Favorite sci-fi movies?

[James Y]

I saw The Thing prequel, and thought it was OK, as it did try to stay true to John Carpenter's The Thing. The problem, besides being far less subtle than Carpenter's film, is that the cast of the prequel did NOT look like people from the early 1980s, when it was set. They looked like post-2K people transplanted back to the past. It made it unbelievable that the prequel happens before the events in the Carpenter film. At least that's how I remembered it; I only saw the prequel once, when it first came out.

As for The Thing From Another World, it's a good movie, but I feel that John Carpenter's The Thing is much better. But that's just my opinion. It also is much more faithful to the 1938 novella Who Goes There, which both movies were based off of.

A couple more really good movies I forgot to mention:

The Mysterians (1957)

Mysterious Island (1961)

I almost never watch any major Hollywood movies from recent years anymore. Or very rarely. Too much over-the-top CGI that lacks soul.

I thought Contact (1997) was good. Especially certain parts of it, which were unlike most 'alien encounter' movies.

Jim

[TomAiello]

I enjoyed Arrival, as well, mostly for the twist at the end.

Did anyone se Annhilation? I liked that one for being unusual for a modern movie, but I think it could have been done better overall.

[The Deacon]

Alien
Blade Runner
12 Monkeys
A Boy and His Dog
Terminator
Demolition Man
Star Wars (1977)
Predator
District 9
Dune (1984)
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
The Andromeda Strain
Fortress
The Road Warrior
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

[Manixguy@1994]

Thought I would add this one from 1972 . Dan

[Co Pilot]

No particular order:

The Omega Man
I Am Legend
Escape From New York
The Thing
Soylent Green
Alien
Aliens
Serenity
T1&T2
The Matrix, Reloaded, Revolutions

[shunsui]

I enjoyed Arrival, as well, mostly for the twist at the end.

I forgot Arrival. Outstanding SciFi.
Not just another run and gun adventure.
Kind of reminded me of the Russian first contact film, Solaris (1972).

[max808]

I saw The Thing prequel, and thought it was OK, as it did try to stay true to John Carpenter's The Thing. The problem, besides being far less subtle than Carpenter's film, is that the cast of the prequel did NOT look like people from the early 1980s, when it was set. They looked like post-2K people transplanted back to the past. It made it unbelievable that the prequel happens before the events in the Carpenter film. At least that's how I remembered it; I only saw the prequel once, when it first came out.
...
I thought Contact (1997) was good. Especially certain parts of it, which were unlike most 'alien encounter' movies.

Jim

Thanks for sharing Jim. I wouldn't necessarily call Carpenter's thing a subtle film, but he is a master of suspense and constantly builds tension and everything looking as raw and real as it does, pretty sure this traumatized some kids back in the day.

Also Scandinavian fashion is decades ahead of its competitors so the remake Matthijs did gets a solid pass from me. From what I heard there was a lot of studio meddling to go full digital when they had already invested in practical effects, which were eventually replaced entirely by cgi much to the director's dismay.

Contact with the delicious Jodie Foster and a young Matthew McConaughey, love that film! All the right kinds of metaphysical in my amateur opinion.
Have a good one Jim and stay safe out there.

max

[Manixguy@1994]

I think this is one of the best performances by John Goodman . MG2

[JSumm]

I think this is one of the best performances by John Goodman . MG2

Agreed! This movie was great not because of the ***SPOILER ALERT**** others, but because of the suspense built up by his character.

[legOFwhat?]

Some movies were just fun to watch.
Night of the Comet (1984)

Love this movie! So many great 80's B-Movies like:
Chopping mall
Night of the creeps and many of the other "night of" movies
From beyond
Brain Damage
Re-animator...

Movies of my youth, that always seemed to be on USA up-all- night when you'd have sleep overs. Probably why I liked X-Files so much later on...

[James Y]

Some movies were just fun to watch.
Night of the Comet (1984)

Love this movie! So many great 80's B-Movies like:
Chopping mall
Night of the creeps and many of the other "night of" movies
From beyond
Brain Damage
Re-animator...

Movies of my youth, that always seemed to be on USA up-all- night when you'd have sleep overs. Probably why I liked X-Files so much later on...

I forgot about Re-Animator and From Beyond. Excellent films! Re-Animator in particular.

I could add another movie that possibly straddles the line between sci-fi and horror, 1978's Dawn of the Dead.

Jim

[legOFwhat?]

Some movies were just fun to watch.
Night of the Comet (1984)

Love this movie! So many great 80's B-Movies like:
Chopping mall
Night of the creeps and many of the other "night of" movies
From beyond
Brain Damage
Re-animator...

Movies of my youth, that always seemed to be on USA up-all- night when you'd have sleep overs. Probably why I liked X-Files so much later on...

I forgot about Re-Animator and From Beyond. Excellent films! Re-Animator in particular.

I could add another movie that possibly straddles the line between sci-fi and horror, 1978's Dawn of the Dead.

Jim

Jim, I'm with you. I like all those older zombie movies and in many ways I miss those types of special effects. They didn't take themselves too seriously. Cheeky and hokey but fun.

[MacLaren]

I like the Terminator movies
Do yall remember Swamp Thing? I really liked watching that as a kid. Would it be considered Sci Fi?

[legOFwhat?]

Paul, I lump in monster movies with sci-fi and totally remember swamp thing. Wasn't Heather Locklear in one of those?

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

[James Y]

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

You're on a roll, Larry! They Live is another great sci-fi movie I forgot all about. Excellent movie, even if the FX are cheesy by today's standards. Or maybe even partly because of that.

As far as zombie movies go, I always found the old-school, shuffling zombies creepier and more believable than the running, screaming zombies of the post-2K zombie films. If zombies are supposed to already be at least partially messed-up, partly decomposed, and often partky-eaten and not whole-bodied anyway, how could they rise up and start sprinting like Usain Bolt?

The only 'running zombie' movie I did like (and they weren't actually undead zombies) is 28 Days Later, which I also forgot to mention earlier. However, IMO, the sequel sucked.

Jim

[legOFwhat?]

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

You're on a roll, Larry! They Live is another great sci-fi movie I forgot all about. Excellent movie, even if the FX are cheesy by today's standards. Or maybe even partly because of that.

As far as zombie movies go, I always found the old-school, shuffling zombies creepier and more believable than the running, screaming zombies of the post-2K zombie films. If zombies are supposed to already be at least partially messed-up, partly decomposed, and often partky-eaten and not whole-bodied anyway, how could they rise up and start sprinting like Usain Bolt?

The only 'running zombie' movie I did like (and they weren't actually undead zombies) is 28 Days Later, which I also forgot to mention earlier. However, IMO, the sequel sucked.

Jim

I like my zombies slow as well! There is a more recent faster zombie movie that I thought was enjoyable called "The girl with all the gifts". I'm not big on the gore factor of some of the modern zombie movies but did enjoy the 1st 28 days later as well. Dawn of the dead(2004) was probably my favorite.

[JSumm]

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

I definitely remember this movie as a kid. Loved it. Not sure I would watch it as an adult. May ruin it for me.

As far as zombie movies, I do love me some World War Z.

[legOFwhat?]

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

I definitely remember this movie as a kid. Loved it. Not sure I would watch it as an adult. May ruin it for me.

As far as zombie movies, I do love me some World War Z.

I read where, before Piper passed away, that he said "They Live" was a documentary

[JSumm]

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

I definitely remember this movie as a kid. Loved it. Not sure I would watch it as an adult. May ruin it for me.

As far as zombie movies, I do love me some World War Z.

I read where, before Piper passed away, that he said "They Live" was a documentary

That doesn't surprise me.

[max808]

Paul, I lump in monster movies with sci-fi and totally remember swamp thing. Wasn't Heather Locklear in one of those?

Anyone Rowdy Roddy Piper fans? "They Live" is one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies and the corny "**** comes to frog town" still makes me laugh!
"I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum" or something similar :)

Same here, monsters usually have some kinda supernatural/sci-fi aspect to them, like Hellboy is a monster movie I guess but could be considered occult sci-fi on account of the whole Lovecraftian theme. Tremors I would consider sci-fi as well and was likely influenced/inspired by Dune.

They Live is high up on my list of a handful of classics left to source. It looks amazing from the trailers and right up my alley... Obey!


Also Equilibrium is crazy good and one of Christian Bale's most outstanding and underrated films in my amateur opinion.