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A Thread About Movies

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  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    So, uh... how does the alien producing eggs in the first movie reconcile with the existence of the alien queen as seen in the second? Or did they just completely ret-con the reproductive cycle of the alien for the purposes of having a cool new enemy and we're not supposed to think about that? (And if it's a ret-con I'm cool with that, since the second movie was very good. I'm just not sure what the point of an egg-laying queen is if any old drone can turn creatures into eggs.)

    I guess since it was cut from the theatrical release well before the age of the internet and DVD extras they were able to have the queen in aliens.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    It'd be really cool if they incorporate this into Prometheus somehow, though.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • Page-Page- Registered User regular
    In the Alien EU (lol) a lone drone can take on the role of a queen if it has to.

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  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    Page- wrote: »
    In the Alien EU (lol) a lone drone can take on the role of a queen if it has to.

    As stupid as that sounds, there is precedent for it in nature as we all learned in Jurassic Park.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Alien vs. T-Rex go

  • Mad King GeorgeMad King George Registered User regular
    KalTorak wrote: »
    Alien vs. T-Rex go

    T-Rex eats the Alien, acid blood melts his guts from inside out. They both die. Somehow, whoever wins, we lose.

  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    So, uh... how does the alien producing eggs in the first movie reconcile with the existence of the alien queen as seen in the second? Or did they just completely ret-con the reproductive cycle of the alien for the purposes of having a cool new enemy and we're not supposed to think about that? (And if it's a ret-con I'm cool with that, since the second movie was very good. I'm just not sure what the point of an egg-laying queen is if any old drone can turn creatures into eggs.)

    The drone-making-eggs scene was cut out of the movie, so it's not even a ret-con. According to all two films in the Alien series, you need a queen to lay eggs.

    --

    Directors who have "I will watch it regardless of content or even reviews" status with me:

    Nimrod Antal (someday he will sell out enough to make another movie like Kontroll, god-dammit, and on that day I will be there)
    Tarsem
    David Cronenberg
    Quentin Tarantino
    Wes Anderson
    Paul Thomas Anderson
    Christopher Nolan
    The Coen Bros.
    The Wachowskis
    Darren Aronofsky

    Rodriguez used to be on that list... well, he still is, I just don't count his kid stuff.
    M. Night Shyamalan used to be on that list, which I imagine is true for most people, but unlike most people I didn't break until Airbender.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • Mad King GeorgeMad King George Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Astaereth wrote: »
    M. Night Shyamalan used to be on that list, which I imagine is true for most people, but unlike most people I didn't break until Airbender.

    What's sad about him is that even his first twist film, The Sixth Sense, was predicated on cheats rather than cleverness.

    Mad King George on
  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    I thought The Happening was the final straw for Shyamalan. Lady in the Water was close though.

    I'll still defend the Village for being not that bad if you ignore the obvious twist.

    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    I would add to that list David Lynch and Hayao Miyazaki.

  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    wirehead26 wrote: »
    I thought The Happening was the final straw for Shyamalan. Lady in the Water was close though.

    I'll still defend the Village for being not that bad if you ignore the obvious twist.

    or the horrendously irresponsible guy who gets her the meds

    sure insane sounding blind girl, ill send you off without checking up on you

    override367 on
  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Astaereth wrote: »
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    So, uh... how does the alien producing eggs in the first movie reconcile with the existence of the alien queen as seen in the second? Or did they just completely ret-con the reproductive cycle of the alien for the purposes of having a cool new enemy and we're not supposed to think about that? (And if it's a ret-con I'm cool with that, since the second movie was very good. I'm just not sure what the point of an egg-laying queen is if any old drone can turn creatures into eggs.)

    The drone-making-eggs scene was cut out of the movie, so it's not even a ret-con. According to all two films in the Alien series, you need a queen to lay eggs.

    --

    Directors who have "I will watch it regardless of content or even reviews" status with me:

    Nimrod Antal (someday he will sell out enough to make another movie like Kontroll, god-dammit, and on that day I will be there)
    Tarsem
    David Cronenberg
    Quentin Tarantino
    Wes Anderson
    Paul Thomas Anderson
    Christopher Nolan
    The Coen Bros.
    The Wachowskis
    Darren Aronofsky

    Rodriguez used to be on that list... well, he still is, I just don't count his kid stuff.
    M. Night Shyamalan used to be on that list, which I imagine is true for most people, but unlike most people I didn't break until Airbender.

    Pretty much agree with all those choices on that list, except Antal. He hasn't really impressed me with anything that signifies him as a legitimately unique talent. I haven't seen Kontrol, but I have seen the three shitty movies he made in Predators, Armored, and Vacancy, so I think I've seen enough to know that he just doesn't have it.

    Rodriguez I dropped after Planet Terror. I really thought Once Upon A Time In Mexico was a real turning point for him once, and he'd finally found his groove making "cool" movies with a little more gruffness and machismo than his buddy QT, but instead he's done nothing but chase the notion that making a purposefully shitty movie (or a series of them) is something clever and applaudable. It's not, and he's an empty hack. The fact that he continues to work with such proud C-list talent and unqualified submorons like Frank Miller is further proof to a point that didn't need any more emphasizing. Also, each and every one of his "kids" movies are uniformly terrible.


    And I'd add Charlie Kaufmann and Spike Jonze to that list, as well. And David Lynch, of course. Maybe Edgar Wright, but I'm not so sure yet.

  • override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    Airbender's rifftrax is pretty great by the way

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Airbender's rifftrax is pretty great by the way

    My favorite part of every Shyamalan aftermath of failure has become the part where is an openly belligerent asshole to the very people he depends on for good word of mouth.

    Watch ol' Nighty tear into this reporter who asked him a legitimate question:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGfO_KyMyE

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    So, uh... how does the alien producing eggs in the first movie reconcile with the existence of the alien queen as seen in the second? Or did they just completely ret-con the reproductive cycle of the alien for the purposes of having a cool new enemy and we're not supposed to think about that? (And if it's a ret-con I'm cool with that, since the second movie was very good. I'm just not sure what the point of an egg-laying queen is if any old drone can turn creatures into eggs.)

    It's a retcon, but not really since the cut scene wasn't even shown what with being cut and all.

  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    I'm more interested in writer-directors than directors. I'll watch everything the Coens turn out even though I'm only a fan of like, half their movies...but if David Fincher or Steven Soderbergh or Stephen Spielberg comes out with something sans-screenwriter-credit and it doesn't look interesting, well, I'm not going to feel too obligated to watch it, even though they've all got fantastic movies under their belts.

    wandering on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    I keep watching Wes Anderson's stuff but it just never clicks with me for whatever reason.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    Also, I would see a Quentin Tarantino movie based strictly on someone saying, "Hey, this is a new movie by Quentin Tarantino," regardless of what it was about. Shit, if you showed me the trailer for Three Stooges and told me it was actually made by Tarantino, I would go see it without question, assuming someone just really fucked up making the trailer. I am willing to give the man an incredible level of benefit-of-the-doubt at this point.

    I can't really think of anyone who'd qualify for "I'd see it no matter what" when it comes to movies. Or, I guess really, no one who's movies I'd say "I must see that".

    Like QT is definitely a guy who's movies I'd watch just based on a brief description that didn't sound incredibly stupid, but at the same time it'd just go on my "List of shit to see eventually" and not on my "list of stuff to pay money to see as soon as humanely possible".

  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Big fan: Fargo / Barton Fink / A Serious Man / O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    Not a big fan (sorry): The Big Lebowski / No Country For Old Men / True Grit
    Not at all a fan: Intolerable Cruelty / The Ladykillers / The Hudsucker Proxy
    Haven't seen / Been too long to judge: everything else

    wandering on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Definitely watch Miller's Crossing.

  • Mad King GeorgeMad King George Registered User regular
    wandering wrote: »
    Big fan: Fargo / Barton Fink / A Serious Man / O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    Not a big fan: The Big Lebowski / No Country For Old Men / True Grit
    Not at all a fan: Intolerable Cruelty / The Ladykillers / The Hudsucker Proxy
    Haven't seen / Been too long to judge: everything else

    I love The Hudsucker Proxy, but someone not caring for True Grit or No Country surprises me.

    It's also surprising that something as good as Miller's Crossing isn't on your big fan list. It's one of the very best gangster movies ever made.

    But the Coen's are hard because they are so involved with their art they're practically their own genre so you can really only compare them with themselves.

  • armageddonboundarmageddonbound Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Some of the directors already mentioned, but without a doubt I would add:

    Lars Von Trier
    Gaspar Noe
    Park Chan-Wook

    armageddonbound on
  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    I watched Miller's Crossing when I was 16 but I don't really remember anything about it. Except that I loved
    the scene where it seems like Albert Finney's character is going to be executed in bed but then he pulls out a tommy gun and kicks ass.

    Incidentally the Coen Brothers have been asked what the metaphorical significance of the hat blowing in the wind was. The reply:

    It's just a hat.

    wandering on
  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Of the suggested directors, I'd add Miyazaki, Fincher, Charlie Kaufman (although as a screenwriter, so maybe that shouldn't count), and Edgar Wright (who is 3 for 3 with me, not to mention Spaced and his having a hand in Attack the Block).
    Astaereth wrote: »
    Directors who have "I will watch it regardless of content or even reviews" status with me:

    Nimrod Antal (someday he will sell out enough to make another movie like Kontroll, god-dammit, and on that day I will be there)
    Tarsem
    David Cronenberg
    Quentin Tarantino
    Wes Anderson
    Paul Thomas Anderson
    Christopher Nolan
    The Coen Bros.
    The Wachowskis
    Darren Aronofsky

    Rodriguez used to be on that list... well, he still is, I just don't count his kid stuff.
    M. Night Shyamalan used to be on that list, which I imagine is true for most people, but unlike most people I didn't break until Airbender.

    Pretty much agree with all those choices on that list, except Antal. He hasn't really impressed me with anything that signifies him as a legitimately unique talent. I haven't seen Kontrol, but I have seen the three shitty movies he made in Predators, Armored, and Vacancy, so I think I've seen enough to know that he just doesn't have it.

    I haven't seen Predators yet (I'm saving it for when I finally sit down to watch all the Predator movies) but I sat through Armored and Vacancy and they are quite mediocre. Kontroll, however, is really excellent and totally unlike any other film I've seen. (It's sort of an indie black comedy, I guess? Only set and filmed in the labyrinthian and Kafka-esque subways of Budapest.)
    Rodriguez I dropped after Planet Terror. I really thought Once Upon A Time In Mexico was a real turning point for him once, and he'd finally found his groove making "cool" movies with a little more gruffness and machismo than his buddy QT, but instead he's done nothing but chase the notion that making a purposefully shitty movie (or a series of them) is something clever and applaudable. It's not, and he's an empty hack. The fact that he continues to work with such proud C-list talent and unqualified submorons like Frank Miller is further proof to a point that didn't need any more emphasizing. Also, each and every one of his "kids" movies are uniformly terrible.

    Well, he's only made one movie since Planet Terror. If I gave up on every director who ever made two bad films in a row... Even Hitchcock had his off-periods.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    that's an interesting list, I may have to make one. obviously limit it to working directors, saying "I'd check out anything this guy already did decades ago" has a little less oomph.


    I actually liked Intolerable Cruelty for what it was, slightly more clever than average rom com. It was years ago though so it's possible I was just in a good mood or something, I'd have to watch it again before really making a statement on it.

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  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    Miller's Crossing is a brilliant film. Stone cold heart, some amazing set pieces, a fantastic script delivered by an excellent cast and some big laughs.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    Wait, are people here saying Planet Terror is bad?

    .....

    That....

    Is unforgivable.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
    Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Page- wrote: »
    In the Alien EU (lol) a lone drone can take on the role of a queen if it has to.

    As stupid as that sounds, there is precedent for it in nature as we all learned in Jurassic Park.

    If you want to go the non-stupid* route, all female bees in a colony possess the ability to become a queen...queen status is conferred by nutrition.

    If we extrapolate that the xenomorphs are essentially a social parasitoid wasp, then a (presumably female) drone laying eggs after being well-fed isn't particularly mentally taxing.

    Assuming that the xenomorphs follow that social structure, combined with a haplo-diploid sex determination system, pretty much closes up all plotholes about their biology, save the horrible phrase "molecular acid".

    Even the "acid blood" isn't too crazy if you try hard enough.

    Personally, I consider the xenomorphs one of the best examples of realistic speculative biology in science fiction.

    Not just because they are bugs

    I swear

    *referring to Jurassic Park, not you

    Arch on
  • NintenNinten Registered User regular
    Wait, are people here saying Planet Terror is bad?

    .....

    That....

    Is unforgivable.

    Totally. I LOVED Planet Terror.

    Found it to be the superior movie in the Grindhouse project. Not saying Death Proof was bad.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    Speaking of Robert Rodriguez, 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' is finally getting made. I am really excited for this.

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  • AstaerethAstaereth In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
    Wait, are people here saying Planet Terror is bad?

    .....

    That....

    Is unforgivable.

    Planet Terror is hilarious, excellent, almost but not quite as good as Death Proof, and known to cause AtomicRoss to spit venom at distances of up to twenty meters.

    ACsTqqK.jpg
  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    I haven't seen Death Proof, so I can't comment on it. My least favorite Tarantino is Jackie Brown, which I honestly thing is boring as balls.

    PSN:CaptainNemo1138
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  • wanderingwandering Russia state-affiliated media Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Death Proof is the only Tarantino movie I don't like (not counting stuff he didn't direct) but I'd like to see the theatrical version of Grindhouse because maybe Death Proof worked better when it was shorter/lap dance free/paired with other stuff.

    wandering on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Arch wrote: »
    Personally, I consider the xenomorphs one of the best examples of realistic speculative biology in science fiction.

    Way back in 9th grade I did a project on the Alien movies. I found this awesome FAQ with stuff from a biologist that analyzed stuff and had well thought out ideas.

    Elongated skull? Defense against facehuggers from hostile hives, to make it harder for the facehugger to attach. Internal tongue-mouth? Same deal; attack facehuggers. Stuff like that.

    Lots of speculation since there are only two Alien movies, but that comes with the territory.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Echo wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    Personally, I consider the xenomorphs one of the best examples of realistic speculative biology in science fiction.

    Way back in 9th grade I did a project on the Alien movies. I found this awesome FAQ with stuff from a biologist that analyzed stuff and had well thought out ideas.

    Elongated skull? Defense against facehuggers from hostile hives, to make it harder for the facehugger to attach. Internal tongue-mouth? Same deal; attack facehuggers. Stuff like that.

    Lots of speculation since there are only two Alien movies, but that comes with the territory.

    I like that, but I had a better idea re: tongue-mouth

    They lack a functional digestive tract as we know it, due to their internal acid being too potent for any tissues but their own hardened exoskeleton. Like insects, the exoskeleton actually grows on what would be their digestive tract, but unlike insects there is no soft middle part. Thus, everything they eat has to be torn into small chunks to facilitate digestion, hence the two-part jaw apparatus...similar to how squid and octopuses eat (and some arachnids).

    I take the non-adaptationist approach in regards to the skull, but if we are talking 9th grade, the adaption mantra was going strong. The elongated adult skull is simply a function of growth from the burster stage, where the head morphology there facilitated eruption from the host with minimal damage to the larvae. And if we go back to the whole "nutrition makes a queen" hypothesis I said earlier, it would also explain why the queens get that giant head crest. They are much larger, owing to rapid cell division during growth, and some of this occurs in the head capsule, resulting in the elaborate head crest, the shape of which has been molded by sexual selection.

    Both these things, of course, could serve a present function of colony defense, but evolutionarially that is how I see it happening based on what we know about morphological changes, novelties, and evolution.
    All of this means fuckall though, if Prometheus makes it so that the jockeys engineered the aliens.


    Can you still dig that article you found up?

  • Joe DizzyJoe Dizzy taking the day offRegistered User regular
    I've tried hard coming up with directors whose movies I'd watch regardless of content or reviews... and except for Wes Anderson, I don't really have any. I'll keep an eye out for most of the directors mentioned, and if word of mouth is good, I'll gladly watch whatever film they've done.

    I will often watch films that sound like they are buzz-heavy. If people are likely to talk about a film a lot, I'll watch it just to see what is being talked about. But that doesn't really depend on how good the film is or what it's about.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    Also, I would see a Quentin Tarantino movie based strictly on someone saying, "Hey, this is a new movie by Quentin Tarantino," regardless of what it was about. Shit, if you showed me the trailer for Three Stooges and told me it was actually made by Tarantino, I would go see it without question, assuming someone just really fucked up making the trailer. I am willing to give the man an incredible level of benefit-of-the-doubt at this point.

    I kind of agree with this point. I would maybe extend it also to Wes Anderson, although he tends to be less consistent in my opinion.

    Additionally, I think this is what Shyamalan hoped he had accomplished....

    Maybe he did, but not for the reasons he wanted.

  • CaptainNemoCaptainNemo Registered User regular
    While I think Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 are probably his magnum opus, I think that Inglorious Basterds was probably his best writing.

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  • VariableVariable Mouth Congress Stroke Me Lady FameRegistered User regular
    I like death proof a good deal more than planet terror which is just a fun time, honestly a fun time I'm not even sure I'd enjoy more than pretty infrequently.

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  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    I really liked Jackie Brown. It's a wonderful character piece.

This discussion has been closed.