Best/worst Sci Fi Movie

Bandit LOAF said:
Heh, yeah. My favorite point about the last Matrix movie, which my brother pointed out first, is the cat. That's probably the most genuinely clever thing in the original movie, where he sees the cat twice and they explain that the feeling of deja-vu is the Matrix resetting itself in some way. It's a really cool piece of writing because the audience reacts immediately... *I* feel that way and I can't explain it!

... then in the third movie we're instead told that *SEEING THAT CAT* means the Matrix is resetting itself. Clearly, clearly, clearly no matter what the credits say, the person who wrote the third movie didn't actually write - or understand - the first one.
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Both Matrix sequels feel like bad fanfiction. The directors were clearly given much too free hands on account of the original Matrix being such a smash hit. I think "overindulgence" best describes the sequels...

As to time-travel movies: anybody seen Primer? It may not be entertaining sci-fi to a lot of people, but it is definitely good sci-fi!
 
Max Gene said:
You're in it right now.... :p
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No, he's in the thread for the worst Sci Fi movie. DaveO was talking about all movie genres.

And by the way, Dave, if anything Indy is a "rip-off" of Allan Quartermain (Quatermain in the original work). The original book "King Solomon's Mines" came out in 1885, with movies made of it in 1937, 1950, and 1985 (the last being the direct predecessor of "[AQ] and the Lost City of Gold"). :p

(As for it being one of the worst, I disagree, but as I said above, that's another thread.)
 
I've got another one, Zardoz. I watched it the other day with my friends as part of our semi monthly Movie night. Going in we knew it was going to be bad, or at the very least extremely wierd. Well needless to say it was both. But I didn't expect that it wouldn't make the least ammount of sense. I tried to explain it to a friend after seeing it and I couldn't quite manage it. The plot didn't make sense, everything else about the movie was hideous (Sean Connery in a speedo-diaper thing and suspenders? The hell?). It felt like the entire movie was based on some kind of god-awful drug trip he had.
 
Did anyone ever see the Movie "Chronicles of the Osiris"? That was actually a decent movie that they were planning on making into a series but it never materialized.
 
frostytheplebe said:
Did anyone actually see Solaris with George Clooney? I never thought I'd actually fall asleep watching a sci fi movie... until then.
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I saw it. The first time I fell asleep. The second time, I got annoyed. Then a strange thing happened - on the third viewing, I kind of got into it.

I'm not recommending that you sit through it three times, and it by no means even approaches my 'best' list, but for whatever reason, it got better for me with each viewing. :confused:
 
ELTEE said:
I saw it. The first time I fell asleep. The second time, I got annoyed. Then a strange thing happened - on the third viewing, I kind of got into it.

I'm not recommending that you sit through it three times, and it by no means even approaches my 'best' list, but for whatever reason, it got better for me with each viewing. :confused:
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That happens with even the worst movies. Usually because the shock wears off the second and third times around of just how bad the film is.

I had a similar experience with Battlefield Earth!
 
It's called internal rationalisation (...or something like that). When you spend time on something that you know is a waste of time, you start rationalising to yourself why it's not such a waste of time after all. In other words, if you're watching a terrible movie a second or third time round, you want to find something to like about it, so that you can justify to yourself why you just spent two hours on this terrible movie again :).
 
Quarto said:
It's called internal rationalisation (...or something like that). When you spend time on something that you know is a waste of time, you start rationalising to yourself why it's not such a waste of time after all. In other words, if you're watching a terrible movie a second or third time round, you want to find something to like about it, so that you can justify to yourself why you just spent two hours on this terrible movie again :).
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Mental note, no more rewatching bad movies. :D
 
Bandit LOAF said:
- Forbidden Planet. Forbidden Planet may be the perfect science fiction movie -- beautiful art direction, amazing effects for the time, a completely serious and interesting story... and it's clearly the archetype for the original Star Trek! Please, JMS, stay away.
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I definitely agree on Forbidden Planet being one of the best, however, JMS already got his "grubby paws" on it while doing Babylon 5. The Great Machine on Epsilon III was a near copy of the big machine from Forbidden Planet. Also, where the effects were definitely Disney, I didn't feel as though that detracted from the id monster. Oh, and the corded belt communicators were really awesome!
 
I’ll keep the best for myself. But there are some bad ones that I don’t think have been mentioned already.

Worst:
“Lawnmower Man 2”- This was the kind of movie you’d expect to find on late-night cable. Something you’d watch only if you were bored enough and unable to find the energy to change the channel. All the time, I was trying to figure out Matt Frewer’s motivation for taking a role in this; my reasoning is that he had a mortgage or something.

“Galaxy of Terror”- Amazingly, this movie has not been put on MST3K or RiffTrax. Maybe it’s on their “to do” list. Rodger Cormen’s (very) low budget sci-fi monster flick.

“Species 2”- A movie you’d like if you’re a closet guro fan…

“MoonTrap” – While it’s not the worst; it’s watchable. Something to kill ninety minutes.

“Leviathan” “Deep Star Six”- “Reactionary” movies made and released around the time of James Cameron’s “The Abyss”. Everyone thought that “The Abyss” would be something like “Aliens under water” and the two movies reflected that.

“Star Trek Nemesis”- Considering myself a trek fan, this movie was more failure then finale. It was so bad that even it’s actors ripped into it at conventions.

“Alien Resurrection”- A lot of people rip into Alien3, but this one just made the franchise crash and burn. It looked like they made the movie from they read from the Dark Horse comics, complete with all the comic caveats: cloning, cloned monsters. One-dimensional characters armed with one-liners. I think it’s one saving grace was the trailer music (“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star…”); I have it as an MP3 track to listen to.
 
TigerNobleHeart said:
“Star Trek Nemesis”- Considering myself a trek fan, this movie was more failure then finale. It was so bad that even it’s actors ripped into it at conventions.
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As bad as this was, I don't see how you can put it on the list without first putting ST5 and ST Insurrection on first, those were even worse!
 
frostytheplebe said:
As bad as this was, I don't see how you can put it on the list without first putting ST5 and ST Insurrection on first, those were even worse!
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http://www.crius.net/zone/showpost.php?p=369194&postcount=31

(As a point of reference, there should be a deep sense of shame associated with having to be linked to an earlier post in the same thread you replied to...)

“Leviathan” “Deep Star Six”- “Reactionary” movies made and released around the time of James Cameron’s “The Abyss”. Everyone thought that “The Abyss” would be something like “Aliens under water” and the two movies reflected that.
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Deep Star Six gets points for its fantastically creepy poster.
 
frostytheplebe said:
Best: The last Star fighter

Despite an extremely limiting budget and crappy graphics, this movie paved the way for higher budgeted films. The story line has been parodied many times over and is a true classic movie made with a small time cast.

Worst: Flash Gordon

Never have I seen a cheesier 80s sci-fi flick. The music made me want to pull my hair out, the storyline was ridiculous, and the characters were flat and annoying! Even with a better budget and slightly more impressive cast, this movie was found wanting in my opinion! It had close to nothing to do with the Original Flash Gordon series in the 50s that actually had class... in summation... IT SUCKED!!
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I bought a copy of TLS on HD-DVD before that format died. I think it's aged extremely well.
 
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