They're marketing to me, I can feel it

[urbpan]

I'm inordinately excited about 10,000 B.C., a new action movie taking place in that year. The trailer includes what appear to be terror birds (or, one supposes, their old-world analogue) and sabre-toothed cats (which are too big, but whatchagonna do) and thousands of cgi mammoths. It's made by the same sick glorious bastard who made Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow (we're lucky this wasn't called "day way back in the past") two of the biggest and stupidest and most entertaining movies ever. Could this be the first entertaining prehistoric action movie? (I've seen Quest for Fire and One Million BC--I want something better.)

I assume that anyone with more than a cursory background in anthropology or paleontology would break a blood vessel trying to watch it. I don't know for sure, but Hollywood has a very poor record in this area, and come on, did you see Day After Tomorrow? Several climatologists has to be hospitalized with broken blood vessels after seeing that. Also, anyone who doesn't like to see white people with dreadlocks should probably avoid it. (My only objection: why are his dreadlocks so short?)

I'm also pretty interested in seeing Cloverfield or whatever it's called. (That's right, I'm the sci fi fan that pays half attention.) The biggest problem with Godzilla-type movies is that the view from above perspective distances you from the movie. You almost never are afraid of a rubber suit monster filmed from above, or even eye-level. The beginning hype (I've seen maybe 3 commercials) is starting to catch on with me. Apparently someone involved in "Lost" is involved in this movie, which has fans of that show excited. I've never seen it, just as I've never seen "Buffy," and as that was no obstacle to me liking "Firefly," I don't think it matters in this case either.

This is the first time in a long time there have been two movies in the theatre that I actually would want to watch in the theatre. I can barely find the spare time to watch movies at home, unfortunately. It seems to take a great deal of planning to get us out to a movie, so unless Alexis wants to see an prehistoric action movie or "godzilla meets blair witch" (as described by someone on my friends list) I'll wait to see them on Netflix.

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

I'd say you wouldn't need to know much about paleontology or ancient history in order to be rolling your eyes for much of that film. Still, it looks quite fun though.

What's your problem with hte dreads? I'd say it's possible some cavemen (if I may use that term) had them. At least my crusty friends are surely the closest thing to cavemen and women I've ever seen

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

This is important. Make the time to go see these movies.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i'd definitely go see the 10,000BC one. i don't really care about cloverfield though.

[iheartoothecae.livejournal.com]

Could this be the first entertaining prehistoric action movie? (I've seen Quest for Fire and One Million BC--I want something better.)

Dude, Land Before Time? I mean, HELLO.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

I kind of wanna see Cloverfield, b/c I've heard the monster has Cthulhu-esque features and it's always good to support use of Lovecraft stuff in Hollywood.

As for 10 000 BC, I have a degree in anthropology and I'll be lining up to see it, for camp value or otherwise :)

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

IAWTC

[candent.livejournal.com]

I dunno. Were there still massive herds of mammoth around at 10,000 BC? The city of Jericho was founded in 9000 BC, for comparison. The pyramids were built much later. Unless they're going for some sort of pre-Egyptian Ur-civilization (maybe that is Ur?) ... I just dunno. And dreadlocks on white men are so dated now. The European mammoth-hunter scenes look very Paleolithic -- seriously Clan-of-the-Cave-Bear stone age -- but 10,000 BC is late Neolithic. Looks like just another excuse for Emmerich to do his thing.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that 10,000 BC doesn't give its director credit for vomiting up Godzilla. That said, while I don't mind the severe liberties with the trailer (after Jurassic Park, with Spielberg incessantly whining "This isn't science fiction. This is science eventuality," things can only look up) and actually kinda look forward to a good alternate history story, I also know from experience with Roland Emmerich (particularly with The Patriot and Stargate) that we're going to be watching a CGI-poisoned mess that's half as interesting as the trailer.

Another little tip as to exactly how much confidence Warner Brothers has in the film: it's coming out in March. Right now, we're in the beginnings of the January Sargasso, that period between Christmas and Easter where the studios dump the films that they figure wouldn't be able to survive a summer or holiday release. Considering that The Day After Tomorrow didn't do anywhere near as well as everyone was hoping, and Godzilla and The Patriot were full-bore bombs, I suspect that it's getting dumped into the timeslot that was home for such other marginal successes as Reign of Fire and V For Vendetta on the hopes that college kids and Cat Piss Men won't have anything else to do that weekend.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

I understand all too well. I'm still working on mine in vertebrate palaeontology, and I suspect that this film will have about as much of a link to my research as a George Romero film has to taphonomy. The difference is that Romero doesn't even try to pretend that his films are physiologically accurate, but I'll bet $10 right now that Emmerich will be pointing to archaeologists and palaeontologists he passed by in the street while driving past UCLA and claiming "It's all accurate! They said it was!"

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

By 10,000 BC, almost all of the wooly mammoths were gone, and the great Columbian mammoths, as well as the mastodons, had become food maybe 5000 years earlier. A small colony of dwarf mammoths apparently survived off Alaska until about 4000 years ago, but they would have stood not much taller than a human. As for the big sabertooth cats and the terror birds, they were gone long before that: some very suspect evidence suggests that the terror bird Titanis walleri may have been living in Texas about 9000 years ago, but I have a bad feeling this was reworked material.

[mperrotti76.livejournal.com]

Quest For Fire is almost cmical at poitns. Rae Dawn Chong as the Homo Sapien girl, nuts. And Ron Perlman as one of the Neanderthals. Crazy silly.

10,000-BC Does look pretty good. I'd see it.

[weavingfire.livejournal.com]

I heard that too...it would be worth the $10 just to see some tentacle flyin', ya know?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

They're short, which begs an explanation of hair cutting decision-making and technology among these cavemen.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Don't get down on "Quest", man. As some reviewer summed it up back when it came out, "Caveman go on a quest for fire and end up discovering fellatio".

All my friends are excited about Cloverfield and have been for months. I think the original trailer debuted with Transformers. I like the concept, it worked pretty well in Marvels.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Or that great reality tv series DINOSAURS?

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

Oh right :)

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

For me, Cloverfield is not just an automatic no, but an automatic hell-no. If I want a monster movie shot in NauseaCam, I'll just get really drunk and watch Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

10,000 BC is a bit iffy for me, in that it features dinosaurs and hominids together. I was yelling and throwing jaffas at the screen during BEE MOVIE ("Male bees don't sting! Male mosquitos don't drink blood!") so I don't know if I could take 10,000 *g*

CLOVERFIELD looks ace. Uncomfirmed reports say the monster may be one of the Lovecraftian pantheon...

You have yet to be exposed to BUFFY? You must remedy this ASAP! :icon:

[http://users.livejournal.com/purplebunnie_/]

History of the World part I. Ha.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

as a George Romero film has to taphonomy

FTW!

Who knows, maybe Emmerich did consult some real scientists, like the ones that work at the Creation museum :)

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Hey, as a paleoecologist, I LOVED The Day After Tomorrow (how often do you get NOAA paleoclimatologists talking about "North Atlantic Deepwater" in a movie?!)...and I am ridiculously thrilled about 10,000BC. I think it's pretty clear from the previews that they're not going for any kind of realistic depiction (the pyramids gave that away, I think). And "10,000 BC" rolls off the tongue so much nicer than, say, "14,000 BC."

I'll be first in line to see this one. My graduate research is ON the megafauna, and I'm able to suspend my disbelief! :)

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Not dinosaurs, actually - megafauna. Mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, etc. coexisted with humans - human hunting may well have caused their extinction.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Many mastodon remains have been radiocarbon dated to 11,000 years ago in North America, so 12,000 years ago (10,000BC) isn't that unrealistic. However, I think that, given the pyramids depicted in the preview, this one isn't going for more of an alternative history than an effort to depict a real past.

It's going to be better than Clan of the Cave Bear, at any rate. :)

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

That analogy, my friend, is what we in Texas refer to as "taste-testing dog shit". Of course, I have a bad suspicion that this film might make an adaptation of Harry Harrison's West of Eden look good, and lower than that I cannot get.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

I'm going into the experience with the appropriate expectations: I want to see mammoths on the big screen, and enjoy escapist, over-the-top imaginings. If I want great film-making, or wonderful acting I'll go elsewhere.

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty psyched for Cloverfield. It looks like it will be an amusing mix of Blair Witch Project acting (and shaky cam!) and Godzilla mayhem.

I wasn't as impressed with what I've seen of 10,000 BC, but it does feature herds of wooly mammoths, and that might be all it needs. It could be fun to go an laugh at all the distortions of history/anthropology. Will definitely be more fun than Quest For Fire, although as far as comparisons to One Million Years BC goes, nothing will ever quite top cavegirl Raquel Welsh in a fur bikini (and in one of the best catfights in film history!).

[mas69ter.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to see Cloverfield since its preview was shown before Transformers...and I don't think it even had a movie title yet. I'm hoping I can spare some money to see it this weekend....or keep friends quiet long enough to wait for it to hit the cheap theater. :)

I too was wondering why his dreads were so short when I saw the 10,000 B.C. preview. Also wondering why the saber-tooths were so big.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Megafauna and Hominids I can handle. It's a shame Australia still doesn't have Marsupial Lions and giant, flesh-eating Kangaroos running around...

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

So true! And I think the world is a sadder place since the Mesonichids turned to boring old whales.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always Nessie!

here comes heronfield

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

#

[stonelizard.livejournal.com]

You might be mildly interested to know that one of my friends did the CG animation on 10,000 BC - on the Terrorbirds to be precise! He said it was good work (and he is a fantastic animator) and he enjoyed it - but the plot sucks apparently :)
I cannot wait to see Cloverfield. Looking good but trainers have let me down terribly before...

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

I saw "I Am Legend" because I wanted to see lions running through a jungle on Broadway in Imax, but Cloverfield just seems like a gratuitous blowing-up of New York. Can't someone pick a different city to blow up this year?

If 10,000BC isn't too bloody and it's in Imax, I might see it.