The 2nd Science Fiction Hall of Fame

I've never heard of a quokka before, but he's one of the cutest animals I've ever seen.

He looks like he would make a good pet too, but I read a little bit about them, and apparently they have razor sharp claws, they can be mean at times, and they're illegal to own.

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OPEN FLOOR.

They do look cute ... but not as cute as this lil feller though:

/Threadderailingbyme

Don't know about the cutest but he's definitely the happiest!




Cuteness overload!

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Seconds (1966)

Glad I finally had an excuse to watch this. It plays like a cautionary tale of morality and the grass is always greener type themes, but also has themes of happiness, paranoia, materialistic values, life choices and love. And is also pretty terrifying.
I really enjoyed the smart camera fixpoints and dutch angles throughout – it gave the viewer a sense of dread and claustrophibia at times. The performances were fine. I related quite a lot to this movie – especially the lead character’s realisation that he never chased his dreams, and even after being given a second chance was unable to.

But the best thing about this movie? It lets us do the thinking. It doesn’t hold our hand and explain why the lead character is unhappy. It doesn’t explain why the end shot is the end shot. It just lets us find our way in the dark and come out the other side to reflect. That is great directing, because it must have been tempting to explain a few things on the way. Plus it really makes you think….why are most of us reaching middle age sitting in an office most of the day, settling for routines that only serve make us about as happy as zoo animals.

There’s a clear lineage here between this and films like ‘Vanilla Sky’ & ‘The Skin I live in’. And I can imagine Jordan Peele being inspired by this. Great nomination.

Aliens (1986)

Right, first off let me say that ‘Alien’ (1979) is one of the greatest Hollywood films ever made. It’s pioneering dark terrifying horror / sci-fi themes are amazing to watch unfold. With Ridley Scott absolutely nailing the aesthetics of both the monsters and the spacecraft.

I haven’t seen the sequel in about 20 years but re-watched it, and while it had some good moments, I’m afraid it just didn’t hold up as well as I thought it might. Where Alien was balanced towards the SciFi and horror with less action, Aliens concentrated more on the action.

Good: Ripley (obviously), the facehuggers, the ship. Michael Bien.

Bad: The dialogue. Man the dialogue has really aged in this movie. The first movie had barely any schmaltzy, corny lines; it was tonally perfect. And while we all love a Bill Paxton “Game over man” quote, it was the absence of these type of lines that made the first film so good, and therefore it just feels like the movie was pitched to a wider audience. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t sit well with me on this viewing………”You’re dogmeat pal!”.

Entertaining, and good to re-watch - but nowhere near as good as I remember, and I just felt James Cameron’s poor script didn’t help.

'Videodrome’ (1983)

This has been on my list for years but I never got round to it. Wish I had sooner. It's a pretty great sc-fi, horror, thriller, mindbender mash up which gives the feeling of being "ahead of it's time". James Woods is excellent as the sleazebag tv executive. Even Debbie Harry’s performance is intriguing enough to stick with.


What's it all about? Probably a mixture of messages involving faux outrage at TV/movie violence and corporate greed. Really good ending too. Cronenberg was a proper visionary. Good nomination.

This is only the start of the 3rd day since the nominations were revealed, and we already have 10 reviews posted. Nice job everyone.

Edit: I previously said 9, but it was actually 10, which is even more impressive!

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all these reviews ANNND Cuteness overload images. . . . D@MN FINE start!!!!

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Videodrome



Real good start to the Hall of Fame here. Maybe Carpenter would have a rival for me as this reminded me of a Carpenter film. This was actually my first Cronenberg film and you can tell that he has a certain style about him.

The best part of the film was that score which set the tone for the entire film. It's a film about obsession for me. Pushing yourself so far that you end up going to places you didn't even want to. The directing is great and the acting is pretty good as well. A good start here.

Forbidden Planet

This was much better than I expected, I really liked the philosophical implications and questions of it, and the world building is fantastic too. I wasn't a huge fan of the characters or acting, as they seemed pretty stiff, but there were some really great moments. It was also quite the sly adaption of Shakespeare's The Tempest, much more hidden and original than some of the others (West Side Story, 10 Things I Hate About You). Anyways, fun watch, kind of reminded me of Lord of the Flies in that it's about the beast within us.

Gattaca


Vincent: [narrating] I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science.

Much like the Wilderness type stories they would have us read in Grade School where Man is pitted against Nature, there is, within the genre of Science Fiction, a certain antagonistic relationship in regards to Science and to Humanity. Specifically, the indomitable will. The driving force of going above and beyond what you are coded by DNA or by algorithms to attain.

With gene codes manipulated to create superior individuals, the line between the Lessers and the Betters is now drawn in a blood sample or a DNA swab. There are those who are born as is, known as Invalid, and those who's gene code have been improved upon, known as Valid.
The Valid live superior lives.
The Invalid clean their toilets.

Vincent is an Invalid who has disguised himself as a Valid so that he may be one of the chosen few to take a one-man space flight to Titan when one of his Directors is murdered and the police come in to investigate.

Starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law; doing exceptional work along with their support cast, this is a slow burning, but still very intriguing Sci-Fi that touches and explores the premise with as much precision as does the camerawork. Which is quite exceptional to witness.

I have seen this film quite a number of times and continue to go back to it for all that I have scarcely brushed over in the previous sentence. Simply because, like any good sci-fi film, it is to be experienced and not passed along second hand. From the opening Sequence to the final scene's Narration.

Enjoy.

Lots of negativity follows Such a disappointing rewatch.

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Robinson Crusoe on Mar's is a gorgeous film though it's not really an adaptation of the classic story and the science aspect of the science fiction film is a bit dubious(Mars doesn't apparently rotate) and man does that second act drag on. But at the end of the day I enjoyed it.

RCOM is the story of an astronaut who is strained on Mar's after an accident in space. He spends the first act of the film trying to find the essences for survival he is also reunited with his pet monkey Mona who helps him survive.

Later on he is joined by an alien named Friday who is being tracked by other alien figures from space. They don't actually ever leave the ship and give chase to both castaways which likely would have improved the film.

However I don't think you can really fault a science fiction film that is low budget for it's budgetary failings especially one made 80 years ago. The set design, matte paintings, and fx are all great for it's time, this feels like a 50's science fiction classic the sort that once Kubrick got his budget would improve upon for 2001.


Good nomination

Nice string of reviews there! I'll properly ready them and comment where appropriate when I watch the films myself, as per usual. But for now, reps have been passed out, and the second post of the thread should be up to date.

Ouch... well, I can't say I disagree with many of your points, but I still think the overall execution is really well done, Spielberg pulls it all together.

Hope to get through a few this weekend.

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Suspect's Reviews

This was the film I was planning on nominating, so imagine my disappointment and happy surprise when it was already nominated. The same thing happened when I wanted to nominate something for the horror HoF. Damn you people.

In these HoF's I usually try to go for the non-obvious choices. When I see a Sci/Fi HoF, I don't go ahead and nominate The Thing or Alien or 2001...I tend to go for movies that not get as much recognition, are still really good and ones I think deserved to be seen by more people. Coherence is a perfect example of this.

A film like this, with a small budget, relies heavily on writing and acting. The acting or the most part here is solid. A bunch of people acting confused isn't too hard to do. It helps when some characters are ahead of you, while others are far behind. It adds to the mystery the film wants to present.

The second is the writing and Coherence benefits from a strong concept that centres on one location. Shot in his own house in 5 days on a shoe-string budget, the film blew past my expectations and is a genuine surprise. I hope people really respond to this one.

Byrkit wanted conduct an experiment, Coherence is the result. The test was to shoot a film with no crew and no script for the actors. So each actor was given a paragraph for the specific scene and their goal was to achieve whatever was on that paper. For example, one actor was told he had to leave the house to investigate outside, another actor was told to make sure the guy doesn't leave the house no matter what. The rest is improvisation on the actors. Most of the dialogue is improv, which provides a more causal atmosphere.

A great nomination, nothing more to add from me.

Totally fun movie! I thought I might like it, but I was surprised that I had such a blast watching it! I loved the clever ode to the 80s B sci fi movies. It's not just the 80s style that is explored here...the film is done as one of the low budget 80s sci fis that they use to make. Turbo Kid reminded me of one of my fav sci fi B movies, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) It has the same basic story and even has the same Michael Ironside.

Laurence Leboeuf rocked her role as Apple. She made the movie fun. I loved her wacky way of seeing the world...and all while being so sweet...she just wanted a friend, ahh. I know a lot of people will focus on the fight scenes and yeah those were fun too. But it was the bonding between Apple and Turbo Kid that made the film memorable to me. This is going to be one of my favorite noms. Sure there are bigger and better sci fis, but I love this as a nom as it was an unexpected joy. I could watch this again

I'm suddenly expecting to hate this a lot less than I originally thought. While Spacehunter isn't exactly my favorite it's solid B-movie that I like well enough.