What's your favorite Sci-Fi Movie?

[MJ]

I just got this thing for "Logan's Run".

Fara and that English cutie ?

 

[bpp]

Metropolis was visually impressive. Don't remember the story too much. Should see it again. I think the scenes of proletarian workers being slaves to a giant machine were later referenced by Charlie Chaplin.

The Shape of Things to Come had a kind of overweening plot, but the sets were wonderful. I'm a sucker for Art Deco.

 

[Scrooge]

Metropolis was visually impressive.  Don't remember the story too much.  Should see it again.

If you have only seen one of the cut versions, then the plot was likely incomprehensible. I watched a 90 minute version at one point and was also impressed by the visuals, but no amount of head scratching helped me sort out the plot. Years later I saw a restored 120 minute version and everything was perfectly clear since formerly missing crucial plot elements had been restored. Granted, I dind't think it was a great plot, but at least it made sense

The Shape of Things to Come had a kind of overweening plot, but the sets were wonderful.  I'm a sucker for Art Deco.

Well, Wells was well into his preachy phase by then -- he had lost his magic touch some time in the 1900s and definitely after "The War in the Air" -- but it was still an impressive movie.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

My faves: Alien, Matrix, Terminator 2

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Dune the movie was a little heavy and wordy. The director was so unhappy with it that he had the director's credit say "John Smithee", which is Hollywood for 'I don't want my name on this thing!'. The movie was easier to get through than the books (which I originally read in serial form in Analog SF magazine.)

Among the worst was Tron by Disney.

THEN, there is the first movie that Lennard Nemoy appeared in (briefly). He was a Martian with pointy ears (!) in an old black-and-white flic with a name with 'Mars' in it (I forget). Cardboard spaceships, etc.

Brazil was zany. Very dark. Very different. Disturbing. I liked it.

Another old black-and-white one that made an impression on me in my first pass at college: Alphaville. Very French--hard to follow. Film noir. Oblique dialog. Like poetry. There were a few others in that genre that I remember sequences from but the details have evaporated. (Do the French still make films?)

 

[ladelfina]

..and no one has mentioned "Zardoz"? Along the lines of "so bad, it's almost good". Fascinating in a train wreck sort of way, tho' it's been a long time since I saw it. I think herbal supplements would assist in the viewing.

If I'd been a lesbian, Id've had Charlotte Rampling posters up on my wall in the '70s... As it was, I thought Sean was a major hunk.. but in this flick his red diaper put me off.

 

[Andre1969]

There was an old black and white movie put out in 1936 called "Things to Come". I think H. G. Wells wrote the story. Anyway, it had us going into a second World War around Christmas Eve of 1940, a war that would drag out for decades and leave most of the world pretty desolate.

Then finally, out of the ashes, a new civilization rose up, one that would hopefully put all the fighting and bickering behind us, but it didn't work. It had some really impressive visuals for the time. I remember these futuristic bomber planes emerging from the clouds and these little WW-I artifacts trying to engage them. And then later on, the effects of them building the futuristic world, and the futurstic city shots were really cool.

Most of the history that it portrayed never came to be, but I thought it was interesting that they did predict another world war happening around 1940. I don't think they had us going into space travel until something like 2150 though.

 

[bpp]

You can download "Things to Come" from the Internet Archive:

http://www.archive.org/details/ThingstoCome

It seems to have fallen into the public domain.

 

[Scrooge]

There was an old black and white movie put out in 1936 called "Things to Come".   I think H. G. Wells wrote the story.

"Things to Come" the movie (1936) was based on H. G. Wells' novel "The Shape of Things to Come" (1933).

Anyway, it had us going into a second World War around Christmas Eve of 1940, a war that would drag out for decades and leave most of the world pretty desolate.

"Future war" was a popular British genre from the 1890s on. Wells was a major contributor with "The War in the Air, and Particularly How Mr. Bert Smallways Fared While It Lasted" (1908) and "World Set Free, A Story of Mankind" (1914), in which he predicted nuclear bombs. My old pal P.G. Wodehouse satirized the genre as early as 1909 in The Swoop.

I remember these futuristic bomber planes emerging from the clouds and these little WW-I artifacts trying to engage them.

That was a reference to the recurring nightmare of the 1930s, strategic bombing. Giulio Douhet scared the pants off many Europeans when his "The Command of the Air" became a besteller. As it turned out during WWII, he had somewhat overstated the importance of air power, but the fear of a bomber appearing out of nowhere and leveling a whole city was a major factor in 1930s culture and politics.

 

[cube_rat]

..and no one has mentioned "Zardoz"? Along the lines of "so bad, it's almost good". Fascinating in a train wreck sort of way, tho' it's been a long time since I saw it. I think herbal supplements would assist in the viewing.

If I'd been a lesbian, Id've had Charlotte Rampling posters up on my wall in the '70s... As it was, I thought Sean was a major hunk.. but in this flick his red diaper put me off.

OMG, I was afraid someone would bring up Zardoz!     Yeah, Charlotte Rampling was hot and Sean Connery in a red diaper, well...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ow.

Can I have some naked kathy bates, please?

 

[cube_rat]

Ow.

Can I have some naked kathy bates, please?

I might get fired if I download a nude pic of Kathy Bates

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My stomach would fire its breakfast if I did.

I imagine my wife wouldnt be too thrilled either, although it'd be anger with a nice dab of "ewwww!" mixed in...

Nothing like finding out your husband has a porn problem...and its old fat women...

 

[yakers]

Under worst (I've never actually seen it) Battlfield Earth

The worst rated Travolta movie on Netflix, I remember the reviews were so bad I didn't feel the need to check it out myself.

 

[Andre1969]

I saw BattleField Earth and yeah, it was pretty bad. Especially in continuity errors like how the earth had been decimated for hundreds of years, yet abandoned cars still had air in the tires. Or military fighter jets, left idle for that amount of time would still operate. Now I let a '69 Dart sit about a year and a half once, and it fired up without too much trouble. However, I'd imagine a fighter jet, plus a few hundred years, would not yield quite the same result.

And the problem with it is that it wasn't even bad in a fun way, like those old 50's movies could be, or even some of the stuff from the 70's like "Frogs", "Empire of the Ants", or those infamous big-budget 70's disaster movies. Battlefield Earth was kind of slow and boring when it wasn't busy being stupid.

Speaking of which, I think "Frogs" and "Empire of the Ants" were both good in a bad movie sort of way. They were just campy enough to get away with being bad, and both made excellent use of the Florida scenery. Plus, neither really had what you could call a nice, tidy wrap up where everything's okay again at the end. I like movies like that sometimes.

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

And the problem with it is that it wasn't even bad in a fun way, like those old 50's movies could be, or even some of the stuff from the 70's like "Frogs", "Empire of the Ants", or those infamous big-budget 70's disaster movies.  Battlefield Earth was kind of slow and boring when it wasn't busy being stupid.

Anyone who likes such movies should check out "Kingdom of the Spiders."  William Shatner plays a small-town womanizing veteranarian who discovers, and then struggles to survive, a new breed of tarantula that preys on humans.  Good fun!

 

[scrood]

DARK CITY

be sure to turn off the lights and have your popcorn and beverage ready to go...

scrood

 

[Mwsinron]

Ow.

Can I have some naked kathy bates, please?

Thanks

 

[VoyT]

"Stargate" is one of my favorites. Along with most of the "Star Trek" movies

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

DARK CITY. Also good. Mas bueno!

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

CFB,

Go back to "The Chicken Dance".

May the gross be with you.

Battlefield Earth. Not the worst, but close. Not even juvenile. I hope somebody lost a lot of money on it.

L. Ron once wrote some decent SF (stories in "Astounding Science Fiction"pre-war). I think some dweeb ghosted that one.

 

[just_hatched]

For fans of the original Star Trek series who have a broadband connection:

http://www.newvoyages.com/

 

[astromeria]

My sci-fi faves:

2001
Blade Runner
The Day the Earth Stood Still (I have a thousand questions
Godzilla (the love-lorn scientist who sacrifices himself still haunts me)
Them!
ET (a rare feel-good sci fi movie)
Forbidden Planet
Terminator (both--but a little too violent for me)
Independence Day (especially the whole Area 51 bit, most epsecially Brent Spiner)
Back to the Future (first movie)
early Star Wars
Tremors

Some episodes of Twilight Zone, lots of Trek in its various incarnations, and Babylon 5.

Count me among the Dune fans, despite the way they made Baron Harkonnen almost more silly than evil. I like the remake, too.

I also like:
Total Recall (but too violent for me)
Fifth Element (except the campy Gary Oldham character destroys my suspension of disbelief--the campy Ian Holm character makes up for it) (light, Aziz!)
2010 (especially scenes with Bob Balaban)
V (whoever mentioned it, thanks--I'd forgotten)

EDIT I probably stepped over the line into monster movies with Godzilla, Them, and Tremors.