Science Fiction Movies

[LiddyRules]

I was watching Rollerball last night (the original, not the crappy remake) and wondered how come they don't make movies like this anymore. Intelligent, beautifully sets, about something.

And then it made me realize, that dramatic science fiction movies (not like Star Wars and stuff like that) have always touched on greater issues in deep, complex ways and use of good satire often moreso than other genres. Completely beyond the special effects.

1950s- all those movies dealing with our fears of the cold war.
1960s- Planet of the Apes dealing ... well, you know. And, of course, 2001 which is pretty much about everything ever.
1970s- movies like Rollerball about the rise of corporate culture.
1980s- Blade Runner and what it means to be human.

And others like Brazil, Collossus: The Forbin Project, Terminator and T2. All the way back to Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

But the biggest thing I realized is that continues even today but there are just less sci-fi films. My two favorite movies from last year were "Children of Men" and "The Fountain." Both science fiction movies dealing with actual philosophical concepts respectively with little in the way of overblown special effects.

So anyone else have an appreciation of non-action/non-horror based sci-fi movies?

[MadMatt]

One of my favorite sci-fi movies is "The Day the Earth Stood Still," one of the 1950's flicks you mentioned. Great story and just enough special effects to make it work.

As a matter of fact, if I end up having a headstone in some graveyard somewhere I would like it to read "Klaatu Barada Nikto"

There are rummblings every so often about re-making this classic. I pray it never happens.

Another great flick IMO is "They Live." Rowdy Roddy Piper leads this John Carpenter flick about a society that has been lulled to sleep by aliens in disguise taking over the planet. It has some cheesy moments, but it is still one of my favorite sci-fi flicks ever.

[DarkHippie]

for a while in the late 90s early 00s, hollywood was gay for philip k dick stories, but that seems to have fizzled out

[sailor]

for a while in the late 90s early 00s, hollywood was gay for philip k dick stories, but that seems to have fizzled out

um (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001140/), a scanner darkly came out last year and next came out in 2007.

[EliSnow]

for a while in the late 90s early 00s, hollywood was gay for philip k dick stories, but that seems to have fizzled out

Not really. In the last year we had "Next" based on the story "The Golden Man by Phillip K. Dick, and "A Scanner Darkly."


EDIT: Looks like Sailor got there first.

[sailor]

Not really. In the last year we had "Next" based on the story "The Golden Man by Phillip K. Dick, and "A Scanner Darkly."


EDIT: Looks like Sailor got there first.


but you had more detail. :)

[DarkHippie]

um (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001140/), a scanner darkly came out last year and next came out in 2007.

Still, there was a massive glut of it a few years ago. Before a scanner darkly, the newest one was paycheck.

I feel like there are a few missing from that list. Was 'gattica' a dick story?

[cougarjake13]

Still, there was a massive glut of it a few years ago. Before a scanner darkly, the newest one was paycheck.

I feel like there are a few missing from that list. Was 'gattica' a dick story?

a quick look on the net and i couldnt find anything tying gattaca to pk dick

[MadMatt]

This is the list that popped up on IMDB for Philip K. Dick - Linked (http://imdb.com/name/nm0001140/), since I couldn't get it to paste right.

[cougarjake13]

Next (2007) (novel story "The Golden Man") (as Phillip K. Dick)
A Scanner Darkly (2006) (novel)
Paycheck (2003) (short story)
Minority Report (2002) (short story)
Impostor (2002) (story "Impostor")
"Total Recall 2070" (1999) TV Series (unknown episodes)
Total Recall 2070 (1999) (TV) (short story) (as Phillip K. Dick)
Blade Runner (1997) (VG) (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
Screamers (1995) (short story Second Variety)
Drug-Taking and the Arts (1994) (novel "A Scanner Darkly")
Confessions d'un Barjo (1992) (novel)
Total Recall (1990) (short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale) (inspiration) (as Phillip K. Dick)
Blade Runner (1982) (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
"Out of This World" (1962) TV

[MadMatt]

Next (2007) (novel story "The Golden Man") (as Phillip K. Dick)
A Scanner Darkly (2006) (novel)
Paycheck (2003) (short story)
Minority Report (2002) (short story)
Impostor (2002) (story "Impostor")
"Total Recall 2070" (1999) TV Series (unknown episodes)
Total Recall 2070 (1999) (TV) (short story) (as Phillip K. Dick)
Blade Runner (1997) (VG) (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
Screamers (1995) (short story Second Variety)
Drug-Taking and the Arts (1994) (novel "A Scanner Darkly")
Confessions d'un Barjo (1992) (novel)
Total Recall (1990) (short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale) (inspiration) (as Phillip K. Dick)
Blade Runner (1982) (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
"Out of This World" (1962) TV

I thought my Link was adequate, but thanks Mr. One-Up.

:tongue:

[sailor]

Still, there was a massive glut of it a few years ago. Before a scanner darkly, the newest one was paycheck.

I feel like there are a few missing from that list. Was 'gattica' a dick story?

there were three movies in two years (and one of those, impostor, is not a movie i ever heard of) and before that is was 1995 when his previous movie came out (screamers, which i ALSO never heard of). so, basically, after a 7 year gap, 3 movies came out in 2 years...3 years later 2 movies came out in two years. i think your argument fails to hold water.

[sailor]

I thought my Link was adequate, but thanks Mr. One-Up.

:tongue:

and i thought my link was sufficient 5 posts before yours. :)

yeah, post number 4, baby!! wooooo!!!!! :ohmy:

[LiddyRules]

Minority Report, part of Spielberg's "let's fuck up what could otherwise be decent sci-fi phase" along with A.I.

I still love Total Recall though. And really liked Scanner Darkly. And "Next" dealt with the philosophical quandry of how someone like Nick Cage could end up fucking Jessica Biel.

[cougarjake13]

I thought my Link was adequate, but thanks Mr. One-Up.

:tongue:

ahh it was just for the lazy people like myself

[cougarjake13]

there were three movies in two years (and one of those, impostor, is not a movie i ever heard of) and before that is was 1995 when his previous movie came out (screamers, which i ALSO never heard of). so, basically, after a 7 year gap, 3 movies came out in 2 years...3 years later 2 movies came out in two years. i think your argument fails to hold water.

i've heard of imposter and screamers although i have never seen them

[MadMatt]

and i thought my link was sufficient 5 posts before yours. :)

yeah, post number 4, baby!! wooooo!!!!! :ohmy:

:lol:

F@#$! I completely missed yours. I suck! Sorry dude.

As for other flicks, I kind of like "The Hidden." It's another B-Movie, but not bad. Probably more of a guilty pleasure than a great movie though.

[Furtherman]

AFTERVILLE

http://www.aftervillethemovie.com/foto.jpg

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nnmi0NR-Gdk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nnmi0NR-Gdk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

50 years ago, a number of unknown structures fell upon our world, changing the skyline of the major cities of the planet. Years later, scientists would make an incredible discovery: the rocks seemed to originate a signal from their interior. According to our time criteria this signal was codified as a countdown. Pointing at a specific day and time in the year 2058.


Looks cool. A foreign, short film. Website doesn't have a release date as of yet.

[cougarjake13]

AFTERVILLE

http://www.aftervillethemovie.com/foto.jpg

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nnmi0NR-Gdk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nnmi0NR-Gdk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>




Looks cool. A foreign, short film. Website doesn't have a release date as of yet.



def looks interesting

[Coach]

naked lunch

[MisterSmith]

AFTERVILLE

Wow, that looks pretty cool. As long as it ends up going somewhere; sometimes foreign films can be a little too surreal and uber-philosophical at the expense of pacing.

Out of relatively recent films I thought "Primer" was a really good flick. It's an independent film so it didn't get much play, but it is pretty solid.

"Sunshine" was also pretty good, even if it was a little predictable.

[Furtherman]

Here is a recent straight to DVD movie I rented that was actually pretty good.

http://www.avclub.com/assets/images/media/homevideo/4234/alien-raiders_jpg_150x1000_upscale_q85.jpg

It has a terrible name, Alien Raiders, but I enjoyed it. It stars a bunch of good TV actors, including Tony from 24, one of the Prison Break guys and the gay black guy from Six Feet Under. Well acted and a tight storyline, it was a good Netflix pick.

Here's a review:

At 2008’s H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, the Best Feature Audience Award—and the lion’s share of the acclaim—went to Alien Raiders, a scrappy little $2 million HD horror film that never mentions Lovecraft or any of his creations. (http://www.avclub.com/articles/alien-raiders,24951/)