Saw Battle: Los Angeles Last night .... :) (Warning: Spoilers Possibly)

[tank_monkey]

well, for one, it is NON stop action. Maybe a little TOO much so. The first seconds of the movie starts with a bunch of helos transporting a bunch of Marines towards a burning Los Angeles. Who knew Baton Rouge Louisiana looked so much like Los Angeles? ;) (They filmed 99% of the movie in Baton Rouge, standing in for L.A.)

Warning: Possible spoilers but not really. Any revelations are secondary to the plot. :D

Bad things:
- Zero character development, but that's to be expected. We are introduced REALLY quickly to a bunch of people but a lot of them (like in any war movie) will get killed quickly anyway so the introductions are just a formality.
- Bullshit Science (big surprise). I can suspend disbelief overall for a movie like this anyway. But one of the reasons given by a scientist on the TV for the invasion is that "we're the only planet in the universe with liquid H20 on our surface" Huh? how can you make that declaration? And if the aliens use Water to power their warships and weapons, that implies that THEY HAVE SOME as well? Attacking a planet for it's resources is understandable, but when they tried to go into the details of 'why', it was stupid.
- Too much SHAKEY CAM! All hand held with 'snap zooms'. The camera wasn't still ONCE and I really started to get a headache towards the end of the movie.
- Like Private Ryan, the characters start PATROLLING into hostile territory all bunched up and worse, all chattering, yelling and arguing like a bunch of school girls. No wonder enemy snipers start opening up on those dumbasses! They do get better later, maneuvering and using hand signals like they are supposed to!

Good things:
- They started off badly (as for military tactics) but got way better towards the end. Still had some stupid moments but the non stop firefights were good. Loved the M1 Abrahms and Marine LAVs blasting the alien infantry. :D
- Some moving moments. Also the movie is VERY pro US Marine. "Marines never quit" is a mantra throughout the film.
-Special Effects: Well what can you say? the SFX are AWESOME! I didn't really like the Alien trooper design (it was really non-descript) but the battles looked real.
-Fire control: I liked how the combatants were firing SEMI AUTO when they wanted to conserve ammo and were selective of their targets. Only when in a Surprise ambush or massing enemy situation did they really open up full auto. Nice bit of realism there.



A nice bit of disturbing realism was aerial tv helicopter footage of the Alien troopers walking around the streets and killing hundreds of injured people with a single shot to the head. They were just wandering around, looking for anyone who was not dead and "POW!" It was brief but I thought it was an interesting thing to be in the movie.

Another note: I realized that 5.56mm is good against unarmored human opponents. the round SUCKS against much larger (and armored) enemy combatants. I would have loved to seen someone (anyone) take out an M1 Garand with AP rounds and down the alien troopers with ONE shot! ;)

Overall Good dumb fun. Don't expect anything deep. GREAT special effects are there to be enjoyed. And you can have fun knowing that it's Baton Rouge getting the hell blown out of it, not L.A. (I know for a fact that we cannot afford to close our freeways here in CA at any time, it would be chaos). :D

[Schuetzenman]

Sounds about like what I thought it would be like. I'll catch it on DVD when it drops to 10 bucks.

[mriddick]

I think it would be a great DVD movie as well.



A nice bit of disturbing realism was aerial tv helicopter footage of the Alien troopers walking around the streets and killing hundreds of injured people with a single shot to the head. They were just wandering around, looking for anyone who was not dead and "POW!" It was brief but I thought it was an interesting thing to be in the movie.

Sounds like the MO of communist troops we have fought in times past (my father was bayonetted in such a manner).

[Mark Ducati]

I started watching it but turned it off when the black sargent in the beginning pushes a car with two others to get close to some kind of mechanized bot/gun...

Looked "cheezy"...

Does it get better... I DVR'd it just in case.

[sevlex]

I started watching it but turned it off when the black sargent in the beginning pushes a car with two others to get close to some kind of mechanized bot/gun...

Looked "cheezy"...

Does it get better... I DVR'd it just in case.

You are confusing the cheesy Syfy flick with the theatrical flick. They are not the same.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1758570/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217613/

[tank_monkey]

I started watching it but turned it off when the black sargent in the beginning pushes a car with two others to get close to some kind of mechanized bot/gun...

Looked "cheezy"...

Does it get better... I DVR'd it just in case.

Huh, WTF are you talking about? Turned it off? On TV? And there was no black sergeant pushing a car in this movie.
(edit) I was just informed that ASYLUM, inc (that crap company that makes all the really bad Sci Fi Ripoff films for the SyFy channel just released a low budget ripoff film with nearly the same name). I believe you're confusing the two movies.

Seriously! hahahahah do you think I'd wait in line and watch a movie on the big screen in a movie theatre, when it is playing on TV at the same time? :lool:

[swampdragon]

Seriously! hahahahah do you think I'd wait in line and watch a movie on the big screen in a movie theatre, when it is playing on TV at the same time? :lool:


yes

[AKTexas]

Maybe he has a pirated copy?

[LAGC]

I caught the first matinee yesterday afternoon with a friend.

While it was overall a good movie, some of the tactics were questionable. Namely how the Marines were all hunched together in those cramped alley-ways in several scenes, all it would have taken is one well-placed grenade (that the aliens didn't seem to ever use) to take all the Marines out.

I wish they would have showed more on the biology of the aliens. I thought it was interesting how they figured out the brain was just to the right of where the heart would be, I was hoping they'd show more close-ups of the alien anatomy. Seems like they really rushed that dissection scene, obstensibly because they wanted to keep up the action pace, but I think they just didn't want to spend that much money on detailing the aliens' bodies.

I agree that if we did have alien contact, it most likely will be hostile -- them trying to colonize Earth for its resources -- with them wiping out the indigenous population (us) first. Of course, if an alien invasion were to really happen, I'd imagine any sufficiently advanced alien race would have some sort of super-duper biological weapon that could kill off 99% of all life on the planet first, making it that much easier for them to just swoop in and rape the planet without much resistance at all.

But in all likelihood, we'll probably kill ourselves off long before any aliens ever reach us, assuming anyone ever figures out how to travel anywhere near or beyond the speed of light.

[swampdragon]

I don't think the speed of light matters much.
I just think we "think" it does.
When we do travel to other far away planets one day, I'll bet our mode of travel will have something to do with folding space or something like in that movie Event Horizon.

[tank_monkey]

yes

Well that shows how dumb you are I suppose :lool:

[mriddick]

I don't think the speed of light matters much.
I just think we "think" it does.
When we do travel to other far away planets one day, I'll bet our mode of travel will have something to do with folding space or something like in that movie Event Horizon.

And why can't we just use spice as in Dune...

[slamfire51]

Thanks for the heads up on the shaky cam. The non-stop shaky cam this is the killer for me.

Cloverfield had to be the hardest movie to enjoy because of the shaky cam. Most of it was supposedly being filmed from a third person with a video cam while moving around a city avoiding an alien creature.

I'll wait until it hits the $5 bin.

[swampdragon]

And why can't we just use spice as in Dune...

It was so long ago that I can't really remember much about Dune other than some big worm thing or something?

[swampdragon]

Well that shows how dumb you are I suppose :lool:



:laugh:

[RJ Shooter]

I'm gonna see it this week... I loved Cloverfield, so this shouldn't be a problem. :D

[L1A1Rocker]

Thanks for the heads up on the shaky cam. The non-stop shaky cam this is the killer for me.


Me too. I see "shaky cam" as nothing more than a way to hid bad special effects. Put "shaky cam" on the grad "B" sci fi movies of the 70's and they'll look great too.

[slamfire51]

FREE MOVIE

I have a free Cloverfield DVD for the first that claims it. (watched one time)
This shows how good the movie was. It SUCKED.

[FunkyPertwee]

And why can't we just use spice as in Dune...

We don't have to use spice because we have computers. No computers in the Dune universe, that is why bio-engineered pilots have to be given spice in order to navigate.

[El Duce]

FREE MOVIE

I have a free Cloverfield DVD for the first that claims it. (watched one time)
This shows how good the movie was. It SUCKED.

Do I have to pay shipping?

[mriddick]

Do I have to pay shipping?

LOL ask for some extra for the jiffy pop

[slamfire51]

Do I have to pay shipping?

Free = free everything, and a money back guarantee.
:lol:

You can't beat that.


Just need you to PM addy.

[El Duce]

LOL ask for some extra for the jiffy pop

I don't like jiffy pop.

[mriddick]

I don't like jiffy pop.

He didn't know that...

[swampdragon]

I don't like jiffy pop.

Too bad!
You have to use popcorn that needs shaking to go along with the shaky DVD camera.
It's a package deal.
lol

[El Duce]

We air pop our porpcorn. Then toss it with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I know. Call us crazy. (But it's good!)

[swampdragon]

We air pop our porpcorn. Then toss it with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. I know. Call us crazy. (But it's good!)

How does it taste with extra slutty olive oil?

[RJ Shooter]

Do they still make Air Poppers??? :p

[slamfire51]

Do they still make Air Poppers??? :p

Sure they do.
I don't like the taste of air popped pop corn.

[Moebrown20]

How does it taste with extra slutty olive oil?

whats the difference between slutty and extra slutty?

[El Duce]

Sure they do.
I don't like the taste of air popped pop corn.

We have gotten used to it. But at the theaters. We do the evil popcorn with the fake butter on it.

[El Duce]

whats the difference between slutty and extra slutty?

Slutty will do you. Extra slutty will do you, your brother and the dog. (at once if you want to)

[swampdragon]

Free = free everything, and a money back guarantee.
:lol:

You can't beat that.


Just need you to PM addy.



Money back guarantee on FREE.
That movie must have totally blown chunks.
No wonder RJ likes it.

:lool:

[swampdragon]

whats the difference between slutty and extra slutty?


...about 10 bucks....lol

[slamfire51]

Money back guarantee on FREE.
That movie must have totally blown chunks.
No wonder RJ likes it.

:lool:

It does blow.
The solution to watching a shaky movie is to watch it a dive motel on one of those vibrating beds. I'm guessing the movie would then appear normal. :laughingtohard:

[AKTexas]

I'm not going to watch it.Shaky cam does not interest me.

[RJ Shooter]

Saw it tonight. LOVED IT!!!!!

And it was definitely not filmed in "shaky cam" style!!! Indeed it was shot with stabilized, shoulder-mounted cameras, not from jibs and hard points. But it was in no way akin to Cloverfield or Blair Witch!!!! I also didn't find the zooming to be offensive at all...

Intense firefights had some vibration and movement to the video, but I prefer that! Why have realistic surround sound with round sounds flying by your head, and a VERY STABLE VIDEO? That's pretty ridiculous, and pretty unrealistic! Think about that for a sec!

As a professional videographer, I loved the camera work - AND I LOVED THE MOVIE!!!! It's definitely worth seeing on the big screen, but I also can't wait to see it on BluRay on my 60" HDTV!

[slamfire51]

Saw it tonight. LOVED IT!!!!!

And it was definitely not filmed in "shaky cam" style!!! Indeed it was shot with stabilized, shoulder-mounted cameras, not from jibs and hard points. But it was in no way akin to Cloverfield or Blair Witch!!!! I also didn't find the zooming to be offensive at all...

Intense firefights had some vibration and movement to the video, but I prefer that! Why have realistic surround sound with round sounds flying by your head, and a VERY STABLE VIDEO? That's pretty ridiculous, and pretty unrealistic! Think about that for a sec!

As a professional videographer, I loved the camera work - AND I LOVED THE MOVIE!!!! It's definitely worth seeing on the big screen, but I also can't wait to see it on BluRay on my 60" HDTV!

That's certainly good news. I will see it when the DVD comes out. It should be great on my 52" HD and the Sony surround sound.
Thanks for clearing up the shaky thing.

[FunkyPertwee]

That's certainly good news. I will see it when the DVD comes out. It should be great on my 52" HD and the Sony surround sound.
Thanks for clearing up the shaky thing.

If you've got a 52" HDTV, you need to get a blu-ray player and hook it up with HDMI. You're not getting your full value out of a big expensive TV if your using old equipment on it. I'm not saying DVDs are but, and certain things are only available on DVD, but if you have the option you should get the blu-ray. Compare the blu-ray Planet Earth series with the DVD or or even HD cable on the same TV and you'll see what I mean, especially if your TV is in 1080P.

I've noticed a lot of people hook components up to their HDTVs with the worst video connections. HDMI>DVI>Component>s-video>composite>coaxial. I wouldn't bother with anything worse than component.

[L1A1Rocker]

I wouldn't bother with anything worse than component.

I thought HDMI was superior to component.