Greatest 10 Scifi films of all time. [collection question]

[maxpayne2409]

is mina sorvino in the 3rd one? coz she was kinda cute back in the day

edit: i see you've now added mimic 3 to the news banner

[dinky]

I've seen two cuts of A3. iirc, it wasn't actually a DC, right? from the quadrilogy anyway.

it was a decent movie. except, again, it should not exist, and...ok, I really don't think it's a good movie. I think it feels like a goddamn jean-claude vandamme smackdown in a jail. then there's this ridiculously melodramatic cheese-fest between the company man-borg and ripley. and the audio is fuct. and all I want is for the alien to burst through her chest and his brain and then kill everyone there.

iunno any of your friends, but I think they have to be smokin' something good if they honestly believe A3 is better than the first two - or they're fincher fanatics.

RE: mimic - I thought it was mostly pretty good. except I remember something about mr. dutton in an underground rail car that annoyed me to no end - something about me not believing it but I don't exactly remember. it had pretty good alien-esque feel to it though.

wasn't red planet the thing with the dinosaurs who evolved and fled to mars or something? no. I don't see the connection. I see a connection between red planet and that shit jodie foster thing...what was it called where the alien was her father?

[maxpayne2409]

contact is the crappy crap fest your thinking of

i swear i've seen red planet and i don't remember anything about dinosaurs fleeing to mars. Unless of course i'm thinking about mission to mars, with carrie anne moss and val kilmer and the killer robot on mars?

[spudthedestroyer]

iunno any of your friends, but I think they have to be smokin' something good if they honestly believe A3 is better than the first two - or they're fincher fanatics.

Nope, he preferred the style, pace and uniqueness of Alien 3. Said he liked its edginess and the balls it had stamping on the spirit of ripley. I kind of like that point of view he has, its kind of like an anti-you... fuck your puppies and kittens, and fuck your happy family ending dinky! He's rather consistent too, doesn't really go for big budget stuff all, whilst I can happily watch those kind of films sometimes.

He did admit he hasn't seen:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087280/
which fincher lifted the camera work from.

[spudthedestroyer]

Alien 3 Theatrical is rather heavily censored and edited; plot holes include characters disappearing , amongst other things.

Alien 3 Extended is not a director's cut, but restores some of the original script, including restoring the chest burster to the Ox (and explaining its evolution better), fixes the disappearing character, removes that terrible chest bursting into the fire ending and generally improves a lot.

I am trying to get hold of the workprint, its the one that was meant to be rather brutal and extremely gorey. Not found it though.

[dinky]

I thought red planet was the val kilmer thing with the "dinosaurs" under the surface. brb. imdb run!

yep, that's what I'm thinking of: red planet (2000). I won't say there's no connection to PITCH BLACK, but I'll need it explained whereas the look and menace and outcome of the latter is very close to an amalgam of ALIEN with ALIENS.

Nope, he preferred the style, pace and uniqueness of Alien 3. Said he liked its edginess and the balls it had stamping on the spirit of ripley.

eh? I guess you don't wanna argue through proxy or whatever, but I have to say, I'm very curious about what, exactly, is unique and/or special about A3? style? I guess that means something more than cloning ALIEN. Same with pace; although they felt pretty darn similar to me. except maybe A3 was more laborious in doing the same thing.

And the spirit of ripley thing, I REALLY don't get. if anything, it pumps her up like some goddamn messiah. that the franchise apparently can't live without. I did like the ox thing. I like the mechanic that establishes about the chest bursters. the tone was good. and claustraphobic. it seemed clearly to be retreading the same themes established in ALIEN. iunno. whatever.

[maxpayne2409]

maybe i'm getting it confused with mission to mars then, is mission to mars the one with the robot that goes nuts and the plants on mars allow them to breathe?

[dinky]

iunno. what I remember from the val kilmer, carrie ann moss movie is that they get exploring on planet and underground there are dinosaurs on the wall or a projection or something and the big truth is that life on earth millions of years ago left and came to mars or vice versa or some shit. it was hokey and stupid, but good in comparison with CONTACT and ARMAGEDDON or whatnot).

[Tenacious Gold]

That was a lot to read !

I'm hoping we get a proper alien 4, without ripley but sticking to its horror roots.

I'm sure it could be great. Still, I don't mind Ripley being the main character of each movie: It's a great character! That's why I was not upset at the beginning of Alien 4: The idea of the Company, then the military trying to retrieve their dream weapon over the centuries, cloning Ripley over and over again is not without appeal to me. That's the ending and the really lame "baby" that bothers me. I thought even the aliens brought ot earth was a good idea for an eventual sequel (an idea ruined by those crappy AvP movies).

And the spirit of ripley thing, I REALLY don't get. if anything, it pumps her up like some goddamn messiah. that the franchise apparently can't live without.

Well, the messiah I don't know, but she for sure is Cassandra. And it was a great idea from the directors of the first 3 movies to use her as the main character, not just a storytelling tool. In the 4th, they tried to give the Cassandra role to Wynona Rider and it didn't work out.

it (Alien3) seemed clearly to be retreading the same themes established in ALIEN.

Yes, but it brought closure. That's why I agree with spudthedestroyer about the 4th being unnecessary (until they come up with something really good )

Very interresting things about many movies I haven't seen and comics I haven't read.

Thank you guys, I'm gonna check all this out.

Fincher is indeed overrated but I'd probably pistol whip all you people to death with a wet sponge if it meant another Fight Club and I'm not even a violent person

Me neither, but if you need someone to hold them while you're whipping, just yell and I'll show up!

I just wish Warner Bros would have given him (Terry Gilliam) Harry Potter as the writer wanted; apparantly she set the atmosphere based upon his work and was really a huge fan of what he did. Imagine Terry Gilliam with a big budget working on a fantasy free for all?

I'm totally with you about that! I've just read about it recently (right after watching Tideland, in fact) and I was mad trying to imagine what it could have been ! I allready have been so upset about the Quichotte he couldn't make... It's a shame this guy can't work more often.

That ranks second in my biggest losses to cinema history, right after the failed attempt to get Dune made (with involvement from Dali, Giger and Pink Floyd):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(film)#Production

I'm not sure about that one. Jodorowsky talks a lot about this project in his comics (L'Incal and La Caste des Méta-Barons, mostly) and even if he tends to blame Dali (sic!) about the failure the movie, the guy is a nutbag too. In Les Mystères de l'Incal, he said about this movie "I didn't want to respect the book, I wanted to recreate it". Who knows what he would have come up with ? He is nonetheless a very talented writer, even if completely insane.

As for Reign of Fire, i was just about tolerating, even maybe enjoying it until matthew mccoughey or whatever his name is appeared with his silly tank and bald head and crack team of dragon slayer people.

Please! The mighty american soldier is covered in Picts tatoos, you have to give him credit for that!

Nico

[Tenacious Gold]

Off-Topic :

It took me a while to post my reply because my looong post seemed to have too many links (to wikipedia, mostly).

I had to remove all of them in order to post, so if you want more info on Jodorowsky's "L'Incal" and his sequels/prequels/developments, just ask and I'll try to post them again.

Or check wikipedia with "Incal" or "Meta Baron"

Nico

[dinky]

I've never had that happen before.

I'd like to see the 3 hour Lynch cut that never got polished.

[Tenacious Gold]

I'll have to check with him, but I think a friend of mine has the 3 hour Lynch's Dune.
I'll keep you posted.

Nico

[hrgiger]

A quick stab at this in no particular order or maybe sorta particular order:


1. Brazil
2. Alien
3. Equilibrium
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
5. Blade Runner
6. The Matrix
7. Alien 3
8. Star Trek The Motion Picture
9. Star Wars
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
11. Re-Animator
12. 2001
13. Terminator
14. Total Recall
15. Dune

I've read quite a bit of sci fi from the old days (philip k. dick, asimov, sheckley, heinlein, niven, etc.) and I especially like short stories because that is where sci fi really picked up its momentum and I believe it to be the format that best suits science fiction. When I watch a so-called science fiction movie (or tv show) I try to imagine if it seems like a sci fi short story or not. For example "Alien" definitely does where as "Aliens" does not. Aliens is more of a bad guy shoot em up in space. It just does not have much if any science which is critical to the story and it just has the wrong mood. Conversely, "Alien3" is even more truely science fiction than "Alien" in my opinion and immensely enjoyable (just not as enjoyable as "Alien.") Alien3 has the perfect mood and tempo of real science fiction. To me Real science fiction does not follow rules (ala Brazil) and often has a dark mood and an off ending. Real science fiction doesn't have happy endings, it just has endings. Which is why often the general public "doesn't get it" or plain dislikes it.

For TV I really liked several episodes of the first season of Starhunter. They were REAL science fiction. Also the tv series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was superb. The effects were substandard and the budget was minimal but the acting, and overall conveyance of the books was 100 million times better than that absolute piece of crap movie that came out and threw Douglas Adams masterpiece in the shitter, IMHO.

I haven't watched that many movies, I am sure there are some a lot better than some I picked.

[pinaylover]

My top Sci/Fi movie picks

1. Things to Come (1936)
2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
3. When Worlds Collide
4. War of the Worlds (Original)
5. 2001
6. Soylent Green
7. Planet of the Apes (1968)
8. The Omega Man
9. Andromeda Strain (Original)
10. Close Encounters
11. E.T.
12. Star Wars ( The First Trilogy )
13. Logan's Run
14. Silent Running
15. Star Gate
16. Robinson Crusoe on Mars

As for TV shows my list is....
1. Sliders
2. Red Dwarf
3. Space:1999
4. Star Gate SG1
5. Dr. Who ( Tom Baker )
6. Battlestar Galactica ( Old & New )
7. Babylon 5
8. Flash Gordon ( Buster Crabbe )
9. Superman ( George Reeve )
10. The Time Tunnel
11. The Twilight Zone (1960's)

Well as you can see I go more for the oldies.

[dinky]

6. Battlestar Galactica ( Old & New )

how can you have both BSGs at the same rank? they're completely different series.

[spudthedestroyer]

Perhaps for opposite and unrelated reasons?

Oh and I've got a workprint of Alien 3 which is in very poor condition, but its not the 'urban legend' one which was very violent, gorey and more edgey which I'm still looking for.

[EddoftheDead]

Top 15 Favorite Sci-Fi Films...



Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
Brazil (1986) Terry Gilliam
Children of Men (2006) Alfonso Cuaron
Donnie Darko (2001) Richard Kelly
Eternal Sunshine with the Spotless Mind (2004) Michel Gondry
The Fifth Element (1997) Luc Besson
The Fly (1986) David Cronenberg
The Fountain (2006) Darren Aronofsky
Gattaca (1997) Andrew Niccol
The Matrix (1999) Wachowski Brothers
Minority Report (2002) Steven Spielberg
The Prestige (2006) Christopher Nolan
The Thing (1982) John Carpenter
Twelve Monkeys (1995) Terry Gilliam
Videodrome (1983) David Cronenberg

[dinky]

unbelievably, I still haven't gotten around to THE FOUNTAIN (2006). I think maybe it has to do with my not liking Aronofsky's previous efforts and thanking god Nolan got Batman to the big screen first? iunno. I like the idea of FOUNTAIN though.

[Jynks]

Some of them are pretty on the brink of science fiction imo... but all pretty good films. I do really like the prestige and how teslar is presented as a sorcerer and the other guys as magicians are just tricksters.... I love that entire idea.. of science IS magic and that we are just primitive at the moment ... but one day magic as it is in fantasy will be an extenmtion of science.... I LOVE that idea..