,  hey,   watching raptor fights and Tyrannosauruses scarfing up lawyers never gets old (enough to become a fossil).  

1993? Where have those 27 years gone to?    

[MechAg94]

Some parts of it were clever.... the main character remarks the T-Rex had a brain the size of a walnut... and a gargantuan walnut rolls by ....  

In all seriousness    these films are just for fun.  Jurassic World maybe took the theme park idea a bit to.... extreme (the first film in 1993 showed how they might go sideways   )  but,  hey,   watching raptor fights and Tyrannosauruses scarfing up lawyers never gets old (enough to become a fossil).  

That was the fun with the 2nd Jurassic Park movie.  The too short scene of the Tyrannosaur rampaging through LA was awesome.

[AZRedhawk44]

Hey!  I won't argue about some of the OTHER MOVIES (some I haven't seen) but dissing Dino movies doesn't sit well with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      I love dinosaur movies!  I have ALWAYS loved dinosaur movies!   I started loving them when I was like 8 or 9 years old and I REFUSE to stop now!!!
It's my one "guilty pleasure" left (aside from a couple others   )  and I'm NOT abandoning it!   I don't care if the movie uses modern quality cgi or was made in 1958 and used men in rubber suits!!!

I'll let the Critical Drinker handle this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDN5b9L2hrQ

It's chock full of 'memberberries, despite not even being a JJ Abrams flick.  And the Indomitus Rex psuedo-saur and its plot armor was ridiculous.  Knowing the location and purpose of its tracking implant?  Ugh.

The park was seriously under-gunned for the creatures it possessed.  IIRC, the original 1993 movie had each animal deprived of a hormone that would result in its death if it didn't get its supplements regularly.  This one had no similar control mechanism, nor implanted micro-cyanide or explosives that would cause an aneurysm or similar auto-kill for the dinos.  The MG on the helicopter wasn't a .50, I don't think.  I'd expect the park to own an APC or light tank with sufficient power to kill the largest land animal they had on site, as well as a contract with Raytheon for modified Javelin systems that can lock on to a specific animal RFID serial number or biological thermal signature.  A SWAT-like team with shoulder fired small arms intended for human warfare?  You're lacking understanding of "SWAT" as an acronym entirely.  Ridiculous.

If you've got hundreds of carnivorous pterosaurs that will prey on human sized game, then you have more layers of security than the initial containment vessel.  And their "Main Street" attraction area should have had multiple discrete bomb shelter entrances with doors large enough to accept a flow of people at least 2 wide, but small enough to prohibit large predators from entering, which would lead underground.  I'm still lost in regards to the pterosaurs and their source.  My impression is the bird cage is from the Hammond era, and the animals within are several breeding generations removed and somehow able to survive while contained within (which is patently ridiculous).  And the new park was built on the same island, with no effort to eradicate the Hammond pterosaurs or integrate them into the attractions and reinforce their containment.

I do appreciate how the 2nd movie in the franchise ended up releasing the dinosaurs into the rest of the world.  That's an ecological catastrophe that in real life would be a massive risk to life due to the predators, and risk to infrastructure due to the sheer size of most of the rest of the creatures, that would have the National Guard out trophy hunting, and bounties in place for anything that could be killed by conventional small arms that the large/dangerous game hunting community possessed.  I'm hoping to see how the 3rd movie will play out, but I'm sure it'll turn into some sort of leftist pap with a comically evil hunter much like Percival McLeach from Rescuers Down Under.  Even though they already did that once in the 90's trilogy, memberberries evidently make enough money to run the concept again.

[K Frame]

Blade Runner 2049 was an excellent, excellent follow on to the original.

But it didn't hold a candle to the original.


If you want to find the threads (there are a several) that talk about Blade Runner 2049, search "Blade Runner" as two words. The way the title of both movies actually has it, not as one word.

[TommyGunn]

I'll let the Critical Drinker handle this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDN5b9L2hrQ

It's chock full of 'memberberries, despite not even being a JJ Abrams flick.  And the Indomitus Rex psuedo-saur and its plot armor was ridiculous.  Knowing the location and purpose of its tracking implant?  Ugh.

The park was seriously under-gunned for the creatures it possessed.  IIRC, the original 1993 movie had each animal deprived of a hormone that would result in its death if it didn't get its supplements regularly.  This one had no similar control mechanism, nor implanted micro-cyanide or explosives that would cause an aneurysm or similar auto-kill for the dinos.  The MG on the helicopter wasn't a .50, I don't think.  I'd expect the park to own an APC or light tank with sufficient power to kill the largest land animal they had on site, as well as a contract with Raytheon for modified Javelin systems that can lock on to a specific animal RFID serial number or biological thermal signature.  A SWAT-like team with shoulder fired small arms intended for human warfare?  You're lacking understanding of "SWAT" as an acronym entirely.  Ridiculous.

If you've got hundreds of carnivorous pterosaurs that will prey on human sized game, then you have more layers of security than the initial containment vessel.  And their "Main Street" attraction area should have had multiple discrete bomb shelter entrances with doors large enough to accept a flow of people at least 2 wide, but small enough to prohibit large predators from entering, which would lead underground.  I'm still lost in regards to the pterosaurs and their source.  My impression is the bird cage is from the Hammond era, and the animals within are several breeding generations removed and somehow able to survive while contained within (which is patently ridiculous).  And the new park was built on the same island, with no effort to eradicate the Hammond pterosaurs or integrate them into the attractions and reinforce their containment.

I do appreciate how the 2nd movie in the franchise ended up releasing the dinosaurs into the rest of the world.  That's an ecological catastrophe that in real life would be a massive risk to life due to the predators, and risk to infrastructure due to the sheer size of most of the rest of the creatures, that would have the National Guard out trophy hunting, and bounties in place for anything that could be killed by conventional small arms that the large/dangerous game hunting community possessed.  I'm hoping to see how the 3rd movie will play out, but I'm sure it'll turn into some sort of leftist pap with a comically evil hunter much like Percival McLeach from Rescuers Down Under.  Even though they already did that once in the 90's trilogy, memberberries evidently make enough money to run the concept again.

   I was a Hollywood movie.  It was NOT a training film for SEAL TEAM SIX.

[Cliffh]

Doesn't anyone in Hollywood have an original idea?  Seems as if most every "new" movie is a remake of an old movie. 

Yeah, there are some that aren't - but most of those are based on comic books.

[Jim147]

Is it a remake or a reboot?