I agree with El Mach that in Battle: LA the aliens do seem to be not very much above a partly-robotic human military force. Indeed they would not survive concentrated missile attacks and even in the premise of the film they seem to be mostly invading in 20 coastal areas (although maybe they are having more forces in the oceans, given the plot).
Best and Worst sci-fi movies of all time
- Thread starter Kyriakos
- Start date
sophie
Break My Heart
2001: A Space Oddyssey: One of the best shot movies of all time. Just absolutely glorious cinematography and editing. People complain about how slowly it moves, but I think the lurching pacing and drawn out scenes really do it justice. You really get a sense for the buildup of time. And the last 20 minutes are some of the most suspenseful cinema I've ever seen. You really feel the weight and terror of being an astronaut and entering the unknown during those final bedroom scenes.
Alien: Another example of a very well shot, well edited, and well mixed film. The cinematography, again, is fantastic. A lot of really neat tracking shots give you a good sense of how the ship is laid out. The long shots give a great sense of isolation and the emptiness of space. A lot of cool fixed camera angles also give you a real claustrophobic sense for the film. I also loved the sound mixing and design for this movie. Using the ambient noise to create a rhythm and music to the scenes. I love the way the director uses the various noises to build on one another to one final, grand, horrifying crescendo (the best example is the air ducts scene; gloriously executed)
Blade Runner: Already mentioned, but very good film. A lovely blend of Film Noir and cerebral Science Fiction combined with some fantastic acting, visuals, and music make for an excellent, quintessential sci fi film.
WALL-E If only for the first half hour. If you don't want to sit through all of 2001, but want to learn how the visual language can tell a beautiful story without words this is the one to watch. Fantastic sweeping long shots give you a real sense of the barrenness of post-human Earth. And Pixar does a great job of creating a compelling and sympathetic character through wonderfully executed animation and character design for the protagonist. The first 30 minutes for me demonstrate perfectly why Pixar's dominated the animation scene for nearly 20 years now.
Alien: Another example of a very well shot, well edited, and well mixed film. The cinematography, again, is fantastic. A lot of really neat tracking shots give you a good sense of how the ship is laid out. The long shots give a great sense of isolation and the emptiness of space. A lot of cool fixed camera angles also give you a real claustrophobic sense for the film. I also loved the sound mixing and design for this movie. Using the ambient noise to create a rhythm and music to the scenes. I love the way the director uses the various noises to build on one another to one final, grand, horrifying crescendo (the best example is the air ducts scene; gloriously executed)
Blade Runner: Already mentioned, but very good film. A lovely blend of Film Noir and cerebral Science Fiction combined with some fantastic acting, visuals, and music make for an excellent, quintessential sci fi film.
WALL-E If only for the first half hour. If you don't want to sit through all of 2001, but want to learn how the visual language can tell a beautiful story without words this is the one to watch. Fantastic sweeping long shots give you a real sense of the barrenness of post-human Earth. And Pixar does a great job of creating a compelling and sympathetic character through wonderfully executed animation and character design for the protagonist. The first 30 minutes for me demonstrate perfectly why Pixar's dominated the animation scene for nearly 20 years now.
Not sure if worst, but it was the main one at the time, and it was more or less a comedy (although still not quite as much as the Godzilla 
) :
Link to video.
It did have some excellent effects for the time.
) :Link to video.
It did have some excellent effects for the time.
I will agree that there was an annoying character in it, but I'm curious as to who your choice is (hint: mine's not Elly Arroway).
WHAT plot hole?
Berzerker
Deity
i liked starman & aliens
KmDubya
King
I agree that Starship Troopers was nothing like Heinlein's excellent book but it was entertaining. The whole futuristic fascism with the witty TV commercials was funny - the bugs are evil would you like to know more 
Doogie Houser as a mad scientist and Denise Richards as eye candy were great.
Now the sequels were truly straight to video trash though.
Doogie Houser as a mad scientist and Denise Richards as eye candy were great.Now the sequels were truly straight to video trash though.
dusters
Emperor
I would say the original Solaris (Solyaris) by Tarkovsky. The picture quality, plot quality and dramatization of human core emotions is basically about what good is there in homo sapiens species as of now.
A lot of movies show how humans compare vs aliens, but Solaris show that humans can be genuinely benevolent and that gives hope in the current age of information.
A lot of movies show how humans compare vs aliens, but Solaris show that humans can be genuinely benevolent and that gives hope in the current age of information.
Why are you the only one to mention Battlefield Earth?
Tycho Brahe
Emperor
I enjoyed the cinematography.
The magic connection between the natives and the nature that sorunds them, living together in perfect harmony, it's such a horrible, two dimensional cliché. Everything about the story in this movie is two dimensional. Which is ironic.
Speaking of science fiction movies with religious themes, what do you think of Oblivion and After Earth? They are supposedly full of ideas from Scientology. I haven't whatched them myself, so I can't say.
^I suppose that it is taken as a fact that it was a pathetic movie, so no one has much to say
I would think it would be well-known.
Quotes from reviewers:
I actually liked Oblivion.
Not a "Great" movie, but it had a number of good characteristics:
-Excellent cinematography. The scenery and special effects, and also the built models, look very good.
-Decent acting.
-Minimalistic presentation of the aliens, which made sense regarding what was supposed to be going on.
I think that the worst aspect of that film was that the plot (despite being ok as an idea) was too much of a one-point focus, with everything leading to that.
The ending was ok, a bit too "F you aliens", but good ending scenes and build-up. Not the best scifi movie, but not bad either in my view
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
I take it you haven't read much Robert Heinlein.
Sci Fi I still enjoy watching:
Original Forbidden Planet
The day the earth Stood Still
Avatar
Alien
Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Fifth element
Another Earth
District 9
Original Forbidden Planet
The day the earth Stood Still
Avatar
Alien
Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Fifth element
Another Earth
District 9
Gary Childress
Student for and of life
One of my all time favorites is Star Wars, the original one.
Worst, probably Plan 9 from Outerspace. Still Plan 9 is endearing, though. Sort of like an ugly dog, you just feel pity for it.
Some cool favs also:
Bladerunner
Total Recall
The Matrix - Or wait, is that really science fiction? Maybe we really are in the Matrix and just don't know it?
Worst, probably Plan 9 from Outerspace. Still Plan 9 is endearing, though. Sort of like an ugly dog, you just feel pity for it.
Some cool favs also:
Bladerunner
Total Recall
The Matrix - Or wait, is that really science fiction? Maybe we really are in the Matrix and just don't know it?
Personally i don't like Total Recall (i mean the original, with Arnold; i haven't bothered to see the remake).
Arnold is a bad actor, that is all.
But Sharon Stone looked amazing at the time
(still does, but she was young then)I remember reading somewhere that the writers stated the aliens who invaded us in Battle: Los Angeles were supposed to be their version of a third world crap army and didn't represent the most advanced force they could field.
It also seemed to me that the aliens were not intent on actually conquering the planet, but just raiding our world. They needed water and I think they were just trying to hit a few costal cities and hold us back long enough to grab the water they needed. This is evidenced by the numbers they deployed to Earth (which is never stated in the movie, but it was stated on the official website for the movie as part of their marketing campaign). The aliens only sent about 30 million at most, which is not enough to subjugate a planet of over 7 billion (especially since their tech advantage over us was minimal).
I think, given all of that, Battle: Los Angeles is a fresh take on the alien invasion scenario. It shows Earth being invaded by a rag-tag and possibly desperate alien force that just seems to be interested in conducting Viking-style raids rather than the enslavement, extermination, and conquest other sci-fi aliens seem to be interested in. It also shatters the idea that aliens are always superior to us and shows that aliens can be just as dysfunctional, chaotic, and unstable as we are. I think after reading the backstory that was never touched upon in the movie, the writers were also trying to warn us that we may end up like those aliens if we continue down our current path.
Here is the link to the site that gives some of that backstory I'm talking about: Link
History_Buff
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2001
- Messages
- 6,529
"Contact" ?! You serious ! No way man !!!Well how about "Event Horizon" which I fing better in every aspect ! ? huh ?
D
Oh gods, you actually enjoyed Event Horizon? That movie was just awful. Despite being 2 hours long, hokey dialogue, no-name actors, and turning into some real torture porn towards the end, The Divide is twice the movie Event Horizon was. Though Event Horizon did have Sam Neill, so there's that.
The Divide is a super weird film, but I enjoyed it just because of the mystery set up in the first half hour.
Also, it it possible that nobody has mentioned Jurassic Park yet?
So Battle: LA is really just the analogue of the Ugandan-Tanzanian war?
Not best or worst, but a bit interesting:
The Cube (1997)
Link to video.
Good points:
-Very good intro sequence
-Decent idea, some math in it (but virtually entirely as keywords)
-Dark mood
Negative points:
-Cheap production, and it shows
-The math quickly became a ploy
-No known actor, and the actors were quite bad
