Dumb Choices: How Dumb is Too Dumb?

Alien Covenant sucked

[@personanongrata3716]

The scientists in Prometheus acted already dumb. It was really a surprise to me that they decided to make the scientists in Covenant even dumber.

[@MarcusWright-uc7zs]

Ridley Scott and writers are to be blamed for the failure of alien prequels

[@Col_Fragg]

You have misremembered the plot details of "Pulp Fiction." Butch didn't decide of the spur-of-the-moment to win the boxing match. Butch planned to win the fight all along. Once word leaked out that the fix was in, the odd went way up that Butch would win the fight. Knowing this, Butch arranged for his brother to lay in bets with all the major bookies so that Butch could win and wind big. This is revealed in the phone booth conversation Butch has with his brother. That's why he had pre-arranged for the taxi to be waiting in the alley so that he could make good his escape.

[@JamesPawson]

"I turn off my brain when watching tv/movies and you should too" is the gist of my friends' attitudes/responses when I go into this sort of thing with them. One friend has said "if the characters didn't make bad choices there would be no show" so many damn times I can't believe it - especially re the Walking Dead. As an aside, I notice these people tend to have a weak grasp on reality too, but never mind.

[@PengyDraws]

Your brain isn't exactly turned on if these are the only things you're noticing

[@JamesPawson]

@@PengyDraws Agreed.

[@RealCoolGuy]

My brother refuses to watch Pacific rim because he says "Why would they build robots to fight off monsters, just shoot them" ...obviously, the answer is "because robots fighting monsters is cool" but he's got a really good point

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

One thing Doug didn't mention here (as such) is that when the dumb thing is the actual premise of the film, we are meant to just accept it. That includes things like the existence of dragons in GoT. The premise is the starting point that is not subject to debate. It's the execution of that premise that falls under question. So for instance, you might say "Given that they are building giant robots to fight these monsters, why would they do it THIS way instead of some more obviously effective way?" And that would be legitimate.

[@RealCoolGuy]

@@ShootMeMovieReviews Right but that would require you to accept the premise. My brother, in this case, rejects the premise altogether. I have another friend who refuses to watch Batman films because he finds it ridiculous that a man would dress up like Halloween and punch criminals. He's right but everyone accepts it because Batman is awesome. I don't blame him for his stance because it is ridiculous that a man would wear a bat costume to punch criminals. It would be difficult to enjoy a film at all if you're thinking that the premise is stupid through the whole viewing...in fact, a lot of people feel that way about superhero and sci-fi films in general. And the same can be said for any genre with a premise that is outside of a viewers familiarity.

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

@@RealCoolGuy True enough. I rather enjoyed Charlie Brooker's talk re: "Le Chevalier Noir" and how he basically tries to solve socio-economic injustices by punching people in the face. Also how Dark Knight Rising has the same ending as the campy Batman movie of the 60s.

[@RealCoolGuy]

@@ShootMeMovieReviews Interesting. Is there a link to that talk? Google is not giving me much...

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

@@RealCoolGuy I'm not finding it either. I think it was part of one of his annual 'wipes'. it's the source of his quote, "Calling Batman 'the Dark Knight' is like calling Papa Smurf 'the Blue Patriarch':you're not fooling anyone." But I can't find the actual video. It's a brief video review, maybe 3 minutes long I think. There was a time when I binged everything he did, so it could have come from almost anywhere. All I know for sure is it was a response to The Dark Knight Rises.

[@y2j1980x]

I mean that’s absolutely right - and the first Alien movie showed that there are ways of writing a story taking aspects, like the wearing of an oxygen mask, into account because Kane was wearing one and the alien bug still got through it by busting through the glass. I think a way around the Covenant issue would simply be by having a crew member discover some kind of sharp bush, then accidentally tear a hole in their clothing without realising touching the bush released spores which drifted into their torn suit.

[@ShootMeMovieReviews]

This is much more exhaustively argued than really is necessary given how obviously right you are. Even if they'd had just the mouth covered though, I'd still find it idiotic to expose their skin and ears. The fact is, they could simply have had one of the characters have an accident that results in their suit being compromised. Problem solved.

[@nanyabizness564]

i hope when your channel inevitably grows you'll stay on the same level of charisma and quality production stayinh away from populism. wish you best

[@nanyabizness564]

@Desert Fox that's not what i meant)

[@funhat900]

I once saw a man set himself on fire and then jump off a roof on a bicycle, with only a garbage can half full of water to put himself out with. There is no such thing as unrealistically dumb. I'm not being sarcastic, I like Your video.

[@tantryl]

See but even then you can see that he considered the potential problem and had a plan to deal with it. It's not a good idea. It's not a good plan. But it's there. In Covenant people do the thing, the big important thing in the big important situation, having had lots of time to consider them, having the expertise that should allow them to not only see the sensible thing to do but even see smarter things than you'd think of. And then they set themselves on fire and ride off the roof... right into the spikes of a wrought iron fence and confused as to why they're still on fire, having done nothing to put it out.

[@dorianleakey]

@@tantryl They could do a Jackass vibe version of Alien where this would work very well, thats basically what Fun Hat suggested. "We bought this spaceship and we are going to kick each other in the nuts on an unexplored alien world without any safety equipment!"

[@fabianforslund4622]

Your editing is good, you are obviously very knowledgable on film and you make good points. I subbed for your "Now You See Me 2" review and I'm definitely staying around. Great video, keep it up.

[@adityasamal3720]

Wtf you're criminally underrated my dude

[@stevenclubb7718]

Waaaay behind the times on this one. I think how much Dumb matters is based on how serious a film takes itself. A good melodrama is an example of a non-comedy having a lot of license to be dumb, because it's designed to be overly dramatic. Soap operas can be insanely dumb without turning the audience off. But if you're attempting to say something meaningful, then dumb can be lethal. There's exceptions, such as Everything Everywhere All At Once which uses absurdity in pursuing its serious points. If Convenent had aspired to be nothing more than a fun horror movie, the characters could be really, really stupid and be successful, but the serious themes and serious tone almost demand the plot logic be equally serious.

[@adityasamal3720]

Just hang in there and keep making videos and you'll get your big break

[@Monkey-fv2km]

Too dumb is less about realism and more about being unable to empathize with the protagonists due to inconsistent behaviour or unpredictable cause and effect. I ran out of character empathy about halfway through covenant and stopped watching because I just didn't care what happens any more.

[@triple6j]

I don't think you are supposed to feel too empathetic. For me it was a movie about David ( the robot) succeeding with his plan.

[@R0B1NG5]

In terms of Covenant, people often point at the medbay scene as dumb. And while it does have some dumb moments, like a completely out of place hug, a lot of it could be covered under the panic excuse you talk about. For me personally it almost starts to come off as comedic how much bad "luck" or panic decisions or whatever happens in a row. You could just change the music and prat falling on blood and blowing yourself up in your ship as a new born little alien runs away unharmed could be in a spaceballs type movie or something. But for me the dumbest scene is the one near the end, with the stand-in captain and David. The Captain has watched monsters kill his crew. He watched David try to communicate with one. He calls David the devil. He has a gun. He follows David to his horrific lab where he explains he is creating weird shit. He follows David to his dank basement where he has some big eggs. David tells him to take a look. This captain character started the movie feeling like the crew did not respect him and wrestled with how he can live up to the previous captain. He is also a man of rare faith at this time, so identifying someone as the devil has quite a lot of weight to it. So when he has the situation to address the only things we know about him, what do you think he would do? He is holding a gun and has the power in the situation, its stressful, but not a panic situation, he appears calm. He would feel some emotion for his murdered collogues and want to avenge them and as the captain, feel responsibility towards those who still survive and end this here so they stay alive. He has a Devil in his sights. His faith can't be any clearer in terms of what he should do in terms of resisting anything it has to say or to help feel justified in destroying it. So of course, he sticks his head over the egg and ends up birthing a monster that attacks more of his crew, and dies. Logic, emotion and his faith should all point him one way. Nothing is pointing him the otherway, but he still chooses that. Its dumb. Its bad character writing. He becomes an empty character and is just used as an incubator because the plot says so. People make jokes about the guy in the first Alien movie being dumb. He wasn't at the end of the movie, knowing that monsters are real and they killed his crew. The Alien was not sitting in the background twirling his mustache as the egg was inspected. He wore about as much protective gear as you would think would be reasonable. He is exploring an alien ship, without the meta context of being in a horror movie, that is intriguing to him. Its a completely different context. Covenant is ten times worse.

[@darkinstinctful123]

Yo this channel is underrated

[@WESTSIDENIA]

I get it that these people in this era are use to space travel but they landed in a new planet and the crew was oblivious to the new world wonders or lack thereof 😂

[@Anderson0377]

amazing content, man found your channel after watching Pyro's Utopia video subbed

[@shoestringmovies6530]

great video as always

[@israelgirmay5110]

What's the name of the Background Music which starts on 2:33 oh and also 6:14 please

[@ur4913]

Blizzard by light culb and dust by m.o.o.n

[@israelgirmay5110]

@@ur4913 thanks a lot bud, i really appreciate it

[@Senior_Partner]

As much as I love John Carpenter's The Thing, it has the same problems. But people love it and respect Carpenter so much no one says anything or cares. Also the not wearing helmets because there is breathable air, I term Star Trek logic. Anyone who has watched the Original Series knows what I mean. So this trope has been around since the 1960's.

[@davout71]

I remember watching Alien Covenant years ago and remember thinking in general that the crew often made unprofessional and foolish decisions considering they should have been chosen from the best of the best.

[@BEdwardStover]

also tiny particles that are smart and acting with will is super duper unrealistic if they merely drifted in as part of a wide dispersal, that would have been realistic so basically every time the movie maker uses a far fetched unrealistic choice there was a real reasonable choice right there for the taking

[@ronelamont8161]

If there are dragons and ice zombies and people surviving bodily damage that would kill a normal human then yes, people have the absolute right to laugh at you for trying to input reality into the medium your trying to enjoy.

[@RecDougs]

then that same piece of media has no right to expect audiences to fear for the life of the character in any given "dangerous" scenario

[@ronelamont8161]

@@RecDougs everyone enjoys stories differently. I'm not usually caught up in those particular things. But if I watch a comic book movie then my brain becomes picky as hell.

[@midnightblue1874]

Maybe sole purpose of these movies is to get their auidience more dumber. Who knows, after 20 years people will consider this movie as masterpiece, cause everything else is going to be even more stupid like in idiocracy...

[@AitorMolina.]

I susprisingly heard these type of complains a lot, even that "Blade Runner 2049 isn't good because there are a couple of plot conveniences".

[@JDoeX]

Finally someone fucking gets it. Why did you stop making videos? This is actually good shit. Just found the channel.

[@RecDougs]

Still making videos 👌🏼 just super busy

[@andrewlawless9796]

Music in this video?

[@iamthewizardwhoknocks2845]

The first one sounded like the Utopia theme.

[@ZombiiChix]

That's a lot of dumb

[@heydudeimtrying]

Hihihihih Back on topic

[@Dow9399]

i love u

[@TheMightyCookieShow]

I do not disagree at all that if we're on an alien world, we probably should have some kind of helmet on to Keep Us Alive,but ... what I will say is I don't understand why we give Star Trek a pass for doing literally the exact same thing and over and over and over again these guys it was their first time theyd ever done it and yet we nail them to the cross and give Captain Kirk a pass. ???I .. really don't understand that

[@triple6j]

Jesus how many times did you have to repeat the fact that they weren't wearing helmets. I was really hoping you were going to make more interesting points about Alien Covenant

[@peterondrus7065]

His point is that the dumb decision kicks off the movie and how argument ´oh there would be no movie´ is wrong. He said he is not gonna go into detail about the alien.

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

They'd have to shove in a pointless scene where the suits fail or whatever. That would be dumb. Perhaps even mess up the pacing. And nitpickers on the internet would just say "so dumb, their suits failed. blah blah blergh"

[@triple6j]

@@peterondrus7065 i mean they probably did run tests that said it was safe for them to take of their suits within the story. They could have easily had a scene that justified taking the helmets off it just wouldn't have been that interesting. Personally I really enjoyed the movie and couldn't care less about the point this guy is trying to make.

[@peterondrus7065]

@@triple6j And even if they had it it's still stupid because of what happend in the movie. If you don't care about the point why are you watching it in the first place.

[@triple6j]

@@peterondrus7065 as I said I thought he was going to make some more interesting points. There are errors some times, a lot of the spores had to be interacted with for them to come out. Its not like what was on that planet was expected.

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

Not wearing a helmet doesn't matter. Have you seen Alien? Helmets are pointless, so away with them. This isn't a documentary. The spores would just pass through the air filter because they have to for the plot. Wearing a helmet didn't protect the guy in the original movie.

[@ericsonofjohn9384]

The Alien Covenant hate is entirely unwarranted. You're judging characters for not knowing things you do. Is it dumb every time they go down to a new planet without helmets in star trek? No? So why is it dumb in Alien Covenant. If you were watching the movie and had no idea that zenomorphs existed, you would have no second thoughts about masks.

[@Sfhinxs1]

this movie is an ofense....The moment i saw '' let's land here'' then the droid = ''the signal points 8km ahead...AT CONSIDERABLE ELEVATION''......So, why the hell you landed here instead of land directly there or at least 50mt close fk off ....I was dying lauguing so hard inside theater dammm dumb ppl wanted to kill me trough the entire movie kkkkkkkkkk