urbpan | Where's the sci-fi?

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Where's the sci-fi?

An awful lot of the movies I've been reviewing lately have been horror movies. Halloween is to blame for some of that: I see it coming and load my queue up with more horror movies than i could watch in a year. I'd like to review some sci-fi/adventure type movies, but I don't have many on the way. Here's a run-down of what i have coming that netflix considers 'Sci-fi/fantasy.' What do you think i should review?

A Scanner Darkly (2006); it looks interesting enough that i've already bumped it up to the top.

Creature (1985); An Alien rip-off with klaus kinski. This, i notice, is a horror movie. i think netflix puts any movie that takes place in space or in the future in the sci-fi column, despite its tone.

Transformers (2007); i'm surprised this isn't listed as 'children/family'.

Chip Factor (2007); Starring public Enemy's professor Griff: "Five strangers participate in a 72-hour research study where they are implanted with ability enhancing microchips. The subjects are unaware of the chips deadly side effects as they are challenged to survive for three days trapped in a test facility."

American Astronaut 2001; This comes highly recommended by my friend Barb. i suspect it may be so weird as to defy my ability to review it.

The Road Warrior (1981); no, i've never seen it. i don't think i'll have anything to add to the body of criticism that already exists, but i do want to see it.

Pitch Black 2000; i'm very interested in this. i suspect it's rather like Predator in that it's man-meat vs. monster action/horror.

Death Race 2000 (1975). no, i've never seen it.

Minotaur (2005); "This teen horror fantasy, shot on digital video, is a loose retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur." Why did i put this in my queue again?

Alien: Resurrection (1997); just for completeness' sake.

Innerspace (1987); First sci-fi comedy on the list. it's supposed to be pretty good.

Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1992); i'm nervous about jeff Daniels, after Arachnophobia.

V for Vendetta (2006); i'm waiting for the hype to die down. i never did read the book.

THX 1138 (1971); pre-muppet, dystopic George lucas. i'll bite.

A boy and his Dog (1975); i saw the first 10 minutes of this on cable and hated it. Alexis seems to think it has value so i'm giving it another chance. Don johnson pre-miami Vice is the big selling point. yeesh.

Zardoz (1974);

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004); i was interested in seeing how a movie with completely cgi backgrounds would look, but now i've seen 300 and Sin City i'm not in a hurry to see this anymore. it does look kind of fun.

The Abyss (1989); Alexis says to me "you haven't seen it? it's pretty good. Except for the ending, it sucks."

The Fly/The Fly 2 (both jeff Goldblum movies on one disc); no, i have never seen them. These are horror movies, i believe.

Gattaca (1997); The concept sounds pretty stupid to me, but it's supposed to be pretty good.

Equilibrium (2002); This is also supposed to be pretty good. it sounds really stupid to me.

HG Well's War of the World (2005); not the tom cruise version (which i liked) but a version starring C. Thomas howell (Soul man). it's supposed to be horrible, but i love the story so i love to see different takes on it.

Outland (1981);

The Cave (2005); horror.

Dinocroc (2004); horrible, made for cable horror.

Time Barbarians (1992); "Following a barbarian war, Mandrak kills Doran's warrior queen, Lystra, and escapes through a time portal to modern-day Los Angeles." We may have a winner.

Teenage Caveman (2002); piece of crap made-for-tv remake of the 1958 piece of crap.

Blood of heroes (1989); post apocalyptic blood sport gladiator with Rutger hauer for special effects.

Starship Troopers 2; oh, come on, i'm curious.

The Wolves of kromer (1998); German gay werewolf romance.

Cerberus (2005); Another swords meets city adventure, this time featuring Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear!) against a three-headed dog.

Rollerball (1975); no, i've never seen it.

Spaced out (1979); Sci-fi sex comedy co-written by Bob Saget (!?)

The Brothers Grimm (2005); do i want to extend my continuing disillusionment with Gilliam films?

Strange Days (1995).

A.I. (2001); no, i've never seen it. yes, i have to. it inspires such strong feelings from people.

Code 46 (2004); This sounds really cool, like a future noir.

Death machine (1994); Remember in Robocop when the evil corporate bastards created their own robocop and it's evil and kills people? this movie appears to be a rip-off of that. Plus all the major characters are named after directors. "Scott Ridley," get it?

okay, i know that seems like a long list, but there are 3 or 4 times as many horror movies in my queue. i've got like 50 werewolf movies, 40 zombie movies, and as many giant/mutant animal movies. where are the robots??

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My requests for reviews are Innerspace, Sky Captain, and Spaced Out.

My notes on the few of these movies I've actually seen follow:
Pitch Black has Claudia Black from Farscape and Stargate! Didn't do much for me, but I wasn't really paying attention. Dr. O liked it, but he suggests that you don't think too much about the ecology of the monsters. (Quote: "Vin Diesel's acting is better than any I saw in Spiderman!")

I liked Gattaca. I have to admit I watched it because Joss Whedon recommended it.

V for Vendetta was excellent. I haven't read the book either, but I really enjoyed the movie.

Brothers Grimm was actually pretty interesting. Better than say, Van Helsing. I don't remember much about it at all, though, and I saw it this year. Does that say more about me or the movie?

Also, regarding A Boy and His Dog - I haven't seen it, but my mother-in-law accidentally purchased it on VHS, when she meant to buy My Life as a Dog. She was VERY confused.

I did not realize Claudia Black was in Pitch Black! But she was not yet on Star Gate of course, so I had not yet had the opportunity to make her acquaintance! ;) And I have thought about the ecology, too....very dead end, a non-starter, really, but beyond that it was thrilling, scary, and good! :)

I'm curious as to what you'll think of AI - a lot of what peope didn't like about it were things I thought were intentional.

The Cave SUCKED. The Descent was much better, as those things go, but the ending was bad.

The Brothers Grimm was awful - but I'm a huge Gilliam fan. I loved The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil, and Twelve Monkeys.

Sky Captain was eh. I barely remember it - it's quite forgettable.

I really enjoyed V for Vendetta. Did you like Children of Men?

I recall really enjoying Gattaca, but that was when I was 17 or so.

The Abyss is EXCELLENT - it's a classic. The director's cut ending is not so great, but the rest is pure gold sci-fi - up there with Alien.

Inner Space was fun, but might seem dated now.

I'm curious about Scanner Darkly, Pitch Black, and THX 1138.

I really enjoyed V for Vendetta. Did you like Children of Men?

http://urbpan.livejournal.com/496270.html

Oh, good. I remember someone not liking it, but couldn't remember if it was you or not.

V is very tame in comparison - and not nearly as good, but it was fun.

I see we even had a conversation about it! Go-go-Gadget short term memory!

The Cave SUCKED. The Descent was much better, as those things go, but the ending was bad.

That's because they FUCKED YOU AMERICANS UP THE ASS! I mean they turned you over and just reamed you. Brutally.

I'm not even kidding.

Have you SEEN the Britsh ending?

She's in the cave giggling to herself in a total delusion with her daughter alive and there with the creatures coming to eat her.

Still...not my favorite movie of BNAT7.

What I saw on DVD was the "Director's Cut" ending. The impression I got was that she was crazy, ultimately, but they were trying to pack too many endings into the thing, and it was like they couldn't make up their mind. Like The Ring, it would have benefited from ending about twenty minutes earlier.

OMG OUTLAND! Sky Captain was okay. Did you see The Keep?

Re: Zardoz - is that Sean Connery? oh dear

Aliens is decent. Scanner Darkly also worth it - just for Robt. Downey Jr if nothing else. Like, whoa.

what a list. yah. i think i've seen or have most of those too. geez :>

scanner darkly - have - very good. creepy, not quite like the book

creature - saw it, forgetabble

transformers - have - good, but the transforms are too busy, and there's actual death, so it's not a kid movie per se. a good intro for more movies, and a longer cut.

chip factor - never heard of it, sounds like a review for the game Portal

american astronaut - also never heard of

road warrior - ah, classic. just saw all of them on tape, good, gave away

pitch black - excellent! better than chronicles/etc of riddick. it's more man vs man with menacing creatures and more menancing people.

death race 2000 - might have caught it at a con

minotaur - er what?

alien: resurrection. yeah, see it for completeness... alien vs predator better. coming next month: alien vs predator R :>

innerspace - was okay, dated

grand tour: ??? come on, you loved the spider movie :)

V: watchble, don't own, probably won't

thx1138 - ah, distopia for sure. good

a boy and his dog totally rocks :) classic

zardoz - also rocks, for different reasons

sky captain? eh. pretty, forgettable.

abyss? classic sci-fi. yah, poor endings depending on version. worth seeing on big screen if possible - lots of grainy detail.

fly/fly2 - bzzzzzz - love it

gattaca - wow

HG wells ward of the worlds 2005 version - haven't seen it. would like to just to be complete. the cruise version sucks ass.

outland - well, yaes!

cave - suck/ dinocroc - suck, time barbarians? are we kidding? i think i caught that on scifi. horrible... teenage caveman? crap yes. blood of heroes. eh...

starship troopers 2 - i have it to be complete :) i LIKED the movie. i have the animated series too. schlock and i love it.

wolves... cerberus... eh what?

rollerball - classic. see it with running man :)

spaced out? skip

grimm? skip

strange days? once :> might as well go with liquid sky and the other similar movies :)

AI - watchable, i liked, forgettable in its way

where's godzilla? i challenge you to find "godzilla vs biollante" :)

and gosh yes, whole realms of good stuff. lots of modern vampire movies too... blood rayne, blood the vampire, blade 1-3/4, ultraviolet (the engish tv series), ultraviolet - the milla movie (unrelated except as vampires), sin city, planet terror, and death proof!

coming in december: blade runner final cut :)

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Innerspace is hilarious -- and I'm not normally a comedy fan. I liked Strange Days, but then I will watch Ralph Feinnes and Angela Bassett in pretty much anything.

I liked Gattaca (I especially like the name)... but I'm a big fan of the people in it.

I didn't hate AI, it's a little long, but definitely worth watching.

Innerspace used to be one of my favorite movies and I can imagine it is dated (because it is contemporary).

I liked a Scanner Darkly, but not nearly as much as the book. It was interesting to see how they accomplished the vision of the book and I didn't think the movie was bad, just different. The further away from the book you are, the better.

Those are my picks of movies on the list that I"ve seen and liked the most.

Creature. Anything with Klaus Kinski is that much more awesome.

I think you should just review that picture of Connery in a... whatever that is.

American Astronaut is amazing, and so very very odd.

Equilibrium is as dumb as it sounds, but the fight scenes are just on the awesome side of ridiculous. There is a fairly central scene in which he kills a large number of people; memorably including a backflip over a motorcycle, gun in each hand, shooting a several seperate people; ... in order to save a puppy.

I vote for Zardoz...cuz how can you say no to those thighs...HOW????

Well, you knew I'd chime in on all of them, right? Actually, there were so many that I had to just say I hadn't seen that I pared it down.

A Scanner Darkly - Animated Phillip K Dick... Haven't seen it, but how bad could it be?

Creature - Kinski puts the K in Kreepy, but I haven't seen this one.

Transformers - Fun popcorn. I never watched the cartoon or played with the toys but I still enjoyed it. You'll have to take it with a heaping helping of WSoD, particularly near the end when the soldiers decide the best course of action when being pursued by major baddies is to head directly to a major population center so they can put a couple million civilians at risk.

The Road Warrior - still? Cripes. I forget, have you seen Mad Max?

Pitch Black 2000 - Best role I've seen Vin Diesel in. Very creepy. Skip the sequel in which they make the mistake of trying to make Diesel more heroic. I swear I'm not making this up: There's a scene in which they're trying to get somewhere before the sunrises because it will fry them to a crisp on contact and they're climbing up a mountain and the rising sun is pursuing them up the mountain. Yes the rising sun somehow strikes the bottom of a mountainfirst on this planet.

Death Race 2000 (1975). - Just saw it this year. Ehn. It was okay but your life won't be incomplete if you skip it.

Alien: Resurrection (1997); - you know how the quality degrades when you photocopy a photocopy....?

Innerspace (1987); - Seen bits and pieces of it. Let me know if it's worth actually putting in my queue

V for Vendetta (2006) - Very good. Hugo Weaving actually manages to convincingly axt expressively and subtly inside a Guy Fawkes mask. I realize this is heresy, but the movie is better than the book. The book was written in 6 page chunks while Moore was still learning the craft.

THX 1138 (1971); - I think Doc is the only person I know who's actually seen it. I suspect it's only watchable as a historic document.

A boy and his Dog (1975); - I actually liked it quite a bit, although it kind of feels like a made for TV movie with cursing. I think you'll get a kick out of the creepy pasty stepford amish underground dwellers.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004); - Yep. more popcorn. Fun but no depth. It looks like someone's RPG campaign gone big screen.

The Abyss (1989); Alexis is pretty much on the money with her review. Still worth watching and then mentally writing your own better ending.

The Fly/The Fly 2 horror with heavy SF elements. I didn't see two, but I know you'll like the first one.

Gattaca (1997); All my geek friends tell me I need to see this.

HG Well's War of the World - cripes, they do keep remaking that in one form or another don't they. I'm leary of the star, although apparently he's starring in something called "Mutant Vampirs Zombies from the 'Hood" this year.

Outland (1981) I Remember not liking this much but being so completely forgettable that I've never felt the need to speak out about it.

Dinocroc (2004); - Your making this crap up, right?

Teenage Caveman (2002); - wouldn't it be easier and less painful to just flagelate yourself?

Blood of heroes (1989); - How many cheesy genre flicks can Rutger Howard be in?

Starship Troopers 2; - um, I'm NOT curious unless you can promise me an even more fascist Doogie Howzer.

The Wolves of kromer (1998); a German gay werewolf romance? How is this SF?

Cerberus (2005); The real horror here is that I can still remember all the lyrics to BJ and the bear, and regalled/terrorized my game night friends with it. I've seen parts of a few flicks in this genre and they're never real good..

Spaced out (1979); - well, you've got my curiousity peaked.

The Brothers Grimm (2005); - scattered and sad. I so wanted this to be more enjoyable than it was.

Here's a few ideas for some SF you might give a shot if you haven't already seen them

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Best Phillip K Dick quirky romance that Dick never wrote.

Lilo and Stitch: Look, if you're going to watch a remake of Teenage Caveman you can't pooh pooh it just cause it's a Disney flick. It's decent SF, funny and it always makes me choke up near the end. plus, it's chock full of Elvis music.

Time After Time: You've almost certainly seen it, but I think it's kind of a forgotten gem worthy of a review.

Super Mario Brothers: It manages to be terrible even with John Leguizamo, Bob Hoskins Lance Henrickson and Dennis Hopper in it. Still, I know your review of it would have me in stitches and it's remains Mojo Nixon's best film role.

Finally, Rent the goddamned Venture Brothers. You won't be sorry.

Eternal Sunshine is in the queue--netflix doesn't consider it sci-fi, but, you know.

lilo and stitch i actually liked. in my review i pointed out that it was a cartoon--not simply not cgi, but really using traditional animation in a cartoony way. i liked it.

time after time i've seen several times for some reason. When i think of David warner i think of that, and Time Bandits--why is he the villain in two 80's time travel movies?

holy shit i had no idea about the cast of super mario brothers.

VB: it's in the queue.

Hey,

You can't go wrong with CREATURE. Love Klaus Kinski's character ruining a tense moment by having all the characters looking worried etc, and then a reveal of KK nonchalantly eating a sandwich *g*

You've never seen Cronenberg's THE FLY? Dude, you must! The "Insect Politics" scene is my favourite dialogue ever...

Oh shit, do Zardoz/Outland back to back!!! Both so cheesy and good and insane!

AI wrecked my mind and made me want to kill my two best friends (we all went and saw it together, and spent the rest of the day in such foul moods). I would stay far, far away from that movie. It's not "bad in a good way".

If you dig cheesy sci-fi movies, I cordially invite you to our house on Thursdays for our Bad Movie Nights. Ask

oldest_song for details! Last night we watched Slither, and oh, how ridiculous! Had a lot of good one-liners though. And we had brie and wine. And it was good.

i'm astounded to report that another friend of mine hosts 'bad movie nights' on Thursdays! now i'll have to see what's showing where to decide!

cottonmanifesto and i own Slither, so that will become a family tradition.

i'll go check out

oldest_song's journal for clues.

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