Movie Poll

[Nightscape]

If you haven't seen them all, just pick the one you liked best.  I for one haven't seen Dune and Dark City (although I'm going to rent them tonight).

[stevie]

i havent seen them all, but i would think gattaca might get the most votes for its pianistic appeal in the 12 fingered pianist scene.

that, and the fact its an awesome movie..gets my vote.

[prometheus]

Both the stories of Dune and Blade Runner are superb.

[Goldberg]

Oddly enough, I actually like all of those movies, even though they aren't my favourites...

Dark City is probably the most underappreciated or overlooked of them, but of the list I'd say Blade Runner is my favourite, with Dune being a second (the problem there is it doesn't quite live up to the book--but that's a standard criticism of it).

Logan's Run would also be a good one to have on the list.

[Nightscape]

I haven't heard of Logan's Run.... I'll have to look it up.  Anyways, if you haven't noticed, these are all "sci-fi" films, but more intellectual sci-fi films.  I've really gotten into the genre (although its not a big genre) lately.  I might put up another poll for a different genre of movies later.

[asyncopated]

Bladerunner by far!  Was made when scott was in his prime, not the rubbish that came after, e.g. glidiator.  Oh, make sure watch the director's cut. 

The rest arn't bad, but i think the book dune is better than the movie, and dark city as a nice feel to it.

al.

[6ft 4]

Nah, Alien was when scott was in his prime


And gladiator's still pretty good by today's standards.

[Goldberg]

Oh, I hadn't actually realised Scott was behind Bladerunner.

Your comment about Gladiator, 6ft., is mostly true but very depressing...

For Science Fiction I'm still the world's biggest sucker for 2001: A Space Odyssey, cliched a choice as it might be (not a cliched movie but a cliched favourite). Then again, my movie knowledge doesn't extend very far beyond Kubrick--and a few others like Tarantino, Weir, Miyazaki, Stone, etc.--at this point anyway, and other than that I'm not even that huge of a movie fan.

Still, 2001 is just a monumental movie. The advantages to Dune and Blade Runner, and indeed those other movies in the poll, is that they have more engaging plots, but then Kubrick usually transcended the need for traditional conceptions of plot, fortunately.

[stevie]

gladiator? the 2000 movie?

thats one of my favourite movies, its awesome, whats wrong with it?

[yamagal]

Blade Runner rocks!  The book Dune is a lot better than the movie.  IMHO.

[planetdave]

Alright, alright. Your post inspired me to rent "Dark City." It had been so long since I had seen it.
The first half of the movie was infused with mystery and suspense, but the latter part seemed obligatory. The Savior was established early and they gave us a happy ending.  The premise was intriguing but the development was stale.
"Blade Runner" is better.

[Skeptopotamus]

oooooh i liked dark city ^^

[prometheus]

Wow, almost 40% saw none of these movies. I don't like movies and I saw three of them.

I would vote Blade Runner. The Dune movie is poor imo. There is a mini serie, its much better. The book is great too. I never liked any of the Alien movies.

[bernhard]

I haven’t seen Gattaca (but now that I was informed that there is a piano involved I sure will).

I would say that Blade Runner is the best, closely followed by Dark City (hugely intriguing movie).

Alien was allright, but mostly because the artwork of Swiss artist H. Giger is what truly makes it effective (incidentally he also did the scenarios for Dune). Then they went on ot make sequel after sequel until the whole franchise became laughable (Predator x Alien) a fate also met by “Predator” and “The Matrix”

Dune was the disappointment of the century. It had everything to be perfect: A great book, a near-perfect director (David Lynch – “Eraserhead” has to be one of my top 10 movies ever) a huge budget, visually stunning (again, credits to H.R. Giger). So what went wrong? First, the whole thing looks like a collage of trailers. There is no space for plot, character development, or the intricacies of spice politics. The only way to understand what is going on is to have read the books first. Basically they should have done a trilogy, rather than try to cram in everything in one movie. And second, Kyle Mclahan was never convincing as Muh’adib (too much of a wimp), while most of the other characters were perfectly cast, and therefore stole the movie from him. I agree with Prometheus. The miniseries was far better.

Here are some other superb Sci-fi movies:

The Fly – Jeff Goldblum as the insect mutation.

Predator – Arnie meets his match and survives an atomic blast.

The matrix – I‘ve been telling people about this all along… (Can’t say I cared much for matrix II and even less for matrix III)

Men in Black – Superb ending. Didn’t care that much for MiB II.

12 monkeys – Time travelling with a satisfying plot (that does not completely spoil the movie because the scriptwriter could not think through things properly, e.g. the disappointing “Back to the future series”).

Akira – I know it is a cartoon (or should I say “anime”), but one of the best ever.

The andromeda strain – Nail biting tale of scientists struggling against an alien virus.

A clockwork orange – Kubrick in best form.

Mad Max – A rare example where the sequels equal or better the original (I particularly enjoyed no. 2).

Dark Star – Unmissable (it is a comedy).

Strange days – Atmospheric thriller about a black market operator who deals in outlawed “mental videos” (you video something, put the apparatus on and you feel everything as if you were in the video).

Brazil – Terry Gillian’s forecast as to where our society might be heading (and looks like he got it right).

Communion – Unsettling alien abduction story with Christopher Walken perfectly cast. Supposed to be a true story.

Fire in the Sky – Very unsettling alien abduction story also supposed to be based on true events.

Terminator – The first two movies were good (arguably improving by the second), after that it was all down hill.

Slaughterhouse Five – Excellent movie of  Kurt Vonnegut’s story.

The man who fell to earth – My favourite Sci-fi movie of all time, David bowie is perfectly cast as the alien who is corrupted by Earthlings. (the plot is reminiscent of Robert Heinlein’s book of the same title, but they are unrelated)

Barbarella – yeah!



Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[asyncopated]

Barberella?  I still can't imagine you as a jane fonda (or duran duran) fan! 


I too like kubric's clockwork orange.  But it's one of the film's ill probably only ever watch once. 

Film's that are excellent but hard to swallow --
Clockwork Orange
The Pianist

I suppose since we are on this topic here is my list of all time favourites (not confined to sci fi) --

The Piano Teacher -- About a piano teacher's S/M relationship with her student. 

Cinema Paradiso -- About a young film industry in italy, and a profound love for film.

La Dolce Vita -- Set in traditional italian style about struggles during the second world war(?), with a charming first half and touching second.

The hours -- I just like glass, and of course Virginia Wolf.

Happy Together -- About a gay couple's relationship and travels around the world.

In the mood for love -- About adultary and the like.  Very subtle and beautiful.

Eat Drink Man Woman -- Ang Lee's big break.  Spectacular film about a (taiwanese?) family.

Chocolat -- Yum yum.  Jonny has a panchant for chocolate wouldn't you say?  Willy Wo(a)nker? (omg, I just got that).

Amilie -- Cool.

Four Weddings -- ***, ***, ***, ***, ***kity, ***, ***, ***.

Silence of the Lambs -- Hannibal sure has taste.

Seven -- I'm guilty of all of them.

Pirates of the Caribbean -- A gem.  A lot of fun to watch.

The usual suspects -- Rat on your pop and Kaiser Sose will get ya. 

[Skeptopotamus]

what!!!!!!!!


ok bernhard you did put up Brazil so you get points for that, but NO!  NO *** WAY!  The movie "A Clockwork Orange" is *** sh*t.  Read the book.  In the movie the last chapter of the book is even omitted.  The movie complete vears away from the plot and says absolutely nothing while the book is one of my very favorites.

movie<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<book


this is like comparing janet reno to heidi klum.  seriously- read the book.

[chromatickler]

The movie "A Clockwork Orange" is *** ***.  Read the book.  In the movie the last chapter of the book is even omitted.  The movie complete vears away from the plot.

This is quite typical of Kubrick. he never follows the source material closely in ANY of his films. 2001 is a much more extreme example than "a clockwork orange" in this respect. and Stephen King objected to Kubrick's interpretation of 'the shining' so much as to later make his own (tv) film version. yet there's virtually no debate regarding which was the better film.

i find with Kubrick it's best to start with a blank sheet so to speak. especially with 2001, everyone should try and see the film FIRST, then read the book.

[prometheus]

Let's not get into a book vs movie topic. Obviously books are always better. But that doesn't mean that a movie based on a book isn't worth watching.


What about all Star Trek movies?

[6ft 4]

Clockwork orange movie has some amazing imagery in it.

and ofcourse the MUSIC.

So, overall, i would deem it to be slightly better than the book.

i guess they shouldnt really be compared that closely though.

[Skeptopotamus]

the book had better imagery.  and you could play some penderecki in the backround while reading it.

[bernhard]

the book had better imagery.  and you could play some penderecki in the backround while reading it.

Er.. I did read the book. And sure, it was good.

Actually it reminded me of a story.

Two goats are in the desert munching on some cactuses, when a plane flying over on its way to holywood drops a couple of tins of films.

The goats see it, and run over to the spot where the film has unrolled itself. Being goats, they start munching on it. After a while one of the goats say to the other:

- What do you think?

- I don't know. I guess I liked the book better.

 

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Skeptopotamus]

yes.  the bites in the film must be the cause of the gaping plot holes apparent only in the movie.