Ridley Scott and HR Giger
Ok Kiddies, you asked for it (well, at least Pollygix did.) For the record: Ridley Scott and HR Giger are NOT
the best director or artist that ever lived. I will make this short and sweet since my arithitis is killing me.
Here are my credentials for making this statement are as follows:
1. I'm old (49) and seen a whole lot movies, art and read thousands of pages on both.
2. I have a college degree in art and if the University of CA had had minors, I would have had one in film.
Are Ridley Scott and HR Giger really important to the development of American cinema? You bet your ass, they are. Most of the "dark" science fiction, fantasy and films like all of the Batman movies wouldn't be made without them. But they have both have serious flaws that neither seems to have figured out and gotten the problem solved.
If you give Ridley Scott a rock-solid, clean script and leave him alone - you get a great a film. Alien, Blackhawk Down, Gladiator, the 1st Director's Cut of Blade Runner. His casting instincts are excellent. But he can't fix a story or script, deal with a shitty studio choice in casting (Tom Cruise) and is apt to get lost in the artistic details.
HR Giger is an illustrator. That's not a negative, some of my favorite artists are illustrators. But he does one type of work, the bio-mechanical critter and, yes, he is awesome but that's all he does.
You may now all start taking shots at my head. Please try to spell correctly and give us examples.
ROFL!
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lets see..
Giger..
Dune
Most of the Alien movies except 3 (which i hate)
yeah i'd say he has a good grip on Biomechanics
I would suggest starting by
I would suggest starting by researching more about HR Giger. The fact that you say he is an "illustrator" speaks to me that you don't know much about him or his work.
Saying all Giger did was the biomechanical alien is like saying all Dali did was paint melted clocks.
!
I think the point they're trying to make is that he doesn't "just" do the biomechanical alien, but that's practically the only art style he is proficient in. Dali didn't just do melted clocks, but that same style is all he really did do.
Exactly. He also did
Exactly. He also did biomechanical sculptures, biomechanical furniture, and biomechanical jewelry you can buy off his website.
yup
Harkonen Chairs for Dune..although his stuff is a bit creepy for living room furniture.
Giger is an illustrator
The difference between artist and illustrator is that the former does wnatever he wants and the latter is paid to make pictures of others' ideas. Now, up until the creation of the camera, artists did both. Portraits, murals, recording (commemorating and faking) history. After the camera, Marcel Duchamp led a revolution in defining what was art (some subjects and materials were not considered art regardless of the creator.) So, the guiding principle became "it's art if the artist says it's art." The Pop Art movement and the West Coast Art movement blurred the lines even more by using materials and techniques taken directly from commercial processes.
H.R. Giger made his name as a commercial illustrator. And while his work is well know and even iconic, he's never transended that. His work doesn't exist outside of the Alien style movies or H.P. Lovecraft type fiction. That doesn't mean he's bad, but he ain't Da Vinci or Picasso.
well....
He was also a furniture designer, interior decorator, and game designer...Dark seed, and Dark seed2. So saying his work does't go beyond what is stated above is moot.
I did make a mistake though, he did do the sketches for Alien 3, it was aliens (2) he didn't work on, and i still don't like Aliens 3
Blackhawk Down sucked balls.
Blackhawk Down sucked balls. Not realistic at all considering I was in that armpit. Mogadishu (or the Shoe as we called it) Somalia was the worst shit hole and stain on human existence known to man and they didn't get much right in that so called film. Alien was good, I think the last one...third one...I dunno sucked but whatever. All the rest of those were decent flicks though.
Hey Limper
It was a great film. Hollyweird rarely gets historically accurate and not having been there, it didn't bother me. I have heard the same thing from several other people, though. Sorry you had to be there.