film

Movie Review – Prometheus

I watched my dvd of Prometheus for the second time last night. I purchased it as soon as it became available on dvd and was excited to see it. After the first viewing I was a bit disappointed and discovered that the general opinion ‘out there’ in cyber space was similar to my own. I’d been led to believe that Prometheus was a sort of ‘prequel’ to the Alien series but my first viewing didn’t really seem to give me what I’d expected – an explanation of what happened before Alien 1.

So yesterday I was bored and decided to watch it again and I have to say, I enjoyed it much more the second time around and I ‘got’ the clues that link it to Alien.

The first big clue comes when the crew of the Prometheus enter a large chamber and find this:-

As soon as I saw it, and in fact even when I first watched it I recognised this scene, I realised that this was in the first Alien movie. See this pic, taken from Alien 1.

As the story in Prometheus unfolds, we find out that the tunnels and chambers the crew have found is actually a spaceship, piloted by giant but surprisingly human-like aliens who go around the galaxy seeding worlds with the building blocks of life. They discover that these beings were responsible for creating life on Earth. These being also take it upon themselves to revisit the worlds they’ve previously seeded with life, to destroy their creations. We are given no explanation as to why they should choose to do this, but it may be so that they can start over with improved ‘life stuff’ or they may have run out of uninhabited worlds to seed, or any number of other reasons. We are left to presume that the ‘life stuff’ they use to seed worlds is different than the ‘stuff’ they use to destroy life.

Without giving too much away, it seems that the destructive ‘stuff’ sometimes gets out and destroys the beings themselves, hence the mummified remains of what has become known as the ‘space jockey’ from Alien 1 in the shot above.

In Prometheus, we get a similar shot to the iconic scene in Alien 1 with all the alien eggs basking in the mist, only in Prometheus it’s ceramic jars of a black tar-like substance rather than eggs. Remember that Prometheus pre-dates Alien and the creature we all know and love from the Alien series, hasn’t evolved from this original black substance yet.

The crew of the Prometheus discover that this particular alien spaceship was intending to revisit Earth with the intention of wiping out life and when they find one of the original beings still alive in cryo sleep and wake him up, he tries to continue with his plan. It is then up to the remaining crew members to prevent this from happening.

We are also treated to another ‘evil android’ in Prometheus like the one in Alien. This time he’s called David and seems a bit more human in his understanding of emotions but still there’s always something creepy about him that screams “I’m a bad guy, don’t for fuck’s sake trust me,” only the crew do trust him, of course.

Charlize Theron’s character Meredith Vickers is, in my own personal view, totally unnecessary to the movie. Whenever the character appeared I found myself groaning with irritation and twice used the opportunity to go and make a cup of coffee. I was so glad her character died, thereby ensuring she doesn’t return in any future prequel sequels.

Another tie to Alien is the sole surviving female at the end of the movie who, carrying the severed head of David, the android who has informed her that this planet has other alien spacecraft waiting to be discovered, decides to take off in one of them and head for wherever it is the giant humanoid beings originated from, which leaves the way nicely open for a sequel to the prequel.

The dynamic between the crew members is a bit hammy and we have the stereotypical testosterone fuelled arguments between the males and the secret evil doings of David the android and Meredith Vickers, all of which are completely predictable. There are two crew members who are supposed to be highly educated scientists but both behave like 15 year old chavs on cannabis. I would expect more of Ridley Scott. This seems to be a recurring thing in today’s high budget American made movies – little attention to plausible dynamic between characters and dependence upon expensive effects.

If you watched Prometheus when it came out and didn’t like it. Give it another go and watch a bit more closely. You might very well enjoy it much more, I did.

One more thing – if this wasn’t connected to the Alien series, I would very probably still hate it. As a movie in its own right, it sucks cock but as a prequel to Alien with answers to some of the questions we all have about the origins, it’s not bad.

The secret ingredient

This evening I watched Kung Fu Panda for the first time. There was nothing else on and I was bored; bored enough to sit through a movie I didn’t want to watch but sitting through it was better than sitting here in silence. Y’know, that kind of bored..?

Without going through the whole plot which is probably a waste of time because I’m likely to be the only person in the known universe who hasn’t seen it, there was a bit in the movie where he had to qualify to get a sacred scroll. Anyway, he got the scroll and his kung fu master said it contained the secret ingredient to him becoming a true master. When Panda opened the scroll it was blank; there was nothing on it at all.

It took him a while to get the point that there is no secret ingredient in life; that the secret ingredient is you. You are what you need for ultimate success. Belief in yourself is the secret ingredient. Once he realised this, he was bound to beat the bad guy.

This got me thinking (I do sometimes) about how hard we all look for the secret ‘something’ that will make us more successful and our lives better in whatever way we feel they should be better. We tend to put all the responsibility for our future happiness onto this abstract ‘something’ and blame our inability to find it or God’s refusal to bring it to us, or other people for keeping it from us or holding us back, or our unhappy childhood, our shit job or our spouse’s recent affair or our kid’s drug habit for the fact that we’re going nowhere. Anything will do so long as there is something to blame for us not finding ‘it’.

‘It’ is you, me, us. We are the secret ingredient to our future happiness and success and all we need to do is use it the right way. For me it means taking responsibility for mistakes and making the choice to induce change. It means breaking out of whatever cycle we’re stuck in; whether it be a cycle of abuse or social pressures from our peers, emotional baggage or lack of skills. Break out of that cycle and make changes and start to use your secret ingredient – you, your mind, your innate intelligence and creativity. Be brave as you turn your life into chaos to break those bad emotional habits and kick the negative influences from your life. Take a deep breath and head out into the wilderness to see where that road leads, up where the river bends and the mist shrouds the hills.

All it takes is you. Life won’t bring you that secret something. Meditating won’t bend the universe and unlock the door for you (although it will calm you tremendously) and following the same old routine because “that’s the way we’ve always done it” won’t show you what’s up where the river bends into the mist. You have to get off your ass and make the choice to go and see for yourself.

It’s scary, it’s exhilerating, it’s witheringly frightening and mind blowingly liberating. You’ll be worried, you’ll be anxious and you’ll be fearful but most of all you’ll be so glad you did.

I’m going to do it. Come on, let’s go see what’s up there, up where the river bends and the mists shroud the hills.

Open Letter to Male Actor

Dear Male Actor (insert name of choice here)

I have been inspired to write this letter by my experiences of being your fan and I think it’s way beyond time that someone pointed a few things out to you. You can of course, ignore the following (and you probably will even if you do find yourself here and reading) but that fact doesn’t negate the pertinence of what follows.

As with most of your female fans, I first noticed you because of your looks and my first thought was “phwoar” or something along those lines. Shallow of me I know but then again, you trade on your looks for the most part and your acting is of secondary importance so you cannot justifiably mark me down for it.

Due to the elevated position you hold, you wield a lot of power but you often misuse this power, either due to ignorance or evil intent. Your fans often look to you as a role model and they will take your example when acting and interacting with others in their own lives. Many fans will choose to ‘adopt’ similar views and opinions as you, as a way of trying to be like you in the vain hope that their life will take a similar path as yours. If the influence you have is a positive one, then they will hopefully grow in a positive way but if your influence is negative (which it often is unfortunately) then you are helping to create a new generation of maladjusted miscreants without a single compassionate bone in their bodies.

The monotonous regularity with which you hop from one casual affair to the next, the very public sexual liaisons you fail to control, the public infidelity, the self degrading alcohol/drug addictions you indulge in, the violence you publicly display towards those you are supposed to love and/or those who never deserve it and the complete ignorance of the fact that your fans finance your privileged lifestyle make you a very bad influence on today’s younger generation.

In any other profession, any employee who behaved in ways similar to those displayed by you would be summarily dismissed but again, because of your unique position, you get away with it because you can. Just because you can, doesn’t make it right that you should.

In an ideal world, you would be constantly aware of your power to influence the very maleable minds of your fans and you would wield that power with humility and compassion. In an ideal world you would always remember how much you owe us who have made you rich and adored by millions and you would take more time to interact with us because you’d know you owe us at least a moment of your time. We know there aren’t enough hours in the day to spend time with each one of us but you could make a little more time to allow us to ‘reach’ you somehow. In today’s technological world it is easy for us to reach you, if you make it possible. In an ideal world you would realise that what the world needs now is positive role models so that our younger generation can grow up to be dependable, compassionate family men who don’t cheat on their women with every available attention seeking whore who manages to crash the Hollywood parties you cannot live without attending. In an ideal world you would encourage those who listen to you, to honour their bodies with healthy nutrition and sensible exercise without life threatening addictions so that they can live long and healthy lives. In an ideal world you would treasure all your fans, even those who aren’t 20 years old, skinny and blonde and surgically enhanced.

But we don’t live in an ideal world and you will continue to abuse your position. I will still say “phwoar” whenever I see you but I will know that whilst beautiful on the outside, you’re not beautiful at all on the inside.

Endorsed by the great and mighty (part 2)

Furyan Aria – the truth behind the shining eyes of Richard B Riddick

FURYAN ARIA – the truth behind the shining eyes of Richard B Riddick

by Merita King

Alone I stand here surrounded by fear and hate.
Hunted across worlds by those seeking their pound of flesh
for what it will bring them in the market place.
There is no peace, no sanctuary to be found.
Left to die, a baby’s cry unheeded by the strong
as they fill trashcan after trashcan.
Monsters hold no fear for him, Claws, teeth, animal instincts, hunt or be hunted,
these he understands.
The last of his kind, the omega of a nation.
Climbed from the trashcan, unwound the cord.
Relentless retreat, running, always running
but that trashcan is always there.
Climb out of the trashcan and still believe.

Don’t get too close, you don’t know me, can never know me.
Always behind a wall, peeping out.
Kill, walk away and save yourself, no one will blame you.
But they blame you anyway and hunt, always hunt.
So run, run and hide behind that wall of stoicism
for they’ll never understand you anyway.
Gonna miss the party, c’mon.
But don’t you cry for me, not for me.
They killed everything he knew,everyone he pretended not to love.
Down in the dark, he sees clearly what must be done.
Take a life? Sure. Take that life? No.
Run, hunt or be hunted, always on the move.
A killer? A convict? A saviour?
Always the chase, the thrill of the chase across worlds.
Your brain shuts down in cryo sleep
But he’s still awake, awake in the trashcan.
Does he still believe?
Started out with a cord around his neck and still believes.
Fought for his life in the dark, but always saw it clear
when others were blind and stumbling.
Still believes.
They killed everything he knew, and he still believes.
You keep what you kill.
But you can’t kill the trashcan.

Endorsed by the great and mighty (sort of)

Click on the images to enlarge

I’ll never join the screaming hoard.

My mother is staying with me at the moment. She lives in Cornwall and I’m in Hampshire, so we don’t get to see each other that often. A chance conversation just now has sparked a train of thought that is interesting – to me anyway, as someone who’s ‘into’ people and what makes them tick.

I’m a huge fan of Vin Diesel and more accurately, his character Riddick. Mother knows this and humours me, although she loves the Fast & Furious series herself. Anyway, Vin and ‘the crew’ are over here in London at the moment, filming the latest in the FF series – number 6. One of my facebook contacts lives and works in London and he commented that the set is besieged by hoards of screaming females and this sparked a conversation between mother and I.

Much as I love the big guy, I would never travel to join a throng of a thousand screaming females, be stuck at the back and only see him from half a mile away, not be noticed by him anyway and never get to meet and chat with him at the end of it. Why? There are several reasons. Firstly there’s no point if I can’t get near enough to have a chat, get an autograph or a photo and the slim possibility of seeing my hero as big as a pin head from the back of a crowd of screaming women, really doesn’t blow my skirt up. Secondly, the fact that I would never get anywhere near would disappoint me if I’d made all the effort to get there and who wants to go and see their hero, only to return feeling disappointment? Third, and most pertinent of all, I worry that meeting him for real would entail me finding out he’s not worthy of my admiration after all.

Over the time I’ve been a fan, there have been times when Vin’s well publicised behaviour has annoyed and disappointed me and back when facebook pages allowed comments and threads and he interacted with us there, when he behaved like a dick, I told him so. I have already had my admiration for another male actor smashed to pieces by his own behaviour and I don’t want to lose my love for Riddick by seeing Vin ignoring those of his fans who aren’t seventeen and scantily clad and generally behaving like a arrogant prick.

I’ll stick with my photos and dvd’s and my own vivid imagination – the place where everyone does as I want them to, where I am beautiful and loved.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: