Author Topic: Help complete my classic sci-fi movie education  (Read 23966 times)

jamesotron

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on: May 20, 2007, 09:29:26 PM
Hey all.

After listening to "Impossible Dreams" I can't help but think about all the classic films that I have missed out on, so I thought it might be a good idea to collect suggestions for the best sci-fi movies that we all should have seen, I'm listing movies I have seen, just incase you haven't:

  • Barbarella
  • Forbidden Planet
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Plan9 from Outer Space
  • The Day The Earth Stood Still
  • Metropolis
  • War of the Worlds (1953 version)
  • Invasion of the body snatchers
  • Evil Dead (all three)
  • Blade Runner
  • Star Wars IV: A New Hope
  • This Island Earth
  • The Time Machine (1960)
  • Jason and the Argonauts
  • Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • The Quiet Earth (really this is just my patriotism in action)
  • The Last Starfighter
  • Tron
  • Logans Run (1976, not the most likely terrible remake)
  • The Matrix
  • Strange Days

Well, there's a start. I'm interested in what people think and what suggestions they have.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2007, 12:22:24 AM by jamesotron »

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slic

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Reply #1 on: May 20, 2007, 11:13:12 PM
I'm surprised Matrix isn't on your list - that is definitely a classic.  And the Evil Dead trilogy isn't really sci-fi (here we go again ;)), more campy horror.  Same with Jason and the Argonauts, though that's fantasy - even still, it is among my personal favourites. 

Which version of Planet of the Apes - the Marky Mark version was crap compared to Charlton Heston.

Maybe add Strange Days.

I've seen A Quiet Earth, and other than the really really strange ending, I really enjoyed it.



jamesotron

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Reply #2 on: May 21, 2007, 12:20:39 AM
Re the Matrix, I left it off my list because I only wanted _good_ movies  :P
But seriously, I didn't think of it - mainly because I don't tend to think of the Matrix as being original in any way - it's mainly just a westernised manga flick, and a derivative one at that.  Still, I'll add it at your suggestion.

You're right, I mean the Charlton Heston version of Planet of the Apes, not the campy remake ("You damn dirty ape!").

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Michael

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Reply #3 on: May 21, 2007, 11:20:58 AM
You have some of the worst films ever made on your list!  (Plan 9 is truly, truly awful -- better to watch the film about the man who made it Ed Wood (1994) -- that won an Oscar.)

Suggest You scratch some of the above (Missing out is a relative term--I have adopted the philosophy that life is too short for movies rated below 5.0 on the IMDB)

Additions:

The Omega Man
Silent Running
Alien
When Worlds Collide
Day of The Triffids



ClintMemo

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Reply #4 on: May 21, 2007, 11:49:18 AM
If you add Alien, then also add Aliens (the second movie), but skip movies 3 and 4.
If you want something a bit more weird and off-beat, you might also look at
Dark City
Donny Darko
Twelve Monkeys
Brazil

Life is a multiple choice test. Unfortunately, the answers are not provided.  You have to go and find them before picking the best one.


slic

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Reply #5 on: May 21, 2007, 12:45:25 PM
I also recommend 12 Monkeys and Dark City!  Both great mind benders with a twist, well written, well acted.



Simon

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Reply #6 on: May 21, 2007, 01:14:45 PM
Hmm.. Just to hold up the slightly artier end of the SF movie spectrum:

Gattaca
Solaris (The Tarkovsky version although I like the Sodbergh too)
Stalker
The City Of Lost Children
The Fifth Element
Primer




slic

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Reply #7 on: May 21, 2007, 08:07:38 PM
Hmm.. Just to hold up the slightly artier end of the SF movie spectrum:

Gattaca
Solaris (The Tarkovsky version although I like the Sodbergh too)
Stalker
The City Of Lost Children
The Fifth Element
Primer


I dunno about "classics" ;)  Gattaca wasn't bad, and while I really enjoyed The Fifth Element I wouldn't make it as anything new.  I somewhat agree with jamesotron about the Matrix being heavily influenced by Anime - it was "new" to sci-fi live action film and broke new ground with the special effects.



FNH

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Reply #8 on: May 21, 2007, 08:20:00 PM
You asked for opinions ( I am Mr Rent-an-opinion )

  • Barbarella ( Forget it, trash )
  • Forbidden Planet ( Classic  you need this )
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey ( Good but only as a prequel to 2010 which is the classic )
  • Fahrenheit 451 ( Yawn )
  • Plan9 from Outer Space ( Good laugh but not Classic )
  • The Day The Earth Stood Still ( Classic )
  • Metropolis ( Never seen it, kicking myself for that )
  • War of the Worlds (1953 version) ( Classic )
  • Invasion of the body snatchers (  Classic )
  • Evil Dead (Out of context)
  • Blade Runner ( Classic )
  • Star Wars IV: A New Hope ( Classic )
  • This Island Earth ( Classic )
  • The Time Machine (1960)
  • Jason and the Argonauts ( (Classic )
  • Planet of the Apes (1968) ( Classic )
  • The Quiet Earth ( Never seen it so it must be rubbish :-) )
  • The Last Starfighter ( Classic )
  • Tron ( Classic )
  • Logans Run ( Classic , as in, slow and boring)
  • The Matrix ( Dont go there )
  • Strange Days ( dont know it, so must be rubbish )



SFEley

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Reply #9 on: May 21, 2007, 08:23:55 PM
Dark City
Donny Darko
Twelve Monkeys
Brazil

Thank you for mentioning Donnie Darko.  That is one twisted movie, and almost unquestionably science fiction.  >8->

When asked questions like this, I like to dig up independent movies I think no one's ever heard of.  From that angle: everyone's seen Cube, right?

And Primer is a must-see for any SF fan with a logical mindset.  It's a very down-to-earth time travel movie, rigorous and consistent throughout, with characters who act like engineers.  See it and you'll appreciate how rare that is.  And how scary it can be.  (It was also the very first EP movie review, BTW.)

ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine


SFEley

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Reply #10 on: May 21, 2007, 08:32:50 PM
And Primer is a must-see for any SF fan with a logical mindset.  It's a very down-to-earth time travel movie, rigorous and consistent throughout, with characters who act like engineers.

Oh. And from that perspective, we mustn't forget Apollo 13.

Yes, I know it isn't a science fiction movie.  So what?  It's still a better science fiction movie than most science fiction movies.  (Come on, portions of it were filmed in free fall!) 

It's also one of the very few movies I've ever seen where engineers and scientists are sincerely treated like heroes.  I am not much of an engineer or scientist, but I'm a groupie.  My wife is a chemist; many of the people I've had crushes on over the years have been engineers.  I truly believe that good engineering can be heroic.  And here, in this movie, you had engineers directly saving lives, on screen, and getting their props for it.  The "round peg in the square hole" scene made my heart sing.

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Kurt Faler

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Reply #11 on: May 21, 2007, 08:35:29 PM
Charly (Flowers for Algernon) 1968 version.



Simon

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Reply #12 on: May 21, 2007, 09:41:37 PM
I dont know *HOW* I forgot this one.. It is, after all, my all time favourite SF movie:

Capricorn One.

Fuck yeah!

Mars landings faked, Watergate-esque conspiracies.... Absolutely singing 70's dialogue (I love the bits with either Elliot Gould or Hal Holbrook...) It's a fascinating character study into political evil.  Just about the best movie about the dangers of government research ever made.

I love it, all the way down to O.J dying in the desert, and the roaring biplane chase with Telly Savales.

If you watch it expecting a Star Wars, you will be disappointed.. But as a study in political evil, it makes The Parallax View and The Manchurian Candidate look like bad episodes of The X Files.

Did I mention it had a score by Jerry Goldsmith?

Did I also mention that the reason that everything falls apart is because The Heat Shields Fail (exactly as happened on Columbia)?   

Fuck Yeah!
« Last Edit: May 21, 2007, 09:55:39 PM by Simon »



Michael

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Reply #13 on: May 22, 2007, 01:13:13 AM
Bubba Ho-Tep?

http://www.bubbahotep.com/

What makes a classic?

 ;D


jamesotron

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Reply #14 on: May 22, 2007, 02:21:40 AM
Thanks all. I'm getting some really great stuff here.

Capricon One was great. OJ Simpson's death scene was so insanely great.
Charly sounds great. The book as amazing.
Primer sounds great, I'll check the EP archives for the review.
Cube was a pile of crap. What kind of lame arse maths genius can't figure out if a number ending in 5 is a prime?!?
Dark City was great, although I'm not sure it's a classic.
Brazil is definitely a classic.
Twelve Monkeys and Donny Darko, while both great films don't seem antiquated enough to meet my probably eronious definition of classic.

I'd like to throw onto the pile a couple more:

They Live
Clockwork Orange
« Last Edit: May 22, 2007, 02:26:42 AM by jamesotron »

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wakela

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Reply #15 on: May 22, 2007, 03:23:13 AM
I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Thing, either one. 

If the purpose of this list is education, I would add Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein. 



Michael

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Reply #16 on: May 22, 2007, 03:42:06 AM
They Live is one of the best science fiction movies of all time. 



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Simon

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Reply #17 on: May 22, 2007, 11:12:19 AM


Harryhausen, and not a film about greek gods either.



ClintMemo

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Reply #18 on: May 22, 2007, 12:00:57 PM
I never saw "Cube" but I did see the sequel, Hypercube, which I thought was cool.

They Live: "I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubble gum."   :P
If we are getting in to campy stuff, then you have to include "Escape from New York," though I like "Big Trouble in Little China" more.

Forbidden Planet is excellent and I can't believe (and am grateful) that no one has remade it yet.

I'm surprised no on has mentioned "The Abyss" and a movie that everyone raves about that I haven't yet seen "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Life is a multiple choice test. Unfortunately, the answers are not provided.  You have to go and find them before picking the best one.


Listener

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Reply #19 on: May 22, 2007, 06:57:27 PM
I really liked The Abyss.

Terminator 2 was very good.  I liked it better than the first one.

Code 46 is not a classic but it was still pretty interesting, very slickly-produced for a "low budget" sci fi film.

I don't know, I'm not much for "classic" SF.

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ClintMemo

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Reply #20 on: May 22, 2007, 07:06:31 PM
Another pretty good classic - "Colossus: The Forbin Project"

You also might peruse IMDB's top 100 Sci-Fi list here
http://www.imdb.com/chart/scifi

though it has some that aren't sci-fi at all, like "Failsafe" (an excellent movie) and others that are more horror or fantasy.

Life is a multiple choice test. Unfortunately, the answers are not provided.  You have to go and find them before picking the best one.


SFEley

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Reply #21 on: May 22, 2007, 07:15:37 PM
I never saw "Cube" but I did see the sequel, Hypercube, which I thought was cool.

Oh, my sympathies.  I thought Cube was vastly better than the sequel.  It was tight, it was tense, the characters were well-drawn.  It also obeyed the laws of physics (if not plausibility), which the second film went out of its way to break.  The rooms and traps were clever, but they were purely mechanical and could be solved by real-world thinking and teamwork.

Unfortunately, the premise and most of the character archetypes of the second movie were directly lifted from the first one; if you watched Cube now there would be few surprises.  I'd still recommend it, though, just for the fun of it.  And to see how much one suspense one can accomplish with a movie that was shot entirely in a single 14x14x14 foot room.  >8->

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jamesotron

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Reply #22 on: May 22, 2007, 07:51:44 PM
Of course, how could I forget to mention Pi? Probably because it's one of my favourite movies or all time :)

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Zathras

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Reply #23 on: May 23, 2007, 03:45:37 AM
Three movies not mentioned:
Starship Troopers: mediocre but cool special effects
Battlefield Earth:  terrible.
Enemy Mine:  saw it when I was young and liked it, not sure how it held up.



Thaurismunths

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Reply #24 on: May 23, 2007, 04:43:11 PM
I never saw "Cube" but I did see the sequel, Hypercube, which I thought was cool.

Oh, my sympathies.  I thought Cube was vastly better than the sequel.
<snip>
And to see how much one suspense one can accomplish with a movie that was shot entirely in a single 14x14x14 foot room.  >8->

Oh yes, Cube. What a GREAT movie!
Now, maybe this is just me, but did Resident Evil 1 give a nod to Cube? I'm thinking of how the first prisoner bites it in the Cube, and how one of the guys bites it trying to reach the Red Queen.

How about Flight Of The Navigator?
« Last Edit: May 23, 2007, 04:45:22 PM by Thaurismunths »

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