Sci-Fi Movie Canon

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

My friends and I want to have an awesome sci-fi movie night but unfortunately none of us watch any sci-fi except those that have passed into more common film lexicons.

So I'm looking for recommendations for great sci-fi movies? Any time period and any language/nationality is accepted.

Films we already have:
Metropolis
2001
Solaris (the original one)

Told you we don't watch any sci-fi :).

[Khael!]

I'd say the first X-Files movie (not the new one, ech.) but it might help to have watched to about season four or five first.

[Corel]

Serenity,
Star Trek - First Contact (Stop laughing back there!),
Of course you've got the Star Wars collection,
The Alien Series.

What are you exactly passing as Sci-Fi, only pure genre? If not you could add films such as The Thing and Predator.

There are probably a million more that I could think of, I will append when I think of them!

[Mike McC]

Logan's Run
Planet of the Apes

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Thanks for suggestions so far.
As for what is sci-fi not really sure. We want to play it reasonably straight with films pretty central to the genre.

[Hawk]

Serenity,
Star Trek - First Contact (Stop laughing back there!),
Of course you've got the Star Wars collection,
The Alien Series.

What are you exactly passing as Sci-Fi, only pure genre? If not you could add films such as The Thing and Predator.


Pretty much this and also Event Horizon and Pitch Black.

[NonCon]

Sphere. The book was good, as far as I can remember, and I remember liking the movie as well.

[Truce]

Serenity,
Star Trek - First Contact (Stop laughing back there!),
Of course you've got the Star Wars collection,
The Alien Series.

What are you exactly passing as Sci-Fi, only pure genre? If not you could add films such as The Thing and Predator.

There are probably a million more that I could think of, I will append when I think of them!

I would recommend not watching Serenity until after you've seen Firefly, the series it occurs after.

It's on Hulu, so it's not like it's difficult to find either.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Starship Troopers
Total Recall
Terminator 1/2
12 Monkeys
Time Bandits
V for Vendetta
Robocop

And if you want something of a minor break:
Spaceballs
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Featured movie, This Island Earth)

SWB

[Corel]

I would recommend not watching Serenity until after you've seen Firefly, the series it occurs after.


I was debating that, however a number of people I know had not previously seen Firefly watched this film and enjoyed it immensely anyway. But yes do watch the series first if you can.

I can't believe I forgot Event Horizon and Starship Troopers. Sad face.

Edit: I forgot Blade Runner! Must must must see!

I'll throw in Wall-E too.

[Hawk]

I'm one of those who watched Serenity before Firefly and loved it, so you don't have to watch the series first at all. And I can't believe I forgot Terminator and Total Recall.

I'm wary of calling Time Bandits a sci-fi though; yeah it's about time travel, but it's almost more of a fantasy than an sci-fi really.

EDIT; Stargate! My god how could I forget that one?!

[Kaneda]

Logan's Run came out a year before Star Wars, so it gives a very good look at what Star Wars did for the genre. Also it's hilarious, best to watch with friends.

[RickZarber]

Dark City. There's even a recent director's cut out, if you haven't seen that. Personally, I would consider this one a must.
The Day the Earth Stood Still, as long as you're going with classics.
A Scanner Darkly was pretty well done.
The B&W French CG movie Renaissance is all style over substance, but it is extremely stylish and looks fantastic if you don't mind turning your brain off for an hour and a half. Admittedly, it's a noir mystery in a futuristic sci-fi setting, rather than a strictly sci-fi movie. (Heh, whereas Dark City is a sci-fi tale in a 50s noir setting...)

[Hawk]

I find it interesting that nobody has mentioned Blade Runner yet. Not that I'd recommend it myself, I found it boring as hell, but most people seem to think it's awesome.

[Aerozord]

anyone notice pre-star wars had alot of dystopian movies, and post-new trilogy you see alot of them again

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

The B&W French CG movie Renaissance is all style over substance, but it is extremely stylish and looks fantastic if you don't mind turning your brain off for an hour and a half. Admittedly, it's a noir mystery in a futuristic sci-fi setting, rather than a strictly sci-fi movie. (Heh, whereas Dark City is a sci-fi tale in a 50s noir setting...)

We just finished our Noir marathon so this should be totally awesome! Thanks!
Also thanks for suggestions. I'll try to get all of these and we should be well set.
I'll probably skip Firefly as watching a whole series will take ages and none of us will do it.

[Corel]

The Original and new War of the Worlds are worth a watch also I suppose. (But better yet just listen to the Musical version or read the book!)

Well, I'm just going to ruin every bodies recommendation fun and just post this list (http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html). The majority of these films are worth a watch!

Why is X-men ranked #47...47!

[Hawk]

The Original and new War of the Worlds are worth a watch also I suppose. (But better yet just listen to the Musical version or read the book!)


No, new WotW is completely fucking awful. SMB, avoid like the plague, seriously. Stick to everything else that's been suggested.

[Corel]

No, new WotW is completely fucking awful. SMB, avoid like the plague, seriously. Stick to everything else that's been suggested.

You just didn't like the "One Man trying to save his kids whilst alien invasion is occuring" angle!

...And that the girl wouldn't stop screaming.

...And it was a bastardisation off the original book with all the characters introduced.

...And the sudden rushed ending.

Okay scratch that one off the list if you wish.

But apart from that it wasn't too bad, entertaining at least. I certainly enjoyed the Heat Ray scenes!

Needed more Ooo-laa'ing from the Tripods.

[Hawk]

You forgot the "dumbass son who has father issues" who for some never explained reason decides he just has to run into the middle of a warzone, (as far as I can tell they only did that to remove him from the story, probably because he added nothing to it, much like the rest of the cast), and the crazy guy who is just crazy because like, the "plot says so!" (Probably added to introduce "some" kind of meaningful conflict, which would've worked better if I actually cared about any of the characters).

And this isn't even counting the blatant plot holes of how a whole armada of alien death mechs are all buried beneath every city on earth, apparantly millions of years before those cities were even built, or the fact that if an alien race could build, then bury said armada, then why the fuck did they wait until we arrived to take over, when they could've done it millenia ago!?

Oh and by the way would be conquerors of earth; if you have to go through the whole process of first terraforming the planet you're conquering (which in itself begs the question; why are you conquering it in the first place? If you have interstellar travel, find a planet better suited to your needs that doesn't need you to drastically alter its environment dumbass!), then it stands to reason that the pre-existing environment is probably a bit hazardous to your races health. So you know what NOT to do? Don't go the fuck outside your ships and walk about on the surface fuckers!!

/Rant.

Sorry, had to get that out.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

I've seen the original WotW and The Day the Earth stood Still which were both ok. I tend to avoid remakes like the plague anyway/

[Corel]

You forgot the "dumbass son who has father issues" who for some never explained reason decides he just has to run into the middle of a warzone, (as far as I can tell they only did that to remove him from the story, probably because he added nothing to it, much like the rest of the cast).



Oh dear, it's all coming back to me. I think I laughed more at that scene rather than felt sad. I wasn't exactly sure what he was planning to do armed with just his teenage attitude!


and the crazy guy who is just crazy because like, the "plot says so!" (Probably added to introduce "some" kind of meaningful conflict, which would've worked better if I actually cared about any of the characters).

I think that was a reference to the characters of the Artillery Man and the Parson from the original Novel combined into one character, one whom goes insane from everything that has happened and decides to start digging to create an underground utopia whilst the other goes insane for similar reasons and has to be kept silent lest the Martians find them in the house.


Sorry, had to get that out.


I dread to think how long you have had that pented up in your system! Perhaps we need a "Rant your frustrations about film plot holes" thread?

[Fifthfiend]

Dark City. There's even a recent director's cut out, if you haven't seen that. Personally, I would consider this one a must.

Oh man, Dark City is one of my all-time favorites. I'm almost jealous of anyone who hasn't seen this movie before as it's still possible for them to get to watch it for the first time.

Oh and by the way would be conquerors of earth; if you have to go through the whole process of first terraforming the planet you're conquering (which in itself begs the question; why are you conquering it in the first place? If you have interstellar travel, find a planet better suited to your needs that doesn't need you to drastically alter its environment dumbass!), then it stands to reason that the pre-existing environment is probably a bit hazardous to your races health. So you know what NOT to do? Don't go the fuck outside your ships and walk about on the surface fuckers!!

I'm not really seeing where this is a criticism of the new War of the Worlds movie as this has been the hook of the story in every version of which I'm aware.

I mean except for Alan Moore's retelling of it in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but Alan Moore's just awesome that way.

Perhaps we need a "Rant your frustrations about film plot holes" thread?

Go for it.

[Kaneda]

And this isn't even counting the blatant plot holes of how a whole armada of alien death mechs are all buried beneath every city on earth, apparantly millions of years before those cities were even built, or the fact that if an alien race could build, then bury said armada, then why the fuck did they wait until we arrived to take over, when they could've done it millenia ago!?

I guess they were waiting for us to grow into a big civilization so they could harvest us. Like, they saw that earth was capable of being home to mammals, buried their tripods, and waited for said mammals to multiply enough for them to make use of our blood.

I suppose it was technically a shitty movie, but I thought the tripod scenes were pretty bad-ass and enjoyed it for that.

[Archbio]

I'm not really seeing where this is a criticism of the new War of the Worlds movie as this has been the hook of the story in every version of which I'm aware.

I don't know. It seems that this is made more problematic by portraying the aliens as more meticulous, more closely familiar with Earth and not explicitely desperate as in the roiginal work.

Except for that point I thought it was a pretty good movie, myself.

[TheWolf13]

After perusing that list I'm not sure how we missed Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Dune. I prefer the Sci-Fi Dune because I think it is closer to the book but both versions are good.

[Lumenskir]

SMB, if you want to live up to your name, you should probably give Primer a go or three.

[Thylacine]

The Abyss
The Fifth Element
Minority Report

Maybe Children of Men also, but I've never seen it myself and everyone I know has wildly varying opinions on it.

If you only pick one of these four, I say The Abyss would be top choice.

[synkr0nized]

Tron is best watched muted and in reverse.

[bluestarultor]

The Abyss
The Fifth Element
Minority Report

Maybe Children of Men also, but I've never seen it myself and everyone I know has wildly varying opinions on it.

If you only pick one of these four, I say The Abyss would be top choice.

The Fifth Element was good, but seemed like it needed more time dedicated to pretty much everything. Too short.

It WAS good enough to make an actually pretty good third-person shooter for the PS1, which was only hampered by an unforgiving timed portion in the early stages which I was unable to pass. It was otherwise great. Very playable, and I'm not the shooter kind of guy. AKA I suck at them.

[Kaneda]

Maybe Children of Men also, but I've never seen it myself and everyone I know has wildly varying opinions on it.

Approximately half of your friends are wrong.

Children of Men is probably one of my 3 "All-Time Favorite Movies," and I consider it the best dystopian film ever (that I've seen).

Definitely recommended with gushing fanboy enthusiasm. At the very least watch it for the cinematography.

[Gorefiend]

Children of Men is awesome. Seriously.

Another pre-Star Wars (actually VERY pre-Star Wars) sci-fi movie is Charly, though the book its based off of (Flowers for Algernon) is much better.

And, which version of Dark City are we talking about?

Also, how do we feel about the 1984 movie?

[RickZarber]

And, which version of Dark City are we talking about?Assuming you mean between the Director's Cut or the Theatrical version, does it matter? Because despite the 11 added minutes, I honestly couldn't see much difference other than the removal of the opening voice-over narration (a plus in my book). Though I'd heartily endorse either.Also, how do we feel about the 1984 movie?We feel that the 1984 movie--the one released in 1984--is damned impossible to find.

(Seriously, used R1 copies of the DVD can go for US$100)

[Hawk]

I guess they were waiting for us to grow into a big civilization so they could harvest us. Like, they saw that earth was capable of being home to mammals, buried their tripods, and waited for said mammals to multiply enough for them to make use of our blood.

I suppose it was technically a shitty movie, but I thought the tripod scenes were pretty bad-ass and enjoyed it for that.

There has been life on this planet for about a billion years. They could have acted at any time, why bother burying mechs and waiting all this time?

And I still have trouble grasping the idea that a race advanced enough to travel through space and terraform whole planets can overlook the problem of germs. In the history of fuck ups, that's gota be the biggest ever.

[Invisible Queen]

You just didn't like the "One Man trying to save his kids whilst alien invasion is occuring" angle!

...And that the girl wouldn't stop screaming.

...And it was a bastardisation off the original book with all the characters introduced.

...And the sudden rushed ending.

Okay scratch that one off the list if you wish.

But apart from that it wasn't too bad, entertaining at least. I certainly enjoyed the Heat Ray scenes!

Needed more Ooo-laa'ing from the Tripods.
It wasn't that bad I guess. They could have named it War Of The Guys Hiding In The Basement From Some Aliens Outside though. I mean, with the title War of the Worlds you expect there to be some battles. Possibly of interplanetary proportions.

[Kaneda]

There has been life on this planet for about a billion years. They could have acted at any time, why bother burying mechs and waiting all this time?

They're lazy.

[Fifthfiend]

And, which version of Dark City are we talking about?


The one that rocks you in the junk with darkly stylish, mind-blowing awesome.

Which is to say, every version.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

The one that rocks you in the junk with darkly stylish, mind-blowing awesome.

Which is to say, every version.

I assume we're talking about the recent Dark City and not the film noir 50s Dark City.
Apparentely it's quite German in construction and Germans make the best films so I'll defineatly check this one out.

[Ben_Fox]

Forbidden Planet is a classic that I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned yet. Also for the list, 2010 and The Running Man. If you need a break from heavy-duty stuff with somewhat lighter fare, you can't go wrong with The Last Starfighter.