Author Topic: Favorite Sci-fi movies? (Read 29436 times)

40hz · « **Reply #25 on:** June 10, 2014, 09:14 AM »

It's also a bit of a visual nod to the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in the US where a substitute high school teacher went on trial in 1925 for violating a Tennessee law know as The Butler Act which effectively banned the teaching of evolutionary theory in publicly funded schools.

Scopes was ultimately convicted of violating the act and fined $100. The judgement was later thrown out on a legal technicality rather than a constitutional one. But the state of Tennessee (wisely in the face of withering publicity) decided not to retry the case.

The legal battle to teach evolutionary theory continues to this day in America.

mouser · « **Reply #26 on:** June 10, 2014, 10:30 AM »

Not my favorite but i'm surprised no one has mentioned the Cube series -- good stuff.

IainB · « **Reply #27 on:** June 10, 2014, 12:16 PM »

It's also a bit of a visual nod to the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in the US where a substitute high school teacher went on trial in 1925 ...

The legal battle to teach evolutionary theory continues to this day in America.
-40hz (June 10, 2014, 09:14 AM)

Oh, thanks, I didn't know that about the US "Scopes Monkey Trial". Amazing. There's something new to learn every day. I would guess that the POTA producers had some fun juxtaposing the contradictions in human society with those in the ape society. "Stupid apes! Oops, that means stupid humans too!" Reminds me of the fun they had in that clever Star Trek episode where the people who lived on two planets circling the same star were perpetually at war - the people on each planet were identical humanoids, except that the ones on planet A had faces which were black on the left vertical half, and white on the right, and the people on planet B had the opposite.

I also had noticed that (as you said) "The legal battle to teach evolutionary theory continues to this day in America.". That's pretty amazing too.
It's all very confusing. There are two main camps. The Theory of Evolution was apparently developed from Darwin's rational thought and observations, and he was a devout Christian, yet the Creationist "theory" is an irrational religio-political ideology favoured by the Christians - and the Islamists too, come to think of it. Mind you, the Islamists apparently also hold that the Jews are descended from apes and pigs, which is kinda half right per Evolutionary Theory, so they (Islamists) seem to have a foot in both camps to some extent, except the pig thing confuses the heck out of me.

I reckon 2001 could have got it spot-on in any event. We had some help from dem aliens...

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #28 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:06 PM »

It's also a bit of a visual nod to the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in the US where a substitute high school teacher went on trial in 1925 ...

The legal battle to teach evolutionary theory continues to this day in America.
-40hz (June 10, 2014, 09:14 AM)

Oh, thanks, I didn't know that about the US "Scopes Monkey Trial". Amazing. There's something new to learn every day. I would guess that the POTA producers had some fun juxtaposing the contradictions in human society with those in the ape society. "Stupid apes! Oops, that means stupid humans too!" Reminds me of the fun they had in that clever Star Trek episode where the people who lived on two planets circling the same star were perpetually at war - the people on each planet were identical humanoids, except that the ones on planet A had faces which were black on the left vertical half, and white on the right, and the people on planet B had the opposite.

I also had noticed that (as you said) "The legal battle to teach evolutionary theory continues to this day in America.". That's pretty amazing too.
It's all very confusing. There are two main camps. The Theory of Evolution was apparently developed from Darwin's rational thought and observations, and he was a devout Christian, yet the Creationist "theory" is an irrational religio-political ideology favoured by the Christians - and the Islamists too, come to think of it. Mind you, the Islamists apparently also hold that the Jews are descended from apes and pigs, which is kinda half right per Evolutionary Theory, so they (Islamists) seem to have a foot in both camps to some extent, except the pig thing confuses the heck out of me.

I reckon 2001 could have got it spot-on in any event. We had some help from dem aliens...
-IainB (June 10, 2014, 12:16 PM)

Interesting that we don't do more with the franky amazing internet in school. I'd heard of the Scopes Monkey trial "backwards" through the play "Inherit the Wind" which (wait for it ... according to Wikipedia) does take a couple of dramatic finesses to make it watchable in the context of the 1950's Red Scare environment.

But look now, whenever I see new stuff, I just open a new browser tab, select either regular or Wiki search, and then pull up something, and I learn more "tangentially" in an hour than I could have learned in *years* old school style.

CWuestefeld · « **Reply #29 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:30 PM »

Not my favorite but i'm surprised no one has mentioned the Cube series -- good stuff.
-mouser (June 10, 2014, 10:30 AM)

I really enjoyed the first Cube movie. Are the sequels in the same ballpark of quality?

mouser · « **Reply #30 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:32 PM »

they are close enough.

rgdot · « **Reply #31 on:** June 10, 2014, 01:39 PM »

V The TV movie and subsequent mini series (later remade a few years ago) was good fun.

MV5BMjM1Mzk1NjQyM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjY2NDI1MDE@._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg

MV5BMjM1Mzk1NjQyM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjY2NDI1MDE@._V1_SX214_AL_.jpg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085106/

IainB · « **Reply #32 on:** June 10, 2014, 04:04 PM »

^^ +1 for V.
I liked the V stuff quite a lot at first but became fatigued by all its seemingly endless repetitive sameness.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #33 on:** June 10, 2014, 04:30 PM »

Some of my favorite SciFi themes and movies of that genre:

Thought brought into reality. This is why my favorite comic book superhero was Green Lantern.

Forbidden Planet
Chronicle
Matrix

Origin of Man

2001 A Space Odyssey

Time Travel

George Pal version of The Time Machine

Sardonic Perspective

LEXX

Just fun scifi

first 3 Star Wars flicks

Hot Chick SciFi

Life Force

Campy SciFi

Anything Roger Corman - e.g. 1960 Little Shop of Horrors

Deozaan · « **Reply #34 on:** June 10, 2014, 06:42 PM »

Not my favorite but i'm surprised no one has mentioned the Cube series -- good stuff.
-mouser (June 10, 2014, 10:30 AM)

I really enjoyed the first Cube movie. Are the sequels in the same ballpark of quality?
-CWuestefeld (June 10, 2014, 01:30 PM)

No. Just no.

Cube was decent. The others were just awful.

Or maybe they were all awful but I didn't realize it because I saw the first one when I was in my early teens, and the others as an adult.

40hz · « **Reply #35 on:** June 10, 2014, 06:49 PM »

Not my favorite but i'm surprised no one has mentioned the Cube series -- good stuff.
-mouser (June 10, 2014, 10:30 AM)

I really enjoyed the first Cube movie. Are the sequels in the same ballpark of quality?
-CWuestefeld (June 10, 2014, 01:30 PM)

No. Just no.

Cube was decent. The others were just awful.

Or maybe they were all awful but I didn't realize it because I saw the first one when I was in my early teens , and the others as an adult.
-Deozaan (June 10, 2014, 06:42 PM)

Bingo! +1 on all of the above.

kilele · « **Reply #36 on:** June 10, 2014, 07:09 PM »

I enjoyed Pandorum but cannot remember well, i think it was more of a horror movie.

IainB · « **Reply #37 on:** June 13, 2014, 07:00 AM »

For those who aren't sure whether they have seen all those Planet of the Apes movies/TV serials:

Planet of the Apes movies-TV - release dates (IMDb).png

I've just seen the 1968 one (it's hard to beat) for the nth time (refer "Three Wise Monkeys" as posted above).
The 2001 remake of that wasn't too bad and is probably worth watching.
(The planned 2016 remake might be worth watching too.)

From memory:

The 1970 one was quite a good sequel and good SF, and flowed on from the 1968 one quite well.
I think I've seen most of the others (including most of the TV series) excepting 2011 and 2014, and what I saw was pretty nondescript but good fun if you are a fan.

40hz · « **Reply #38 on:** June 13, 2014, 10:08 AM »

Sometimes some of the best scifi keeps you guessing as to whether or not it even is scifi.

Like seriously warped humor, conspiracy theories, weirdos, deserts, sinister bowling ball bags, mysterious suitcases, and scary government agents? Then check out The Big Empty

Favorite Sci-fi movies?

Would be-Hollywood actor John Person always considered his bizarre neighbor Neely a conspiracy theory nut-case. Still he accepts a simple task to wipe out his over $27,000 debt: delivering a blue suitcase to some Cowboy at Baker, in the empty desert.

Worth it just for Rachel Leigh Cook (one of my favorite weirdo-character actresses)

as Ruthie:

Renegade · « **Reply #39 on:** June 13, 2014, 10:39 AM »

I rather liked all of the Cube movies.

LEXX
-MilesAhead (June 10, 2014, 04:30 PM)

That was a great series!

Similar - Farscape. Just spectacular.

And Firefly. Can't forget that.

mouser · « **Reply #40 on:** October 08, 2014, 04:13 AM »

Just saw "The Signal".
I thought it was beautiful and great, assuming you don't go into it expecting much. I suggest watching it without reading anything about it.

40hz · « **Reply #41 on:** October 08, 2014, 08:56 AM »

How about the original "scifi noir" film from 1965: Alphaville?

In a near future, the American secret agent Lemmy Caution travels to Alphaville posing as the journalist Ivan Johnson from the Figaro-Pravda newspaper. His mission is to find the missing agent Henry Dickson and to convince Professor von Braun to come with him to Nueva York. Prof. von Braun is actually Leonard Nosferatu and has created the powerful computer Alpha 60 that has conceived the inhuman dystopian society of Alphaville, where love, conscience, poetry and emotion have been banished and words are systematically eliminated from the dictionary. Alpha 60 is also omnipresent and Lemmy has the assistance of Natacha von Braun, who is the daughter of von Braun. Soon he falls in love with Natacha but he needs to complete his mission before leaving Alphaville.

This one is a scream. It doesn't look like science fiction at all. And it has such wonderful 'special effects' as the hero travelling to a different star system by driving a car through what looks like a French version of the Lincoln Tunnel! It doesn't get campier than that.

Renegade · « **Reply #42 on:** October 08, 2014, 10:11 AM »

Just saw "The Signal".
I thought it was beautiful and great, assuming you don't go into it expecting much. I suggest watching it without reading anything about it.
-mouser (October 08, 2014, 04:13 AM)

I went into "The Signal" blind, and it was fantastic!

I think you're understating it there, but, it all depends on what you like.

I find that going to a film mostly blind makes it much more enjoyable. Watching "The Signal" blind really worked for me. It had some surprises in there.

I saw the first Batman movie after being bombarded by tonnes of commercials and posters and ads and previews and blah blah blah... Worst movie I've ever seen. I hated it. Not just disliked it... but HATED it. It was the worst let down and disappointment I've ever seen in a movie. The line "I'm Batman" just fueled my hatred for it. Time to shut up now as anything more I have to say about that film gets graphically violent and disturbing.

J-Mac · « **Reply #43 on:** October 09, 2014, 12:44 AM »

oh, oh, what about...

primer (not that exciting but perhaps the best time travel movie - don't mention 'donnie darko', what an incredibly overrated piece of work that is).
-nudone (April 04, 2007, 01:25 PM)

Primer is great! Time travel flick that was shot on a very tight budget, and yet is just devastatingly clever. Confusing if you don’t pay very close attention.

And actually I love Donnie Darko! I didn't fully understand it at first but after reading the book written by Richard Kelly, the writer and director, I appreciated the story a lot more. Budget constraints prevented a lot of the details from being included but the backstory for the script is actually very sharp.

Jim

MilesAhead · « **Reply #44 on:** October 09, 2014, 05:20 AM »

^ The end of Pime looked like they were angling for a sequel. Too bad it never happened.

Spoiler

Like, one of them could go into the past and show them how he finally discovered how to into the future.

One thing interesting about time travel is that any technology,especially brought into the past, would have to be self contained. A cell phone is no good without the supporting towers and phone network etc.. Something like an atomic blaster pistol a la Forbidden Planet may be brought back to the stone age but there'd be no way to recharge it. Edit: except to time jump to your blaster charger setup at "home" or wherever.

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #45 on:** October 25, 2014, 03:58 PM »

I must add Guardians of The Galaxy to this list!

I loved it so much the first time seeing it in 3D at the Cinema with a friend...we both convinced our SO's to come and watch it..in 3D..again in the Cinema

40hz · « **Reply #46 on:** October 25, 2014, 06:41 PM »

On a lighter note I'd add:

GalaxyQuest

One of the best Trek spoofs ever. Featuring Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sigourney Weaver demonstrating the amazing powers of a Wonderbra! Talk about alien technology!

That's a nice...um...NEW look for you Sigourney

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #47 on:** October 25, 2014, 06:43 PM »

On a lighter note I'd add:
(see attachment in previous post)
GalaxyQuest One of the best Trek spoofs ever. Featuring Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sigourney Weaver demonstrating the amazing powers of a Wonderbra! Talk about alien technology!

-40hz (October 25, 2014, 06:41 PM)

If you like Spoofs...then you should checkout "Spaceballs" - Seriously funny movie (Albeit quite old now).