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mark, personal space invader
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Dec 19, 2011 05:45PM
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i also love:
Alien Quadrilogy (probably the first 2 the most)
The Road Warrior
Things to Come (a great classic)
A.I.
Minority Report
War of the World
Gattaca
Equilibrium
Sunshine
Mars Attacks!
The Man from the Deep (short film)
World on a Wire (Fassbinder miniseries)
guilty favorites:
Dune
Starship Troopers
Chronicles of Riddick
Aeon Flux
Ultraviolet
Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow
Ice Pirates
A Sound of Thunder
and pretty much any of those brightly-colored & ridiculous Italian cheapies from the 50s & 60s
the most recent one i've seen was, i'm sad to say, I Am Number Four. weak as it was, i enjoyed it.
i think most of the scifi (ish) films i've watched in the past couple years or so are comic book or cartoon adaptations. my most recent favorite would be Speed Racer, which didn't get a whole lot of love. but visually, i thought it was amazing.
Mark, I agree with most of your list. I'd go one step further and pass a law that Blade Runner, The Road Warrior, & Equilibrium should be required viewing to graduate high school.
Favorites that haven't been listed:Clockwork Orange
Dark City
Galaxy Quest
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original)
Neon Evangelion (mostly brilliant anime with a sloppy ending)
Pitch Black
Star Wars (sci-fi/fantasy whatever)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (original)
Watchmen (counting for the Dr. Manhattan sections)
And I think I'm done. :)
Five great and important SF genre films.2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Terminator 2
The Matrix
Alien & Aliens
2001 is perhaps Kubrick's most celebrated and greatest work. Of course he had great material to start with and the film hit a cultural hot spot.
Blade Runner. You get to choose your favorite version from the 5 or so readily available for viewing. The question still remains if not of sheep, do androids dream?
Terminator 2:Judgement Day Groundbreaking integration of fX into the story line. The movie isn't just another visual laden extravaganza that has a some dialogue and tacky predictable story line grafted onto it at the last moment. It is a monumental chase scene; one of my personal favorite type of movies.
The Matrix What is the Matrix? Only you can decide.
Alien & Aliens The great heroic action female character of film. Part I and Part II. Ripley kicks a** and doesn't bother taking names. Had one of the great tag lines of all time for the first movie:
In space no one can hear you scream
Some faves: 2001 and Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange are two of the best movies made. I've never grown tired re-watching them.
Mad Max: The Road Warrior is one great thrill ride. And who can forget the weird kid and that crazy Wez!
Tarkosvky's Solaris is a hypnotic nightmare/dream of a movie.
JLG's Alphaville is brilliant in that there are really no special effects to carry the movie. Well, there is something special in the film: Anna Karina.
Pitch Black has that nice creepy Alien vibe.
Alien is the perfect H.P. Lovecraft movie. Can't wait for Prometheus.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a beautifully photographed movie. The USS Enterprise has never appeared more radiant, more sumptuous, and more stunning as she does in ST:TMP. I like the film it quite a bit, in some ways more than the classic Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Then again, I'm a nerd like that. Oh, I dig Shatner's TJ Hooker hairpiece in ST:TWOK.
Star Wars Yes, even the prequels.
2010: The Year We Make Contact doesn't get much love but it is a very good movie. It's visual representation of Jupiter and Io, and of the astronaut's spacewalks toward the rotating Discovery I is worth the price of admission.
Capricorn One because one occasionally needs some nice 1970s cheese.
Speaking of 1970s cheese, let us not forget:
ZARDOZ The classic 1970s dystopian masterpiece in which Sean Connery, decked out in thigh-high boots, a ponytail, and handle-bar mustache, must face the truth about our horrifying future. ZARDOZ is a giant floating stone head and...oh, just watch the movie!
John wrote: "Some faves: ..."You had me right up until Zardoz, man I've watched that movie, you'll be suggesting Barbarella next :)
Jurassic Park must be included in the list of SF films of 'value'.A film not entirely SF that has important main story elements that are SF in a Victorian type of way: The Prestige - ( my review of The Prestige )
Who can leave out E.T. ?
Guilty pleasure maybe but space western/heroic figure type of SF film:
The Last Starfighter
There is even an Alan Dean Foster book/treatment - (my review of The Last Starfighter)
Last night I watched The Abyss. I have problems with James Cameron, but I still love that movie.
Films I didn't see mentioned:RoboCop
Any Godzilla movie except the 1998 hollywood version
Planet of the Apes
Forbidden Planet
I have a special place in my heart for 80's flicks like:
DARYL
Flight of the Navigator
The Vindicator
Alien Nation
Enemy Mine
Short Circuit
Screamers
The last Starfighter
Night of the Comet
Mod
and... Zardoz! now that is a mindboggling film. a real guilty pleasure.
i'd add Altered States, although it is barely scifi. but definitely another guilty pleasure, whatever the genre may be. like most ken russell films.
Blade Runner has a special place in my life. My sister in law "discovered" it in 1998 when she was in the last stages of terminal cancer. She found a lot of comfort in the idea of really asking yourself what it means to be Human. Since then I can't watch that movie without thinking about how it affected her.
The world is a colder place now.
The world is a colder place now.
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that's very interesting, Joe. and really moving. i am reminded of a client of mine from a while back (i used to work directly with folks with terminal illnesses) who found a strong attachment during his final months to the movie Meet Me in St. Louis... he saw a theme of the cyclical nature of life, a parallel between the stages of human life and the cyclical nature of nature itself, that really comforted him.
Jack wrote: "Tron and Tron 2.0!"I could never get into Tron as a kid or an adult but when I watched the second film I was able to see what they'd meant to do with the first because the world was so much more complete and vivid.
Oh No this will be a very long list! Forbidden Planet,
Metropolis,
Solaris (Tarkovsy)
Solaris, (Sondehberg)
The Ghost in the shell.... (1/2/3)
Blade runner.
The Omega Man,
Soylent Green.
2001.
Alien, (1-2-3)
Vexille,
Casshern
SIlent Running,
Planet of the apes, (The first one)
Millenium. (The John Varley time travel film)
Galaxy Quest.
The day of the triffids.
Moon,
Avatar
Un Autre Monde.
Outland.
And with that I have run outta time so I will be back later ;-)
I like most of everything listed above, even Zardoz.I'm really worried about John Carter of Mars coming next month. The EFX look great, but there may be some big plot changes from the classic ERB books.
Plus everyone is way overdressed!
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Buckaroo Banzai. Does that count? It's got impossible tech and aliens. Can't believe I forgot this before. Only a favorite movie. :)
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Soldier the filmAn under appreciated and poorly understood film. The hype and previews didn't prepare the audience for what is a SF art film. This is nearly a silent film and if you watch it on DVD you can turn down the volume without any problem. Kurt Russel turns in one of the top two or three performances as an actor in his career to date.
A few more that have at least cult status
Logan's Run the film
and the book Logan's Run.
Soylent Green the film
and the book Soylent Green
A Boy and His Dog the film
and the book
A Boy and His Dog
Loved the first three above, agree that Soldier was under-rated. Not seen A boy and his dog, though.
Ok this is going to be an extremely long list. There are some that didn't quite make my list, I like the book Solaris but the movie didn't really do it for me.My favorites:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Planet of the Apes
Akira
Total Recall
Ghost in the Shell (any of them!)
Clockwork Orange
The Fifth Element
The Andromeda Strain
Minority Report
Gattaca
Children of Men
A Scanner Darkly
Fahrenheit 451
Dune
Galaxy Quest
Demolition Man
Donnie Darko
Equilibrium
The Road Warrior
Is V for Vendetta and Eternal Sunshine considered science fiction? I want to seen Moon. I've heard good things. Everyone is listing such good movies. I'm sure I've missed a bunch that I love.
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Just saw a very interesting film entitled BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD. Don't know how wide a release it's getting right now but I've been raving about it to everyone I know. Quite amazing. All the mainstream reviews and articles go on about it being a post-Katrina allegory, ecological fable, Magical Realism, neo-folktale, etc etc. IMO you only have to cock your head the tiniest bit and see it as a dyed-in-the-wool science fiction story that's amazingly subtle and very ambitious. To be frank, I think it kicks PROMETHEUS in the balls - repeatedly.
Fifth Element is my absolute fave sci-fi movie. I can watch it over and over and still love it. Same with the Star Wars movies. :)
Movies that are made from books that I have read just seem to ruin the book for me. Sad but true, its hard to reread it without some sort of bias from the movie.I have to say though that I am a huge fan of movies and scifi and fantasy movies in particular. I probably won't read Game of Thrones though after seeing the first season on HBO.
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re. AGOT & HBO series... your comment makes me rather sad! if you are a fan of the first season, the books are not just equally enjoyable, they bring a rather different perspective(s) to the material. the two really work well together.
I saw the movie Elysium today. It seemed ok, I give the movie 4 out of 5. The movie traveled at light speed. Not much in character development but a great world build. But the movie is not a book and has to cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.Movie did somewhat remind me of Rite of Passage and a little of Metropolis. Since I never read the book the movie was based on.
I have not been to movie theater in about ten years. What a change: large cushy powered electric reclining chairs and a powerful sound system that took an hour to hear normally after the show ended. Probably needed to keep me from falling a sleep in those fancy cushy chairs.
CD wrote: "2001 is perhaps Kubrick's most celebrated and greatest work. Of course he had great material to start with and the film hit a cultural hot spot."Actually the book and the movie were created together. It wasn't simply a movie based on the book, but rather a joint project between Kubrick and Clarke. It was partly inspired by a short story by Clarke, but the novel was written concurrently with the film.
I count it as the prime example of what science fiction films should be. Unfortunately, no one in film history has seemed to agree.
Tarkovsky came the closest with his Solaris, though he and Lem disagreed about what the focus of film should be. Tarkovsky turned it into an exploration of the characters of the story, while Lem wanted it to be like the novel, a commentary on man's place in nature. Sounds like Lem's view was much more aligned with Kubrick's film than Tarkovsky's was.
A Clockwork Orange is often counted as science fiction, though I think that's debateable. It's certainly another fabulous film.
I've enjoyed a lot of the films mentioned already, but most of them to me aren't really great science fiction. They rank higher in the action/adventure categories, and just happen to take place in a SF setting.
Bladerunner was a great film, but really only achieved its full potention in the Final Cut version. The theatrical release with the voice overs was, frankly, a bit embarassing a lot of the time. And it's not a particularly good adaptaion of the novel. I don't mind that for some reason, but it's true. I'd love to see a faithful adapation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. But I'm not holding my breath.
A Scanner Darkly was a pretty good adaptation of the novel, over-focused perhaps on the comedic elements of that otherwise darkly depressing book. The casting was quite nice, despite the fact that it was so overtly star-studded. I generally prefer actors I'm unfamiliar with, as it aids in the suspension of disbelief. George Clooney, for example, in the Sonderberg version of Solaris, just cannot help always being George Clooney. I can't transcend the star's persona when seeing them in films.
Anyway...I'm probably not the guy to answer the OP, being notoriously critical about SF movies.
Has anyone of you already watch the film based on "Ender´s game"? Is it OK? Is it like the book? Do you recommend it?
John, I apprehensively went to see the movie Enders Game last week, as the book is one of my favorites. It was OK. It was reasonably true to the book. A movie will never be the same as the book as the media are just too different. I love sci fi books and sci fi movies but I do not often do both! Before Enders Game, I think the last time I did so was Contact. I saw the movie first (I do love Jodie Foster) and enjoyed it. I then listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it even more.
Matrix and Blade Runner are among my favorite Sci Fi movies. I like the Terminator movies but never really thought of them as sci fi, just as shoot 'em, action movies.
Linda wrote: "John, I apprehensively went to see the movie Enders Game last week, as the book is one of my favorites. It was OK. It was reasonably true to the book. A movie will never be the same as the book ..."Thanks Linda. I like more or less the same movies. I´d include "Alien"
John, I almost included Alien but decided not to because, for me, it is more horror than science fiction!
John wrote: "Has anyone of you already watch the film based on "Ender´s game"? Is it OK? Is it like the book? Do you recommend it?"I hadn't managed to read the book before we went to see Ender's Game, at my son's request.
My 16 year daughter joined us and we all enjoyed it. The actor playing Ender was excellent.
Both Ridley Scott's Alien and Prometheus drive me crazy. Not once but twice does he allow the plot hole of completely disregarding biological exposure precautions. It seriously annoys me to think that we as viewers should all be stupid enough to believe that people smart enough to be allowed to travel through space, would not have been trained in simple biological contamination and quarantine procedures. :( Am I the only one?
Putting aside things like Star Wars, 2001 (should be required viewing in all schools), and Close Encounters...X The Unknown.
The Crawling Eye
The Angry Red Planet
War of the Worlds (George Pal)
The Thing (Howard Hawks)
Kronos
When Worlds Collide
Do monster movies count?
Godzilla (1954)
Rodan (1956)
Them!
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, and Kronos have been added to my queue although I think I've seen Buckaroo B. But since we've discussed the Classics in another forum, I'll mention a list of newer classics that I enjoyed. As already mentioned Blade Runner is the best Sci/fi Film that I've seen next to 2oo1. But some other runner ups might be...Live Action:
Gattaca
Delicatessen
Another Earth
Melancholia
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Brazil
Her
Children of Men
The City of Lost Children
28 Days Later
Pi
Contact
The Road (2009)
Videodrome
The Wild Blue Yonder
1984
The Final Countdown
Cloverfield
Powder
Real Genius
Stargate
Signs
Event Horizon
The Chronicles of Riddick
12 Monkeys
Idiocracy
Screamers
Repo Man
eXistenZ
And for good mesure, but not exactly sci/fi I'd recommend Naked Lunch.
Animated:
WAll-E
Titan-AE
Ghost in the Shell
Patlabor 2
Akira
SDF-1 Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
The Animatrix
Frankenweenie
Kaena: The Prophecy
and many more I'll think about it.
Rocky Horror Picture Show :)It is just a jump to the left :)
Just watched Jodorovsky's Dune, a documentary about the struggle to put his adaptation of Dune on big screen. It's really a must watch for all Dune fans. It was Jodorovsky's unfruitful attempt of ecranisattion of Herbert's masterpiece starring salvatore Dali and Mick Jagger with Pink Floyd music. Such a shame it never saw the light of day, at least for now. Instead we have Lynch's ridiculous attempt that has no value whatsoever, with the shittiest production I ever saw as far as sci fi is concerned.
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Can't completely blame Lynch Kenan. As I understand it he was fighting with universal non stop during the production who didn't allow him as much creative freedom as he apparently wanted. The theatrical cut was and is still horrible. The Alan Smithee cut that I remember on T.V. was the version I fell in love with as a child and still wish I could find. Unfortunately all the versions of that one I've found are also horrible. Although there is Korean version that used this version and and Australian version I think on Blu-ray. I've seen neither and can't comment on their quality, I'm guessing any vhs rips can't be all that great. The only hope was that some of the digital tape versions that were broadcast on T.V. still exist. I think the Sci/Fi channel also broadcast this version at some point. Or at least it's a vague memory that it might have. This all being said, I completely disagree with your wishes for a Jodorovsky version to see the light. Have you seen his other films? Just not a fan. But I am curious about this Doc, been wanting to watch it for a while, thanks for the reminder.
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I actually prefer the movie version, mainly because of the wonderfully cheesy intro by Irulan/Virginia Madsen, fading in & out. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you..." [fades back in]. I think I had a crush on her.
One sci-fi film that I return to time and time again is Francois Truffaut's (sorry about the spelling) interpretation of Bradbury's "Farenheit 451". One of the few (perhaps the only one)directors to understand and translate Brabury's prose to the screen. A beautiful and emotional finale.
My 2¢, I liked the six part mini series of Dune on the sci-fi channel much more than the Big screen movie of Dune.
Rion wrote: "Can't completely blame Lynch Kenan. As I understand it he was fighting with universal non stop during the production who didn't allow him as much creative freedom as he apparently wanted. The theat..."I'm not even blaming Lynch as much as the production, visual effects etc. For me the whole project just failed to represent the idea of Dune in terms of spirituality and philosophy. It was just too shallow, to put it that way. I only watched The Holly Mountain and it was unconventional to say the least. I'm not saying that it would've been a great movie, just expressing my regret for not being able to see it. I have a feeling it would've given a different perspective, and all the artists who were on the project were pretty dedicated and determined to make something special. And Dune is and has to be special. I hope you'll feel the same once you watch it. And I'm pretty sure you'll realize that Jodorovsky is a lunatic by the way:)
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I have a co-worker that continued to hound me on to watch Jadorovsky's work. So I started with Fando y Lis, of which was indeed lunacy, then moved on to El Topo, of which I think I enjoyed the most out of his work I've seen thus far. Holy Mountain was another experience of insanity and ironic beauty? Santa Sangre I can't even remember, fortunately?, but I rated it the lowest on Netflix so I'm guessing I really had a problem with that one, or it could have just been fatigue concerning his work. Jadorovsky is such an Avant-garde surrealist film maker that it's hard to imagine what he would have done with Herbert's Dune and now I'm very curious. I noticed Jadorovsky's Dune isn't on Netflix yet. Sort of answers why I haven't seen it. I'll have to check Amazon Prime, if it's not there it will be a debate on whether or not it's worth renting. @Mickey: The six part mini series was jarring for me. Probably because I hadn't read The Heretic of Dune or Children of Dune yet. Plus, in Defense of Lynch, I really enjoyed his envisioning of Dune, which was best portrayed in the old T.V. release.
@Mark: Heading to Amazon to look for the Dune in the Tin you speak of but I think your talking about the 314 minute extended cut, which is missing a few scenes that the T.V. edit had in it. Are those scenes that important? Yes! Without them I feel like a victim of Alzheimer's. It just feels incomplete.
Here is a list and it's the Korean version that I want but can't find anywhere currently or haven't looked hard enough lately.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/a...
A third version of "Dune", seen on KTVU in San Francisco in 1992, is the only one that edits together footage from both the theatrical and TV versions, putting back the violent scenes (such as the "heart sucking sequence") and theatrical versions of some scenes (such as Paul and Jessica running from a thumper). Also, Lynch's name is restored at the end (watch for the "Assistant to Mr. Lynch" credit). It's this version that I want but will probably never find again because I heard KTVU lost the digital tapes.
Here’s just a few of my favourites,The day the earth stood still. Great black and white movie, good suspense with a great message.
Silent Running. Just because, small robots on a spaceship looking after plants. Doesn’t get any different from that.
Alien. Heart in mouth time. What the hell was that?
The omega man. Where did those cloaks come from?
Fifth Element, Planet of the Apes (original), Gravity, Blade Runner, Logan’s Run.
And, The Man Who Fell to Earth. The cinematography is fantastic and my current favourite. David Bowie and cast make it great to watch again and again. Definitely an emotive movie for me.
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