The tough list: What order do you rank these classic sci-fi films?

POSTED BY: OPPYH
UPDATED: Thursday, March 12, 2009 03:03
VIEWED: 6448
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CHRISISALL

Thursday, March 5, 2009 11:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
I really appreciate the ambition of trying to turn a pair of massive action tentpole movies into philosophical arguments.

They flower-powered them up in response to 9-11. They were gonna give us a WAR between Humans & Machines, and decided to end it in a wussy "co-existence" to make some anti-war statement amid the carnage. Hmmmph!

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The ultra-critical Chrisisall

STORYMARK

Thursday, March 5, 2009 11:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
I really appreciate the ambition of trying to turn a pair of massive action tentpole movies into philosophical arguments.
They flower-powered them up in response to 9-11. They were gonna give us a WAR between Humans & Machines, and decided to end it in a wussy "co-existence" to make some anti-war statement amid the carnage. Hmmmph!

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The ultra-critical Chrisisall

Not my take at all. The philosophical stuff was all there in the first, just amped up in the second.

The co-existance thing is logical. Had the humans "won" and unplugged everyone, like I think a lot of people expected, it would have meant millions of atrophied skinny people being dropped into an inhospitable climate and dying.

The idea that they toned down the carnage is a bit silly since most of the third movie is people getting slaughtered by machines anyway.

And the machine war idea was nixed by the studio, because they weren't going to pay for an expensive new movie that had none of the leads in it. That's why they still did the animated version.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

CHRISISALL

Thursday, March 5, 2009 11:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
The philosophical stuff was all there in the first, just amped up in the second.

Agreed.

Quote:

The co-existance thing is logical. Had the humans "won" and unplugged everyone, like I think a lot of people expected, it would have meant millions of atrophied skinny people being dropped into an inhospitable climate and dying.

No way, man, all they had to do was waste the agents & defrag the brain, then they could keep the Matrix running for the decade-long job of freeing suitably prepared minds that had been virtually trained for real life.

Quote:

The idea that they toned down the carnage is a bit silly since most of the third movie is people getting slaughtered by machines anyway.

I didn't say they toned it down, just that they placed the we-can-resolve-conflict message right next to it.

Quote:

And the machine war idea was nixed by the studio, because they weren't going to pay for an expensive new movie that had none of the leads in it.

Bottom line, in one, Neo died, in two Trinity died, in three EVERYBODY died.
Bummer, dude.

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The laughing Chrisisall

STORYMARK

Friday, March 6, 2009 4:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:

Bottom line, in one, Neo died, in two Trinity died, in three EVERYBODY died.
Bummer, dude.

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The laughing Chrisisall

Kinda my point - that's a pretty ballsy route to take for a big blockbuster trilogy, to end it with all the heroes dying. Hell, I went into the sequels expecting Morpheeus to bite it, and he's about the only one who did live.

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."

CHRISISALL

Friday, March 6, 2009 5:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:

Kinda my point - that's a pretty ballsy route to take for a big blockbuster trilogy, to end it with all the heroes dying.

But, like, I cried & stuff.

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The laughing Chrisisall

IMNOTHERE

Friday, March 6, 2009 11:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Like there's no remorse when they have to kill an agent, knowing that killing them also takes an innocent life...

If it makes you feel better: being taken over by an agent might well have the same effect on the victim as being unplugged did on Switch etc. In that case, by the time Neo and co get to kill an Agent, the innocent is already Soylent Green.

Congratulations though: picking that as your chosen stickle from the Swiss cheese that is the premise of the Matrix proves that you value human life above the laws of thermodynamics (humans use energy - they don't produce it).

Of course, the appeal of the Matrix is the style and atmosphere, not the plot. The first film was completely fresh - unfortunately, by the time the sequels came out, bullet time and fantasy Kung Fu had become cliched.

Meanwhile, back at the topic (we've probably had all the permutations by now):

1. 2001 (and I don't smoke! With films like this, who needs drugs?) - I doubt we'll see its like again, no director would be allowed to make a big budget film like this in such an experimental style.
2. Blade Runner - the story isn't much (and misses the point of the book) but, oooh, the atmosphere.
3. Planet of the Apes - which I don't actually like that much, but its so iconic it has to go in the big league.
DISCONTINUITY
4. Silent Running - make no mistake, its a very good film, just not up there with the giants.
5. Aliens - The zero'th amendment to the US constitution: if some is good, more is better! Sorry, but the original does more with less (and would have gone in at 3). Plus, it was directed by a guy who's previous claim to fame was making twee, nostalgic adverts for wholemeal bread - gotta love the irony.

Missing - think they've all been mentioned: Matrix 1; Brazil and/or 12 Monkeys; the Star Wars Episode of your choice (I'd go for "A New Hope" - it stuck to its Saturday serial roots without getting pretentions) and Close Encounters (the un

-about-with version that knew when to hand the job over to your imagination).

PIZMOBEACH

Friday, March 6, 2009 11:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

1. 2001 (and I don't smoke! With films like this, who needs drugs?) - I doubt we'll see its like again, no director would be allowed to make a big budget film like this in such an experimental style.
2. Blade Runner - the story isn't much (and misses the point of the book) but, oooh, the atmosphere.
3. Planet of the Apes - which I don't actually like that much, but its so iconic it has to go in the big league.
DISCONTINUITY
4. Silent Running - make no mistake, its a very good film, just not up there with the giants.
5. Aliens - The zero'th amendment to the US constitution: if some is good, more is better! Sorry, but the original does more with less (and would have gone in at 3). Plus, it was directed by a guy who's previous claim to fame was making twee, nostalgic adverts for wholemeal bread - gotta love the irony.

Great stuff ImNotHere - I agree with much of what you've said.

1. 2001 - groundbreaking scifi, and not just one generation next level, but a huge advance in what scifi could be, both with story and film effects. I think we can even see some of it in Firefly with Joss's treating the 'Verse as more real, future fiction, and not the alien bugs from Planet Voltron future.

2. Star Wars - The first one

It's a classic scifi film if ever there was one - to not list it is to give in to Lucas-Hate pressure. Just ask yourself how many times you saw it?

3/4 Alien/Aliens For reasons ImNotHere mentioned, Alien was such a psychological mind-frack step up for scifi - there was no other real world horror that could compare with the face hugger .. that btw had acid for blood. It also brought us H. R. Geiger and Ridley Scott at their peak. Aliens was arguably Cameron's best film, and had a great cast and a relentless story, perfectly paced.

5. Blade Runner - Quoting INH: "the story isn't much (and misses the point of the book) but, oooh, the atmosphere." + Rutger Hauer in his best role.

CHRISISALL

Sunday, March 8, 2009 4:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

Congratulations though: picking that as your chosen stickle from the Swiss cheese that is the premise of the Matrix proves that you value human life above the laws of thermodynamics (humans use energy - they don't produce it).

Tell that to my mitochondria.

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The laughing Chrisisall

IMNOTHERE

Sunday, March 8, 2009 10:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Tell that to my mitochondria.

Ahem. If your mitochondria are a power source, that still leaves you as just the Duracell Bunny.

I think the machines would be smart enough to realize that the batteries work fine on their own without building a whole virtual world to keep the pink mechanical rabbits happy.

(For the avoidance of doubt: the reference to pink, battery-powered rabbits here refers to a well known and family friendly commercial, and is in no way connected to an infamous Kaylee quote from Serenity

).

CHRISISALL

Sunday, March 8, 2009 10:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

Ahem. If your mitochondria are a power source, that still leaves you as just the Duracell Bunny.

LOL, okay, I was goin' for the funny. Yeah, Matrix falls to bitty pieces upon any serious examination. Like what was that crap about "combined with a kind of fusion..." all about? Treknobabble bs because they couldn't make any sense out of it in real science.

Biggest pet peeve about the movie for me? It should have been funnier, given it's total lack or realism, that would have been a saving grace IMO.

"Thanks." -Hero, 2009

The laughing Chrisisall

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