GREETINGS AVPGALAXY COMMUNITY!!!Hello! This is my very first post.
I've been a fan of ALIEN since I first saw it as a child, way back on HBO.
I've owned almost every iteration of it from VHS to LASERDISC to DVD to the phenominal BLURAY set,
plus I finally got to see it on a huge IMAX screen last year!
As for my views within the galaxy, I am primarilly an ALIEN fan. I was disappointed when I saw ALIENS in the
theater in 86', I was expecting something like ALIEN and I was let down by the lack of grittiness, lack of
anamorphic photography, lack of superior set design, lack of superior creature design (and omission of Giger)
as well as the film grade and aspect ratio (noteably poor) and general attitude. (Rambo in space vs. what the first film was.)
However, everything since ALIENS has been even worse so I do give it more leeway now, unfortuanantly, this is almost
the case with everything I didn't like in the 70's and 80's - Things got so terrible that what was once no good is now great
in contrast to the cartoon nonsense released today.
ALIEN COVENANT:My main complaint about the entire film is the CGI. If the rest of the film was not so good, I would have hated it.
As it stands however, I am able to enjoy the movie by viewing it as a new Ridley Scott science fiction film which
primarilly deals with themes of creation but is lacking in terms of an ALIEN film's expected creature designs and execution.
Ridley Scott has been quoted as saying he actually heard us fans when it came to PROMETHEUS and that is why
he decided to put the ALIEN back in the movie. But why make it so half assed? He was even asked why the creatures
were mostly CGI and he said there were things he couldn't do with the limitations of a man in a suit... He talked about
the old ALIEN suit as if it was a thing of shame to be avoided but on this, he missed the mark again because most fans
want practical effects. The alien in Covenant was reduced to basically a Marvel comic book type monster, bouncing off
walls, over animated and unrealistic... The exact things Ridley has complained about before when it comes to CGI!
If there is one thing I would love to happen, I would love for the community to loudly voice that we want practical f/x
in the new ALIEN movie supposedly coming out in 24 months. Ridley listened to the fans when it came to PROMETHEUS.
I would love it if he'd listen to us now and actually make the next ALIEN movie with practical f/x.
The evolution in 3D printing, materials and robotics simply make it inexcuseable to make a monster movie and use CGI,
considering movies like Carpenter's THE THING and even the original ALIEN did it so well without it.
I can't stand the arguement of how else could such and such be done if you don't use CGI?
Well... Don't do it then. Show some restraint! Don't do anything that would require CGI. Use your head and try to figure
out how to do creative things in camera, like a live magic trick. It seems they don't even try anymore, they just cop out
and say oh how else could we do it? But the moment you put a CGI creature in the movie, you loose something tangeable.
I don't need to see creatures running and hopping around in broad daylight, I just need a real scary suit/effect built with
modern robotics and materials that's lit properly and, most importantly, edited properly. So many film makers simply refuse
to do this but I have not seen anyone actually TRY! If it could be done in the 70's and 80's and work, it's ludicris to say it
can't be done in 2017 with all the technical evolution we've made. I just don't understand what's wrong with film makers today.
Other than the fact Covenant fails in the creature department, the other parts are pretty good and I really did enjoy
much of the movie. It was far better than the mess of PROMETHEUS!
Ridley was wrong when he says fans backlashed against PROMETHEUS because it had no creatures...
We backlashed against PROMETHEUS, not because it tried something different... Hell, I personally would have loved
something different yet still Ridley Scott sci-fi! We backlashed because it was stupid. It was paced and edited atrociously.
The acting was awful. The plot was stupid and the reversing of the Space Jockey to be a bio-suit that giant bald people
wear seems like nothing more than laziness over the idea that to render the Jockey how we all actually imagine it to
be would require effects that they'd probably screw up all to Hell because they'd use CGI instead of doing what Scott
himself did in LEGEND with the help of Rob Botin and build an actuall bad ass creature.
Anyone here ever see Henson's Creature Shop tv series? Half the things in that could pass and would be better than
the CGI I see in most of today's big budget films. I kept watching it going "Okay... So they're building these awesome
monsters... Yet all the movies are still using CGI?!? Even though this show is showing how easy it can be done?"
ANYHOW - I'm glad to be here, I've been lurking for years. I hope we have many awesome conversations in the future!
- MnTd
