Skyline (2010) [Archive]

Dukefrukem

08-11-2010, 01:09 AM

I'm ashamed I hadn't heard of this before now. It's pretty much ID4 in 2010 as far as I can tell... (no that's not Will Smith in the shot below)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W3CcQJ21ZTM/TElXzxvPLJI/AAAAAAAAABM/F4A2ie8zHFY/s1600/Skyline+Movie.jpg

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherworldly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

Trailer. (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/skyline/)

If at all relevant, the special effects were done by the same company that did Avatar and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, so we might be in store for some good eye candy.

megladon8

08-11-2010, 01:11 AM

That looks retarded.

But the image of all those bodies flying up into the ship at the end had me giggling.

[ETM]

08-11-2010, 01:25 AM

The number of upcoming alien invasions in seemingly every medium is... staggering. And the funniest thing is - almost none of them look good at all.

Dukefrukem

08-11-2010, 01:39 AM

;280310']The number of upcoming alien invasions in seemingly every medium is... staggering. And the funniest thing is - almost none of them look good at all.

What are some others? (aside from the two threads I just updateD)

Super 8?

Henry Gale

08-11-2010, 01:45 AM

It's sad to see that District 9 didn't push the thought that an original idea made independently could serve to be effective and successful when no studios or past blockbusters directly influence it, but instead seems to have spawned Hollywood to greenlight a half-dozen things made to look exactly like it.

I know the directors essentially made this in a soundstage at their house (and looking at the visuals there with that in mind is fairly impressive), but I thought their AVP:R was horrible, and based on that alone I had zero expectations here. I will say though that the last shot, the mass abduction, really got me. If the rest of the film is stuff like that, then it may have a shot of being alright. Otherwise, not too interested.

megladon8

08-11-2010, 01:48 AM

What are some others? (aside from the two threads I just updateD)

Super 8?

Battle: Los Angeles, Cowboys and Aliens and hinted-at sequels to District 9 and Independence Day are a few I know of off the top of my head...

Dukefrukem

08-11-2010, 01:53 AM

I for one would love a squeal to Independence Day.

Henry Gale

08-11-2010, 01:54 AM

What are some others? (aside from the two threads I just updateD)

Super 8?

That as well as Monsters, Battle: Los Angeles, Cowboys & Aliens, then there's reports that the Gears of War film is apparently being re-tooled to be more like D9, and probably a few things I'm forgetting. Seems like a lot more alien video games than usual are popping up too.

EDIT: Beaten for most of these examples...

Dead & Messed Up

08-11-2010, 03:04 AM

The directors made Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The writers have written nothing and work as visual effects artists for the directors. So, despite the pretty shot at the end (in a film that will contain thousands of shots), I have little interest in this one.

Winston*

08-11-2010, 06:01 AM

Haha. "Why didn't we listen to you, Stephen Hawking?!"

megladon8

08-11-2010, 06:02 AM

Eric Balfour has a really big chin.

Dukefrukem

08-11-2010, 12:20 PM

Eric Balfour has a really big chin.

It's true!!!

Wryan

08-11-2010, 02:13 PM

I for one would love a squeal to Independence Day.

This is funnier than it looks.

Also, I had hoped this would be about Skyline Chili.

eternity

08-11-2010, 10:30 PM

Trailer reaction...hey look, Lawrence O'Donnell and Dan Rather.

MadMan

08-12-2010, 09:36 PM

Pitty there's no Will Smith. Mainly because I was going to make another "Ahhh hell nah!" joke.

eternity

08-12-2010, 10:45 PM

Pitty there's no Will Smith. Mainly because I was going to make another "Ahhh hell nah!" joke.
Donald Faison is a good enough replacement.

MadMan

08-13-2010, 02:49 AM

Donald Faison is a good enough replacement.That's the guy who played Turk on Scrubs, right? Yeah he's a good actor, comedic wise.

KK2.0

08-16-2010, 04:19 PM

Fezzik

08-16-2010, 08:26 PM

Pitty there's no Will Smith. Mainly because I was going to make another "Ahhh hell nah!" joke.

Welcome to Earf.

Dukefrukem

08-19-2010, 04:56 PM

http://www.aintitcool.com/images2009/skylineposter.jpg

Ezee E

08-19-2010, 05:14 PM

I'm thinking a lot of ID4, but it's a nice image no less.

Dead & Messed Up

08-19-2010, 06:22 PM

Looks like they're dropping confetti on the planet. Alien overlord = Rip Taylor?

kopello

08-19-2010, 07:16 PM

When I saw the trailer before Scott Pilgrim I thought that was the Wayan brothers there at the end. :P

Anyways I can't imagine this being any good.

Sxottlan

08-20-2010, 08:25 AM

The image and sound of people screaming as they're being pulled up into the ships is genuinely disturbing.

Otherwise, meh.

Lasse

10-01-2010, 09:10 AM

New, longer trailer.

From filmz.dk (http://filmz.dk/film/skyline/trailers/32933)

Dukefrukem

10-01-2010, 02:02 PM

some of that looks pretty cool....

Lasse

10-01-2010, 05:55 PM

Yeah, I actually think it looks quite entertaining.

Kurosawa Fan

10-01-2010, 09:38 PM

Could be a fun theater experience. Odds are it will be awful.

D_Davis

10-01-2010, 09:43 PM

So are you safe from the tractor beams if you don't look up? Does it only lock onto the retinas of your eyes? That's a pretty silly oversight on the aliens' part if you ask me. Kind of like those stupid aliens is Signs - I mean, if your weakness was water would you attack a planet made largely of that liquid? If I were an alien, I'd make a tractor beam that would lock on to the entire human body, one whose beam would not be obstructed by clothing or the direction my victim might be looking.

megladon8

10-01-2010, 09:44 PM

Looks dumb. Terrible effects, too.

I'll see it :lol:

[ETM]

10-01-2010, 10:24 PM

Why is such a complex effects feature headlined by TV actors and unknowns? I mean, Eric "show killer" Balfour on this kind of budget?

megladon8

10-01-2010, 10:25 PM

;290751']Why is such a complex effects feature headlined by TV actors and unknowns? I mean, Eric "show killer" Balfour on this kind of budget?

What do you mean on this kind of budget?

This was made for next to nothing (by Hollywood standards).

[ETM]

10-01-2010, 10:28 PM

What do you mean on this kind of budget?

This was made for next to nothing (by Hollywood standards).

I don't know the numbers, I just know it looks as if most of the movie is effects shots, which can't be cheap on any budget. Serenity cost $40 million, and it had real actors in it.

megladon8

10-01-2010, 10:30 PM

;290753']I don't know the numbers, I just know it looks as if most of the movie is effects shots, which can't be cheap on any budget. Serenity cost $40 million, and it had real actors in it.

No it didn't, they were TV actors.

Their careers were made by "Firefly" and Serenity.

[ETM]

10-01-2010, 10:33 PM

No it didn't, they were TV actors.

Their careers were made by "Firefly" and Serenity.

You must think I'm an idiot with replies like that.

I meant Chiwetel Ejiofor etc, of course, not the main cast. And I was half joking. Serenity had one short space battle, the rest of the shots could have been done on a TV budget, too.

megladon8

10-01-2010, 10:35 PM

;290756']You must think I'm an idiot with replies like that.

What the hell are you talking about? There was absolutely nothing vindictive about my reply.

Jesus.

I meant Chiwetel Ejiofor etc, of course, not the main cast. And I was half joking. Serenity had one short space battle, the rest of the shots could have been done on a TV budget, too.

Even Chiwetel Ejiofor was - at the time - a smaller and less recognizable actor than Eric Balfour.

[ETM]

10-01-2010, 10:36 PM

What the hell are you talking about? There was absolutely nothing vindictive about my reply.

Jesus.

Spelling out the obvious for me? You know I'm a fan and I know those things.
But yeah, whatever. Later.

megladon8

10-01-2010, 10:38 PM

;290758']Spelling out the obvious for me? You know I'm a fan and I know those things.
But yeah, whatever. Later.

No, I didn't know you were a fan.

Take a pill dude. I wasn't being mean, condescending or anything.

Sxottlan

11-13-2010, 04:53 AM

Yeah. Pretty bad movie. The story is basically Cloverfield all over again, but not nearly as good. The directors aren't brave enough to tell it entirely from the point of view of the people in the apartment building and cut away to swooping aerial battles.

It is interesting to a certain degree that the film ends with the aliens basically winning, which just makes the whole thing depressing. The whole bit at the end that tries to shine a ray of hope on the film, with the boyfriend's brain, is just so silly. Really, the aliens' entire physiology is pretty lame. What, do they only kind of work when they aren't using another species' brain?

I thought the film was pretty graphic for a PG-13.

number8

11-13-2010, 05:54 AM

Oh, hey, I was wondering what the ending was.

megladon8

11-13-2010, 05:57 AM

Yeah, seriously dude.

Skitch

11-13-2010, 09:02 AM

Dammit dude, this is why I never click on a thread after a movie released. Wtf.

Sxottlan

11-13-2010, 11:43 AM

I'm sorry folks. I really wasn't thinking there.

Dammit dude, this is why I never click on a thread after a movie released. Wtf.

Well after you spoiled The Force Unleashed for me last summer, now we're sort of even. It had only been years since it came out! ;)

Dukefrukem

11-15-2010, 11:43 AM

There was a review somewhere I read they said this movie isn't worth a $1 rental at red box

Skitch

11-16-2010, 01:16 AM

It takes a special kind of person to see the trailer for this movie and think, "Yes. I am going to see that. On purpose." This kind of person, like myself, I affectionately refer to as "sci-fi whores". We are drawn to these films like moths to a bug zapper (har har, yeah, a groaner, but its relative to the film so shut up).

Skyline is a sufficent film for these types. We get our aliens, our shiny special effects, and some stuff blows up. Considering the last thing we saw from the Brothers Strause was AvP: Requiem, expectations were not set to stun, but given the thin budget I give them credit for the excellent effects.

The acting was good enough to avoid "SyFy channel original" labeling, but not enough to surpass a Roland Emmerich double-call back audition.

The ending may leave some viewers apoplectic. Its an eyebrow raiser that will divide the audience between "smirking-shrugging-glass-half-full-apologists", and "Indepedence Day-is-my-favorite-movie-and-I-didnt-see-Will-Smith-here-at-all" types.

I enjoyed it, but its not surpassing Hamlet anytime soon. In a way, its a serious take on an alien invasion, and yes, Will Smith is not in this movie.

One more added thought...there was never any meaning or insight into the title of this movie. "How about 'Skyline'? Well, we do spend most of the movie looking at it, works for me!"

lovejuice

11-16-2010, 02:22 PM

The ending may leave some viewers apoplectic.
Just spoil it, Me Hearty. I'm curious.

Skitch

11-16-2010, 04:05 PM

Just spoil it, Me Hearty. I'm curious.

after spending the entire movie in building, they become trapped on roof, then zapped up by alien ship. The preggers girlfriend watches as the aliens remove the brains of humans (which for some reason are bright blue), and put them in some sort of alien body, turning them alien, or part of the hive mind, I assume.

She finds her boyfriend. He gets picked up and de-brained, but his brain is bright red. She is taken to another room to have her child cut out of her. BF red brain goes into alien body thingy, but its clearly acting differently. She screams as blades come towards her. He leaps to alien feet, crashes through wall, saves her. She screams, but then realizes its him. Aliens gather and he prepares to fight, end movie.

This was intercut with big sweeping shots of destroyed cities around the world, implying the invaders kicked our asses.

Very not typical Hollywood ending. Also the pacing of above scene was severly rushed in comparison with rest of film, so it was quite a left field knock upside the face.

DavidSeven

11-18-2010, 05:13 AM

The acting was good enough to avoid "SyFy channel original" labeling, but not enough to surpass a Roland Emmerich double-call back audition.

Nicely done.

Dukefrukem

04-10-2011, 12:51 AM

for my fourth movie I watched today, I went with Skyline. Not sure how i feel about it yet. I found myself oddly interested in the two main characters which kept me entertained, but I felt like this movie was one giant tech-demo for a computer game.

Morris Schæffer

04-25-2012, 02:46 PM

I just gotta give credit here to the Brothers Strause. Their Alien Vs. Predator offering was pretty bad, but that was to be expected. This, I thought, was going to be a colossal stinker, but it's not. The FX were faaar better than I had expected and that really is amazing given the budget. It's pretty bleak too and although there are the obligatory shots of Earth, sorry I meant Earf, fighting back, these sequences are relatively sparse. Perhaps due to budgetary constraints or perhaps because the brothers (wonder if they're black?!) wanted to do something a little different. The first 40 minutes feel pretty constrictive which is good since such movies are frequently about expansive vistas and big-ass scenes of destruction and war. So that gave it a little extra I thought. That scene where the tentacles ensnare the helicopter is soooo Prototype. As for the complaints about the aliens doing what they do, well, they're aliens. Who the hell knows what Aliens do anyway. [•• or ••½] for me. Don't know yet.

Dukefrukem

05-22-2014, 08:56 PM

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/beyond-skyline.jpg

Skitch

05-22-2014, 10:02 PM

Nice!

number8

11-10-2014, 07:50 PM

The sequel (http://variety.com/2014/film/news/raid-star-iko-uwais-tapped-for-beyond-skyline-1201351432/) is set in Indonesia and is starring Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, and Frank Grillo. Uwais and Ruhian will serve as fight choreographers.

What the fuck?