Favorite top 5 Classic Sci-Fi movies

[CromagnonMan]

The title character in Godzilla, though, is some sort of spawn of atomic testing, isn't he? (Or did he come from the earth's bowels after atomic blasts cracked them open? Haven't seen that one in decades.) Consequences of atomic testing=sf, at least at the time the movie was made.

youre right..Godzilla could be regarded as being science based but not King Kong. King Kong might naturally exist, we just havnt discovered him yet

i still think those films are more about natures wrath bearing down on man for his inhumanity to nature but nevermind.

[CromagnonMan]

i think Back to the Future and Total Recall should be on somebodys list..

[Brother Justin Crowe]

12 Monkeys
Blade Runner
Children of Men
Clockwork Orange, A
Man From Earth, The

Runners-Up:
Abre los Ojos
Brazil
Colossus: The Forbin Project
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Dark City
Inception
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Men in Black
Never Let Me Go
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Primer
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
THX 1138
Time Machine, The (1960)

[dan bailey]

Never Let Me Go

God, this is a great film.

As, of course, a loads of other post-'50s masterpieces others have already cited; I'm especially fond of Dark City, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake, Blade Runner, Children of Men, Road Warrior, Silent Running, Fahrenheit 451, Close Encounters, Robocop, Alien Nation, Moon & 2001.

Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned the wonderful likes of Scanners, Mothman Prophecies, They Live, V for Vendetta, Aliens, Iron Giant, Andromeda Strain, Man Facing Southeast, KPAX, Cold Souls, Mad Max, Visioneers, Alien Raiders, Automatons, Planet of the Vampires & no doubt at least a dozen others that aren't coming to mind at the moment.

I'm still not fully awake (as I've noted elsewhere, that won't really change till mid-afternoon, probably), but I don't think anyone's mentioned John Carpenter's The Thing. Great movie. The recent prequel was pretty darned good, too.

Probably a notch below are movies I nonetheless like a lot, like Signs & Puppet Masters & Dreamland, Queen of Blood & Arnold Drake's Flesheaters, along with some hilarious sendups of my beloved '50s flicks, like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra & The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, The Naked Monster, Alien Trespass & It Came from Somewhere Else

From before the '50s, an era which as noted I'm not nearly as familiar with as I'd like to be, I particularly like Island of Lost Souls & Things to Come. Haven't seen Invisible Man & Frankenstein (&, criminally, have never seen more than snippets of Bride of Frankenstein, I'm pretty sure) since I was a child, so badly need to revisit them.

And in retrospect, the original Village of the Damned -- surprisingly also not mentioned byi anyone else, either -- belongs in my Top 5.

Other strong contenders mentioned by others would be the original War of the Worlds & Gorgo. And not mentioned by others or, previously, by me but also genuine favorites -- The Day the World Ended, Panic in Year Zero, It Conquered the World, The Monster That Challenged the World, the original The Thing, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Crawling Eye, X -- The Unknown & the first Quatermass. (I've never liked Forbidden Planet quite as much as I should, but then it's hardly a secret that something is badly wrong with me.)

And Quatermass reminds me that the Hammer version of Quatermass & the Pit, Five Million Years to Earth, hasn't been mentioned till -- a shameful oversight by me & perhaps others. Though of course the BBC original is even better.

[shaxper]

12 Monkeys

Ooh. Nice choice.

I'm intrigued that you ranked it above Brazil. I still haven't seen Brazil yet, but everyone who's seen both has always told me Brazil was the better of the two.

[dan bailey]

Not sure about my top 5, but I'm sure #1 is the first Terminator film. Also, would The Crow be considered sci-fi? If so, it's at #2...

When I caught The Crow on cable 8 or 9 years ago, I think I missed the very beginning ... but doesn't the title character basically just return from the dead to wreak vengeance? If so, that strikes me as horror rather than sf.

For some reason I've never caught the first Terminator. The sequel was solid, though.

I was also expecting to see Star Wars all over the place...it's nowhere in sight yet in the above posts

Nice little movie with a couple of competent sequels (as well as some horrible ones, I gather), but insanely overrated, especially by an unfortunate generation of fanboys who elevated it to some sort of pathetic religion.

[dan bailey]

And shaxper's resonse to Justin Crowe's mentioning 12 Monkeys reminds me that I should've included it in my list of personal favorites from the last few decades.

At the dollar theatre in North Little Rock I remember seeing it & Seven back-to-back. That was ... not uplifting.

[CromagnonMan]

dont forget Cronenberg's Existenz

[CromagnonMan]

Ooh. Nice choice.

I'm intrigued that you ranked it above Brazil. I still haven't seen Brazil yet, but everyone who's seen both has always told me Brazil was the better of the two.

depends, Brazil is a lot more 'witty' and 'satirical', and downright meandering. for entertainment value i prefer 12 monkeys, although to film scholars Brazil is probably regarded as a better film, if that makes sense.

[mrc1214]

And people think comics fans don't have lives ...

It would also seem possible that listening to crap like Kanye West -- isn't he the cretin who threw a fit on national TV a few year ago because some girl won Best Video or something over some other girl in some spurious made-up awards show that would mean nothing to anyone with one iota of brain matter, anyway ... or was that some other moron who's so stupid his friends have to remind him to breathe & whom I wouldn't trust to bag groceries? -- is seriously injurious to the mind.

I summon the cantankerousness!

Thats him he ran on stage at the MTV awards. He also is dating Kim Kardashian whom I'm sure you're also a big fan of. Dan I'm forced to listen to music from the likes of Kayne on a loop at work. The gym plays nothing else. You have to start learning about the likes of Drake, Nikki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Maroon 5 etc it'll help you understand whats wrong with my generation.

[CromagnonMan]

just thought of Strange Days which is good too

[dan bailey]

You have to start learning about the likes of Drake, Nikki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Maroon 5 etc it'll help you understand whats wrong with my generation.

Rest assured, every generation has its share of vile, commercial garbage masquerading as music (see also: hideous hair metal like Guns 'n Posers), but luckily I don't think I ever found myself in a setting where the mind-shriveling crap was pumped out constantly. Though for much of '85-'89 I did live in a household that contained 2 teenage girls, & even though I did my best to expose them (particularly the older one, with whom I had much more in common) to decent music, revolting pap like Kenny G, the Eagles & Boston still tainted the air every now & then.

I blame it on some defective gene inherited from their vacuous father.

Who I gather purports to be a lifelong resident of Tacoma.

(Which must be Creek or Apache or Blackfoot or something for "Little Rock.")

*ahem*

[Cei-U!]

It's hardly a secret that something is badly wrong with me.

Think I just found my new signature.

Cei-U!
I summon the golden opportunity!

[MonteMike72]

1. Star Wars
2. Blade Runner
3. Serenity
4. 2001
5. Highlander

[dan bailey]

Think I just found my new signature.

Cei-U!
I summon the golden opportunity!

Your willingness to not only admit but indeed trumpet your faults is not only brave but also even sort of heartwarming.