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

[MyK]

Nice work FPiX and I must admit totally unexpected results so far, at least to me; Aliens beating the original Alien Hope you have all results stored in some spreadsheet ready for editing as I have a feeling some have not said their last words yet

[Jynks]

Silent running!!! yay i thought it would nvr get mentioned!!!

[dinky]

Aliens beating the original Alien

I prefer action to horror, personally. but I'd have to say the alien suit in alien looks really dated whereas aliens still sets the bar. for those reasons, I'd rather pop aliens in the dvd player. not exactly saying it's a better movie though. :2cents:

[zaphod777]

Blade Runner
Brazil
Alien
A Clockwork Orange
The Thing
Stalker
Donnie Darko
Planet of The Apes
The Road Warrior
The Empire Strikes Back
Logans Run
Silent Running
Twelve monkeys
Fahrenheit 451
The Man Who Fell to Earth

[spudthedestroyer]

Aliens beating the original Alien

I prefer action to horror, personally. but I'd have to say the alien suit in alien looks really dated whereas aliens still sets the bar. for those reasons, I'd rather pop aliens in the dvd player. not exactly saying it's a better movie though. :2cents:

I'd say alien was a better crafted movie in most respects. The action to horror thing is where it all hangs, otherwise Alien has it completely wrapped up as a movie.

On a side note, i've been rewatching camerons movies and I have to say I'm not as impressed as i thought I was. In fact, you can predict his career was going to go to the pitts by watching his films in order. Terminator 2 is nowhere near as good as I thought it was, the Abyss was slightly better, Terminator was worse... the rest is trash.

Aliens is his only movie that seems to have kept its high quality shimmer, bloody good film but I'm starting to wonder if it was a fluke judging by the rest of the "cameron cannon". Probably a hell of a lot to do with source material methinks.

Or maybe I'm being harsh?

[dinky]

Or maybe I'm being harsh?

I won't argue with "overrated" cuz everyone is to some extent, but I disagree about T2. that movie is as watchable now as it ever was, imo. less subjectively, it really sets the bar for action sci-fi. you could argue "no! that's ALIENS," but the former is cgi revolution stuff whereas the latter is puppet stuff. they share a lot in common from a structuralist perspective (save the young kid from the big bad mosters; human desire to assert control over nature with his craft leads to catastrophe; etc.) and even their influence is basically similar (action + fx), but then...cameron really is a savant in that area (translating things to screen visually). T2 is a little harder to swallow with the time paradox stuff that it requires its audience to go along with, especially as a follow-up that necessitates more time traveling antics. on the other hand, I find the "can a machine be human?" stuff going on in T2 more interesting than the rollercoaster ride of ALIENS (ALIEN has a lot more to offer in this respect with the pregnancy stuff - Cameron just uses that as a bridge to get to his action movie).

I also pretty much despise ABYSS cuz it's just a boring ass concept and way too close to a religious experience kind of thing (actually, if you're following THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONNICLES, the doctor in the woods is how I look upon ABYSS). visually, as usual, good stuff. just don't give a flying you-know-what about the movie.

[spudthedestroyer]

I consider what you call "interesting" somewhat of lulls in T2, its not really what I'd call a thought provoking movie.... but then I remember you going on and on and on about Troy; whilst my reaction was... its shit, move on

[dinky]

was that TROY? I thought it was 300. oh. right. they're both craptastic.

[spudthedestroyer]

was that TROY? I thought it was 300. oh. right. they're both craptastic.

troy, you were going and on and on about their skimpy outfits too

I'm not someone who often calls conversations homosexual, however this smiley was on constant standby

[Gem]n[]

Ok me me me ... my go ...

In no particular order ... my 15 ... or so ...

01 - Blade Runner
02 - Them!
03 - War of the Worlds (1953)
04 - Star Wars (all 3 originals)
05 - Forbidden Planet
06 - Silent Running
07 - Total Recall
08 - Alien (all of them really)
09 - Terminator
10 - The Abyss
11 - The Thing
12 - The Andromeda Strain
13 - The Time Machine (1960)
14 - THX-1138
15 - TRON (cos I'm a geek)

Just outside ...

16 - The Running Man
17 - Quatermass and the Pit (Movie 1967)
18 - The Fly
19 - Westworld
20 - Trancers

Bare in mind these movies are ones that made me go oooohhhhh!!! when I first saw them (there's a few oldies I first saw when they originally came out ... yep old fart alert!) ...

I haven't voted the best for action or the most brilliant FX ... just what grabbed me at the time ... and they have a place in my heart ... and watch repeatedly more than others ... but I DO have a f%&kin huge Sci-Fi collection ...

[FPiX]

Updated the summary on page 2.

[Tenacious Gold]

All right, be kind, it's my first post
No particular order.

01 - Alien
The whole series, even the french-directed one

02 - Terminator
Well, only the first and second, this time.

03 - Planet of The Apes
In fact, I love the whole series too (and the TV show as well), except for the crappy second movie with the lame mutants and the sorry Charlton Heston look-alike. And the shitty Burton version should rot in hell too.

04 - Rollerball
The one with James Caan. Damn' I feel old...

05 - A Boy and His Dog
Yes, post-apocalypse will be fun !

06 - Logan's Run
Say what you want, the 70's were the Golden Age of sci-fi.

07 - Soylent Green
All right, you can go on with the jokes on food and old people, now...

08 - The Chronicles of Riddick
And Pitch Black too. At last, a new promising universe.

09 - Screamers
My first contact with P.K. Dick, even before Blade Runner. What a blast !

10 - Blade Runner
Of course.

11 - Mad Max 2
Great post-apocalyptic universe with amazing stunts.

12 - Back to the Future
Yeah, the trilogy. Don't judge me. I'm sure you have guilty pleasures too.

13 - The Fly
The end of the one with Vincent Price scared me to death when I was a kid. The Cronenberg version did not scare me that much, but was nicely done.

14 - The Reign of Fire
Come on, dragons take over the world !
And a great stage version of Star Wars.

15 - Twelve Monkeys
I'm pretty sure it's my favourite Terry Gilliam movie.

Well, I only mentioned Screamers and Blade Runner, but I like most of Dick's adaptation. Total Recall was great. I, Robot and Minority Report were not that bad, etc.

And I hope you appreciate how difficult it is not to mention Star Wars in such a list...
Even if I still have good memories about the first 3 movies, I believe George Lucas is just a greedy moron who totally despise his audience and cannot write something beyond "The pod-race will look so good as a video game". Damn' I hate this guy.

Nico

[spudthedestroyer]

Personally, I have to disagree with 1, mainly because i thought the fourth one was unnessacary, poorly written and stylistically crap. Any trace of its roots or integrity were sapped by that film. Alien 3 had

As for 15, have you seen Brasil? imo that's the best Gilliam, followed by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

No comment on 14, I hated that film

[Tenacious Gold]

Well, I never thought of it that way, but I think you're absolutely right qualifying Alien 4 as unnecessary. Very good point, my friend, thank you !
But I still love the universe they made out of it.
By the way, I've seen some Alien comics, do you know if those are any good ?

About 15, I have to say I love Terry Gilliam's movies (even if Tideland was a bit too much weird for me). I'm still hoping he will be able to adapt Good Omens some day.
I haven't seen Brasil in a while (at least 15 years) but I recall enjoying it at the time. It's just I really loved 12 Monkeys and still watch it once every other year.

And Reign of Fire : Dragons in the Tube ? Gardenning under fire ? Guys jumping out of an helicopter ? Come on !

[spudthedestroyer]

Well it depends what extent you like Alien. I would qualify myself as seeing it as a big budget showpiece franchise and I'm not a fan of the deviations from its core, which is in turn why I strictly only acknowledge Alien 1 to 3. I'm hoping we get a proper alien 4, without ripley but sticking to its horror roots.

Alien 4, AvP, AvP2, the comics and the novellettes are all in the same boat (or rather have just been thrown off my boat into sewage), its just a bit of light entertainment that succeed / fail to differing levels. If you found enjoyment in Alien 4 and / or AvP then yes, you'll probably enjoy the comics. I'm rather harsh on the superfluous entries into the Alien franchise, and in particular the shockingly cheap and materialistic take on the franchise for later entries. It kind of annoys me that it goes from giger to a child's drawing as the franchise progressed, and for me to not get very angry about the way fox treats it I have to not acknowledge Alien 4+ as valid entries. I would be perfectly content if someone announced they were making a film called Alien 4

The comics I'm more forgiving about, its more extended-world stuff. I believe dinky has read some of the novellettes and its the same kind of simple extension of scifi. The AvP comics are quite favourable amongst fans, even if the films were pap.

@gilliam, I enjoyed Tideland Brazil is his crowning glory, its a fantastic scifi/fantasy film that is so well made, and has so much information packed on screen that it really has to be marvelled. 12 Monkeys is the same on the visual overload front, as is Fear and Loathing.

I just wish Warner Bros would have given him 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?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gill ... rry_Potter

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

@Reign of Fire... yeah, pass thanks!

[dinky]

If you found enjoyment in Alien 4 and / or AvP then yes, you'll probably enjoy the comics.

...

The comics I'm more forgiving about, its more extended-world stuff. I believe dinky has read some of the novellettes and its the same kind of simple extension of scifi. The AvP comics are quite favourable amongst fans, even if the films were pap.

umm...I think max (or was it the monkey av guy?) and I are proof positive that liking the expanded universe stuff doesn't make AvP a good movie franchise. however, AvP2 is a drastic improvement</i> over AvP. I also think, however, that A3 was shit and almost as bad as A4 and both because of the use and abuse of ripley. granted, the crutch that A3 uses isn't nearly as stupid as the cloning thing, but they're both abominations that shouldn't exist and I consider them insults the their far superior predecessors.

I'd rather watch A4 over A3 (even though I've been convinced that A3's a better film) cuz it's funny and I'm otherwise annoyed by both. and fincher's way overrated.

edit: PITCH BLACK is the best Alien(s) sequel after Cameron.

it's unpretentious, doesn't involve crazy plot jigging just to get (a) certain character(s) onscreen, and it maintains an intensity/scare factor that A4 pretty much fails miserably at.

edit2: MIMIC is also a pretty good Alien(s) clone, but that's getting further afield.

[maxpayne2409]

yeah that was me dinky, avp is like communism, in theory it works, but in practise so far, it doesn't.

I did recently read a mini series of comics called Green Lantern vs Aliens, where.. well The green lantern (Hal Jordan, along with a few other GL Corps members) fight the Aliens and as the GL code doesn't let them kill, Hal dumps all the aliens on an uninhabited planet at the edge of the galaxy.

But later (60 years i believe) a cargo ship crashes on that planet and the now green lantern (Kyle Rayner) gets sent to investigate and rescue the remaining crew members (most have of course already met their fate)

All in all it was a pretty good read, if a little silly at 2 or 3 moments, but worth at least grabbing the cbr/cbz to read

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.

Mad max 2 is a movie i do like

Dinky is mimic the one in the museum with the mask thing or is it the one with bugs in the underground and mina sorvino sexing all over the place?

[spudthedestroyer]

No dinky, it is not a better film. Alien 3 is a far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far better film dinky. Far, far, far, far better. I know you're monkey brain will choose space pirates, but Alien 3 is quite well liked outside of the states. I know a guy who thinks its the best of the three Alien films.

When you throw the extended edition in there its quite some considerable distance ahead of Alien 4, have you seen that yet?

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 Some people act like the sun shines out of his arse, but imo it can't, because Panic Room came from his arse.

@mimic
Mimic 1 is okay, mimic two is freaking shite, and mimic three, ironically is the best in that series (as its a direct ripoff of Rear Window, but obviously with a monstery ending)

Max, you are thinking Relic rather than Mimic there. They came out and were marketed at the same time, with similar posters (Studio battle as usual). Mimic is the one with the bugs, Relic is the one with the artifact in a museum. Relic is better than Mimic. Mimic 3 is better than Relic from what I remember.

@pitch black,
Frankly that was more Red Planet (or is it the other one?) than it is Alien. In fact it was more Rambo than it was Alien.

[maxpayne2409]

ah the museum one was relic wasn't it? i saw them both around the same time (mimic 1 and relic) and they struck me as similar except one was a lot shitter then the other, i think i've seen mimic 2 aswell and i seem to remember it was shit, dont think i bothered with mimic 3 because of it

[spudthedestroyer]

Yes, its understandable people get them mixed up; they were marketed against each other and had some similar plot characteristics.

Mimic 2 is really shit. Mimic 3 is not. Mimic 3 even has lance henrikson in
http://forum.dead-donkey.com/viewtopic.php?t=16104