Movies for hardcore sci-fi geeks

[Ivan Seeking]

Metropolis was one of Hitler's favorite movies

Cinema's Exiles from Hilter to Hollywood
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/cinemasexiles/

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Okay, District 9 gets a lot more serious in the second half. In many ways it is a serious movie from the start, but it has an overlay of tongue-in-cheek humor that worked well for us; somewhat reminiscent of Airplane. I'm not much of one for the CGI gun fights, so I would say there was too much of that, but it was good. What I found interesting was the focus on the human reaction to, and the world of, the prawns. There was a superficial level to the prawn as they were far too human. I don't think any realistic expectations for an insect-like species would lead us to Andy and Opei with scales, but a good bit of effort was made to explore one scenario within the range of expectations, for the human response to an alien presence on earth. As a frame for the story, District 9 explores the question, "How would it look on CNN?" That was fun.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Wow... District 9 was nominated for four academy awards - one for best picture! The others are for best editing, best adaptation to a screen play, and best visual effects.
http://www.showbizgossips.com/academy-award-nominations-2010-who-are-the-academy-awards-2010-nominees/5430

 

[DaveC426913]

Wow... District 9 was nominated for four academy awards - one for best picture!

Good. So maybe Best Pic won't simply be handed directly to Avatar.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Btw, I did like Dark City. Tsu didn't care for it so it took me forever to get back to it.

 

[Tsu]

Btw, I did like Dark City. Tsu didn't care for it so it took me forever to get back to it.

It was... dark.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

However, surprise surprise surprise! Tsu likes the tv series, Roswell. I kept telling her that it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I saw that it became available for online viewing at Netflix, so we gave it a try.

One expects it to be really stupid, but it is actually a rather fun series; and not nearly as exotic or stupid as one would think. I think Frakes [commander Riker, from Star Trek TNG], who produced this, did a fantastic job of taking a seemingly absurd plot - teenage aliens living in Roswell - and making something downright respectable.

Granted, it is sci-fi fluff, but still, not bad for fluff.

 

[Integral]

We finally watched Avatar. Yawn! Pretty movie but completely predictable I knew how it was going to go within the first 15min. The kids said it was just a remake of Pocahontas. Perhaps so, but I have not watched that so I can't say for myself.

 

[Janus]

We finally watched Avatar. Yawn! Pretty movie but completely predictable I knew how it was going to go within the first 15min. The kids said it was just a remake of Pocahontas. Perhaps so, but I have not watched that so I can't say for myself.

 

[cronxeh]

Umm.. I don't know if this was posted or not.. but I have seen The Island. It is pure epic awesomeness.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Just watched this one. It was pretty good.

Moon
2009 R 97 minutes
As he nears the end of a lonely three-year stint on the moon base Sarang, astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) begins to hear and see strange things. It's not long before Sam suspects that his employer -- the conglomerate LUNAR -- has other plans for him. Featuring Kevin Spacey as the voice of a robot, this sci-fi thriller also stars Matt Berry and Kaya Scodelario. The film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival.

- Netflix

Available for streaming

Tsu absolutely fell in love with the theme song from Roswell. We've been watching the entire series on Netflix, over the last few weeks. It really is well written. Some shows are heavy on the love drama - esp the first half of the second season - but others are excellent sci-fi. The acting is well above average all the way around; at times it too is excellent. With all of this, the unique concept, the depth of the characters, and the overlay of tongue-in-cheek humor, Roswell is in my top ten list of favorite tv sci-fi shows. My hat is off to Jonathon Frakes. Making a show like this work for a true, hard-sci-fi junky, like me, was quite a feat. It is still hard for me to believe that I really like this show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlyGApATNGk

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Tsu and I have started watching a made-for-HBO series, called Carnivale. So far it is pretty intriguing. Not hard sci-fi by any stretch, and worse yet, arguably it is fantasy, but it has captured our interest nonetheless. It is highly period driven and the writing has been above average [at a minimum]. The big question is whether the increasingly intertwined subplots will actually play out. We have only watched 6, one-hour episodes, so far.

It only ran for two seasons, so hard to say where it will go. It is also fair to say that, in contrast to the fantasy, Carnivale provides a brutally honest and rare view of life in the 30s. These are the anti-Waltons.

Carnivàle (pronounced /kɑrnɪˈvæl/[1]) is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes Christian theology with gnosticism and Masonic lore, particularly that of the Knights Templar. The show was filmed in Santa Clarita, California, and other Southern Californian locations...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivàle

Speaking of the Waltons, I noticed that a very good episode of the Night Visions series, called "Quiet Please", was written by John-Boy [Earl Hamner]. He really has written some great short stories!

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Canivale is amazing. It is also incredibly dark, I am wondering how well Tsu will fair as things progress.

From what I remember the end of the series mostly ties everything together, unfortunately it is open ended as if in anticipation of a new season.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Canivale is amazing. It is also incredibly dark, I am wondering how well Tsu will fair as things progress.

From what I remember the end of the series mostly ties everything together, unfortunately it is open ended as if in anticipation of a new season.

We only have a few episodes left.

Tsu has really enjoyed it, as have I. It is easly in my top-ten list of tv series.

It does get pretty kinky at times!

Did you ever watch Jericho [not sure if we hit on this already]? It too was excellent.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

It does get pretty kinky at times!

Did you ever watch Jericho [not sure if we hit on this already]? It too was excellent.

The first bad scene that came to my mind was the episode where the daughter in the burlesque show died. The other scene that jumps out now that I think of it was the tar and feathering. Something I saw so many times in slapstick like the Three Stooges that I never really thought of how horrible it really is.

I saw Jericho when looking for shows but have not watched it, I remember that the description gave me the impression that it would be rather cheesy. My friend decided to watch Lost and told me about how crazy it is so I decided to watch that next. I'll have to see about Jericho after that.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The first bad scene that came to my mind was the episode where the daughter in the burlesque show died. The other scene that jumps out now that I think of it was the tar and feathering. Something I saw so many times in slapstick like the Three Stooges that I never really thought of how horrible it really is.

Hmmmm, the tar and feather scene must be near the very end of the series. We haven't seen that yet.

As for strange and kinky, Brother Justin and his sister are quite the pair. But the entire series is loaded with slightly disturbing sexual tension.

I thought it was funny that Ralph Waite showed up just after I started calling it the anti-Waltons.

I saw Jericho when looking for shows but have not watched it, I remember that the description gave me the impression that it would be rather cheesy. My friend decided to watch Lost and told me about how crazy it is so I decided to watch that next. I'll have to see about Jericho after that.

Like Carnivale, Jericho only lasted two seasons, but what they did was very good. They do make some mistakes, esp wrt technical issues, and there are a few scenes that are pretty silly, but, imo, they more than make up for it generally. Also, the series does have a conclusion, which is nice.

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

From the Earth to the Moon. Silent, 10 min, and maybe the first ever.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Hmmmm, the tar and feather scene must be near the very end of the series. We haven't seen that yet.

Its been a while now so I do not really remember all that clearly. I tried to be oblique enough to not ruin it for any one, I hope I have not ruined anything for you.

As for strange and kinky, Brother Justin and his sister are quite the pair. But the entire series is loaded with slightly disturbing sexual tension.

Yes, they were certainly unusual. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop on that one. In general, yes, I think it was one of the things I liked most about the series was that it held nothing back. "Gritty", "suggestive", "raw", ect only begin to describe it. For all of the surreal and fantasy elements it painted an undiluted version of life for "carnies" in that time period. Its just short of that purely shock value drama that you expect from HBO. And Nip Tuck goes on.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Its been a while now so I do not really remember all that clearly. I tried to be oblique enough to not ruin it for any one, I hope I have not ruined anything for you.

We saw that one this evening. I never saw it coming; well, not until the last minute.

Yes, I never stopped to think that it was hot tar that they used!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We watched the last episode of Canivale.

Clearly they left this wide open; with new management, and a lot of dead corn.

I will reference once again my all-time favourite: 'Charly'. The only SF movie in history to garner a best actor Oscar (for Cliff Robertson).

I was finally able to get it. We should have it today. Turns out that Tsu read the book on which the movie was based - Flowers for Algernon [1958].

 

[Galteeth]

However, surprise surprise surprise! Tsu likes the tv series, Roswell. I kept telling her that it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I saw that it became available for online viewing at Netflix, so we gave it a try.

One expects it to be really stupid, but it is actually a rather fun series; and not nearly as exotic or stupid as one would think. I think Frakes [commander Riker, from Star Trek TNG], who produced this, did a fantastic job of taking a seemingly absurd plot - teenage aliens living in Roswell - and making something downright respectable.

Granted, it is sci-fi fluff, but still, not bad for fluff.

IMO, a lot of those series like Roswell always seemed to me like poor Buffy imitators.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

IMO, a lot of those series like Roswell always seemed to me like poor Buffy imitators.

Haha, Buffy was way too much for me. But I have to admit that it is probably in the same class <hangs head low in shame].

Charly was good. It tends to drag a bit, but the story is good.

The futuristic surgery involved sounds a lot like [a 1968 version of] stem cell treatment. Stem cells were first identified in the modern context in 1963, five years after the original book was authored - Flowers for Algernon. I wonder if the movie stole a bit from the then recent discovery.

Canadians Jim Till and Ernest McCulloch first published evidence of the existence of stem cells in the scientific journal Nature in 1963...

http://archives.cbc.ca/health/medical_research/clips/17182/

 

[Galteeth]

Haha, Buffy was way too much for me. But I have to admit that it is probably in the same class <hangs head low in shame].

Charly was good. It tends to drag a bit, but the story is good.

The futuristic surgery involved sounds a lot like [a 1968 version of] stem cell treatment. Stem cells were first identified in the modern context in 1963, five years after the original book was authored - Flowers for Algernon. I wonder if the movie stole a bit from the then recent discovery.http://archives.cbc.ca/health/medical_research/clips/17182/

I would recommend Buffy. if you can get over the fact that the early seasons, especially season one, are clearly aimed at teenagers, it's a good show.

Edit: To be fair, I was 13 when it first came on, but I enjoyed it just as much at 21 when I re-watched the series on DVD with my girlfriend.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We just finished watching a short series called Invasion, which was created and produced by Shaun Cassidy [brother of David Cassidy].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_(TV_series )

Not great, but not bad. It had a good number of bad moments, in fact, I'd say about 20% of the show was rather poorly executed, but there were enough creative ideas and intrigue to keep our attention - a respectable effort. Unfortunately, there are only 22 episodes with no conclusion to the story. Many questions remain unanswered. The core of the plot - the truth about the hybrids - was taking an interesting turn as the series ended. It's too bad they didn't get a chance to run with that for a time.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't recall who mentioned this one, but I also watched Donnie Darko and really liked it! What a strange movie - a big thumbs up for that one!

Writer-director Richard Kelly's trippy, mind-bending feature debut stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled Midwestern teenager plagued by incessant sleepwalking, family drama and visions of a menacing 6-foot-tall, doomsday-prophesizing rabbit. Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Jena Malone, Patrick Swayze and Noah Wyle also star in this dark and intriguing psychological fantasy that swiftly earned a cult following.

Netflix instant viewing

Drew Barrymore was also one of the producers.

 

[cronxeh]

Watching Outlander. Awesome movie

 

[The Geoff]

Another series rather than a movie, and another one from Joss "Firefly, Buffy" Whedon: Dollhouse.

Proper classic science fiction where you bring in a single groundbreaking technology (in this case, the ability to treat the human brain as a re-writeable drive) and run with it. It looks at aspects of the technology, ethical questions, commercial applications, sociological effects and military applications, a real tour-de-force. It's also wickedly funny sometimes, some really good, clever writing. The alpha-geek, Topher Brink, is one of my favourite characters ever.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Another series rather than a movie, and another one from Joss "Firefly, Buffy" Whedon: Dollhouse.

Proper classic science fiction where you bring in a single groundbreaking technology (in this case, the ability to treat the human brain as a re-writeable drive) and run with it. It looks at aspects of the technology, ethical questions, commercial applications, sociological effects and military applications, a real tour-de-force. It's also wickedly funny sometimes, some really good, clever writing. The alpha-geek, Topher Brink, is one of my favourite characters ever.

Thanks, I just added it to my instant-viewing queue, at Netflix.

With a sales pitch like that, I couldn't possibly ignore it!

 

[joelupchurch]

Warning about Dollhouse. The season two story lines are much more interesting as they start to peal back the layers at Rossum Corp. I spent a lot of season one thinking that this is a ridiculous amount of money and technology to provide rich guys with a "girlfriend experience".

 

[Gaius Baltar]

No series better than Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

How would you act if you knew your entire life was being recorded through your own eyes, and your surviving friends and family could watch it after you die?

We haven't been doing much movie-watching lately, but the other night we watched The Final Cut, with Robin Williams. Excellent! A fascinating premise, Williams plays a "cutter" who edits the digitally-stored memories of a lifetime, of the deceased. Memories are stored by a chip implanted before birth. The "selected" story of the person's life is then played at the "Rememory" of that person, for family and friends. This plays against a backdrop of protests and challenges to the ethics and morality, and the effect on humanity, of recording entire lives. No secrets are possible. The cutter sees all. But his job is to present a pseudoreality for those who wish to forget the truth.

Also, I noticed that The Man from Earth [one of my top picks] can now be streamed from Netflix. Until recently it was only available on DVD.

 

[ThomasT]

The thread seems to be mostly about limited release or presumably not well known, or at least not blockbuster, scifi. But I don't recall the OP making any restrictions. I'm a hardcore hard scifi 'realistic' in your face cgi geek. My ideal scifi movie would be hard scifi heavy on cgi with no romantic or moralistic subplot(s) and no extraneous drama. The following, not yet mentioned, movies all fall short for one or more reasons, but were nevertheless interesting/enjoyable for other reasons.

Aeon Flux
Terminator Salvation
Tron Legacy
Pandorum
Splice
Predators
GI Joe The Rise of Cobra
Alien Resurrection
Alien vs Predator
Alien vs Predator Requiem
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Skyline

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I'll generally agree with all those except GI Joes. That was an awful awful movie. Skyline was pretty bad too.

 

[ThomasT]

I'll generally agree with all those except GI Joes. That was an awful awful movie. Skyline was pretty bad too.

I didn't like any of them unequivocally. My take is also that Skyline was the worst of the bunch. Disappointing because it could have been really cool with a big budget.

GI Joe was sort of comicy, but still the cgi stuff was cool.

My ideal hard scifi movie would be something like two hours of stategy and tactics a la 'Mech Warriors' encountering an alien civilization on some far away planet 1000 years from now. No drama, just wall to wall fantastic cgi realizations of the starships, the landing ships, the weapons, the aliens and their terrain, infrastructure and weapons. Discussions, detailed presentations of the hardware, the living quarters on the ships, that sort of thing.

Or perhaps the aliens come here. And we knew about it hundreds of years in advance, and have developed fantastic weapons and built extensive infrastructures to deal with the impending invasion.

I'm looking forward to Battle LA and Cowboys & Aliens.

 

[ThomasT]

Just watched The Man From Earth. What a cool movie! But not the sort of hard scifi that us hard scifi geeks like the best. Nevertheless, a great script delivered wonderfully. I was engaged from start to finish.