St. Lou, MO Sci-Fi Genre Movies: Review & Discussion

I wanted to post my thoughts on a movie, and thought, I should make up a thread that can go further than just one movie. So I introduce the Sci-Fi Genre Movies Review & Discussion Thread.

The film, as you may have guessed, is a current theatre release, Red Planet. IMHO, Red Planet sucked. The only thing that made it not a total wash for me was Val Kilmer's presence. B/c of Val's stellar acting? Not quite. Actually, it's simply b/c I happen to find him handsome and sexy.

The movie seems to be an episode of "Survivor" from the future, that takes place on Mars. That's right, 500 years from now, we will not have evolved past "Survivor". Frightening, isn't it? Unfortunately, you aren't feeling very clear on who to root for, b/c they haven't really produced much empathy between you and the characters. There are other problems with the movie, too numerous to mention. Let me just say this, "Wait for the video."

The GOOD thing besides Val Kilmer, is the navigator robot. I believe the robot is nearly 100% CGI, and it is very cool. I don't know if it's modeled after something currectly in use, but it the movie it works Great.

So, everyone please join in with your Sci-Fi Genre Movies comments, reviews and flibbertygibberissh! Or start a new thread for a new genre!

 

Ya know, my friend said the exact same thing about that movie... Including the part about Val Kilmer....
OH, well, Maybe I'll see it over break with my passes. I have to do something with the 22 I currently have.. and I'm getting 4 more friday..... Maybe I should see more movies....

 

Or see 1 movie and invite 25 friends!

 

Thats an idea, though I was thinking more along the lines of christmas presents for my friends at school.

 

This is a neat topic idea, Steph... thanks for starting it! Now I just have to think of a movie (or movies, hmmmm) to review.

Thom

 

Here's an idea for discussion on this topic. What are everyone's top picks for sci fi movies that are NOT SW and ST. I'm not eliminating them from my question b/c I think they're not worth discussing. I love both SW and ST. But I just wonder what everyone likes besides those?

In no particular order, my tops would be
2001
Close Encounter of the Third Kind
Alien
T1
Contact
and there's one I'm missing that I'll kick myself for, but oh, well.

If I wasn't so dog tired at the moment, I'd follow up with my thoughts on those. But I WILL get back to that later on. Just wanted to post this idea while fresh in my mind.

 

Hmmm.... There are a lot of sci/fi movies I like (besides SW of course).

Here are some of mine, in no particual order, 'cause I couldn't begin to put them in one!

The Matrix (that was so great)
2001 (how can you not like it)
Contact (Aw, tear-jerker)
Titan A.E. (great visuals)
StarGate (Love the movie, hooked on the show)

That's it for now. I know I'm forgetting something, but it'll come to me.

 

Ok, the one I was forgetting earlier was BladeRunner. How could I forget that one? After all, it does star one of our favorite actors.

 

Guess what I saw last night! Dungeons and Dragons! The acting may have sucked, but it had Dragons! And I got in free because one of the managers there likes me! Movie night will be at Des Peres for as long as he works there!

 

Oh, and more on-topic:
You can't forget SpaceBalls!
The Matrix was an awesome movie! I can't wait til 2002!
I still love E.T. for some reason....
Titan A.E.! I love my pin..... I wish I had gotten one of the posters! Oh, well, I got an X-men slick.

 

Hmh...

The Matrix rocked! Awesome movie! The very first thing I bought when I recently got a DVD player!

The Fifth Element!

2001, also a good one.

I was one of the few who liked Dune. Yes, the book is better though...

The Blade Runner.

Please, no one blast me... but I kinda liked the Star Trek movies...

Alien. Very good, although it scared me doo-dooless the first time I saw it!

This is more in the fantasy-realm, but Dragon Slayer was very good for its time. Same with The Dark Crystal!

I'm sure I'll think of some others...

SW still rules though!

 

Ah... just read the post above...

Yes! Spaceballs!

And ET was pretty good too... once I got over my annoyance that it (at one time) surpassed SW in attendance.

 

Ummm.... I can't believe I forgot SpaceBalls! I love that movie.
I also kinda liked the Fifth Element. Some parts were good, some weren't so good.
And as for BladeRunner, the only good thing was Harrison Ford. That movie really grossed me out.

 

Finally saw The Matrix last night - loved it, almost bought it today.

The Trek films are a mixed bag, STII was and will probably always be my favorite.

2001 was great, that goes without saying but I said it anyway. I enjoyed 2010, but it's a completely different style of movie. Less cerebral, more political, but I thought it was fun. (and the "hot dog" scene between Curnow and Floyd is a classic)

More will follow....

Thom
"You can't grow good hot dogs indoors!"

 

P.S. Drat! I want a star too! Just like jedigal has!

Oh well... patience and persistence...

 

I can't believe you JUST saw The Matrix, Thom! But at least you did now and glad you liked it.
Yeah, 2010 was cool too. I should watch those again. It's been a while.

 

2001
This film was born the year after I was and I've been watching it all my life. I love everything about it. The choice of music for the score is great. It is unbelievably great visually, the cinematography is astounding to me. The feel of it is so real, having the sterile feel we often associate with expensive technological equipment, but none of the flashiness that makes the future look impossibly fantastic or magical. I love the mystical part of the movie, what they DON'T tell you. Later on, in the sequelae, they try to go there, but I choose to just take 2001 on its own. Hal is a wonderful villain, and I love the idea that we created him, the concept of causing our own problems. Also, I LOVE films that assume that we WILL continue to explore outer space. This is the kind of accomplishment that can ONLY be achieved by large organizations, be they government or business, or some new type of organization, and I will always support the efforts of those who want to make it happen. My hope is that before I die, I will have the opportunity to orbit the earth at a great enough distance to view the entire globe at once. And of course, the movie is filled with powerful symbolism.

CE3K
In 1977, Star Wars wasn't the only movie to have an impact in my life. Close Encounters of the Third Kind sparked my imagination in a more tangible way. I knew that I would never meet a real Jedi Knight or a Wookiee. But I had always hoped I would meet SOME intelligent extraterrestrial being. Not some alien creature any writer had ever imagined, but some actual beings that really are out there. Again, there is plenty of mysticism, the unexplained. The song and the vision of the mountain are so cool. And I LOVE the mountain of mashed potatoes. As a side point, I'd like to say, that mashed potatoes are a great food. You can scuplt and eat. And they're delicious. REAL mashed potatoes only please! My mother-in-law makes the best mashed potatoes. Anyway, I thought this was pretty realistic at least as far as the government reaction and cover up stuff. Obviously I can't say that the aliens, their ships, their activities, and their communication attempts were realistic. B/c I have NOT ever been abducted by aliens, contrary to popular belief.

Contact
Again, another optimistic vision of the future. Again, benevolent (apparently) aliens. And again, a world that is willing to take chances to make something so big become attainable. And I love that they DON'T tell us whether they retry the machine, but leave that unanswered. And I love that they present both "sides" of the God issue without making a final judgement but leaving it open to the audience. The movie manages to discuss the issue pretty fairly (IMHO) and gives good points on both sides. It has good symbolism, not as good as the former two, but hey you can't have everything. Also, here is a film which stars a woman who is smart, assertive, working in a tech field, and still attractive and feminine.

Alien
Now we move to the darker movies from my list. I was 12 when Alien came out. I loved this movie. It was scary, exciting. I was one of those over-achievers in school, bookworm kids, and by this age had read quite a bit of science fiction, much of it aimed at an older audience. I had no patience with your run of the mill low budget crap and junk sci fi movies. I was always looking for a plot. Well, Alien may have had a very SIMPLE plot, but it was a GOOD plot, and it worked! They did a great job with the suspense in this film. I still get scared sometimes when I watch it. And the "bad andy-roid" and the EVIL company are always cool themes. The alien herself was super cool, and I loved the ending. A note about the sequels. I personally could have done without 3 and 4, but Aliens, the first sequel, kicked butt. It was far better as an action film, and I only prefer the original Alien b/c it was the one that developed the plot that makes both it and Aliens work.

Blade Runner
Here we have a very dark vision of the future. Looks like a pretty grim, polluted, trashy soci

 

One of these days I will post my review of the fairly recent Gamera trilogy... which may well surprise anyone who thinks of Gamera only as the "Friend to All Children" so often (and, to be honest, rightfully) seen on MST3K.

I'll tell you now... this is not the Gamera of old. ;->

Thom

 

Oh, WOW! I left off one of my all-time old fav's! Altered States.

Love that movie! I suppose it touches my more primitive side. While it does not, regrettably, take place in outer space, it is a SUPER sci fi film. If there's anyone out there that hasn't seen it yet, I recommend you do so soon! It's scary, strange, suspenseful, and (what sci fi film isn't) somewhat hokey. 1xx minutes of solid entertainment!

 

There are some sf movies that I really like that haven't been mentioned, so I'd like to do so. I'm using a broader usage of sf to mean "speculative fiction," so there may be some fantasy in here. After all, Star Wars isn't really science fiction, but space fantasy.

The City of Lost Children (1995) (or its French title, La cité des enfants perdus)
Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet

A wonderfully, surreal fable, with fantastic visuals. A mad inventor, Krank (Daniel Emilfork) cannot dream, so he kidnaps children to steal theirs. Ron Perlman plays One, who teams up with a little girl, Miette (Judith Vittet) to save their respective brothers. It also features a haunting score by Angelo Badalamenti.

The Truman Show (1998)
Directed by Peter Weir

This really was science fiction and the best movie version of The Prisoner.

Dark City (1998)
Directed by Alex Proyas

Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
All directed by Robert Zemeckis

The first great trilogy after the original Star Wars trilogy. The attention to detail and kinetic energy always grab me.

Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Directed by Terry Gilliam

An expansion of short film, La Jatée (1962), directed by Chris Marker. Other great sf films by Gilliam: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and Time Bandits (1981).

Solaris (1972) (or its Russian title, Solyaris)
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

A thoughtful encounter with an alien who can create your greatest desires.

Well, that's ten features, so I'll stop for now. There are many others, but that's the ones that come to mind right now. I really like The Fifth Element (1997), directed by Luc Besson, who directed the first film with Natalie Portman, The Professional (1994) (or its French title, Léon). And 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), directed by Stanley Kubrick, is my favorite of all time. A film that must be seen on the big screen if you get the chance. Kubrick also did A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Phil

 

I really liked Dark City and Twelve Monkeys!

Didn't care for A Clockwork Orange, though. There was an attack on a woman that was very disturbing to watch. Then, I think we're supposed to feel sorry for her attacker in the end, but I couldn't manage it.

 

Yes the Back to the Future movies were great fun! Also in the same vein of fun but fluff sci fi are Independence Day, Mars Attacks, and that movie i can't think of the name of that was just out recently and it had Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman in it. Plus numerous others I'm sure. Including spaceballs. Again, i guess sometimes i think of these as comedies first, and don't tend mentally to classify them as sci fi.

Twelve Monkeys ROCKED!!!!
I love Bruce Willis in this film. It's not a HUGE departure from his "norm" but it is different enough. I think he shows fine acting skills here. Brad Pitt is excellent as the completely freakyass freakyass. And the gal, i can't think, elizabeth something? is great too. oh, no, barbara hershey maybe?
also i loved the plot, i liked the way they visualized the future, and I loved the animals running around loose in the city. {Yes, folks, that's right, the critic praised the movie based on the shots of animals prowling around the city. We don't pay her much, don't worry.)

 

I can't believe I forgot Back to the Future! Those movies rock!

Jedigal, I think you mean Galaxy Quest.. I saw that last night fo the first time. When the one kid was heading outside with the fireworks, my dad gave me this look, and then I said, "I'm not THAT bad" but he didn't believe me. It was funny....

 

Mara, the attack is meant to be disturbing, I think. After all, I'm the kind of guy who winces when the orderly licks Sarah Conner in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I think A Clockwork Orange is a satirical comment about violence (and how we try to deal with it as a society) and not an affirmation of it. I'm more upset about scenes of violence that don't disturb, that make it seem exciting and "fun."

Jedigal, that was Madeleine Stowe as Dr. Kathryn Railly in Twelve Monkeys.

Phil

 

I CAN post without starting a new thread!

Dude, Where's My Car- If I say anything else, I spoil the movie. (Hilarious)

Red Dwarf- Not a movie (to my knowledge), but another great Sci-fi comedy.
From those brilliant people in the UK (see it on PBS or BBC America)
P.S. BBC America has a marathon right now.

Highlander- "There can be only one."(For some reason, screenwriters picked the wrong MacCleod this summer) I've loved the original for a long time, and I got the Renegade Version of Highlander 2 on DVD for Christmas.
I have yet to see Final Dimension. BTW, a SLUH grad, Jim Byrnes, was a cast member of the TV show and was in the Endgame movie.
The great thing about the Renegade cut of H2 was that it wasn't just a director's cut; it was an "everybody who worked on the film except for the boneheaded studio execs' cut". I recommend all four of these movies (maybe not Endgame so much though).

Jurassic Park- Perhaps one of the most beloved Sci-Fi movies of the past decade, JP opened up a whole new world in computer animation, and brought the questionable ethics of genetic engineering into the public eye. The Lost World was a wonderful sequel, and I eagerly anticipate JP3 this summer (with the return of Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant!).