1001 SFF movies you must see before you die

[Justin_B]

Agree with 'The Last Starfigther' and 'Quiet Earth'.

They Live - low budget take on 'aliens among us / body snatchers' theme. Too short, poor script, but I love it anyway

Brain Dead - a Peter Jackson classic.

 

[clovis-man]

The Last Starfighter also had pretty cool CGI for the time, in the style of TRON, which also deserves a mention. I reckon both should be in the list, but yeah, I'm not so sure about Battle Beyond the Stars (although Robert Vaughn was fun as the gunfighter).

Re Battle Beyond The Stars, this is the one featuring a spaceship with boobs. 'Nuff said.

 

[thepaladin]

There's a lot of that. There are many SF/F movies that are a good idea, but suffer from poor execution. I really don't care for Enemy Mine, but it was a good idea. The movie is basicly a remake of Hell in the Pacific, a classic WWII movie staring Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune (with of course the addition of the alien reproductive twist). The idea is good, but not done that well. It's true of a lot of the films we love. The point is of course that some of us love some movies, and some of us love others. I guess I'd like to see a "whole bunch" of remakes with an eye to quality, acting ability, and technical proficheny....all.

 

[iansales]

Enemy Mine is actually based on a Hugo Award-winning novella by Barry B Longyear, published in 1979. So it's unlikely to be a remake of a war film. Of course, there's no knowing what inspired the author, though...

 

[biodroid]

I remember seeing Enemy Mine over 20 years ago and I probably forgot what the movie was about. I reckon the movie Sunshine was quite good, the whole threat in the background but the main issue basically being sort of like cabin fever in space a few million miles from the sun and no one left to destroy

 

[thatollie]

Akira: Landmark Anime movie with great characterisation and definitely SF.

Plan 9 from Outer Space: The worst movie ever, but it's so much fun you have to see it. SF

City of Ember: Kid's Fantasy/Diet Steampunk, based on the DuPrau novel.

 

[biodroid]

Ok I am lost thatollie, please explain steampunk to me, I liked City of Ember haven't seen the others.

 

[Interference]

Plan 9 from Outer Space: The worst movie ever, but it's so much fun you have to see it. SF

I may be in a very small minority here, but I feel sad when I watch that (and other) Ed Woods.

 

[thepaladin]

I've read that there were several inspirations but (I'm going with other writers here) Hell in the Pacific seemed to be the primary one.

Quote: Review by Nicholas Whyte
"Unlike in either version of "Arena", however, the human and alien are not doomed to fight to the death. Instead, they are forced to combine forces against their harsh environment. Again, this seems likely to have a source from a late 1960s screenplay, this time the 1968 John Boorman film Hell in the Pacific, which starred Lee Marvin and Toshirô Mifune as two WW2 pilots, one American and one Japanese, crashed on a Pacific island, who have to co-operate to survive. (Oddly enough there may be a precedent in another 1940s sf story, A.E. van Vogt's "Co-operate - or else!", collected in The War Against The Rull. Information on this point welcomed. [Note added January 2003: I tracked down The War Against The Rull and it seems rather different - the human and his unlikely partner are very different in size and ability, and united in their desire to evade the very present Rull, rather than equally matched and marooned far from anywhere.]) "

John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film/TV: CULT MOVIE REVIEW: Enemy Mine (1985)

Quote from review at: Moria - The science fiction, horror and fantasy movie review site - Enemy Mine
"But seeing the final result one wonders if the effort was worth it. Certainly it was not the breakthrough sf film that everybody hoped it would be and did only mediocre box-office business. The film is really a remake of John Boorman’s Hell in the Pacific (1968) set in space. Hell in the Pacific had Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune as American and Japanese pilots stranded on an island in the Pacific during World War II. And, despite its sf settings, Enemy Mine can’t seem to imagine much beyond being a version of Hell in the Pacific with funny rubber masks. For all the breakaway vision the film promised, it is banally unimaginative as sf. The Drac is presented with the interesting ability to impregnate itself but, for all Petersen and screenwriter Edward Khmara could care about showing its different socio-behavioural background, it had might as well be a Japanese pilot. It seems sad when you buy up a story that won the sf community’s two major award and then throw all the sf out."

So, I know it was a Novella, but I went with these. i've seen both films and I agreed, that's all. Maybe the use of the word "remake" was a bit strong, but I'm not the only one who did.

My point however which I don't want to get lost is, that it was a good idea, but done somewhat poorly. We see that a lot in Science Fiction and Fantasy films.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I've read that there were several inspirations but (I'm going with other writers here) Hell in the Pacific seemed to be the primary one.

Slightly off-topic, but I would urge any of you who haven't seen Hell in the Pacific to do so. Not a SFF classic, but a classic in its own right. I saw it in the theatre when it first was released, back when I was much younger. It made quite an impression on me.

 

[JDeathscript]

Gatttica.

 

[iansales]

So, I know it was a Novella, but I went with these. i've seen both films and I agreed, that's all. Maybe the use of the word "remake" was a bit strong, but I'm not the only one who did.

So why perpetuate other people's mistakes?

 

[thepaladin]

Off topic again but, because I agree, therefore don't think the statement is in error.

BUT, my point here was to discuss the poor execution of good ideas. There are a lot of classic Science Fiction and Fantasy movies that are fantasti ideas, but get short shritf in the production department. We usually dismiss it by saying that the technology wasn't there early on. But we discover a Forbidden Planet or a Metroplis. It's often been that the movies simply suffered from lack of funds and lack of understanding on the part of the "power people" at the movie studios. I don't think anyone other than fans got a glimmer of what could be until Star Wars made a ton of money.

 

[Rothgar]

Gatttica.

I'm being nitpicky but it's GATTACA. I always thought it was a clever title. The name comes from the nucleobases that form DNA code.

Adenine
Cytosine
Guanine
Thymine

 

[tangaloomababe]

I love these lists they remind you of movies you had forgotten but loved.
I loved Yul Brynner strutting his stuff in Westworld.
The original Planet of the Apes with good old Charlton Heston kneeling in front of the Statue of Liberty realizing he was home all along.
Pan's Labrynth a recent but amazingly wonderful movie which I could watch over and over.
The Princess Bride with the ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size) and the six fingered man. So funny.
Whilst I loved Pitch Black, I found Riddick a bit of a let down, but it was still good.
The LOTR trilogy have taken their place in the list of greats also now.
Gattica is a great movie, came across it by chance, the greatest, maybe not but its up there.
And of course, The Quiet Earth, not the best movie ever but its well worth watching and should be high up on the list.
The list goes on but thanks for the reminders

 

[thepaladin]

It gets made fun of a lot but did anyone mention Soylent Green? It's dated and at times maybe a little corny, but still a pretty good movie for it's time.

 

[gully_foyle]

It gets made fun of a lot but did anyone mention Soylent Green? It's dated and at times maybe a little corny, but still a pretty good movie for it's time.

Soylent Green is an excellent movie. I haven't seen it for a while but I don't remember any particular cornyness to it. It is also notable as a film adaptation of Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room although I understand (having not read the book) that there are some pretty significant plot differences.

 

[gully_foyle]

Minority Report - I avoided this movie for ages cause I didn't want to see Cruise and Spielberg mangling a classic Philip K Dick story, but when I finally saw it I thought it was a pretty good try. Now I've just re-watched it and I think it deserves a mention here. The original PKD story makes for the basis of this movie and gives it most of its zing. The rewrite put some cliched plot lines in there, but what can you do? The washed out look to the cinematography gave the world a dystopian feel. And it's reasonably understated in its violence.

However, the final scenes are pure porridge and completely unnecessary.

 

[Lenny]

I watched Soylent Green recently and didn't think much of it - it brought nothing new to the table, in my opinion, though I did like the twist.

I also watched A Scanner Darkly. It's a film with SF aspects, rather than a SF film, but it's still interesting. The art direction was a strange touch.

 

[clovis-man]

I also watched A Scanner Darkly. It's a film with SF aspects, rather than a SF film, but it's still interesting. The art direction was a strange touch.

I think you'd have to say it's one of the strangest Robert Downey Jr. roles also.