A L I E N FIVE Neill Blomkamp's ALIEN movie

I saw Chappie yesterday and it was OK. A bit silly in spots, but somehow endearing. Raised a couple surprising philosophical questions even though a few areas were too implausible for me to get past them. I only really disliked the ending of Elysium. With this baggage in mind, it's probably going to be a 50-50 chance of A5 being good or bad. My main concern is that Blomkamp isn't really good at triggering emotions for some reason... can't really put my finger on why.

One thing I noticed... Chappie himself had a pretty big homage to the Colonial Marines on his shoulder (the wrong side, but still...)!
 
One of the reasons I shared the above particular Chappie review is cause Quint (Eric Vespe) mentions how the news of Alien 5 changed the nature of discussion about Chappie among critic circles. One doesn't even need to read the review part, just read the few opening paragraphs.

Blomkamp is going to direct Alien 5 and will get a story by credit but they will likely get someone else to write the whole screenplay.
 
Box Office Mojo..........

Faced with two fairly unappealing new releases, audiences avoided heading out to the movies on Friday.

Chappie fell short of modest expectations, while Unfinished Business was the latest (and worst) bomb yet for Vince Vaughn.

The one bright spot was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which took third place despite playing in fewer than 1,600 theaters.

In first place, Chappie earned an estimated $4.5 million from 3,201 locations. That's a fraction of director Neill Blomkamp's last movie, Elysium, which opened to $11.1 million in August 2013. It's also noticeably lower than last month's Jupiter Ascending ($6.3 million). Chappie could wind up earning less than $13 million this weekend.

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I can't imagine the studio execs not having concerns that will need to be addressed.
Sure I can see him staying as director, but I have concerns it could get shelved too.
 
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The lack of business for Chappie may not have anything to do with the negative reviews and more to do with the fact that it simply doesn't appeal to a large group of moviegoers. I saw the trailers and they did nothing for me at all and didn't create even the slightest interest in seeing it.
 
I'm not sure Blomkamp is the right person to direct a new Alien. I mean seems all he can do is the same film over and over...Same location, same actors, same look,etc. These reviews are pretty awful for Chappie.
 
I thought D9 was good, I thought Elysium was 50% really good, 50% awful. But I see no reason why he couldn't direct a good ALIEN movie. Visually he has a great eye and if Ridley exec. produces and he has a good screenwriter, I see no reason for all this pessimism.
 
D9 IS good. I liked the visuals in Elysium (hated the story). Just seems like he's making the same film in different ways. To me a good director can visually blow you away and deliver a great story.
 
Bryancd said:
I thought D9 was good, I thought Elysium was 50% really good, 50% awful. But I see no reason why he couldn't direct a good ALIEN movie. Visually he has a great eye and if Ridley exec. produces and he has a good screenwriter, I see no reason for all this pessimism.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. So long as Blomkamp isn't writing (which is a big if) I have absolutely no doubts about his abilities to pull off an Alien movie. He has a fantastic visual aesthetic, particularly for hardware and world building, and imho he is one of the best directors out there at creating and integrating fully CG characters realistically into his environments. Given his descending returns, however, I can ironically see him finding himself in an Alien 3 situation.
 
What makes Alien a classic isn't just the effects and design.
It's the way it was filmed with a clinical detachment that creates an atmosphere of isolation.
It's not all about Sigourney Weaver but the arresting performances from John Hurt, Ian Holm, Tom Skerrit, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Koto and Harry Dean Stanton. What an incredible cast.

I can't name a bunch of actors of the same caliber today. I don't sense anyone's even considering this as a priority. And Blomkamp's casting or his ability to write compelling characters has yet to to be demonstrated. My feeling is that Blomkamp doesn't have the maturity to create a cohesive and comprehensive film experience that Alien was.

I want him to prove me wrong.
 
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The first two were made in a different era of film-making. Those movies and characters were allowed to breath. FIncher's probably the only director still on his game that could pull that off without studio interference these days :)
 
People have mentioned the way Blomkamp is doing the same movie (or same world) over and over again. True that! He could do the story from the Alien's point of vue and I would buy a ticket:behave...no, seriously. He's a good starter, but not a good ender:unsure
 
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