Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: qazwsx on April 13, 2013, 09:44:17 pm
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So, I was thinking about hosting a Sci-Fi night at university next term, and I'm looking for films people might enjoy, what are people's recommendations if I'm trying to stay away from science fantasy (star wars for example)? I plan on watching Moon, and I know there's several people who want to watch 2001, but what do you sci-fi guys suggest?
(I made a google drive form so if you're one of those wonderful lurkers, you can still contribute <3 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KLZ3Hqu7v_Kr3_Jjad-_LIfESu0igZ2z2wQy_L0gcbQ/viewform )
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Children of Men is probably the finest science fiction film of the 2000-2010 decade. Moon is an excellent pick, I'd really recommend the first two-thirds of Sunshine as well.
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May I recommend Dune (1984) & Blade Runner? Specially Blade Runner, it's amazing.
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Children of Men is probably the finest science fiction film of the 2000-2010 decade. Moon is an excellent pick, I'd really recommend the first two-thirds of Sunshine as well.
Ah yeah, I'd forgotten about Children of Men, the cinematography in that film was incredible. I'll probably give Sunshine a miss on the evening for obvious reasons, but will ask if anyone wants to watch it at a later date.
May I recommend Dune (1984) & Blade Runner? Specially Blade Runner, it's amazing.
Sadly we watched Blade Runner 5 times last term, it's a great film (hence the repetition), but I will probably leave it out. Dune might be an interesting choice, I tried watching it on the TV when I was younger, never watched it the whole way through though, I'd usually miss the start and have no idea what was going on.
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No Dune movie has ever managed to do the book justice, nor even be particularly good. I'd give it a pass.
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Soylent Green and Logans Run are always good movies, a bit dated, but still worth a watch, and worth a debate afterwards :)
Edit: Though, they aren't really 'in space' type sci-fi so much as 'future Earth' type.
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2001, Moon, and Children of Men are all great, though if you've never seen 2001 before be warned it's a little slow. Sunshine is a fantastic artsy film, but the science is abominable. :ick:
If Anime counts, then perhaps try Akira or Ghost in the Shell.
Primer, for an excellent depiction of the discovery of time travel and its implications. It also has the most confusing plotline of any movie ever made. :lol:
District 9 is a very interesting take on a post first-contact scenario; highly recommended.
Red Planet, maybe? Mankind has attempted to terraform Mars, and something went wrong. A team is sent to investigate.
There's always Serenity. :)
That's all I can think of at the moment.
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Out of recent flicks Looper was pretty fun.
Dark City, Outland, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, The Thing, Metropolis and Equilibrium might be interesting bets as well.
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The Thing is a super interesting film to analyze, on a lot of levels. There's a lot going on there. Plus it owns.
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The Thing is a super interesting film to analyze, on a lot of levels. There's a lot going on there. Plus it owns.
I'll assume you're talking about the 1982 version. It's an important distinction if you're one of those few people who've never heard of it and needs to go shopping soon. On the subject, Battuta, what did you think of the 2011 prequel?
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I thought it was rather dull and quite wasted most of the stuff that made the 1982 one interesting. The Thing should be about paranoia and mutual vulnerability - it's a chess game between two sides with tactics, strengths, and weaknesses, not an Alien-style battle against a nigh-invulnerable foe.
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The Thing is a super interesting film to analyze, on a lot of levels. There's a lot going on there. Plus it owns.
Plus Kurt Russell
(http://media.aintitcool.com/coolproduction/ckeditor_assets/pictures/5113/original/macready.jpg?1327176442)
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cloud atlas. didnt think i would like it, but ended up being completely blown away.
donnie darko somewhat impressed me. its kind of a psychodrama involving time travel and unstable alternate universes.
all of the planet of the apes movies (except the new ones).
will second everything star slayer said. and flipside too. as well as children of men, moon, and sunshine.
No Dune movie has ever managed to do the book justice, nor even be particularly good. I'd give it a pass.
depends on the cut. there are like 11 of them. ranging from completely butchered to not bad. the miniseries was better, but i felt it kinda tried to bring in elements of the movie in a couple places. like the navigator scene and the palace-ship, neither of which are in the book as far as i can remember, but were both in the movie.
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personally, i thought children of men was awful.
some of the highlights from my movie folder (i really have a lot less sci-fi than i thought):
The Matrix (there were no sequels!)
In Time
Chronicles of Riddick
the Terminator movies
Stargate
Equilibrium
Source Code
Total Recall (i haven't seen the original)
Minority Report
Paycheck
or for a less serious take on sci-fi
Transformers
Starship Troopers
Cowboys and Aliens
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The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 1951 original - for historical value. Klaatu barada nikto, anyone?
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since you bring up classics: forbidden planet
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Looks like most of my ideas are already listed. Still can't go wrong with the original Tron. Another one I believe was called Runaway (not 100% sure on that title). The Navigator and Explorers were pretty good. Used to love The Black Hole when I was younger.
Few more I thought of while grabbing a shower: Battle LA, Last Starfighter, Robinson Crewso on Mars, Aliens, Ice Pirates.
Couple really old ones I liked but have no idea of the name. First one involved nuclear waste storage on the moon going wrong and turning the moon into rocket. Another one was where 2 super computers (one US and one Russian) linked up and solve all the worlds problems in one way or another. There was also one with the last of the Martians in a colony at the bottom of the sea. Involved a diving bell, really old.
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Silent Running is another oldie worth a shot ;)
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Used to love The Black Hole when I was younger.
That movie is so interesting for its religious symbolism. And by interesting, I mean hilariously bad. :D It's also probably one of the darkest movies to ever be produced by Disney. I loved it and still have it on my hard drive. :yes:
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Couple really old ones I liked but have no idea of the name. First one involved nuclear waste storage on the moon going wrong and turning the moon into rocket.
Sounds a lot like one of the first episodes of Space 1999. Are you sure it was a movie?
Regarding movie recommendations, I'd like to mention Solaris. While I haven't watched the either of the movies (there are two), I loved the novel they're based on.
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scrathing my head about the only one I can think of not mentioned here for me would be Sphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(film)).
edit:
Pitch Black is cool for a light sci-fi
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Couple really old ones I liked but have no idea of the name. First one involved nuclear waste storage on the moon going wrong and turning the moon into rocket.
Sounds a lot like one of the first episodes of Space 1999. Are you sure it was a movie?
Regarding movie recommendations, I'd like to mention Solaris. While I haven't watched the either of the movies (there are two), I loved the novel they're based on.
Yea it was a movie. The only thing I can find that sounds like it is Destination Moonbase-Alpha. It's been so long since I saw it not sure if that is it or not.
Thought of a few more while FREDding. Virus, Alien Cargo, Night of the Comet, and The Philadelphia Experiment.
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Yup, it was the pilot episode of Space 1999, it was a TV Mini-Movie (about 1 hr long), so not sure if that counts.
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Dark Star
Spaceballs
Enemy Mine
Aliens 1+2
Star Trek - the wrath of Khan
2001
2010
Forbidden Planet
Metropolis
Silent Running
Fahrenheit 451
Moon
Logan's Run
the Star Wars movies (the olden ones)
Moon Trap
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The Fountain and Solaris (George Clooney version)
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The Fountain and Solaris (George Clooney version)
If you're gonna watch Solaris, you oughta watch Solaris. :colbert:
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From the 80s:
Repo man
Re-Animator
Them
Robocop
Scanners
Edit:Videodrome
90s:
eXistenZ
Screamers
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If you are russian or don't mind subtitles then I would also recommend Stalker from 1979
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Also: I, Robot - if everyone hasn't seen it yet. It's Hollywood-blockbusterish, sure, but still based on an Asimov story - I found it quite enjoyable.
And add my vote to the Planet of the Apes, the 1968 original of course - for beautifully illustrating one of the problems with long-distance space travel.
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From what I've heard, I, Robot movie is "inspired by" rather than actually based on a story by Asimov. Doesn't change the fact it's good movie, but the plot wasn't written by Asimov.
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I, Robot isn't based on an Asimov story - it's a rebranded take on a 90s script called Hardwired, which was a very cerebral, cold mystery film that the Asimov estate adored. It actually stayed quite close to that Asimovesque aesthetic until Akiva Goldsman did a hatchet job on it to turn it into a big-action Will Smith vehicle. I love me some Will Smith, but the mediocre film that came out in the end is mostly only worth watching for the production design.
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Nobody mentions Event Horizon?
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Nobody mentions Event Horizon?
never seen it myself :(
as for I-Robot. the film draws some inspiration from Asimov, most notably the three laws, with a dash of law 0 going wrong but having read the book the events in the film are not depicted in it.
I-Robot (book) is a series of short stories depicted from one of two points of view about the development of robot cognitive abilities and self awareness and human society adapting to them. the pov the stories are told from is either two R&D blokes who work on robotic brains, especially the mathamatics and a woman who specialises in Robot Psychology
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Well, 'I, Robot' was actually the script for a completely different movie, called Hardwired, with the Asimov references shoe-horned in, and I've always considered it one of the gravest insults to Asimovs' work ever created, Millenium Man with Robin Williams is probably a better shot if you want a more accurate (if re-focused) portrayal of what he wrote.
It's a pity, since Asimov created an incredibly strong and independent female character called Susan Calvin who would have made an exceptional break from the typical 'strong women' of the movies, since she was smarter than the men around her, and very aware of it, but also extremely frustrated that her gender made people under-estimate her. I would dearly have loved to see a movie revolve around her as a character.
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Nobody mentions Event Horizon?
<3
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Whoops, seems I should do my research better next time :nervous:
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Demolition Man :drevil:
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Oh ****, I forgot about Attack the Block. Attack the Block is a super smart movie.
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Whoops, seems I should do my research better next time :nervous:
Heh, thing is, if the movie had been released in it's original form, as Hardwired, I'd have considered it a passable sci-fi with a nod towards Asimov's work, it was the whole pretense that this in some way an Asimov work turned into a movie that annoyed me more than the content of the movie itself.
Asimov only ever wrote one real 'robot as threat' story, and that wouldn't have made a good movie, because it involved two Robots sitting in a room having a discussion over several hundred years before deciding the best way to implement the Three Laws was to control humanity. Mostly Asimov wrote about what happens when the clinical rules of Scientific research come into contact with humanity, which can be a contradiction unto itself. One excellent example of that was when a Robot went missing at a vital installation, and it turned out that what caused the problem was simply a member of staff getting annoyed at what was perceived as a 'condascending' attitude from the Robot and simply saying 'Get Lost'. Of course, a Robot must obey any order given to it by a Human...
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There are a lot of good suggestions here (covered pretty much all of mine) except one very important film has been missed:
Alien (the very first one; I see someone mentioned Aliens, the sequel).
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maybe he meant Aliens as in the group of Alien movies... :nervous:
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maybe he meant Aliens as in the group of Alien movies... :nervous:
Two movies isn't exactly a group :P
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am i a bad person for actually liking alien 3?
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i liked 3 just as much as the others.
...which is to say not very much.
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am i a bad person for actually liking alien 3?
Yes, you are a bad person Nuke :)
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But that isn't why he's a bad person.
I liked Alien 3 as well. Not as much as the previous 2, but... oh heck, I'll admit it. I thought it was funny as hell. :p
I'll also second the nomination for 2010. The style is a massive departure from that used in 2001, but I enjoyed it a lot more.
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granted its not the best alien movie and they did a lot of things wrong (horrible special effects for example). but it was a good premise. any further alien and alien vs predator spinoffs were just kinda making it into a generic horror/action/scifi franchise. didnt really do anything new at that point, and didnt care about the previous backstories (resurrection tried and failed horribly). they are still watchable if you dont take them too seriously.
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Interesting fact, a lot of the 'terrible CGI' people point to in Alien 3 is actually puppet work!
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Don't know if this has been touched on before but CGI versions of creatures (especially Giger's xenomorth) just look plain wrong. The Xenomorth was far scarier when it was a guy in a suit.
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And Alien 3 was a pretty ok movie by the standards of the genre, It just fails in comparison to the earlier movies.
Alien vs Predator on the other hand was dire.
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I liked the first AvP, the second... yer it was not good
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I never liked Alien 3 but I couldnt stop laughing after seeing on the making of what they originaly wanted for Alien, since it comes from a dog they thought to made the size of a dog and they even filmed a part of a dog in a Alien costume running around, it was hilarious. :lol:
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The part that surprised me was that Alien 3 was surprisingly decent even though its production was a complete mess.
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Alien 3 works as a stand-alone movie.
As a continuation of the original story it suck balls. Surely someone would have noticed the alien queen dragging two massive eggs up to the dropship. And even that is a plothole since Ripley blew them all up.
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I'm gonna go on a limb here and say The Fifth Element.
Sadly, a decade or two from now, I'm probably only going to remember Alien 3 as the one with the guy being shredded by the fan (I have the Editing Room's "Alternate Endings" to thank for that).
Interesting fact, a lot of the 'terrible CGI' people point to in Alien 3 is actually puppet work!
Ahh, practical effects. Fun times.
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i kinda miss old skool movie magic. things like cg explosions and the like look really bad, as compared to the fuel bombs that they used to use.
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I'm gonna go on a limb here and say The Fifth Element.
Implying it wasn't mentioned before in this thread
...Which baffles me. I second this movie suggestion
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OK had to go and use and old PC to pull up my VHS movie database from college. Only have 641 movies (too bad for magnetic decay). Some more titles that weren't bad:
Howard the Duck
Short Circuit
Dreamscape
Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind
The Abyss
Earth vs the Flying Saucers (if you want an old look you can see the wires one)
Innerspace
Westworld
Alien Nation
Critters
Cyborg
Blue Thunder (not sure if this counts the tech was probably already existed and really wasn't that sci-fi)
Deep Space
Deepstar 6
The Hidden
My Science Project
Colossus: The Forbin Project (I think this is the supercomputer one I couldn't remember before)
I come in Peace
The Final Countdown
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Star Wars (Original Trilogy - The originals, not the recuts/edits from the 90s or 00s)
and
Space Battleship Yamato
...
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Oh yeah! I can't believe no one's mentioned this one yet.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
I wanted to be a rockstar/scientist for YEARS after this movie came out. The tongue-in-cheek references I didn't get until I watched it again later in life.
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Flash!!!!!!!!!dun...AAAHHHHHHH.....Defender of the universe!
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Back to Kurt Russel we have Escape from New York
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did none of you read the first post where it says "no soft space opera"
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except it doesn't say that.
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... what are people's recommendations if I'm trying to stay away from science fantasy (star wars for example) ...
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plan 9 from outer space
:nervous:
*runs*
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... what are people's recommendations if I'm trying to stay away from science fantasy (star wars for example) ...
yeah, I've disregarded every post that includes some form of soft space opera, as they obviously haven't paid attention to OP.
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I was going to suggest The Last Starfighter. However, I sadly can't take it seriously anymore. Anyone here have an opinion?
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i really cant name a lot of hard sci-fi movies. most of them have already been mentioned more or less.
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Flash!!!!!!!!!dun...AAAHHHHHHH.....Defender of the universe!
UhhhMMM , I'm pretty sure that the lyric is "Saviour", not Defender.
I rather like the next one though
"Flash.......King of the Impossible"
Has anyone mentioned Paycheck yet? :nervous:
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Flash!!!!!!!!!dun...AAAHHHHHHH.....Defender of the universe!
UhhhMMM , I'm pretty sure that the lyric is "Saviour", not Defender.
I rather like the next one though
"Flash.......King of the Impossible"
Flash is good but I slightly prefer Princes of the Universe
edit:
just listening to flash now and it is saviour
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UhhhMMM , I'm pretty sure that the lyric is "Saviour", not Defender.
Well it has been a while since I watched it... Maybe its time to stick it on again :)