2012 Off topic thread(basketball,movies,etc whatever)

[Ludo]

Would you call the first one terrible?

I think what he means is that the ending left almost no opening for a sequel. Couple that with the fact that it's 17 years old now and several other movies they have chosen to do sequels on so long after the fact typically serve better as coasters on your coffee table than something you'd want to put on your TV.

[SPX]

That is true. Strangely enough, it seems that the longer you go in between sequels the less likely the chances are that it will be good.

BUT I did like the most recent Rambo and Rocky movies. And there were several years in between T1 and T2 and T2 is the best of the series.

As for the first one leaving an opening for a sequel, well shit, there's all kinds of things you could do. If there is one other alien race out there in the universe then there are likely to be several.

[zY|]

Yes, the first movie absolutely was an impossible, implausible, terrible mess. That said, it has a certain charm to it that I can never turn it off if it comes on.

[SPX]

I liked it. And usually, when I think of a movie being a "mess," it's because the plot doesn't make sense.

As for being implausible, well yeah, but no more than a movie featuring a cyborg that comes from a future where machines have become self-aware and seek to kill the savior of humanity before he becomes the savior of humanity.

[zY|]

Yeah yeah, obviously I accept the premise of aliens invading. But dude, cmon, bringing down a super advanced alien race with a 'virus' from a 96 Powerbook? Gimme a fuckin break. My cell phone is like 500x faster and I can't even connect to my wifi half the time.

[SPX]

Well to be fair, the resolution was a relatively small portion of the movie. While the specifics are obviously silly, I did think the idea of using a virus to disrupt their computers systems was clever, especially at that point in time when computers and the Internet were just starting to REALLY break out.

Personally, one of the things I love about that movie the most though is Emmerich's use of practical, non-CGI effects. Filmmakers have gotten away from using models, which I think is a real shame because in a lot of situations they look a shitload better than computer generated cartoons.

[zY|]

That's just one example. There are many more, and just some extremely puzzling decision-making and contrivances. But whatever.

I agree the special effects are fun, I watched a making of awhile ago. I always loved the destruction of the Empire State Building, how it goes straight down through it. Unfortunately, the effects don't hold up as well in HD.

[SPX]

I haven't seen it in HD. I'll have to peep that. What's up with the FX?

[SPX]

The best scene in an otherwise only-slightly-better-than-average movie. Well worth a watch.

[Svino]

Yeah yeah, obviously I accept the premise of aliens invading. But dude, cmon, bringing down a super advanced alien race with a 'virus' from a 96 Powerbook? Gimme a fuckin break. My cell phone is like 500x faster and I can't even connect to my wifi half the time.

Supposedly, there was a deleted scene where they at least slightly tried to explain the how the Powerbook virus worked.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18720_7-famous-movie-flaws-that-were-explained-in-deleted-scenes.html

[Ludo]

Even that line of reasoning is full of holes, though. Assuming of course that the technology was even able to be understood by our own it would be like trying to use a calculator to hack a modern day supercomputer. For christs sake they have space travel down to such a level that they were able to bring a veritable armada and central control hub from who knows where just to fuck with the planet. But this lone guy figures out a way to basically assfuck the whole network in the span of a few hours while top engineers and scientists struggled to even begin understanding the technology on a near 70 year old ship from Roswell? Suspended disbelief can only go so far until all logic is thrown out the window; which is kind of to be expected in a fantasy sci fi movie involving alien invasion, but come on.

[SPX]

If you really let that kind of shit bother you, then you do yourself a disservice. It's much better to enjoy things than to find fault with them.

I do my best to just roll with shit when it comes to movies. The thing is that no movie exists in the real world. Every movie creates--and exists within--its own universe. In some cases, the universe the movie creates means no one ever has to reload their guns. In others, it means that elves and orcs roam the land. And in others still, it means that you can bring down some serious alien shit with an old school laptop.

Who cares. As long as the overall storyline and presentation are good, I can overlook the nonsensical details.

[Ludo]

If you really let that kind of shit bother you, then you do yourself a disservice. It's much better to enjoy things than to find fault with them.

I do my best to just roll with shit when it comes to movies. The thing is that no movie exists in the real world. Every movie creates--and exists within--its own universe. In some cases, the universe the movie creates means no one ever has to reload their guns. In others, it means that elves and orcs roam the land. And in others still, it means that you can bring down some serious alien shit with an old school laptop.

Who cares. As long as the overall storyline and presentation are good, I can overlook the nonsensical details.

The problem here is that this wasn't as simple as guns not needing to reload. This is how they arrived at the ending. In a film where they at least took the most logical approach to a fantasy concept this kind of ending, while dramatic and nifty due to the time, comes off as highly contrary and cheap in the grand scheme of it all. The disservice here is taking something laughably devoid of any of the would-be integrity shown in the rest of the film at face value, at least that's the way I look at it. That's not to say it still can't be enjoyed, but the distinction between being enjoyed because of a gaping plot hole rather than despite one has to be made some time.

[zY|]

If you really let that kind of shit bother you, then you do yourself a disservice. It's much better to enjoy things than to find fault with them.

I do my best to just roll with shit when it comes to movies. The thing is that no movie exists in the real world. Every movie creates--and exists within--its own universe. In some cases, the universe the movie creates means no one ever has to reload their guns. In others, it means that elves and orcs roam the land. And in others still, it means that you can bring down some serious alien shit with an old school laptop.

Who cares. As long as the overall storyline and presentation are good, I can overlook the nonsensical details.

Yes, the movie creates it's own universe, which is the premise I'm expected to accept. From that point, unless explained otherwise, it is reasonably expected that real world physics and logic apply. You can't just say 'LOL movie' as some excuse to get away with whatever lazy, inept bullshit you want. And by the way, not reloading guns? That's all that is. Pure laziness. There are technical advisors for a reason.

[zY|]

Also, what Ludo said.