Greatest sci-fi movies of the decades- but only one per...
POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Saturday, December 3, 2005 08:30
VIEWED: 17340
PAGE 7 of 8
Ok. Like I said, I'm not a Star Trek fan. So continuity really isn't my problem.
"Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"
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Quote:You're crazy.
Originally posted by Orpheus:
Call me crazy, but I thought Voyage Home was worlds better than Wrath of Khan.
_
Star Trek TMP, and ST VI were both better than Voyage Home.
IMnot-soHO.
Chrisisall, master of tne Vulcan Death-Grip
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I think when it came to Final Frontier, I thought it had a great idea and premise to it, but because of numerous problems that stretched from pre to post production, Shatner never was able to attain what he set out to do.
As for the Start Trek films, My fave was always THE MOTION PICTURE and THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. MOTION PICTURE, because it was the first bit of classic STAR TREK I actually watched, and it served as a good primer for my introduction to the franchise. And while 2 onward were just Star Wars knock-offs (albeit very good ones), THE MOTION PICTURE had more in common with the likes of 2001. The same themes that were in 2001 was also in TMP, which made the movie much richer and grander. It's interesting to note that TMP was the only TREK film that had any creative input by Roddenberry himself. Afterwards, it was Harve Bennet who was the creative force behind the film. UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY was the one sequel that was the closest to being great sci-fi, since it was a political thriller that served as an allegory for the fall of Communist Russia and the end of the Cold War.
THE ISLAND I found to be an intersting contradiction. Michael Bay is one of those critically reviled filmmakers, and for good reason. The only good flick of his is THE ROCK, which I actually own. THE ISLAND I thought was his first real good movie since THE ROCK, and yet it tanked and I think seriously damaged his career. So while I'm glad that the talentless hack might be out of work, I kinda sucks that the movie that ruined him was his first good flick in a long time.
Oddly enough, one of his previous flicks, ARMAGEDDON, ties into my choice for one of the best sci-fi flick of the 90's, LAST NIGHT. For those of you who havn't heard of this film, LAST NIGHT is sort of a Canadian anithesis of ARMAGEDDON, directed by Don McKellar, a guy I actually met this year. It has him, Sarah Polley, a pre-SIDEWAYS/GREY'S ANATOMY Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie and a cool cameo by David Cronenberg.
It takes place from 6PM to Midnight of the last day of human existence. At midnight, the world is going to end, and there's not a single thing anyone can do about it. And the movie follows these different people through Toronto as they live out the last few hours of their lives. Don plays Patrick, this loner who wants to spend his last night alone, but is kept being interrupted by different people. Like he has to go to this Xmas dinner put on by his family and he ends up helping this one woman, played by Oh, who's trying to get across town to her husband to fulfill a double suicide pact. Cronenberg is the president of a gas company who coldcalls all the people in the roster, telling them that "The gas will remain on until the very end." And Keith Rennie is a friend of Patrick's whose determined to fulfill as many sexual fantasies as possible.
If this sounds like something you wouldn't want to see, I insist you watch it, because it's funny in an acerbic kind of way, it's a highly unconventional take on the "end of the world" movie, and it's very touching.
This one idiot at DVDVerdict.com complains that the film has a defeatist POV, that people wouldn't give up that easily in the face of obliteration and that this movie is bull. Well, I think ARMAGEDDON is bull and that LAST NIGHT is infinitly better. I read this thing explaining why LAST NIGHT is better than ARMAGEDDON for one simple reason.
ARMAGEDDON is about the denial of death. The extinction of the human race is inevitable. It may not be this millennia or the next one, or the next. But it will happen eventually. And ARMAGEDDON is this massive unhealthy denial of death. By saying "All we have to do to insure the survival of the human race is to send up Willis, Affleck, Buscemi and a bunch of other guys," the Americans are fostering this denial of death and spreading the lie that we can go on forever. But LAST NIGHT, on the other hand, says that "We will one day all perish." And that by confronting your mortality and the things in your life that you're afraid of o
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Quote:We're on the same page, they're my two faves, and in that order, for those reasons.
Originally posted by reginaroadie:
As for the Start Trek films, My fave was always THE MOTION PICTURE and THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. THE MOTION PICTURE had more in common with the likes of 2001. UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY was the one sequel that was the closest to being great sci-fi, since it was a political thriller that served as an allegory for the fall of Communist Russia and the end of the Cold War.
I will check out both The Island, and Last Night.
Chrisisall, a carbon unit
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50's-QUATERMASS (Underated) http://members.aol.com/cinemabritain/quatermass.html. The 2nd or 3rd episodes where better
60'S-2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
70'S-ALIEN
80'S-BACK TO THE FUTURE
90'S-CONTACT
00's-SERENTIY (Better acting than the Garbage from Star Wars universe)
Anyone who mentions Shakespeare will get a .50 in their ass
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I liked Star Trek IV. I thought it was very well done. It is true that it was somewhat of a parody, but after many successful years of movie and TV runs, Star Trek earned it.
I like the Final Frontier also, but it had a lot of problems. Though, the biggest problem was not Shatner’s fault. Industrial Light and Magic which had done the special effects for Star Trek II, III, and IV was not available for Star Trek V, and as such the special effects were seriously lacking, which made the movie look almost amateurish.
Armageddon was somewhat of a parody also. I wouldn’t rate it as among the better sci fi movies, but there are worse. I preferred Deep Impact as a story of meteor catastrophism though. It was little more realistic and intelligent.
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Qui desiderat pacem praeparet bellum.
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Quote:Okay, agreed. It was their 'comedic' movie, akin to A Piece Of The Action.
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
I liked Star Trek IV. I thought it was very well done. It is true that it was somewhat of a parody, but after many successful years of movie and TV runs, Star Trek earned it.
Have you seen the 'fixed up' version of The Motion Picture? I really think Robert Wise took a very good movie and turned it into one of the best sci-fi movies of all time with some tightening and minor FX additions. I'd put it up there with (albeit, not above) Blade Runner, Day The Earth Stood Still (Huh. Same director...), Forbidden Planet, and, of course, Serenity.
"What does God want with a starship?"
...sounds like he did a little too much LDS in the sixties.
Live long and prosper Chrisisall
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Hmmm talking of Robert Wise, Chris have you seen The Andromeda Strain a very cerebral and tightly wound film. Edgey stuff indeed. 70's I think?
Worth a look for purveyors of intelligent Sci-fi...
The
Somnambulist
www.cirqus.com
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Some might think it a slow-paced film, but it goes by in a flash for me, it's definitly GREAT sci-fi, and a detective story of sorts as well.
Chrisisall, seeing a red light flashing..uh-oh!
*sitting, staring at his computer screen*
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This may sound quite random, but still on the subject of SF. Does Doctor Who have a big following in the States? Just wondering.
TS
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