Sneak Peek with LegionFX Tomorrow - The Last Supper

[famdoola]

Too many morons on here talking about the gay guy's. Get over it, you all sound like bigoted old men.

agreed - i'd rather discuss the bit about "cockroaches the size of giant poodles" at another colony

[NickisSmart]

I like that Scott included a gay couple, and that they're not photogenic gays, but hairy manly butch gay dudes. Good on him.

[SM]

Too many morons on here talking about the gay guy's. Get over it, you all sound like bigoted old men.

No one has said anything remotely bigoted over the last several pages - why get stroppy now?

[motherfather]

I'm surprised that there's so much youtube hate for the prologue.

I'm a little wary of the test audience issue in a film franchise like Alien. I mean, how much attention was paid to test audiences / youtube comments for A L I E N in the 70s?

If it really is a "broad cross-section" audience that is tested, I'm not even sure that is the best tactic for any kind of franchise/prequel/sequel/reboot/cult following movie that has a longevity and running history to it. Surely you would want to target your "repeat business customers" (i.e. fans) more than casual moviegoers who may not be in it for the long haul. Sure, pleasing one-time cinemagoers will make a few bucks, but the core money might always come flooding in from repeat customers. Who knows... Reputation is easy to lose and hard to gain/gain back.

The argument I suppose is you can always rely on the repeat cusomers to put up with any old nonsense, so you can pander more to new one-time or potential repeat customer converts.

I still have concerns this movie will be waaay gorier than A L I E N and more frequently-  as if every body count needs to be justified with precious running time devoted to gratuitious gore. But the prologue has filled me with more excitement than the first trailer - especially about lessons being learned after Prometheus.

I think the stakes are different this time around also. For Prometheus, frankly I was just happy to have ANY kind of movie in the Alien universe - especially after AVP:R jeopardised things. This time around I don't think I'll be the same. Since Prometheus, we've had Gravity, Martian, Interstellar, Arrival, which although are completely different movies, bring science back into sci-fi. I just hope this movie stands very strongly as an Alien movie, and as a credible sci-fi movie for the 21st century.

The prologue ticks all the boxes for me. I really want to see this movie. And I really want to come flooding out of the cinema with a feeling of I can't wait for the DVD to come out.

[NickisSmart]

Alien was pretty gory in its own right. But I'm told the Backburster/throastbuster scenes are gorier than anything in Alien or Prometheus combined.

[echobbase79]

I wonder how gory the scenes will remain once the MPAA see it? Hopefully, they won't make them cut out to much. I don't know how bloody the scenes are because I haven't read the descriptions of what happens in them. They do sound over the top though.

[Xenomorphine]

Was OK, but nothing special. I'm genuinely confused at why some people are hyping this as some kind of amazing example of character development. There's zero character development. It's just a bunch of people talking over one another at a dinner table.

They really should have decided against the fake-out, mind you. That honestly made it feel like it was getting dangerously close to a parody (even including a dark punchline, of sorts). While I didn't think much of the TED talk piece, either, at least that felt like it had more of a point and set out the theme of the story to come. It retained a serious tone and was all the better for it.

Here? It's like someone couldn't come up with a better idea than having characters verbally f**k around, realised that would be underwhelming, then impulsively went, "Uhh... Pretend there's a birth scene - except not!" That's when it came across as hammy.

Didn't even notice the gay couple, but in fairness, how do we know they aren't bisexual? Never quite understood the logic of Scott's assumptions that everyone on long space journeys away from home would automatically turn bisexual, however... Oil rigs and submarines don't generally lead to that, so spaceships wouldn't magically do so.

I agree that they're probably just specialists, though. You apparently need something like just under half a million people to avoid genetic in-breeding possibilities. Presumably, future colonies, like Hadley's Hope, had people cycling through, seeing as the Sulaco didn't take long to travel there.

So, yes. OK, but they should have come up with a better idea.

The one thing you don't want to do, when promoting a horror film, is to leave the potential audience with an impression of comedy.

[SM]

Didn't even notice the gay couple, but in fairness, how do we know they aren't bisexual? Never quite understood the logic of Scott's assumptions that everyone on long space journeys away from home would automatically turn bisexual, however... Oil rigs and submarines don't generally lead to that, so spaceships wouldn't magically do so.

I'm not sure that's what he was getting at.  I thought it was more to do with sensibilities changing into the future.

I agree about the character development, but I often think that's just people who don't know any better bandying the term around to appear informed.  Like the term 'plot hole'.

It does give us some insight into some characters though.  The lacking in confidence 2IC, the judgy gossipy couple talking about McBride and his missus drinking - I don't think that counts as development.  We'll appreciate its worth (or lack thereof) when we have the wider context of the rest of the film to compare it to.

[NickisSmart]

Was OK, but nothing special. I'm genuinely confused at why some people are hyping this as some kind of amazing example of character development. There's zero character development. It's just a bunch of people talking over one another at a dinner table.

So was most of Alien. I think this is a good thing. And they still have more chemistry than all of the characters in Prometheus combined. Is it high art? No, but neither were the conversations between Parker and Brett. Why are people expecting something other than what the classic was?

They really should have decided against the fake-out, mind you. That honestly made it feel like it was getting dangerously close to a parody (even including a dark punchline, of sorts). While I didn't think much of the TED talk piece, either, at least that felt like it had more of a point and set out the theme of the story to come. It retained a serious tone and was all the better for it.

It felt fine to me. I think the point of this footage was to parallel Alien and I think it works. I think it sets the tone of the movie, which, like Alien, includes horror and humor. So what is bad about that, exactly? Also, the TED talk was nothing like how Prometheus actually turned out. It felt very misleading as far as that goes. The question is, is this?

Here? It's like someone couldn't come up with a better idea than having characters verbally f**k around, realised that would be underwhelming, then impulsively went, "Uhh... Pretend there's a birth scene - except not!" That's when it came across as hammy.

I think they were having someone choke on their dinner. Are you telling me you thought anyone really thought it'd be a "birth" scene? Of course not. It's just a nod, a wink. No harm, no foul, if you ask me.

Didn't even notice the gay couple, but in fairness, how do we know they aren't bisexual? Never quite understood the logic of Scott's assumptions that everyone on long space journeys away from home would automatically turn bisexual, however... Oil rigs and submarines don't generally lead to that, so spaceships wouldn't magically do so.

Ever heard the phrase, Any port in a storm?

The one thing you don't want to do, when promoting a horror film, is to leave the potential audience with an impression of comedy.

Unless you want to catch them off guard, you don't. Maybe Scott has something up his sleeve.

*Fixed the quotes. Hicks.

[D88M]

i was thinking, is interesting to see how the xenomorphs will appear in the movie, symbolically, in Alien it was like the sexual tension/represion came out and started wreaking havoc, and this time they are all couples, and Alien to me was always a very sexual franchise in a certain level, so is interesting what will the antagonist of this new concept will represent

also is just me or the release date has been changed?

[NickisSmart]

Has it, it's still May 15th or thereabouts, ain't it?

[Corporal Hicks]

I completely lost track of what Enoch and co. were arguing about. But please, stop being antagonist to anyone who disagrees with you. A smiley or a winky face doesn't make it cute or better, it makes it obnoxious. Of course, we're all here to chat about the films. We're not all going to agree but yes, it is nice to have people contribute to the discuss by giving reasons or alternatives. We don't get very far with just "I didn't like this".

I enjoyed the viral. That said, I would have hated it if it was part of the film because it's so obviously designed as being fan winky. I can dig that as a piece of advertising but in the film I would have been rolling my eyes out of my head, especially at that reuse of Parker's dialogue. I just can't stand it when sequels/prequels do that. I agree the fakeout was on the nose but the payoff worked for me.

I liked that we got a look at, however brief, some of the character dynamics. We see McBride being pally with the captain and this seeming to piss off Crudup's character who eventually becomes captain. Ejogo's doctor also seems to dislike Tennessee's wife who leaves her locked up in the trailer. And there's hints of a possible power struggle between Daniels and Crudup.

I actually quite liked the chemistry between everyone. I've got high hopes for McBride and Tennessee and I liked him here. He is a little comic relief at this point but I'm not going to complain right now. We already get some quotable dialogue from him. 

Was nice to get a bit more from Daniels. Someone mentioned earlier how uncomfortable and wooden she'd seemed during the various interviews. Obviously that's because she was terrified of saying something she shouldn't have but it was nice to see her in character here.

And I'm really disappointed that having gay characters is even an issue for people. I believe firmly in a meritocracy. It shouldn't matter about superficial traits, it should matter about capabilities. If these 2 fellas are good at their job, they're welcome aboard! Also they're hauling thousands of colonists, these 12 or so folk aren't going to be populating a new colony by themselves.

It's also nice to see representation for others when it's still not as accepted as it should be. I've only recently realized just why that is so important to others and I support it. I disagree somewhat when it's a case of it being the only thing about the character (when it is just a token character) but when it's just one part of who that character is (you know, like real people) then I don't think there's any problem. It's only when it's one dimensional that I find it annoying and that'd be the same for any character or point trying to be made. I hope I articulated that properly.

Plus it's a nice nod to Ridley's more sexually open future like he wanted with Alien. And it's nice to see that in a fictional universe, we're still slightly progressive (though Crudup and Ejogo don't seem to agree).

Over all, I enjoyed it. It was fun as a piece of advertising designed to bring back some of the fans that the studio thinks they alienated with Prometheus.

[Astronoë]

Hey guys, long time lurker, thought I'd jump in on the conversation.

Enjoyed it myself. Thought the scene had a natural feel to it with good chemistry. Laughed along with the banter and thought the character dynamics were interesting, especially Crudup's character, who came across as an uptight, judgemental, conservative type, who's nose looked bent out of joint by the more liberal attitudes of some his crew mates. The scene also gave me more confidence in Waterston's ability as a leading lady.

To those moaning about the chocking scene, I think it was meant to be a homage to John Hurt, and if that's the case, I personally feel its a nice touch. Of course, I wouldn't want such fan service in the film itself, but for a viral AD, I don't see a problem with it.

The key to Covenant being a good movie for me, is going to be down to how well it sells us the tragedy of the situation. Here we have colonists full of hopes and dreams of starting a new life together, only for it to turn into a nightmare. Get that element right and the audience invested emotionally and there's a real chance to make the xeno scary again, something its not really been since the original.

Anyway, I'm more upbeat after this than I was following the trailer and will be looking forward to more viral stuff in the coming weeks.

Well, lowbrow Hollywood isn't beyond making sober reliable conservatives look bad n drunkard liberal hobo pilots in charge of safety of thousands of colonists look good.
I bet if u were one of the colonists u would pick differently.

[Enoch]

Corporal, you are right on the track

[D88M]

Has it, it's still May 15th or thereabouts, ain't it?

it seems so, i tought it was on march and got scared it was moved, iguess i am just anxious lol