For myself it will always be 2001 A Space Odyssey. As the son of a science teacher, I learned early on how to spot inauthentic special effects. The incredible detail and accuracy of 2001 blew me away totally. The conditions of my first viewing helped too.
It was the film’s premier run and we had arrived late to the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco only to find ourselves seated in what was very nearly the front row center. With the curtains drawn, we bemoaned our fate at being so close to the screen. Open the curtains and voila we had the best seats in the house. It was a curved cinerama screen that arced back ten or twenty feet from our seats at the center point. What a treat to see such a movie with what seemed to be wrap around goggles.
At some later time I will rant about the quality of the models and effects. Suffice to say that this movie was made during cinematography’s finest hour. There were no computerized special effects. Shooting more than six exposures on the film washed out the black backgrounds to a gray. Since this was film, they had no retakes or second chances. It slays me to think that they had to take a master print and score a gridwork of graphlines into it so that they knew where to place the models during the frame by frame animation. What a sacrifice in order to create a movie!
Next came the music. There were pieces of chorale music and a cello solo that I squirmed to sit through then. To this very day, I now love those pieces merely out of association. Not that it didn’t help to have what was arguably the world’s finest orchestra led by the most capable conductor of that time.
Second only to 2001 do I like Ursula K. Le Guinn’s, “The Lathe of Heaven”. For what was a relatively low budget film, it was well made and had an excellent plot. More recent efforts include “The Fifth Element”, an excellent grade B romp. Also “The Matrix” actually tried relatively hard to be a good movie. The “Star Wars” episodes are well crafted material but for exotic content “Alien” did much better.
Well IMHO taking everthing into account , when it was made , impact on me personally etc. I would have to say the Star Wars Trilogy as I consider them one entity .
If you had to nail me down to one movie it would be Empire .
Most critics will agree that “2001: A Space Odyssey” is the best science fiction movie ever.
It was artistically original and still, to this day, like no other movie.
The visual effects were ahead of their time.
The marriage of Kubrick’s style and sci-fi was, in technical terms, mondo cool.
And then you have “Star Wars,” which like 2001 had groundbreaking effects but which isn’t at the same level artistically.
On the other hand, consider this; which movie changed the nature of film more? 2001 was great but if it had any far-reaching influence I don’t see it. Star Wars changed movies, changed the way movies interact with other forms of culture - I mean, merchandising tie-ins STARTED with Star Wars. It led directly to a new era of non-sci-fi adventure films (there would be no Indiana Jones without Star Wars) and big budget spectaculars in general, though to George Lucas’s credit “Star Wars” itself was not a big-budget film.
“Alien” and “Aliens” were great films - I would argue “Aliens” is, in terms of pure quality, the best film mentioned so far in the thread. I can’t say they were as influential as 2001 or Star Wars, though.
I would never be able to narrow it to one movie, so I’ll have to nominate several for consideration:
[ul]
[li]***The Matrix ***- how could you not like this movie, if you are a computer-programming-geek-type-person such as myself? Great special effects, good fight scenes, killer techno soundtrack, and the protagonist is a hacker. Wo…[/li][li]***First Contact ***- a revision of Moby Dick set in the Star Trek universe, but the good guy wins. Giving Zefram Cochrane clay feet was a nice touch.[/li][li]***Contact ***- Sagan’s triumph, and it juxtaposes science and religion quite nicely.[/li][li]***Wrath of Khan ***- ok, I like Star Trek. Moby Dick with the original ending. Only movie that almost made me cry, when Spock died.[/li][li]***12 Monkeys ***- Pitt plays an excellent psycho, and Willis actually speaks above a whisper.[/li][li]***Terminator ***- the perfect role for Arnold, plus we almost have a sex scene. Why is the sci-fi genre so sexless?[/li][li]***Star Wars ***- the original had all the chemistry, even if it was cheesy. Not that cheesy is a bad thing.[/li][/ul]
All the movie mentioned so far are great movies to be sure (except for the Matrix), but IMHO nothing compares to the shear wonder of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. All the other movie fueled a certain fear of the unknown. CE was, and I think is, the only only movie who bottom line was “We’re not alone, but its ok”. I like that.
Then you’ve got movies that are lumped into sci-fi. Take Pi for instance, a sci-fi movie, but closer in tone to paranoid schizophrenia. (I guess 12 Monkeys veers in that direction.)
Let’s not forget Dark City. Sci-fi as well. Strange Days, also, is in my opinion critically overlooked. It’s an affirmation of the world, folks.
Personally, I think some of the best sci-fi movies lie in the Japanese anime section. Akira was mindblowing the first time I saw it. Ghost in the Shell was much more of a hard science-fiction movie, and the animation was amazing to boot. Of course you’ve got all sorts of series like Cowboy Bebop that lay down the sci-fi law with a commanding presence.
But the best sci-fi movie of all time? I don’t know. Hey, Ice Pirates had space herpes in it. Does that count?
Most profound scifi film: The Matrix. Maybe because it was touching a great deal of what I was thinking, but my feelings when I was watching it were basically a mixture of “I can’t believe they made something this smart!” and “Whoo - this is the exact same feeling I got when I read John Ralston Saul’s books for the first time.”
Honorable mention: ST: First Contact.
Most emotionally affecting: Gattaca. That was a profoundly disturbing movie for me.
Most entertaining: ST4: The Voyage Home. “Well, double dumb-ass on you!”
1: Star wars- nothing new to add
2: Close Incounters: So good
3: 2001: phish does a cover of the theme and every time I hear it I think the movie would have been cooler if it used the phish version.
4: mission to mars: i really like this movie.
5: event horizon: scared the shit out of me.
First person to say that Starship Troopers was the best gets a kick in the pants. Of course, now someone’s gonna say it, just to piss me off…
With that being said, I think that Spaceballs was the best sci-fi movie ever. Okay, seriously… I give a big ol’ vote to Aliens. Why? The whole film (and it’s precedent) had a very solid, consistent feel to it, without adding in any unnecessary clutter. Advanced technology was present, but dealt with as if it were commonplace, so when you say those massive atmosphere generators, you get the same vibe as if they were showing you a CD player or cellular phone. Alien was almost as good, except the actors weren’t as talented and the special effects (like the Alien itself) were a bit deficient, but that’s more of a result of a smaller budget for the first movie than the sequel.
Lance Henriksen better than John Hurt? Hmm, well, ok…
I’ll say this for Starship Troopers (and I’m wearing a cup as I do so, SPOOFE), it’s the only film that’s come close to turning the tired, xenophobic “space invaders” storyline on its head with humans as the aggressors.
I’d like to add Predator to the current list. It turned the Alien killer creature from relentless, dumb animal to into an intelligent, surgical assassin. Also the movie stands as an interesting metaphor for the Reagan/Bush administration at the time.
I also think Iron Giant is a great sci fi flick, classic even, in terms of its late 50s/early 60s styling. But it will only ever be great to those few people who actually saw it.
Oh, thank you for mentioning this! The Matrix was my favorite film from last year, but The Iron Giant came in 2nd.
I’d agree with 2001 as being the best, Star Wars being the most influential to date, and The Matrix as being the one that’s most going to influence the next generation.
Three more for the general “Brilliant SF films” pool: Brazil (my all-time favorite film) The Quiet Earth Dark City
OK, I guess I’ll be the first (And probably only) poster to come in here and admit that I don’t care that much for 2001. I recognize its influince on later sci fi films, but the movie has always bored me to tears (I’ve seen it three times, but have falen asleep each time). I give it props, though, for its realistic space scenes.
2010 was a very good sequel to it.
The Star Wars Trilogy: yup.
Terminator and T2: These are both solid sci fi movies with a dark message.
Robocop: A dark, funny cyberpunk movie. Too bad the sequels suck eggs.
The Matrix: Derivative of the movies mentioned above, but it did it well. Overallo, I thought it was a better movie than Phantom Menance.
Akira: Excellent, excellent movie. animation at its finest.
Contact: Like 2001, a fairly realistic sci fi movie.
War Of The Worlds: This movie thrilled me as a kid. Very cool special effects for the time.
Wargames: Hal lives!
Count me in as another fan of The Iron Giant.
Starship Troopers: Viewed on its own merits (Not comparring it to the book, which it really has nothing to do with), the movie rocks. It provides plenty of action, as well as a great parody of US WW2 style propoganda.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by hardcore *
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[li]***The Matrix *- how could you not like this movie, if you are a computer-programming-geek-type-person such as myself? Great special effects, good fight scenes, killer techno soundtrack, and the protagonist is a hacker. Wo…[/li][/QUOTE]
I may not be a programming geek, but…how could I not like this movie? Two words: Keanu Reeves. The guy has the IQ of a teacup. The effects were way cool, but watching Keanu strike those fight poses left me convulsing in laughter.
Okay, folks, I’ll be the one to play the ignorant layman…DeathLlama and I rented 2001 a couple of months ago, and were left pretty much saying “What the hell was that?” It…was…so…painfully…s-l-o-w p-a-c-e-d…It’s a two-hour movie that could have been about 45min if certain scenes hadn’t been dragged on, and on, and on. I understand the special effects were innovative and incredibly realisitic, and this film was a pioneer of sorts, but watching it for the first time 20+ years later apparently takes a certain amount of edge off the film’s effect. At least, for me. I’m curious about 2010, mainly just to see if it helps make sense of the first one. Knowing Kubrick, I seriously doubt it.
Now, my nominees. Hmm…they’ve already been nominated. Well then, my seconds:
Alien and Aliens. The former for suspense and drama, the second for action, pace, and scare-you-out-of-your-seat. Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Innovative, fun, and still a blast to watch nearly 25 years later. E.T. I’ll be the sap. I know it isn’t exactly sci-fi in the traditional, space-ship-setting way, but it does involve an alien, and Drew Barrymore when she was still cute and innocent. Yup, I like this flick.
Well, thank God! I thought I was the only one here who thought 2001 was deadly dull.
The sequel really does answer certain questions about the aliens, and it’s faster paced (compared to the original, mind. It’s still no Star Wars).
E.T.! How could I have forgotten this one? Sure, it’s sappy, but it has a great message about acceptance of that which is different, and is a great movie.
I also forgot to nominate Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Killer special effects, a great plot build up, fantastic closing scene.
taking everthing into account , when it was made , impact on me personally etc. I would have to say the Star Wars Trilogy as I consider them one entity .
