darth_ender said:
Not a bad idea. May just have to do this myself. Thanks for the ideas. I haven't had the chance to try bkev's idea yet, but I'll get to it as soon as I can. Either way, it may just be easiest to have the older system.
I just stumbled upon this guide that might be of some help.
The Last Stand (2013)
He's back. This movie wasn't awful, nor was it great. Felt like a by the numbers 80's action flick. The acting is TERRIBLE. You can really tell Arnold has gotten rusty while he was away. His fellow cast members don't fair too well to either. Ultimately it falls into the bad in a fun way category.
Bullet to the Head (2013)
Bullet to the Head is about two steps above The Last Stand. Better production values, better acting but lacking a heart. Where The Last Stand was bad in a fun way, this was just bland.
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Moonrise Kingdom was my favorite film from last year. So I decided to go back and check out his earlier films. Went into this one completely cold, didn't know what to expect. It's was an odd fun little film.
Rushmore (1998)
I remembered watching part of this film years ago and not particularly liking it. Now having watched it, I thought it was okay. Gotta love Bill Murray.
So...I got excited because of the release of Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game was....okay. But a side effect of my excitement was that I finally delved into the Aliens universe proper. Been reading the original pre-Alien³ comics and ended up stumbling upon a pretty dedicated fanbase. To my surprise the hardcore Aliens fans LOVE Prometheus. It's....weird. This is the kind of stuff they have to say about it:
Saw this last night in Imax 3D. Really enjoyed it, although I'm going to go back to watch it in 2D because I think the beautiful cinematography warrants seeing it as a "regular film" (and plus I just want to watch it again). I've read some very mixed and confused reviews about Prometheus, and after reflecting on it although there are some inconsistencies (mainly to do with the obvious cutting, it should have been at least 30 minutes longer) it is a superb film and well worthy of the Alien canon.
SPOILERS GALORE BELOW THIS POINT
So, firstly my take on the plot. The engineer at the beginning of the film ("Adam") is seeding the Earth with engineer DNA. He takes the black goo, which disintegrates his DNA and allows it to propagate on Earth. The engineers return to Earth at various points to check up on the progress of their seed. This is pretty well established, and follows on from various interviews I've read with Ridley Scott talking about "Chariot of the Gods", the Erich Von Daniken book from the 70s about how humans are descended from a space faring race.
Flash forward to the future and Weyland Tech is subsidising a trip to LV-223 to investigate what the star maps are pointing to. Clearly this is so that Weyland himself has one last roll of the dice to try and extend his life (one of the many Blade Runner references throughout: "I want more life, fucker"). Quite a few people seemed to be confused about why the medical-pod was setup for a male rather than female, obviously it's been brought along for Weyland, as has Vickers' escape pod. They land, find the goo and get back to the ship just before the storm (awesome scene). This brings us to the bit that most people seem to struggle with, what is the black goo?
My take is that the goo is a catalyst for life, and death. Adam uses it at the beginning to create life, but the outpost on LV-233 is a cache / research centre to develop the goo as a biological weapon. The goo changes the host into something else, a killer, and the way it changes the host depends on how they are infected. Look at the evidence: Fifield is infected from direct contact with the goo, goes insane and is killed. Holloway is fed the goo by David (on the orders of Weyland) and becomes infected from within, after impregnating Shaw. She incubates the seed inside her and pulls it out as it's gestating. This then impregnates the last engineer in the standard Alien way (seed down throat) which creates the proto-xenomorph that we see at the end. So, the goo is a weapon and we have been seeded on Earth to be the hosts of that weapon, hence the reason that the engineers are sending the ship back full of it.
I thought the subtext to the storyline was subtly brilliant in many ways. The main themes are to do with creation, parenthood and, as with Blade Runner, what it means to be human. Taking creation first, the engineers created us and we created David. This sets up an ongoing theme throughout the film about what it is to be "human". There are many examples of this - the conversations David has with the crew, specifically Holloway, the exchange between Vickers and Janek when he "just wants to know if she's a robot". Just like the replicants in Blade Runner, David is actually "more human than human", he shows more emotional depth than the rest of the crew- look at the way he stares reverentially at Weyland, his “father”. If we know that we are not a form of pure evolutionary Darwinism ("You want to throw three centuries of Darwinism out of the window?") and in fact we are another being's creation (just like David) then how different is our existence to his? The engineers created us and we created David and just like the replicants, how much "more human" are we than our creations? In many ways LV-223 is our Voight-Kampff, and we fail the test.
The mission Prometheus is on is also a quest for our parents, or more specifically, our fathers. Just as the first Alien films are about motherhood and birth (the Queen alien, the aliens gestating inside the hosts) Prometheus is about fatherhood. This goes right down to the way the engineers look, they are huge, muscular, silent creatures, just as many children see their fathers . Fatherhood in Prometheus is about creating something in your image that becomes something else (just as the goo changes its host into something different) and in the end becomes a threat that has to be destroyed; “A king has his reign, and then he dies. It's inevitable.” Ridley Scott is saying, if god can be killed, then god is dead.
For me Prometheus shows Ridley Scott is still a wonderful sci-fi director. He picks up the big themes and creates films that entertain as much as they make you think. I think Prometheus will be looked back upon as a classic, I already consider it one.
What do you guys think?
The Elstree Project is a unique oral history project. Over the past two years we have recorded 32 interviews with film and television industry veterans from the studios of Elstree and Borehamwood. The interviews showcase the rich and fascinating history of the studios; telling the stories of how some of the world's most well-known and best-loved film and television shows were made, from the people who helped make them.
One of the great benefits we have been able to offer is regular work experience for film students and allow them to not only participate in the filming and recording of these interviews, but also have them meet the veterans from the very industry they are looking to work in and hear first-hand what it was like.
They're running a Kickstarter right now.
Edit: I just realized they used a quote from jambedavdar in their pitch video. =P
Interesting. Where did you come across this?
Considering how old Hamill, Harrison and Fisher are I doubt their kids will actually be kids at this point. =P
Report: Star Wars Episode VII to Focus on Skywalker, Solo Kids
According to veteran Hollywood columnist Roger Friedman at Showbiz 411, Star Wars: Episode VII will be set "some time in the future [after Return of the Jedi]. Han, Princess Leia (with a presumably better hairstyle), and Luke Skywalker will be a lot older. Their children will be the new main characters. RsD2 [sic] and C-3PO will be unchanged, I would guess. since they are not human. But suffice to say, the three main actors are definitely coming back. The bigger question is, which young actors will play their kids?"
TV's Frink said:
I don't want to know what else is out there.
Craig Good a 30 year Pixar veteran tweeted this earlier today:
Craig Good @clgood
Would you buy a Blu-ray or DVD of the Star Wars theatrical cut? Take & share my informal, personal, unofficial survey. http://fave.co/Us1oeb
Don't forget that Lucas would always give Williams a list of songs to use as inspiration for each film. For AOTC it was a list of love themes. Dunno about ROTS.
Just for fun here are some vids with Williams about his work on the prequels:
TPM Part One, Two, and Three
and here's a bonus ESB era documentary:
IGN Interviews Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg on Star Wars: Episode VII and Standalone Films
My favorite bit:
Kasdan: I was pleased that there would be new ones, that there was a chance to capture some of the spirit of the original trilogy that I’d worked on. I thought there’s an audience out there -- my grandchildren, lots of original Star Wars people -- and there always will be. It’s only good that we try to do some more great ones.
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‘Star Wars’ writer Lawrence Kasdan wants spinoff film to ‘start fresh’
Kasdan would not confirm reports that the spinoff films would center on iconic characters Han Solo, Boba Fett or Yoda, but said he wasn’t focusing on his previous scripts or on the extended “Star Wars” universe in his approach to writing the new film.
“I’m trying to start fresh,” he said. “There are certain pleasures that we think the saga can bring to people that they’ve been missing, and we’re hoping to bring them that, and at the same time, have them feel that it’s all new.”
....
Asked if it would be strange to work on “Star Wars” without George Lucas at the helm, Kasdan was quick to point out that it was Lucas who recruited him to the project last fall.
“George sort of brought me into this part of it, and he’s stepping back from the company,” he said. “He’s sort of given his blessing to everybody, and he’ll be there if you need him. I think everyone’s interested to see where this can go. It’s been some very different places over 30 years …. I think with J.J., we’ll get something entirely new.”
....
“The ones I worked on were a long time ago, and they had a slightly different feeling than the ones that followed,” he said. “The first three, ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Empire’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ are all sort of more about people than the ones that followed. ‘Empire’ appeals to people, I think, because it’s the second act of a three-act play, and everything sort of goes to hell during the movie. And when you leave, everyone is in trouble, and that is the best part of the story to write. And people responded to it. Irvin Kershner was a completely different kind of director than George, so the movie’s much darker than the first ‘Star Wars.’ It’s more edgy.”
Despite its popularity and acclaim, “Empire” is not his favorite installment in the series.
“I must say, I think that the great, great film is the first ‘Star Wars,’ ” he said. “I do. It’s hilarious, and it changed movies forever.”
Lots of good bits in that article.
Is anyone else getting Aliens: Colonial Marines on Steam?
TV's Frink said:
Hey, if you want me to start posting that Lady Gaga pic again, you just keep posting like that.
AntcuFaalb said:
What I really don't want to see is a standalone movie about one of the PT-only characters. That would truly suck. Hard.
Aww, you hurt his feelings...
The X-Files (1993-2002)
Finally got around to finishing the series. People say the last couple seasons were the worst but I don't find that to be the case. Were they bland? Yes but in no way did they approach the worst. Look no further than War of the Coprophages for that. The show really went down the stinker when Carter left for that brief period of time. Whether it ever fully recovered from that is questionable.
The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
Finished it a while ago. It was a fun read and my first Tolkien. I still wish Jackson had kept truer to the dialog of the book.
Currently reading Land of Terror the second Doc Savage book. Lester Dent was a genius with words.
As THR first reported, Kasdan and Kinberg are working on separate films that will serve as spinoffs of the main new trilogy. Iger told CNBC that the pair are "working on films derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga, so we still plan to make Star Wars VII, VIII and IX roughtly over a six year period of time starting in 2015. But there are going to be a few other films released in that period of time, too."
It's Official: 'Star Wars' Standalone Films From Lawrence Kasdan, Simon Kinberg in Development
A Kasdan led Yoda film I could get behind. But I still hope the Yoda part of it is false.
Blasphemy! May a Gorax find you in your sleep...
Sounds like a bag of rock salt to me.
skyjedi2005 said:
The complete Al Williamson Star Wars in black and white published by Russ Cochran.
Limited Edition signed by both Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin both no longer with us.
You got your hands on one of those? 
That's a holy grail of mine.
Yoda to feature in first standalone Star Wars film?
I was hoping the standalone features would focus on new characters. Boba Fett maybe but Yoda? If this turns out to be true I'll be sad.
