Best Sci-Fi Movie

[All Systems Go]

This pleases me for so many reasons. Not only is Serenity a great film of a great series but it beat Stars Wars to the number one spot which is a series of films I think are vastly over-rated and would have been far better had George Lucas not written the script.

The only thing that would make me happier at this moment in time would be to see all the little Hobbits and their little villages being given the Vietnam Treatment.

In conclusion: Serentiy and Napalm ftw!

Edit: Link for extra goodness

[MrL_JaKiri]

What?

[Hebdomad]

Serenity was voted best ever sci-fi film by Sci-Fi magazine, I believe. I'm renting it out to see for myself. I've looked at its website, but I can't see it being better than star wars. It seemed a bit like farscape to be honest.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by Hebdomad

I've looked at its website, but I can't see it being better than star wars.

Mainly because Star Wars isn't really that good, especially if you take the franchise as a whole. Even just

Serenity won because it's relatively new and also because there are quite a lot of internet active Whedon / Firefly fans out there who take this sort of thing quite seriously (I don't doubt there was some kind of bloggers campaign). This faction is probably disproportionately common in SFX's audience given that SFX tends to adore Whedon too (or did when I read it for a while).

Of courser, that doesn't mean Serenity isn't an enjoyable movie, but it's doubtful it will be even in the top five in a similar poll in five or ten years, or even a larger poll with a wider audience. In the longer term I suspect films like Blade Runner, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien, Solaris, Space Odyssey 2001, Metropolis, etc would tend to dominate.

My personal faves, to turn this into a banal ranking thread are probably Blade Runner, 12 Monkies and maybe Terminator 2. I hate Space Odyssey 2001 and everyone who likes it too. And yes, that includes you.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by horn

Is there any reason why, in particular?

This has been covered by others already, but just to clarify I dislike 2001 as it's an incredibly boring movie which failed to grip me on an emotional, intellectual or aesthetic level. Perhaps it was technically stunning on release (I've no idea) but that certainly can't count in its favour since it just looks embarrassing now. I don't recall a single "intellectual" concept that the movie explored which got me thinking, but ymmv.

The music was nice in parts, but it's not like the Blue Danube wasn't available before the movie's release.

[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

Perhaps it was technically stunning on release (I've no idea) but that certainly can't count in its favour since it just looks embarrassing now. I don't recall a single "intellectual" concept that the movie explored which got me thinking, but ymmv.

I mostly agree, but when I first saw it in 1968 it was quite stunning--not especially technically but emotionally. However, that aspect has not stood up.

The biggest thing about 2001 was that it made the genre (Sci Fi films) "respectable." Prior to 2001, Sci Fi films were low budget 'B' movies that the film industry never took very seriously (like, for example, the other notable Sci Fi release of 1968: Planet of the Apes). 2001 got enough favorable reviews (and Academy Award nominations) to change that.

In that respect, I suppose its an influential film though not a great one.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by horn

Well it certainly didn't have a video before the movie's release.

It was featured in at least 3 movies before 2001 according to Wiki, including one by Kubrick.

What does ymmv mean?

It's short for yori moleveloch merasd vakie - literally "you should go look it up" in Russian.

It doesn't, i haven't seen it yet.

You should do. The film is just one long pause, nothing happens in it, there's almost no acting, and it's hard to identify any point to the film at all. You'll probably enjoy the ontological duality involved.

[MrL_JaKiri]

Oh SFX, yeah that makes sense.

I'd say the best science fiction film was Blade Runner or 12 Monkeys, because both of them have plots which are significantly affected by the science fiction of the world in which they take place, unlike something like Alien (monster movie in space) or the Star Warsy/Firefly-y space cowboys kind of jazz (Cowboy Bebop, boom boom). That's not to say that Alien is a poor movie, it's just not a film I'd choose to be a paragon of science fiction on film.

[pablissimo]

Serenity was doubtless an excellent film, especially since they had a relatively small budget and the fairly difficult task of creating a film to suit the fans who had inspired its creation as well as sufficient numbers of the public to make it a worthwhile deal. They succeeded.

However, it seems to me that it wasn't even necessarily the story that was the compelling thing about the film but the universe within which it was set. And that universe, and all of the groundwork in developing the characters to the stage that they are in the film, was crafted for and during Firefly. You'd have to contrast that with coming up with the right story and the right universe to set it in a one-er, as most other sci-fi films have done by way of not having come from an established series.

Also, if we're being honest, it'd only have been half as good if Jewel Staite hadn't been in it.

[SilverSmoke]

Yeah, Bladerunner, Alien, 12 monkies should be high up there. Also Starship Troopers. I haven't seen Serenity though and ofcourse I've got a weakness for Starwars but that's partly due to the fact that it's part of my youth like a lot of people my age.

[pablissimo]

Originally Posted by SilverSmoke

Yeah, Bladerunner, Alien, 12 monkies should be high up there. Also Starship Troopers. I haven't seen Serenity though and ofcourse I've got a weakness for Starwars but that's partly due to the fact that it's part of my youth like a lot of people my age.

Silly rabbit, Pumping Iron isn't sci-fi

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by pablissimo

Silly rabbit, Pumping Iron isn't sci-fi

Pumpin Iron is quite an inspirational film, still it has way too much (I felt quite gay watching it) posing scenes and not enough insight on the training and lifestyle itself

[pablissimo]

Originally Posted by SilverSmoke

Pumpin Iron is quite an inspirational film, still it has way too much (I felt quite gay watching it) posing scenes and not enough insight on the training and lifestyle itself

My brother bought it on DVD and it's actually very entertaining. Especially with Arnie meeting the Ferrigno family for breakfast.

They don't make documentaries like that any more =(

[ChubbyChecker]

Serenity was a good film. Problem was it was only really good if you had seen the series and already knew the characters, seeing as there was little to no character development in the film itself. This probably partly explains why it didn't do too well at the box office. Shame really seeing as if it had done well we probably would have seen a sequel (or sequels!).

When I think of sci fi the first film to pop into my head is Star Wars (A New Hope, which is what I assume the ranking is referring to, not the trilogy as a whole), which is why I'd have it as number 1 on my list. Sure, it doesn't have any deeper meaning than just being an adventure in space but what it does it does well. Star Wars has had a lot of flak over the years from people saying it's overrated, not to mention the damage that the prequels have done to it, but it's still a very enjoyable film.

[Proxi]

Funny thing, the first film I thought of after I read the title of the thread was Serenity.

I'd have to agree with posters above though, as good a film as it was, titles such as Blade Runner and Terminator 1/2 must surely be up there.

[JonnyBGood]

I'd probably rate the Matrix fairly highly, I watched it the other day and you forget how good it was due to those two terrible sequels.

[TheShadowMan]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I'd probably rate the Matrix fairly highly, I watched it the other day and you forget how good it was due to those two terrible sequels.

idd just watched equilibrium recently but is pants compared to matrix

[All Systems Go]

Originally Posted by TheShadowMan

idd just watched equilibrium recently but is pants compared to matrix

Don't get me started on that pile of shit. It was the worst film I think I have ever seen. That they managed to make such a terrible film without including Nicholas Cage is the only original thing about the whole sorry mess.

'If I crouch down like I'm trying to shit myself then no bullets can hit me.'

If it's that ****ing difficult to shoot the inanimate bitch then why don't the criminals get some ****ing grenades. Calculate the shrapnel from that, mother****er.

[Bane]

Serenity was wank

Equilibrium was decent and thought provoking.

Predator and Terminator 2 are simply great movies.

[All Systems Go]

Originally Posted by Bane

Equilibrium was decent and thought provoking.

Please. There is nothing in that film that you couldn't get from a better source which would deal with the issue a million time better.

If you want:

Totalitarian Government: 1984
Supression of Ideas: Fahrenheit 451
A Dark Hero: The Matrix
Emotionless People: Any other Keanu Reeves film
Violent Christian Bale: American Psycho

[SilverSmoke]

Yeah I love that scene as well, Arnie is such a cock

[Veedeejem!]

Serenity was an decent movie, but certainly not the best sci fi movie ever made.
It could have been alot better.

My personal top5 of all time would have to be:
Predator
Alien 2 (best on in the series)
Solaris
The Matrix
Wing Commander the movie (ok I admit it, i'm a huge fanboy of everything connected to Wing Commander)

According to me all those movies are alot better than serenity, except for maybe wing commander for the neutral viewer.

[Bane]

Wing Commander was betetr than serenity I thought because it had better space action \o/.

[JonnyBGood]

I will seriously kill anyone who claims Wing Commander is the best science-fiction movie of all time.

[Veedeejem!]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I will seriously kill anyone who claims Wing Commander is the best science-fiction movie of all time.

For me personally it is one of the best, but like i said i'm a huge fan of anything Wing Commander related.

PS: How the hell I forgot to mention The fifth element in my list is beyond me
I think it's one of the best ever made, maybe even better than the ones i mentioned

[Tomkat]

I thought Serenity was pretty mediocre actually. Having said that, I've never seen any of Firefly. Is the film made significantly better by having seen the series? If so, you can't really rate it against things like Star Wars as they didn't have an entire series of TV shows behind them.

Sci-Fi films I still find myself getting out and watching:
Terminator 1&2
Starship Troopers
Star Wars 3,4,5,6
Aliens
Robocop
Logan's Run
Westworld
Dune

[Rinoa]

noone's mentioned Waterworld yet

[jt25man]

Originally Posted by Rinoa

noone's mentioned Waterworld yet

There's a good reason for that...it's 3 hours of sheer boredom.

I just watched Idiocracy, which is a Mike Judge film about how instead of getting smarter, humans get dumber in the future. It's scary how realistic it was, and the fact I've seen some of the trends leading to this might happen. I'd say it's now one of my favorite Sci-Fi movies.

[SilverSmoke]

Oh yes, Robocop. I love the dark cold atmosphere in that one. Lovely.


Total Recall is rather decent as well.

[Phang]

this thread makes me want to see 12 monkeys.

[G.K Zhukov]

The old Star Wars films.
Blade Runner.
The 5th Element.

[rop1964]

my top 5 movies in sci-fy would be :

1) War of the world (1967+) not the new one.. by orson wells
2)alien 2
3)westworld
4)terminator 2
5)starwars 3

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by rop1964

my top 5 movies in sci-fy would be :

1) War of the world (1967+) not the new one.. by orson wells

I'm terribly confused. Orson Welles didn't make a WotW film, he made a radio play version. In 1938. Although there was an earlier film version than the Spielberg. But that was made in 1953.

Originally Posted by Phang

this thread makes me want to see 12 monkeys.

It's one of the few wonderfully consistent and thought through time travel films. The first time you watch it, chances are you'll think it's mediocre, but if you watch it more your opinion of it will rise ineffably every time.

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by MrL_JaKiri

I'm terribly confused. Orson Welles didn't make a WotW film, he made a radio play version. In 1938. Although there was an earlier film version than the Spielberg. But that was made in 1953.

He must mean Transformers

[wakey]

Originally Posted by rop1964

5)starwars 3

Star Wars 3, are you mad!

I'm not sure if you mean Revenge of the Sith or Return of the jedi but either way neither is great. The prequel trilogy is weak in comparison to the original trilogy so none of those can be considered great. And the original trilogy is let down by Jedi really, its the weakest of the movies and is far from the quality level of Empire

Originally Posted by Hebdomad

Apparently A.I. is better the second-time you watch it. But I'm not taking that chance. I wonder if the director's cut is just the first 60% of the film and then nothing.

I personally think A.I gets alot of unnecessary flack. Spielberg did two sci-fi movies close together in A,I and Minority Report and both had half a fantastic Sci-fi movie in them but was let down by Spielberg's inability to end a movie. He often seems to take the view of "Why end a movie once when you can end it twice". In A,I's case there was really 3 'endings' in the movie and the natural end really was after the second one and we didnt need the "happy ending" with the aliens/robots and in Minority Report the natural ending was the 'downer' where we find out Tom Cruise had done it and it didnt need the 'happy ending' tacked on

Serenity Stuff

I think it really depends what group your asking. If you ask normal film goers whats the best sci-fi movie serenity probally wont register. While it does a good job of being a stand alone movie, certainly a better job than alot of movies from TV shows has done, it is a movie based on a tv show so has the problem these type of movies has in having to explain things but not being able to really explain things 'correctly' without annoying your core auidenece. As such a normal viewer simply cant get really invested in the charachters.

However when the people being asked about the best sci-fi films are Sci-fi fans I think it will stand the test of time as these people will have mostly seen the TV show which helps you emotionally connect and as such makes its qualities alot more prominate.

I know personally its near the top of my list as a sci-fi fan as both serenity and firefly do a great job of taking alot of the good things about sci-fi, weeds out alot of the parts that drag others down and throws in the quality of writing and dialog that youd expect in a good quality drama

Fav Scifi movies?

Some people have mentioned Starship Troopers and I have to say Its a movie I really like. However its a movie ive never really felt stands up as a good sci-fi movie as such, it plays alot more like a Political/Military Satire imho. Donnie Darko is another thats often labeled a Sci-fi movie and is a movie I really like but when you start looking at it as an out and out Sci-fi movie its not that good

I also enjoyed the X-Files movie and it would be fairly high on my list but like Serenity its a movie that somewhat requires you to have seen the series. Same thing also for the Star Trek Movies (Some of which are excellent, but others are dismal) so i'll ignore them too.

This probably leaves Gattaca and 12 Monkeys at the top of my list. I'm sure Blade Runner would be up there but its one of those movies I want to see but for whatever reason haven't ever got round to it (The 10 million different cuts probably hasnt helped me get round to seeing it).

The Matrix would have also probably been up there but I get the same reaction when I think about the movie due to the sequels as I do every week when I watch Lost because like Lost Matrix took what was a great start and decided to forget everything that made it great just so they can make more money by making more thus damaging the overall product

[MrL_JaKiri]

You think that X-Men II is drastically worse than X-Men I? III I can understand, but II?

Originally Posted by wakey

Minority Report the natural ending was the 'downer' where we find out Tom Cruise had done it and it didnt need the 'happy ending' tacked on

I don't really see how you can view the ending of Minority Report as a particularly happy one, especially as the ending of the short story on which it is based ends with him actually being reunited with his wife.

The film isn't about him so much as it is about precrime, and the philosophical question of free will. Having it end with him having committed the crime changes the message entirely, and I don't see why you haven't observed this given that in the same post you criticise science fiction films for not being about the sci fi elements

[furball]

Honourable mention for The Running Man, one of Arnie's first films.

[Hebdomad]

The fifth element was really quite enjoyable. And what's wrong with 2001: A Space Odyssey? It's either that, Bladerunner or one of the original Star Wars filems for my personal choice.

[Hebdomad]

Originally Posted by Toccata & Fugue

The thing about the Fifth Element is there is always some prick talking about it in the same breath as Bladerunner because they both got flying cars.

It could be because they're both popular science fiction films!

2001 is shite, not only that but its pretentious shite with delusions of grandeur. If you want something a little challenging than 12 Monkey's is cleverer and if you want some made-up philosophising about evolution and stuff then Akira pisses all over 2001.

I found 2001's plot quite ambiguous, and so more open to interpretation, something that I'm very keen on. 12 Monkeys is a great film, but its plot gets less and less appealing over time because of inverse reasons. 2001 is far more aesthetically pleasing also. I've not seen Akira, but I shall look out for it to satisfy my hankering for made-up philosophy!

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by Hebdomad

The fifth element was really quite enjoyable. And what's wrong with 2001: A Space Odyssey? It's either that, Bladerunner or one of the original Star Wars filems for my personal choice.

I'd try and argue the case for 2001, as I bought the DVD a year or two ago (also I have a pretentiously stupid loyalty to Kubrick, even though he really has churned out a lot of shit).

I wouldn't have a leg to stand on though. Since buying the DVD, I've watched it only once (and then slightly obligatory, after all, I'd just PAID for the damn thing).

When tracing my finger down my DVDs, I often skip it, mainly due to it just lasting a long time and clinging onto a sliver of a plot - not enough of a plot to last 2 hours or so of feature film time. Lack of character development, it relying solely on the "man-made machine getting clever and rebelling" Frankenstein plot... it's decidedly mediocre. I'm sure it was wonderful and ground-breaking in its day. Now though? I don't think it's stood the test of time.

[All Systems Go]

Originally Posted by Toccata & Fugue

I enoyed the use of the word "synergist" in this post. I also enjoyed the "comic book action" jibe.

If you thought 2001 was beautiful good for you, I'm glad you were able to take something from the film which allowed you to overlook what is otherwise merely an exercise in audience tolerance. Apparently if you take drugs during the film its better...

I think you're confusing it with The Wizard of Oz and Darkside of the Moon.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by horn

Did i mention i like Gus van sant? :/

Does this include the film Last Days? If it does you've lost your right to have an opinion on anything ever.

(Some of Van Sant's movies are good however)

[Lord Talon]

how about some Will Smith movies?

Independence Day (ok, over the top melodrama, but had some good parts)
Men In Black
I Robot

A couple other others

Riddick series

or my wife gave me a duh moment - Dune

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by Lord Talon

how about some Will Smith movies?

Consider suicide.

[Lord Talon]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Consider suicide.

my narcissism wouldn't allow it

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by Lord Talon

how about some Will Smith movies?

Just listen to Jonny.

[JonnyBGood]

Will Smith gave me the same reply

[Phang]

jesus, people liked The Fifth Element? It's been a running joke amongst my friends at home for years. If someone asks about a film and the film is bad, the stock response is a Fifth Element comparison. "How was that remake of The Hills Have Eyes?" "It was like the Fifth Element, only you'd be less concerned about taking young children to see it"

[JonnyBGood]

Would you like to elaborate on what you mean horn? Having only watched 2001 once in full I'm interested as to exactly how the movie having grandiose meta-themes interacted with your aesthetic viewing pleasure.

Of course you finish with a modified "personal taste subjective u cant insult my movies" line so maybe you're just disagreeing for the sake of it

[milo]

I agree with Horn, 2001 was great. I personally like it as taking it in isolation the hazyness of alien contact* and the lack high-concepty type narrative means a lot is left to the imagination and that leads to an increased sense of wonder, which is good for sci fi. The music adds to this. As a quick rule of thumb i think genuinely good sci fi is inversely proportionate to the number of times a phaser/laser/gun/megablaster is fired.






*ie alien contact isn't done in an earth-centric sense, the movie doesn't conclude with aliens saying 'hay guyz' etc, clarke did a similar thing in rendezvous with rama, where rama is just passing through.