Well, to each his own. Cagliostro is my favorite Miyazaki.
Have you seen Only Yesterday?
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this really is getting offtopic isn't it
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Holy Balls. The first two Alien movies are amazing.
- Thread starter Ultima_5
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Have you seen Only Yesterday?
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this really is getting offtopic isn't it
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Well, you brought up the comparison. All I'll say is that Princess Mononoke is basically the only environmental tract movie that I can not only tolerate, but love, because it doesn't treat the issue in a completely one-sided and blindly idealistic way. Well, that and Earth Maiden Arjuna, an absolutely amazing anime that all of you must watch immediately.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
I brought up the Ghibli comparison. I didn't bring up the Miyazaki/Mononoke/Nausicaa comparison. But I love Mononoke for the same reasons you do. Plus the incredibly score. There are times when I will have many of Hisaishi's tracks on loop.
Gauche the Cellist and Only Yesterday turned me to the Takahata side. They're honestly amazing and I urge you to watch them asap.
So, how bout them xenomorphs.
That's probably the first time anyone has ever compared avatar to ghibli =/
I think it's fair for the thread after 6 (100 post) pages to diverge a bit into a broader discussion of film, especially centered on the genre/director dualisms the first two Alien movies have. The alternative is probably endless cycles of Alien vs. Aliens, which is a subject I actually enjoy but can get tiresome.
the comparison was pretty rampant at the time of release
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
I actually first brought it up when the first teaser for Avatar came out. My foresight is 20/20.
Have you watched T2 yet?
It is one of his better scores. But I think I like his Laputa one better-the American one, not the original Japanese synth.
Also, the opening scene in Mononoke with the demon attack>any scene in Avatar, in terms of both drama AND visual impact.
Nappuccino
Member
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
If you had said Okkoto's death/demon turning scene or the nightwalker scene I might have agreed with you.
I'm a huge fan of Hishashi's Nausicaa track for the 80s synth. Feels completely fresh and alien. Especially when it comes to the Omu.
Eh. I need go to sleep so I don't want to spend too much time responding to this. Yes, I agree that the plant and animal life was largely crafted with aesthetics in mind (which kind of makes sense in a movie btw), but I think it's a bit cruse to say that the level of their design does not rise above " your average video game".
First off, to respond your comment about plausible ecological niches, this very clearly was considered and this topic is specifically discussed in interview with the film's designers. There are grazing animals, foragers, and various levels of predators with apex predators sitting atop the food chain. Yes, this may need be as fleshed as life, but I am quite impressed by the level of work that went into this element.
Speaking of aesthetics, many of the exotic looking plants were based off of wildlife that Cameron had encountered on his various ocean voyages and many other visual details were inspired with adaptations in mind. For example, all of the flying creatures are supposed have evolved from aquatic species, which explains their fish like jaws.
I really need to go to sleep. This article played a big part in my changing my opinion on the film:
http://io9.com/5464478/27-avatar-questions-answered-by-the-movies-designers
If you had said Okkoto's death/demon turning scene or the nightwalker scene I might have agreed with you.
I'm a huge fan of Hishashi's Nausicaa track for the 80s synth. Feels completely fresh and alien. Especially when it comes to the Omu.
Eh, not really a fan of the synth stuff in Nausicaa. It feels too dated to me, which distracts me because Miyazaki's works are otherwise so timeless in feeling and presentation. I love the main Nausicaa theme though.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Pandora's landscape and ecology had a lot of work put into it. I always loved finding out that the circular arches around the tree of souls formed due to the magnetic fields of the flux vortex shaping the rock formations.
I watched it two days ago. I really enjoyed it. Some of the dialogue from the kid was sort of annoying, but I'll cut it a break due to when the movie was released. At the moment I think the first one was better, but I still need to let everything sink in.
I may just be over thinking it or missing something, but wouldn't john conner disappear since they changed the past? Like... they destroyed all the parts of the first terminator, the computer guy's files, and then the second arnold terminator killed himself... wouldn't that change the future so that the war wouldn't happen? Then wouldn't john cease to exist since he was technically a product of the war (solider being sent back and impregnating sarah?)
I also bought the 3rd one, but it seems very similar to the 2nd one. I'll probably watch that once it arrives in a couple days.
Next up if true lies and john woo's hardboiled. pretty stoked for both. I welcome any and all suggestions! I also welcome the ghibli talk. Might take a break from all these 80s/90s action flicks and watch some anime something.
I tend to prefer to look at the text itself rather than the intent (or even work) of the author on things like this. So when I say that I never felt that way, I mean that the movie never showed me any importance to or even reason to believe in the ecology of the planet in Avatar. What parts of the ecology that played a meaningful part in the story tended to be the parts that were most difficult to justify in an ecological sense (the fiberoptic hair connections, the great tree, etc) and were designed more to give a Pocahontas-style primitivist aesthetic.
Not that that's a bad thing in itself, btw. To me there are massive critical flaws to Avatar as a film, but that actually isn't one of them. I just don't really want to judge a film by its appendix, but a lot of people seem to go to that in an effort to improve their own or others' opinion of it.
This is one of the major reasons I really dislike T2. Terminator had this hugely fatalistic quality to it. Time is a closed loop, nothing can change, so the best they can do is prepare for it. The hope to the end of Terminator was simply the fact that as of when Kyle was sent back, the rebels had apparently won and destroyed skynet, with the T800 they sent back as their utterly last ditch effort to turn the tide.
T2 retconned all of that, pushed the "No fate but the one we make" line into prominence (despite never being spoken in the first film), and tried to create this rosy inconsistent future where John simply shouldn't exist. It's messy and incoherent compared to the tighter and darker narrative of Terminator.
Not that that's a bad thing in itself, btw. To me there are massive critical flaws to Avatar as a film, but that actually isn't one of them. I just don't really want to judge a film by its appendix, but a lot of people seem to go to that in an effort to improve their own or others' opinion of it.
This is one of the major reasons I really dislike T2. Terminator had this hugely fatalistic quality to it. Time is a closed loop, nothing can change, so the best they can do is prepare for it. The hope to the end of Terminator was simply the fact that as of when Kyle was sent back, the rebels had apparently won and destroyed skynet, with the T800 they sent back as their utterly last ditch effort to turn the tide.
T2 retconned all of that, pushed the "No fate but the one we make" line into prominence (despite never being spoken in the first film), and tried to create this rosy inconsistent future where John simply shouldn't exist. It's messy and incoherent compared to the tighter and darker narrative of Terminator.
AdventureRacing
Member
The aesthetics of the movie are its strongest point right now so i'm not sure how just changing them would make everyone like the movie and even assuming that is pretty insulting/condescending.
Nappuccino
Member
Rule no1 of terminator movies should be "Don't think about the time travel angle."
Yeah, I like Terminator 1 better too. Is that becoming an acceptable opinion again like preferring Alien?
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
If you don't consider any film after T2 (and you shouldn't) the way in which time operates in that universe is fine.
Warm Machine
Member
The story is Aliens could be bashed for being too clockwork. Every character serves exactly the purpose they are designed for, every bit of tech is introduced and relied on later, every character arc is established and then completed. It is too perfect a puzzle and really, most of Cameron's work is too clear cut and too logical for some people.
He is a brilliant writer of circumstance and character involving a series of escalating events.
He is a brilliant writer of circumstance and character involving a series of escalating events.
yeah i guess.... It's just that they could have easily had a scene where the evil company found the second arnold's arm in the gears or the liquid metal terminator or something.... Would imply that they could have still been able to reverse engineer it and made the war happen.
Also it bothered me that they helped the second arnold commit suicide. Wouldn't it have made more sense to keep him? I mean sarah and john are on the run still, and it seems like he could have healed up (like that scene where they pulled bullets out of his back). I assumed that they were going to use the old terminator arm to fix up the second arnold. Also would make a smoother transition into the 3rd movie (I'm assuming that they send another arnold back. Seems like it would be less contrived if they kept the already more humanized arnold. note I haven't seen T3, this is all just based off of me glancing at the wiki article before deciding to buy it.) Also hope this makes sense. Pretty late and had a long day haha.
That's how I prefer my time travel fiction. The time travel in the first one made sense because all the actions were set in stone. Sarah was told she would raise a great warrior, and we see her getting ready for it in the beginning of T2.
The more I think about it, the more it's starting to ruin the plot of the movie. I still enjoyed the action bits, and I especially like watching Arnold reload the shot gun when he was on the motorcycle. Doing that spinning motion and what not.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
You should just throw T3 away right now. Its garbage. Never watch another Terminator or anything else Terminator-related after T2.
haha it was $3 used. I'm getting my money's worth.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
You're paying to ruin your memory of the first two movies. Don't do it!
Protip: A sequel to a Cameron movie that isn't made by Cameron will always be shit.
I'll put it on the backburner. Just like I'm planning on doing with the 3rd and 4th alien movies. I'll get to it after my thoughts of the previous movies are set a little more in stone.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Alright, now watch True Lies.
I don't think T3 was that horribly bad. It wasn't good either, but it was at least fun. Just keep a firewall in your mind between the first two and the rest.
And then another one between those two sets and The Sarah Conner Chronicles, which was actually pretty awesome but still needs to be treated as a separate continuity. It's more of a sequel to T1 than it is to T2.
Basically, there are the following valid continuities for Terminator:
Terminator 1 alone
Terminator 1 + 2
Terminator 1 + TSCC
Terminator 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 (3 and 4 aren't worth considering on their own, but if you want to I think you can also go T1 + 2 + 4)
The first three are good on their own merits. Any other combination is best treated as silly fun.
And then another one between those two sets and The Sarah Conner Chronicles, which was actually pretty awesome but still needs to be treated as a separate continuity. It's more of a sequel to T1 than it is to T2.
Basically, there are the following valid continuities for Terminator:
Terminator 1 alone
Terminator 1 + 2
Terminator 1 + TSCC
Terminator 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 (3 and 4 aren't worth considering on their own, but if you want to I think you can also go T1 + 2 + 4)
The first three are good on their own merits. Any other combination is best treated as silly fun.
I'm on it! Probably tomorrow. Man, the 80s/90s had some amazing action movies. Haven't seen anything in the last few years that has left any sort of impact on me compared to some of this older stuff.
Is that still on the air, or did it get canceled?
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Ugh, TSCC was awful. I watched the first season and it was just bad man.
It was cancelled at the end of the second season on a cliffhanger.
It's certainly not anywhere near as good as the first two movies, but for TV SF it did some very good things. Took a while to find its groove, though. I think most people who didn't give it a chance past the first season think it sucked. And I think it was absolutely better than T3 (which was largely silly) or T4 (which was largely forgettable).
Here's the OT for the second season if you want to get a broader view of opinions on it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332290
It's certainly not anywhere near as good as the first two movies, but for TV SF it did some very good things. Took a while to find its groove, though. I think most people who didn't give it a chance past the first season think it sucked. And I think it was absolutely better than T3 (which was largely silly) or T4 (which was largely forgettable).
Here's the OT for the second season if you want to get a broader view of opinions on it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=332290
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
I stopped watching when they showed
Kyle Reese in the future with his brother. Was that the second season? It was all awful.
This is so true. He should have hired Ellison to come up with the story for T2.
Need some clarification on the Aliens story. When The Company loses contact with The Colony on LV-426 (which coincidentally happens when Ripley is rescued and stationed at the Gateway) how much time transpires from when they lose contact and Ripley is notified. And how long was the Colony settled there until they came in contact with the derelict craft from the original. This seems really odd to me because the Colony did put up a fight and presumably survived for quite some time. How quickly were they wiped out? Seems like it all happened fairly quickly and doesn't make much sense in the chronology of time presented by the movie.
Given Burke's reference to Ripley's new "career" in manual labor, it seemed that some time did pass between RIpley's rescue and Burke's visit.
Yea it would have helped if the movie indicated that 6 months had passed or something.
I like how it's handled. It's mentioned in passing in that she has employment.
No matter how bad TSCC was, I have to give them props for (huge spoiler)
killing off a major character in the middle of a random episode by a headshot you didn't have time to see coming.
He can watch the trailer chase scene. I think that's one of the best action sequences in the series. It's like it was done by a different crew than the rest of T3.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Why do you think so? What do we know about the movie so far?
cloud_sleep
Member
Is that the scene in which the terminatrix injects some sort of nanotech into police cars which somehow makes them able to drive themselves? Ugh. That aside, it is a fairly well shot scene, I guess.
base shagohod
Member
Chiggs
Gold Member
Because its a godawful piece of shit.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
How so?
I like the original, btw-- I just think the story and acting are crappy. The thrill ride makes up for it though.
MoonsaultSlayer
Member
Watched all 4 this past week. Loved 1 a lot, Loved 2's sets but disliked some of the acting, disliked 3 and its cg, and liked 4 and its surprises.
Why did people hate 4? Besides the hybrid thingy, I enjoyed the film.
Why did people hate 4? Besides the hybrid thingy, I enjoyed the film.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
The only redeeming thing about Alien 3 is this scene:
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