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#4390262 - 11/18/17 03:17 AM Life  
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PanzerMeyer Offline
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Just saw this sci-fi horror movie with Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhall.


Overall it was a decent movie even though the main premise was very derivative of other sci-fi movies. It also wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 11/18/17 03:18 AM.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4390284 - 11/18/17 08:04 AM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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The only frightening part is the commander
drowning from the leaking coolant in her suit
but I agree that the rest is a alien hunting us derivative plot.

#4390776 - 11/21/17 06:54 PM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Life pissed me off--I was literally angry out loud at the film for many reasons. Here are a few:

[SPOILER WARNING]

The astronauts were IDIOTS. These were supposed to be NASA astronauts. NASA doesn't put idiots into orbit--the folks they send up are smart.

Except for one astronaut--the cliched smart guy... who gets messed up by the alien... so the idiots run the hen house out of control.

The alien stayed alive outside the space station for an extended period of time and was fine. So what do the idiots on board decide to do to kill it? DUMP ALL THE ATMOSPHERE INTO SPACE SO IT MIGHT DIE! Idiots! The creature already proved that would be a bad strategy... but they do it anyways, because™ it might respond differently a second time!

And don't get me started on how the characters act/react. The clown who hides in the sleeping chamber. The girl who cries a lot. Jake Gyllenhaal who is beyond competent as an actor... given a crap role? And the escape pods holding only one person. ONE PERSON. REALLY? The ISS always has a Soyuz craft attached to it... which holds THREE people. THREE!


I'll stop. I was dripping mad after wasting my time with that film. If you're going to try and be realistic... BE REALISTIC! If you're going to use a realistic setting, then damn well know your setting!

Do not watch Life.

#4390779 - 11/21/17 07:03 PM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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PanzerMeyer Offline
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Good post Blastman. I've noticed with these "alien is hunting us" or "monster is hunting us" movies that the writers are unable to come up with a convincing story unless they make the people involved act stupidly.

Only "The Thing" (1982 remake) and "Alien" have executed this premise perfectly in my opinion.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4390815 - 11/21/17 09:17 PM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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The 1982 "The Thing" movie was just about the perfect representation of the "alien hunting an isolated group" trope. Good setup, good acting, good effects, good characters, smart actions, just overall really well done.


Ken Cartwright

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#4390846 - 11/22/17 04:18 AM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Yes, people in sci-fi and horror films must always act like idiots so the writers don't have to thnk too hard about how the monsters can kill them. You have to love the ones who hear the growling noises downstairs and see the two red glowing eyes in the dark. They must go and get their flashlight and head down there to take a look. "Is that you fluffy.....AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"


"From our orbital vantage point, we observe an earth without borders, full of peace, beauty and magnificence, and we pray that humanity as a whole can imagine a borderless world as we see it, and strive to live as one in peace."
Astronaut William C. McCool RIP, January 29, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia

#4390861 - 11/22/17 11:39 AM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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LOL! Pooch. It sounds absurd but it's amazing just how many movies do that!


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4390951 - 11/22/17 10:02 PM Re: Life [Re: Pooch]  
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Originally Posted by Pooch
Yes, people in sci-fi and horror films must always act like idiots so the writers don't have to thnk too hard about how the monsters can kill them. You have to love the ones who hear the growling noises downstairs and see the two red glowing eyes in the dark. They must go and get their flashlight and head down there to take a look. "Is that you fluffy.....AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"


It only made sense when that one guy in Alien was looking for Jonesy the cat - he had a right to be surprised by a monster!


The issue is not p*ssy. The issue is monkey.
#4391113 - 11/24/17 02:42 AM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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I just watched that too myself and Arrival because I'd wanted to see them and hadn't watched scifi in awhile. I overall did not like "Life." The part I hated the worst was the ending. I understand and don't mind if a movie has a bad ending depending on how its done.(I prefer not to have a true bad ending however as I just don't like dread and hopelessness) I would much rather have it be somewhat ambiguous or like Alien where you have enough closure and a little hope but and avenue still open to the writers to continue a series of movies. Like you all have mentioned I love "The Thing". Very well done as is Alien. The Thing doesn't technically have a "good" ending but there's been an effort of sacrifice to keep the alien threat at bay and not spreading out to the rest of humanity.
The ending of "Life" was just so in your face a bad ending it was almost as though the writers did it this way out of spite and contempt for the audience. They do that switcheroo and send the girl screaming off into space realizing that indeed it was all for nothing and all of their efforts and sacrifice completely fail. I also hated how that one astronaut who later dies in a pretty hideous way kept going after the alien with the torch. He chased him all over the lab. He could have just slowly floated backwards towards the hatch with torch in hand to pop the alien with flame as needs be. The his buddy could slowly open the hatch door, grab him from behind and pull him out of the lab as he covers his escape in a wall of flame. At least I think he could have lol. I was annoyed too by the fact that they had these huge escape pods larger than a Gemini capsule yet it can only carry one person? That's a bad design and a waste of resources and space. Who hired that engineer?
Nitpicky stuff I know but man things could be written so much better to prevent people from even being able to pick it a part or get annoyed by this common sense stuff being blatantly ignored or violated for no reason.

Arrival turned into one of those
Hollywood preachy(in my opinion), aliens are benevolent and traveled here from the future to teach man kind to get along so that they can help this alien species in the future. They also did this esoteric, dream-like back and forth imagery in the lady's memory which I suppose was evidence of time manipulation and a downloading of special knowledge to this character which I just hate.
"Interstellar" did some of this kind of cinematic convention or mechanic of blending two or more different time periods together and for some reason I just hate that stuff. Kind of comes off as pretentious but I'm not sure that's the right word for it. Mysteries, unknowns and ambiguity are fine by me and even welcomed but flat out confusion manifested onscreen as art annoys the wadding out of me as a movie viewer. I don't like leaving the theater feeling fatigued and in mental anguish.


John 10:1-30
Romans 10:1-13

#4391133 - 11/24/17 11:40 AM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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The plot for "Life" was essentially a "fill in the numbers" scheme. The ONLY reason the capsules could only hold one person was for purposes of the script. The writers had to figure out a way to keep the last two remaining astronauts apart and that's the best thing they could come up with.

"Arrival" was a FAR superior scifi film.

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 11/24/17 11:41 AM.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4391616 - 11/27/17 02:47 PM Re: Life [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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I've been thinking... if they replaced the alien in life with Freddie, I wouldn't have minded the movie so much--in fact, I might have enjoyed it, provided they adapted the aliens antics and doings to Freddy's persona. Imagine Freddy unleashed to the entire world via satellite through television sets... Oh, Wes Craven already did that with "Shocker" and it was awesome.

Movie would have been immensely better had it not try and be serious from the start. In slasher films, you expect the hunted game to be idiots.

#4391618 - 11/27/17 02:51 PM Re: Life [Re: Mr_Blastman]  
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PanzerMeyer Offline
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Originally Posted by Mr_Blastman
I've been thinking... if they replaced the alien in life with Freddie, I wouldn't have minded the movie so much--in fact, I might have enjoyed it, provided they adapted the aliens antics and doings to Freddy's persona. Imagine Freddy unleashed to the entire world via satellite through television sets... Oh, Wes Craven already did that with "Shocker" and it was awesome.

Movie would have been immensely better had it not try and be serious from the start. In slasher films, you expect the hunted game to be idiots.



I was about to ask "who the heck is Freddie" until you mentioned Wes Craven and then I knew who you were talking about. biggrin


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

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