Battle Los Angeles

[catfish]

Ok so nowadays I don't get to excited anymore about upcoming movie releases, especially after last years dismal showing of pure crapola. That's all about to change, I hope, for the upcoming year.

First up is "Battle Los Angeles" and it looks like a strong contestant for blockbuster status. I first read about this movie almost two years ago and the premise intrigued me. To the best of my knowledge its never been done before at least not on this scale. It appears to go where we wished "Independence Day" and "War of the Worlds" would have but didn't. I'm talking about a hardcore, urban warfare, Marines in the streets movie where they fight aliens. If you've seen the trailers then you know what I'm talking about. All I can say is, finally!

In the last few days they have released two short clips, not trailers mind you, but clips from the movie. I will try and post later of possible. All I can say is it seemed to combine "Blackhawk Down" with any alien invasion movie that comes to mind.

I'm super psyched to see this, more so than I can remember being for a movie in a long time. I love movies but American cinema has been sorely lacking on many levels the last few years. If it wasn't for foreign movies lately I may have lost my love. Here's to hoping Hollywood is back doing what it does best, entertaining.

[Malsua]

It looks like the all the stuff in Skyline that was happening outside of the apartment and doesn't include goofy brain swapping aliens.

[Luke]

Hollywood must be listening to Stephen Hawking.

[Ryan Ruck]

From what I've seen it looks like it will be pretty good. The visuals look great.

Probably won't go see it in theaters though. I rarely watch movies at the theater and wait for them to be released on video.

No reason to go to the theater where you've got idiots talking and dicking with their cell phones the whole time. Not to mention outrageous concession prices. Why deal with all that when I've got a 50" 1080p Panasonic, JBL surround sound speaker system with 150w subwoofer, and Sony 5.1 receiver with 100w/channel all tied into my Home Theater PC with the bathroom and kitchen 20 feet away!

Hell, last movie I saw in theater was I Am Legend and that was because a friend wanted badly to go see it. Before that it was United 93. Couldn't tell you before then...

[catfish]

It looks like the all the stuff in Skyline that was happening outside of the apartment and doesn't include goofy brain swapping aliens.

I have yet to see "Skyline" but judging from the reviews I'm not missing much. The guys who made that movie are being sued by the people making "Battle Los Angeles". Turns out the "Skyline" guys have a SFX company that was doing some work for BLA whilst they were making their own alien invasion movie. Still waiting for the outcome.

[catfish]

Ok, as promised, here is a short clip from the movie:

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_u...&v=K4pzpTMY9S4

[Ryan Ruck]

I have yet to see "Skyline" but judging from the reviews I'm not missing much. The guys who made that movie are being sued by the people making "Battle Los Angeles". Turns out the "Skyline" guys have a SFX company that was doing some work for BLA whilst they were making their own alien invasion movie. Still waiting for the outcome.

I saw Skyline. It wasn't bad but, not all that great. I'd give it a 4.5 out of 10. If I hadn't seen it, I'd watch it on a rainy day if there wasn't anything else on. The effects were pretty decent though...

By the way, that link didn't work. Here's the same clip though - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4pzpTMY9S4

[catfish]

Thanks Ryan, I wanted to embed but my phone browser is giving me troubles.

I will watch Skyline, still waiting for it to come out on blue ray. From what I heard though the ending was pretty lame. Plus I think they had a budget of around 10 million, not a lot to work with considering the subject matter. However there is a movie called "Monsters" that I just watched that had a budget of around $500,000 and they made a really cool type of alien invasion movie. It's not loaded with effects but it tells a pretty cool story not to mention the original idea they used to begin with. The aliens were brought here by a NASA probe that crashed after returning from a mission sent to collect samples of life in our solar system. The crash happened in northern Mexico and things have drastically changed in the area because of it. I enjoyed it.

[Ryan Ruck]

Ah, you know I had heard of that one but hadn't seen it. Might have to check it out. Thanks!

I'd say you're right about the ending of Skyline though.

[Malsua]

I watched monsters a while back. I enjoyed it but it's not a rip roaring action movie.

It also played fast and loose with Geography.

Pay very close attention to the beginning. You will be quizzed on this at the end.

[Malsua]

I'll note that when I ultimately shoot my movie, it will end up something like Monsters. At least the pacing and cinematography, not the subject matter.

[American Patriot]

I saw a fast clip of this the other day at my pub....

I was intrigued. But, have no background on what it is about. LOoKED like aliens in the last 2 seconds of the clip.

[Ryan Ruck]

Just got done watching Monsters. Not too bad but pretty lacking on the whole, you know, Monsters thing that it is titled after! I'd rate it the same as Skyline.

I watched monsters a while back. I enjoyed it but it's not a rip roaring action movie.

That's for sure! Probably about 10 minutes of action in the whole movie.

It also played fast and loose with Geography.

Yep!

Pay very close attention to the beginning. You will be quizzed on this at the end.

What was I supposed to see?

I'll note that when I ultimately shoot my movie, it will end up something like Monsters. At least the pacing and cinematography, not the subject matter.

I did like the cinematography in Monsters. Namely the river scenes and the ruined town.

[catfish]

I'm with Ryan, not quite sure what you're looking at in the beginning. Now if you were talking about the pyramid they slept on, then yeah, don't think it belonged there.

[Malsua]

Well, the beginning is the end. The fight scene at the start of the movie chronologically occurs after the GIs pick them up at the gas station.

The geography...There are no pyramids near the Mexico/US border.

[Malsua]

I did like the cinematography in Monsters. Namely the river scenes and the ruined town.

I liked the whole way it was shot. It was very epic, very "last man on Earth" feeling to it. Very alone. It was well done. Wide lenses, big shots, lots of feeling to it.

The tension was very high at a few points..granted nothing really happened...it was still pretty tense.

I liked it for what it was...it could have been fleshed out and punched up in spots but they really didn't have the budget for it.

[catfish]

Nowadays we are so used to CGI effects telling the story that a movie like Monsters can be a little underwhelming. Personally I enjoyed it a great deal and liked it for a lot of the same reasons Mal did. I also thought there was some great dialogue at times, especially between the two leads. There was some obvious chemistry between them and it really didn't suprise me when I found out they got married in real life. My understanding is a great deal of the movie was improvised when it came to dialogue. When filming finished there was over a 100 hours of footage they had to whittle down into about 90 minutes. It's just nice to see independent filmmakers put everything on the line and succeed. Rumour has it they are going to film a larger budget sequel so that might be cool.

[American Patriot]

Isn't this a movie? I thought it was. Was it on TV?

[American Patriot]

Answered my own question, you guys are looking at the trailers then?

Movie not out ti; 3-11

[Malsua]

Yeah, Battle LA isn't out yet.

Skyline was out last year, Monsters was on TV a couple months ago and probably available on Netflix or your local torrent vendor.