Ridley Scott

[Red7227]

Back before he made his current disaster he made some famously beautiful movies.

My Favourites are The Duelists (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075968/) and Blade Runner.

 

[Nordling]

Back before he made his current disaster he made some famously beautiful movies.

My Favourites are The Duelists (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075968/) and Blade Runner.

My favorite is still "Alien," and I understand that another director (Neill Blomkamp) is bringing Ripley back, and doing it as if Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection never happened. Looking forward to seeing if he can live up to Ridley Scott's original.

 

[zippypinhead]

I keep hearing people talking about how Neill Blomkamp is the Chosen One, who will right all wrongs within the franchise. I never had a problem with Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection. They certainly didn't do anything to destroy the mythos in a way that would warrant a retcon. And the thing is, Alien 3 was directed by David Fincher, and Alien Resurrection was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. They're not exactly a couple of bad directors, and they didn't make bad movies with their entries into the franchise. It's just that the original Alien is so iconic that it seems to mark anyone who tries to add to it -- and that includes Ridley Scott and Prometheus.

If any blame for dilution of the story could be found, that honor would go to the Alien vs Predator crap.

As for Scott, I think his strength has always been mood, not storytelling. Everything of his that I love doesn't really stick with me as narratives. They're these elaborate mood pieces, with intricate settings that wash over me. Certain scenes stay with me, but the sequence of events remains fuzzy. I have watched Blade Runner, Alien, and Legend at least half a dozen times each, but I don't think I could give an accurate recap of how each movie really played out. And I feel like that's intentional, because it's not as if he's telling incredibly complex stories in those movies. It seems to have given him a lot of room to get real evocative about telling those simple stories, and that's how he shined. His later work gets too into the storytelling, and the mood suffers for it. I think maybe the one time he managed to achieve a good balance was Gladiator. Incidentally, that was the last time I came away from one of his movies impressed.

 

[Red7227]

I keep hearing people talking about how Neill Blomkamp is the Chosen One, who will right all wrongs within the franchise. I never had a problem with Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection. They certainly didn't do anything to destroy the mythos in a way that would warrant a retcon. And the thing is, Alien 3 was directed by David Fincher, and Alien Resurrection was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. They're not exactly a couple of bad directors, and they didn't make bad movies with their entries into the franchise. It's just that the original Alien is so iconic that it seems to mark anyone who tries to add to it -- and that includes Ridley Scott and Prometheus.

I've liked all 4 movies and see no need for a reinvention

As for Scott, I think his strength has always been mood, not storytelling. Everything of his that I love doesn't really stick with me as narratives. They're these elaborate mood pieces, with intricate settings that wash over me. Certain scenes stay with me, but the sequence of events remains fuzzy. I have watched Blade Runner, Alien, and Legend at least half a dozen times each, but I don't think I could give an accurate recap of how each movie really played out. And I feel like that's intentional, because it's not as if he's telling incredibly complex stories in those movies. It seems to have given him a lot of room to get real evocative about telling those simple stories, and that's how he shined. His later work gets too into the storytelling, and the mood suffers for it. I think maybe the one time he managed to achieve a good balance was Gladiator. Incidentally, that was the last time I came away from one of his movies impressed.

His Cinematographers are always fantastic, and produce moody ethereal scenes regularly. I first saw it in The Duelists, which made me look for his other movies. I remember Sigourney Weaver saying she offered to do the final scene in Alien naked, which he advised her against for the impact it would have on her career. His movies have all lacked that particular pandering to his audience.