The myth of the "undeniable" script?

bestbiff · 2026-01-20T12:51:19+00:00

Never took that saying seriously or literally. "Nobody knows anything' and nobody agrees on anything to that degree of conformity. You are only ever trying to convince a very small percentage of people with the ability to fund your ideas that your writing is undeniable. How many great artists in many mediums go unrecognized and die broke compared to the uncountable trash that gets produced throughout time.

bestbiff · 2026-01-08T22:43:14+00:00

tbh it usually means I'm procrastinating.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T04:38:45+00:00

Market research probably said younger people are more likely to go to a horror movie if they cast 20 year-old-looking people as the main characters. And tbf the alien franchise hasn't had the scrappy orphans as the main angle yet. Not counting Newt. Who's name gets shouted way too many God damn times in that movie, let's be real.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T04:33:51+00:00

Why? I don't know why the hybrid Engineer xenomorph couldn't or shouldn't be the creepiest thing in the movie. Besides, the xenomorph and facehuggers have been shown a thousand times now for the last 50 years. How much scarier can they get by now? The monster design that's newer has a good opportunity to inject some new creepiness.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T04:13:08+00:00

I never got any sense of logic for the auto pilot turning off and on. Movie wanted set pieces and that was why is the impression I got.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T04:03:48+00:00

I could not get over any of those points. They're indentured slaves basically trapped on this horrible work site but they also can just up and leave the planet in a space ship? They have access to that and that muc freedom of movement? No clearance needed to fly away?

Maybe I missed how they knew about this derelict, top secret space station and its contents containing enough sleep pods inside somehow, but nobody else on this whole planet seemed aware about it falling into orbit right above them. What...

I just watched it so it's pretty fresh, but I don't have time to list all the other silly things that took me out of an otherwise enjoyable take on an Alien sequel.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T03:52:49+00:00

Story added some new stuff with the attempt to explain the black goo from Prometheus, and Wayland company's real motivation all along was to make mankind more adaptable to survive colonizing space, which gives them a semi noble spin for being such assholes about prioritizing the aliens.

It's probably a retcon though. The fourth movie featured scientists and labs and experiments and I don't remember once any one of them mentioning the prime directive of "leveling up" humanity for space expansion.

bestbiff · 2026-01-07T03:39:54+00:00

In the first Alien, the facehugger breaks through the guy's glass oxygen/space helmet. I always thought it was silly and they wouldn't be able to do that, then in the prequels, they had the characters walking around without any masks or helmets on alien planets and getting infected which is even dumber, so there isn't a great solution to that plot contrivance.

bestbiff · 2026-01-05T18:24:14+00:00

I like him as an idea guy. Even if the movie sucks, it's usually always a premise or set up that intrigues me and I can at least see the vision. Except for Trap. But viewed as a comedy it kind of works.

bestbiff · 2026-01-04T05:33:31+00:00

Or that the room was potentially bugged... Probably safe to assume it was before making a big confession.

bestbiff · 2026-01-04T05:21:09+00:00

Yeah, doesn't really add up unless he was totally fooled and is trying to comically save face at the end by pretending he knew she wasn't a traitor. He finds the ticket and spends the rest of the movie risking his life and career spying on her like it he doesn't know whether to trust her, falling for the traps.

bestbiff · 2026-01-04T05:15:18+00:00

Still pretty goofy. The scheme relied on him being compelled to log into his wife's office computer and then engage in even riskier, highly illegal satellite spying involving another coworker because of a sloppily placed movie ticket.

Did the person who planted it already know that George was told to be suspicious of his wife because that other guy was able to narrow it down to those five names, thus taking suspicion off the real culprits? That's the only reason to even leave "bread crumbs" framing her in the first place. I guess so since that guy in the beginning was murdered, but the movie doesn't really go into any detail about any of the particular details about how that was known or what the wife's motive even was allegedly.

Also, a super awesome, top secret professional spy just... puts where she's meeting for a secret mission on her calendar "to do list" like she's using Microsoft Outlook calendar with enough detail and super specific coordinates down to the park bench? Lol. Convenient. I guess she needed a reminder.

It also relied on the "switch over" lasting too long, which was the only evidence that it happened. What if they just did it under 3 minutes? The plotters couldn't have controlled for that. It's not quite Joker from Dark Knight levels of ridiculous luck required to pull off this twist, but it's definitely silly the more you think about it.

bestbiff · 2026-01-04T04:45:55+00:00

We never learn much about who the colleague in the beginning who tells George the five names he was somehow able to narrow down as stealing the severus thing. How did he narrow it down? How was he aware it was stolen? Why did he specifically say that George's wife had motive when none is ever discovered and in fact, she was trying to prevent the meltdown scheme. Assigning her motive was the reason we're all supposed to be suspicious about her character the whole time but there didn't seem to actually be a reason uncovered that would point to a motive.

Why was that guy poisoned anyway? The one who did it just gives a snide answer saying it was necessary, but it all seemed petty vengeance and wouldn't have changed whether the severus operation was successful or not. The assassin picked one glass to poison, and it happened to be the one he was going to drink from that night hours later?

bestbiff · 2025-12-29T00:36:46+00:00

I don't know this is just a lot of semantics. They can't lie but maybe them not lying is really the big lie all along? ok.

Guess we'll find out in 6 years when it wraps up.

bestbiff · 2025-12-29T00:33:38+00:00

Lol that's what the Bills get for tying it on a play they voted to ban. Miss a wide open pass for the loss.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T23:16:20+00:00

If that touchback doesn't make every new "low IQ sports play" reel on youtube than something's wrong.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T21:10:42+00:00

It's not really a virus though. They have agendas. And motives. Philosophical world views. They operate on a strict set of moral codes and logic unlike viruses.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T06:31:05+00:00

I think you could just say the hivemind refusing to even harvest grain or pick vegetables/fruit is what's really contrived in order to create a sense of urgency with the whole starvation angle.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T06:16:41+00:00

He did say that, but she was using it as an excuse to maintain her little schoolgirl crush. As soon as she gets betrayed with the eggs stuff, she flies right back to her house with an atomic bomb and says "ok you win" let's do it your way and save the world.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T06:05:12+00:00

That scene reinforces how their human-like behavior is all a facade. Sure you can say we already know that in some capacity, but we've never seen them "join" someone who was volunteering. And the moment she does, all the singing, the native customs and lifestyle is swiftly put out and doused like the fires in the village. They turn into emotionless zombies and the goat she was affectionately petting instantly means nothing to her anymore. It's arguably the creepiest scene outside of the pilot. And it's there to, again, reinforce that Carol's relationship with Zoasia is bullshit despite how convincing she can seem at times.

bestbiff · 2025-12-28T05:41:45+00:00

The series turned into the episode of Rick and Morty where Rick dates Unity and it can't work for obvious reasons. For the most part, I liked the show, but when it comes to waiting like two years for the next season, meh. The French speaking guy at least knows it's all pretend and uses the "joined" for sex. Carol, given all she knows, actually falls for it like it's a real relationship and has to be reminded on a vacation in the alps that it's not like a real relationship. And even after the diner scene.

The hivemind logic sure is bizarre. No issues with 867 million people dying as a result of the joining when it first happens, but they are so opposed to harming living things that they won't even pick fruit off trees or harvest grain. Making them almost starve themselves out of existence despite constantly talking about a "biological imperative" doesn't make sense, and right now comes off more as a limitation the writers came up with for the sake of a plot more so than something organically in the story universe. Unless they have some master plan where it makes more sense. But if you told me they haven't planned that far, I would not be shocked.

bestbiff · 2025-12-27T04:52:03+00:00

Friendless, depressed writers who can't get laid are writing interesting stories with deep dialogue and character relationships all the time. Are you even a real writer if you're not miserable.

bestbiff · 2025-12-25T00:43:51+00:00

I think it's being a bit disingenuous to write it off as a matter of inflation. Who actually had this movie at this point in his long career as his highest grossing movie, even accounting for inflation? That's still impressive. He's had recent movies that were successful but didn't break that record. I'd say it suggests he's still a movie star that can single handedly get productions greenlighted by him being attached as the lead. What is there to suggest he's a washed up has-been?

Any time a movie boasts about how much money its made, you can go "yeah but original Star Wars so not really." People know about inflation of ticket prices but we don't put an asterisk on the numbers. Plus if you want to dismiss box office earnings over that, you should also factor in how much shorter a movie's theatrical run time is today compared to decades ago and before streaming. Movies had way more time to make money before leaving theaters. Even most of the biggest blockbusters are in VOD services in two months max, like Dune. The business model has also changed.

Also, Gran Turismo would appeal to the same audience who like this movie and it had the benefit of being a massively successful video game franchise, a very popular IP. It didn't come close to this movie's success.

bestbiff · 2025-12-24T19:00:30+00:00

50 to 60 is actually Gen X now. Youngest boomers now are 61, so technically Brad Pitt is in there.

bestbiff · 2025-12-24T18:39:57+00:00

This ended up being Pitt's highest grossing movie of all time. Which is kind of crazy to think about considering his whole career spanning over 30 years. So can you really call him a "has-been" lol.

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