SF films that make you go 'Umm...what?'

POSTED BY: chrisisall
UPDATED: Monday, March 23, 2009 16:54
VIEWED: 8336
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IMNOTHERE

Saturday, March 21, 2009 2:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:

The rest of the film was guns, bugs, and CGI. They wisely waited until Heinlein was dead to produce it.

What annoyed me was the unsubtle use of fascist imagery to make really, really sure that we knew that Heinlein's political ideas were wrong.

Now, methinks his system would rapidly degenerate into a military dictatorship supported by a token electorate who had been conditioned to follow orders. However, I'd quite like to decide that for myself, thanks, not have a filmmaker paint an almost-a-swastika on it lest I form the wrong opinion.

CHRISISALL

Saturday, March 21, 2009 2:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by cljohnston108:
Mine is Primer...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_%28film%29

I need to track this down!

The laughing Chrisisall

CHRISISALL

Saturday, March 21, 2009 4:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

What annoyed me was the unsubtle use of fascist imagery to make really, really sure that we knew that Heinlein's political ideas were wrong.

There was a lack of subtle there, yes.

The laughing Chrisisall

DREAMTROVE

Sunday, March 22, 2009 5:42 AM

Spacehunter
Barbarella
Earth Girls are Easy
Blood of Heroes
Existenz
13th Floor
Anything Chris just posted
The Quiet Earth
MMB Thunderdome

I love threads like this. I could live here. I'm assuming things that are cult classics or underground classics like all of Gilliam doesn't really apply here.

But speaking of
Underworld
Resident Evil
Mimic
Mole People
Anything by Jeunet, but mostly City of the Lost Children
Equilibrium, hell, I even enjoyed Ultraviolet.
It's it's frelled up and has twisted characters I love it, as long as it's actually halfway decent writing and acting. I couldn't stomach Alien From LA. This is waiting to be rewritten, like teenage catgirls in heat.

But I have to throw in one of the biggest Huh? movies of all time: Liquid Sky.
I'll add Vanilla Sky to that.

Back in the day when people followed liquid sky like a cult, they also flocked to the rare extant copies of warriors of the wind, now more commonly known as Nausicaa. I doubt there is anyone on the board who hasn't seen the film, and maybe now it's mainstream in retrospect, but if we were going by pure Huh? factor, then Spirited Away would have to follow.

I'm not sure any of these measure up to Cherry 2000 though, which is probably the ultimate Huh? film. the 80s also had their own genre of sci-fi pseudo-porn.

Oh, what's that one where they trek through this desert of white flashes, it's like a nuclear desert on their journey. Oh, there has to be a database for this, like imdBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!

CHRISISALL

Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:

Oh, what's that one where they trek through this desert of white flashes, it's like a nuclear desert on their journey. Oh, there has to be a database for this, like imdBBBBBBBB!!!!!!!!

Damnation Alley! That was very "What?"

Also Escape From LA.

The laughing Chrisisall

DREAMTROVE

Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:11 PM

didn't see LA, Escape from New York though... not so Huh? but nice B, to a lesser extent Demolition Man, Freejack

Oh, we do need imdB, not just IMDb (notice that's how it is really spelled)

I want a site that says "People who liked Cherry 2000 also liked Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone"

because this would not only be true, but useful.

Allow me to introduce you to useless:
Check out the actual recommendations at the bottom
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/

If you just watched Cherry 2000, you've already seen those films, and worse, if you just watched and liked Cherry 2000, you will yawn at those recommendations.

Oh dear, the full list is worse
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092746/recommendations

no, this is not a judgment on the films recommended, but on how on target they are for someone thinking "I want to see something like Cherry 2000"

Okay, some credit to Netflix here:

Red Sonja
Freejack
My Stepmother is an Alien
Night of the Comet
The Ice Pirates

More creds to Amazon, who came up with

Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy
Tank Girl
Drive-In Cult Classics

But we could still do better.

New game: I want to hear some lists for "If you liked Cherry 2000 you might also enjoy." Have fun with it, but be serious. See if you can come up with a list of films that someone in the mood for Cherry 2000, but has already seen it too many times, would actually like as a substitute.

The danger of recommendation systems is "People who bought this book also bought Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ... because everyone did.

Ah, here's the page to beat: Amazon's "Similar Items" list. That's pretty good:
http://www.amazon.com/Cherry-2000-Melanie-Griffith/sim/B0000542CA/2/re
f=pd_cp_d_sexpl

And I'm not just saying that because they picked Spacehunter as a first choice for Cherry 2000 fans.

It falls apart on some titles, but overall, that's a nice recommendation system. (the amazon similar titles page) It really falls apart here:
http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Edward-James-Olmos/sim/B001
HUWQEA/2/ref=pd_cp_d_sexpl
(more useless information.)

Another interesting resource:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=cherry+2000

I'm sticking with the title because I have to confess it's probably one of the ultimate fun "Huh?" films of all time. A little jealous that Chris picked it first

People who enjoyed this movie might also enjoy these controlled substances...

Okay, mission parameters are clear, if we have any volunteers.

SAFEAT2ND

Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:45 PM

HEY!! I liked Night of the Comet... but then I like zombies movies. It seems to be one of those genres where the writer or directer can get away with questionable dialogue and such where they wouldn't in any other genre.

Buckaroo Banzai... A hunh? film for me.

Somebody said it before, and I agree, I'm more forgiving if there are some redeeming features in a film. Sorry to say I have a weakness for a well designed spaceship or one with character. Also if the core of the story is intriguing but the director wasn't skilled enough to pull it off... (cough...Supernova...cough).

Damnation Alley! I rmember thinking it was a cool flick but it hasn't stood the test of time very well.

Then there was that movie about the Space vampire that was some sort of energy parasite or something...

_______________________________________________________________
"Got a headful of lightning
And a heart full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home."

CHRISISALL

Monday, March 23, 2009 12:07 AM

I liked Spacehunter as well, saw it in 3D at the cinema.

Here's another one:
Lifeforce. Vampire naked chick from space. VERRY "What????" -The one Safe was thinking of.

The laughing Chrisisall

CHRISISALL

Monday, March 23, 2009 12:31 AM

Event Horizon was one I desperately wanted to like, but in the end: FAIL!
Same with the first AVP, and Soldier.
See a pattern here?
*CoughDirector*

The laughing Chrisisall

DREAMTROVE

Monday, March 23, 2009 4:27 AM

I didn't see AVP because everyone said it sucked. Also, I thought it was a dumb contest. The Alien is an intensely evolved species, and the predator is really just a guy. True, Ripley can beat the alien, and that's really about the will to live.

In fact, the whole story is about will to live. That's what makes killing Newt in Alien3 the dumbest move by another director who is not as clever as he thinks he is, in spite of one clever success, and 7, or was it 5, which is probably the most predictable piece of torture porn I've seen, in which the only surprise during the entire film was that our heroes can actually be this dumb and still be members of the same species as the rest of us.

But re: event horizon, it's another "Knife in the Wormhole" which is what I call this space madness story, all of which are some sort of variation on "Knife in the Water" which is actually a dubious thing to take any derivation from.

Soldier was better, but you knew there was no real underlying writing talent and so it wasn't going anywhere, they just wanted to build this cool car, which is why they made the movie, they actually said so in an interview. Still, it's the sort of thing you can rape when you want to steal ideas for other stories, and then you need to stick the knife in, twist it a few times, and come out with the soul of its mortal enemy, eventually you have something useful. Interesting questions and situations with dumb answers are always useful to a writer in this way. You can make some other choice, and invert variables, and get something out of it.

Supernova was an even worse rendition of Knife in the wormhole.

Mathilda May is naked? For the entire film? I think I need to see this movie, even if it's another kitw.

Oh,

Something is Out There
Repo Man
Species

That movie where juliet lewis sings naked, 1999?

I didn't give full credit to Zardoz for its Umm What? factor, but in the category, I think Cherry 2000 still holds the crown. I thought Liquid Sky was a solid competitor though.

I think real competitors should take a right angle turn in the middle of the film, and never look back, and ideally they shouldn't do it because of a loss of actor or change of director, they should mean to do it all along.

Okay, now I want two lists. One of just logical connections of "If you liked Cherry 2000 you might also like" and another list of movies that just wander off into space.

In androids dream of electric sheep, the book takes a right hand turn in the middle, before adjusting back to course. I was disappointed when it adjusted back. I thought the right angle turn was awesome, and I would have loved for it to walk completely off into the desert for no apparent reason. I would have been happy for the film to do the same.

It's not the end, Not the kingdom come,
It is the journey that matters

Take me out, to the black, tell them I ain't coming back.

Okay, top wanderlust movies, or "if you like this" lists. I realize that there may be people out there who did not see Cherry 2000.

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