Strictly Science-Fiction films

[NorthStar]

I am waiting for somebody to use "Monsters from the ID" to try and explain why some people can hear things that others can't.

? Touché. ...Reminds me of that kid who sees dead people in The Sixth Sense.

For their time I loved Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Dark Star (quite a bit before its time in concept).
More modern AI Artificial Intelligence, Solaris (more talking and conceptual than action ), Blade Runner, and a bit of a love/hate for some would be Brazil (this had many complex layers beyond the visual effects and basic plot line that reminded me a lot of the black and white Russian sci-fi films and also a social commentary-analysis reflecting our modern society).

I did think Matrix (1st film) had a great script-language and with a strong concept/artistic design, managed so well to combine many different elements of film making as a whole; technically such as bullet time, martial arts action, visual effects-CGI, strong dialogue-script-etc.
And yeah Forbidden Planet is superb

Cheers
Orb

You just brought some good names into the sci-fi/imagination world, in my book of films.

- Steven Spielberg with A.I. - Artificial Intelligence, ET - Extra Terrestrial, Close Encounters, War of the Worlds, ...
- Terry Gilliam: Brazil, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Tideland, The Zero theorem, 12 Monkeys.
- Ridley Scott with Blade Runner, Alien, ... The Martian (upcoming), ...
- Steven Soderbergh with Solaris, ...
- The Wachowski brothers/sister with The Matrix trilogy, Cloud Atlas, V for Vendetta, Jupiter Ascending.

...Some of them, among some of the best.

 

[BlueFox]

Dark City is a good, but not well known, Science Fiction movie.

 

[NorthStar]

A big favorite ^ of Roger Ebert.

Dark City ... directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Knowing, I, Robot).

 

[GaryProtein]

Grr. I hate auto correct

On your Mac, go to Apple menu/system preferences/KEYBOARD /TEXT/UNclick "correct spelling automatically"

You spelling problems will disappear!


"Keyboard" was a completely UNintuitive place to have this preference located.

 

[YashN]

Close Encounters for example...

Great movie.

Another good sci-fi flick that I've only heard about is; Citizenfour

The only Citizenfour I heard about is a documentary about Snowden.

 

[YashN]

- Steven Spielberg with A.I. - Artificial Intelligence

Would have been Kubrick if he hadn't died. 2001, A Space Odyssey - masterpiece of Sci-Fi.

Kubrick always hid layers of meaning in his films, often only discovered years after release (The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut).

- Terry Gilliam: 12 Monkeys

Great movie, based on 'La Jetée' by the French Chris Marker.

- Ridley Scott with Blade Runner, Alien

Both great movies, BR probably has #1 cult status and sparked a lot of movie interest in Philip K. Dick's works. Alien was amazing and we'll certainly re-watch it now that we bought in on Blu-Ray, the transfer is apparently wonderful. It's the greatness of the Alien movies which makes Prometheus so depressingly bad.

- Steven Soderbergh with Solaris

Or Tarkovsky, based on Stanislaw Lem's novel, if you want to render unto Caesar.

 

[NorthStar]

The only Citizenfour I heard about is a documentary about Snowden.

That's the one...I was referring to. I've yet to see it, but I've heard (read) about it. ...Coming soon on Blu.

* Stanley Kubrick with 2001: A Space Odyssey ... excellent.

Eyes Wide Shut...luv that flick too. ...Stepping out of reality into the surreal world of cult culture. ...Sex, money and videotapes...fiction of a private club. ;-)

 

[GaryProtein]

That's the one...I was referring to. I've yet to see it, but I've heard (read) about it. ...Coming soon on Blu.

* Stanley Kubrick with 2001: A Space Odyssey ... excellent.

Eyes Wide Shut...luv that flick too. ...Stepping out of reality into the surreal world of cult culture. ...Sex, money and videotapes...fiction of a private club. ;-)

Eyes Wide Shut was about an alternative culture, not necessarily about a surreal world cult culture and not necessarily the fiction of a private club. . . .

Don't ask.

Eyes Wide Shut had a great, suspenseful plot. It's too bad the dialog, especially between Tom Cruise and anyone he spoke to, was positively insipid.


2001: A Space Odyssey was also wonderful.

 

[YashN]

That's the one...I was referring to. I've yet to see it, but I've heard (read) about it. ...Coming soon on Blu.

Nothing Sci-Fi about that.

Eyes Wide Shut...luv that flick too. ...Stepping out of reality into the surreal world of cult culture. ...Sex, money and videotapes...fiction of a private club. ;-)

Not surreal to me... Check what's happening these days in the UK.

 

[YashN]

Don't ask.

I wonder how many people saw a potential sub-text with his wife in the movie and her 'dreams' and the mask on the bed in the end, as well as the very materialistic grooming she seems to do with their daughter.

 

[NorthStar]

Eyes Wide Shut was about an alternative culture, not necessarily about a surreal world cult culture and not necessarily the fiction of a private club. . . .
Don't ask.
Eyes Wide Shut had a great, suspenseful plot. It's too bad the dialog, especially between Tom Cruise and anyone he spoke to, was positively insipid.

I was serious in my own description. :b ...It's the music that is the main character in 'Eyes Wide Shut' ...the music.
Where did Tom Cruise first heard of that hush-hush club? ...In a small Jazz club by that Jazz pianist. ...I just love that flick. ...The overall atmosphere is hallucinating, hypnotizing, metamorphosing. ...The music. ...And the nice elongated ladies in high heel shoes.

 

[NorthStar]

1. Nothing Sci-Fi about that.

2. Not surreal to me... Check what's happening these days in the UK.

1. 'Citizenfour' is a different type of sci-fi...very close to reality (it is reality) but from the underworld...where secrets should remain confidential.
It's a cyber space sci-fi type of documentary/film. ...But yes, it's not a sci-fi sci-fi ... it's a spy-fi documentary ...with agents from the FBI protecting American interests.
Snowden is the alien they're after. ...That was mainly my line of thought on this one, and the reason why I brought it in in the discussion...a close as it can be close to reality high tech science of the mind boggling imagination. ...But reality it is...documentary...about information of the telecommunication system; google, yahoo, microsoft, verizon, facebook, twitter...computers, cell phones, phone lines, ...

2. 'Eyes Wide Shut' is surreal in the sense that from a normal relationship he's having with his wife, and questions both have @ one point...becomes an exploration into a world that is not truly real because it leads to debauchery, orgies, and into an obscure sect where human values are not what is considered normal, real. ...So, it is a surreal world...that leads nowhere good or real @ the end of that dark tunnel. ..Drugs are also involved, and sacrifices, human sacrifice...death.

So you have it now; the words I used and why I used them...in my own line of thought...my own explanation/interpretation...state-of-mind that I visualize by watching the later one and reading from the former one. ...Sure, anyone is right to say that I'm wrong in my own evaluation...and still my vision is perfectly valid to my eyes and maybe now to the eyes of few others if they can conceptualize the fictive and surreal world that some people do live in real life...Snowden's own world of stepping out over the edge, and Tom Cruise exploring the dark side of reality with a dead end, of obscure consequences...surreal like...out of the comfort zone of security...real life.

They are both from the underworld...like the Underworld movie series with vampires and werewolves.

This is all in a humorous way.

 

[Orb]

Just to add,
Alien was written by the same guy who co-wrote Dark Star (film I mentioned earlier about a smart AI bomb and things go wrong - nothing like teaching an AI Cartesian Doubt ), the co-writer is Dan O'Bannon.
Just to say not sure if the film story/script came before or after the book by Alan Dean Foster, both released same year and we know films take a long time to create as do books.
Cheers
Orb

 

[YashN]

1. 'Citizenfour' is a different type of sci-fi...very close to reality (it is reality)

Therefore, no Fiction there. For Sci-Fi, you need Science and Fiction.

Which is interesting because some older SF could technically not be called SF today. What would they be, then, Legacy SF?

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

The Matrix, Alien, Blade Runner, Minority Report...and not from memory. I watch these at least once every couple of years. There are many more I really like (I like the genre), but those spring to mind as definitive.

How about Fantasy?

Tim

 

[NorthStar]

Therefore, no Fiction there. For Sci-Fi, you need Science and Fiction.

You are right; Citizenfour is a Documentary. ...A real-life documentary/drama. ...So, I will start another thread, soon, dedicated strictly to Documentaries. :b

Which is interesting because some older SF could technically not be called SF today. What would they be, then, Legacy SF?

But they are still sci-fi flicks because when they were made reality didn't catch up yet. I understand what you mean...like some Jules Verne's sci-fi flicks based on his books.
...All the ones similar to A Trip to the Moon. ...Simply fascinating when you look back in time...long ago before we were even here.

The Matrix, Alien, Blade Runner, Minority Report...and not from memory. I watch these at least once every couple of years. There are many more I really like (I like the genre), but those spring to mind as definitive.

Good one...'Minority Report'. ...Another Spielberg sci-fi flick. ...About how to stop crimes before they happen.
...And with Tom Cruise again...he's everywhere...even in Live - Die - Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow ... another great sci-fi, and in 3D.

How about Fantasy?
Tim

Like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Hobbit trilogy...sure we need another dedicated "Fantasy Films" thread. ...You game Tim? :b

 

[Orb]

Therefore, no Fiction there. For Sci-Fi, you need Science and Fiction.

Which is interesting because some older SF could technically not be called SF today. What would they be, then, Legacy SF?

Dated
Cheers
Orb

 

[YashN]

when they were made reality didn't catch up yet. I understand what you mean...like some Jules Verne's sci-fi flicks based on his books.

Precisely. Do we consider Jules Verne Sci-Fi today?

 

[amirm]

Precisely. Do we consider Jules Verne Sci-Fi today?

Wasn't he some kind of marine biologist anyway and figured putting a story around ocean life would make people want to read and get educated? In that sense, it was a documentary when it first came out!

 

[YashN]

Blade Runner, Minority Report

If you liked those, you may like a lot of the Philip K. Dick adaptations:

- Total Recall (the one with Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone)
- Impostor with Gary Sinise
- A Scanner Darkly by Linklater with Keanu Reeves
- Paycheck with Ben Affleck

and a more recent one I have yet to see:

- The Adjustment Bureau

I just checked with Google search and the search for "Philip K Dick movies" gives you as first result a movie poster list - sweet!

So apparently, I have also yet to see Radio Free Albemuth