1 It better be a good movie, it's how I know what to do in the Battle of Libya.

2 Our son went to see it last night with a friend and loved it.  He was proud it showed the Marines in a good light.

The three of us may go see it tonight (he said he'd like to see it again).  I haven't set foot in a movie theatre in ages.

3 My husband will only go see it if Los Angeles gets blown to smithereens.  Is it destroyed?  Do the marines fall back to defend red states? 

It's ok if the aliens lose, but he wants LA to lose, too. 

4

Monty,

Have you ever run across a book called The High Crusade? It is wildly improbable too, but at least makes an effort to explain why an advanced society with laser guns and spaceships capable of traveling between stars gets its butt kicked by a bunch of 14th century Englishmen -  they have been so powerful for so long that they have forgotten how to do some basic stuff, like fight close-quarter battles, defend against seiges, and plot deviously.

5 They can keep LA.

6 Catch Me Now I'm Falling

7 Please note that no overpaid slothful public employees were injured during the filming of this movie.

8 Question: Is it a metaphor for illegal Mexicans or Muslimes? Inquiring minds and all.

9 I did have a fear early on that the producers and director were making some bizarro-universe version of the Iraq invasion

No, they did that and called it Battlestar Galactica, Season 3, aka "Let's derail the whole plot so far and spend an entire season farting around on New Caprica so we can take pot shots at George Bush."

10 Realistic (sorta) alien invasion has been done at least once tho, in literary form: "Footfall" by Niven and Pournelle. I'd like to see it done as a miniseries (tho you'd have to change the Soviet moon base to Chinese, the original novel was set circa 2000 but published in 1985).  

11 I heard the alien invasion was a last minute switch from a Chinese invasion so as not to offend our creditors.

12

Y-not.  Los Angeles is going to need lots of Stimulus money to rebuild after this beatdown.

I really liked the Marines and TSgt Santos in this movie.  They were real from Cpl Kern dealing with his PTSD and SSG Nantz dealing with his own survivor guilt.  Then Lt. Martinez, an FNG LT, dealing with SSG Nanz, war hero, as his platoon NCOIC.  The characters ring true.

Yeah the plot is simple, so what?  Marines, aliens, and there are civilians who need rescuing. 

TSgt Santos, "Oh man! I got alien goo in my mouth!"  Marine, "I didn't know you let him on the first date!"  LOL

13 Thx, Anna Puma

14 they have been so powerful for so long that they have forgotten how to do some basic stuff, like fight close-quarter battles, defend against seiges, and plot deviously.

Posted by: Grey Fox at March 19, 2011 12:25 PM (KTAPm)

I find that highly improbable, tbh.

15

KG, the concept dates back to Heinlein on one of his rants.  "While you are twiddling with your verniers, someone is going to club you."  Rough paraphrase.

The High Crusade was written by Poul Anderson and first came out in 1960.

16 Is it on Red Box?  One of the cables?  Or in some other, unknown third place?

17

The "High Crusade".  I read that decades ago.

Good fun. The bad aliens in that didn't even like each other, didn't fight well together and generally had bad breath.  I think that book was a metaphor (or allegory, whatever) for something else entirely.  But there you go.

And "Footfall" was actually pretty well thought through.  I was amused that Niven and Pournelle actually wroten themselves (and Robert Heinlein) into the story.

18 Jon,

Footfall suffered from the same problems as every other alien-invasion movie: star traveling aliens wouldn't bother sending in infantry to pacify the population, any more than you'd spend any time squashing ants one by one in your garden. If a star-travling race wanted us gone, they'd either introduce a bioweapon to do it, or simply drop rocks on us from orbit.

You always have to ask yourself: how would an army from the 1500's fare against the modern American military? We'd wipe them out in hours. It'd be the same with a star-faring race -- they'd be so far ahead of us technologically that it's ludicrous to think of any real military contest taking place.

Another thing I wondered: if the aliens want our water, why not just take the mothership down in some remote part of the Pacific and start drinking up. They'd drain the ocean dry before the governments of the world were even close to getting their shit together. Why bother invading the land at all if all you want is water? Like I said: stupid aliens.

19

Well since I sent an email to Ace LAST WEEK imploring him to start a topic on this movie I'm happy to see this thread finally.

EVERYONE on this site, especially those that bemoan and or hate Hollywood, should march to their theatres this weekend and pay money to see this movie and let those liberal pricks see that movies that promote our military and the true American way will make big profits. Consider it your duty, a charitable contribution to a good cause, a protest, whatever.  Just go and see it! 

This movie was number 1 at the box office last week but it's rare for a movie nowadays to do that twice in a row.  Get out and see it and make that happen!  Send a big F'ing message to Hollywood to shove their Matt Damon Green Zone shit and make more movies like this!  As a Field Of Dreams twist:  If you make it, they will come.

20 Yeah CJ, the science fiction writer threat team at NORAD.  Great book.  And the alien invaders are baby elephants.  I would expect a liberal moonbat would love to make the movie as an attack on Republicans just for that.

21

My Hollywood boycott has remained strong for going on 10 years now but if this movie is as you say it is, I may break that boycott.

Which brings me to another point, which I'm sure has been addressed here before.

Surely Hollywood knows that there's a huge market for pro America movies but they're too arrogant and/or childish to tap that market. Isn't there some filmmaker or film company out there who doesn't give a fuck about winning awards and would like to make a film that captures the essence of traditional American values and the bravery and fortitude of our military?

 

22 The outer Solar System is stuffed with enough goodies to feed a civilization for millennia. It's moving slowly, conveniently packaged in small chunks, free of energy-sapping gravity wells, and there's plenty of room. Heck, our outer Solar System could be colonized right now and we would have no way of knowing. Aliens might invade to take our beer and our secret BBQ sauce recipes. Of course, that would mean all-out war.

23 LOL, Monty I always get a kick out of people who bitch about "realism" in movies like this. I recall someone bitching about the "realism" in the war scenes in Lord Of The Rings. laughed my ass off.

Realistic (sorta) alien invasion has been done at least once tho, in literary form: "Footfall" by Niven and Pournelle.

Yeah that was a good book.

But a better movie would be John Ringo's Posleen series that starts with A Hymn Before Battle. He does a good job in squaring the technology gap by having a "friendly" alien group contacting us first with a warning and help. 

24 Is any of that more improbable than the invading Martians not considering alien bacteria might kill them off?

25 Waiting for some dimbulb to claim racism or Islamophobia that the aliens are metaphors.

26 Nickless, another plus to this movie.  No Tom Cruise!

27 LOL, Monty I always get a kick out of people who bitch about "realism" in movies like this.

Yeah, "realism" would make a shitty movie.

[Scene 1]

Aliens vaporize every human being on earth in two seconds flat..

[Scene 2]

The aliens strip the planet of every volatile and rare metal, and leave it a lifeless, desiccated husk.

[Scene 3]

Party at Overmaster X'm'og's house!

28 Nickless, another plus to this movie.  No Tom Cruise!

Well,I was actually considering back to the original Wells...

29 Aliens might invade to take our beer and our secret BBQ sauce recipes.

Of course, that would mean all-out war.

Posted by: eman: Japanese Babe Rescue Team at March 19, 2011 12:39 PM (G8NKv)

Dude, then it's be on like fucking Donkey Kong.

30 I wonder how long before it will be out on Blu-Ray? I guess I will have to buy it because our Blockbuster went out of business.

31 I know you did, that is a classic movie.  The Martians got cool ships and deathbeams, but still no warp drive.  Their planet is dieing so they figure to move to Earth since its the only other place with life.  Alas the microbes of Earth had other ideas.

32
Hollywood has a new hit movie in the works.

Plot: Flocks of poets descend upon a small, quiet Californian town.

Title: The Bards

33 Ed, are those cowboy poets?

34 I thought that was Nevada.

35 dur dur durr durr durr durr durr .

That's art, knuckleheads.

36

Who farted?

37 Man, something stinks!

Who tracked shit in here?

38 Is that a sock or is ERGy back?

39 Saw it. It was decent. The aliens didn't look very believable to me -- they looked like crappier, robotic versions of the aliens from District 9.

I'm so used to the Hollywood style that I kept expecting a reveal where some right-wing Republican Senator had made a deal with the aliens -- they get water, he gets the oil or some crap like that -- so it was good there was no left-wing morality lesson twist.

There was one minor left-wing morality lesson -- showing the female USAF tech sergeant being just as good in combat as the hard-ass guy marines. At one point they even have one of the marines turn to the USAF female and say, "You can fight with me in combat anytime." or something equivalent.

But I love movies with ass-kicking chicks (Aliens, Underworld, Resident Evil, etc, etc, etc) so I don't care even if it was slightly ham-handed. My main problem is Michelle Rodriguez isn't very attractive. She's attractive in the sense that she's the best looking butch lesbian in Hollywood. She's attractive for a scowling tom-boy.

Of course, Vasquez from Aliens is still the best bull dyke marine ever on film.

40

I find that highly improbable, tbh.

A lot of it is. However, they have lost the sort of institutional knowledge, not the basic facts - don't send tanks in alone, unprotected by infantry; don't make frontal assaults on prepared positions; don't take in a bunch of refugees who have to be when preparing for a seige; etc. Plus their social system is set up in such a way that they are reluctant to call for help until too late, and they don't have strong ties of loyalty to either each other or the empire, no marriage even, so they are willing to switch sides when it looks like the other is winning.

Also, the humans are desperate, smart, and adaptable - they have no idea how any of their new weapons actually work, but they are quick to pick up on how to use them. It is a lot easier to drive a car than ride a horse.

It is a fun book.

41

Loved the interaction between the Fresh Meat Lt., and the Crusty Sarge... been there... did that... theres a reason why every real proffesional military has a very strong NCO Class, from the Romans on...

As to a plausible reason why aliens might suck at fighting??? If they did not have faster than light ships, these would be generational ships... so the origional crew (who knew how to fight), could have been long dead, while these had just 'book learnin'...

But I did like that the Aliens tried to retreive their own wounded... did use fire sacks and ambush tactics, and seemed to work in small squads with some command and control.

42
One thing that really tickled my pinga is that the movie is actually full of leftist ideas about the military, and the War of Terror.......and it uses every one of them in non-leftist ways to highlight the courage, honor and sacrifice of the Marines. PTSD, drone warfare, "War for Oil", tension between lower and higher ranking servicemembers etc.

I'm pretty well convinced that this really why the leftists hate Battle:LA so much. It's not that it's pro-military, it's that the movie uses their talking points to do it.

43 I guess this is good after they butchered Red Dawn.

44 Even very primitive species (like us!) have figured out that you don't centralize your command-and-control too much. But no: apparently the alien warmasters decided that it would be best to put all their important shit in one spot, and if it gets blowed up, why, they'll just slink on back home.

 They are Commie French aliens? 

45 You know Monty, maybe we could have a "movie thread" on Saturdays to compliment the book thread on Sundays.

People could post critiques on movies they recently watched.

46 I guess this is good after they butchered Red Dawn. Posted by: Vic at March 19, 2011 12:58 PM (M9Ie6) The Chinese premise made actual sense, but leave Hollywood to somehow fuck it up. Hollywood has no problem attacking anything American or Western but if they attack something that would financially or physically fight back, they cower in a corner.

47 B:LA does have some of the usual combat-movie tropes: the ethinically-diverse platoon (including a woman); the green young kid who starts out scared but gets his courage back; the world-weary but brave Sergeant; the Looie fresh out of OCS who wants to prove himself; etc. You even have a foreign-born medical corpsman serving to get his citizenship. It didn't bug me because this, again, is a standard setup for combat movies. It provides for dramatic tension and character differentiation.

One thing I liked a lot bout B:LA is how much time it spends on setting up the Marines as protectors of the civilian populace. In many modern war pictures, you always have the "bad soldier": the jerk, the rapist, the psychotic killer, the druggie. This movie doesn't play any of those cheap cards. The soldiers act like soldiers -- with discipline and honor. It sounds old fashioned, and maybe it is, but I really liked that.

48

"Footfall suffered from the same problems as every other alien-invasion movie: star traveling aliens wouldn't bother sending in infantry to pacify the population, any more than you'd spend any time squashing ants one by one in your garden. If a star-travling race wanted us gone, they'd either introduce a bioweapon to do it, or simply drop rocks on us from orbit."

-Monty

Uh, Monty, that's what they did in "Footfall".  They dropped a big rock in the Indian Ocean and threatened to do more if we didn't give up.  Some people did, some people got mad.  Then they got even.

The interesting thing about "Footfall" was how it explained the alien social structure and cultural ideas and showed where their weaknesses were.  Their technology exceeded their intellectual and social maturity because they had learned it from  a "Forerunner" race.  Their tribal nature encouraged them to do something (attack the Earth) which was really a pretty stupid idea.  As they thought about it more, they could have gotten all the resources they needed in the outer solar system (asteroids, gas giants, etc.). There was a big debate between the "snouts" as to their best course of action when they arrived in Earth space and found a civilization already developed here.

The book was a thinly veiled exposition for the advantages of the  Strategic Defense Initiative of the '80's, of which Pournelle was involved in as a civilian.

49 I guess this is good after they butchered Red Dawn.

I was going to say the same thing: see this instead of Red Dawn, because I can pretty much guarantee you that this is the far better movie.

And if Morons are in agreement, I'll touch base with Ace about a regular "Saturday Matinee" movie feature. Ace and most of the cob-loggers are movie fans.

50 There was one minor left-wing morality lesson -- showing the female USAF tech sergeant being just as good in combat as the hard-ass guy marines.

The can't make a movie anymore with a kick-ass woman. One of my favorite movies was the new King Arthur but they had to make keira knightley into a ass kicker in leather B&D bondage gear whipping 250 pound guys.

51 OT: The guiltiest looking dog in history.

52 Ahhhhhhhhhh, heck the movie was fun. Yeah the bad guys could have looked better. Granted they figured out how to kill them, yet told no-one? (cutting one open) the part with their shooting missiles made zero sense. They went everywhere when they shot. That advanced and yet no targeting systems.

53
Monty said: "Footfall suffered from the same problems as every other alien-invasion movie: star traveling aliens wouldn't bother sending in infantry to pacify the population, any more than you'd spend any time squashing ants one by one in your garden. If a star-travling race wanted us gone, they'd either introduce a bioweapon to do it, or simply drop rocks on us from orbit."

The Footfall aliens drop thousands of rocks from orbit, it's their primary method of attack (the book is even named after an asteroid- the Foot- that they drop in the ocean).  They do land infantry in a few places like Kansas and Africa, but for limited objectives. 

54 The aliens were just a foil to provide the "end of the world" drama as a backdrop for what is really a great movie about an honorable Marine unit, one shockingly devoid of one of Hollywood's favorite stereotypes - the murderous, rapist, Christian soldier.

If you don't enjoy this movie, you are a USA hating communist. There. I said it.

55 Uh, Monty, that's what they did in "Footfall".

Yeah, I forgot about that. Been awhile since I read the book. But still: the ground combat stuff never made any sense at all to me. And refitting a battleship with a nuclear pusher-plate engine to go up against the alien ship? ("Message Bearer", wasn't it?) Yeah: I dun' theenk so, Lucy.

Still, I think it would make a cool movie.

You know what else would make a great (and more realistic) alien-invasion movie? David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr books. (If he can ever finish the damned series!) The conceit of his books is that the aliens are "delivered" to this planet by means unknown, and simply begin changing the ecology to their own needs. The beasts and fauna are not intelligent, but are invariably incredibly hostile to native Terran life. Gerrold also has pretty libertarian leanings, so liberals tend to take it on the chin a lot in his books.

56 Wow, a movie review from a blogger without the word *redemption* ..Unprecedented !!   Ed Jelly Roll over hat Tepid  Air should take notes. 

I like the doomy gloomy Monty better. 

57 I like the doomy gloomy Monty better.

He'll be back on Monday, never fear.

58 Oh noes.  A day without the *doomy gloomy * Monty.. is like a day without sunshine .

59

They (like every alien race in every alien-invasion story ever) make the rookie mistake of having all C&C capability centralized in one spot -- which, conveniently, is near enough for the Marines to attack and destroy. And even after the C&C unit was blown up...how would that stop the alien infantry from fighting?

Ok, I have to take exception here.  They made it pretty clear that once the C&C was taken out, there was still an issue with the ground forces.  The primary goal with taking out the C&C was to regain air superiority, not end the battle.  All in all, once that was done, yes, it did make things easier for our guys, but there were still plenty of ground forces to deal with.

60 Going to the 1pm showing!

61 Aaron Eckheart could use a good pair of me, for his chin butt.

62
You know Monty, maybe we could have a "movie thread" on Saturdays to compliment the book thread on Sundays.



Hell, just about every AoS thread devolves into a movie thread.

63 The conceit of his books is that the aliens are "delivered" to this planet by means unknown, and simply begin changing the ecology to their own needs.

I just read Dean Koontz's The Taking.  While the book was mediocre at best, I liked Koontz's description of how the "aliens" started changing the ecosystems of Earth with tainted (and excessive) rain and organic fungus thingies. 

64 >>>Hell, just about every AoS thread devolves... Yes it does. That's the magic of AoS.

65

Fuck this movie.  The candy-ass liberal Marines don't even fight for taking the dollar back to the gold standard or legalizing pot.

 

/asshole libertarian with complete inability to enjoy ANYTHING

66 #61

You're welcome.

67 64
>>>Hell, just about every AoS thread devolves...

Yes it does. That's the magic of AoS.

Entropy is always increasing.  Except that here entropy has a high-speed rail system...

68 Also, when I saw this movie at a theater in SF Bay Area, the entire audience clapped at the end.

69 In a world where a rag-tag band of misfits gather...

70

/asshole libertarian with complete inability to enjoy ANYTHING

Organized anarchy!

71 speaking of television sci-fi... just as Stargate SGU was getting good, the brain trust at the Snakes & Alligators & Ghosts network cancel it.

72 It's not just the military, though.  Liberalism is focused in all things toward making America feel like shit about itself.

That's why they hate Reagan.

73 Posted by: BMXdroid, sponsored by Depends at March 19, 2011 01:21 PM (MMC8r)

-- I forgot about that guy.  Man, I missed it here the last ten days.

74 I remember there just being too much of the ghey in Gerrold's Ctorr books.Some interesting stuff but the man love creeps me out.

75 Oh, shit, Steyn's column today: "The Audacity of Golf"

Sorry, gotta leave here to read it.  Back after.

76 Going to see the movie this evening, I hope.

I just posted this in the thread below, but it's deader than Charlie Sheen's career:

345 O/T  Oh noes!  Knut the polar bear has died (from link at Drudge):

BERLIN Â— Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to stardom when he was hand-raised by zoo keepers after being rejected by his mother rejected at birth, died on Saturday, a zoo official said.

The world-famous bear died alone in his compound, bear keeper Heiner Kloes told The Associated Press.

"He was by himself in his compound, he was in the water, and then he was dead," said Kloes. "He was not sick, we don't know why he died."

A post mortem will be conducted on Monday to try pinpoint his cause of death, he said.

Between 600 and 700 people were at Knut's compound and saw the four-year-old bear die, German news agency DAPD reported.

Global warming blamed in 3....2.....1......

77 I live in Miami and my pet penguin died. I don't know why; he wasn't sick. What a mystery.

78 345 O/T  Oh noes!  Knut the polar bear has died (from link at Drudge):

BERLIN Â— Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to stardom when he was hand-raised by zoo keepers after being rejected by his mother rejected at birth, died on Saturday, a zoo official said.

The world-famous bear died alone in his compound, bear keeper Heiner Kloes told The Associated Press.

"He was by himself in his compound, he was in the water, and then he was dead," said Kloes. "He was not sick, we don't know why he died."

A post mortem will be conducted on Monday to try pinpoint his cause of death, he said.

Between 600 and 700 people were at Knut's compound and saw the four-year-old bear die, German news agency DAPD reported.

Global warming blamed in 3....2.....1......

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 19, 2011 01:25 PM (UOM4

Damn you Sarah Palin!!111!1!!2!!!!!11

79 76 He died of a broken heart because of all the Gaia raping humans.

80 Did I mention my penguin lived in a cage...all alone...with no reason to live? Why did he die? Miami is so beautiful. I don't understand.

81 This movie is a love-letter to the military. These Marines (led by Aaron Eckhart channeling John Wayne, and quite well, too) are warriors, protectors of civilians, and brave without being stupid.

That's one of the reasons I loved it.  The Marines are not only brave but smart too.  Here they are in this insane situation and they're basically cut off and alone and they just hunker down and figure shit out. 

82 "... preposterous and makes no sense."? This is going to be easier than I thought.

83 O/T:  Vic, you still around?  What form do the leaked radioactive elements take?  Are they minute pieces of dust?

84 Let me try that again. Return of the Nephilim

85 I like the HALO idea of an alien race of religious fanatics.The aliens just decide humanity has to die and they want to do it up close and personal.

86 Great stuff.

Money passage:

Japan is doomed. And yet, watching the exemplary response to catastrophe this week, you sense that their final days will at least be tranquil and orderly. From afar, we shrieked like ninnies, retreating to the usual tropes: No nukes! And more carbon offsets to appease the great Water Gods of the Tsunami!

America is the brokest country in history. We owe more money than anyone has ever owed anyone. And Obama and Reid say relax, that’s no reason not to spend more — because the world hasn’t yet concluded we have no intention of paying it back. When they do, the dollar will collapse, like those buildings in Sendai. When that happens, it will make a lot of difference whether Americans react like the Japanese or Louisianans.

But, in the meantime, Barack Obama goes to Brazil and assures us that lifeÂ’s a beach: Golf on, Mr. President.

87 The interesting thing about "Footfall"

Sorry, I can't get past the elephant thing.  I giggled my way through the whole book. 

88 Movie writers are lazy when it comes to thinking of reasons for aliens to invade Earth, and that's why the aliens come off as stupid.

Consider: the most valuable resource on Earth isn't oil, or iron, or water, or any of that nonliving crap. It's biomass. It's genomes. It's the blanket of living things from bacteria to humans. That's the rare, unique resource on Earth which you can't find anywhere else.

And that gives the aliens a good reason for not blowing the place apart with relativistic kinetic weapons or saturation nuclear bombing. Because that would mess up the valuable life forms they want to harvest.

Of course, Larry Niven pointed out a problem with aliens coming to Earth to harvest humans or other living things: all you need is a tiny sample of each species and you can take them home and breed all you want. So really, alien invasions devolve into intellectual-property disputes.

89

Went and saw it last night.  It is what it is: formulaic plot, formulaic characterization...not a high brow movie by any means.  But it was nice eye candy and there was no angst driven moral equivalency or pondering over the evuul that is the American colossus.   The bad guys really are hideous bad guys and the good guys are really the good guys. In light of the way Hollywood has been slathering that on thick, it was nice to get a break from it.

And explodey things are always awesome -- one bit of contention, they didn't research troop movement (all bunched up and wisecracking out loud, really?).  So that could have been a bit more believable, although look at the movie...the notion of biologic entities coming to Earth is a bit far fetched due to the time/space/energy realities.  Still, the concept that aliens may not be all that all knowing is interesting: that technical proficiency does not equal great intelligence: space neanderthals as it were, riding piggyback off the inventions of a later era, turned to raiding and piracy due to lack of creative thought.  A bit interesting in human terms imho.

Definitely noticed the John Wayne/old war movie send ups -- shows how old I am.

90 If anyone is wondering, this wasn't me. My preferred currency unit is the Gold Moron, and if I ever strike such coins, it will be under the aegis of my power as Humongous of the Wasteland.

91 Hey, who you guys got?

Florida or UCLA?

92 This is intentional, I suppose, but still -- I would have liked more detail on the aliens who are murdalating everybody. They're all goat-molesting Muzzies. There! Satisfied?

93 Nobody does DOOM! like Steyn. A master.

94 Did I tell you people about the Bigfoot squad I saw a couple years ago? Forget it.

95 93 Nobody does DOOM! like Steyn. A master.

I love that man.  And by love, I mean it in a very sexual way.

96 Vic, you still around?  What form do the leaked radioactive elements take?  Are they minute pieces of dust?

Both gaseous and particulate. The gaseous stuff though is very short lived and should all be gone now. The primary elements of concern for a release are considered I-131 and Cs-137.

However, I am not an expert in radiological stuff like that other than an accident working knowledge from work on Emergency Plan teams. The guy at the "worm site" that was linked to has a much better knowledge of this stuff. That was his specialty.

97 Went and saw this last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although it's a bit predictable.

I did wonder if the aliens had protesters back home with "No blood for water" bumper stickers, since the whole invasion was because the aliens used water for fuel.

All in all, a good, old fashioned shoot 'em up, with our military doing manly things (including Michelle Rodriguez, who managed to escape the island) and generally being heroes, protecting the civilians and kicking alien ass.

98 I am looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens.

99 It was an ok flick, but I definitely agree with Big Hollywood's assessment of the film essentially being Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down.

100 90  Counterfeiting coins?  Well, it's obvious he wasn't in it for the profit.

101 93 Nobody does DOOM! like Steyn. A master.

Posted by: Monty at March 19, 2011 01:36 PM (FC+dS)

--Did you hear about his new book coming in August?  It will be titled After America..

You can guess how grim it will be. . . .

102 Definitely noticed the John Wayne/old war movie send ups -- shows how old I am.

Loved the homage to John Wayne in the movie.

103 If shit gets blowed up real good, I'm there.

104 94 Did I tell you people about the Bigfoot squad I saw a couple years ago? Forget it.

Posted by: Apollyon at March 19, 2011 01:36 PM (Epj2t)

--Leonard Nimoy's "In Search of . . ." series was cooler.

105 I am looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens.

Yes! This.

106

Still waiting for someone to do Starship Troopers right...

And 'Tactics of Mistake'... a little John Henry Falkenburg for the win...

Or... heck... 'Hammers Slammers'?

or.. even... the 'Dorasi' saga???

Lots and lots of good combat Scifi, from the late 50s and 60s yet to be done.

107 I'm looking forward to Aliens vs. Muzzies.  And guess who wins?

108 If shit gets blowed up real good, I'm there.

Well, if you like the idea of the city of L.A. as a smoking ruin, you'll love this movie. 

109 LOL, from Monty's link.

In addition, the United States is seeking the forfeiture of approximately 16,000 pounds of Liberty Dollar coins and precious metals, currently valued at nearly $7 million.

I wonder how big his "dollars" were. If he used 1 oz of 95% silver for his dollar they would be worth a whole lot more than a dollar.

I am surprised they found a jury in NC that would convict him. I would have been all up for "nullification" on that one.

110 I love that man.  And by love, I mean it in a very sexual way.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 19, 2011 01:37 PM (UOM4

--Jane, did you catch his interview with Milt Rosenberg Wednesday night?  I heard it live, but Morons said it is available on Itunes.  Worth the two hours' listen!

111 Did you hear about his new book coming in August? It will be titled After America. Sure it wasn't written by a liberal? Sounds like one of those leftist masturbatory After People human extinction shows they love so much.

112 107 I'm looking forward to Aliens vs. Muzzies. And guess who wins? Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 19, 2011 01:42 PM (UOM4 How would you tell who's who?

113 99 LOL, that's what my husband leaned over and commented about last night!

114 Sure it wasn't written by a liberal? Sounds like one of those leftist masturbatory After People human extinction shows they love so much.

Posted by: CoolCzech at March 19, 2011 01:45 PM (kUaEF)

--Nothing wrong with taking the dim view that America is mostly a bunch of ignorant lotus-eaters who think the business cycle will fix everything (thanks, 52%!).  In fact, this hard view of human nature should be the default position, and optimistic forecasts should be the counterfactual at the tail end of the distribution.

Trumpet of Doom, baby.

115

--Jane, did you catch his interview with Milt Rosenberg Wednesday night?  I heard it live, but Morons said it is available on Itunes.  Worth the two hours' listen!

Posted by: logprof at March 19, 2011 01:44 PM (BP6Z1)  

Missed it.

116 Maybe someone will do a movie called "The Days of Noah" that opens up then, in the Days of Noah, and flashes forward to Crowley and his drawing, then forward to the Nazis and their occult UFO aryan genetic shit and finally to 2012 where it can be argued that things, due to massive alien abductions, are "as in the days of Noah". Mel Gibson could produce & direct it and play the Noah of yesteryear and Lindsey Lohan could portray some hyped up coke freak that ends up having sex with fallen angels that turn her babies into clones of Obama and Michael Moore. Bonus! Dan Aykroyd cameo or something!

I'd watch that.

117 Here's the Steyn interview with Milt Rosenberg for those who want to listen.

118

Missed it.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 19, 2011 01:50 PM (UOM4

--They said if you go to Itunes and search under Milt Rosenberg you'll find it there.  That is when I first heard Steyn call the President "Baracket Obama."

119 Thanks, Monty!  You'll come in handy in the camps.

120 Monty, my favorite part of the interview was when the weenie libtard calls in and calls mark a xenophobe and whines about homosexual rights and totally misses the point.  People like him are the lotus-eaters I was talking about: easy pickings for the barbarians.

121 OT: Battle Libya;  Leap Froggers are presently kicking some ass on the ground.  The shit has begun.

122 121 OT: Battle Libya;  Leap Froggers are presently kicking some ass on the ground.  The shit has begun.

And we're about to execute some missile strikes. 

123 Sweet, Kentucky getting run by West Virginia.

124 123 I want all of Bambis picks to fail!

125 What are Leap Froggers?  Elite French paratroopers?

126

Dorsai?  I will pass. 

Starship Troopers, closest to being true to the book is the 1988 Japanese short anime series that actually had the suits.

Falkenberg's Legion.  Well we are approcahing the Co-Domimion collapse.  Alas we lack living on other planets.

Hammer's Slammers, the 30 year war done with counter-grav.  Good stuff.

127 124 123 I want all of Bambis picks to fail!

Posted by: steevy at March 19, 2011 01:58 PM (g+BQx)

--Which did he pick?

I certainly don't care for Kansas, and I know Zero picked them to win it all.

128 127 I don't know either and don't care except I want them to fail!Yes,I hate him much.

129 Leap froggers = those magnificent frogs in their flying junk machines.

Are you getting froggy?

130 About the president:  some of his rules are not good.

131 The Slammers usually just kill other humans.Usually lower tech level humans at that.I only know one story in which they fight actual aliens.

132 Are you getting froggy?

If you feel froggy, leap.

133 Fun fact: David Gerrold wrote the original "Trouble with Tribbles" episode. Not sure about the followup episode.

134 Damn. I picked WVU out of loyalty to my freshman son and my other son changed my pick to Kentucky.

135 A total of four dozen others. New Sun killed the two pigs, A cavity sheep, people do eat a full. Gu sister Tierou hidden knife,Shanghai apartment for rent pretending to be a woman delivering meals to go. New with Sun The SUN, Yun Zou Zou Yuan lead, each with a fire house, divided into two to flat rent shanghai go into. It is: Translated into a tiger escape disaster shanghai apartment catch Tiger, Tiger Tiger officials in vain official arrangements. Rail pass is called depends shanghai apartment for rent on the joints, may only open prison suburban urn. Let us now state and shanghai real estate agency shanghai house rent shanghai property rent Shanghai property agency prison board had Maotai Gong money and goods packages section level, as long as the frame-up solution Zhen, Xie Bao's life. Fun day And holding shanghai shanghai property agency property Shuihuo Gun, just stand in the lion's mouth

136 Breaking:  All parties must respect International Law.

Good God, we need to find an International Lawyer, stat!

137
Is there proportional response by the Marines?
Are the Marines fighting fair?
What about representation of gay, lesbian, trans-gender, people of color, women, midgets and handicapped?
Probably a racist movie anyway.

138 134 Damn. I picked WVU out of loyalty to my freshman son and my other son changed my pick to Kentucky.

Posted by: dagny at March 19, 2011 02:07 PM (nTVp/)

--Well, KU just went on a tear and now leads by 5.

139 Charlie Sheen wants to talk to your jealous face and explain the wooden particles of truth suspended in the air of fate.

140 Ha, even in a second-round tourney game, rednecks in the audience of the WVU-UK game!

141 The blur of coffee beans speeding past the galaxy of possibilities.

142 /Charlie Sheen experiment

143 Conclusion: Charlie Sheen's mind has been possessed by Internet Spam Master. That's why he speaks utter gibberish yet captures one's attention.

144 Remember the Simpsons episode where Lisa gets all weapons banned and Kang and Kodos conquer the earth with a club?

145 Wrong! [Scene 4] Aliens kidnap all the earth women.

146 Next time you listen to Charlie Sheen, insert 'buy boner pills cheap online' in the middle of his rant.

147 140 Ha, even in a second-round tourney game, rednecks in the audience of the WVU-UK game!

Posted by: logprof at March 19, 2011 02:12 PM (BP6Z1)

Nicest people in the world until you give them a drink.

148 I missed the thread last night but I did see this turd in it: >>>What's up, fascists? Any of you faggots find the WMDs yet? Posted by: Blackford Oakes

149 If you want the utterly superior aliens invade meme, John Ringo is in the middle of a series right now, starting with "Live Free or Die" and "Citadel." Two points, aliens are superior, and humans are DAMNED fast learners. And Battle: LA offers the best warcrime ever filmed! DUDES! WE DISSECTED A LIVE PRISONER! Like, DON'T tell CNN!

150 You're the disease, and I'm the cure.

http://tinyurl.com/6p73zn

151 It's sorta good that Qdaffy got scared and gave up his WMDs. He would have used them now. It's neato to how his loyalty to Obama hasn't waivered. That must be some tight group: Obama/Wright/Frarrakan/Qdaffy.

152 I missed the thread last night but I did see this turd in it:

>>>What's up, fascists? Any of you faggots find the WMDs yet?
Posted by: Blackford Oakes

Posted by: McSoothsayer at March 19, 2011 02:17 PM (uFokq)

It was a typical drop and run fuckhead troll.

153 I missed the thread last night but I did see this turd in it:

PROTIP: read Ohio Dan's posts in that thread

154

OT: Rubber bullets and tear gas used in Rio at Anti Obama Protest. Wait, I thought we liked protesters? Must be the wrong kind.

http://tinyurl.com/6f85jnx

 

155 I noticed several turds dropped by the turdinator in that from last night. Blackford Oakes has been around dropping turds before. But it's nice it finally stopped pretending to be a conservative. The pressure is getting to the Left -- they can't stand it when Obama is failing and is being criticized.

156

It was a typical drop and run fuckhead troll.

Posted by: YIKES! at March 19, 2011 02:20 PM (buXmi)

--I thought Blackford Oakes was a normal poster here.  It is even worse if a troll sockpuppets a regular.

157 just as Stargate SGU was getting good, the brain trust at the Snakes & Alligators & Ghosts network cancel it.

Posted by: McSoothsayer at March 19, 2011 01:23 PM (uFokq)

This is pissing me off, they cancel shows like SGU and Flashforward, but crap like reality TV and Glee continue on...

158 PROTIP: read Ohio Dan's posts in that thread

Posted by: Blackford Oakes at March 19, 2011 02:21 PM (Klxrr)

--Was that about the Bizarro World stuff?

159 If we have someone socking a regular we need to let Ace know. He is hell on that and will throw down the ban hammer.

160 Someone asked me last week if I watched glee. I said that I wasn't gay. And I'm a girl. But I hear it's fabulous.

161 Oh well, looks like Kentucky's got this one.

I just want to see the Gaytors lose.

162 From what I can tell Ohio Dan was doing a parody of a typical moonbat.

163 --Was that about the Bizarro World stuff?

Yeah, no puppeteering. Don't know what's up McSoothfucknuts' ass.

164 160 Someone asked me last week if I watched glee. I said that I wasn't gay. And I'm a girl. But I hear it's fabulous.

Posted by: dagny at March 19, 2011 02:26 PM (nTVp/)

--I have not watched it since the lame Gwynneth Paltrow episode.  Even when Jane Lynch was at her best it was getting tiresome sitting through the songs and the increasing PC quotient.

165 And Battle: LA offers the best warcrime ever filmed! DUDES! WE DISSECTED A LIVE PRISONER! Like, DON'T tell CNN!

Well, it wasn't torture because there was no waterboarding or under pants
involved.

166 Part of Qaddafi letter to Obama as quoted by NRO:

“If Libya and the US enter into a war you will always remain my son, and I have love for you.” Libya is battling al-Qaeda, he said, seeking Obama’s advice. “How would you behave so that I can follow your example?” he asked.

Mark Steyn responds here.

167 I hate the shaky cam too.  The last Bourne flick has zero re-watch for this reason. I try not to notice but sometimes it snot possible.

I am looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens. Hope HF doesn't let us down.

168 84 Let me try that again. Return of the Nephilim ---------- Part 1 of 12???? I'll pass.

169 88 Consider: the most valuable resource on Earth isn't oil, or iron, or water, or any of that nonliving crap. It's biomass. ------------ also known as "cow rectums".

170 349 French fighter jet fires on Libyan military TANK "no fly"

Posted by: by any other name at March 19, 2011 01:26 PM (H+LJc)

You are hereby served notice that due to War Crimes, an Injunction has been Declared against the Human Race Breathing, by the Interstellar Court.  You must immediatly stop the exhalation of CO2, as on some planets CO2 is a poisonous to some species, and thus declared a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

171 1) I hope to see it in the next few days. We need spoilers now because of how bad movies, on average, are.

2) I like Heinlein and all, I just don't get the Starship Troopers love that everyone has. It was kind of simplistic and boring. I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned Armor by John Steakley, which usually gets mentioned any time ST does, because it's a better story, with space armor battles and bugs, and some great "movie moments" built in.

3) Given the lack of examples available of deep space travel and alien races, almost anything is "plausible" because We Just Don't Know. Invaders could be pirates totally overestimating their own capabilities, could be working with a terribly wrong estimate of technological progression by humans, could be primitives using stolen technology, could be the last desperate remnants of a species that desperately needs resources and doesn't have enough to bombard or develop bio-weapons, etc.

It is always amusing to hear people claim confidently that "aliens wouldn't do that." O RLY? Based on how many examples?

I get that you would expect an invading force to be better prepared, so would I. But I can see a lot of reasons why they might not be.

172 Speaking of Glee. The worst part of gay liberation, from my perspective, is the ghettoization of musical theater. I come from a multi-generation military family and a multi-generation musical theater family. My grandpa fought in WW2 and performed Gilbert and Sullivan. My dad fought in Vietnam and performed Guys and Dolls. And both are typically taciturn, manly military guys -- who also love musical theater - there's no contradiction there.

Musical theater used to *be* pop culture. All those old-timey hit songs became hits because they were first showtunes.

My Dad still sings at piano bars. It's all craggy, retired old veterans belting out showtunes.

But now no straight dudes under 40 show any interest in musical theater/broadway because they are afraid it makes them look gay.

And as mainstream interest declined, broadway focused ever more on their remaining customers - women and gay dudes. So broadway just got more and more feminine and more and more gay.

I'm glad gay dudes get to be more open, good for them. But I'm sad it destroyed and marginalized one of my favorite art-forms.

173 I still like the old musicals and show tunes but the good new ones have become rare.

Will we ever get another Sound of Music or My Fair Lady? 

probably not.

174 I loved Battle: LA.  Sure, the characters were right out of Archetype Casting and in the back of my mind I was screaming "really?  REALLY?"  at being asked to swallow the centralized-C&C idea, but I didn't care.  The movie was so damn much FUN, and it was so refreshing to see the U.S. Marines presented, to a man, in an unambiguously positive and heroic light (something unheard of in today's Hollywood), that I was able to put aside all of the little problems.

One of my favorite scenes was when Aaron Eckhart starts rattling off the names, ranks, and serial numbers of his men in Afghanistan.  Powerful, just fuckin' powerful.  In what at first blush seems to be just another alien-invasion flick, Battle: LA manages, often very understatedly, to communicate the full scope of the honor, sacrifice, and responsibility of military service in a way I haven't seen a film do in a long time.

Go SEE this thing, folks.

175 I'm glad gay dudes get to be more open, good for them. But I'm sad it destroyed and marginalized one of my favorite art-forms.

Posted by: Clubber Lang at March 19, 2011 02:53 PM (QcFbt)

--Heh, I wonder if Steyn has commented on any of this, given that he's one of the most knowledgeable straight dudes on show tunes.

176 Posted by: Clubber Lang at March 19, 2011 02:53 PM (QcFbt)

Amen to this. My family has a musical background as well, going way back.  My grandfather loved to sing; his dad was a song-and-dance guy on stage in local theater the '20s.  Today.... well, everything's gay, there are no new "standards" being created, and there sure as hell aren't any new "Sound of Music"s.

177

A couple of minor points of dissent from Monty's critique: the aliens aren't completely stupid. It's not like there's one giant command and control center for the entire invasion (ala Independence Day) but rather one for each city being attacked. So after Eckhart and crew take out the LA C&C unit, there are still at least 19 more to go. Also, as far as infantry tactics are concerned, in the very first engagement with the aliens, Eckhart (I think) points out that the aliens led them into an ambush. So, not too shabby compared to some other movies (how exactly did the aliens in ID actually manufacture anything with those tentacles?).

178 I can't find any reference to a movie called Footfall...anybody got a linky for that?

179 logprof

Yeah Steyn probably has an interesting take on this. Broadway hasn't died, it just isn't a very important part of the culture anymore. The last big musicals were Les Miz and Phantom of the Opera, both in the 80s.

"Hit" musicals now barely penetrate mainstream culture. Rent, Avenue Q, Wicked -- few people can even recognize any of their songs. Wicked was a hit with high school girls in the BosNYWash corridor for a few years.

Every couple years a musical film is released. Chicago (a revival), Mamm Mia (pop songs from the 70s),  Moulin Rouge (pop songs), Sweeney Tod (revival).

The High School Musical franchise was popular with tween girls for a couple years there.

The biggest musicals in the past 20 years were probably the string of Disney movies in the early 90s - Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King. Those are songs that penetrated mass consciousness. Probably could sing those songs at a bar and get most of the crowd to sing along.

At best Broadway now occasionally creates a show which can be re-packaged to have moderate success later as a film.

180 The biggest musicals in the past 20 years were probably the string of Disney movies in the early 90s - Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King. Those are songs that penetrated mass consciousness. Probably could sing those songs at a bar and get most of the crowd to sing along.

Howard Ashman, the lyricist behind all those (sans Lion King) and Little Shop of Horrors was struck down in his prime from AIDS. Can't help but think he would have had a few more hits up his sleave.

181 I predict this movie will make a lot of money and win no awards.

182

Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,

Demands the immediate establishment of a cease-fire and a complete end to violence and all attacks against, and abuses of, civilians; Stresses the need to intensify efforts to find a solution to the crisis which responds to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people and notes the decisions of the Secretary-General to send his Special Envoy to Libya and of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to send its ad hoc High Level Committee to Libya with the aim of facilitating dialogue to lead to the political reforms necessary to find a peaceful and sustainable solution; Demands that the Libyan authorities comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, human rights and refugee law and take all measures to protect civilians and meet their basic needs, and to ensure the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance;

183 D'oh!

184 CanaDave: I think they were referring to a book.

185 I loved Independence Day. That's my favorite alien invasion movie. Considering how much power they had, you could definitely see how they would get overconfident.

186 Yeah, "Footfall" was a book written by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven and published around 1984 or 1985.  No movie yet, and probably never.  There's not enough paranoia like a Philip Dick story.  Hollywood loves them some Philip Dick stories.

187 184 CanaDave: I think they were referring to a book.

Posted by: WINNING! at March 19, 2011 03:45 PM (nEa/y)

Footfall suffered from the same problems as every other alien-invasion movie: star traveling aliens wouldn't bother sending in infantry to pacify the population, any more than you'd spend any time squashing ants one by one in your garden. If a star-travling race wanted us gone, they'd either introduce a bioweapon to do it, or simply drop rocks on us from orbit.

 

Sounds like they were talking about a movie...can't find any 'Footfall' in the IMDB though...

 

188 Ah, I guess Footfall was only a book...sounded interesting...was going to look around for it.

189 Personally I thought it was mediocre at best. Not one of the characters seemed real or enduring in any way.

190 Anachronda at March 19, 2011 02:36 PM (6fER6)

it is only 2 hours. you can watch it in uninterrupted glory on some site called
not bing videos something. gave me a new perspective on Josh being told to wipe out every motherfucker around or something like that in some old books and whatnot.

yeah, i am in sales. bet you still don't watch it, even with my jedi mind trick working full force...

191 The worst sci fi movies I've seen recently are Monsters and Skyline...the most defeatist, hopeless liberal talking point crap you can imagine.

192

Took my daughter to the movie and we both liked it for what it is - a 2 hr war movie.  Didn't like the shaky camera bit at the beginning, but the worst line in the movie was when someone (may be on the TV) says they came here for our water (using it as fuel, food, etc.) "... and our ocean levels are going down!"

Ocean levels dropping after a couple of days or aliens drinking? Well then, we don't need Obama to lower our oceans!

193 It could be shortened a bit if Chuck Missler just says "Hey, what if Satan is real and what if he and his buddies are putting on make up and performing scientific miracles while dressed up like aliens so they can get Al Gore and his lemmings to trust them and whatnot?" "While you think about that, check out this weird picture that Aleister Crowley drew."

194 @2 He was proud it showed the Marines in a good light.

Well, that explains the crappy reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

195 You can usually tell when characters are superficial - they overtly TELL YOU why you should like them. That's not how you effectively put together a story. Were there opening scenes a minute long to tell you the motivation of each character in Saving Private Ryan ? No.

196 190 yeah, i am in sales. bet you still don't watch it, even with my jedi mind trick working full force...
__________

Oh, I might get around to it. I enjoy the Nephilim stuff; it's highly entertaining. There's a good science fiction series in there somewhere.

197 D'oh! Old smelly sock be gone!

198 Just got home. Pretty fun flick.  Things blow up real good.

199 The shaky cam shit needs to stop. It's pretty ridiculous. I get it when I'm watching an embed filming stuff like Restrepo or Bomb Alley, but in a produced Hollywood movie? Cmon

200 Is it really that hard to give people what they want? Action +Americans Good Guys + Boy Gets Girl/Loses Girl/Gets Girl + More Things Blowing Up.

Just because this is what people want to see and will make millions of bucks the artsy/fartsy crowd snubs it and instead produces movies that maybe make 9 mil their entire run.

201

200 Is it really that hard to give people what they want? Action +Americans Good Guys + Boy Gets Girl/Loses Girl/Gets Girl + More Things Blowing Up.

 

Agreed....you could even skip the romance part

202 "you have to wonder if they just stole a starship from another, smarter race and then just went on a joyride with it." You mean, like the Kzinti; another Larry Niven idea.

203

I liked the film a lot. I did notice the lack of seriously advanced weaponry on the part of the aliens though. IIRC the need to knock out the central command center was because that was how they achieved air superiority with all those ships being drones.

204 If you are a Moron you will like it!  See it!  That's an order!

205 I still like how the aliens in Independence Day skipped Detroit. "Of this place already looked wrecked, some other aliens must have gotten here first."

Now if this film was called Battle: Cleveland the USMC probably would have given them the city.

206 I agree that this film was great fun, and that it was completely implausible.

It actually reminds me most of "Red Dawn", another movie I enjoyed despite being equally implausible, in pretty much the same way. (In one it's, "What if aliens staged a conventional land invasion from the ocean?. In the other it's,"What if Russia decided to invade starting in Kansas?")

207 speaking of television sci-fi... just as Stargate SGU was getting good, the brain trust at the Snakes & Alligators & Ghosts network cancel it. Posted by: McSoothsayer at March 19, 2011 01:23 PM (uFokq) Don't get me started on those asswipes.

208 Best thing about Battle LA: the enemy was an invading enemy force, not a rogue Marine or a racist Marine or a cabal of Halliburton execs. A real enemy.

Finally!

Speaking of Red Dawn, the new one is not looking so good. http://tinyurl.com/624ormn

209

I loved Battle:LA.

I Grew up a fan of war movies. The entire time I was watching this I was waiting for Aldo Ray to come out kicking Van Johnson for being a "Gosh darn FOOL!". This movie was more of an homage to classic war movies than inglorious bastards. I agree this was a compliment to every person serving in the military today. 

210 88 Consider: the most valuable resource on Earth isn't oil, or iron, or water, or any of that nonliving crap. It's biomass. It's genomes. It's the blanket of living things from bacteria to humans. That's the rare, unique resource on Earth which you can't find anywhere else. Actually, we come for the peanuts. Can't grow them at home on Gliese.

211

just as Stargate SGU was getting good, the brain trust at the Snakes & Alligators & Ghosts network cancel it.

Yeah, just when they figured out that the liberal defeatist shit isn't gonna get them past season 1 and they started sorting it out, they cancel it. 

Something else that's starting to get good?...'V'...they killed off 'Emo-Boy' in the season finale...thank the heavens, I hated him...bad girl Anna is still bad, there's a secret resistance by the US Gov't called 'Aries' project we just found out about, Season 3 will kick ass if they keep it up.

212 Just got back from Battle:LA.

I loved it. Cried a couple three times, wanted to kick the shit out of anything that moved a couple times, and left the theater wanting to go shooting.

I loved it.

Sands of Fuckin Santa Monica.

John Wayne's Sgt. Stryker would have been proud.

ps: Fuck whoever invented shakey cam. May they rot in Hell.

213

Probably pushing it a little but here's my take and my plug for the weird plot hole that Ace mentioned. 

A biomechanoid spacefaring race crash lands looking to start a colony.  They are biomechanoid to handle the rigors of spaceflight.  The guns suck because they're a space faring race looking to colonize a decent looking rock.  How many planets do you think have primitive apes with guided missles and nukes?  They landed quick and hard expecting nothing more than real apes, which their kit would have been plenty to handle.  So they came light and in heavy centralized command and control because they weren't expecting a fight back.  After landing, they probably sent a message back to HQ saying hey this rock is hostile, wtf just happened??

 

214

"It is always amusing to hear people claim confidently that "aliens wouldn't do that." O RLY? Based on how many examples?"

Exactly. The thing about aliens is...they're fucking aliens! They come from a different planet, they evolved in an entirely different ecosystem, they're progression of civilisation and technology may not have had any parallels to ours whatsoever.

they.are.not.like.us (well, probably not)

Maybe they're religious fanatics, like someone above said about the Covenant in Halo. Maybe they are proud warriors who find the idea of killing at a distance reprehensible. Maybe their culture never knew conflict before they mastered star travel, and they've learned all they know about warfare from more "primitive" races like us. Maybe they have the one C&C node because they're a hive society incapable of doing it any other way.

215 First, the shaky-cam: I wanted some Dramamine for the first half-hour or so. Why, oh why, has this cinema verite trick gotten so overused?

Because shaky YouTube videos are cool, man. Really effin' cool to the point that Hollywood has to copy that crap...

216

Battle LA was pretty good...Monty overrated it though.

 

217 Went and watched it. Awesome. Loved the scene where they roll along in a LAV and a Humvee and rolling over the bad-guys and laughing at it.

As for their lack of advanced weaponry. There are two explanations for that. One is the simple effectiveness and reliability of firearms versus the complexity and power requirements of a directed-energy weapon. The other is that interstellar travel is potentially easier than we think and doesn't necessarily require huge power sources.

As for why they didn't drop rocks from orbit. Two reasons, we'd see that rightfully as WMDs and we'd use Nukes on them. The other is they didn't want to cause a nuclear winter.

218 A Marine would never be used as a suicide bomber. Never, ever, NEVER.

219

OK, some have talked about how the aliens had poor tactics, didn't use super advanced bio warfare, should have swatted us like flies, etc.

Good point.  I'll try to explain how it could possibly happen.

Imagine an alien race that had only one government for all of its recorded history, and had never encountered an alien race through out the thousands of star systems it had mined/extracted resources from.

This alien race had no concept for the idea of alien life.  Everything was either the Hive... or resource to be used.(animal, vegetable, or mineral made no difference)

Thus, this race had very advanced technology, but no real concept of warfare and battle tactics.  At best, they had simple police tactics.

So then this alien Hive found the earth.  The perceived a resource, comprehended that this resource was dangerous, but decided to consume it regardless.  They can't use any bio tactics against us, because they have never encountered our DNA before.

So they decide to go in an take our resources, but all they have is their simple police tactics.  So this is why they seem incompetant, even though they have such advanced technology.

This is the first "war" they have ever fought.

220 And refitting a battleship with a nuclear pusher-plate engine to go up against the alien ship? ("Message Bearer", wasn't it?) Yeah: I dun' theenk so, Lucy.

No, Monty, you misremember quite a bit of Footfall.  They built a heavily-armored Orion-type spacecraft that might be described as a "battleship", but they definitely did not "refit a battleship"

221 What if the aliens were mercenary goofballs hired by a rogue spin-off of the Alien equivalent of Texaco and they got their butts whipped because they were half as thug posers taking on a REAL professional military.