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Predator (1987) vs. Avatar (2009)


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  1. 1. Which one is the best sci-fi jungle film?

    • Predator (1987)
    • Avatar (2009)


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Before there was Daft Punk's Tron Legacy, there was Brad Fiedel's The Terminator.

:music:

...and before that, there was Vangelis' "Blade Runner", and before that, there was Giorgio Moroder's "Midnight Express", and before that was Louis and Bebe Barron's masterful "Forbidden Planet".

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it is also one of the very best films of the 1980s.

It's too '80s! And another Cameron film that lacks fine visual resolution. By god, what stock did he use?!

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it is also one of the very best films of the 1980s.

It's too '80s! And another Cameron film that lacks fine visual resolution. By god, what stock did he use?!

Film stock? Probably the cheapest! Remember, it was made on a shoestring, but was shot by Adam Greenberg, who is not a bad cinematographer, by any standard.

Sometimes I think that people make sequels, because the first one didn't turn out as they expected.

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Would you have rather the film be shot so as to look like it was shot yesterday? But only with 80s hair, 80s pop music, 80s clothes, 80s language vernacular, 80s cars, and a noticeable lack of modern technological advantage?

Why?

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it is also one of the very best films of the 1980s.

It's too '80s! And another Cameron film that lacks fine visual resolution.

That's why it looks so good. That 80s low budget straight-to-video aesthetic plays a major part in the original movie's elements of horror and terror; elements which are sadly lacking in the glossy sequel.

The Terminator is a strangely creepy movie in places.

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I thought so too ... in the eighties! Now the blacks look grey, the FX look phony, and like all cheap 80s action movies, the production design looks uninteresting. Bad film stock or film deterioration never adds to the atmosphere for me. That's like saying the music is good because the recording is bad.

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Would you have rather the film be shot so as to look like it was shot yesterday? But only with 80s hair, 80s pop music, 80s clothes, 80s language vernacular, 80s cars, and a noticeable lack of modern technological advantage?

Why?

Not at all, Wojo, but what I said about the film was not a criticism - far from it! It's because it looks that way that I like it so. The look of the film siuts its low-down-and-dirty vibe. This is a brutish, sledgehammer of a film, and to give it polish would detract from its impact. For once, Quint is right ( :P ): the low-tech look works in the film's favour.

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I thought so too ... in the eighties! Now the blacks look grey, the FX look phony, and like all cheap 80s action movies, the production design looks uninteresting. Bad film stock or film deterioration never adds to the atmosphere for me.

I think you suffer from some sort of chronic dated-film disorder ;)

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Would you have rather the film be shot so as to look like it was shot yesterday? But only with 80s hair, 80s pop music, 80s clothes, 80s language vernacular, 80s cars, and a noticeable lack of modern technological advantage?

Why?

Not at all, Wojo, but what I said about the film was not a criticism - far from it! It's because it looks that way that I like it so. The look of the film siuts its low-down-and-dirty vibe. This is a brutish, sledgehammer of a film, and to give it polish would detract from its impact. For once, Quint is right ( :P ): the low-tech look works in the film's favour.

Since you were not criticizing the look of the film, my comments were aimed at Alex. I appreciate the gritty aesthetic feel of The Terminator over the too-clean feel of its sequel. I watch movies to be entertained. It's as if Alex expects each movie to be worthy of being hung in the Louvre, and goddamn it to hell if it's got fingerprints.

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I can only remember watching four 'movies' during that decade: Jaws, Superman, Indiana Jones and Predator.

Explains why I've got such impeccable taste.

EDIT: Sorry, make that five movies: Whistle Down the Wind was a big part of my childhood, as well.

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Admit it, you all thought the eighties were a suave looking decade!

Of course they were, but they weren't a patch on the 70s! :D

Who didn't wear white jackets with the sleeves pulled up, or want their hair to look like the guy out of A Flock of Seagulls? Personally, I'd take the 80s, with its (still) grainy but organic-feeling approach to cinema, over what's happening in the super-saturated, HD world right now, any day! May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

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Filming of The Empire Strikes Back began in March of 1979, and wrapped by September. Most "decade specific characteristics" would have been determined in 1979, so the film could debut in May of 1980.

Besides, whether 1980 was in the 80s is open to debate, based on the whole "Year 0" controversy that made people ask whether the new millennium began in 2000 or 2001. If it began in 2000, then 1980 is part of the 80s. If it began in 2001, then 1980 was the last year of the 70s.

But if you ask me, like, 1980 doesn't have a 7 in it. So it's, like, not part of the 70s, man.

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Filming of The Empire Strikes Back began in March of 1979, and wrapped by September. Most "decade specific characteristics" would have been determined in 1979, so the film could debut in May of 1980.

Besides, whether 1980 was in the 80s is open to debate, based on the whole "Year 0" controversy that made people ask whether the new millennium began in 2000 or 2001. If it began in 2000, then 1980 is part of the 80s. If it began in 2001, then 1980 was the last year of the 70s.

But if you ask me, like, 1980 doesn't have a 7 in it. So it's, like, not part of the 70s, man.

I've just read this post, and I feel how your avatar looks. Please excuse me while my brain explodes. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

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May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

But TESB has very little to do with typical '80s look and certainly not with the low-budget action movie of the '80s. I don't think the '80s look was already fully developed during the making of that film. That would come later, when Sarah Connor and Paul Reiser influenced the way the whole world would dress. ;)

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May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

But TESB has very little to do with typical '80s look and certainly not with the low-budget action movie of the '80s. I don't think the '80s look was already fully developed during the making of that film. That would come later, when Sarah Connor and Paul Reiser influenced the way the whole world would dress. ;)

As much as I hate your guts, Alex, you pretentious little person *, I whole-heartedly agree with you :P

After seeing "ALIENS", I sooooooooooooo wanted a suit with the Paul Reiser collar (I was such a fashion victim, in those days - a right old slave to my id!).

On a more serious note (bong!) - don't worry, I've just had my morning triple espresso - when does one decade turn into another? "TESB", although being released in 1980, is still a very "70s" film, and so is "ROTJ". When do the sensibilities of one decade become superseded by the sensibilities of another? Answers on...

* not really.

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Are you saying TESB is closer to the typical summer blockbuster movie of the '80s and that Star Wars is closer to the golden age moviemaking of the '70s?

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May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

But TESB has very little to do with typical '80s look and certainly not with the low-budget action movie of the '80s. I don't think the '80s look was already fully developed during the making of that film. That would come later, when Sarah Connor and Paul Reiser influenced the way the whole world would dress. ;)

As much as I hate your guts, Alex, you pretentious little person *, I whole-heartedly agree with you :P

After seeing "ALIENS", I sooooooooooooo wanted a suit with the Paul Reiser collar (I was such a fashion victim, in those days - a right old slave to my id!).

On a more serious note (bong!) - don't worry, I've just had my morning triple espresso - when does one decade turn into another? "TESB", although being released in 1980, is still a very "70s" film, and so is "ROTJ". When do the sensibilities of one decade become superseded by the sensibilities of another? Answers on...

Do you speak like Christopher Biggins in real life, too?

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Are you saying TESB is closer to the typical summer blockbuster movie of the '80s and that Star Wars is closer to the golden age moviemaking of the '70s?

It definatly is...

I would agree also ...well, that is if your perception of the movie is extremely limited and superficial I suppose.

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May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

But TESB has very little to do with typical '80s look and certainly not with the low-budget action movie of the '80s. I don't think the '80s look was already fully developed during the making of that film. That would come later, when Sarah Connor and Paul Reiser influenced the way the whole world would dress. ;)

As much as I hate your guts, Alex, you pretentious little person *, I whole-heartedly agree with you :P

After seeing "ALIENS", I sooooooooooooo wanted a suit with the Paul Reiser collar (I was such a fashion victim, in those days - a right old slave to my id!).

On a more serious note (bong!) - don't worry, I've just had my morning triple espresso - when does one decade turn into another? "TESB", although being released in 1980, is still a very "70s" film, and so is "ROTJ". When do the sensibilities of one decade become superseded by the sensibilities of another? Answers on...

Do you speak like Christopher Biggins in real life, too?

Who? And what's real life?

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May I remind you, Alex, the "TESB" was released in the 80s...

But TESB has very little to do with typical '80s look and certainly not with the low-budget action movie of the '80s. I don't think the '80s look was already fully developed during the making of that film. That would come later, when Sarah Connor and Paul Reiser influenced the way the whole world would dress. ;)

As much as I hate your guts, Alex, you pretentious little person *, I whole-heartedly agree with you :P

After seeing "ALIENS", I sooooooooooooo wanted a suit with the Paul Reiser collar (I was such a fashion victim, in those days - a right old slave to my id!).

On a more serious note (bong!) - don't worry, I've just had my morning triple espresso - when does one decade turn into another? "TESB", although being released in 1980, is still a very "70s" film, and so is "ROTJ". When do the sensibilities of one decade become superseded by the sensibilities of another? Answers on...

Do you speak like Christopher Biggins in real life, too?

Who? And what's real life?

He's a paedophile.

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