South Pacific?
Posted on 11/16/2010 9:57:34 AM PST by EveningStar
The science-fiction genre has been around almost as long as movies themselves have.
(Excerpt) Read more at movies.msn.com ...
He’s a replicant. Earlier in the movie, he has a dream of a unicorn. In the final scene, Gaff leaves behind an origami figure of a unicorn—an indicator that he was there to kill Rachel or maybe even Deckard, and let them live. Deckard recalls the line he said, “It’s too bad she won’t live. But then again who does?” indicating Deckard, too, has a limited lifespan.
Battle Beyond the Stars!!!! What a GREAT Movie. :-)
I was trying to remember the name of that movie. With the space ship that was basically a cow.
Hilarious.
I liked how matter-of-fact the one guy was after he was doomed and then the bomb rolls off of him. Like “Oh well”.
And then he’s taping his last words, and realizes that his tape recorder is going to be incinerated, and starts laughing.
Seeing it in the theatre for a buck or two even better. Back before “straight to video” there was straight to the $1 (2?) movie night where they tried to at least cover the cost of returning the print to the studio.
South Pacific?
I was in college when walking by the bookstore, they had a cardboard display holding the paperbacks of Star Wars. I read the back of a copy, ...once upon a time in the faraway galaxy of ... there was a princess in danger ..., replaced it, and kept on moving.
I live for this kinda thing. No list I’ve ever seen has ever had people saying ‘This is correct,’ ever. It’s the nature of such lists.
I can’t believe some of the movies my fellow FReepers think are good SF. Capricorn One? Logan’s Run? (both with awesome Jerry Goldsmith scores) Soylent Green? (one of the silliest scifi movies ever) Starship Troopers? Gah!!! (This is all in fun, don’t be offended.)
50: The Quartermass Xperiment—Good stuff.
49: Things to Come—Ambitious and enjoyable. Should be remade.
48: I Married a Monster From Outer Space—Is this a joke?
47: Godzilla (original)—I wouldn’t include monster movies as scifi, consider it a horror movie.
46: Strange Invaders—Wouldn’t put it on this list. It’s a curiosity.
45: They Live!—An OK idea, but I can’t stand Carpenter movies with the exception of Dark Star. Overrated.
44: It Came From Outer Space—Recently it was revealed that Ray Bradbury had a lot more to do with this than eas previously thought. He didn’t just write a draft of the script, he did a rewrite, too, and was more responsible for the final script than was believed.
43: The Omega Man—I think this one is underrated, but this is a shadow of the novel.
42: Invaders From Mars—very overrated.
41: The Andromeda Strain (70’s version)—It’s almost more interesting as an exercise in making an objective movie without the genre thrills. But man, it takes almost an hour to get going.
40: War of the Worlds (50’s version)—Good, but dated—talk about ‘you can see the strings!” Too far from the novel, but the big attack scene and the images of the deserted Los Angeles are still powerful.
39: War of the Worlds (00’s version)—Underrated, but some ridiculous moments (the kid goes off to what should be his death and Cruise just lets him, Tim Robbins, a ray that evaporates people and leave clothes untouched).
38: When Worlds Collide—very dated.
37: The Incredible Shrinking Man—an excellent film, that works because it’s taken seriously.
36: Robinson Crusoe on Mars—some magnificent planet scenes.
35: Planet of the Vampires—one of my fave midnight movies. Italian babes in leather uniforms... Very gloomy and atmospheric. Mario Bava could work miracles with dry ice and lighting.
34: Quatermass and the Pit—excellent Brit SF, with some similar ideas to 2001.
33: Mars Attacks!—it was wacky enough but for some reason it bored me.
32: Solaris (00’s version)—Hugely underrated. I can’t stand Clooney but I thought this is one of the few non-action science fiction movies ever made post-Star Wars.
31: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (50’s version)—I saw this recently and it was ten times scarier than the most overrated SF horror movie ever, The Thing ‘82.
30: Alphaville—interesting idea, but put me to sleep.
29: Moon—outstanding setup leads to boredom, and I like Sam Rockwell. Great art direction, but could have done without the HAL ripoff.
28: The Man Who Fell to Earth—interesting at first but boring.
27: Total Recall—blech.
26: These Are the Damned—haven’t seen it, want to.
25: Starman—soap opera, boring.
24: Brazil—cool and visually imaginative, with a great ending. That interrogation room is nightmarish.
23: Serenity—surprisingly good, considering I can’t stand most of Whedon’s junk.
22: Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn—very entertaining. Not a Trekkie, but this and the latest Star Trek movie are lots of fun.
21: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (original)—kinda slow.
20: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope—I don’t know anyone who calls it A New Hope.
19: Solaris—slow, but worthwhile if you like to read SF and not just watch SF movies.
18: Forbidden Planet—should be MUCH higher on this list.
17: The Fly (80’s version)—more a horror movie. Enjoyed it and appreciated making something more grownup out of silly material, but for some reason haven’t felt the need to see it again.
16: Starship Troopers—crap.
15: Independence Day—CRAP.
14: The Thing (80’s version)—SUPREME CRAP.
13: The Terminator—entertaining, and unlike AVATAR had an interesting story.
12: The Day the Earth Stood Still (50’s version)—overrated, talky commie crap.
11: Metropolis—great imagery of the city but this thing crawls.
10: Close Encounters of the Third Kind—eh.
9: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial—I’m not a Spielberg fan.
8: Aliens—ok B movie, not in the same time zone as the first one.
7: The Thing From Another World—lots of fun, Hawks really adds to the believability with the overlapping dialogue.
6: Terminator 2: Judgment Day—some good stuff, but even when I saw it opening night I was getting bored. Cameron struggles to make his movies Meaningful. Just make a good action movie. Yet here, the action movies seemed like set pieces, not like they emerge from the story.
5: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back—one of my favorite movies ever.
4: Alien—another of my favorites.
3: The Matrix—one of those movies that had me wondering ‘What is everyone else seeing that I’m not?’
2: 2001: A Space Oddyssey—deserves all the praise it gets
1: Blade Runner—I agree, visually amazing without being overwhelming ala Lucas’s FX-overload prequels. The story manages to get through Scott’s focus on the sets, and the story is quite poignant.
"The Monitors" (spotty, but interesting idea where aliens use advertising to convince us we should be glad they're here. Jackie Vernon & Alan Arkin have good cameos, and Avery Schreiber steals the show)
"They Live" - Rowdy Roddy Piper - 'nuff said. (Best line: "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of bubble gum")
"Seconds" - Rock Hudson gets a second chance at life - surprisingly good.
"Metropolis" - Masterpiece of silent cinema
Almost any Hammer film with Christopher Lee (ok, horror movies, but still good).
And thank God for MST3K - they've brought more laughter into our living room than any show ever.
TCM's Underground has put up quite a few sleepers
"Wild, Wild Planet" - Great visuals (The future ain't what it used to be)
Couldn't agree with you more.
Until Star Wars came out, 2001 was supposedly the greatest Sci-Fi film of all time. I never could get it. When I first saw Star Wars, you didn't have to wait long for the action to start. That first scene was so cool. That star destroyer seemed to go on for ever.
removed
Them scared the crap out of me as a kid.
Your list dates you... Conspicuously absent are such classics as Stargate, Dune, original Planet of the Apes, and District 9. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Inception as well.
The hack Verhoeven hated Heinlein and he deliberately made a terrible movie intended to satirize of the novel. The campy parody that sort of worked in Robocop failed miserably when applied to Starship Troopers.
Now that I think about it, Superman The Movie is science fiction and it definitely belongs in the top 10.
***Great book (Heinlein, of course), but I heard the movie was very disappointing. Anyone like it? ***
One girl did a great scene of pulling off her top. Special effects were good, otherwise too much jingoism.
I had no idea how anyone could make such a crappy movie out of such an amazing book.
Now I know.
The Final Director's cut makes this clear, small changes, but really improves the movie, particularly over the theater version.
Beautiful film.
It’s not my list. It belongs to the author of the article. My list would look different - but I don’t think I could come up with 50.
***What? No “Plan 9 from Outer Space”.....c’mon, it was so bad it was good.***
It and THE CREEPING TERROR. Two of the worst movies ever made. So bad they need to be watched!
Most depressing si-fi movie? THESE ARE THE DAMNED. Well filmed movie about radioactive children.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.