Don't feel like going on a long opinion piece, so let me just say :
Blade Runner
A Boy & his Dog
Alien 3...enormously underrated
ExistenZ..just because I love Cronenberg

quote:

Ishmaelscoffin
Know-It-All
Posted 10 March 2007 07:07 AM Hide Post
Don't feel like going on a long opinion piece, so let me just say :
Blade Runner
A Boy & his Dog
Alien 3...enormously underrated
ExistenZ..just because I love Cronenberg

Your list is commendable and I won't disagree with it, except for Alien 3 (1992) which has been considered by many as the worst of the Alien movies. I am curious as to what you found to your liking?

He's already mentioned that it was underrated, and if you love Fincher, just like that movie professor does, you'll probably balk at its overcriticism.

quote:

Posted by tabuno
(Alien 3 ) has been considered by many as the worst of the Alien movies. I am curious as to what you found to your liking?

Alien 3 has indeed developed this rep as weak in it's own right, much less the worst of the Alien series, but I dispute this on a number of grounds.

Firstly, a film such as this, set on an alien planet needs to establish visceral depth onscreen; to make the viewer believe that what they are seeing is merely a section of a greater universe.

Alien 3 (or Alien Cubed as my mate calls it) through a mixture of terrific cinematography, set design and inventive framing from Fincher at the very least in my opinion successfully positions the viewer in a howling hell on a frozen nether-world.

Of course, this is not enough to make Alien 3 or any other S/F film a triumph, noooo.

But we get sharp dialogue which delineates characters required to provide Ripley with counterpoints.
We get a tight focus on the sexuality and sensuality inherent in the whole Ripley/ Alien nexus....the "shipwrecking" of Ellen R. on an all-male prison planet ups the ante on a series already having done horror and military themes.

Fincher, Vincent Ward (story) and the other writers made an intellectual-ish Alien, with nods to religion and philosophy and for that, I think a lot of critics at the time decided to deflate what they saw as pretentious.

S/F is the use of speculative worlds and characters to illuminate our own Homo Sapien concerns, and Alien 3 of all the series' entries makes this case most effectively I think.

I equally adore the others, including no. 4, but I hold a special spot in my heart for the orphan child, for its brevity, ambience and higher metaphysical musings.

The Professor has left the building ha ha.

My friends & I absolutely love the "Alien" movies. Especially the first 3. Their story is so linear, where one ended the next began. The 4th breaks this pattern, but is still enjoyable in it's own right. I actually love the look of the "Newborn". CREEPY! Every other month or so, we would get together & watch 'em all from "Alien" to "Alien Resurrection". What a ride!

As for MY favorite Sci-Fi movie of all time? "The 5th Element" would be at the top o' the heap! I just think this is the most beautiful movie ever made. The colors are so bright & the future isn't a dump, as it is in most other futuristic Sci-Fi movies. In fact, it looks like a great place to live! Also, it's got my main man, Bruce Willis, the ONLY person certified to save the planet!

After those, I also enjoy (in no particular order):
"Dark City"
"Minority Report"
"Predator"
"Soldier"
"The Thing" (1982)
"Star Wars Saga" (Of course)
"Mars Attacks"
"The Fly" (1986)
"The One"
"The Terminator Series"
"Total Recall"
"Jurassic Park" The first 2, but the third, not so great. (Raptors with feathers & extremely smart? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!)

Science Fiction films.

What could be more perfect for the medium of film than science fiction, I have always asked myself ?

But you cld possibly argue that the percentage of great S/F movies to the amount made is the lowest of all genres.

Bloody studios thinking its all rubber aliens and S/FX!!

Now, for yr list, O monkey magic, I also love everything you listed, except Mars Attacks and The Fifth Element.

Both of those are very overrated in my eyes, even if Bruce Willis found his best role in "Element"!!

As far as the Jurassic series goes, I really, really like no.3 and am very lukewarm on the first 2! We are polar opposites on sum things, funny hey?

By the way, yr posting time says 2:54am...are you burning the midnight oil O monkey?

I'm an insomniac. I take sleeping pills, but they don't work like they used to. So, I stay up until I pretty much fall asleep in my chair. I got the first 2 volumes of 'Voltron: Defender of the Universe' for my birthday yesterday, so I was watching a few episodes of that & surfing the web until I could stay up no longer. (It may have said 2:54am, but in MY time-zone it was really 4:54am.)

Well, you already know I love Tim Burton films. A friend of mine hates "Mars Attacks", too, but I love the look of the film. From the goofy looking aliens to the number of stars in it! The characters were goofy as all to be damned! Especially, Tom Jones, playing himself! As for "Jurassic Park 3", the raptors were too smart. I mean, they broke a guy's neck to kill him when his "usefulness' was over. Opening doors is one thing, but to set a trap & then terminate the bait? Too much for my blood. I own it, but only for the other dinos & Sam Neil. The raptors are my least favorite in this one! How can you dislike "The 5th Element"? That movie is grand! The beauty of it is enough to bring tears to my eyes! It was, in fact, the first Hi-Def movie I bought because I just had to see how much more bright & colorful this movie could get!

O Capuchin (monkey named after a order of monks)

How do I hate 5th Element..let me count the ways...

Well, actually I won't bother except to say the dialogue is terrible, the humour is weak, its poorly edited and my biggest complaint is that it feels more like a filmed Gay Mardi-Gras (not that I have anything against gay mardi-gras') than a science fiction film.

Bresson constantly undermines S/F conventions but no good comes of his vandalism...

Sure it looks good, but I'll just get a couple of film stills rather than suffer thru it one more time....I had a G/F who loved it, so I've seen it or parts of it a few times..

Ishmael, Ishmael, Ishmael. I feel the same about the 3rd Jurassic Park. Besides the Raptors being way over the top, that little boy who managed to survive in an "intelligent", feathered, baby loving Raptor infested jungle for--oh dammit! I can't remember how long!--& then saves Dr. Grant "just in the nick of time", was a dumb plot device to me. I dunno. But, hey, I LOVED THE T-REX VERSUS THE SPINOSAURUS!!!!!

Ah, monkey boy, but don't you think the boy was like a reminder to Gra.....no, yr right, it was a pretty weak device; still, I quite enjoy the film, mostly for the Pterodactyl enclosure scene..

Hey, monkey magic, yr mention of Soldier reminded me that it had been a while since I watched it.

So I went to my local friendly neighbourhood bootlegger, and grabbed a copy.

Good film, good stuff...but what I wanted to recount was in listening to the directors' commentary (I always check out commentaries), Anderson said that they were very inspired by Blade Runner (not surprising, since both films share the same writer), and lo and behold,(thrillingly) for a Runner uber-fan, such as I, tattooed onto Kurt Russells' arm are the words, Tannhauser Gate, which if you love B.R. you will recognize.

The actual words on screen are partly obscured, so it took Paul Anderson pointing it out for me to get a cheap thrill.

After all, I have Rutger Hauer's final speech from Blade Runner memorized;...... I have been chasing C-beams near the Tannhauser Gate for a long time....

note my Location......

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kulturtrager,

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
still, I quite enjoy the film, mostly for the Pterodactyl enclosure scene..

Yeah, loved the Pterodactyls! I was disapointed they weren't in the first two. The "Jurassic Park" movies were movies I went to strictly for the dinosaurs. I enjoyed the stories very much in the first teo, but not so much in the last one. However, I still bought it because of the DINOSAURS! Gotta love the dinosaurs! You know they're in the process of bringing a fourth to the big screen, right?

quote:

Hey, monkey magic, yr mention of Soldier reminded me that it had been a while since I watched it.

So I went to my local friendly neighbourhood bootlegger, and grabbed a copy.

Good film, good stuff...

OH, YEAH! "Soldier" is very high in my list of favorite Action/Sci-Fi flicks. My personal favorite moment is just after the 3 "better soldiers" have just been defeated in their first attack on the civilians. Todd is preparing for the next attack & Sandra asks him, "What are you going to do?" and he comes back with, "I'm going to kill them all, sir." If that doesn't get you excited about the upcoming slaughter, nothing will!

I love Paul W.S. Anderson's movies, but I've learned many people here think he's a hack. For some reason they blame him for "Resident Evil 2", but he hadn't directed that piece o' crap! He did what he could with "Mortal Kombat" & I enjoyed it very much. In fact, that was the first movie I went to see more than once! No, it wasn't perfect & very cheezy by today's standards, but I still watch it every now & again. He didn't direct the crappy sequel to this, either. I remember being disappointed that the characters didn't use the powers they had in the game, but the sequel showed us just how retarded that would look on the big screen. So, I give props to Mr. Anderson for realizing that & for NOT making that mistake in the first film. I also loved "Event Horizon". A ghost story in space, he brilliantly combined Sci-Fi & Horror, successfully. Alot of people thought "Alien VS Predator" was crap, but it was enjoyable for me. This is a movie I went to just to witness a fight between these magnificent extra-terrestrials, & I wasn't disapointed! I even got what I didn't expect, a fight between a predator & a Queen! They're in the process of coming up with a sequel for it that takes place in Colorado, but they haven't learned their lesson, Paul W.S. isn't directing this sequel, either. I'm starting to think he won't do sequels, which ain't a bad thing, he doesn't like to revisit the same material all over again. He is actually bringing "Castlevania" to the silver screen. You know I'm gonna see this!

O primate brother,

quote:

Posted by Monkey_Boy
You know they're in the process of bringing a fourth to the big screen, right?

Nyetsville, mayo, I didn'ts know this!!

Intriguing......

Paul W. Anderson....don't mind him, Event Horizon was a solid film, but I can't go down the path as far as Alien vs. Predator, sorry....that was shlock-town, and I's try to stay outta those parts...it coulda been SO much better.

Castlevania is an excellent idea tho'. This is one game adaptation I think would work. Just get a decent scriptwriter, guys....... Listening out there, are ya, ya cigar chewing studio hacks??

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
Paul W. Anderson....don't mind him, Event Horizon was a solid film, but I can't go down the path as far as Alien vs. Predator, sorry....that was shlock-town, and I's try to stay outta those parts...it coulda been SO much better.

Would it help if I told you that he wasn't happy with it, either? He had a very small budget & not much to work with, but still... It has an Alien fighting a Predator! I mean, come on!

If paul W. Anderson took just 10 mins to ring me, i cld provide him with an excellent re-write of whatever he has, and voila!, he'd have a good film, regardless of budget.

The above statement may be mocked and ridiculed.
The author takes no responsibility for his own nonsense.

Dune - The original version.
How many times do I have to watch it before I stop finding something new that you didn't catch in previous viewings? Ir takes at least two viewings to even get the true gist of the storyline. I'm up to at probably a dozen and a half viewings over the years and I just caught something about the ending that Paul did that I never caught before (I never read the books, so maybe it was more obvious there). Anyway, Dune gets my top vote.

Bucyruss

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
The above statement may be mocked and ridiculed.
The author takes no responsibility for his own nonsense.

Hey, Ishmael, this would be a great signature for your posts. You crazy, nutball Aussie!

Hmmm, thanx, you silver tongued marmoset you....

I'm still pondering the old signature...want something that's just me!

I'm Irish on me mama's side, so it's a potent mix of craziness and shamelessness, it would seem..

Here's a few of my non-Matrix favorites:

Dark City
The Terminator
Cube
Primer
The Thirteenth Floor
Total Recall
Pitch Black
Children of Men

A Clockwork Orange remains my #1. I prefer it to 2001, which I find can get sterile to the point of tedium. Loved the monkeys, loved the interplay with HAL and Dave, but I found the center section interminable. Likewise, the "Infinity and Beyond" or whatever the hell it was called, section went on forwever. Just how many colors do we need to see? I didn't/don't take drugs, and maybe that was the problem.

If the best SciFi is really about the present, then Clockwork Orange succeeds, I believe, enormously. The social commentary remains germane even 30+ years later. I'm not sure I think that is true about Blade Runner, though I did love that movie (and book).

I agree with posts above about Metropolis. Again, a movie very much about Weimar Germany, but it's echoes resonate even today.