The Movie/Film Thread

[TeslaGuy]

Originally Posted by golem09

Alien is to me the best scifi AND the best horror movie of all time.

Hmmm. From my perspective, Kubrick trumps Scott in both genres. But that doesn't interfere with my enthusiasm for both Alien and Blade Runner. The production design of those movies is awesome. I remember spending an entire day sitting in a local cinema during Alien's first run, ignoring the plot and relishing the detail of the sets. And in that department, Blade Runner was unfuckingbelievable, despite being compromised by time and budget constraints, and having the best SFX shot botched in the film lab.

[TurtleFu]

I wasn't very impressed with Blade Runner.
Was it a really good film? Yes.
But I also saw it for what it was, a sci-fi noir. It fit all of the conventions of a noir film, to me. So it felt a bit formulaic.

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying I didn't see it as revolutionary.
I mean, maybe it has to do with my age. By the time I watched Bladerunner, I had already seen subsequent sci-fi films that also played with other genres and philosophical concepts.

[TeslaGuy]

By the time you saw Blade Runner, you had already become accustomed to the "future noir" perspective that was created by that film. I have watched and been disappointed by a generation of films that tried to recreate Blade Runner's magic and failed.

So much of it has to do with the visual density of the film. There was some sort of Hollywood strike during production, which luckily didn't affect the art department, and they had the time to polish the "Ridleyworld" back lot to near perfection during the hiatus.

And Douglas Trumbull, who was responsible for the slitscan photography of 2001's wormhole sequence and all of Close Encounter's way better than the competing summer sci-fi movie Star Wars special effects.

And awesome "visual futurist" Syd Mead sketching storyboards.

I have not found the enveloping, exceptionally well realized speculative vision of Blade Runner nearly as well expressed in any subsequent sci-fi film.

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by TeslaGuy

By the time you saw Bladerunner, you had already become accustomed to the "future noir" perspective that was created by that film. I have watched and been disappointed by a generation of films that tried to recreate Blade Runner's magic and failed.

So much of it has to do with the visual density of the film. There was some sort of Hollywood strike during production, which luckily didn't affect the art department, who polished the "Ridleyworld" back lot to near perfection during the hiatus.

And Douglas Trumbull, who was responsible for the slitscan photography of 2001's wormhole sequence and all of Close Encounters way better than the competing summer sci-fi movie Star Wars special effects.

I have not found the enveloping, rich visual density of Blade Runner in any subsequent sci-fi film.

Let's not forget its soundtrack, a character in itself. My dad gave me the vinyl of it a while back too :-)

[TeslaGuy]

Yes! Awesome Vangelis soundtrack. He was at that time heavily into exploring the expressive capabilities of Yamaha's leviathan CS-80 synth that had an unusual, cool ring modulator and other expensive analog things that helped him create unusually moving electronic music. And he was also fascinated by percussion at that time.

Supposedly, Vangelis was really annoyed by Scott's continual film editing that in turn required repeated music editing, and as a result pissed-off Vangelis refused to release his soundtrack for 10 years or so.

[deadgrandma]

Anyone seen Himizu by Sono Sion yet? It looks/sounds really awesome...

[deadgrandma]

What to say about Prometheus without any plot reveal?

All I can say is that its really... Interesting. I don't know how it will be received, but for my money's worth I had a great night out. See it if you like the franchise, its easily the best since Aliens.

[W3iHong]

I want to watch Prometheus for all that sci-fi tech eyecandy.

[TeslaGuy]

Hope it has production design comparable to Alien and Blade Runner.

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by TeslaGuy

Hope it has production design comparable to Alien and Blade Runner.

Kinda sorta. HR Giger influence abounds the whole thing still though.