Great Scifi movies

One movie I haven't seen mentioned:
'Total Recall': tight-woven, fast-moving *masterpiece* of plot development, badly underrated.

My other favorites:
'Pitch Black': good, solid B-movie entertainment. Check your brain at the door and enjoy.

The first 2 'Alien' movies.
First 2 'Terminators'.
'Dark City'.
 
Not Sci fi but The Thomas Crowne Affair and The Getaway are movies that while (IMHO) are better in the remake no one can out do Steve McQueen in the Cool department, and the remakes suffer that flaw.

The Sandpebbles and Bullitt best of their time and genre.

I read soemthing once that he was driven to out do old Cool Hand himself. Another legendary force in American pop culture.
 
Lots of my favorites posted already also. Some that have been overlooked, I think:

Brazil
Adventures of Baron Muchousen
Time Bandits (yes I'm a Gilliam fan...)
Lawnmower Man
Jurassic Park
Tron
Starman
Escape from NY
Michael
Legend (flawed, but got to love the Escher references, not to mention David Bowie as the goblin king...)
Rocky Horror (well my wife likes it at least)

Really too many to list here

Bladerunner is one of my favorites, and Dark City was surprisingly good.
 
Aliens (second in the series): more action-oriented than the first one. Good shoot-em-up, better than Starship Troopers (the movie).

Highlander (NOT the director's cut): it's a classic. Although in four movies and six seasons on tv I never saw a Nepali Immortal with a kukri. Disgraceful. :mad:
 
The director's cut of Bladerunner. If you have only seen the version that was released into the theater the director's cut is a must see. It made what I thought was a good movie into a great movie. That much of a difference between the two.
 
45-70 said:
Not Sci fi but The Thomas Crowne Affair and The Getaway are movies that while (IMHO) are better in the remake no one can out do Steve McQueen in the Cool department, and the remakes suffer that flaw.

The Sandpebbles and Bullitt best of their time and genre.

I read soemthing once that he was driven to out do old Cool Hand himself. Another legendary force in American pop culture.
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I absolutely love the Thomas Crowne Affair remake with Brosnan and Russo. Great flick, and the Bill Conti score is equally outstanding. I frequently find myself whistling the piano melody from the "Glider" sequences.

The last half of the intro is really cool (after the interview with psychologist Faye Dunaway - that was cool casting her in the remake) where the camera view pans inward in increments from outer space to greater NYC, to Manhattan, to Central Park, to the area surrounding the Metropolitan Museum on Central Park East, and finally to a view from above of Pierce Brosnan's limo, all set to a really dramatic Bill Conti score. The twist at the end was superb.

And Dennis Leary looks so YOUNG!


Other "whodunits" that are faves of mine are:

The Last of Sheila
Sleuth
The Usual Suspects

Noah
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Man, lots of good suggestions already. Lemme see, is there anything that I can add to this list. I really liked Minority Report. It has its plot holes to be sure, but it's still pretty neat. "I, Robot" was a better movie that I thought it was going to be. Will Smith has turned into quite the actor. Are you into rubber monster alien worms? Check out "The Deadly Spawn" also known as "Revenge of the Aliens". A disturbing but entertaining movie from the B&W era is "Freaks". Not really sci-fi, but interesting to see the deformations that the human body is capable. Many of which were fairly common until modern medicine figured out a way to hault the problem less than 50 years ago. Not exactly a PC movie, but you can tell that the actors, all of whom were really afflicted with their birth defects, really enjoyed being the heroes of the film. How about the Rowdy Roddy Piper classic "They Live" where he has special sunglasses that allow him to see the hidden messages that aliens have plastered across our planet...as well as the aliens themselves. Famous for the line " I've come to chew bubblegum and kick @$$....and I'm all out of bubblegum." :D great stuff.

Jake
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Good call - I forgot about "They Live." :D

It actually had a decent plot, though they decided to make it more "campy."
 
Most of my faves got mentioned already.
Ones that really make you think, or touch me are:
Blade Runner - the modern noir classic.
Silent Running - most overlooked and sad movies ever.
Dark City - smarter than the Matrix, but not as much fun.
Dark Star - absurd and hilarious, probably the most realistic...
Alien/Aliens - one is horror and the other is action, both are incredible views into a possible future.
Terminator & T2 - both are textbook action thrillers that defined their decade, very poignant looks at our arms race culture.
12 Monkeys - a very scary look at bioweapons and the future of bureaucracy.
Star Wars (original trilogy) - A great epic space opera.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Really one of the best, thrilling and full of the sense of wonder, and showing that enough danger lurks in our human side that technological bugaboos are unecessary.
The Day the Earth Stood Still - truly a classic.
Brazil - More of an existential horror, but definitely one horrific look at the future.

Just plain fun:
The Fifth Element, They Live, The War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, Robocop, Starship Troopers, the Mad Max trilogy...
 
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but there's a great sci-fi movie with Sean Connery and Peter Boyle from the 80's. Think it's called "Outland." It is basically "High Noon" set in space. Very well done IMO.

All the other recommendations are also great. My favorites are "Clockwork Orange", "2001" (anything by Kubrick for that matter), both good versions of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (the 50's and 70's versions, not the crappy third version), and Heinlien's somewhat corny "Destination Moon." Anything with George Pal special effects.

And of course, the classic KFM version of "Amazon Women On The Moon"!

Norm

P.S. Oh, yeah Mr. Bad! THEY LIVE! Great movie. John Carpenter, right? "I have come to chew gum, and kick ass, and I'm all out of gum." Love it...
 
Not much I can add ... but I can second:

Predator
Matrix I
They Live
Dawn of the Dead ~ I still find myself thinking of how I would have gotten out of there, with everyone alive. It could be done, I just know it.
Highlander I
Ghost Dog ~ not scifi but damn good
Seven Samurai ~ not scifi but damn good
Slingblade ~ not scifi but ...
12 Monkeys ~ brilliant
12 hours of Lord of the Rings might be considered an escape..

that's all I gots
 
I'd forgotten Outland, thanks Norm!


Someone has mentioned Starship Troopers, I'm sure.


munk
 
Am I too late to be the first to say Dune? ;) Or maybe I should just read the thread!

Also, has anyone seen the Dune 2000 miniseries? I was considering purchasing it but was afraid it'd be another bad remake.

Great thread! I now want to see several movies I had not even heard of before and also want to revisit a few old favorites I had forgot about.

Thanks!
 
I'm going to date myself here:


V (the TV miniseries back in the early 80s with Marc Singer)

Soylent Green

Logan's Run

The Beastmaster (another Marc Singer flick, more fantasy than SF, but for some reason I like it and always watch it)

The Final Countdown (What amounts to a recruiting film from 1981 or so, where a storm sends a nuclear-powered carrier back in time to 6 Dec 41, the day before the ball went up. We learn that the Japanese Zero is no match for the F14 Tomcat. Duh.)

Noah
 
BillTheCat said:
Screamers ...when your tired of the mainstream SciFi.
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Jessica Rubin was very fine in that movie.

Check out

Blade Runner, Alien, Aliens, Predator, Fifth Element, Highlander, I wish I was at home, most of my dvds are sci fi.
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095756/

"Not of this Earth" - the 1988 version starring Traci Lords in her first serious movie.

No obvious jokes please- this is a great "B" flick. I've seen it about a bajillion times. Hysterically funny bad acting. You just have to see the hippie going through the interplanetary portal.

Also the "Star Trek" movies- some were great, and it's probably been a while.


Ad Astra :D
 
I recommend Macross Plus, the Animatrix, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Last Exile, Gantz and Evangelion.

Frank

oops: and Wings of Honneamise
 
jw556 said:
Highlander (NOT the director's cut): it's a classic. Although in four movies and six seasons on tv I never saw a Nepali Immortal with a kukri. Disgraceful. :mad:
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I have thought exactly the same thing...can you imagine the story lines of something like 20 lifetimes of Ghorka life? Serving all around the world through time?

Wow...would *that* sell copies here or what? :D

.
 
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