General Arcade and Retro Chat - Insert Coin -

Star Lord

I liked Prometheus as a proper Sci-Fi movie. People just expected it to be another Alien movie, so then he was kinda forced to shoe-horn that in.

CiDeRmAn

Proper Scifi doesn't have to be unbelievable at all, but it really isn't a simple genre, rather a very loose term for a huge varied catalogue of media, spanning from pulp to literature, from comedy to tragedy.
Film and TV isn't even the best place to get good science fiction, better to stick to novels and the short story form, the latter being a place that science fiction has really triumphed.
Also, it's a mistake to limit oneself to just what's on the shelves now, lots of incredible work out there that was published throughout the last 170 odd years, from Verne to Lovecraft, from Blish and Clarke to Banks and Reynolds.
Graphic novels too, over the past 20 years, have become a great wellspring of science fiction writing.
In the main, TV and movies just reduce books to their bare bones, although Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow, both Cruise movies, have been good science fiction, along with Moon and Source Code.

Retr0gamer

I really didn't like Prometheus. It was just a standard monster slasher flick with idiotic teenagers disguised as scientists. There was just no point at all to the film, at least the original aliens films had some proper sci fi elements... I'm not even sure what Prometheus was trying to say.

Retr0gamer

Didn't think much of Oblivion and not seen the other two but Moon was pure class and a great example of classic cinematic sci-fi.

Star Lord

Agreed, Moon is an amazing piece of film.

Steve X2

Speaking of SciFi, girlfriend told me last week she’d never seen Star Wars in English and had only seen the first one back in the 80’s. So, I grabbed the de-specialized edition of the original 3 movies and we sat down and watched them in one day(on a nice big 150” projector screen in HD). It was awesome and the de-specialized editions of these movies is the only way to see them if you ask me.

Then, something terrible happened, she knew of these “other” 3 Star Wars movies!! So with a heavy heart and tearful eyes I grabbed them and we watched them over 2 days. The horror, the gods damn horror of it!! Jar Jar, crappy and overused CGI, stupid kid Anakin actor, stupid adult Anakin actor, Jar Jar, gods damn Jar Jar!!!

Anyway, my faith is restored in her, she thought they were pretty crappy and the original movies were 100 times better. Also she thought the Anakins were crap actors. I will say, Episode 3 is not as bad as I remember it apart from the Anakin and Padme scenes so that was almost bearable.

Again, if you’re a fan and have not seen the de-specialized editions you are doing yourself a disservice.

Retr0gamer

Older anakin is a pretty good actor, it's just there's not an awful lot you can do with George Lucas dialogue.

safetyboy

Just watched Ex-Machina last night, really enjoyed it.

The Last Bandit

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Older anakin is a pretty good actor, it's just there's not an awful lot you can do with George Lucas dialogue.

Ya to be fair he was awesome in Twilight

Anyone see 'Under the skin' now that was some weirdass scifi.

DinoRex

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I really didn't like Prometheus. It was just a standard monster slasher flick with idiotic teenagers disguised as scientists. There was just no point at all to the film, at least the original aliens films had some proper sci fi elements... I'm not even sure what Prometheus was trying to say.

Yep. Rewatched Alien recently and everything in there actually makes sense. Don't know why Hollywood finds it so difficult to tell coherent stories these days.

In the original Alien Ripley is super concerned about quarantine (and this is not a team of scientists either, remember) The only reason the Alien specimen gets on board is because Ash disobeys her orders and opens the airlock, again, this makes lots of sense later when it's revealed he's a robot recently added to the crew roster with orders to capture an alien specimen.

All the actions by all the characters make coherent sense within the logic of the world that is presented on screen.

Nothing anything the characters do makes any internal sense in Prometheus. The android character goes around just doing random sh*t for no good reason and we're never given any explanation. It's like the writers remembered that Ash starts behaving erratically in Alien, but completely forgot the reasons why.

And then Prometheus also expects to not have a clue about how evolution works. We can completely accept how the alien life cycle works in Alien, it's all kept just vague and mysterious enough for us just to accept it. In Prometheus they just completely disregard basic human evolution to the point where we have to assume that this is some strange alternate Earth where humans have no DNA in common with the billions of years of evolution that have already taken place on the planet. And it does all this with ZERO payoff other than something that's supposed to resemble a twist of sorts that 'they made us, but now they want to destroy us'

I mean there are one or two things you can let slide for the sake of escapism... but when the movie is just wall to wall bullsh*t it just doesn't work.

Prometheus does look great though, it's problem is the original script was utterly butchered to the point where nothing makes any sense any more.

Nerdkiller1991

The Last Bandit wrote: »

If I watch Sci-fi, I like to see cool space ships & aliens not a goddamn

book shelf

.

MURRRRRPH!

Steve X2 wrote: »

Speaking of SciFi, girlfriend told me last week she’d never seen Star Wars in English and had only seen the first one back in the 80’s. So, I grabbed the de-specialized edition of the original 3 movies and we sat down and watched them in one day(on a nice big 150” projector screen in HD). It was awesome and the de-specialized editions of these movies is the only way to see them if you ask me.

Then, something terrible happened, she knew of these “other” 3 Star Wars movies!! So with a heavy heart and tearful eyes I grabbed them and we watched them over 2 days. The horror, the gods damn horror of it!! Jar Jar, crappy and overused CGI, stupid kid Anakin actor, stupid adult Anakin actor, Jar Jar, gods damn Jar Jar!!!

Anyway, my faith is restored in her, she thought they were pretty crappy and the original movies were 100 times better. Also she thought the Anakins were crap actors. I will say, Episode 3 is not as bad as I remember it apart from the Anakin and Padme scenes so that was almost bearable.

Again, if you’re a fan and have not seen the de-specialized editions you are doing yourself a disservice.

Meh. I'd rather wait for the possible BD release of the series rather than view some hack job fan remaster of varying quality due to the usage of multiple sources. It's just a shame that it will not contain the victory celebration theme instead of that awful Yub Nub one at the end of the original Jedi. I also feel that they should keep the effects fixes and not the other "fixes" like all that CG stuff.

Also, you're dislike of the Prequels are pure hyperbole. They're not good, but they didn't make me as angry as, say, The Amazing Spiderman movies.

DinoRex wrote: »

Yep. Rewatched Alien recently and everything in there actually makes sense. Don't know why Hollywood finds it so difficult to tell coherent stories these days.

I feel as though this is relevant.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/06/12/film-crit-hulk-smash-the-age-of-the-convoluted-blockbuster

Thankfully movies like Fury Road aren't a part of that, because, why would it need that?

DinoRex

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

I feel as though this is relevant.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/06/12/film-crit-hulk-smash-the-age-of-the-convoluted-blockbuster

It may well be relevant, but I genuinely can't read anything that guy writes. I wonder if anyone has made a chrome extension to remove all the caps from his essays.

Steve X2

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

MURRRRRPH!

Meh. I'd rather wait for the possible BD release of the series rather than view some hack job fan remaster of varying quality due to the usage of multiple sources. It's just a shame that it will not contain the victory celebration theme instead of that awful Yub Nub one at the end of the original Jedi. I also feel that they should keep the effects fixes and not the other "fixes" like all that CG stuff.

You are of course entitled to your opinion on the de-specialized editions. But I assume you have actually watched them to come to that opinion? Which version did you watch? The reason I ask is that this is an evolving project and sure, a couple years ago it was probably pretty rough looking.

Also, you're dislike of the Prequels are pure hyperbole. They're not good, but they didn't make me as angry as, say, The Amazing Spiderman movie

Hmm, so you know my opinion better than myself? Cool trick bro ;0)

Myrddin

By all accounts, those de-specialized versions are incredibly well done. Must give them a watch some day, from memory though they're a monster download

CiDeRmAn

Aliens Special Edition and Abyss Special Edition are probably the films that started the directors cut ball rolling, along with Blade Runner.
Aliens had some cuts that made no sense at all, though those elements, such as the sentry guns, were in the novelisation.
The Abyss was not appreciated at the time, aside from the CGI, but the film was a massive tribute to the art of physical effects work, and the documentary The Abuse is well worth watching, I think it's on the DVD and Blu of the film. The cuts made a very long movie into a merely long movie but also lost some pretty important stuff from the final reel, elements that made the ending make a lot more sense.
Blade Runner, that is as mad as a box of frogs.
Not only is it barely recognisable compared to the original novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but I think the Blu I have of it has three different versions on there, with narration, without narration and so on.

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

By all accounts, those de-specialized versions are incredibly well done. Must give them a watch some day, from memory though they're a monster download

Very well done indeed , I think the guy who started the project got a nice job out of the exposure. When you look at some side by side comparisons of a few scenes you really see how much of the movie you are missing because of Mr Lucas and his minions aggressive (much darker) re-colour grading of the originals. They guys running this despecialized project are not just trying to remove CGI Jabba etc, they are restoring the original colour grading, and a whole lot more.

Not every movie needs a heavy blue/brown filter over everything

DinoRex

The best thing about the Aliens: Special Edition is the scene added near the beginning in which Ripley is told that her daughter had grown old and died during her time in cryosleep. That simple little scene adds so much to the relationship between Ripley and Newt... crazy that the scene was not in the original version.

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

Myrddin

A Big Trouble in Little China remake featuring The Rock as Jack Burton?? Good god, that's it, stop the planet, I want to get off...

Nerdkiller1991

Steve X2 wrote: »

Hmm, so you know my opinion better than myself? Cool trick bro ;0)

It's all in the wrist, friendo.

Steve X2 wrote: »

Very well done indeed , I think the guy who started the project got a nice job out of the exposure. When you look at some side by side comparisons of a few scenes you really see how much of the movie you are missing because of Mr Lucas and his minions aggressive (much darker) re-colour grading of the originals. They guys running this despecialized project are not just trying to remove CGI Jabba etc, they are restoring the original colour grading, and a whole lot more.

Not every movie needs a heavy blue/brown filter over everything

I'd be inclined to say "get the original cinematographer" for the official release, but isn't he dead now? Which could very well be a problem if the unaltered release still manages to get the colours all wrong.

Also, I heard that there's a 4K scan of the originals made recently. I can only hope that we get that soon enough.

DinoRex wrote: »

The best thing about the Aliens: Special Edition is the scene added near the beginning in which Ripley is told that her daughter had grown old and died during her time in cryosleep. That simple little scene adds so much to the relationship between Ripley and Newt... crazy that the scene was not in the original version.

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

I believe Cameron himself said that the Special Edition is his preferred version. The same can't be said about his T2 SE, I think, even though it adds that scene which explains why the T-800 becomes more emotive.

Myrddin

Nerdkiller1991 wrote: »

Also, I heard that there's a 4K scan of the originals made recently. I can only hope that we get that soon enough.

Really? Nice

Nerdkiller1991

Myrddin wrote: »

Really? Nice

Done by Reliance Media Works.

https://vimeo.com/95919913

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

Myrddin wrote: »

A Big Trouble in Little China remake featuring The Rock as Jack Burton?? Good god, that's it, stop the planet, I want to get off...

I'm not long after sending it to Jack Burton on Facebook.

CiDeRmAn

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy wrote: »

I'm not long after sending it to Jack Burton on Facebook.

Yeah,
I stuck this up a little while ago on another thread here

Seems like the next Big Trouble movie will have this unknown as Jack Burton instead....

queue NERD RAGE!

Star Lord

In fairness to Mr. Johnson, and the fact that they've got decent scriptwriters, this will mostly come down to the director and the amount of interfering the studio does. As I said on FB this morning, I'm hesitantly optimistic.

o1s1n

Myrddin wrote: »

A Big Trouble in Little China remake featuring The Rock as Jack Burton?? Good god, that's it, stop the planet, I want to get off...

I believe the only reason Jack Burton is interested in that TNG pin is to beat someone to death with it after hearing the above.

Retr0gamer

I think the original cut of Aliens is what people should watch first. The whole colonist sequence really breaks the tension of what is about to come at the start of the film. However the Special Edition is definitely the one to go to when revisiting it.

DinoRex

Under no circumstances should anyone watch the regular edition of Dark City first. Completely ruins the film by spoiling it in an opening naration. Directors Cut is vastly superior, wish I could have seen that one first.

Jack burton

I like the rock, hes does the whole roided up guy thing well but nobody could ever even hope to capture the magic of Big Trouble in Little China. Yet another remake that doesnt need to happen...first tmnt and not big trouble, and talks now of the monster squad. Nothing is sacred



Slightly off topic but i figured most of us here are pretty tech savvy. Looking to get myself an andriod box for the living room, has anyone have any recommendations or will I build something myself?

Doge

Jack burton wrote: »

I like the rock, hes does the whole roided up guy thing well but nobody could ever even hope to capture the magic of Big Trouble in Little China. Yet another remake that doesnt need to happen...first tmnt and not big trouble, and talks now of the monster squad. Nothing is sacred



Slightly off topic but i figured most of us here are pretty tech savvy. Looking to get myself an andriod box for the living room, has anyone have any recommendations or will I build something myself?

Theres a dedicated thread here which would be worth asking on too...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057066642


The Mele F10 deluxe is a remote that acts like a wii wireless controller for selecting the icons which is worth getting too.

Retr0gamer

This video was linked on HG101 and is a fascinating look at the Sega Saturn hardware. The guys English isn't great so put on english captions. Really goes in depth into how Saturn hardware worked, why transparencies were a problem for the machine and how some games got around this. It also goes into why 3D was so difficult for the system. It had nothing really to do with the dual processor set up but more to do with the dual video processors were only one of the video chips could handle polygons.

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