BEST Science Fiction film of all time!

[Keith]

Almost forgot this movie - but nobody seems to have mentioned 12 Monkeys.

Was it really that bad? That unmemorable?

I remember I totally loved it when I first watched it, and generally I have enjoyed it with each viewing. The ending is totally sad though... very sad.... maybe people want to whipe out memories of sad endings?

In any case - it was a wonderful mixture of surrealism, suspence, psychological drama... the love story was kind of not spicey enough for my taste - but still... it was good. Good sci fi movie IMO.

Pete

Terry Gilliam movies have their own special catagory of awesomeness, I wouldn't pidgeon hole them into anything.

[CoryHolmes]

I must be the only one these boards that doesn't really like Blade Runner.

I find the pacing of this movie to be horribly slooooooooooooooowwwwww.

Anyway a personal favourite of mine is Event Horizon.

The dimension screwing with your mind was an interesting and scary premise.

Oh, and Laurence Fishburne was badass in this film.

I agree with both of these points. Event Horizon is one of the rare movies that atually creeped me out and made me afraid of the dark (for an hour or so ). And Laurence Fishbourne makes every movie he stars in that much better. Hard to believe that Event Horizon is from the same guy who did Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, AvP...

And I also have to give props to mentioning Visionaries. Good little cartoon that got sunk by the tie-in merchandising...

[CoryHolmes]

Terry Gilliam movies have their own special catagory of awesomeness, I wouldn't pidgeon hole them into anything.

Normally I'd agree with you, but I can't stand Brazil. Way, way too boring and uninteresting for me (and I normally like that kind of stuff!).

[Vile]

Brazil was damn cool, but I think you'd have to have lived in 80s England to appreciate it fully.

Bladerunner, no two ways about it. With or without the voice-over, but definitely without the happy ending.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Vile

[anime52k8]

the extended cut of Bladerunner without the voice-over sucks.

personally I like 2001 and Alien better but bladerunner is up there.

[VFTF1]

I find it odd that I don't own a DVD of blade runner. Yet I own "Warriors of the Land of Zu."

WTF is up with that?!

Pete

[Marzan]

I agree with both of these points. Event Horizon is one of the rare movies that atually creeped me out and made me afraid of the dark (for an hour or so ). And Laurence Fishbourne makes every movie he stars in that much better. Hard to believe that Event Horizon is from the same guy who did Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, AvP...

Event Horizon is probably the scariest scifi this side of Alien. Sam Neill's character in that film scares the c**p out of me until this day. The film really plays well on the fact that the people on board the ship are the most isolated humans in the entire galaxy. No cavalry to help one out.

[VFTF1]

Does Scarface with Al Pacino count as sci-fi? There is that one scene where Omar says "Don't you think we could have gotten some other space cadet to hit Rebingo? Cheaper than you! 50 bucks!"

?

Pete

[VFTF1]

Oh -on a more serious note - a big time contender should be Wong-Kar-Wei's 2046. I generally love this movie, like all of this director's movies. It should be a top contender!

Pete

[electric indigo]

Event Horizon is probably the scariest scifi this side of Alien. Sam Neill's character in that film scares the c**p out of me until this day. The film really plays well on the fact that the people on board the ship are the most isolated humans in the entire galaxy. No cavalry to help one out.

Too bad the second half and the supporting actors put it firmly in B-movie territory.

[taksraven]

Too bad the second half and the supporting actors put it firmly in B-movie territory.

Event Horizon just had the daftness to it that stuffed it up for me.

Taksraven

[505thAirborne]

Since this thread opened EVENT HORIZON has been on my list as a good movie, but not one of the best. Great premise, haven't seen it for awhile but I remember the effects being impressive, but the story is so-so and as electric indigo put it the second have doesn't do that well. But Lawrence Fishbourne & Sam Neil did a great job though.

So yes, its a fun movie and will scare the cr*p out of you if ya haven't seen it before and at night with the lights off! (Sweet Dreams)

[taksraven]

Since this thread opened EVENT HORIZON has been on my list as a good movie, but not one of the best. Great premise, haven't seen it for awhile but I remember the effects being impressive, but the story is so-so and as electric indigo put it the second have doesn't do that well. But Lawrence Fishbourne & Sam Neil did a great job though.

So yes, its a fun movie and will scare the cr*p out of you if ya haven't seen it before and at night with the lights off! (Sweet Dreams)

From the wikipedia (yeah yeah, I know not always reliable, blah blah blah.....)

Anderson claims that his initial cut of the film, before the visual effects had been completed, ran to about 130 minutes in length. The film was even more graphic in this incarnation, and both test audiences and the studio were unnerved by the gore. Paramount ordered Anderson to cut the film by thirty minutes and delete some of the violence, a decision that he regrets. Some of the lost scenes were offered as special features on the 2006 DVD but were taken from poor quality video tape, the only format in which the scenes now exist; the studio had little interest in keeping unused footage and the film has since been lost

The version we saw was freaky but you could tell that it was pulling its punches, which the bit from Wikipedia confirms. I don't think that I would ever consider it best film ever or even a particularly good film but I would love to see the original cut and that should be the version that is out there as I suspect it was superior. An important lesson for directors in there.

Taksraven

[electric indigo]

I fail to see how the movie could have been improved by additional gore.

-You know, we have this really cool premise, what should we do with it?

-F#ck it, let's just have some slaughter and things blowing up.

Edited February 20, 2010 by electric indigo

[taksraven]

I fail to see how the movie could have been improved by additional gore.

-You know, we have this really cool premise, what should we do with it?

-F#ck it, let's just have some slaughter and things blowing up.

If the test audiences and the studio were "unnerved by the gore", I want to see that cut, and I am not a gore fan.

And also, its about 30 mins that were cut so I doubt that it was only gore and violence. There must have been some story cut out and this film needed more story.

Taksraven

[505thAirborne]

Its a shame they couldn't have preserved the other 30 minutes cut from the film, would have liked to have seen it as Paul Anderson wanted to show it.

[taksraven]

Its a shame they couldn't have preserved the other 30 minutes cut from the film, would have liked to have seen it as Paul Anderson wanted to show it.

Something about that part of the story does not really ring-true for me. Why would the studio dump material that would allow them to produce another version of the film in the future that could make them more money. I know that studio people are often seen as being stupid, but if they got rid of the footage altogether then they are truly idiotic.

Taksraven

[505thAirborne]

Something about that part of the story does not really ring-true for me. Why would the studio dump material that would allow them to produce another version of the film in the future that could make them more money. I know that studio people are often seen as being stupid, but if they got rid of the footage altogether then they are truly idiotic.

Taksraven

More than likely a mix of stupidity, idiocy and laziness. You just need to watch Kevin Smith talking about producers like John Peters to get an idea of why Event Horizon's additional footage was either cut or lost.

[BeyondTheGrave]

How is it that no one has said Forbidden Planet?!

[505thAirborne]

How is it that no one has said Forbidden Planet?!

Good question, how did we miss this one? Forbidden Planet is a true classic.

[RDClip]

I vote Blade Runner. It basically created the cyber punk look. And who can forget Roy Batty's death speech I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams... glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those... moments will be lost... in time... like... tears... in rain. Time to die."

Edited February 21, 2010 by RDClip

[Keith]

How is it that no one has said Forbidden Planet?!

Because it's "forbidden", duh!

[Marzan]

I vote Blade Runner. It basically created the cyber punk look. And who can forget Roy Batty's death speech I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams... glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those... moments will be lost... in time... like... tears... in rain. Time to die."

One of THE most memorable lines not only in sci-fi, but all of cinema. Period.

[anime52k8]

I vote Blade Runner. It basically created the cyber punk look. And who can forget Roy Batty's death speech I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams... glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those... moments will be lost... in time... like... tears... in rain. Time to die."

why can I not stop myself from reading that in F'ing William Shatners voice?

(btw, that little monologe aways buged the crap out of me. why are there ships on fire if presumably they're in space? There's no oxygen in space. And where/what exactly is the Tannhauser Gate? and what the hell is a C-beam for that matter?)

Edited February 21, 2010 by anime52k8

[BeyondTheGrave]

Because it's "forbidden", duh!

So is gazing upon the Holy image of Basara and listening to the Sermons Fire Bomber.

But that doesn't stop you.... or does it?

Edited February 22, 2010 by BeyondTheGrave

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

why can I not stop myself from reading that in F'ing William Shatners voice?

(btw, that little monologe aways buged the crap out of me. why are there ships on fire if presumably they're in space? There's no oxygen in space. And where/what exactly is the Tannhauser Gate? and what the hell is a C-beam for that matter?)

That's why is Science Fiction: we don't know yet

As for the "Tears in rain" line, Rutger Hauer claims it was his idea and that he wrote it in his trailer at dawn moments before shooting that scene and that Ridley Scott said: "Sure, go for it". It's interesting that the line that wraps up the whole idea so nicely was actually an actor's afterthought.

[aldebabram21]

I hope I can cotribute with this topic!

I will say AVATAR

Why?

1. inovating film recording technology.

2. flying lizards

3. big a%% guns

4. new "humans will never beat us" kind of cocept

5. ALIEN SEX!!!

[taksraven]

why can I not stop myself from reading that in F'ing William Shatners voice?

LOL, reminds me of this one....

Taksraven

[anime52k8]

LOL, reminds me of this one....

Taksraven

AHHH!!!

[electric indigo]

5. ALIEN SEX!!!

It has been done before! In "Alien", we never find out what happened to Lambert, but the sounds are quite suggestive.

[Penguin]

It has been done before! In "Alien", we never find out what happened to Lambert, but the sounds are quite suggestive.

That's just all kinds of wrong.

[dreamweaver13]

It has been done before! In "Alien", we never find out what happened to Lambert, but the sounds are quite suggestive.

AND in District 9! Yes, it's true! There's a picture, for chrissakes.

[electric indigo]

That's just all kinds of wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs3mNIu70-E

That scene is from the workprint and includes a not-too-subtle approach of the Alien with it's tail (and a silly walk that was fortunately cut), it lacks the shot of the tail going up Lambert's legs (which was actually a shot from Brett's scene). IIRC, in the shot where Ripley finds her dead mates, you can see something that could be a bloody naked leg dangling in the frame on the right.

[Gubaba]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs3mNIu70-E

That scene is from the workprint and includes a not-too-subtle approach of the Alien with it's tail (and a silly walk that was fortunately cut), it lacks the shot of the tail going up Lambert's legs (which was actually a shot from Brett's scene). IIRC, in the shot where Ripley finds her dead mates, you can see something that could be a bloody naked leg dangling in the frame on the right.

I remember when I was very young, I got a copy of Starlog magazine, and there was a letter from a reader protesting against the title of the Verornica Cartwright interview in a previous issue: "I was Raped by the Alien."

Or something like that. It's been a long, long while.

[VFTF1]

New nomination!

I was in the store back on Feb 20th (according to my twitter logs....I apparently tweeted this but never wrote it here) and I saw - on DVD- being sold in Poland (which is a shock)...ZOMBIE STRIPPERS!! starring Robert England or Eggland or whatever his name is (Freddy Kruger or Kreuger or however that supermarket was called).

Anyways - I know Zombies are horror, but these are ZOMBIE STRIPPERS - so that's sci-fi.

Apparently this movie came out in 2008 and for some strange reason I wasn't aware of it! The picture on the cover is of a naked hot chick, so I immediately picked it up, but when I looked at the back it was just some old fart and monsters instead of hot T&A, so I put it back down.

I didn't read the plot. I probably would have bought it, but I was broke and couldn't afford the hefty 10 dollars price tag

However -I'm fairly sure it'll be there the next time I drop by that particular store, which is often.

Pete