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Best Scifi/Fantasy Movies Ever
- Thread starter Pollux V
- Start date
Sarcophagus
Registered Member
I'm more a fan of the classic Horror genre, but for SciFi:
01. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
02. Dark City
03. The Thirteenth Floor: In my opinion, closer in relation to the Matrix than some said about Dark City.
04. The Matrix
05. Planet of the Apes (original)
06. The Day the Earth Stood Still
07. Logan's Run
Fantasy:
01. The Princess Bride
02. Edward Scissorhands (a modern fantasy, or is it a hybrid?)
03. Labyrinth
04. Legend
05. The Dark Crystal
06. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
07. LOTR: The Two Towers
01. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
02. Dark City
03. The Thirteenth Floor: In my opinion, closer in relation to the Matrix than some said about Dark City.
04. The Matrix
05. Planet of the Apes (original)
06. The Day the Earth Stood Still
07. Logan's Run
Fantasy:
01. The Princess Bride
02. Edward Scissorhands (a modern fantasy, or is it a hybrid?)
03. Labyrinth
04. Legend
05. The Dark Crystal
06. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
07. LOTR: The Two Towers
DigitalToothpaste
Registered Member
I don't know about the actual order, but for me it goes:
Sci-fi
Alien and
Aliens-One of the only artistically successful sequels ever made. Multi-layered, thoroughly gripping the first time you see it and as far as I know the first time a woman was given an action role which existed entirely on its own without the need for tits. Frankly I don't wanna see Sigourney's tits.
Matrix-Regardless of its holes and countless borrowed concepts (which happens all the time if you know where to look) it's the only film of the last decade (with the exception of Reservoir Dogs/Pulp fiction) that has actually influenced virtually EVERY film made after it regardless of genre, be it stylistically, technically or to a lesser degree, conceptually. (Again it includes a rare, important female action character that only very gently implies sexuality, without exploiting it--okay, I know, Reloaded-horrifyingly cringe-worthy shagging scene, but I'm not listing that)
Fifth Element- Not clever, not deep, ludicrous visual designs, but what good fun. I didn't like it the first time but I watched it expecting to see serious speculative fiction.. but it's since grown on me and when I'm feeling down it always cheers me up.
Final Fantasy- The lip sync on my copy seems to be fine. Not an Earth shattering story or clever exploitation of full CG (the action sequences are very basic and predictable, probably done in order not to alienate the audience and to convince them what they were seeing was plausible) But it is an important milestone and features some brilliant design work.
Blade Runner- we all know why. Has a few problems and a few hands on shoulders that shouldn't be there, but it was 1982, so shut the fuck up.
Okay, one no one's mentioned...maybe because it's total rubbish, I don't know but: Total Recall. This is the first time I remember being mind fucked. I was only about 14 and I enjoyed the experience.
Akira- why? Because in 1987 no one had ever seen anything like it.
Ghost In The Shell- it doesn't even beat the shadow of the actual comic; nevertheless it's still up there.
Not a movie, Red Dwarf, the BBC comedy series. Pick any episode and you'll find more fascinating concepts and mind- benders than all the Matrixes put together.
Brazil and Twelve Monkeys-Terry Gilliam's two Masterpieces.
I like Star Trek, but I preferred the first two series, rather than any of the films. The silly walnut-headed aliens, crap guns and badly designed ships don’t detract from the story/performance-based series, but look ridiculous for two hours in 72mm.
Terminator..why? Because it's good, it's seminal....honest it is, mister.
Worth a mention-The Abyss, Pitch Black, 1984, Dune, T-II, Mad Max, Patlabor, Dark Cirty, Starship Troopers ( which is silly but compelling in the same way as a road accident)
That's all I can think of right now.
Fantasy-
Lord Of The Rings I and II (obviously I don't know about the Return of the King, but you can probably make a safe bet that it's going to maintain its level-which is impressive)
Is The Crow, Fantasy? Take The Crow, mix it with Leon, add a large tablespoon of Philip K Dick, stir in some Drunken Master then add a generous portion of Masamune Shirow, bring to boil, allow to simmer and oh look..it's the Matrix.
Harry Potter is weird. I'm really enjoying it so far, but on the other hand the two films appear to have no levels other than the surface one. Something many other kid's films (Star Wars/Princess Bride/Shrek/ etc.) seem to have managed. It also seems to largely be a humour-free zone, with the only mildly amusing comments coming from Hagrid. It’s also little more than a poor man’s Discworld, so why do I like it? Why am I looking forward to the next one?Why?
Star Wars...yes, even the bad ones. Why? Because they inspired us and the new ones are probably inspiring little kids today even though they're making the people who remember the originals, pool their money in order to take out a hit on Lucas) Empire is probably the better one technically, but that's hardly surprising considering what an appalling director of actors George Lucas is. I think Star Wars did win the Oscar for best film and a further six.
I have a suggestion: Since Lucas loves tinkering with, and messing up his old films, how about a positive tinker? Use current CG techniques to remove the horrible Anakin-child from Phantom and replace him with someone who can actually act….he doesn’t have to act WELL, any ability whatsoever will be preferable to NONE. That wouldn’t solve all the film’s problems, but it would remove a great big chunk of them.
As for Mononoke Hime, I agree it is fantastic, but I wouldn't watch the English version if you strapped me to a table, put my nuts in a vice, taped my eyelids to my forehead and threatened to play Celene Dion to me for up to ten minutes straight if I didn’t look. I'm sure the people in India heard the Donkey in Shrek talking in fucking Gujurati, but I don't want to be treated that way. I don't care if Al Pacino, Meryl Streep or Orson Wells voiced them.
The Mummy films, they are fantasy, yes? Controversial choice, I’m sure. Deeply silly, plot holes you could send the Enterprise through, but I find them great fun and stick them on in the background while I’m working, quite often.
How about a few bad films that don't magically redeem themselves with a feel good factor or a '10-points for effort' like The Fifth Elephant does?
I'm thinking Battlefield: Earth, Independence Day, Red Planet, Lost in Space, Planet Of the Apes (the new one) the New Time Machine, Titan AE, Sphere, A.I.
and Minority Report (which does have some redeeming features and design elemts, but overall is a shallow and utterly blatant attempt to emulate the success of the Matrix. An attempt that horribly and predictably failed) Spielberg needs to die, the man is an anus.
Does Batman count as fantasy? If it does I want to nominate Batman and Robin as one of the worst films ever committed to celluloid and its director, Joel Schumacher for a prime piece of wall in front of a firing squad, which I will happily command. Achtuuung!
Isn't Jurassic Park science fiction? The first film was bad enough; the second film is so bad that the only film I've ever seen that's worse was, Speed II. Who wrote and directed Speed II, they need to die. Maybe they’re already dead. Good.
You probably haven't noticed at all, but if I were an American Indian, my name would probably be Dances With Issues.
Sci-fi
Alien and
Aliens-One of the only artistically successful sequels ever made. Multi-layered, thoroughly gripping the first time you see it and as far as I know the first time a woman was given an action role which existed entirely on its own without the need for tits. Frankly I don't wanna see Sigourney's tits.
Matrix-Regardless of its holes and countless borrowed concepts (which happens all the time if you know where to look) it's the only film of the last decade (with the exception of Reservoir Dogs/Pulp fiction) that has actually influenced virtually EVERY film made after it regardless of genre, be it stylistically, technically or to a lesser degree, conceptually. (Again it includes a rare, important female action character that only very gently implies sexuality, without exploiting it--okay, I know, Reloaded-horrifyingly cringe-worthy shagging scene, but I'm not listing that)
Fifth Element- Not clever, not deep, ludicrous visual designs, but what good fun. I didn't like it the first time but I watched it expecting to see serious speculative fiction.. but it's since grown on me and when I'm feeling down it always cheers me up.
Final Fantasy- The lip sync on my copy seems to be fine. Not an Earth shattering story or clever exploitation of full CG (the action sequences are very basic and predictable, probably done in order not to alienate the audience and to convince them what they were seeing was plausible) But it is an important milestone and features some brilliant design work.
Blade Runner- we all know why. Has a few problems and a few hands on shoulders that shouldn't be there, but it was 1982, so shut the fuck up.
Okay, one no one's mentioned...maybe because it's total rubbish, I don't know but: Total Recall. This is the first time I remember being mind fucked. I was only about 14 and I enjoyed the experience.
Akira- why? Because in 1987 no one had ever seen anything like it.
Ghost In The Shell- it doesn't even beat the shadow of the actual comic; nevertheless it's still up there.
Not a movie, Red Dwarf, the BBC comedy series. Pick any episode and you'll find more fascinating concepts and mind- benders than all the Matrixes put together.
Brazil and Twelve Monkeys-Terry Gilliam's two Masterpieces.
I like Star Trek, but I preferred the first two series, rather than any of the films. The silly walnut-headed aliens, crap guns and badly designed ships don’t detract from the story/performance-based series, but look ridiculous for two hours in 72mm.
Terminator..why? Because it's good, it's seminal....honest it is, mister.
Worth a mention-The Abyss, Pitch Black, 1984, Dune, T-II, Mad Max, Patlabor, Dark Cirty, Starship Troopers ( which is silly but compelling in the same way as a road accident)
That's all I can think of right now.
Fantasy-
Lord Of The Rings I and II (obviously I don't know about the Return of the King, but you can probably make a safe bet that it's going to maintain its level-which is impressive)
Is The Crow, Fantasy? Take The Crow, mix it with Leon, add a large tablespoon of Philip K Dick, stir in some Drunken Master then add a generous portion of Masamune Shirow, bring to boil, allow to simmer and oh look..it's the Matrix.
Harry Potter is weird. I'm really enjoying it so far, but on the other hand the two films appear to have no levels other than the surface one. Something many other kid's films (Star Wars/Princess Bride/Shrek/ etc.) seem to have managed. It also seems to largely be a humour-free zone, with the only mildly amusing comments coming from Hagrid. It’s also little more than a poor man’s Discworld, so why do I like it? Why am I looking forward to the next one?Why?
Star Wars...yes, even the bad ones. Why? Because they inspired us and the new ones are probably inspiring little kids today even though they're making the people who remember the originals, pool their money in order to take out a hit on Lucas) Empire is probably the better one technically, but that's hardly surprising considering what an appalling director of actors George Lucas is. I think Star Wars did win the Oscar for best film and a further six.
I have a suggestion: Since Lucas loves tinkering with, and messing up his old films, how about a positive tinker? Use current CG techniques to remove the horrible Anakin-child from Phantom and replace him with someone who can actually act….he doesn’t have to act WELL, any ability whatsoever will be preferable to NONE. That wouldn’t solve all the film’s problems, but it would remove a great big chunk of them.
As for Mononoke Hime, I agree it is fantastic, but I wouldn't watch the English version if you strapped me to a table, put my nuts in a vice, taped my eyelids to my forehead and threatened to play Celene Dion to me for up to ten minutes straight if I didn’t look. I'm sure the people in India heard the Donkey in Shrek talking in fucking Gujurati, but I don't want to be treated that way. I don't care if Al Pacino, Meryl Streep or Orson Wells voiced them.
The Mummy films, they are fantasy, yes? Controversial choice, I’m sure. Deeply silly, plot holes you could send the Enterprise through, but I find them great fun and stick them on in the background while I’m working, quite often.
How about a few bad films that don't magically redeem themselves with a feel good factor or a '10-points for effort' like The Fifth Elephant does?
I'm thinking Battlefield: Earth, Independence Day, Red Planet, Lost in Space, Planet Of the Apes (the new one) the New Time Machine, Titan AE, Sphere, A.I.
and Minority Report (which does have some redeeming features and design elemts, but overall is a shallow and utterly blatant attempt to emulate the success of the Matrix. An attempt that horribly and predictably failed) Spielberg needs to die, the man is an anus.
Does Batman count as fantasy? If it does I want to nominate Batman and Robin as one of the worst films ever committed to celluloid and its director, Joel Schumacher for a prime piece of wall in front of a firing squad, which I will happily command. Achtuuung!
Isn't Jurassic Park science fiction? The first film was bad enough; the second film is so bad that the only film I've ever seen that's worse was, Speed II. Who wrote and directed Speed II, they need to die. Maybe they’re already dead. Good.
You probably haven't noticed at all, but if I were an American Indian, my name would probably be Dances With Issues.
Re: MATRIX RELOADED
The greatest kung fu movie, maybe. Personally I thought the new matrix movie was just a shallow and pretentious excuse to show off what you can do with modern special effects.Originally posted by fahq (about Matrix Reloaded)
GREATEST SCI-FI MOVIE EVER!!!!!!
Re: Re: MATRIX RELOADED
I thought it was great, and hilarious!
Originally posted by Nasor
The greatest kung fu movie, maybe. Personally I thought the new matrix movie was just a shallow and pretentious excuse to show off what you can do with modern special effects.
I thought it was great, and hilarious!
Fantasy
Lord of the Rings 1 --- wow! when i watch it (once a month) it actually feels as deep as the book, quite a feat. The dvd (4 disk set) is also beautifully made.
Lord of the Rings 2 --- Golum and Treebeard, incredible! before LOTR i'd never seen a movie really do a book justice, in my opinion this is the closest ive seen anyone come ... Peter Jackson is the man.
Princess Mononoke --- I'm embarrassed to admit it but I thought it was terrible, ESPECIALLY the voice acting. Its hard to take a character seriously when physically he's short, chubby and asian (for example) but has billy bob thorton's southern drawl coming out of him, I can't think of a worse match. Perhaps I'll try watching with the original voices and subtitles.
Harry Potter 1 & 2 --- I'm really suprised how much I liked these. I'm 32 and I actually went back and read the books after watching, they're fun, like desert that isn't bad for you.
Sci-fi
The Fifth Element --- Im suprised and happy there are fellow element lovers out there. Most sci-fi takes itself so seriously, its very rare a comedy/sci-fi gets a proper budget. Aside from its unusualness in the genre it was just (in my opinion) really well cast and made.
Matrix --- I saw it before I'd heard any hype and loved it, I think it gets under rated often because the hype was/is so omnipresent. It seems that the more hype (valid or not) there is for a movie the less critical acclaim its allowed.
Aliens --- Did its job perfectly and became the benchmark, great flick.
Red Dwarf BBC --- tv show but worth noting as others have. Terrible effects, hilarious, odd (yet somehow compelling) cast and on occasion even thought provoking, i can't get enough.
Honorable mention - Final Fantasy, not the best movie all around but considering the technical hurdles to realistically animating 3-D humans I thought it was as good as was possible at the time and deserved more acclaim. It'll be a while before ne1 tries that again and not because it flopped but because it's soooo damn hard to do.
I'd better stop here, as I write this I realize how many great movies have been made in these genres and I could keep listing all night.
Wish List Movies
"Ringworld" - I agree, all i could think while reading it was how great a movie this could be.
"Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars" - by Kim Stanley Robinson. Before LOTR I would have thought these books to be too complex and epic to make a movie(s) about but now, with the right director and a fat wad of cash, I think its possible.
"Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy" - by Douglas Adams (of course) I'd love to see Fifth Element kind of money and quality spent on this little gem. BBC Tried a TV serise in the 70's but it didn't quite cut it.
Lord of the Rings 1 --- wow! when i watch it (once a month) it actually feels as deep as the book, quite a feat. The dvd (4 disk set) is also beautifully made.
Lord of the Rings 2 --- Golum and Treebeard, incredible! before LOTR i'd never seen a movie really do a book justice, in my opinion this is the closest ive seen anyone come ... Peter Jackson is the man.
Princess Mononoke --- I'm embarrassed to admit it but I thought it was terrible, ESPECIALLY the voice acting. Its hard to take a character seriously when physically he's short, chubby and asian (for example) but has billy bob thorton's southern drawl coming out of him, I can't think of a worse match. Perhaps I'll try watching with the original voices and subtitles.
Harry Potter 1 & 2 --- I'm really suprised how much I liked these. I'm 32 and I actually went back and read the books after watching, they're fun, like desert that isn't bad for you.
Sci-fi
The Fifth Element --- Im suprised and happy there are fellow element lovers out there. Most sci-fi takes itself so seriously, its very rare a comedy/sci-fi gets a proper budget. Aside from its unusualness in the genre it was just (in my opinion) really well cast and made.
Matrix --- I saw it before I'd heard any hype and loved it, I think it gets under rated often because the hype was/is so omnipresent. It seems that the more hype (valid or not) there is for a movie the less critical acclaim its allowed.
Aliens --- Did its job perfectly and became the benchmark, great flick.
Red Dwarf BBC --- tv show but worth noting as others have. Terrible effects, hilarious, odd (yet somehow compelling) cast and on occasion even thought provoking, i can't get enough.
Honorable mention - Final Fantasy, not the best movie all around but considering the technical hurdles to realistically animating 3-D humans I thought it was as good as was possible at the time and deserved more acclaim. It'll be a while before ne1 tries that again and not because it flopped but because it's soooo damn hard to do.
I'd better stop here, as I write this I realize how many great movies have been made in these genres and I could keep listing all night.
Wish List Movies
"Ringworld" - I agree, all i could think while reading it was how great a movie this could be.
"Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars" - by Kim Stanley Robinson. Before LOTR I would have thought these books to be too complex and epic to make a movie(s) about but now, with the right director and a fat wad of cash, I think its possible.
"Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy" - by Douglas Adams (of course) I'd love to see Fifth Element kind of money and quality spent on this little gem. BBC Tried a TV serise in the 70's but it didn't quite cut it.
Any of you seen invasion?