text:
Given the mediocrity of the Eastern Conference, it's hard to rule out too many teams from playoff contention.
Toronto holds down last spot in the conference and has already shown that they are ready to deal. Presumably, they still have a few more moves to make as they try to build for next season.
Carolina has improved significantly after a terrible first half of the season, but they've already begun the selling process and Ray Whitney may be the premier target left for teams seeking a scoring forward.
Florida and the New York Islanders are slipping back as well and the Panthers appear poised to make significant changes as a result.
Atlanta has already traded Ilya Kovalchuk, but did so with the hopes of staying in the playoff hunt. They don't seem likely to add players, but within striking distance of eighth in the East, the Thrashers may not be selling too much more.
Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers, Montreal and Boston are all locked into battles for the final couple of playoff spots.
Philadelphia, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and New Jersey look like good bets to make the postseason, while Washington is pulling away from the pack.
That's a lot of teams -- perhaps as many as ten -- that figure to be in the mood to acquire players heading to the March 3rd trade deadline.
A couple of notes about the following chart:
Restricted Free Agents (RFA) have contracts that expire this summer, barring a contract extension in the meantime, but their current team retains the right to match a contract offer so long as they make the requisite qualifying offer. While restricted free agents haven't moved a lot, it's worth noting when decision time is coming on a young player's contract.
Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) have contracts that will expire this summer and, without a contract extension, they will be free to sign with whatever team they choose on July 1. These are the players that often move in "rental"-type deals, ideally providing a short-term fix with minimal commitment required.
Top prospects are the top five players in each organization that haven't played ten NHL games this season. Other top prospects or those that are now with the NHL team may be listed among other players of interest. Contending teams may be more likely to dangle a top prospect or two as they try to find that final piece for their playoff mix, while it's safe to assume that young and rebuilding teams aren't going to move top prospects unless they get a significant long-term piece in return.
Other players of interest will include prospects who have spent some time in the NHL this season as well as players under contract for future seasons that may have some level of attractiveness on the trade market.
IMPORTANT: Just because a player is listed as being of interest, it doesn't mean he will be traded or should be traded. Some may just be of interest for teams looking to hit a home run when trying to swing a deal or they are players that may be considered to be underachieving for the money they are due over the rest of their contract.
Generally, then, here's a rough guide for which players each Eastern Conference team might have at their disposal in order to make a trade leading up to the deadline.
ATLANTA THRASHERSUFA in 2010: Vyacheslav Kozlov, Colby Armstrong, Jim Slater, Maxim Afinogenov, Eric Boulton, Pavel Kubina, Christoph Schubert, Mark Popovic, Johan Hedberg.
RFA in 2010: Bryan Little, Niclas Bergfors, Ondrej Pavelec.
Top Prospects: Carl Klingberg, LW, Vastra Frolunda (SEL)Jeremy Morin, LW, Kitchener (OHL)Ivan Vishnevskiy, D, Texas (AHL)Arturs Kulda, D, Chicago (AHL) Patrice Cormier, C, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
Others of Interest: Todd White.
No-Trade Clauses: Ron Hainsey, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Pavel Kubina.
The Plan: After dealing Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers are still holding out hope that they can squeeze into the postseason, and at least have a home-favoured schedule the rest of the way to give them a fighting chance, but with so many pending unrestricted free agents on the roster, the long-range plan might be better with some more deals. If not re-signed, Colby Armstrong and Maxim Afinogenov are a couple of wingers that should be attractive enough to get a draft pick or prospect in return.
BOSTON BRUINSUFA in 2010: Mark Recchi, Steve Begin, Miroslav Satan, Shawn Thornton, Derek Morris, Andrew Ference.
RFA in 2010: Daniel Paille, Blake Wheeler, Vladimir Sobotka, Mark Stuart, Johnny Boychuk.
Top Prospects: Joe Colborne, C, Denver (WCHA)Yuri Alexandrov, D, Cherepovets Severstal (KHL)Zach Hamill, C, Providence (AHL)Jordan Caron, RW, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)Tommy Cross, D, Boston College (HE)
Others of Interest: Dennis Wideman, Brad Marchand, Matt Hunwick.
No-Trade Clauses: Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, Marco Sturm, Derek Morris, Miroslav Satan, Tim Thomas.
The Plan: The Bruins have stumbled along for most of the season, dealing with injuries to key performers, and sit on the playoff bubble though they are capable of doing some damage, even as a lower seed, in the postseason, particularly if they can add a finisher (or two). Boston is hanging onto the first-round pick that previously belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs; a pick that looks like a Top Three selection, but Toronto's second-rounder could also have some appeal to selling teams.
BUFFALO SABRESUFA in 2010: Mike Grier, Adam Mair, Matt Ellis, Toni Lydman, Henrik Tallinder, Nathan Paetsch, Patrick Lalime.
RFA in 2010: Clarke MacArthur, Tim Kennedy, Patrick Kaleta.
Top Prospects: Jhonas Enroth, G, Portland (AHL)Tyler Ennis, C, Portland (AHL)Zack Kassian, RW, Windsor (OHL)Mike Weber, D, Portland (AHL)Luke Adam, C, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
Others of Interest: Drew Stafford, Nathan Gerbe, Andrej Sekera, Chris Butler.
No-Trade Clauses: Ryan Miller.
The Plan: A recent slump has cost the Sabres their comfortable lead in the Northeast Division, revealing problems as the offence has underachieved for much of the season, defence has struggled at times and, lately, even Ryan Miller's goaltending has slipped. To rectify the situation a power play quarterback on defence would help; ideally one that could also handle top-pair minutes and ease the pressure on stalwart rookie blueliner Tyler Myers. Those don't come that easily via trade, so the Sabres may be left to patch holes if they can't make a blockbuster.
CAROLINA HURRICANESUFA in 2010: Ray Whitney, Scott Walker, Stephane Yelle, Joe Corvo, Aaron Ward, Manny Legace.
RFA in 2010: Jiri Tlusty, Alexandre Picard, Brett Carson.
Top Prospects: Zach Boychuk, RW, Albany (AHL)Jamie McBain, D, Albany (AHL)Drayson Bowman, LW, Albany (AHL)Zac Dalpe, C, Ohio State (CCHA)Mike Murphy, G, Albany (AHL)
Others of Interest: Jerome Samson, Erik Cole, Sergei Samsonov.
No-Trade Clauses: Ray Whitney, Scott Walker.
The Plan: The Hurricanes are paying the price for loyalty, with veterans like Rod Brind'Amour, Erik Cole and Sergei Samsonov all inked for another year beyond this miserable season, meaning that attempts to purge the roster won't likely get fully undertaken until the summer. In the meantime, however, the 'Canes have a number of young prospects on the way that can use the latter portion of the season to audition for full-time work next season and Carolina should be able to get a decent return for a veteran rental like Ray Whitney, whose power play ability will make him a nice fit for many contenders, and a healthy Joe Corvo could also be appealing to a contender needing a big shot from the point.
FLORIDA PANTHERSUFA in 2010: Dennis Seidenberg, Jordan Leopold.
RFA in 2010: Kenndal McArdle, Gregory Campbell, Kamil Kreps, Nick Tarnasky, Jason Garrison.
Top Prospects: Jacob Markstrom, G, Brynas Gavle (SEL)Keaton Ellerby, D, Rochester (AHL)Colby Robak, D, Brandon (WHL)Evgeny Dadonov, RW, Rochester (AHL)Alexander Salak, G, Rochester (AHL)
Others of Interest: Cory Stillman, Rostislav Olesz, Steven Reinprecht, Bryan Allen, Ville Koistinen.
No-Trade Clauses: Keith Ballard, Bryan McCabe, Tomas Vokoun.
The Plan: Falling off the playoff pace, the Panthers seem to have exasperated GM Randy Sexton and he's promised major changes, which will presumably involve more than trading Dominic Moore to Montreal. The Panthers have a decent young core, but need improved complementary scoring and could use improvement on the blueline (whether immediate or in the future) to help ease the burden on goaltender Tomas Vokoun, who has been tremendous.
MONTREAL CANADIENSUFA in 2010: Tomas Plekanec, Dominic Moore, Glen Metropolit, Paul Mara, Marc-Andre Bergeron.
RFA in 2010: Sergei Kostitsyn, Benoit Pouliot, Maxim Lapierre, Matt D'Agostini, Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak.
Top Prospects: P.K. Subban, D, Hamilton (AHL)Ben Maxwell, C, Hamilton (AHL)Cedrick Desjardins, G, Hamilton (AHL)Brock Trotter, C, Hamilton (AHL)Louis Leblanc, C, Harvard (ECAC) Others of Interest: Georges Laraque, Ryan White, Yannick Weber.
No-Trade Clauses: Scott Gomez, Roman Hamrlik, Andrei Markov, Georges Laraque.
The Plan: As long as the playoffs are within reach, Montreal figures to aim in that direction, without sacrificing top prospects. Pending free agent centre Tomas Plekanec, the team's leading scorer, could be difficult to re-sign when last summer's trio of acquisitions -- Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta -- are all taking in more than $5-million per season, but as long as Montreal is competing for a playoff spot, they can't unload their No.1 pivot. While there are rumours of the Canadiens shopping a goaltender, that kind of dramatic move might be better saved for the summer.
NEW JERSEY DEVILSUFA in 2010: Ilya Kovalchuk, Rob Niedermayer, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Dean McAmmond, Paul Martin, Mike Mottau, Yann Danis.
RFA in 2010: David Clarkson, Rod Pelley, Mark Fraser.
Top Prospects: Mattias Tedenby, LW, VH71 Jonkoping (SEL)Jacob Josefson, C, Djurgardens (SEL)Jeff Frazee, G, Lowell (AHL)Adam Henrique, C, Windsor (OHL)Brandon Burlon, D, Michigan (CCHA) Others of Interest: Vladimir Zharkov, Matt Halischuk, Matt Corrente, Tyler Eckford.
No-Trade Clauses: Martin Brodeur, Patrik Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jay Pandolfo, Brian Rolston, Colin White.
The Plan: Once again challenging for top spot in the Eastern Conference, the Devils made a bold move by acquiring Ilya Kovalchuk for the stretch run, giving the Devils -- at least theoretically -- plenty of firepower up front. Ideally, New Jersey would still be able to secure the services of a defenceman which, combined with a presumably healthy Paul Martin, would have the Devils' D in fine shape entering the postseason.
NEW YORK ISLANDERSUFA in 2010: Doug Weight, Jon Sim, Richard Park, Tim Jackman, Andy Sutton, Freddy Meyer, Martin Biron.
RFA in 2010: Sean Bergenheim, Rob Schremp, Jeff Tambellini, Matt Moulson, Andrew MacDonald.
Top Prospects: Travis Hamonic, D, Brandon (WHL)Calvin De Haan, D, Oshawa (OHL)Rhett Rakhshani, RW, Denver (WCHA)Aaron Ness, D, Minnesota (WCHA)Blake Kessel, D, New Hampshire (HE)
Others of Interest: Brendan Witt, Bruno Gervais.
No-Trade Clauses: None.
The Plan: The Islanders have fallen back in the race for a playoff spot, but with such a young squad, there is no reason to do anything but continue to build towards the future. They have some veterans who have some marketability, including Martin Biron and Andy Sutton.
NEW YORK RANGERSUFA in 2010: Olli Jokinen, Vaclav Prospal.
RFA in 2010: Enver Lisin, Erik Christensen, Brandon Prust, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal.
Top Prospects: Evgeny Grachev, LW, Hartford (AHL)Bobby Sanguinetti, D, Hartford (AHL)Derek Stepan, C, Wisconsin (WCHA)Ryan McDonagh, D, Wisconsin (WCHA)Chris Kreider, C, Boston College (HE)
Others of Interest: Dane Byers, Ilkka Heikkinen.
No-Trade Clauses: Chris Drury, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival.
The Plan: The Rangers are outside playoff position, and have strong goaltending along with a capable young defence, but may need more an offensive upgrade than Olli Jokinen if they are going to stay in the mix or do any damage in the playoffs. Marian Gaborik is the only legitimate sniper and even if Jokinen improves the offensive output, the Rangers could also use a power play quarterback on the point and another winger who can finish.
OTTAWA SENATORSUFA in 2010: Matt Cullen, Shean Donovan, Ryan Shannon, Anton Volchenkov.
RFA in 2010: Nick Foligno, Peter Regin, Jesse Winchester, Chris Campoli.
Top Prospects: Jared Cowen, D, Spokane (WHL)Robin Lehner, G, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)Patrick Wiercioch, D, Denver (WCHA)Jacob Silfverberg, RW, Brynas Gavle (SEL)Kaspars Daugavins, LW, Binghamton (AHL)
Others of Interest: Jonathan Cheechoo, Zack Smith, Ryan Keller, Josh Hennessy, Brian Lee.
No-Trade Clauses: Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, Jason Spezza, Filip Kuba, Chris Phillips.
The Plan: After goaltending was a problem for the first half of the season, the Senators have dramatically improved in the second half with Brian Elliott taking over the starting job and allowing Ottawa to make plans for the playoffs. Provided Elliott continues his strong play in net, the Senators can focus on other needs, like another solid defenceman, considering the defensive challenges that rookie Erik Karlsson and Chris Campoli have gone through at times this season. Bringing in veteran centre Matt Cullen, from the Hurricanes, provides a boost of versatility for the forward units and should help the struggling Sens power play.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERSUFA in 2010: Arron Asham, Blair Betts, Mika Pyorala, Mike Rathje, Ray Emery, Michael Leighton.
RFA in 2010: Daniel Carcillo, Darroll Powe, Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent, Danny Syvret.
Top Prospects: Patrick Maroon, LW, Adirondack (AHL)Marc-Andre Bourdon, D, Adirondack (AHL)Joonas Lehtivuori, D, Adirondack (AHL)Jonathan Matsumoto, C, Adirondack (AHL)Andrei Popov, RW, Chelyabinsk Traktor (KHL)
Others of Interest: Brian Boucher, David Laliberte, Andreas Nodl, Jonathon Kalinski.
No-Trade Clauses: Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen.
The Plan: An up-and-down season still has the Flyers in playoff position, but still looking to improve a talented roster. Maybe a depth defenceman would help, but the focal point for Philly is going to be goaltending, depending on the health of Ray Emery and, if he's not healthy, will the Flyers bring in a more established veteran puck stopper to take over from Michael Leighton?
PITTSBURGH PENGUINSUFA in 2010: Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke, Sergei Gonchar, Mark Eaton, Jay McKee, Martin Skoula, Brent Johnson.
RFA in 2010: Kris Letang.
Top Prospects: Luca Caputi, LW, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL)Eric Tangradi, LW, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL)Simon Despres, D, Saint John (QMJHL)Keven Veilleux, RW, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL)Nick Petersen, RW, Saint John (QMJHL)
Others of Interest: Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson, Mark Letestu, Ben Lovejoy, Deryk Engelland.
No-Trade Clauses: Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik.
The Plan: Defending the Stanley Cup isn't easy and the Penguins are finding that out, with a midseason slump revealing some vulnerability that might not have been expected. There have also been numerous injuries to deal with and the Penguins can always use another scoring winger to complement their playmaking centres, but they have lots of talent in the organization to make such a deal if it's deemed necessary.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNINGUFA in 2010: Alex Tanguay, Jeff Halpern, Stephane Veilleux, Brandon Bochenski, Zenon Konopka, David Hale, Kurtis Foster, Antero Niittymaki.
RFA in 2010: Steve Downie, Nate Thompson, Paul Szczechura, Paul Ranger, Mike Lundin.
Top Prospects: James Wright, LW, Vancouver (WHL) Carter Ashton, RW, Brandon (WHL)Dustin Tokarski, G, Norfolk (AHL)Richard Panik, C, Belleville (OHL)Blair Jones, C, Norfolk (AHL)
Others of Interest: Todd Fedoruk, Andrej Meszaros.
No-Trade Clauses: Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis.
The Plan: Pushing for a playoff spot, the Lightning have an intriguing mix of young and veteran talent and really need Alex Tanguay to elevate his production in order to give them two quality scoring lines to stay engaged in the playoff hunt. Otherwise, Tanguay figures to be expendable. Given the young talent on the roster, the Lightning won't sacrifice the future just to contend for a playoff spot, but it's hard to imagine them sacrificing a chance at the postseason by shedding veterans.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFSUFA in 2010: Lee Stempniak, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Wayne Primeau, Jamie Lundmark, Mike Van Ryn, Garnet Exelby.
RFA in 2010: Nikolai Kulemin, John Mitchell, Jonas Gustavsson.
Top Prospects: Nazem Kadri, C, London (OHL)Mikhail Stefanovich, RW, Quebec (QMJHL)Keith Aulie, D, Toronto (AHL)Jimmy Hayes, RW, Boston College (HE)Jerry D'Amigo, RW, R.P.I. (ECAC)
Others of Interest: Jeff Finger.
No-Trade Clauses: Tomas Kaberle, Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
The Plan: With no picks in the first two rounds, the Maple Leafs will be interested in acquiring draft picks and prospects in any deals and still have some pieces to offer contenders, though Tomas Kaberle (who has a no-trade clause) is the only one that would figure to net a first round pick in return. The Leafs already made significant trades with Anaheim and Calgary that should provide long-term help, but it also leaves the Leafs short-staffed for the rest of this season, meaning young pros like Tyler Bozak, Viktor Stalberg and Christian Hanson all should get an opportunity to audition for next season's squad.
WASHINGTON CAPITALSUFA in 2010: Brendan Morrison, Quintin Laing, Brian Pothier, Shaone Morrisonn, Jose Theodore.
RFA in 2010: Nicklas Backstrom, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Schultz.
Top Prospects: John Carlson, D, Hershey (AHL)Marcus Johansson, C, Farjestads (SEL)Mathieu Perreault, C, Hershey (AHL)Francois Bouchard, RW, Hershey (AHL)Braden Holtby, G, Hershey (AHL)
Others of Interest: Karl Alzner, Michal Neuvirth, Anton Gustafsson.
No-Trade Clauses: Michael Nylander.
The Plan: The Caps could be Cup contenders if they shore up their defence and have a healthy Semyon Varlamov in goal. With the cap-saving trade of Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina to Columbus, as well as the waiving of Michael Nylander and his hefty contract, Washington has room to add salary and the blueline has to be the primary area to address. If a deal doesn't materialize to improve the defence, the Caps could look internally to youngsters John Carlson and Karl Alzner to provide a late-season boost.
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May 2nd - Returning from Lichfield via Aldershawe, I stopped to admire the oilseed rape here; there are acres and acres of it on the northern slopes of the hill down to Lichfield. But also, beautiful wildflowers too.
Don't think I've ever known a spring this vibrant. It really is extraordinary.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Best Buy has a super deal for the Gateway NV4402u Intel Pentium 14-inch Notebook. Specs for this machine are as follows: 2.3Ghz Intel Pentium processor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M, 8x DVD burner, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, 14-inch 1366×768 display, webcam, 3x USB ports, 5.5lbs, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and more.
The price is $379.99 + $14.99 S&H = $394.98!


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The Internet Archive's ten petabyte celebration
Summary: The Internet Archive - the Internet's library and home of the Wayback Machine - celebrated the addition of the 10,000,000,000,000,000th byte to its massive collections at its San Francisco home.
9 of 12Image
The Archive's Scribe scanning system is available as a service, and is non-destrtuctive. The software that powers it is available on SourceForge. FYI, the Scribe software hasn't been updated in a while and was engineered specifically for the custom hardware IA uses in their scanning room.
Fun fact: the Internet Archive is known for archiving copies of the world's websites with its Wayback Machine. But did you know it is a bigger source of public domain e-books than Google? It has over one million torrents, too.
The scanning room at the end of the party. The Archive's scanning services offer open and free online access, permanent storage and lifetime file management. It was heartwarming to see how much the volunteers love their work, and geeked out with big smiles whenever someone asked a question.
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.


text:
Movie News
John Ary Boards PROMETHEUS!!
John Ary here with my first reaction to Prometheus.
After watching a movie, I usually head out to the lobby or in front of the theater and talk into my camera for a few minutes with my initial thoughts about the film. This is a movie though that has kept me thinking and unfortunately, the more you think about it, the more plot holes develop.
I'll post a discussion video on Friday that chronicles some of the more spoilerific territory, both good and bad, but for now, here's my first reaction to Ridley Scott's prequel to Alien.
For more video reviews, features, and exclusive content, check out our Youtube channel and you can also follow me on Twitter.
Readers Talkbackcomments powered by Disqus
+ Expand All
June 4, 2012, 10:55 a.m. CST
Is it weird that I feel like watching a video as opposed to just reading an article is too much work?
by heyoucantlaughatthat
June 4, 2012, 10:59 a.m. CST
'there's my first reaction to Ridley Scott's prequel to Alien'
by Tom-Paul Smith
Don't let Harry catch you calling it a prequel, he hates that.
June 4, 2012, 11:02 a.m. CST
@heyoucantlaugatthat: No, I'm like you. I can't stand videos.
by AlienFanatic
It feels like I'm being fed pablum by a talking head. I equate stuff like this to E! or Entertainment Tonight where someone wholly unqualified to discuss something is staring at me with a pasted-on smile and jovial demeanor. I much, much prefer it when they write out their opinion so that I can spend more time thinking about the material and reacting to their analysis. And, not to be mean, but Ary's just not someone I want to watch for two and a half minutes. I look forward to reviews by Quint and The Kidd at this point. Nord should be fun, too. Harry will be talking endlessly about Theron's ass and whether or not he saw Fassbinder's johnson. And Massa will just be pissed off. But at least they'll have taken the time to write out their thoughts.
June 4, 2012, 11:11 a.m. CST
That was a great little video. Hell, Nordling would have written some 3 page diatribe on the fundamentals of how Ridley and Spielberg are God's and wrote him a letter once. Good job John.
by peter
June 4, 2012, 11:12 a.m. CST
That music is incredibly fucking annoying
by kwisatzhaderach
June 4, 2012, 11:16 a.m. CST
I've given up
by JJarvis
trying to avoid details about this movie. I wish they would stop releasing movies a week in advance overseas. Between all the negative chatter and the film's own advertising I pretty much know everything there is to know about this film and I haven't even seen it yet. I even know the "surprise ending." It's hard not to be spoiled when a large part of the world has already seen the film. The Avengers was kind of spoiled for me too. I know. Why am I on AICN if I want to remain spolier-free? I guess I just can't resist.
June 4, 2012, 11:17 a.m. CST
If Harry says to "forget Alien", why is his annimation doing an "Alien" bit
by cookylamoo
June 4, 2012, 11:18 a.m. CST
by greigy just wanted to say
Quiet, self effacing, intelligent and understated. EVERYTHING that Knowles isn't. Ditch you ego Knowles and hire this guy to front the vids...
June 4, 2012, 11:19 a.m. CST
heyoucantlaughatthat: haha, I feel the same way
by Sir Loin
June 4, 2012, 11:19 a.m. CST
Ary's got it right! Nice, balanced and RIGHT review!
by marineboy
Prometheus was never going to be Alien. We live in a different age suckers; it's as scary as FOX WILL LET IT BE. It's not your £250m behind this - it's theirs. They want this to be closer to Transformers, not some indie gore fest. They want a franchise built on elements of a classic. They want their money back. It will appeal more to people beyond the fanboy hardcore. Fanboy's have to deal with this. The film is great - an adventure rather than a slasher movie. But it has its moments. And there'll be more.
June 4, 2012, 11:19 a.m. CST
Agree about the music...sounds like a Swedish Jazz band.
by cookylamoo
June 4, 2012, 11:21 a.m. CST
I agree the film is very good indeed, but sure the hype does it no favours but merely stokes the fanboy/troll flames of hatred.
by Frank
June 4, 2012, 11:22 a.m. CST
don't watch videos
by Laserhead
I'm reading here.
Nice little vid, and I completely agree with his comments. Particularly singling out the android David - a superb sci-fi creation for the ages brilliantly performed by Fassbender (truly the haters who constantly whine that it has *shit characters* - well, they're fools and idiots if they can't appreciate the awesome that is David). PROMETHEUS is a very decent movie - like Ary says it's a worthy prequel but don't go expecting it to match the greatness of ALIEN. You'll be disappointed.
June 4, 2012, 11:41 a.m. CST
Is Jonesy the cat an experiment done by the Space Jockeys as well..??
by barry_lyndon
I always thought they should've left out the cat. I just re-watched A L I E N and I think the cat could've gotten alone with the creature. They could've been interstellar buddies.
June 4, 2012, 11:44 a.m. CST
Never in my life...
by Bastardsonofathousandmovies
...have I ever had to avoid so much commentary BEFORE going to see a huge summer blockbuster. Having the rest of the world see these movies before us absolutely SUCKS!!!!!
June 4, 2012, 11:55 a.m. CST
by RocketFuckingMan
thats how its been for us for years,used to be a 3 month wait in Britain for a film,Matrix,Starwars etc...
June 4, 2012, 11:55 a.m. CST
best thing piracy ever did
by RocketFuckingMan
June 4, 2012, 12:02 p.m. CST
So marineboy, you're basically admitting that Ridley sold out
by Volllllume3
The script was utter shit and you know it.
June 4, 2012, 12:07 p.m. CST
Sojom, no the Alien series is all about Feline survival
by Domi'sInnerChild
That's why Fincher killed off everybody but the cat in Alien 3. Until Whedon fucked it up and brought Ripley back as a clone completely invalidating that theme. It's clearer if you read the Alien movie from Jonesy's perspective. http://catsonfilm.blogspot.com/2011/04/alien.html
June 4, 2012, 12:07 p.m. CST
My Review (SPOILERS) posted again here.
by Arcane
Whilst it's obvious that many people are balking at what Ridley Scott and David Lindelof have created in Prometheus, it's also clear to me that many people have become unnecessarily critical of the movie on the grounds that the film fails to coherently fit into their preconceived notions of what is called the 'Alien Universe' Personally I have to agree that this film does indeed suffer from several narrative errors that, whether present by mistake or by design, only serve to damage the experience from a story-telling point of view. Furthermore, and admittedly from a deeply subjective point of view, I feel that while many aspects of design in this film are impressive to say the least, the 'creatures' that ultimately appear to menace our protagonists are, by sharp contrast to say the vehicle and set design, very poorly designed and logically moribund. That last point is, I think, pretty important as my intuition tells me that is where many of the feelings of disappointment and anger emerge among many of the people who've seen the movie; namely the underwhelming manner in which xenomorphic biology and behaviour is handled in a universe that traditionally has made such effort to treat extraterrestrial biology with, at the very least, a fair degree of rational explanation and logic. For example, in the first movie 'Alien', from the point Kane is brought back aboard the Nostromo with the 'face-hugger' attached barely a moment passes without some form of investigative prodding, slicing or pondering by nervous crew members. It is literally through the crews' collective anxiety over the situation, and their efforts to reach some sort of understanding of the alien, that the audience learn important facts about its biology that in turn raise tension and hint at greater questions. In contrast, when the crew of the Prometheus happen upon the alien technology contained in the facility on LV-226 there is a distinct lack of exposition and focus on their attempts to understand exactly what they have stumbled upon. As a result the audience is left to make sense of the nonsensical; an aggressive alien 'worm' presumably mutated from some soft-bodied invertebrate falling into 'black goo', an aborted foetal stage cephalopod type creature that develops over a period of hours into something resembling a psychotic giant octopus. Leaving these matters aside for a moment and returning to the issue of narrative there exists equally perplexing issues. For example, at one point during the final act a hugely significant plot development is revealed to the audience via a couple of lines of dialogue with absolutely no explanation whatsoever as to how or why the character who utters these lines has come to such incredible conclusions. So fundamental to the events of the final act is this information (namely that the structure they have been poking around is a bio-weapons facility developed by the 'Engineers' who are preparing an imminent attack on human-beings) that the lack of prior screen time devoted to analysis of the 'facility' and its contents by the crew aboard the Prometheus reveals itself to be a serious thorn in the narratives side. Ultimately these kinds of glaring omissions leave the viewer scratching their head over exactly how and why many of the events they witness unfold as they do. There is the question of whether or not that could be intentional. Perhaps so, but even accepting the possibility Scott and Lindelof have conspired to produce a puzzle by design, the degree to which any clues are adequately examined via the protagonists in the movie only adds to the overall sense of incoherence and disjointedness in the narrative. These issues aside, I still feel that what is ultimately missed by many people complaining about this movie is just how well it works when it isn't dealing with 'what is in those containers and how it fits into the Alien franchise' Clearly what Scott and Lindelof are most interested in has very little to do with such matters as, when you discard the ill-conceived and transitory nods to the Alien mythology, the real story in Prometheus is actually the story of humankinds obsession with creation and the myths that have surrounded that obsession for hundreds of years. It's fairly clear, from the opening scene onwards, that Prometheus is the attempt by Scott and Lindelof to reinvigorate the 'ancient astronaut' hypothesis within the parameters of a modern science-fiction adventure film. I say 'reinvigorate' precisely because those ideas, popular though they might have been some time ago, have been largely absent from mainstream movie-making in recent years. For those unfamiliar with the concept of the 'ancient astronaut' I suggest searching the term on the internet for plentiful information. For those who want a brief summary the hypothesis argues that, some time during the prehistory of humankind the planet Earth was visited by an advanced alien race whom, amongst other things, genetically manipulated early hominids to create modern 'homo sapiens' and, by implication, gave rise to a series of hyperbolic myths surrounding the origins of our species as early humankind struggled to document the incredible truth of their own creation. The implications of the theory are huge and far-reaching but largely ignored by mainstream science at this time. It is, without any shadow of a doubt, this hypothesis and its implications, that Ridley Scott and David Lindelof have set out to explore. It is this idea that informs the narrative, characters and situations that they find themselves in. In other words, from what I can tell, it is only when watching the movie from this point of view that it starts to make any sense whatsoever. Now that's a problem. Why? It is a problem because the palette with which Scott and Lindelof have chosen to explore these ideas is one which comes with a predetermined mythos (the 'Alien' mythos) The result is a movie which, after setting the scene for an exploration of the creation myths of humanity through the hypothesis of 'ancient astronauts' finds itself having to fit its revelations and plot developments within the well known parameters of an existing science fiction universe. Clearly something has to give and, as it was never the primary topic in Scott's vision, it is the 'Alien' mythos that now finds itself in subjugation to the 'new' story Scott and Lindelof are interested in telling. In other words the beloved xenomorphs, in all their disturbing and horrific incarnations, are unceremoniously delegated to the role of 'extras' in Scott's new, more ambitious, tale. In this story it is the humans and their 'Gods' who take centre stage; the bio-weapons merely one consequence amongst many in a universe populated by walking agents of creation. My feeling on the Prometheus reaction is that Scott and Lindelof would have been better served completely eradicating ANY suggestion that their story was tied, however distantly, with the Alien mythos. By this I do not mean doing what they clearly tried to do (that is stating as much but then hinting that the tale would share 'Alien DNA'), rather they should have completely eradicated any hint whatsoever that this movie was set in the same universe and simply let the audience discover that with their own eyes. This would have allowed viewers to digest Prometheus on its own merits without approaching the project already burdened with the baggage of an already established and beloved science-fiction universe. Unfortunately, such an opportunity was lost the moment imagery lifted straight from Alien (Giger designs, Space Jockeys, etc) began popping up in trailers. In this way it is ironic that the same thing which created such hype and anticipation for this film is the same thing that ends up provoking such a negative reaction from its viewers. Prometheus has its flaws. Indeed, so glaring are they that it is fairly heroic to suggest it could ever be considered to take a place amongst the classics with which it 'shares DNA'. However, flawed though it may be, Prometheus is contradictorily an intelligent and daring film that, if nothing else, revisits the larger and more significant questions that have driven intelligent science fiction for decades and does so with great visual panache. On this basis alone I think the movie partially succeeds.
June 4, 2012, 12:16 p.m. CST
by JAMF
you speak like this is the way things will be from now on, it's just coz of the jubilee/olympics surely?
June 4, 2012, 12:18 p.m. CST
When the hell will Quint and Nordling post their reviews?
by Lucky13
Sick of these no-name jagoffs. Video Reviews? Give me a fuckin' break, guys. I mean, really. Please write your reviews --- I have no interest in watching your ugly mugs.
June 4, 2012, 12:25 p.m. CST
Good recview!
by billF
June 4, 2012, 12:26 p.m. CST
oops..meant review.
by billF
Still looking forward to this movie.
June 4, 2012, 12:38 p.m. CST
had this come out a month ago, they would have still had me...
by animatronicmojo
Sorry, but the anticipation is way over now. Too much has been leaked, thanks to the too revealing trailers and staggered international premiers, that suggests everything I've come to expect from Scott, who, I'm sorry, I've just never been that big a fan of. Alien is a great B-movie, Blade Runner has some fantastic moments, and The Duelist is my favorite of his films, but other than that, I've been bored and frustrated by his films one after another. The early marketing for this was pitch perfect, and the not knowing too much was really peaking my interest. However, just when the movie should have come out, they starting chipping away at my anticipations with bigger and bigger reveals in longer and longer trailers, until I started to get a definite Supernova, Event Horizon, The Sphere, etc., vibe of good-looking mediocrity. Why!? Yeah, yeah, I should have avoided this site like the plague if I wanted to go in unspoiled, but once the doubting begins, there comes a kind of fascination in seeing if ones doubts are justified by reading early reviews. I suppose I will still see it, at some point, because it's at least a science fiction adventure, which we so rarely get- but I am now expecting, plot-wise, something along the lines of a spoon-fed moribund episode of Star Trek, as opposed to a truly existential masterpiece like 2001.
June 4, 2012, 12:46 p.m. CST
I'm absolutely still going but with diminished expectations
by smudgewhat
It just looks so freakin cool at least the sci-fi eye candy will help me extrapolate a better story later!
June 4, 2012, 12:47 p.m. CST
Respectfully, Mr. Ary . . .
by Olsen Twins_Fan
maybe just write it out next time.
June 4, 2012, 12:47 p.m. CST
I do like your style John....
by Jaster Mareel
And although I appreciate the non-spoiler nature of this review.....you didn't really say much about the film. You said Fassbender was awesome, which I think we all assumed, particularly after that viral commercial. You said there were slow parts in between the action, but those end up enhancing the film. Ok, also pretty predictable. And lastly you said it was a worthy prequel. I guess that's somewhat useful in a very vague, non-specific way. You do say you'll have a more spoiler-filled review later so i guess this is sort of a preamble. Still I would have liked a bit more.
June 4, 2012, 12:47 p.m. CST
by Spanish Eddie
I just want to read my news. I don't need somebody to read it for me.
June 4, 2012, 1:11 p.m. CST
by Rob
June 4, 2012, 1:20 p.m. CST
by luis
June 4, 2012, 1:31 p.m. CST
Wow, John Ary comes off as completely unpretentious and skinny to boot
by Phil Connors
I always pictured AICN reviewers as sanctimonious Comic-Book-Guy types.
June 4, 2012, 1:35 p.m. CST
RE: watching video vs reading review
by Type 40
I prefer to read rather than watch a video. Waiting for the video to buffer enough to allow a smooth run is a mild annoyance. Reading allows me to read it in full, or to skip ahead if I choose. I could do that with a video too, but no so easily. Also, when I read, I "hear" it in my own voice, not someone else's. I can choose my own background music if I want & don't have to have it forced upon me. Advice to Mr. Video blog man: video your thoughts if you want, but transcribe it out afterwards. Thanks.
June 4, 2012, 1:41 p.m. CST
Nothing will top The Raid this year. That movie is AMAZING.
by 5secondfuse
Prometheus - Massive Disappointment Dark Knight Rises - Just looks boring, bad trailer great movie perhaps....... Spiderman - Why? Simply Not Interested Skyfall - Please Please be great. Hobbit - See Skyfall. Total Recall - Len Wiseman says it all.
June 4, 2012, 1:44 p.m. CST
by atlantean
Best review I´ve read so far. Totally agree.
June 4, 2012, 1:50 p.m. CST
actually jonesy the cat could've explained at least a partial increase...
by foree forehead
..in the young alien's size, if he'd been the creature's 2nd victim. he could've then increased to sort've troll size before he (e.g.) jumped out of a pipe onto brett's back. woulda made more sense. but then we wouldn't have that awesome scene near the shuttle's doors where ripley drops the cat carrier at the corner... sigh. so what's this prometheus movie about?
June 4, 2012, 1:53 p.m. CST
and is it better than ang lee's hulk?
by foree forehead
no fuckin' way.
June 4, 2012, 1:58 p.m. CST
is it just me or has this summer fucking sucked
by antonphd
the avengers was fun in a saturday morning cartoon guilty pleasure kind of way, but it was not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination and it was the only movie that has been close to being worth the time spent in the theater this summer the rest of May was a complete waste. June doesn't look like it has anything better now that it's pretty clear that Alien5 is a mixed bag at best. it's like the summer of 2008 again. ironman, batman and a pixar movie and everything else is meh.
June 4, 2012, 2:16 p.m. CST
by chronicallydepressedlemming
Nope, I'm with you. Articles I can read at my own pace. Videos I'm stuck with whatever pace is deemed appropriate by the author.
June 4, 2012, 2:29 p.m. CST
I like that John stands in front of the theatre for his reviews.
by cookylamoo
Instead of broadcasting from his geeked out bedroom like most people who do video reviews. At least it shows he gets out sometimes.
June 4, 2012, 2:31 p.m. CST
More John Ary video reviews please. Really good review. Plus it is nice to see a review on the internet that feels like it is from an average cool movie fan, and not some overly geeky "know-it-all" fanboy snob.
by Mr. Moe
June 4, 2012, 2:43 p.m. CST
Ancient Astronauts
by cube3
Please.. not current and old ideas?...for the audience? van danikens nonsense is on 24/7 on scyfy and history channel series..... "ancient astronauts" is a series that repeats such crazy weekly.... its 1970s puedoscience fiction that was better off as a film when rod serling narrated it. and less we forget... LIFE HERE BEGAN OUT THERE.... -- so said we all;).. 2 years ago as the galactica crashed again into earth.... cybernectic beings and all.../DNA as well.:) btw- the 70s BSG was based heavily on the van daniken crazy.... havent seen movie yet... sound like a matinee no 3d... or a wait for cable... the real reason for this and blade runner redux talk is the idea of "transmedia" marketing and the attempt by ridley to make a legacy in dollars not unlike lucas ... the onlyl way to do this was to renegotiate deals based on "sure things" (past hit ip he dont own) since his "orignal ip" transmedia companyy failed 2 years ago... this way he gets to own the "new stuff" with the studios... and can set up his kids and granchildren to live in the biodomes at google. and not the slums of california in the real future of 2050.;)
June 4, 2012, 2:50 p.m. CST
You have plenty of reviews that aren't videos
by rakesh patel
I like Arys vids, they aren't too long or self indulgent and provides an instant gut reaction.
June 4, 2012, 2:53 p.m. CST
didn't want to watch the vid till i heard the music was like swedish jazz
by Batmanster
thats my shit
June 4, 2012, 2:53 p.m. CST
If you think Prometheus *might* be a let-down...
by zinc_chameleon
you wouldn't have believed the reaction to "Blade Runner" in late summer 1982. It was hyped as "Indiana Jones meets Ridley Scott's Alien!", and as you all know it was a Philip Marlowe story set in a dystopic future. Considered an artistic dud, with a nearly incomprehensible story line (arguably becase the book was written by a paranoid schizophrenic), it flopped big time. And, Alien wasn't a great big smash, it was considered the 'summer sleeper hit'; the big promotion at the time was for "Dawn of the Dead".
June 4, 2012, 2:53 p.m. CST
by Dominic Murray
Is this video really a review, seriously? (and strong 2001 influence, fuck right off really) I saw it last Friday, I was one that bought the hype, Alien "universe", Ridley etc but it was OK, it's not crap but it's not great or will it be a classic and the endgame does make it a fucking prequel despite any bullshit pretensions to the contrary. This is not a review, it's my comment, see the arcane1977 posting in this talkback for a review, not that crappy video.
June 4, 2012, 2:57 p.m. CST
I always thought Cameron's "Aliens" was the best out of the series.
by SkitZo
It's been considered by some as one of the best sequels ever made.
June 4, 2012, 3:12 p.m. CST
Go and see it!
by DM71
Hi there, Normally I never post anything, but I think this movie needs every positive word it can get. The thing is, I've seen it twice (I'm from Holland) now. The first time I saw it, I needed time to get my head around about what I just saw. I needed to see it again. The second time I saw it, I really enjoyed it even more than the first time. The tempo of the film is perfect. I like normal editing where you have some time to look at the sets and envirements, instead of quick editing as if it is a musicvideo. The score, some say it's underwelming but I say the score is very effective. In fact I think it's one of the best of the Alien related movies. About plot holes, I've seen Alien a million times and I believe there aren't any! There isn't a straight line that leads direct to Alien. Indeed now there is a change do develop a rich (and equally creepy) franchise. Yes people, as I said, the first time I saw it, I didn't know what to think of it. Now I get more and more enthusiastic about it. About critics. Sometimes I believe that critics forget about quality of films and the excitement we use to have when watching beloved SF movies. If this movie has any flaws, there aren't many. In think this is a movie that easily exceeds moderate quality, and that is an understatement. Come on fanboys, go and see this movie. It is a movie the genre so very much deserves.
June 4, 2012, 3:17 p.m. CST
Maybe Tatum could have saved this
by Domi'sInnerChild
There's still time reshoots before the US release.
June 4, 2012, 3:21 p.m. CST
by Cracklite
Very insightful and quite eloquent, couldn't agree more. A wonderful review that puts professionels to shame!
June 4, 2012, 3:46 p.m. CST
@volllllume3 Ridley didn't sell out...he just did what was necessary to make a movie!
by marineboy
This is 2012 sadly. Fox are in charge. $250m is yours to make something connected to Alien but more appealing to a (younger) audience. Play by our rules or we'll give it to Bay or whoever. I think he's done well considering it could never be the tense art he created in the first instalment. The script - well, I think that was part of the Fox deal. Spaight's draft was probably enough but Fox wanted their golden boy onboard too. It's clunky. It's flawed. It survives because of Ridley. Who'd want to make big movies in this day and age?
June 4, 2012, 3:51 p.m. CST
Sorry, I don't need to rank and file with some expert review just because they are talented writers/experts etc
by jellypop
I stand by my thoughts that it was a bag of crap and a bag of crap it will remain.
June 4, 2012, 4:25 p.m. CST
Stating Prometheus is 'a pile of crap'
by Arcane
Everybody is entitled to look at something and react by stating 'that is a pile of crap' I don't see anything wrong with that. On the other hand I think it's rather a waste to dismiss the movie without providing even a rudimentary argument for the reasons you might conclude it is 'a pile of crap' Ridley Scott and David Lindelof may not have achieved what they set out to, but make no mistake, the intention was to tackle some pretty deep themes. I still believe the film is fundamentally suffering from an identity crisis that, in turn, has provoked some unfair and knee-jerk criticism from fans who are still upset it wasn't what they (in thousands of individual ways) thought they were in store for. In fairness I think as much as the films own limitations are to blame so too is the marketing campaign. Doesn't matter what way you cut it... the film is still an ambitious undertaking.
June 4, 2012, 4:41 p.m. CST
Okay, I'll ask it. What's the pretty deep theme?
by Domi'sInnerChild
What if Lovecraftian aliens created us and would our creations (more human than human androids) be disappointed with us as their creators? Honestly, I'm not sure if I give a fuck if Twiki wants to be a real boy or not and Blade Runner already covered this ground. We learned that makes a horrible movie from A.I.
June 4, 2012, 5:17 p.m. CST
by Amazing Maurice
Bravo. You just put every reviewer on this site to shame. Someone get a wire on this man.
June 4, 2012, 5:28 p.m. CST
It appears to have life...but it doesn't....
by Crawing
Just back from a UK screening.... Before I start, to give you context I'm a massive Alien/Aliens fan, I hated Alien 3 initially but have adjusted to it over the years. Hated Alien 4 and the AVP films. Alien and Blade Runner are in my top ten. I love 2001: A Space Odyssey. So, if your in that camp, listen up people. I felt so lucky that the UK were getting the earlier release for once. That way, no real spoilers would spoil the film for me. Well, I now wish the UK release was a week later than the US. Why? Because I'd be given a heads up, read the poor reviews, read the spoilers, seen through the smoke and mirrors and wouldn't have signed up for this, that's why. In short, the film is a mess. I won't post actual spoilers in this thread. Not that that would make any difference anyway. Everything 'cool' has already been shown in the needless, over hyped marketing/trailers. The film has absolutely no tension. No hint of suspense. It consistently feels like a bunch of trailer shots edited together. Oh yes, its that bad. Basically Prometheus is a weak, pretentious sci-fi film that tries to elevate itself by a nod or two to the original Alien. And even at that, fails spectacularly. Tries to be 'all things to all men'. In short, it's a complete mess. There's plot holes aplenty (no doubt they were 'calculated' and will be 'answered' somewhat in a sequel of sorts...) and no redeeming features/expansion of anything related to either Alien or Aliens. If anything, it detracts from them. But hey, they've been clever - it's not an Alien film if you don't want it to be, right? Hmm...what's the last (poorly done) 30 seconds all about then, not to mention the countless nods to Alien and 'shudder' BLADE RUNNER (yup, the BLATANT nod's in there and is cringe-worthy) Want the kicker? You wouldn't know it was a Ridley Scott film if his name wasn't 'tagged' on the sell. You really wouldn't. There's no stand out, believable, atmospheric shots - and certainly none that 'last' long enough to absorb you (everything is cut far too short). To give you an idea - remember in the first Alien, where there was a 5-6 second or so shot of Ash moving his chair? If that same sequence was done in Prometheus it would be done in three quick shots - one of him starting to move, another showing the progress half way, and the final showing his arrival. IN TWO SECONDS. Too extreme an example? Watch the landing sequence and try not to laugh. The film is really badly paced, and seems to suffer from 'clipped' editing (i.e. 'hacked' scenes to get the run-time down). Dialogue is terrible. Script if terrible. Starts off intriguing but all too quickly decends into chaos (not of the entertaining kind) and throws aways story threads left right and centre only to create more. Kind of like LOST, funnily enoughs. Character motivations are frequently inexplicable and forget about any arcs, cause there ISNT A SINGLE ONE. The score has promise at times, but overall is dull and unmemorable. The film could have been directed by PW Anderson and you wouldn't have known the difference. Okay, okay that's perhaps too harsh - the space jockeys were interesting (at the beginning) but were quickly negated as the 'story' progressed. And in response to those saying everyone who hates on this film doesn't appreciate an 'intelligent narrative' or 'intelligent sci-fi' - YOU ARE IN DENIAL. This film is anything but. There may well be an extended edit somewhere which bridges towards those accolades but this version certainly doesn't. I like the intention of Prometheus, I get what they were pitching for. It's just the script and (to much surprise) the execution gets it WRONG. So WRONG. Really, I'm so disappointed - what a sell out, Ridley. Not quite a 'Lucas', but pretty damn close. Please DONT do a sequel/brother/sister/cousin/or whatever excuse you come up with to cover up the cracks 'in all about everything' to another of your classics: BLADE RUNNER. Leave it be, please. Why? LESS IS MORE.
June 4, 2012, 5:41 p.m. CST
by Astronut
I'm telling you, this is the new DAMN YOU MICHAEL BAY!!!!
June 4, 2012, 5:46 p.m. CST
@ crawing - harsher verdict than me, but similar complaints
by Metebelis3
Every time the story started to veer into interesting territory, that scene or plotline would suddenly get fucked right off out of the picture, barely referred to again if at all. <p> Raise interesting questions and then just 'bottle out' of answering them. <p> </p> Smells of Lindeloff.
June 4, 2012, 6:09 p.m. CST
Fortunesfool's review from the other thread says it best
by catlettuce4
This may take some time, so if you don't want to read my rambling thoughts then i'll just rip the bandage off now: It's probably Ridley Scott's worst film. It's not all his fault though. Much of the films problems stem from the terrible screenplay by Damon Lindelof and John Spaihts which, at best, is high school philosophy report, and at worst, Transformers level stupid. After a vague opening in which a buff albino man kickstarts human evolution by drinking some black goo, falling apart and mingling with the oceans (apparently) we are introduced to our lead characters. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace, good if a little bland) and her boyfriend Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green). She's a 'creationist' with a leaning towards Christianity and he's a Darwinist and a skeptic. Nothing is ever made of this potentially interesting relationship. Simply mentioning it seems to be enough for the screenwriters to feel that their 'intellectual' job is done. Shaw discovers a cave painting which matches up with others collected from civilisations around the world. They appear to be a star map to a distant galaxy which she interprets as an invitation from our creators to come and visit for tea and cakes. Rich old guy, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce in lots of old guy make up) funds the intergalactic expedition and our heroes set off on their quest for THE answer aboard the good ship Prometheus. Amongst the random collection of scientists (I'll get back to them) is an android called David 8 (Michael Fassbender, in his now obligatory role of 'best thing in the movie by a country mile'). He is the best thing in the movie by a country mile. As the crew sleep, David 8 walks around checking vital signs, doing housekeeping and playing basketball while riding a bike. He also watches peoples dreams (never explained how). Shaw's dream seems to be a badly written movie about a young girl and her dad. Patrick Wilson is in it. This scene is the first real alarm bell in the movie; a clumsy 'TV movie of the week' bit of exposition and character back story. So far the films been perfectly fine, nothing exceptional, but i'm hanging in there as it's a Ridley Scott film. Once the Prometheus arrives at its destination and we get to spend some time with the crew, the film really begins to start falling apart. The highlights of the crew are Fifield (Sean Harris, excellent in last years underseen British thriller A Lonely Place to Die but wasted here) a slightly psychotic looking 'Geologist' who has mercenary attitudes and very little social graces. Take a minute. Yes, a mercenary geologist. His movie buddy is Milburn (Rafe Spall), a botanist apparently, but you'd be forgiven for thinking his role was that of 'ships moron' or that he had tagged along as a favour to someone. These two are the comedy heart of the movie, although none of the humour is intentional. Their behaviour is more like badly behaved kids on a school trip than that of well regarded scientists. Fifield in particular seems to be a different character in each new scene. There's also the Captain (Idris Elba) who does captain stuff and also has the handy ability to burst into rooms with new information to move the story along. And then there's Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) the icy, all business Weyland Industries suit, who has a few secrets up her sleeve. In all honesty though, if this character were removed from the film it wouldn't effect the movie in any way. It would, in fact, improve it slightly by removing two of the dumbest scenes (just run sideways woman and 'father'). Needless to say, the Prometheus manages to appear on its destination planet almost right next to what they're looking for. "God doesn't build in straight lines" says Holloway, looking out the window of the ship. "Can you land over there?" (by that thing that is probably exactly what we're here to see). A nitpick I know but is it really that hard to create a convenient way for them to arrive where they need to be? Moving on. An assortment of crew members set off to explore the creepy tunnels etc and are a bit miffed to discover that no one has put the kettle on for their arrival. In fact, they haven't even had a tidy up. Alien bodies are everywhere (those elephant like Space Jockey things from Alien now known as Engineers) and they've left big pots of black goo everywhere. And a big statue of a head, which looks nice but doesn't seem to have a reason for being. Oh, the films big scary villain is the black goo by the way. It's pretty scary stuff this black goo, it can...well, it's never really made clear what it actually does. It turns little worm things into big penis snakes (which professional Botanist and ship moron Milburn will approach as if it's a cute little kitten) and does things to other people that would be big spoilers. At this point, most of the characters just go about doing their own thing and don't really tell each other anything, even if it's something that's really important: I'm five months pregnant, for example, despite being sterile. Oh and those five months happened overnight. David 8 continues to be the best thing in it by a country mile, going about the business of following a linear narrative. He discovers a live Engineer in stasis and sets in motion the last act of the film. This amounts to a lot of exposition, a great caesarian section shocker (ruined by the characters ability to run and jump afterwards like it's no big deal getting sliced open and stitched back up), a big dramatic moment which was given away in the trailer and the posters, a really dumb big monster moment and a gobsmackingly awful ending. Actually, two awful endings when you include the unnecessary last scene. All told, it's a mess. Technically, it's as accomplished as you would expect from Ridley Scott. It looks great, although never quite as stunning as some reviewers have claimed. The 3D is nice but washes out the image and makes everything look murky. I wouldn't have missed it and would rather have seen it with the correct brightness and colour. It's a pity then that all his efforts are wasted on the screenplay which is aiming for 2001: A Space Odyssey but has dialogue and characters that wouldn't be out of place in Teen Slashers in Space 3. A real disappointment.
June 4, 2012, 7:32 p.m. CST
So black goo DOES = Smoke Monster!!!
by Domi'sInnerChild
June 4, 2012, 8:07 p.m. CST
foree forehead -- I wonder if Jones the Cat was pestering the newly born Kane chestburster
by lv_426
Until of course it got away into a pipe and eluded the cat, found a spot to hide in, and started growing to adult size. You know if Alien was remade today, Brett would have found Jonesy dead and melted, as if he had tangled with the baby alien and maybe scratched it and gotten sprayed with acid.
June 4, 2012, 8:19 p.m. CST
cube3 -- I agree that the ancient astronaut concept is shaky ground to tread for a science fiction story
by lv_426
At least with both incarnations of Battlestar Galactica the ancient astronaut concepts and the spiritual prophecy stuff was imbedded into the show and explored from the early episodes up through to the end of the series. Same with something like Stargate the movie, and thus the TV shows. With Prometheus they are tacking on the ancient astronaut stuff (badly it seems) to the Alien universe, which until say Alien Resurrection and AvP, was presented as a serious reasonably hard science fiction reality (FTL and a few things that were far fetched, but overall pretty fucking good on the realistic science fiction scale, especially for movie science fiction). Even AvP, which I really thought was a massive misfire, even the first AvP didn't demystify the space jockey or muck up the alien lifecycle like it seems Prometheus has done. There were Predators who used ancient humans as hosts for the Aliens so they could hunt them. AvP at least still prescribed to the standard lifecycle posited in Alien, Aliens, and continued in Alien 3 then goofed with via Frankenstein mad science in Alien Resurrection. Now, I'm not saying AvP is better than Prometheus. Just that the Alien saga has gotten more and more whackadoo mythical fantasy stuff added onto it in the more recent installments of the series.
June 4, 2012, 8:23 p.m. CST
You want to know the TRUTH, people? This is James Cameron's franchise, not Ridley Scott's.
by IronEagle74
Sure, it was originally Scott's, but when Cameron made the sequel "Aliens" he took all the good parts from the first movie, combined them with intense action and suspense, and even adventure, came up with a hell of a memorable score with James Horner, and made the PERFECT movie in this universe. He became the owner of the franchise and made it virtually impossible for anyone else to expand on it or reach the same level. The fact that the franchise was RUINED with the crap story we got with Alien 3, and left it impossible for Cameron to come back to it, just finished it off. What a shame too. This COULD HAVE BEEN the best sci-fi/action franchise in movie history.
June 4, 2012, 8:36 p.m. CST
OK... That was a very good review.
by GravyAkira
Glad I finally took the time to watch this one. Im still excited to see this despite the somewhat mixed reactions. If all else fails, The Dark Knight Rises will not let me down. I really hope not.
June 4, 2012, 8:46 p.m. CST
So, who created the Space Jockey? Pink goo from a tribble?
by SunTzu77
June 4, 2012, 9 p.m. CST
It was nearly like...
by SunTzu77
Lindeldoof... was sitting around with the script... watched 2001 and was like... hey... that mysterious black thing is cool... and hey... some people think humans derived from some primordial goo... LET'S MAKE BLACK GOO!
June 4, 2012, 9:21 p.m. CST
In Lindelof and J.J. Abrams remake of 2001, called 2101: A Mystery Monolith Odyssey
by lv_426
The origins and mythology of the Monolith are explored, starring Tom Cruise. After defeating the Discovery One's malfunctioning computer, the Siri 9000, Tom Cruise fights the last of the boss monsters that the Monolith spews forth, then suits up in a giant mechanized battle armor/space suit. As he maneuvers towards the giant black Monolith, a light appears in its center. It is a giant Apple logo, burning bright and firing a giant lazer beam that Tom must dodge. He engages his battlesuit thrusters and avoids the laser beam. Then a giant glowing Steve Jobs starchild appears and taunts him. Tom uses every last round of ammo and all his missiles to defeat the Steve Jobs entity, who then lets him inside the Monolith. Inside is not that weird white room with an old man in a bed, but the most bad ass man cave and bachelor pad ever imagined. In the bed is a naked Megan Fox who is making out with Charlize Theron.
June 4, 2012, 9:27 p.m. CST
No, Jonesy would have been replaced with a brooding teenager
by Domi'sInnerChild
"Jonesy, wake up and clean the kitchen", "I don't even want to be here. My girlfriend aged to an old lady while I was in hypersleep. I wish we were vampires."
June 4, 2012, 9:48 p.m. CST
by Astronut
If for one minute this idiot thinks James Cameron is the original ** OWNER ** of the fucking ALIEN CONCEPT AND/OR UNIVERSE, then holy FUCK does he have shit for brains. Ridley may be a FOOL TODAY, but he gave us one of the greatest fucking cinematic sci-fi gifts of ALL - - TIME. EAT IT BITCHES.
June 4, 2012, 9:52 p.m. CST
@firstname.lastname@example.com - Good review.I guess my biggest let down of Prometheus is the fact that the whole story is Chariots Of The Gods/Nephilim/Annunaki type stuff seen in an Ancient Aliens episode put into the Weyland/Alienverse...
by kenchun24
...why not make a movie about just that then? Why do you need the Alienverse to tell that story? The mystery of the Alien is just another persons idea about creation/ancient astronaut etc and that kind of sucks IMO. Whittling down the Alien origins to just a bio-weapon being used by big giant dudes who created humans...lame. Oh and I have not seen the movie but I got most of that info from the trailer that came out months ago. First thing I said when I saw the trailer was... "Oh they are using Chariots Of The Gods (which was referenced in Carpenters "The Thing" BTW) as the meat & potatoes of the new Alienverse movie.I guess that's kind of cool,but...nah after second thoughts. That's weak." Again my opinion does'nt mean jack but I think I may just stick to the Alien remaining a mystery.Since the writer(s)/creator(s) of Prometheus came up with an origin that has kind of been on the radar for awhile now.
June 4, 2012, 9:54 p.m. CST
Cameron had the right idea for a sequel however
by Domi'sInnerChild
How many times have people tried to rehash what made the original work. See Alien 3 and maybe Prometheus. Aliens had the right idea of changing the genre and playing in the world, not relying on another lone Alien killing a crew like a Friday the 13th movie (again, see the Alien 3 failure).
June 4, 2012, 10:11 p.m. CST
domi'sinnerchild -- the teenage Jonesy would find the baby chestburster
by lv_426
and would tease it and prod it with a piece of metal pipe before getting bored and just leaving while the acid blood eats into the ship. The alien would then grow to full size and kill Jonesy while he bangs his old lady girlfriend.
June 4, 2012, 10:28 p.m. CST
by Funis4assholes
were the 'plot holes' you mentioned?
June 4, 2012, 10:40 p.m. CST
I agree that this is Cameron's franchise. Alien was a simple fun horror/sci-fi movie with paper thin characters. Cameron made it an epic masterpiece with adventure/horror/gore/action/intense suspense/ and strong well written characters.
by Mr. Moe
June 4, 2012, 10:44 p.m. CST
I agree that this is Cameron's franchise. Alien was a simple fun horror/sci-fi movie with paper thin characters. Cameron made it an epic masterpiece with adventure/horror/gore/action/intense suspense/ and strong well written characters.
by Mr. Moe
June 4, 2012, 10:47 p.m. CST
The more I think about this movie, the more I'm reminded how it's turned out to be a clusterfuck in so many ways... Damn, I never saw *that* coming Ridley.
by Cervantes
June 4, 2012, 11:25 p.m. CST
Does it bug anyone that the tech in this film is way more advanced than in Alien, which comes after?
by BadMrWonka
Same shit bothered me about the Star Wars prequels. I'm not retarded, I understand it's because the original movies were made in the 70's, and their predictions about future tech were pretty limited. But once you've established things like that, don't you have to stick with it? How can these ships be flying around with 3D holographic displays, and then decades later, they've got crappy old green computer renderings and flashing push buttons? That always bothers me about sequels like this. Am I the only one?
June 5, 2012, 12:30 a.m. CST
@badmrwonka - not alone,it bugs me too.Especially since it should be "easier" to create an aged look nowadays cause back then it was actual models and art dept folk missing up the sets etc...
by kenchun24
June 5, 2012, 12:31 a.m. CST
I meant mussing up the sets etc...
by kenchun24
June 5, 2012, 2:23 a.m. CST
mr. moe - come on, you can beg for attention better than that
by antonphd
June 5, 2012, 2:26 a.m. CST
without question, Alien is a better film than Aliens
by antonphd
just as The Abyss is a better film than Avatar (and for the exact same reasons)
June 5, 2012, 2:38 a.m. CST
I question it. Aliens is a better film than Alien
by Domi'sInnerChild
just as The Empire Strikes Back is a better film than Star Wars (and for the exact same reasons).
June 5, 2012, 2:44 a.m. CST
The question is if Prometheus is better than Avatar
by Domi'sInnerChild
Eye candy, lousy scripts, shit you've seen before, preachy crap you don't care about, and the feeling it's just a payday for a past their prime director.
June 5, 2012, 3:16 a.m. CST
Hopefully, Cameron will adapt "The Chariots Still Crash."
by SunTzu77
June 5, 2012, 3:24 a.m. CST
Or, at the very least Cameron could adapt Story's "The Space Gods Revealed."
by SunTzu77
LOL, space jockeys, lol... come on Ridley... holy sh** what a crap story he ran with.
June 5, 2012, 4:55 a.m. CST
AVATAR does not exist in this dojo
by Cobra--Kai
Is PROMETHEUS better than AVATAR? As a sci if fan who really genuinely enjoyed both of them that's a really interesting question. For me the best bits, the strongest sequences, in PROMETHEUS are better than the best bits in AVATAR. But as a coherent whole AVATAR achieves it's aims better than PROMETHEUS. In PROMETHEUS's favor it is more mature, more visceral and with more adult moments - such as fifields berserk rampage and the squirm inducing medipod moment. The fx, set design and cinematography award would also go to PROMETHEUS for me. The environments and the giant engineers look completely real, while navi and the pandora look more like a very good animated movie. Acting and script is a tie. Both films feature some memorable characters and both drop some changers in the script dept. In mood, PROMETHEUS is dour and dark, AVATAR is more about feeling hope, liberation. AVATAR is a crowd pleaser that leaves you coming out of the cinema on a high. PROMETHEUS is a downer in comparison. Depth. Well AVATAR is all there on screen, watch the movie and forget it. PROMETHEUS certainly leaves you with more food for thought. Damn, I'm really finding this too close to call. I think AVATAR might just take it for, simply because it achieves it's aims better and is a crowd please. What do you guys think?
June 5, 2012, 6:57 a.m. CST
Avatar and Prometheus
by unparanoid_android
two massive disappointments from directors well past their prime. But Prometheus is better because it at least tried to tackle some big themes, it had at least one scene that was better than anything in Avatar, and most importantly it didn't have any unobtainium.
June 5, 2012, 7:08 a.m. CST
Except that unobtanium is...
by catlettuce4
an ironic joke name in the movie (the characters know it is a joke). There's no such self awareness in Promothudeus
June 5, 2012, 7:16 a.m. CST
The critics start to doubt. Guardian
by catlettuce4
Prometheus has landed … to mixed atmospheric readings http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/jun/01/prometheus-ridley-scott-reviews-roundup?intcmp=ILCMUSTXT9389
June 5, 2012, 7:35 a.m. CST
@John Ary - The moment you said: "I gotta say, I really enjoyed it," is the moment every ounce of crediblility you once possessed was lost forever. FAIL!
by AllThosePowers
How on earth can you say anything good about the film !?! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!
catlettuce4, you're trying to troll the movie but conveniently overlooked the fact that the Guardian article leads with: *Those who have dared to believe that Ridley Scott is still capable of adding something to the Alien canon can breathe a sigh of relief. The first reviews are in for Prometheus, the veteran British film-maker's first science fiction project in more than three decades, and they are broadly positive. The 87% "fresh" audience rating on rottentomatoes.com makes it one of the year's best-received saturation-release films* As much as you may want PROMETHEUS to be getting one star reviews from all the pro critics to tally up with your take on it as the worst film ever made, its simply not happening.
June 5, 2012, 8 a.m. CST
no subject
by JAMF
no subject no subject no subject no subject no subject no subject that's so clever, it hasn't gotten boring at all.
June 5, 2012, 8:01 a.m. CST
there's still 200 critic reviews to come in, you know
by JAMF
from the americans... i wouldn't write the film off as a masterpiece just yet (if we're gonna call it that based on rt scores)
Jamf, no one's calling PROMETHEUS a *masterpiece* thats your words. I think *broadly positive* seems to be the critical reaction. Personally I gave it 4 out of 5, not a classic and not a patch on ALIEN or ALIENS.
June 5, 2012, 9:16 a.m. CST
oh okay jeez i'm sorry
by JAMF
June 5, 2012, 9:16 a.m. CST
"allthosepowers" one of you is a douchebag with no taste..i'll be back tomorrow to let you know HINT : typing FAIL over and over like a twitchy 13yr old already puts the ball in your court
by quantize
June 5, 2012, 9:18 a.m. CST
People are STILL calling Avatar a dissapointment? because why? it made a trillion bucks or did not live up to the GREAT ART that was Terminator 2?
by quantize
get fucking real idiot
June 5, 2012, 10:01 a.m. CST
got no opinion on it at all really
by JAMF
saw it once, nothing special. will never see it again. what's the big hoohaa?
June 5, 2012, 10:02 a.m. CST
Dear Mr Cobra Kai
by catlettuce4
Title of Guardian article "Prometheus has landed … to mixed atmospheric readings" and to finish your quoted section - literally finish, it's the rest of the sentence! "...and yet there's a thread of uncertainty running through even the most gushing of reviews, a sense that Scott has produced an epic entertainment without actually delivering a particularly "good" film." I'd call that a fail on your part, but we can agree to wait and see
June 5, 2012, 11 a.m. CST
Yeah, but AVATAR had a surly Sigourney Weaver saying things like
by lv_426
*They're just pissing on us without even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain.* While PROMETHEUS has some punk rawk geologist asking if the rain is *alien piss*. Or something to that effect from what I heard in a review. I hope that I am wrong.
June 5, 2012, 11:02 a.m. CST
by AllThosePowers
June 5, 2012, 11:15 a.m. CST
Dances With Blue People
by kells
But it looks cool and stuff. And stuff.
June 5, 2012, 11:55 a.m. CST
by Johnny Wrong
...no way he was going to say anything BUT positive things about it, even though it is a mess.
June 5, 2012, 12:10 p.m. CST
by Johnny Wrong
...Bravo! The first ACCURATE and WELL-BALANCED review I've read. The film's FAR from perfect, downright messy in places, but with redeeming qualitities. Shame Lindelof was involved. Still...I'm gonna catch the Director's Cut when it comes out. Maybe Ridders will "pull a Kingdom Of Heaven". And badmrwonka...that technology topic has been covered A MILLION TIMES ALREADY!!!
June 5, 2012, 1:02 p.m. CST
by foree forehead
i tried to watch some of it on tv the other day but some cartoon with blue aliens kept interrupting the movie. and it was even worse than the human movie with military professionals speaking VERY SERIOUSLY toward computer screens.
June 5, 2012, 1:49 p.m. CST
by Kremzeek
It's no weirder than me being the exact opposite. I hate podcasts and video reviews. I'd much rather read an article. Funny and a bit ironic, too... since I don't read books or anything in my leisure time.
June 5, 2012, 2:21 p.m. CST
@antonphd, go read the reviews of Alien from 1979. It got universally bashed for being an all style no substance B-grade horror flick. Nearly every reviewer criticized its paper thin characters. They were right, but now we let nostalgia get in the way of
by Mr. Moe
June 5, 2012, 2:39 p.m. CST
Great sort of pre-review. Still excited, but with the hype in check.
by gotilk
I am VERY happy that you felt the 3d not only made sense for this movie, but truly enhances it. I think the BIG problem with 3d is still the conversions. Matter of fact, I'm looking forward to seeing Gatsby because of the 3d more than almost anything. I want to see how 3d works in a drama, big/flamboyant drama as it is. It's still a drama, shot in 3d. That excites me more than any genre film shot in 3d right now. That film could be 3d's vindication. Because I KNOW that it can enhance any type of film. I've been saying now for years that 3d needs its *My Dinner with Andre*. It requires that, as a format. I know that flies in the face of the opinions of... pretty much the majority here. Wouldn't be the first time for me, here. I think when a few years have passed, many of you will be on my side on this. Especially when the success of it leads to 3d implemented more into our home entertainments. Things like real VR, or VR overlay on our realities will be HUGE. I see people in 10 years or less.... (insane people, mostly, but in that good way... people who do LARPing and such) LIVING their entire lives(maybe not at work) with a virtual overlay of a fantastical universe over our own universe. And I WANT that to happen, quickly. It's taken far too long to happen. Imagine what it could do for the mental health and happiness of people living in small spaces, or sharing small living spaces with multiple people. I won't be someone who will immerse myself in such worlds with addictive behaviours, but I can see that happening as well. And the media will hype that angle for a while, too. I can see how amazing it would be to walk into your downtown and instead of seeing your usual drab, present day city, you see the world of, say, Blade Runner in its place. With real people and shops still there (so you don't run into things and make a further fool of yourself), just enhanced and added-to. Going so far as to even have interiors mapped (when allowed), even your own homes. Limitations will be needed of course. You can't have people shooting guns , even virtual ones, at people in the mall. But there could be HUGE spaces dedicated to multiple uses. Malls could be converted for a few hours in the early mornings or late nights into an abandoned, post-apocalyptic zombie-mall. Or in your goggles, it's the interior of a gigantic space station over-run with hostile aliens. The possibilities are endless... and exciting!!! I want that sooner than later, and the more 3d content and display/presentation tech is embraced and improved upon, the closer we are to it. Yeah, it's a stretch. Yeah, it's slightly insane. But I'm good with that. It's the main reason I prefer 3d films right now. I don't skip great films just because they aren't 3d, but given the option between 3d and 2d, I'll choose the 3d screenings , even if its a conversion. No matter how much I HATE conversions. Anyway, if you read this thanks for doing so. And I hope some of you get where I'm coming from, even if that place is Nutbaggery, Ohio. Cheers.
June 5, 2012, 2:42 p.m. CST
badmrwonka You're not the only one, no.
by gotilk
I agree, it does feel... wrong. But I prefer the update still. Yeah it bugs me, I talked with a friend of mine the other night for about an hour about this very same topic. He was even more critical of it than I was, yet we still agreed that black screens with green text would have just looked too silly to audiences now.
June 5, 2012, 2:46 p.m. CST
Hey now...
by gotilk
I had a bird named Chirpy Little Prick and he was a WONDERFUL bird. He'd peck your eyes out, but he was usually a sweety.
June 5, 2012, 3:36 p.m. CST
I am disappointed
by Sandman
I've been trying to work through my feelings about this film since I saw it a couple of days ago. Everything I saw and heard about this had me thinking that we might be in for something very special. Ridley Scott at his best is a genius, and I regard Alien as one of his best. When I heard that he was going to do a prequel to Alien, I was interested. When I heard that he was going to explore the background to the Space Jockey, I was sold. Count me in! When I heard that this was a "not quite a prequel" but it's own thing, I was only more intrigued - and the initial trailers had me gagging for it. I actually went into spoiler avoidance mode for the last few weeks, seeking to go into this as cold as I could. I'm not quite sure what I expected... other than revelations. I expected to be surprised by the Space Jockeys. I expected that when we heard about them and their purposes, I would go "wow!" I didn't go "wow". I didn't even go "huh?" I went "Um... really?" Maybe I expected too much. I wasn't really thinking of this film as a monster/horror movie... I was thinking that in spirit it would be more "Close Encounters" with a Ridley twist than that. And the movie does dangle tantalising ideas along those lines - the idea that aliens have walked the Earth before, which appears in the trailers. The idea of mankind going to "meet god". The idea of finding out about the Jockeys and their purpose. These are all dangled... and then pretty much left to dangle. There's no follow through on any of it, no resolution. It's just kind of "hey, here's an idea. Make of it what you will, whilst I dangle another idea and then throw a monster at you." I'm not complaining that the movie doesn't explain every little thing. I'm fine with a little mystery, and a little "work it out for yourself". But there actually has to BE an answer there for you to work out. There really doesn't seem to be and answers available, in this movie. No, this really isn't an "ideas" movie as such. It's a monster/horror movie. It's a movie about nasty beasts killing people. And unfortunately, that's about all it is. And even more unfortunately, it's not a very good one. I'm going to get into spoiler territory now, so stop reading if spoilers are not for you. My first big disappointment in this film is the treatment of the Space Jockeys, aka the Engineers. Remember that gigantic creepy skeleton thing in the chair in Alien? Remember the weirdly shaped skull? That's not a skull. That's a helmet. It lifts off, and underneath it... the Engineers look just like you and me. Only pale. Are you excited by that prospect? Does it intrigue you? It disappointed the hell out of me. As for their motivations, their story... Ridley has once or twice opined that the Alien eggs are basically biological weapons that the Engineers drop on their enemies. And that's what he goes with. And that is pretty much the entirety of what we learn about them in this movie. The use biological weapons to attack people, and they do it because... well, who knows? Apparently they are just bad people. Perhaps they are one of those "Warrior races" so beloved of science fiction, that go around attacking people for no reason. You know, like the Klingons in Star Trek. If you were ever excited to ponder the possibilities that the Space Jockey offered... well, this is what is delivered up. And it's about all that is delivered up regarding them. It's so very ORDINARY, and if you go in expecting grand sweeping revelations, it's a big disappointment. Still, I can't honestly feel too bad that Scott made a monster movie instead of the movie I wanted him to make. It's HIS movie after all, and we should judge it on its own terms. So how is it as a monster movie? It's poor, frankly. Remember how the Alien in the first film worked? There was a remorseless, relentless logic to it. A logic that was there largely because the Xenomorph's life cycle was directly based in the actual biology of real creatures. It was horrific, because the logic of these creatures is that they HAVE to kill us. The Xenomorphs literally must kill us to reproduce, to continue the existence of their species. In Prometheus, the monsters have no logic. They come from a black goo that the Engineers use as their bioweapon, but what the goo actually does is different in every case, and apparently completely random. In one case, it turns tiny worms into giant super-strong worms with acid for blood that can force their way down your throat. In another person, the same thing turns him into a sort of mutated zombie who rampages around killing everyone in sight whilst they shoot at him with guns and flamethrowers. One infected person has sex with a woman and infects her - and the result is that she becomes pregnant with a squid monster. But once she has that removed, she is apparently completely free of further infection and perfectly fine. But the squid monster can act as a face-hugger and infect somebody else, who then gives birth to a Xenomorph. Just contemplate that last one. The greatest weakness of the Xenomorph, a weakness common to any parasite, is the limited supply of hosts. All those eggs the Nostromo crew found, and only one Xenomorph resulted because only one person got close enough. If the Xenomorphs reproduced more like birds or reptiles, Ripley would have faced a thousand of them. Prometheus gives us a Xenomorph whose lifecycle is : Black goo infects man. Man has sex with and infects woman. Woman gives birth to squid monster. Squid monster sticks tube down somebody's throat. That guy grows a Xenomorph. Not one, not two, but THREE hosts are required. It's beyond ridiculous. There are no rules here, no logic, the monsters just do whatever Ridley thought would be cool and gross to the audience. And as a result they leave us unmoved and uninvolved. All this really tries to be is a monster movie. It's a modest ambition, but even on that level a monster movie MUST have a really good, clear, threatening monster. Prometheus crowds the story with contradictory nonsensical monsters, and it's a flaw that it never recovers from.
June 5, 2012, 4:42 p.m. CST
no matter how advanced space travel gets
by JAMF
i think we'll still use very 'old fashioned' tactile tech in spaceships. it makes the most sense. tech like touchscreens and holo displays etc which rely on a perfect environment and have so many things that can go so easily wrong, are just a stupid idea. it should be the most practical and tactile equipment like buttons that push in and out and easy to read monochrome displays. the people who designed the prometheus user interface weren't thinking about the practicalities at all. if one of those displays failed they'd be fucked. i bet they couldn't even rewire/repair anything on the fly because all the cabling's sealed inside a magic box only the spacedock engineers can access.
June 5, 2012, 6:36 p.m. CST
I think this film is being wrongly maligned.
by tyler_turden
Here is my take. http://thecrat.com/reviews/prometheus-review-by-adam/
June 5, 2012, 6:36 p.m. CST
jamf -- the Prometheus being too fancy pants
by lv_426
Maybe that was a conscious decision to show the hubris of Weyland or something? Since it was his ship built for such a specific mission and all. The Nostromo was probably built by a more fiscally minded committee that wanted a simpler level of efficiency and no frills since the crew would be spending a lot of time in hypersleep. I agree with you though. I like a certain type of rugged and utilitarian level of hardware in sci-fi films.
June 5, 2012, 6:47 p.m. CST
gotilk -- augmented reality
by lv_426
I agree. I think you could take something like you suggested with LARPing, or paintball for instance, and have augmented reality turning it into sort a fusion of actual real life physical sport and multiplayer video game. Think of Lazer Tag with AR set in the Terminator's future war of 2029. Oh yeah, I'd buy that for a dollar! Or how about road trips with historical or sci-fi/fantasy AR overlays when you look out the window? Some kid 20 years from now on a road trip to the Grand Canyon will probably be able to stare out the window of his parent's minivan and in stead of just seeing the Arizona desert, he'll see Tatooine or Arrakis or whatever he chooses from the list of mapped AR overlays.
June 6, 2012, 4:39 a.m. CST
The problem is the film isn't intellectual...
by SunTzu77
I found absolutely nothing new in film that hasn't been discussed since the late 60s. When so called intellectuals bring up the "seeding" idea I lose it - laughing as if I was hopped up on N20. A good read... http://returnofthespacegods.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/it-all-started-with-erich-von-daniken%E2%80%A6/#comments Scott believes this film is highbrow and groundbreaking - nope. It's re-hashed old hat. There is so much that Scott could have done with the film and the back story of the Space Jockeys. Instead, "Prometheus" is like a hot blonde with an IQ of 71. It's beautiful to look at, but there's nothing under the hood.
June 6, 2012, 4:41 a.m. CST
by SunTzu77
The film isn't intellectual or emotional... I simply couldn't connect with it on any level except the DP work. The plot was paper thin and the characters were flat.
June 6, 2012, 4:43 a.m. CST
Prometheus is a "midichlorian" failure.
by SunTzu77
June 6, 2012, 7:14 a.m. CST
What I didn't want (and it sounds like we got) is more sci-fi horror
by Michael Morning
Sorry, but sci-fi horror is cheap sci-fi. ALIEN did it best and it should've ended there. I'm SO tired of all these potentially good sci-fi movies defaulting to horror...EVENT HORIZON, SUNSHINE, etc. Let's get back to some decent sci-fi that doesn't devolve in the third act to a slasher-flick-in-space. I'm no fan of AVATAR due to its derivative storyline, but at least it completely avoided the sci-fi horror pitfall of most sci-fi nowadays.
June 6, 2012, 5:15 p.m. CST
Psychos, Savages and Monsters... in Space!
by animatronicmojo
There must be ten million or more great science fiction stories, but this is all we ever get in movies anymore. So tiresome. Man, this one has gone from a must-see in the theater, to a I'll be skimming it for money shots on netflix some night when I've got nothing better to do.
June 9, 2012, 2:26 p.m. CST
I take it all take it all take it all back
by animatronicmojo
Much better than I expected. My favorite Ridley Scott movie in 30 years. <P> Enjoyed the themes and suggestive melding of the Blade Runner and Alien universes, and I definitely want to see two more, as part of an epic space opera.
June 9, 2012, 3:45 p.m. CST
I'm with you heyoucantlaughatthat
by Vision
I'm SO ***** TIRED of people who can't be bothered to write articles anymore. I have sounds going on HERE. Watch TV, listen to a podcast or music - I don't want to have to stop it all to listen to their crap. Write it down or you are not worthy of my attention.
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