Science Fiction Movies

[Ottawan]

One of the posts in the trivia thread by SM made me think.

There is bad sci-fi and there is good sci-fi.

Satantic Mechanic mentioned the 1958 movie "From the Earth to the Moon" as being particularly brutal both for science and for special effects. I agree, yet I still own a VHS copy of that film.

I love science fiction movies whether they are academy award winners(which don't happen much) or whether they suck(i.e Darryl Hannah in "Attack of the 50 foot woman", which I also have.)

I was just wondering what the members here consider their favourites. A lot of mine are from the 50's & 60's before SFX had been improved.

Anybody want to post about the ones they think are the best and the worst before I continue to ramble on?

[Satanic Mechanic]

I think Mystery Science Theatre 3000 covered all the bad sci-fi movies there are.  I love the Godzilla movies ever since I was a kid.  Yes the storylines are bad, the english dubbing is horrible and the special effects are low budget/cheesey but I love it.

[SpaceChem]

I agree with SM.  Mystery Science Theater seemed to pick the worst of the worst to "re-dub".  I think "Plan 9 from Planet X" is right near the top of the list for me.

[Ottawan]

Excellent!

How about the best?

[LunarOrbit]

"12 Monkeys" is a good one, it handles time travel in an interesting way and it leaves you wondering in the end.

[Johno]

Good: The Terminator series.  B grade? Yes.  But brilliant!

Evil: Armageddon.  It was so inaccurate (in every area) to be unwatchable.

Don't fit into category well:
- Apollo 13.  Not fiction, but an excellent space movie all the same.  Can't see it too many times!
- Star Wars.  Not science fiction; excellent Space Fantasy.

[Satanic Mechanic]

I can name a lot of movies that were pretty bad in the last ten years.  The worst is when they adapt it from a good book and butcher the hell out of it.  Let me think of some bad ones:

1.  Jurassic Park 2, by far the worst movie ever made!  It was so bad, I walked out of the theatre in the first 20 minutes (minus the previews).

2.  Mortal Kombat 2, I came out of that theatre wondering what the hell was that?

3.  Contact, Pretty bad adaptation of Carl Sagan's book.  The movie was toooo long, Jodi Foster is a terrible actor and did I mention that the movie was tooo long!

4.  Aliens the fourth movie, forgot the full title, that was bad too.

5.  Sphere- that was a waste of time

6.  Event Horizon, a bag of burning dog crap has a better plot than that movie.

7.  The Batman and Robin movie, the one with Arnold, even though it was not scifi, it was pretty bad and every seat at the theatre should of had a barf bag for that movie.  I thought it was worth mentioning.

8.  Wild Wild West, I was wondering when they were gonna hang Jim West in the post-Civil War South.

9.  MIB2, that was bad and a little too late to capitalize on the first movie.  Robot Jox was a better movie than this.

10. Star Wars Episode 1, I liked the pod racing scene but Jar-Jar Binks must die.  He wrecked the whole movie in my opinion.

11. Hitch Hiker's guide to the galaxy, even though I read 4 out of the six books of the series, I am positive Douglas Adams is spinning in his grave at 12,000rpm.  THey jump all over the first books and the comedy stinks.  Whenever Hollywood touches something that is good, it becomes crap!


See you at the movies!

SM

[spacecat27]

I'm sure I'll think of others- and of course some are in a class by themselves- like 2001 A Space Odyssey.....
but a favorite I always bring up in discussions like this is SILENT RUNNING, with Bruce Dern.

[LunarOrbit]

1. Jurassic Park 2, by far the worst movie ever made! It was so bad, I walked out of the theatre in the first 20 minutes (minus the previews).

Jurassic Park 3 was worse, I think, but not by much.

3. Contact, Pretty bad adaptation of Carl Sagan's book. The movie was toooo long, Jodi Foster is a terrible actor and did I mention that the movie was tooo long!

I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book... it made more sense that people doubted that she really went on the trip because she only had her word for it, where as in the book she went with four or five other people who all claimed to share the same experience.

7. The Batman and Robin movie, the one with Arnold, even though it was not scifi, it was pretty bad and every seat at the theatre should of had a barf bag for that movie. I thought it was worth mentioning.

Both of the Joel Schumacher Batman movies were pretty bad.

8. Wild Wild West, I was wondering when they were gonna hang Jim West in the post-Civil War South.

It was horrible. Yeah, a giant steam powered spider built in the wild west is believable!

10. Star Wars Episode 1, I liked the pod racing scene but Jar-Jar Binks must die. He wrecked the whole movie in my opinion.

Jar Jar makes the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi seem less annoying, that's for sure. I liked Phantom Menace more than most people, I think, but it definately wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The pod race and the lightsaber duel, and John Williams, are the only things that save it, in my opinion.

11. Hitch Hiker's guide to the galaxy, even though I read 4 out of the six books of the series, I am positive Douglas Adams is spinning in his grave at 12,000rpm. THey jump all over the first books and the comedy stinks. Whenever Hollywood touches something that is good, it becomes crap!

Actually, Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay so I don't think he would complain too much (not about the writing anyway).

[SpaceChem]

Yeah, Silent Running is a favorite of mine as well.  I also liked the first Jurasic Park movie and The Abyss - except for the weak ending.

[spacecat27]

The Abyss made a bit more sense after I read the book- of course that was one of those cases where the book was written after the movie; but they at least elaborated on the critters' manipulation of molecules (particularly water) which was not really addressed in the movie.  But... why is it always 'space aliens come to earth and set up shop on the bottom of the ocean?'--- I would think the oceans are mysterious enough on their own to support unknowns.

I won't even comment on this new TV series, SURFACE, which contains so many errors that I could start a "Bad Oceanography" site on it.  C'mon, guys- throw a few thou my way as 'consultant!'

Speaking of underwater sci-fi--- I agree with SM.  I completely lost respect for Michael Crichton after SPHERE.  (Since I was actively working with U/W habitats & such at the time, and had always been a Crichton fan- I ran out like an idiot and bought the book in hardcover the day it hit the shelves.  My feeling is- Michael Crichton owes me $17.95 plus tax- and if I should ever meet him I'd like to collect!) The book- and hence the movie- is full of blatant mistakes in basic physics and rudimentary diving practice that a phone call to any SCUBA shop could have cleared up- but Crichton didn't even bother to pick up a phone.  What made him great in his early days of ANDOROMEDA STRAIN or TERMINAL MAN was that everything he wrote was so well-researched.  Once he 'went Hollywood,' his work went out the window.  The only thing that might have given the movie, SPHERE, any redeeming entertainment would have been a nice bikini shot of Sharon Stone.... and we didn't even get that! 

[DonPMitchell]

I think there are a collection of good Sci-Fi films that get mentioned a lot (Blade Runner, ALien, Terminator, the first Matrix film...)  Here are a few slightly less common films that I liked a lot:

1. Dark City - A sci-fi _film noir_ with great visuals and a great cast.

2. Pitch Black - An australian film, also had an interesting look.  The sequel ("Chronicles of Riddick") was in many ways a worse film, but fun to watch and had great graphic design.

3. Ultraviolet - The best vampire series ever made, very dark, set in modern-day London.

4. Gattaca - If you like sci-fi that really speculates about the human condition, this is a very thoughtful film with a good cast.

5. Solaris - Tarkovsky's Russian version, not the remake with George Clooney.  OK, it is very long and slow, but is quite a visual trip, and I thought the ending was amazingly powerful.

6. First Men in the Moon - the British film, kinda goofey, but I really enjoyed it.  I loved the screenplay concept that the American astronauts find a 19-th century British flag on the Moon.  Hehe!

7. Starship Troopers - OK, a lot of my friends disagree with me on this.  But I think Verhoven is very intelligent, and for a leftist Dutch film maker, he did a remarkably faithful job of creating and studying Heinlein's bizarre future political system, with the whole fascist stylism and all.


Movies I wish were made:

1. If Tarkovsky was still alive, I'd love to see him make a film of "Dhalgren" by Samuel Delaney.

2. "War of the Worlds" done as a true-to-the-book period piece by Merchant and Ivory.



Best Bad Science Fiction Film:

Ed Woods movies are TOO bad.  I'd suggest "Barbarella" as a good candidate.

[Satanic Mechanic]

Here is a short list of scifi movies I do like:

1.  Soylent Green - Delicious , one of my favorites.

2.  Logan's Run -  Funny, my wife made me a "carousel" cake for my 30th birthday.

3.  Rollerball - the old Rollerball not that piece of crap that came out two years ago.  It showed how bad corporation-governments can get.

4.  Gattaca - I agree with Don on his comments.

5.  Clockwork Orange - I do find this to be scifi while other's call it action.

6.  Deathrace 2000 - a cult classic and an inspiration for me.

7.  The Planet of the Apes movies- the old ones, not "Boogie-Chimps" AKA "Dirk Diggler vs. the planet of the apes".

8.  Fifth Element - Good film and it is a good date movie.

9.  Empire Strikes Back - My favorite of the six SW movies.  It shows that no matter how good you are, $!*# happens.

10.  Blade Runner - I agree with Don on this- it spawned a lot of spinoffs in movies, anime and books.

11.  Runaway- an overlooked film, I wanted to learn electronics and robotics when I was younger.  Also Gene Simmons from KISS is in it.

[Ottawan]

And don't forget Kirstie Alley's bra in Runaway . . . . bug detected!!

[SpaceChem]

I agree with many top picks:

Soylent Green
Runaway
Blade Runner
and, yes, First Men In The Moon

Great choices everyone!