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Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies
http://wmbriggs.com/blog/2008/12/12/top-10-sci-fi-movies/ ^ | William Briggs

Posted on 12/12/2008 3:10:10 AM PST by mattstat

Since we had so much fun with the Military List. Plus, it’s Friday.

1. Star Wars The original 1977 theatrical, error-filled release only. Han did shoot first. The storm troopers did want the blast doors to be closed only to then want them re-opened. Darth did do the wagging finger gesture for no apparent reason after his speech in the war room to Tarkin was over. When I saw the movie when it came out I wanted a light saber so bad it hurt. I was 13. I could still find a use for one.

2. The Thing from Another World Original; the remake is excellent, too, but probably better classified as Horror; see below. If you have never seen this, you are in for a treat. I have seen this movie dozens of times, and each viewing I hear a new line I somehow missed before. This is one of those Rosalind Russell fast talking comedy dramas. It’s hard to keep up. Dr Carrington’s motivations are natural, believable, and consistent throughout. The only, very minor, jarring point is when Scotty faints at the end, when he had been on Okinawa during the end of World War II. Anybody who made it through that would not pass out when seeing a vegetable cook. This movie does not follow the now usual conventions and will surprise you. You also have to keep in mind that this came out at the height of the Great Saucer Scare.

3. The Day the Earth Stood Still. The original!...

(Excerpt) Read more at wmbriggs.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: hollywood; moviereview; scifi; topten
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To: Little Ray

I think it would have been a better movie if they never actually showed the aliens. The movie worked best when it dealt with the relationships among the members of that family, stuck alone on their farm and fearing the unknown.

I get why it all needed to come together at the end (the glasses of water, the baseball bat, the asthma etc.), but it might have been better if MNS had found a way to leave that part out. It’s one of my favorite MNS movies, along with Unbreakable (but don’t get me started on his last 3- yuck).


81 posted on 12/12/2008 11:24:22 AM PST by Citizen Blade (What would Ronald Reagan do?)
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To: mattstat
Logan's Run.

-PJ

82 posted on 12/12/2008 11:26:58 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (You can never overestimate the Democrats' ability to overplay their hand.)
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To: Political Junkie Too

Logan’s Run is not a movie, it is the Democrat Party healthcare program for peon citizens.


83 posted on 12/12/2008 11:44:06 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Citizen Blade

He’s not my favorite and I don’t think I like any of his movies. Someone had to explain the ‘Signs’ to me. I got stuck on solving problems instead of the movie theme: “Strange threatening things happening? Load the rifle and shotgun and strap on a pistol. Something weird happening in the corn field? Call Bubba and BillyBob for covering fire and get out the combine. A monster in somebody’s pantry? Call the cops and cover the door until they arrive; Kill it if it comes out.”
I couldn’t believe a rural farmer didn’t at least have a shotgun. Kinda shot all sorts of holes in my “suspension of disbelief.”

But the movie wasn’t about solving problems and, after an explanation, I eventually got the point. Sort of.


84 posted on 12/12/2008 11:44:30 AM PST by Little Ray (Do we have a Plan B?)
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To: Darkwolf377

The sheer, frothing at the mouth hatred for Signs has always mystified me. The scientific objections—coming usually from people who, for example, have no problem at all with spaceships making sounds(!) as they fly through space—are no big deal for me. I love the film for its dreamlike mood and its sense of dread.

I think it’s a great film, MNS’s best.


85 posted on 12/12/2008 11:48:35 AM PST by denydenydeny ("Banish Merry Christmas. Get ready for Mad Max.."-Daniel Henninger)
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To: mattstat
Good science fiction movies is nearly a contradiction in terms, depending on what you think is "good." I'd have included The Three Stooges In Orbit. Maybe Robot Monster. And, of course, the immortal Plan Nine From Outer Space.

Flash Gordon was a hoot and had a great soundtrack. And yes, that is Pierce Brosnan in a Robin Hood suit.

Hmm...The Blob. Come on, Steve McQueen, hot rods and ducktail haircuts. What more do you want in science fiction?

They Live if only for the "kick ass and chew bubble gum" line. Them - admit it, the giant tommy-gun-proof ants scared the beejeezus outta ya. Earth vs. The Flying Saucers - I'm only in it for the effects.

86 posted on 12/12/2008 12:05:03 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Pearls Before Swine

He’s right about Blade Runner. And he’s right that the theatrical version with the voice-over is superior. The “director’s cut” is fine once you’ve seen the theatrical one and know what’s going on, but the extra scenes don’t add much. Rutger Hauer is absolutely terrific as the creepy, Milton-quoting superhuman.
^^^^^^^^^
Absolutely! I bought the “director’s cut” thinking it was the original with added scenes. Spent a minute or two trying to fix my DVD player, and then realized this POS was exactly what was intended. What really pissed me off is that he wouldn’t release the voice-over edition for quite some time. I loved Blade Runner, but tossed the “director’s cut” into the trash.

I actually think the list is one of the better one’s I have seen. His point about Metropolis is a good one. I liked Metropolis, but it doesn’t compare to a lot later movies made. Highlander sucked though.


87 posted on 12/12/2008 1:04:50 PM PST by Sharrukin
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To: mattstat

Forbidden Planet certainly belongs on the list. I don’t think either Highlander or Escape from New York, while both good movies, belong on that list.


88 posted on 12/12/2008 1:16:47 PM PST by Question_Assumptions
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To: denydenydeny

Signs is a good movie, all the way up until we find out the aliens are allergic to water. That idea is so incredibly stupid that it retroactively makes all of what happened before terrible.


89 posted on 12/12/2008 1:24:29 PM PST by dilvish
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To: Sharrukin
Does the Blade Runner Director's Cut omit the epilogue (with Harrison & Sean flying north)?

I thought it was missing from the recent cable broadcast (SciFi Channel?).

If so, I'm with you- pitch for glory!

90 posted on 12/12/2008 1:36:26 PM PST by PfromHoGro (Conservatism, my diversity.... celebrate it.)
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To: mattstat

Where’s War of the Gargantuas????


91 posted on 12/12/2008 1:54:49 PM PST by newbie 10-21-00
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To: P from Sheb

A friend recently purchased the full voice-over version for me, and it has the scene of them ‘driving’ north in it, not ‘flying’? Its called the ‘European cut’.

I never got to the end of the “Director’s Cut” so I cannot tell you if that scene was in it or not.


92 posted on 12/12/2008 1:56:13 PM PST by Sharrukin
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To: Star Traveler

In North Idaho we got several inches of ash.

I then drove down to St. Helens, drove to the concrete barriers they erected at the logging road entrances, and then I walked up the road past them to look at the volcano.

I came to the Toutle river, saw where the trees had been stripped bare and stained with mud 20 feet above my head, and the Toutle was far below me, scoured 20 feet deeper in its channel.

There was some mud that was still steaming off to the side, I walked towards it ‘cause I wanted to feel how how it was, and sank thigh-deep in the mud. I screamed out and threw myself backwards and was able to pull myself out by grabbing some bushes and pulling myself out.

I saved those pants for years afterwards, stained up to my thighs with the Mt. St. Helen’s volcanic ash that almost killed me!

I came so close to dying up there that day! The only other time I came that close was when I was a forest ranger in Alaska and I was eating lunch in Hope, Alaska. I was looking at the pack ice on the Sound there, looking at a small island, and debating with my buddy Steve on whether we should hike out onto the pack ice to the island to eat our lunch or just eat it on the cliff we were sitting on.

We decided it was too much trouble to hike out to the island so just ate our lunch on the cliff.

Well, an hour into our meal the pack ice started breaking up, and the ferocity with which it happened was so fierce that the island was eventually swallowed by the ice chunks and sea...we would have died if we had hiked out there!

I also crashed my hang glider a few times, almost drowned while scuba diving off Catalina, was knocked briefly unconscious while surfing in Newport Beach, almost fell off a cliff into the rapids at Whitehorse, Yukon, while jogging, was almost gored by a bull moose in rut in Moose Pass, Alaska, was tracked by two Kodiak brownies at Denali ‘til a bus came along, was almost knocked into the water at the Resurrection River in Seward by a cow moose running full tilt along a trail I was patrolling...if there hadn’t been a thicket I dove into as she ran towards me...on and on and on!

God’s been very kind to me in protecting my life!

Ed


93 posted on 12/12/2008 2:55:09 PM PST by Sir_Ed
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To: ovrtaxt
They Live. Great campy flick, and it can’t be beat for a paranoid, suggestive psychotrip.


94 posted on 12/12/2008 3:10:26 PM PST by TonyStark
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To: rollo tomasi; mattstat

AWESOME flick! The most original SF movie in ages.


95 posted on 12/12/2008 9:57:56 PM PST by NucSubs ( Cognitive dissonance: Conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between beliefs and actions)
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To: Aurorales
Aliens, the Special Edition. The concept of the Queen Alien was discussed by the characters before they knew one existed.

The original idea of “cocooning” was part of the original story and a scene was shot for the movie, but not included in the final edit. Too many eggs in the derelict alien spaceship to support the number of alien crew members being transformed into egg larvae.

I didn't care for Alien 3, but I did like the last one, Alien Resurrection.

The two Alien vs Predator movies ruined both franchises.

Forbidden Planet has to be in the top ten though.

96 posted on 12/12/2008 10:46:58 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (Democracy, two wolves and one sheep deciding what's for dinner.)
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To: Star Traveler

His lodge at spirit lake was gone. He stayed behind and they never found him.


97 posted on 12/13/2008 2:39:00 AM PST by truemiester ((If the U.S. should fail, a veil of darkness will come over the Earth for a thousand years))
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To: TonyStark

You nailed that image down to a T, or rather an O?


98 posted on 12/13/2008 3:08:17 AM PST by Eye of Unk (Americans should lead America, its the right way.)
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To: Eye of Unk

Hope someone will be there to kick ass and chew bubblegum.


99 posted on 12/13/2008 3:11:58 AM PST by chemicalman (We'll see if it was really all Bush's fault.)
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To: chemicalman

When I was a kid the biggest most awe inspiring sci-fi films to me were first off the original War of the Worlds, the original Time Machine and of course 20,000 Leagues under the Sea which were films up to the early 60’s, from the mid 60’s forward another decade all we got was psychobabble stuff like Fahrenheit 451, 2001, Planet of the Apes.

I can only give proper credit of sci-fi as per its generation, I thought Logans Run was very well reguarded as a masterpiece and funny as it sounds I never saw 2001 until about several years ago, go figure, but when Star Wars came out I had to see it over and over.

So I think a truly good sci-fi film is its repeat viewing and I think most would agree SW has that pretty much.


100 posted on 12/13/2008 3:29:12 AM PST by Eye of Unk (Americans should lead America, its the right way.)
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