Sci-fi film faves and flops

[Michaelangelica]

I love Mars Attacks!!! One of the top movies ever. ;)

Me too! the Aliens are unadulterated shits!

I liked the old The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 version, i remember being fascinated seeing it as a kid. (although it could have been The Day the Earth Stopped?)I caught it on late night TV recently and still think it was way ahead of its time, like a lot of the old British Sci Fi films.

EG

Metropolis --amazing classic

Dr Who is my favorite Sci Fi series. I have seen all Dr Who's, some several times.

Is Buffy the Vampire Slayer Sci Fi?

The Rodenbury Star-Treks (and even the latest big screen version, I think, Rocdenbury would like.). It was so nice to think his ashes (and his wife's?) are in space as I watched this.

The recent one terrible /good chyrstal Chevy chase?

ET was great--When are Yanks going to give the man an Oscar?

*batteries not included another delightful Spielberg.-also his one about hatching out modern dinosaurs -who's name escapes me at the moment 12 AM!

Close Encounters

Contact

The Matrix

Mad Max

The Terminators (just scrapes in)

I haven't seen Dune. I loved the first book but thought the second was rubbish.

Star wars of course, the movie I had spent my life waiting for. I will still never forget the opening minute when that huge Starship filled the screen.

Spiderman

Men In Black (both)- fun romps.

Godzilla-one of the funniest movies ever. Perhaps the Yanks don't get it or I had too many pills that night. I still remember the amazement of the French SS agent, disguising his soldiers as Yanks by giving them gum to chew. The amazement of the Hero to the mass-weaponry the French had gathered on USA soil explained by the offhand "But you can buy anything in America!" . The French agent's contiuing futile attempt to find a decent cup of coffee, or his reaction to donuts :shrug:

Cocoon

The Island of Dr. Moreau 197? incredibly perspicacious.

The Boys from Brazil chilling

The Fly ?

Back to the Future 1 One is mildly amusing but the theme gets tiresome. Michael J. Fox's enthusiasm saves it.

Godzilla vs. Mothra Well you need to have seen some of Takao Okawara's versions to enjoy the modern one.

Godzilla Meets Bambi -very short

I wasn't allowed to see The Blob when I was a little boy. I stayed up late one night recently to watch it. Terrible!

Same with Creature of the Black Lagoon, although that was tolerable.

 

Ones I dislike

Predator s

 

The ones I hate and resent them steeling a few hours from my life.

All Aliens ("Lets split up and go down these poorly lit starship hallways again--(and get eaten by an Alien!?)? Very bad.

FleshGordon

Stormship Troopers- crap

I don't do, Yank "end of the world" disaster films, or bad remakes like War of the Worlds

There is still a lot I haven't seen. Hanging out for Torchwood and whatever Josh Wheeldon does next. His 'Cowboys in space' thing was tolerable but only because no-one is doing anything better.

[Moontanman]

Flesh Gordon? You don't like Flesh Gordon? I mean how can you not like a penisaurus? I like most all of the so far mentioned films but many of them just barely qualify as science fiction most are at best science fantasy. End of the world films have had their 15 minutes in my opinion, when the end comes all I need to know is how big the meteor/tidal wave/earthquake/ is and I'll just sit back know exactly what is going to happen. But I honestly cannot believe no one has mentioned....."SPACED INVADERS" Funniest science fiction flick I have ever seen!

[Thunderbird]

I’m excited about Peter Jackson's new alien invasion movie, “District 9.”

Haven't heard any reviews yet , but he is quickly becoming my favorite movie maker.

 

Oh,.. and that reminds me his version of King Kong was fantastic ! In the top five best sci fi’s ever.

[Pyrotex]

I have one word for you guys:

 

GATTACA.

 

The thing that made this SF movie great, was that it broke totally new ground. It was an entirely new theme of SF, creating a new kind of plot, and a new view of where our technology is taking us. It was original.

 

U GOTTA C GATTACA.

[Donk]

I know science fiction is deadly serious and all that, but I can't resist - "Barbarella"

<sigh...>

[Moontanman]

I have one word for you guys:

 

GATTACA.

 

The thing that made this SF movie great, was that it broke totally new ground. It was an entirely new theme of SF, creating a new kind of plot, and a new view of where our technology is taking us. It was original.

 

U GOTTA C GATTACA.

 

Great flick Pyro, I am ashamed I forget GATTACA, has to be one of the best flicks of all time, my son turned me onto it, I was blown away.

 

Nobody liked the penisaurus... really?

[Pyrotex]

...Nobody liked the penisaurus... really?

Well, Mooman,

I loved it the first and only time I watched it straight thru. Back in... what? ... 1975? But you have to admit, the special effects were cheez-ola! The plot was secondary to the sex gags. The actors were having too damn much fun to remember their lines. I have tried to watch it twice since then, but found it too slow, silly and dull. Oh well. Times change.

[Moontanman]

Well, Mooman,

I loved it the first and only time I watched it straight thru. Back in... what? ... 1975? But you have to admit, the special effects were cheez-ola! The plot was secondary to the sex gags. The actors were having too damn much fun to remember their lines. I have tried to watch it twice since then, but found it too slow, silly and dull. Oh well. Times change.

 

Of course you are completely correct, you have to remember the movie was a sex/comedy/parody of a show that was already about as bad as they come. It was really difficult to make any of the special effects any worse than the original Flash Gordon, and acting in the original wasn't exactly "C" grade much less grade "A" It has been a great many years since I saw it but i last saw it with my sons as teenagers and they thought it was hilarious which is the audience it was really aimed at. (and us teenagers at heart!)

[freeztar]

Speaking of comedies...

This is a classic from Woody Allen.

 

Warning: Rated R (for language and subject matter)

 

YouTube - What happens during ejaculation? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-RKFewOetc

 

:)

 

Fave or flop?

[UncleAl]

"Forbidden Planet" Horribly dated and still magnificent. Compare the timestamp for when they come out of warp to the serial number on Captain Kirk's Enterprise.

 

"Dark Star" Worth the price of admission merely for teaching Bomb #20 phenominology. The alien!

 

"2001 A Space Odyssey" "The Thing From Another World" (original. "Mythbusters" showed thermite really does go BOOM on ice) "Star Wars, 4-6" "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (original) "Blade Runner" "Alien" (remade "Dark Star") "Terminator" "Robocop" "The Matrix"... "A Boy and His Dog." Gotta do Harlan Ellison or you are not in a state of grace.

[modest]

"Dark Star" Worth the price of admission merely for teaching Bomb #20 phenominology.

 

YouTube - Dark Star - Bomb 20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjGRySVyTDk

 

~modest :shrug:

[Buffy]

It just came out on DVD, and we've been loving this campy horrible classic (that we have to give the Mystery Science Theater treatment to) The Starlost:

 

YouTube - The Starlost - original TV opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMAi6u4Ps5A

 

Delightfully dreadful! :shrug:

 

May I be of....assistance? :shrug:

Buffy

[freeztar]

I don't think "Twelve Monkeys" has been mentioned. I haven't seen it since it came out, but I recall it being very good. "Total Recall" is another good one.

 

On the bad side, I was not impressed by "Johnny Mnemonic".

[Thunderbird]

James Camron's new Sci-fi comming in Dec.

'Avatar' Trailer - MSN Video"]'Avatar' Trailer - MSN Video[/url]

[Michaelangelica]

I watched Joss Wheldon's Serenity again last night and enjoyed it better the second time around.

I got over the Wild West sets and 6-guns in space.

Some of the effects and the editing are great.

Wheldon is mad about 'fight-ballet' though; still, some of the best choreography I've seen except for Jackie Chan.

[CraigD]

It just came out on DVD, and we've been loving this campy horrible classic (that we have to give the Mystery Science Theater treatment to) The Starlost

The Wikipedia article and similar accounts of Ellison’s “disenchanted” with this series, his brainchild, seem a bit understated to me.

 

From Chasing The Nightmare, an Harlan Ellison anthology:

Six months of my life were spent in creating a dream the

shape and sound and color of which had never been seen on

television. The dream was called The Starlost, and between

February and September of 1973 I watched it being steadily

turned into a nightmare.

…

In the hands of the inept, the untalented, the venal and

the corrupt, The Starlost became a veritable Mt. Everest of

cow flop and, though I climbed that mountain, somehow I

never lost sight of the dream, never lost the sense of smell,

and when it got so rank I could stand it no longer, I

descended hand-over-hand from the northern massif, leaving

behind $93,000, the corrupters, and the eviscerated remains

of my dream. I'll tell you about it. ...

To quote more than this would exceed fair use - and I, for one, have no intention of treading upon the IP rights of Harlan Ellison! ;)

 

In short, this short, forgettable (and practically forgotten) series was meant to be the smartest, most intriguing SF to grace the small screen, but that didn’t happen. Ellison’s account managed, for me, to convey the tragedy and hilarity, along with the details, of the doing and undoing this expensive flop.

 

It’s a pity, as Starlost sounds like a really cool idea, with just a but of improbable space-opera BS (eg: the damaged ship is doomed to crash into a star if its technically illiterate passengers can’t figure out how to fix and pilot it in time)

 

:rolleyes: So, Buffy (as I'd bet nobody else reading this has seen the series), does any of the story's smarts peek out? Or is it pure MST3K fodder?

[socialsamurai]

Good Ones:

Gattaca

Dark City

Alien

Aliens

The Matrix

Serenity

Chronicles of Riddick (All of them)

Stargate

Stargate SG-1

Firefly

Star Wars (All of them)

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Terminator

Battlestar Gallactica

Armageddon

Red Planet

Short Circuit

Flight of the Navigator

I, Robot

Independence Day

Sunshine

Minority Report

Blade Runner

Children of Men

The Fifth Element

War of the Worlds

Aeon Flux

Equilibrium

 

 

Bad -

The second two Matrix movies

Contact

Sphere

Mission to Mars

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (and the Bogus whatever)

Alien 3

Alien Ressurection

Virus

Supernova

Terminator 3 (AKA, The Govenator)

Babylon AD

Ghosts of Mars

Alien Vs Predator

Alien Vs Predator 2 (and most likely any forthcoming sequels)

Ultraviolet

 

Yeah, I'm going to stop now because the wife will most likely whack me on the head if I don't get my butt to bed.

 

Heh...poet and didn't know it.