The Terminators

User45701

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1350512/

the name cought my eye so i had a look around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXRPeTSmAzc

i like b movies you cant get some great ones like "snakes in a train"

It's actually a really good film and easily one of the best Terminator wannabes. It's also a film that you should get asap as a cease and decist letter has been sent to the Asylum. All mention of it has been pulled from their site but they slipped out the DVD. Word is that it woun't be on shelves very long.

For anyone interested in B sci fi films I can't recommend A.P.E.X. enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7RisR-V2w

Richard Dower

User45701 wrote: »

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1350512/

the name cought my eye so i had a look around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXRPeTSmAzc

i like b movies you cant get some great ones like "snakes in a train"

The Asylum :rolleyes:
A low point for C. Thomas Howell i must say.......

BlitzKrieg

looks more like a rip on battlestar galactica then on the terminator franchise going from the robot design and trailer.

any links on this lawsuit I am cruious what points they have pulled them up on.




not the biggest b-movie fan myself, though I rmemeber enjoying death machine as a kid.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Asylum ?
How many people must get duped into buying their clone DVDs

I really can't see the b-movies of today being highly regarded in 20years as some of the 70s b-movies are today. The likes of Snakes on a Plane (and other faux b-movies) and these trashy rip offs just have no character or spirit.

Richard Dower

Richard Dower wrote: »

The Asylum :rolleyes:
A low point for C. Thomas Howell i must say.......

Let us not knock the Asylum, they have produced a numbed of fine films especially those with the involvement of a certain pluck boardsie whose name many confuse with a highly revered modern classic.

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

looks more like a rip on battlestar galactica then on the terminator franchise going from the robot design and trailer.

any links on this lawsuit I am cruious what points they have pulled them up on.




not the biggest b-movie fan myself, though I rmemeber enjoying death machine as a kid.

Death Machine is great. Brad Dourif is fantastic in it. I'll see what info I can get on the law suit. I found out about it from someone I know still working for them.

TerrorFirmer

I'm looking forward to the Terminators, because every once in a while the Asylum somehow manage to actually produce a pretty entertaining movie. Their originial movies are actually rather good on occassion, it's the cash ins that get afforded the lavish scripts and set pieces, and then the funds barely capable of covering the cost of printing scripts for the cast.

Universal Soldiers also featured a hilarious giant Terminator exoskeleton towards the end mincing about in an electric plant, couldn't spot anything to distance it from the source either, but didn't hear them getting into trouble over that. It was a woeful movie though, the best example of a script vastly exceeding its means. The Asylum aim high with low means, whereas their original movies cater to their budget far better and are pretty good movies (King of the Ants was an awesome revenge story, Legend of Bloody Jack was a really entertaining zombie romp, etc). I've seen nearly all of their movies but the only one I ever bothered reviewing was Snakes on a Train here, because at the time I was so particularly frustrated by that very stupid tendency of them to include huge special effects shots with woeful quality effects, which is so evident in Snakes on a Train - the movie is totally fine, watchable and enjoyable cheese throughout, until suddenly the final scene negates any prior shred of decency by involving a huge, climatic and absolutely ****ing horrible CGI scene. C Thomas Howell also did some acting work in UFO films and is shooting one at the moment, they are another maker of budget films, but their special effects are actually decent despite tight budgets so I really don't know why the Asylum don't try to step things up in that regard too, because they have a lot of potential that justs getting totally misspent. But then again, that's in terms of film making. They're making money and I suppose they don't see a reason to fiddle a working formula.

Oh and keep an eye out for their unexpected T&A film - in 3D!

Oh - and Death Machine is brilliant, one of my favourite films ever. I lump in it with Robocop and Terminator as an inspirational cyber-punk sci-fi classic. I hate though that nearly all the DVD releases are cut versions, it's annoying difficult to find the full cut.

Galvasean

Asylum, constantly pushing the bench mark for entertainment.

Could this be the next Boa Vs Python?
http://www.joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=16552

niallon

The Asylum made a great version of War of the Worlds the same time Spielberg released his muck fest. Theirs was far more in sync with Well's novel and for a true WOTW fan was the only version to watch.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449040/

Best stay away from the C. Thomas Howell directed sequel though, pure muck!

Galvasean

niallon wrote: »

Best stay away from the C. Thomas Howell directed sequel though, pure muck!

Question: What was the synopsis behind the sequl?

What with all the aliens being dead

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

Question: What was the synopsis behind the sequl?

What with all the aliens being dead

War of the Worlds 2 has the Aliens abducting humans and flying them off into space where they are sent into an imaginary world. I think I can sort you out with a copy of the script if you want.

Red Sleeping Beauty

That War of the Worlds thing was quite a little coup
They weren't allowed release it in America but outside USAmerica it's in the public domain so they didn't have to pay a penny (I think)

Alan Rouge

Alan Rouge wrote: »

That War of the Worlds thing was quite a little coup
They weren't allowed release it in America but outside USAmerica it's in the public domain so they didn't have to pay a penny (I think)

It was released in America. In fact that summer there were 3 War of the Worlds films released.

Richard Dower

Debbie Gibson....nude???....holy batwings!

Some of the CGI for that War Of The Worlds knockoff wasn't that bad, it reminded me alot of BSG CGI scenes.

TerrorFirmer

Richard Dower wrote: »

Debbie Gibson....nude???....holy batwings!

Some of the CGI for that War Of The Worlds knockoff wasn't that bad, it reminded me alot of BSG CGI scenes.

Yes...some.

Static shots aren't too bad at all but anything involving the tripods is disgustingly bad. I actually bought Asylums WOTW on DVD from the states, not sure why.

Richard Dower

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Yes...some.

Static shots aren't too bad at all but anything involving the tripods is disgustingly bad. I actually bought Asylums WOTW on DVD from the states, not sure why.

Couldn't be any worse then buying Spielberg's version i guess

niallon

Woah woah, the CGI was bad, but storywise it followed Wells to a far better degree!

And Darko, there was two WOTW films. We shall never, never, NEVER refer to Pendragon Picture's mess as a WOTW film!

TerrorFirmer

Also, I forgot to commend Darko on his choice of A.P.E.X. It's actually a really fun movie, and of decent quality for a B-Movie, relying more on traditional makeup and prosthetic than any form of CGI. Definitely one of Roth's better movies. I always wanted to see his earlier Terminator clone 'Prototype', but I can never find it.

On my list of Terminator clones yet to watch is:

The Terminators
Class of 1984
Class of 1999
Hands of Steel
Prototype
American Cyborg
Cyborg Soldier
Lady Terminator

Having trouble finding Prototype and American Cyborg, have the rest.

BlitzKrieg

havnt seen asylums version of war of the worlds, will try and have a look for it.

But I am saddened by all the hate for Spielberg's version which I thought was very good and very much in spirit of the original book with exception of

the ending where the US military are still fighting and organised, but thats a flaw with all Hollywood films that have the US military, they cannot show them being utterly defeated, Godzilla made the same changes, also yes the son was an annoying c*nt and you wanted him dead.

But aside from that it was very enjoyable.

niallon

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

But I am saddened by all the hate for Spielberg's version which I thought was very good and very much in spirit of the original book

Not attacking but I have to point out:
- No Thunderchild
- They're already here? (WTF)
- The whole bit with Tim Robbins was terrible. In the novel, the Artilleryman is a good strong character as is the Curate....but that doesn't mean if you blend the too you come away winning!!
- Bad emphasis on the Red Weed and human harvesting.
- The refusal to show worldwide carnage, get over it beard, give the people what they want!!
- The non-clothes burning heat ray, for the love of jebus.

BlitzKrieg

I know your not attacking, I know its a matter of opinion.

No Thunderchild

Modern retelling, why put in a pre WW1 ironclad? But I take the point that like the 1950's update replaced it with an atomic bomb that maybe some equivilent should have been used instead, but I think the filmmakers have just reason not to include it and stick with standard army (I will get to that on my last point.)

- They're already here? (WTF)

Yes that was a difficult plotpoint, they were maybe trying too hard to overdo the notion that this was a plan centuries in the making and that the aliens had sent the tripods at an earlier date and had arrived themselves only now to *harvest* humanity at its height (which ties into the emphasise on the red weed and human harvesting.) They might have taken the lines from the book too literal about eyes as old as time yadadada (too tired to quote)

- The whole bit with Tim Robbins was terrible.

Very Spielberg at some points, which personnally I dont mind, I enjoy his set pieces, the rest of the scene was fine for me, though it does falter that it does lead into the basterdisation of the ending.

- The refusal to show worldwide carnage, get over it beard, give the people what they want!

Actually this is where I would say I fully disagree and is why I actually thought the film was good and in spirite of the book (not accurate to it, in spirite) it wasnt like independence day or the 1950's War of the World where it showed the disaster from the view of world governments and experts. Instead like the book, it follows one man's experiance of the invasion, which is probably why they didnt have an equivilent for the thunderchild because all of America's biggest weapons tend to wipe out any witnessess within certain distance of the blast range. But watching the film it reminded alot of the book, how it was looking up at the invaders and there's panic and chaos and you dont know whats happening in the outside world, the writer didnt know in the book and Cruise's character didnt know in the film. It worked in my opinion. Up until the last 5 minutes which like I said it steers well clear of one of the books most powerful elements (and from what I understand none of the films have gone the full way of the books ending and showed civilisation crushed, but I havnt seen the Asylum one.)

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Also, I forgot to commend Darko on his choice of A.P.E.X. It's actually a really fun movie, and of decent quality for a B-Movie, relying more on traditional makeup and prosthetic than any form of CGI. Definitely one of Roth's better movies. I always wanted to see his earlier Terminator clone 'Prototype', but I can never find it.

On my list of Terminator clones yet to watch is:

The Terminators
Class of 1984
Class of 1999
Hands of Steel
Prototype
American Cyborg
Cyborg Soldier
Lady Terminator

Having trouble finding Prototype and American Cyborg, have the rest.

Well I have both The Terminators and Class of 1984 if you want. If you have any of the others then I would appreciate getting them off of you so that I can peruse them. If perhaps you could put them on a certain red ahired gentlemans external I would be most grateful.

niallon

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Actually this is where I would say I fully disagree and is why I actually thought the film was good and in spirite of the book (not accurate to it, in spirite) it wasnt like independence day or the 1950's War of the World where it showed the disaster from the view of world governments and experts. Instead like the book, it follows one man's experiance of the invasion, which is probably why they didnt have an equivilent for the thunderchild because all of America's biggest weapons tend to wipe out any witnessess within certain distance of the blast range.

This is where I would agree actually, the film did keep the lone survivor theme quite well and other perspectives would have diminished this. All I would've liked is for Cruise's character to travel trough some more large locations.

In all though it's maybe not the abomination it's made out to be but in general it was a film that disappointed me somewhat.

TerrorFirmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Well I have both The Terminators and Class of 1984 if you want. If you have any of the others then I would appreciate getting them off of you so that I can peruse them. If perhaps you could put them on a certain red ahired gentlemans external I would be most grateful.

Yeah if you could give The Terminators to aforementioned red beast, that would be great - I can't access all my movies at the moment as my main machine is in bits, but I'll follow it up as soon as I can, but you're probably looking at a few weeks unfortunately. I have all in that list apart from Prototype and American Cyborg.

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Yeah if you could give The Terminators to aforementioned red beast, that would be great - I can't access all my movies at the moment as my main machine is in bits, but I'll follow it up as soon as I can, but you're probably looking at a few weeks unfortunately. I have all in that list apart from Prototype and American Cyborg.

Sweet, no rush. I'll throw Terminators to the red one when I see him next. Got myself a nice little 1 TB WD hard drive and have space for much trash. I'll throw in a number of other Mmonster films such as War Birds, Cyclops, Battle Planet, etc, etc.

Galvasean

niallon wrote: »

This is where I would agree actually, the film did keep the lone survivor theme quite well and other perspectives would have diminished this. All I would've liked is for Cruise's character to travel trough some more large locations.

In all though it's maybe not the abomination it's made out to be but in general it was a film that disappointed me somewhat.

I'm glad other people agree with me. I am one of the seemingly few who taught the film did a good job with the whole 'one gyy trying to survive a natural disaster' element. A lot of people wanted a more Independence Day style flick with a president on the phone and a bunch of army guys teaming up with a crackpot scientist and going on a daring mission, but that was not what the movie was about.

If you can put the source material aside (hard to do granted) its an enjoyable film apart from the son character and the end

the aliens never made it as far as the mother's house and everybody just turned up there in one piece? It really contradicted the tone of the rest of the movie. I guess Hollywood just loves happy endings

.
There was a very good sense of dread throughout most of the film even if the scene with the alien cameratube thing was a bit too much of a throwback to the 'raptors in th kitchen' scene from Jurassic Park.

edit: Oh yeah, the terminators...

Brimmy

Alan Rouge wrote: »

Asylum ?
How many people must get duped into buying their clone DVDs

I really can't see the b-movies of today being highly regarded in 20years as some of the 70s b-movies are today. The likes of Snakes on a Plane (and other faux b-movies) and these trashy rip offs just have no character or spirit.

Don't s*it on SNOAP just because it's the easy thing to do. It was a B-movie that embraced it's cornyness and bad graphics. Besides it was originally meant to be done on a shoestring until they got Sam Jackson signed up and got funding.

TerrorFirmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Sweet, no rush. I'll throw Terminators to the red one when I see him next. Got myself a nice little 1 TB WD hard drive and have space for much trash. I'll throw in a number of other Mmonster films such as War Birds, Cyclops, Battle Planet, etc, etc.

What stunning taste we share. I already have Battle Planet and War Birds.

niallon

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm glad other people agree with me. I am one of the seemingly few who taught the film did a good job with the whole 'one gyy trying to survive a natural disaster' element. A lot of people wanted a more Independence Day style flick with a president on the phone and a bunch of army guys teaming up with a crackpot scientist and going on a daring mission, but that was not what the movie was about.

Funniest thing is, Asylum probably only went this route due to budget restraints as well as desire to follow the novel, key example of budget influence on a film working in it's favour!

With Spielberg, he went this route a fair bit too but with that much money at his disposal, large CGI set pieces are expected.

TerrorFirmer

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

What stunning taste we share. I already have Battle Planet and War Birds.

Two of a kind. I have got some grief for my taste, I even got a number of digs from people in college during the debates. The line "looking through Darko's DVD collection and alonside Seven Samuarai there are so many cheap, trashy monster movies and bad sci fi films that I wonder why he is studying film."

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

enjoyable film apart from the son character and the end

the aliens never made it as far as the mother's house and everybody just turned up there in one piece? It really contradicted the tone of the rest of the movie. I guess Hollywood just loves happy endings

Yeah, I remember sitting in the cinema thinking

"if that dick turns up alive and well,

I'm never watching another Spielberg film again" :mad:

I got over it though

Kingp35

Just watched The Terminators there. Effects were better than the usual rubbish Asylum throw out but the acting was painfully bad in this one. Entertaining enough though and worth a watch if you're bored.

For those fans of the Asylums here's an interesting bit of trivia, two of Dick Van Dyke's Grandsons are writers for the Asylum and have given us Street Racers, Day the Earth Stopped and Transmorphers: Fall of Man. They have also acted in a number of Asylum films.

Galvasean

Deleted User wrote: »

Two of a kind. I have got some grief for my taste, I even got a number of digs from people in college during the debates. The line "looking through Darko's DVD collection and alonside Seven Samuarai there are so many cheap, trashy monster movies and bad sci fi films that I wonder why he is studying film."

Nothing worse than DVD stockpile snobs, "Ooh, I only buy films from the imdb top 250 list".
Interestingly, in my class all the guys with the DVD collections full of 'trash' films ended up doing better than the 'arthouse' fans.
Just goes to show you can learn something from every film, no matter how bad.