Best Science Fiction Book Or Movie Since 1970

Don't sell yourself short, OGie: you've a very successful bore. Hell, you could turn pro.


Some other great post-1970 Sci-Fi movies are Solaris (Tarkovsky), A Boy & His Dog (L.Q. Jones), Alien (Ridley Scott), The Thing (John Carpenter) and 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam). BladeRunner is the most brilliant, but those are all grade-A films too.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Whys everyone gotta playa hate on Contact?

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Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

I like Contact as well...

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I liked Contact as well, TOO.

Contact was a great movie but it seems that the general consinsus(however u spell it) is that Blade Runner is better.

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"An Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
-Ben Kingsley, GHANDI

"Snozberries taste like snozberries"

There are heaps of decent Sci-Fi books and also movies to name and besides the ones already mentioned I'll go for The Langoliers (Stephen King) -the book version that is - the movie didn't really do the story justice but it was still half decent in my opinion.

I also liked eXistenZ (1999) for some reason. I think it had a great premise but then fell apart when they started jam packing sixty gazillion twists into it.

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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

I liked Contact.
Blade Runner, I found too dark and depressing for my own tastes but I thought it was alright.

As for the best sci-fi movie...?
2001 and Close Encounters were right up there but...

Gotta be the original Star Wars.

That movie just blew my mind more than any other movie before it.
I was a kid and just sat there in the theater staring up at the screen in awe over what I was seeing.

What makes a movie "the best" to someone is how it affects them on a personal level and Star Wars turned me into a sci-fi guy more than anything else.
I couldn't even stop thinking about it for weeks after that and how I longed for my own light-saber (damn 20th century technology couldnt get me one).

I just think Star Wars set a standard for all sci-fi after that and we finally knew what science fiction was supposed to actually be.


(course what do I know...I actually liked Independance Day too)

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Fear the Probe!

That movie was retarded. REALLY retarded.

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Ya got me feelin' hella good so let's just keep on dancin'

question of taste like everything... Blade Runner IS the SF-movie, number one... for me! and nothing is too dark. it can only be too dumb.

Star Wars is Science Fantasy though, not Science Fiction. Science fiction typically deals with something that could happen, it is always grounded in some sort of principle of reality, while science fantasy deals with something that holds no grounds in reality. Sure there is a fine line between the two, but it exists nonetheless.

Star Trek is Sci-Fi. Star Wars is Science Fantasy. You could argue that Star Wars could happen for various obvious reasons using circular logic, but it is obviously less plausible than Star Trek.

I probably sound like a dork trying to argue between the two, but I am a dork.

Dorks make the best points though because they care too much about what they're talking about. I'm a passionate dork too. I can't help it. People who know me know there are certian topics you just don't bring up around me.
I agree with Peter, There's a difference between Science Fiction and Science Fantasy and it matters.

.............what exactly is a dork?

100% agree. I could watch that film over and over. Its so intense and thought provoking. Ive really gotta read the book one day.

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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!

a derogatory term used by programming hyper-deities to describe ordinary mortals. Possibly related to the Dorking, a strain of mutant chicken with supernumerary toes.
That's what it is exactly. The definition according to me is:

A term used to describe someone who doesn't mind what others say about them. These people are so wrapped up in their own standard of living that nothing else seems to matter. This term also suggests that the individual might not be well liked by others who are not "dorks".

You dork.

It's good, just paced much differently than the film. For instance it is a fair amount into the book before the signal arrives.... I can't name Contact as the best sci-fiction, although it has one of the best opening shots. Not as exciting as the opening scene of Star Wars, it's just subtle and wonderful...

Also, Star Trek is Sci-fantasy as well in my opinion, as the science is just about as far fetched as Star Wars. Warp drive? Impossible. Teleportaion? EXTREMELY difficult, as far as physics is concerned. You can certainly decimate matter, even get it moving in a certain direction, but have it reform in the proper sequence at a 4 dimensional coordinate? Good luck. Vulcan mind melds? I think Herbert was more on point with folding space as far as the space travel was concerned. I see both Star Wars and Star Trek as equally fantastical, one just happens to include Earth in it's storyline.

Contact is definitely more Sci-fiction than either of those bodies of work. As is 2001:A Space Odyssey. They are all, in the end, about people though. Humanity. A common thread that, when all is said and done, is why we like all of it.

Blade Runner, for me, exposes the human condition more poigniantly, and succintly than any of the others. Plodding the film may be, but these ideas are not to be glossed over or briefly scanned. One of the films strengths, for me, is the pacing. The pans, the rhythm of the dialogue, the lazy minimal techno strings...The weight of the story and the ideals (of which there are many) requires time to sink in. The film wouldn't have had nearly the impact on me that it did if it moved along at a faster pace. 2001, and Solaris, which are both glacially paced, also fall into this catagory.

Of the other three stories mentioned, Contact also requires the viewer to contemplate various concepts that have dire implications about our race. The other films do as well, but less poigniantly, IMO.

Cheers

shiiiiiittt, i haven't seen Contact...............................
shiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt, i've just discovered i may be a dork too.........

Nice post, Sedai.

I can see your points about Star Trek and while it does require a big leap into the realm of fantasy to be accepted (agreed not as far as a leap as Star Wars) the technology and premise of the tv series and film is grounded enough in the same ideals that govern the real world. Hell, some of the stuff in Star Trek is getting closer and closer to a reality everyday. I dunno if you've been keeping up with the progresses being made in quantum computing, but they're teleporting things left and right. Crazy stuff going on.

Blade Runner...I don't give it enough credit and need to take it in a couple more times before I let loose on it. It is a fantastic lecture on the downward spiral of humanity and their care/respect for fellow man in today's society. It, like 2001, simply don't resonate with me on the same level Contact does.

To me I admire Blade Runner and 2001 the same as I would admire an essay written by a science fiction author on the trends humans are perpetuating, but I react to Contact like I've been shown someone's dream as opposed to their vision. I probably absolutely love Contact simply because it relates more to the heart than the mind and though I am in awe of science I love humanity more. For me, Contact blends the two perfectly while 2001 and BR contain dominating chunks of both (which was probably their intention).

I know.

Blade Runner rocks in so many ways. First, Ridley Scott totally knows his Sci-Fi. My other favorite Sci-movie is Alien. He also directed another fav of mine which is Fantasy, Legend. So it has direction working for it.

Then it has the quality of acting that many Sci-movies despretly lack. Harrison Ford is just awesome.
Anyhoo...I love Balde Runner.

me too, and i forgot in my list of fave directors to put Ridley, re****!
2wrongs find loooooooooooooooooots of guys hot, i have the impression...
what about the boredom in person: Tom Cruise? is he hot too to yr taste?