Alien: Covenant (May 2017)


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What kind of sick basterds would release this on Christmas Eve?!!


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I don't know, but they gave me a delightful present when they did so.


hope there will something about the engineers, cause this seems boring

Sovereign Court

I hope there will be as little Naomi Rapace as possible


Knoq Nixoy wrote:
hope there will something about the engineers, cause this seems boring

As far as I can tell, Ridley Scott's original plan had been for either two or three sequels to PROMETHEUS. The first would pick up immediately after PROMETHEUS with David and Shaw as the main characters and follow them to the Engineer homeworld and what happened there. Then the next film (or films) would tie more directly the events of PROMETHEUS to ALIEN. This prequel cycle would end with us finding out why that Engineer ship was on LV-426 at the start of ALIEN.

From the look of it, 20th Century Fox decided that they didn't really want to make PROMETHEUS II, nuked it, and asked for a film much more closely tied to the existing ALIEN mythos. So it looks like they're now doing the second of those films instead.

Spoiler:
So in this film it looks like David and Shaw have reached the Engineer homeworld, discovered it's been destroyed by the black goo stuff, and sent a distress signal. The Covenant is sent to the planet under the cover of a colonisation mission but it's really a rescue mission. I suspect that only the other David-class android, Walter, knows the real mission. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong when they reach the planet and get infected by the black goo as well. I suspect Shaw is either dead or maybe in hibernation, and will only briefly appear in flashback, a recording or maybe only at the end in person.

If COVENANT is a success, presumably they can make one more movie which acts as an immediate prequel to ALIEN, or they'll drop that idea and roll into the Neil Blomkamp ALIEN 5 project instead.

Spoiler:
Based on Blomkamp's ALIEN 5 artwork, it looks like the plot revolves around the Company recovering an Engineer ship and salvaging its technology, so it may require Scott's prequel series to be finished first so as not to clash with the new canon.


I'm excited.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Looks a little "been there"/"done that" to me. I really wish they stuck with an actual Prometheus sequel.

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Alien Covenant Prequel: Last Supper

Scarab Sages

That teaser does a lot more for me than the trailers did.


This looks like it will be "The Force Awakens" equivalent for the Alien franchise.
Producers: "Here's a prequel to the stories you love. enjoy."
Public: "It's bad and a waste of potential and stupid and you're stupid."
Producers: "Oh, uh, well, here's another movie which is exactly the same as the original with nothing new or original or anything so please don't hate us any more."

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New Trailer


Excited Freehold is excited

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Eh, not doing it for me. And they reveal too damn much.

Sovereign Court

Looks like the same ol same ol........

spoiler:
I'm still going to enjoy it.


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Well, I was already aboard, but I'm going to be HIGHLY amused when we have the inevitable "Weyland-Utani finds out about the Xenomorphs but gets nothing they can use AND no credible witnesses so the Nostromo's crew is blindsided."

Again.

Liberty's Edge

There was no way I was going to miss a new Alien movie, although I will admit the trailers aren't blowing me away.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing if McBride can play anyone other than Kenny Powers.


I'm waiting to see McBride play anyone other than Danny McBride.

Sovereign Court

You might to get it in this movie


Hama,

You hope. I'm remain...unconvinced.


Hama wrote:
Eh, not doing it for me. And they reveal too damn much.

Yeah I gotta side with Hama on this one.

Showing the Xenomorph full body and in daylight at the end of the trailer as some sort of visual stinger took all of the wind out of the sails of that trailer for me.

The Red Band trailer is so much better at inducing dread and even when they show the xenomorph in shadow in that trailer and the ensuing "punchline"? Fantastic.

I think this is the trailer that they hope caters to 15-16 year olds...


Shin,

I saw both. I didn't see much of a difference between the two trailers. Unlike say, Deadpool's and Evil Dead (the remake).

Dark Archive Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Contributor

4 people marked this as a favorite.

My body is ready (especially my chest cavity).

So cannot wait for this. I'm tempted to go to the opening night showing wearing the full body xenomorph costume I have (but risking damage says no to that idea).


Well Todd, when you're ready to give us your review I'll be interested.

Also like I said, I hope Danny McBride plays someone other than Danny McBride.


Thomas Seitz wrote:

Shin,

I saw both. I didn't see much of a difference between the two trailers. Unlike say, Deadpool's and Evil Dead (the remake).

The original red band has less actual dialogue and that haunting version of NATURE BOY playing over most of it. It has one shot of the facehugger leaping at someone. You get some sort of alien transformation near the beginning ("Ferris! Let me Out!!!) The first red band trailer shows you just enough to let you know that it's an ALIEN film without showing the Xenomorph.

The second red band (which was attached to the print of LOGAN that I saw today) shows you full bodied xenomorphs (including one leaping through a corridor) several times during the trailer. It shows you a facehugger not only leaping at victims but already on victims with people trying to get them off. There's also a bit too much of an actiony vibe from it.

The first trailer sold me on wanting to see it.

That second trailer feels like their selling it too hard?

Still going to see it on the big screen though.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.


ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.

In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?


Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?

It also depends on where they're going with it. Alien was a great movie, but so was Aliens, in a very different way.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

They mostly come out at night...mostly;)


Most of my compatriots are super excited about this movie, but I currently struggle to be all that interested. There really isn't a whole lot of places to take the Alien movies that are not retreading over the same ground as past movies. Part of me wishes that instead of continuing with the xenomorphs, the Alien franchise switched gears to come up with new unrelated threats for each volume. Prometheus kind of went in that direction, but screwed up so many other things that it kind of fizzled.


Dragon78 wrote:
They mostly come out at night...mostly;)

So do my undead socks.


Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?

Well said. The film school wankery surrounding the full reveal of a creature that has been ending our games for almost 40 years has to stop.


Freehold DM wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?
Well said. The film school wankery surrounding the full reveal of a creature that has been ending our games for almost 40 years has to stop.

Nah...unless you are doing a whole monster menagerie ala Skull Island, generally keeping things offscreen for a lot of the movie is a good way of raising tension and minimizing special effect failure. It's just with something like the Alien franchise...I would hazard just about everyone from elementary on up knows what the hell that the alien looks like at this point in time. It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.


thejeff wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?
It also depends on where they're going with it. Alien was a great movie, but so was Aliens, in a very different way.

Exactly. Alien is a straight up horror movie in space. Aliens is an action/siege movie in space. If Covenant is going for horror and dread which from both of those trailers it is, then full reveal of the creature in broad daylight neuters that whether we (the audience) has seen the creature or not. The whole idea of building a sense of dread being derided as film school wankery is kind of reactionary? It's as if because we've seen a thing there's no new way to present it or to elicit fear from it so any sense of crafting a movie to attempt to do so is...stupid?

Yeah, NO. I've seen probably hundreds of movies since I was 6 and even I'M not THAT jaded yet.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
MMCJawa wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?
Well said. The film school wankery surrounding the full reveal of a creature that has been ending our games for almost 40 years has to stop.
Nah...unless you are doing a whole monster menagerie ala Skull Island, generally keeping things offscreen for a lot of the movie is a good way of raising tension and minimizing special effect failure. It's just with something like the Alien franchise...I would hazard just about everyone from elementary on up knows what the hell that the alien looks like at this point in time. It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.

no, the diminishing returns are because of Joss Whedon.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Freehold DM wrote:
MMCJawa wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?
Well said. The film school wankery surrounding the full reveal of a creature that has been ending our games for almost 40 years has to stop.
Nah...unless you are doing a whole monster menagerie ala Skull Island, generally keeping things offscreen for a lot of the movie is a good way of raising tension and minimizing special effect failure. It's just with something like the Alien franchise...I would hazard just about everyone from elementary on up knows what the hell that the alien looks like at this point in time. It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.
no, the diminishing returns are because of Joss Whedon.

Oh, cmon? Clearly the actors didn't act right for Whedon's masterpiece!


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So, today I saw and enjoyed Alien: Covenant...

But that in no way means it's a good movie. As a sequel to Prometheus (which I like way more than it deserves), it's hasty, mean-spirited, and nonsensical. As a prequel to Alien, it makes literally no sense. There's a major plot twist that you could see and hear coming if you were in a sensory deprivation chamber in the heart of a black hole. And those who found the humans of Prometheus idiotic and reckless might well have terminal coronaries if they watch this flick.

The good: Fassbender never phones it in. I liked and rooted for our flawed primary human protagonist. The pacing worked for me. The exterior visuals were beautiful (although not as gorgeous as Prometheus), and the sense of fear was pretty well-conveyed in a couple of key scenes.


I enjoyed it, it's got some flaws yes but there are some interesting things in it as well. You really have to understand Fassbender's character to appriciate it I think and the visuals of his "lab" were brilliant.


I am happy this movie didn't have as good of opening as Prometheus. What a stupid direction they took this movie in.


I'm just glad GotG 2 only lost out by less than a million dollars. That gives me hope it will be #1 again this weekend.


Freehold DM wrote:
MMCJawa wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
Rosgakori wrote:
I have ner really liked seeing xenomorphs in bright daylike. And at the end of the trailer it looked very tacked-on. But hey, this is jsut the trailer. Post-production is still in progress and finished product might look better.

Agreed. The reason the first movie is so effective is you never really see the full xenomorph until close to the end. People like to cite the airlock scene but you actually see it full body earlier than that (the Parker and Lambert scene).

The reason that movie gave me nightmares as a child was because for the longest time I could only imagine what the full creature looked like even though I'd actually already seen it. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time but yeah, SCARRED FOR LIFE.

That is true of all good horror movie. It is a mistake in these types of Horror movies to show the monster too early. Because no matter how scary you can make the monster with special effects the mind can make it scarier.
In the case of the Alien franchise, we all know what the monster looks like already. We've had lots of movies where they kind of crawl around half-seen in the dark. There's no reason to hide it. Why not have one that's out in the open?
Well said. The film school wankery surrounding the full reveal of a creature that has been ending our games for almost 40 years has to stop.
Nah...unless you are doing a whole monster menagerie ala Skull Island, generally keeping things offscreen for a lot of the movie is a good way of raising tension and minimizing special effect failure. It's just with something like the Alien franchise...I would hazard just about everyone from elementary on up knows what the hell that the alien looks like at this point in time. It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.
no, the diminishing returns are because of Joss Whedon.

David Fincher directed the third movie (Hey...remember all those cool characters from Alien you liked? TOO BAD THEY ARE NOW DEAD).

I haven't seen the one currently out (or for that matter the second A vs Predator), but I would say really only the first two movies are actually great/pretty good. I'd consider Prometheus to be (pretty) garbage while A vs P to be garbage, and the Alien 3 and 4 as being bleh.


I liked aliens vs predator, at least the first one.


Quote:
It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.

What's interesting is that Ridley Scott said exactly this in the run-up to PROMETHEUS: "The alien, as a shape, is quite worn out and not that interesting or scary any more."

The face he's gone back to the alien suggests that the studio told him to so they could make more money and people would be more interested in seeing the film if the classic monster was in it, and if he didn't they'd let someone else do ALIEN 5, and he just gave in. Artistic credibility FTW.

Freehold DM wrote:
no, the diminishing returns are because of Joss Whedon.

Because of an early draft of a script that was wrecked by Jean-Pierre Jeunet? There's actually a lot of good ingredients in A:R which were wrecked by studio interference (like shoehorning Ripley back in against Whedon's wishes and reducing the characterisation of the starship crew) or by J-P J just being weird and French for the sake of it. That's his thing and he's made some wonderful other movies, but nothing (before or since) that suggested he'd be a good fit for ALIEN.

Still, if Whedon hadn't been so annoyed by A:R he might have not have revisited his ideas and come up with FIREFLY, so A:R did do something right :)


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Werthead wrote:
Quote:
It's also why there has been diminishing return for the last few movie.

What's interesting is that Ridley Scott said exactly this in the run-up to PROMETHEUS: "The alien, as a shape, is quite worn out and not that interesting or scary any more."

The face he's gone back to the alien suggests that the studio told him to so they could make more money and people would be more interested in seeing the film if the classic monster was in it, and if he didn't they'd let someone else do ALIEN 5, and he just gave in. Artistic credibility FTW.

Freehold DM wrote:
no, the diminishing returns are because of Joss Whedon.

Because of an early draft of a script that was wrecked by Jean-Pierre Jeunet? There's actually a lot of good ingredients in A:R which were wrecked by studio interference (like shoehorning Ripley back in against Whedon's wishes and reducing the characterisation of the starship crew) or by J-P J just being weird and French for the sake of it. That's his thing and he's made some wonderful other movies, but nothing (before or since) that suggested he'd be a good fit for ALIEN.

Still, if Whedon hadn't been so annoyed by A:R he might have not have revisited his ideas and come up with FIREFLY, so A:R did do something right :)

as usual, whedon fans swear he can do no wrong...


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Freehold DM wrote:
I liked aliens vs predator, at least the first one.

I couldn't get past the fact that you couldn't see people's breath.... in friggin' Antarctica. And the shifting walls that stopped shifting. And one lone xenomorph downing two Predators before any Preds tagged even a single Xeno.... only for the remaining Pred to go on a friggin' killing spree.

Had some good bits, though.


In my opinion/headcanon, few things fight back actively against predators with intellect and a lack of fear. This is what makes xenos dangerous to them. I also am of the opinion that xenos get more dangerous the fewer of them they are- it's why 1 and 3 are so different from 2. But people seem to think that xenos are easy to beat with a pulse rifle and lots of ammo individually....


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Freehold DM wrote:
In my opinion/headcanon, few things fight back actively against predators with intellect and a lack of fear. This is what makes xenos dangerous to them. I also am of the opinion that xenos get more dangerous the fewer of them they are- it's why 1 and 3 are so different from 2. But people seem to think that xenos are easy to beat with a pulse rifle and lots of ammo individually....

The Law of Conservation of Xenomorphs?


Quote:
as usual, whedon fans swear he can do no wrong...

I think Whedon is quite overrated and he's done quite a lot wrong (like DOLLHOUSE and some of his writing decisions in the last few seasons of BUFFY were questionable and ANGEL was actually the best Whedon-spawned series precisely because he had the least to do with it). But I think pinning the failures of ALIEN: RESURRECTION at his gate makes as much sense as the people who say TOY STORY was a success because of him (when very little of his material made it into the movie). The primary reason A:R failed was because the director was completely unsuited to the material. He'd have wrecked the ALIENS script if it had been given to him.


Part of wonders how much stronger the aliens movies would have been if they had just created a new monster for each sequel, rather than them just keep returning to the Xenomorph. Don't get me wrong, the Xenomorph was an awesome design, but I still think you can only do so much with the idea.

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