# Lack of scifi movies.



## Sapphire (Jun 2, 2007)

Has anyone else noticed a lack of science fiction movies lately? Maybe its just me but I think they used to make alot more.


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## Rane Longfox (Jun 3, 2007)

Hmmph, not really. They just used to be a lot better.


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## ray gower (Jun 3, 2007)

Sci Fi on film tends to run in cycles, every 5 years or so a small gaggle that appear.

But yes there have been a marked reduction in output since the demise of the 50's and 60's B Movies, but decent science fiction of any nature seems to be in short supply at present


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## Rane Longfox (Jun 3, 2007)

ray gower said:


> but decent science fiction of any nature seems to be in short supply at present


Well, I'd say you're just not reading the right books


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## Quokka (Jun 4, 2007)

I'm not so sure that there are less sci-fi movies being made recently compared to 20 or 30 years ago. I think the trend has shifted away from space science fiction, particularly the big budget hoping for a blockbuster movies... I guess the reasonably poor reaction to the Star Wars pequels have made people a bit cautious but I was thinking that recently there had been quite a bit of near future sci-fi's ie children of men, Deja Vu, Eternal Sunshine etc add in the current favourites of comic conversions and a few CGI and Zombie movies and like I said I think the status quo is holding about even.


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## roddglenn (Jun 4, 2007)

Whether you liked them or not, there's also been the likes of Minority Report, I, Robot, AI, Serenity.  We've got Transformers and Resident Evil 3 coming up.  But yes, fairly thin on the ground when you think about it.


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## Connavar (Jun 4, 2007)

Minority Report and Serenity are the only good SF i have seen this decade except Matrix movies which is really sad.


I think there are several great SF tv shows that you should try and dont hope for good SF from hollywood not these days.


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## HardScienceFan (Jun 4, 2007)

Connavar of Rigante said:


> Minority Report and Serenity are the only good SF i have seen this decade except Matrix movies which is really sad.
> 
> 
> I think there are several great SF tv shows that you should try and dont hope for good SF from hollywood not these days.



AND I still maintain that eternal sunshine of the spotless mind is a sf movie,and a pretty good one at that.


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## Connavar (Jun 4, 2007)

It was more of supernatural and drama one to me.  It was great sure, i really liked it but i didnt see it as SF even if its techniquely SF.


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## HardScienceFan (Jun 4, 2007)

Connavar of Rigante said:


> It was more of supernatural and drama one to me. It was great sure, i really liked it but i didnt see it as SF even if its techniquely SF.



perhaps it can't be classified.But the memorywipe pretty much made it SF to me.The problem is ,the whole film deviates so much from what SF Movies
usually look like...


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## Connavar (Jun 4, 2007)

Thats exactly why i didnt mention it as good SF movie from this decade cause even if its clear with the mindwipe thing made it SF, the rest movie was totaly different.

I actually wish Carry did more movies like that then tired over the top comedy where they milk his fame and he doesnt even try to be wacky anymore.


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## Joel007 (Jun 4, 2007)

It seems to be mostly horror films or badly done romantic comedies in popularity these days.


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## Gav (Jun 4, 2007)

HardScienceFan said:


> The problem is ,the whole film deviates so much from what SF Movies
> usually look like...



What do you mean?


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## Joel007 (Jun 4, 2007)

No firearms involved?


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## williamjm (Jun 5, 2007)

HardScienceFan said:


> AND I still maintain that eternal sunshine of the spotless mind is a sf movie,and a pretty good one at that.



I agree on both points.

I'm not sure there are necessarily that many fewer good SF movies being made. In the last year I thought "Children of Men", "A Scanner Darkly", "The Fountain", "The Prestige" and "Sunshine" were all good films. Was there really a time in the past when there was a large number of great SF movies being released every year? If so, I don't know when it was.


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## williamjm (Jun 5, 2007)

Connavar of Rigante said:


> I actually wish Carry did more movies like that then tired over the top comedy where they milk his fame and he doesnt even try to be wacky anymore.



It is a pity he doesn't do more serious films because both Eternal Sunshine and The Truman Show were good sci-fi films and his acting was very good in them, particularly in the former. He was quite good in "The Number 23" earlier this year, I thought, although the film itself was unconvincing.


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## dustinzgirl (Jun 5, 2007)

Sapphire said:


> Has anyone else noticed a lack of science fiction movies lately? Maybe its just me but I think they used to make alot more.



A lack of GOOD sci fi movies, yes.

PS: Truman show, awesome. Eternal sunshine, stupid.

: P


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## ScottSF (Jun 7, 2007)

Although I thought Eternal Sunshine was brilliant I wouldn’t call it sci-fi.  The definition of sci-fi is becoming too broad for my tastes when people are calling things like LOST and Spiderman science fiction.  Eternal Sunshine is listed as Drama/Romance on IMDB and it makes me think of those “what if” stories like It’s a Wonderful Life.  It could have just as easily been magic forgetting beans as it was a doctor performing selective brain damage.   

I’ve been frustrated about movies too.  We had the technology to tell any story but since the term sci-fi has become so broad I’ll just say I would like to see more movies about space exploration.  Even much of the space opera movies that I enjoy are very light on science.  I would love to see a screen play written by someone who actually has a foundation in Astronomy and Physics. . . sigh.


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## Quokka (Jun 7, 2007)

I really thought Enternal Sunshine was listed as Sci Fi on IMDB but your right it's not. Personally I think it should be, there are important plot developments that would usually be considered impossible and they chose to explain them with the use of technology.

Books like Le Guin's _Lathe of Heaven_ and Keye's _Flowers for Algernon_ used brief descriptions of 'impossible' technology to help explain stories that were focused on very different themes and both are considered classic sci fi novels.

_The Truman Show_ is listed as Sci Fi on IMDB and again it only uses the technology to create an environment where other ideas can be explored.

I guess thats why I said I didnt think there had been less sci fi being made just less space sci fi. I wonder if it isn't in part because peoples expectations are higher now, space isnt anywhere near as unknown... if your actor's standing on a moon, there had better be a spacesuit, low gravity, no sound etc.

Of course that doesnt always happen but maybe it gets picked up more now. The other thing is that I don't think space and aliens scare most people half as much as back in the 50's but we are terrified of out of control viruses, computers going wild. Basically one of the easiest 'baddies' to set up today are the scientists and governments. 

I'd agree ScottSF that it would be great to see more movies about space exploration that are backed up by better science. I'd love to see more movies about space exploration minus the killer aliens or finding a world identical to earth, surely there's enough in just travelling to another solar system to write an interesting story. But I suppose thats not going to be as easy a bet as another 'bug hunt' movie.


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## Connavar (Jun 7, 2007)

Its not cause of the space isnt anywhere near as unknown.  Its just that they dont come up with good ideas for SF movies.

The only thing they do is a take a SF good book and butcher it.  Starship Troopers anyone for example.....

There are so many different type of SF that there should be alot of good SF out there.  Its just cause mostly hollywood suck these days with everything except comic movies and remakes....


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## dustinzgirl (Jun 7, 2007)

Connavar of Rigante said:


> Its not cause of the space isnt anywhere near as unknown.  Its just that they dont come up with good ideas for SF movies.
> 
> The only thing they do is a take a SF good book and butcher it.  Starship Troopers anyone for example.....
> 
> There are so many different type of SF that there should be alot of good SF out there.  Its just cause mostly hollywood suck these days with everything except comic movies and remakes....



I agree, but I thought Starship Troopers was a brilliant movie. Better than many.

As for me, I usually watch the sci fi channel's made for tv movies...they are very reminiscent of outer limits, which I still watch....I've also been on this master of horror kick recently.....some of thier mix of sci fi and horror is absolutley perfect, most notably the episode where all the men went insane and started killing all the women and then there was aliens who were making it happen to clean up the earth....anyways, there have been some pretty bad sci fi movies, but some pretty good sci fi shows of late.


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## steve12553 (Jun 9, 2007)

dustinzgirl said:


> I agree, but I thought Starship Troopers was a brilliant movie. Better than many.


 
I have to agree at least in the sense that I think RAH himself might have appreceated it. It seemed to me to hold the spirit of the book.


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## stinking_dylan (Jun 28, 2007)

I think that a lot of great sci-fi movies have been released within the last 10 years or so.  As for eternal sunshin not being sci-fi, it's more sci-fi than star trek or most other space opera's which amount to being a soap opera on a space ship.

Some recentish favourites of mine; eternal sunshine, donnie darko, being john malkovich, ai, dark city, a scanner darkly, matrix, bicentenial man, cube, war of the worlds.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the fountain (love requiem for a dream) and tideland.


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## HardScienceFan (Jun 28, 2007)

good calls SD
very good indeed
AI is hugely UNDERRATED,unjustly so
as is D Darko
Dark City
Being JM


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## iansales (Jun 28, 2007)

Hollywood has never really made good sf films - the good ones are the exception rather than the rule. But there are other places to look - well, the rest of the world. 

Some good relatively recent sf films:
Returner
Avalon
Casshern
Natural City
Possible Worlds
Immortal
Renaissance

And I have to include a plug for one of my favourite films, Divine Intervention, which is arguably fantasy.


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