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RamZar wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 23, 2023 8:18 pm

RamZar wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:50 pm

My favorite 21st Century Sci-Fi Movies (in chronological order):

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
2. Minority Report (2002)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4. 2046 (2004)
5. Children of Men (2006)
6. The Prestige (2006)
7. Moon (2009)
8. Avatar (2009)
9. District 9 (2009)
10. Inception (2010)
11. Cloud Atlas (2012)
12. Looper (2012)
13. Snowpiercer (2013)
14. Her (2013)
15. Gravity (2013)
16. Pacific Rim (2013)
17. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
18. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
19. Lucy (2014)
20. Interstellar (2014)
21. Ex Machina (2014)
22. The Martian (2015)
23. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
24. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
25. Arrival (2016)
26. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
27. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
28. A Quiet Place (2018)
29. A Quiet Place Part II (2021)
30. Dune (2021)
31. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

If I had to choose just one sci-fi movie released thus far this century it would have to be Minority Report (2002). It’s based on a short novel by Philip K. Dick about a pre-crime police unit and directed by Steven Spielberg. In my opinion, this is also Spielberg’s best sci-fi movie. It’s a fluid and entertaining sci-fi crime thriller. I’ve watched it a good half a dozen times and appreciate it more with each viewing due to the complex plot.




It took 3 trailers to get to the crux of the plot!

https://youtu.be/mdhaZ7cJAx8?si=Xizr5jFqCJYA7-9P
https://youtu.be/qHcCzIgHwV0?si=LUPP3JpWXQLbRjSb

https://youtu.be/3JNsNp2DVSE?si=bS0HsGlO-_YqRMC2

I agree RamZar, Minority Report is a great film with a considerable mindbending twist. Morale of the story: we are architects of our own destiny. In the words of our great Chief Sal: the wolf I feed...

9] Riddick (2013)
by David Twohy & Vin Diesel
extended director's cut > 02:07:05
aspect ratio > 2.39:1 anamorphic
premiere > 18/09/2013 BE
budget > $110 million
box office > $98.3 million

Riddick finds himself Lord Marshal of a vast legion doing everything he can to stay ahead of the curve in this primal and ruthless environment where, according to ancient tradition, you keep what you kill. As he rekindles his love for four legged disposal units, the mysterious origins of his species become all too apparent. The year of our Lord 2588, the last Furyan left alive goes on the prowl...

10] Jupiter Ascending 3D (2014)
by The Wachowskis & Grant Hill
aspect ratio > 2.40:1 anamorphic
theatrical cut > 02:07:34
premiere > 04/02/2014 BE
budget > $176+ million
box office > $183.9 million

A young cleaning lady of Slavic descent doing her rounds in Chicago abruptly finds out she is actually the one and only heiress to planet Earth and all its riches when a milspec werewolf skates down from the heavens on zero gravity rollerblades to save his empress from cosmic special interest groups and look good doing it. Blatant consumerism and blind indulgence appear to be at the root of this intergalactic rollercoaster with Jupiter Jones at the wheel...

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) is a future totalitarian regime which hates books and seek to burn them all. The movie was directed by the famous French director Francois Truffaut. It's still quite an enjoyable movie with an edgy soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann. Some quotes from the characters in the movie:

Guy Montag : Fahrenheit four-five-one is the temperature at which book paper catches fire and starts to burn.

Guy Montag : Well, it's a job just like any other. Good work with lots of variety. Monday, we burn Miller; Tuesday, Tolstoy; Wednesday, Walt Whitman; Friday, Faulkner; and Saturday and Sunday, Schopenhauer and Sartre. We burn them to ashes and then burn the ashes. That's our official motto.

Clarisse : But why do you burn books?

Guy Montag : Books make people unhappy, they make them anti-social.

Clarisse : Is it true that a long time ago, firemen used to put out fires and not burn books?

Guy Montag : Your uncle is right, you are light in the head, put out fires? Houses have always been fireproof.

Clarisse : Ours isn't...

Guy Montag : Well, it should be condemned, destroyed, and you'll have to move to one that is.





https://youtu.be/9GHEBWITnlU?si=svIw39jqwAmXlEu2
https://youtu.be/r6VUExA5UKA
https://youtu.be/FUQthEm1G3M?si=IsC898zGiUqAxwko

Thank you RamZar for adding this classic, which I haven't seen yet. Someone once said, "where books are burnt, sooner or later people will burn."

Fantastic Planet (1973) (AKA Wild Planet, Savage Planet, La Planète Sauvage, Divoká Planeta) is a great animated sci-fi. It was a coproduction of France and Czechoslovakia. The giant advanced tech Draggs had these small humanoid Oms as pets but also exterminated the wild Oms as pests! Eventually, the Oms gained tech knowledge and started their revenge. Finally, both sides decided to peacefully coexist. Very imaginative in mood, story, sight and sound. Only 72 minutes.



https://youtu.be/LE3AaxGKaEg
https://youtu.be/mgVHJXg6Fbo

Godzilla Minus One (2023) opened on Friday, December 1, 2023 and it has gotten rave reviews from both critics and audiences. I’m going to see it on Tuesday.




https://youtu.be/OPIKfDGmNaM?si=jPWgw_jhagn60R4I

I don't know if anyone has mentioned Automata but I watched it a couple of weeks ago and found it entertaining. It's not a high-budget blockbuster but a good movie nonetheless.

Watched Godzilla Minus One (2023) in the theaters. Overall, it’s a superb movie on many levels. It’s a Godzilla origins story starting in the final days of WWII and Godzilla getting bigger with successive atomic explosions after WWII ended. It’s the best Godzilla movie. I can’t believe the budget was just $15 million. In Hollywood it’d be closer to $200 million. It’s an excellent sci-fi movie with lots of emotional scenes. A great addition to the genre and subgenre.

Thank you RamZar for keeping this thread on track. I have been neglecting my duties on here lately and will try to correct that sooner than later. Last steelbooks I bought were The Flash and Transformers Rise of the beasts. Both were surprisingly good, especially The Flash I really liked a lot despite DC's lack of originality in general and their blind copycat behavior in particular. Black Adam was a complete dud, it took me 5 tries to even get through it. The whole superhero floating/levitating schtick cracks me up every time.

I'll have to give Godzilla a watch. I just finished watching HALO Season 1. Episode 1 was annoying but it only got better from there. I think the entire season is available on Netflix in preparation for Season 2.

11] Terminator Genisys 3D (2015)
by Alan Taylor & Dana Goldberg
aspect ratio > 2.40:1 anamorphic
theatrical cut > 02:06:??
premiere > 21/06/2015 DE
budget > $155 million
box office > $440.6 million

There is no fate but that which we make for ourselves...

12] The Martian 3D (2015)
by Ridley Scott & Simon Kinberg
aspect ratio > 2.40:1 anamorphic
theatrical cut > 02:21:??
premiere > 11/09/2015 CA
budget > $108 million
box office > $630.6 million

They say once you grow crops somewhere you've colonized it, so technically I colonized Mars. In your face Neill Armstrong!

I watched the first few episodes of Resident Alien last night. Really good so far. Funny, light-hearted, but poignant at times.

Since Thanksgiving, I’ve watched several TV seasons of some sci-fi series and all were good or very good (the percentage ratings are from Rotten Tomatoes with critics and audience scores — the letter grade is mine):

• For All Mankind: Season 4 on Apple TV+ — 10 hours (100%/85%) A-
• Silo: Season 1 (2023) on Apple TV+ — 8 hours (88%/61%) B+
• Foundation: Season 2 (2023) on Apple TV+ — 9 hours (100%/78%) B+
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: Season 1 on Apple TV+ — 8 hours (89%/77%) B+
• The Time Tunnel (ABC 1966-1967): The Complete Series in Digital Library — 25 hours B+
• Three-Body (CCTV 2023): The Complete Series on Amazon Prime — 23 hours B+
• The Wheel of Time: Season 2 on Amazon Prime — 9 hours (86%/82%) B
• Gen V: Season 1 on Amazon Prime — 7 hours (97%/76%) B
• Upload: Season 3 on Amazon Prime — 5 hours (85%/80%) B

13] Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 3D (2017)
by Luc Besson & Olivier Megaton
aspect ratio > 2.40:1 anamorphic
theatrical cut > 02:17:04
premiere > 26/08/2017 BE
budget > $180 million
box office > $225.9 million

In its great wisdom the Central Committee has decided to use all resources necessary to release the space station from the Earth's gravity. Its new course is set for the Magellan Cloud. Like the great explorer Magellan, the Alpha station will journey into the unknown. A symbol of our values and knowledge it will carry a message of peace and unity to the farthest regions of the universe. Our thoughts and prayers go with you. Godspeed and good luck.

Luc Besson tried to capture the magic of his great sci-fi movie The Fifth Element (1997) but Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) just couldn't get there and it was quite disappointing. Perhaps his best movie was the early Léon: The Professional (1994) which introduced us to the very young Natalie Portman. I very much enjoyed his second best sci-fi movie Lucy (2014) starring Scarlett Johansson.

I agree Valerian was disappointing due to an uneven storyline and terrible casting of the main character, but the cinematography and special effects were remarkable and well worth a high res view.

https://youtu.be/u0FX8sd1uVo

shunsui wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 15, 2024 8:59 pm

I agree Valerian was disappointing due to an uneven storyline and terrible casting of the main character, but the cinematography and special effects were remarkable and well worth a high res view.

The first 10 minutes are outstanding where it's about the space station accompanied by David Bowie's classic song "Space Oddity" and the aliens being attacked. Once the two main characters show up it goes downhill! Visuals cannot overcome the muddled story and bad acting!

https://youtu.be/iYYRH4apXDo

As someone who grew up reading Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, Isamov, and others, I love Sci-Fi. I have watched good movies and bad along with good tv shows and bad.

But movie watching itself has changed as has the movie experience. In 1979, I sat in a movie theater with a teenage girl who grabbed my arm at various points during the movie Alien when we saw it for the first time on the big screen. We watched it again just a couple of weeks ago in our living room and while it is still good, it was certainly not the same.

There are very few movies you can see that you don't know the plot, the storyline, and heck, maybe even the ending before you even go and see it. When I went to see The Matrix, I literally just went to the theater, picked a random movie that I knew nothing about and sat down to watch it. I was blown away. It was fantastic on many levels. That was the last movie I saw which was that good and that I knew nothing about. Such a rare event....

With the increase in TV sizes and great home theater capabilities, we rarely go to the movies anymore except for something that deserves to be seen on the big screen. And if that is the case, we usually prefer to see it on IMAX for full effects. I remember seeing The Marvel Avengers in 3D at the IMAX. That was really nice. The last one we saw was Dune Pt1 which I thought deserved the IMAX encounter. Having seen it at the theater and at home, I am glad I saw it at the IMAX first. The scope and size justifies it.

How has your viewing changed how your enjoy or perceive the movie experience? Do you still go the theater for all first runs, or only special ones?