Sci-Fi Films
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34942
Printed Date: February 23 2025 at 01:46
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Topic: Sci-Fi Films
Posted By: andu
Subject: Sci-Fi Films
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:12
The Star Wars thread shows a lot of potential - so I'll just steal it 
What are your favourite science fiction films? I'd like to know what's your overall approach and what elements do you like of them.
Myself I'm not a dedicated fan, but I'm delighted to find gems in areas I don't usually frequent - in film just like in literature, music or visual arts. Regarding SF, my best moments happen when I stumble upon a full vision of life unfolded in a story of future and different life tools, rather than gadgets, explosions, action hero stuff.
My favourites are Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" and "Alien", Kubrick's "2001", Tarkovsky's "Solaris" (maybe "Stalker" could fit in this category somehow, too). Though because being strict on artistic achievement I don't find most of the Star Wars as a major achievement in film, I do find the series had one of the greatest stories over concieved for film. It's like "War and Peace", but in the future. ------------- "PA's own GI Joe!" 
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:44
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As already mentioned, "Phase IV" by Saul Bass. It is a movie about two scientists studying an ant colony that has lately shown some strange behaviour and signs of intelligence. It soon becomes unclear who studies whom. Some very memorable close-up scenes of the ants. A very strange movie is "Zardoz", featuring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling (who is one of my favourite actresses, by the way). Sean Connery runs around in what looks like a red diaper, with two strips of ammo across his chest. The most memorable line of the movie is the unforgettable "the gun is good, the penis is evil". The story is totally weird; I won't even try to give a summary. -------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:46
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Zardoz totally sucks IMO. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:47
That doesn't surprise me at all.  ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Snow Dog wrote:Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:51
I see the wink that indicates you are joking, but are you suggesting I do not have the intelligence to watch more "serious" films.....e.g. non action films? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:57
Star of Woody Allen's 'Stardust Memories' ... quoted in my sig...
my fave Sci-Fi film???
Woody Allen's 'Sleeper'... cue the bit where he finds buried, deep in a cave, a 500 year old VW Beetle which starts first time....  ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 07:58
I'd love to be a fly on the wall, with you two sat next to each other at a dinner party.... ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:02
Not at all; you just have a different taste. But for me all that action is usually plain boring. I can take some action in measured doses, but I want a good plot too. And I have a taste for the weird and unusual, which many don't share. But who am I to judge your intelligence? ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:05
Can I be the fly instead? ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:12
Can I be the spider? ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:15
Can I just have some service, Friede? I've been sat in your restaurant for over a year, now, and I still haven't had my entree...------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: laplace
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:22
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I quite like THX 1138, Gattaca and Brazil. (if that last one counts.) like Friede I don't go in for the homerian epics in space, and enjoy Zardoz.
------------- FREEDOM OF SPEECH GO TO HELL |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:33
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. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:39
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Phase IV, Alien, Bladerunner and Brazil are all on my list...also Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the seventies version with Donald Sutherland when he was the king of cool) and Dark Star. ------------- Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to. http://bandcamp.com/jpillbox" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp Profile |
Posted By: andu
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 08:47
I think the proper word for "Brazil" is "distopia" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distopia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distopia ), but the fact that it's placed in future makes it slightly ambiguous to define. Usually Sci-Fi shows development of various tools like science, engines and other mechanisms, but "Brazil" shows the exact opposite - the degradation, the involution. Or maybe it's just a distopic, serious parody Sci-Fi film... It's my all-time favourite, anyway. "12 Monkeys" fits the definition better and it's also a Gilliam movie  ------------- "PA's own GI Joe!"
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Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 09:03
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Here are some SF films I have enjoyed.
and many more I haven't thought of yet... ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 13:59
^^^You picked "Dark Star."  I thought I was the only one that liked that movie.
Some of my other favorites; Forbidden Planet The Day the Earth Stood Still 2001 Brazil Planet of the Apes Close Encounters of the Third Kind Star Trek IV Alien Minority Report Pitch Black ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Chicapah
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 14:22
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Try "Slaughterhouse Five." Billy Pilgrim has become "unstuck" in time and is not living his life in chronological order. It's a great Vonnegut story. ------------- "Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain |
Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 14:35
How can I possibly remain annoyed with you when you are being so willfully playful and mischievous? Huh?
From now on I'm gonna kill all spiders!
 ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: The T
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 14:38
Now this is the place to talk about this... Not the Star Wars thread
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Posted By: Snow Dog
Date Posted: March 01 2007 at 14:45
Agreed "Mr T"....  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/Snow_Dog" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 03:41
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The Star Wars movies are fine, if you want popcorn entertainment; just updates of the old 'peasants against the evil king' stories... Don't get me wrong, I can happily enjoy schlock like that, but if I had to choose favorites:
Event Horizon (I know, I know - so sue me! )
Dark Star (I want a beach ball alien) 2001 (although I think my home PC is Hal  )
But if I had to choose an absolute favorite from the genre (and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet), it has to be Silent Running: 
Made on a low budget in 1972, with effectively a single character (Bruce Dern) - fantastic movie & a serious contender for the best eco-movie of all time. -------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 04:19
I mentioned it in another thread, Jim. Great movie indeed! ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 04:21
i like dystopian sci-fi the most -- from black comedies like Brazil to strange films like Zardoz.. I have frequented various SF boards, and have something of a reputation as a Zardoz freak. Here's a silly blurb I wrote at one board for the movie (I'll avoid important spoilers, though you may get some diaper soilers). Zardoz speakz to you, hiz chozen onez! 
A really big, toothy, and freaky stone head magnificently soars through the azure sky. A group of men in red diapers (Exterminators) rush to meet it. Wearing masks with the same visage as the stone head, they gather worshipfully before the stone-head which gracefully lands. With a booming voice it addresses the Exterminators, "The gun is good. The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life, and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth. Now go forth and kill." The stone head, which is the Exterminator's God, Zardoz, spews forth guns which they greedily lap up. The Exterminator Zed (Sean Connery like you’ve never seen him before) secretly enters the head which is the only path into the Vortex – a land of immortals (the Eternals) with big mental powers and scanty clothing. He has worked in the service of Zardoz, cleansing the Earth of Brutals (the masses outside the Vortex) but has learned that it was all based on a lie and seeks revenge! But while Zed resents the underhanded manipulation by the immortal denizens of the Vortex, who was manipulating the Eternals? And to what ends? "We’ve all been used!" "And re-used." "And abused!" "And amused." "Hahahaha blech uhgah." It seems that Zardoz, by director John Boorman who went on to make Excalibur, is a love it or hate it film – truly weird, truly different, and I think, truly wonderful. The final scenes are incredibly moving and powerful. It’s a very surreal, satirical, sometimes disturbing, sometimes just plain bad, but ultimately poignant film. If fear of seeing Sean Connery in a bright red diaper AND a wedding dress doesn’t deter you, be warned, there are lots of topless females frolicking about, and a depraved orgy scene with seniors involved. Scene to look out for: Super-human Zed punches through some saran wrap whilst incredfulous bystanders exclaim, "It can’t be done, it’s impossible." Here's a screengrab from that scene: 
I can understand people not wanting to watch it... To quote one character, " http://www.badmovies.org/multimedia/moviesi/zardoz1.mpg - Yes, bit frightening isn't it? " It has very disturbing scenes, and Brutality... On the bright side, it features Connery in a wedding dress... 
Here's the trailer: http://moviefilmfest.com/html/Zardoz_MGM_DVD.htm - http://moviefilmfest.com/html/Zardoz_MGM_DVD.htm and it's maybe even weirder than the film itself.  As for the DVD.., I own the Sony DVD version of Zardoz (Criterion is best). Also love City of Lost Children, The Omega Man, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stalker, Alphaville, and many more. Oh, and I have a big thing for the old Planet of the Apes series of movies. |
Posted By: bhikkhu
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 09:54
I almost forgot about that one. I remember watching that when I was a kid. Great movie. You actually began to care for those little robots. ------------- a.k.a. H.T. http://riekels.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - http://riekels.wordpress.com |
Posted By: Forgotten Son
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 10:10
| Blade Runner and The Thing are probably my favourite Sci-Fi films. |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 11:27
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I missed Videodrome the other week, but I did see it when I was a teenager, but I've forgotten a lot of it. Quite a freaky film, if I remember correctly. And yes, Brazil is great, I was surprised at how good it was, because I'd seen The Fisher King previously and didn't really think it was that great. I fell asleep through 12 Monkeys, but that's not because I wasn't enjoying it, I was tired! -------------   
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Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 12:32
Videodrome - didn't enjoy it at all; thought it was trying too hard to be 'out there' and 'extreme'; but, then again, from that director, what can you expect? Not a fan. Strange you say that about 12 monkeys - that has happened to me every time I've tried to watch it; again, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but just through tiredness... -------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: VanderGraafKommandöh
Date Posted: March 02 2007 at 12:34
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It doesn't help that I'm not the biggest fan of Bruce Willis, I just can't take him seriously. As I said, I saw Videodrome when I was in my teens and cannot remember it completely. Not a Cronenberg fan then? I also fell asleep through Predator (or maybe it was Predator 2).  -------------
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Posted By: andu
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 11:18
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How about Lars von Trier's "The Element of Crime" as one of the best dystopies ever? Not very Sci-Fi, though, but a great film.
------------- "PA's own GI Joe!"
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 12:00
That is a great film! Interestingly enough, just yesterday I was thinking of doing a Lars von Trier poll (one of my favourite directors), and was specifically thinking about voting for that film. Speaking of dystopian tales, has anyone mentioned Delicatessan and Soylent Green yet? What about Metropolis? On a different note: Wender's Until the End of the World is a fun road trip movie that could be included here. Cronenberg has been mentioned, and I like Scanners and Videodrome muchly. Though Dead Ringers isn't appropriate for this topic, that's my favourite movie he did by far. I like his body horror. |
Posted By: andu
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 15:55
Delicatessen is one of my favourites!  Plenty of fiction, great script, visuals and acting, lotsa French humour, but no science. Jeunet's previous "La cite des enfants perdus" is one of the most interesting allegorical films I've ever seen - and there's more "science" there, something like in Gilliam's "12 Monkeys". ------------- "PA's own GI Joe!"
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Posted By: Melomaniac
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 15:58
 I second that ! AMAZING MOVIE ! Remember that scene on the pier, the one I call the butterfly effect scene, when the little girl sheds a tear and we see all the effects a simple tear drop has ? One of the most superb scenes I've seen. ------------- "One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio |
Posted By: andu
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 16:06
No I don't... thanks for pushing me into watching it again!  ------------- "PA's own GI Joe!"
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 16:51
Very true, which is why in my former post I opted to list City of Lost Children and ignored Delicatessan. However, I had intended to mention Deli in another context rather than as a sci-fi piece. Here's some thoughts I had on what is sci-fi at another board I have mostly left so as to concentrate on this site: http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=34761&sid=4b51734f16e356cc711dbb54bb8e4317#34761 - CLICK I do consider myself knowledgeable in that arena. A topic I have discussed a great deal over the years, and I've been a bit of a thorn in people's sides as I'm something of a purist when it comes to defining (rather like many people here when trying to define Prog). For a fun sci-fi romp (very soft sci-fi), I love Barbarella. EDIT: Cause I left that open for a joke that I thought someone would make... It may be a soft[core] SF romp, but it sure leaves me hard.  YOu know you're a n00b when you can't anticipate reaction (or lack thereof). |
Posted By: Ghandi 2
Date Posted: March 03 2007 at 23:45
Hahahaha, I have to see that movie...It looks like genius :D
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