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What Are Your Favorite Science Fiction Films ?


GAROVORKIN

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1 hour ago, Nictarion said:

Won’t list all the older classics cause it would take forever. Some more recent ones I really like are Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, and Ex Machina. 

Why? Cause they’re really good movies. B)

Exactly... which is why I agree with all 3 of your choices... a good science fiction movie has to first be a good movie... I'll throw in the Matrix, The Thing (1992), & Terminator 2....

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Quatermass and the Pit 1967   Written by Nigel Kneale .    Produced by Hammer pictures  and the third and best film installment in the Quatermass  series.   If you've never seen this wonderful film I highly recommend it.  I also recommend the 1958 6 part Serial of the same name which this film is based.B)

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I'm going to go by decade, starting with the 70s:

70s (late 70s really)

  • Star Wars
  • Alien

80s

  • The Empire Strikes Back
  • Return of the Jedi
  • Aliens
  • The Thing
  • Back to the Future
  • Predator

90s

  • Terminator 2: Judgement Day
  • Stargate
  • Jurassic Park
  • The Fifth Element
  • The Matrix

2000s

  • Minority Report
  • Children of Men
  • Serenity
  • District 9

2010s

  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • The Force Awakens
  • The Martian
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Category? I guess it is. The perennial question I prefece this by saying I have been reading science fiction for 60 years. Nowadays , many times, when people talk about science fiction they mean only movies or TV, because , seems, not that many people read anymore! From the perspective of a science fiction reader and among the long time fans I know the biggest disappointment  is how little of the prose form source material has ever been adapted. Tons of Westerns and Mystery-Detective , as genre, have been but only a wisp of great science fiction prose has been.

My favorite , and the only movie I know of that is 100% in the spirit and sophistication of the prose form is 2001: A Space Odyssey.     And that is in the category of H G Wells - A.C. Clarke BIG THINKS science fiction, don't think we will ever see another of those. (Tho! weirdly the SyFy channel did an adaptation of Clarke's Childhood's End, which was respectful, tho a bit lackluster.)

Back in the 1950's there were gems like , The Day the Earth Stood Still, a clever adaptation of War of the Worlds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers , the strange case of Forbidden Planet (Hollywood for some reason unknown ignored science fiction space-opera , it took till a TV show Star Trek for it be used again and then it was not common currency.) 

After 2001 I list Blade Runner (1982) .... 

In recent years there has been a handful of good SF films, Gravity (an alternate universe story), Ex Machina a smart AI story. An  astoundly good adaptation of a Robert Heinlein short travel  story called Predestination (raise you hand if you have seen it). Recently we had Interstellar (could of had a better story) , Arrival and really recent Blade Runner 2049 (which is a just a tiny bit better than Blade Runner). There have been good science fiction films starting with Destination Moon (1950) to recent movies like Children of Men , District 9, passable ones like Minority Report and the Matrix (I am not all that fond of The Matrix) and others, at least they are not Z movies.

Times are sure a lot better than when I had to trop downtown to watch Z movie dreek like Queen of Outer Space , Plan 9 from outer Space .... and god! many others like them.

 

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2 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

Quatermass and the Pit 1967   Written by Nigel Kneale .    Produced by Hammer pictures  and the third and best film installment in the Quatermass  series.   If you've never seen this wonderful film I highly recommend it.  I also recommend the 1958 6 part Serial of the same name which this film is based.B)

Quatermass and the Pit was 5 Million Years to Earth here in the USA, it was the most clever to the Quatermass series which were all good.

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Just a few of my favorites that I haven't seen listed:

5th Element - I love every moment of this movie and can watch it anytime it is on.

Wrath of Khan - I saw this in my local theater with my Dad (huge Star Trek fan) and the ending had a profound impact on me.

Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country - I can't say why, but I absolutely love this entry in the Star Trek franchise.

 

Those aren't necesarily my favorite, but the three I thought of first.

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5 hours ago, boojam said:

Quatermass and the Pit was 5 Million Years to Earth here in the USA, it was the most clever to the Quatermass series which were all good.

In 1956  The people  at Hammer Films  made a film X The Unknown  . They wanted to use the Bernard Quatermass Character but Kneale wouldn't allow them.  Its a pitty because X The Unknown would have been a worthy addition to the Quatermass films. In it's own right,  it is a great science fiction film and by far one the best films Hammer pictures  ever did.

Kneale  wan't thrilled with the first two movie adaptations of Quatermass  in particular, he disliked american actor Brian Donllevy who was cast in the riole of Quatermass  in the first two films.

 

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15 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

In 1956  The people  at Hammer Films  made a film X The Unknown  . They wanted to use the Bernard Quatermass Character but Kneale wouldn't allow them.  Its a pitty because X The Unknown would have been a worthy addition to the Quatermass films. In it's own right,  it is a great science fiction film and by far one the best films Hammer pictures  ever did.

Kneale  wan't thrilled with the first two movie adaptations of Quatermass  in particular, he disliked american actor Brian Donllevy who was cast in the riole of Quatermass  in the first two films.

 

 

15 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

In 1956  The people  at Hammer Films  made a film X The Unknown  . They wanted to use the Bernard Quatermass Character but Kneale wouldn't allow them.  Its a pitty because X The Unknown would have been a worthy addition to the Quatermass films. In it's own right,  it is a great science fiction film and by far one the best films Hammer pictures  ever did.

Kneale  wan't thrilled with the first two movie adaptations of Quatermass  in particular, he disliked american actor Brian Donllevy who was cast in the riole of Quatermass  in the first two films.

 

Donllevy was ok in that role, but I could not figure it either. I guess Hammer felt it would be better box office. Enemy from Space was at the better of the two, tho Creeping Unknown is good.  The story in Enemy from Space (Quatermass II) had a sequence in I had never seen done before. Quatermass discovers an extraterrestrial alien base in England , so he goes to the authorities , but he does not tell them it is an Alien base, he makes up a lie they will believe to get them out there. Logical!
 

 

 

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On 11/23/2017 at 7:55 PM, boojam said:

 

Donllevy was not ok in that role, but I could not figure it either. I guess Hammer felt it would be better box office. Enemy from Space was at the better of the two, tho Creeping Unknown is good.  The story in Enemy from Space (Quatermass II) had a sequence in I had never seen done before. Quatermass discovers an extraterrestrial alien base in England , so he goes to the authorities , but he does not tell them it is an Alien base, he makes up a lie they will believe to get them out there. Logical!
 

 

 

Brian Donlevy was past his prime as a  box office draws but, he was   good enough  for Hammer pictures purposes.  Overall ,he  was a good actor, but he just wasn't Bernard Quatermass, never could be.  I liked Andrew Keir who played him in the 1967 film and I like Sr John Mills in the Quatermass conclusion. But to me, the best actor I've seen to play Quatermass was Andre Morell( 1958 serial Quatermass and the Pit).

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I'll go with:

A.I.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Matrix: Revolutions

Sunshine

District 9

Arrival

Gravity

The Martian

Interstellar

Moon

Oblivion

Blade Runner 2049

Minority Report

Children of Men

Star Wars Force Awakens

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

( Interesting but not that great)

Prometheus/Alien Covenant

Predator

Passengers

Pacific Rim

War of the Worlds

 

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10 hours ago, GAROVORKIN said:

Brian Donlevy was past his prime at the box office draws but, he was a  good enough box office  for Hammer pictures purposes..  He was a good actor, but he just wasn't Bernard Quatermass, never could be.  I liked Andrew Keir who played him in the 1967 film and I like Sr John Mills in the Quatermass conclusion. But to me, the best actor I've seen to play Quatermass was Andre Morell( 1958 serial Quatermass and the Pit).

The Quatermass films are sure overlooked as decent to really good science fiction. Besides X the Unknown I don't remember  other Hammer SF films. I still like Hammer's 'style' for the horror film, it was more engaging that about 25 % of the Universal horror. Alas when that didn't work for Hammer anymore they just flat went away. No one took their place ,  horror devolved into repetitive programmers like Friday the 13th and Halloween. Now we have even blander and less imaginative horror than ever before. Sigh.

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6 minutes ago, Calibandar said:

I'll go with:

A.I.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Matrix: Revolutions

Sunshine

District 9

Arrival

Gravity

The Martian

Interstellar

Moon

Oblivion

Blade Runner 2049

Minority Report

Children of Men

Star Wars Force Awakens

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

( Interesting but not that great)

Prometheus/Alien Covenant

Predator

Passengers

Pacific Rim

War of the Worlds

 

Which War of the Worlds? The 1953 version was better.

Are you just talking films since 2000 or something like that?

2001 and Blade Runner (1982) trump all these , tho actually Blade Runner 2049 is a shade better than the original.

Predator ... 1987? That one would not even be worth of smelling Aliens's (1986)  poop! That is a poor 'alien' film.

Passengers was quite mediocre (tho now an awful film) in the last 7 years that movie was totally trumped by Ex Machina and Predestination ... you gotta see Predestination. 

I am totally underwhelmed by the Matrix movies.

Gad Prometheus and Alien Covenant ! Those are not interesting they are addled brain driveling by Scott.

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Disagreed on the last two films in the Alien franchise.

Predator- The one with Adrien Brody, 2010 or something. Decent. War of the Worls the new version of course, not the ancient one from the 50's.

I generally don't care for old science fiction movies which explains the absence of 2001 and the Star Wars OT. Just feels so dated.

Predestination- Everything involving time travelling bores me tremendously. Ex Machina however I still have to see.

Matrix: I did not care for the first two films, but the third one really did it for me, quite awesome.

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2 minutes ago, Calibandar said:

Disagreed on the last two films in the Alien franchise.

Predator- The one with Adrien Brody, 2010 or something. Decent. War of the Worls the new version of course, not the ancient one from the 50's.

I generally don't care for old science fiction movies which explains the absence of 2001 and the Star Wars OT. Just feels so dated.

Predestination- Everything involving time travelling bores me tremendously. Ex Machina however I still have to see.

Matrix: I did not care for the first two films, but the third one really did it for me, quite awesome.

You have T2 on your list though... :P

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