Favorite top 5 Classic Sci-Fi movies

[dan bailey]

What earlier band would you compare them to or say they stole from? I mentioned the Dead Boys not sure if you like them but I listened to some songs and GnR definitely borrowed/took from them.

I'd compare them to just about any run-of-the-mill metal band that preceded them, none of which I ever have any interest in, except for a handful of early Black Sabbath tracks.

Comparing Drugs'n'Posers to the Dead Boys, I'm afraid, approaches Rob Liefeld vis-a-vis Jack Kirby territory in my eyes.

[mikekerrIII]

Not from this area. I find the contortions people go through to try to make Star Wars "not science fiction" to be hilarious. It's classic space opera, pure and simple. I'll agree that it isn't the be-all end-all, but it's clearly SF.

It is definately Science Fiction with about 50% fantasy It has as much in common wit LOTR as it does with The Moon is a harsh mistress. But the rules on what is Sci-Fi and what is fantasy are fungible.

[mikekerrIII]

I would call it classic space opera, pure and simple. I'm not convinced that's too much of a contortion.

Cordwainer Smith and Doc Smith just rolled over in their graves.

[destro]

I'd compare them to just about any run-of-the-mill metal band that preceded them, none of which I ever have any interest in, except for a handful of early Black Sabbath tracks.

Comparing Drugs'n'Posers to the Dead Boys, I'm afraid, approaches Rob Liefeld vis-a-vis Jack Kirby territory in my eyes.

As a punk guy who dislikes 99% of metal, I feel that Appetite for Destruction was a pretty superior album. Of course a big part of that is nostalgia, it was my 1st CD in Junior High School. Never liked much else they did after that 1st album.

But now I'm gonna go back and listen to Night of the Living Dead Boys.

[Venomous Mask]

1. Aliens
2. The Terminator
3. Alien 3
4. Independence Day (not classic per se, but I'll throw it in there)
5. Men in Black

Honorable mentions: The Matrix, Predator, Predator 2, Robocop, Terminator 2

[CromagnonMan]

so is someone going to start a "Top 5 Classic Horror" thread?

[CromagnonMan]

Comparing Drugs'n'Posers to the Dead Boys, I'm afraid, approaches Rob Liefeld vis-a-vis Jack Kirby territory in my eyes.

we can compare Ugly Kid Joe with the Dead Boys if you prefer?

[pakehafulla]

I've always looked at everything that wasn'y magic based as SF. Whether you want to classify it further as Space Opera, Steampunk, Time Travel or Super-hero, amongst many others, it is essentially SF. While its fairly common to classify Star Wars as Space Opera because of the lack of real science in it, this same distinction would eliminate most of the favored movies in this thread. The Alien movies have ships capable of travelling faster than light, with cryogenic sleep chambers. The Terminator movies revolve around the use of Time travel. Star Trek has ...everything...heh heh. God bless. One of my own personal favourites, King Kong, falls into those Lost World type of stories, which to me are almost alternate earth tales.

For my own definition...science based(theoretical or not) =SF, Magica= Fantasy, and Supernatural = Horror. But aint it all wonderful when someone pulls off a good melding of genres.

[rasx]

1 Star Wars
2 Alien
3 the Terminator
4 Star Trek Generations
5 the Matrix

[dan bailey]

I've always looked at everything that wasn'y magic based as SF. Whether you want to classify it further as Space Opera, Steampunk, Time Travel or Super-hero, amongst many others, it is essentially SF. While its fairly common to classify Star Wars as Space Opera because of the lack of real science in it, this same distinction would eliminate most of the favored movies in this thread. The Alien movies have ships capable of travelling faster than light, with cryogenic sleep chambers. The Terminator movies revolve around the use of Time travel. Star Trek has ...everything...heh heh. God bless. One of my own personal favourites, King Kong, falls into those Lost World type of stories, which to me are almost alternate earth tales.

For my own definition...science based(theoretical or not) =SF, Magica= Fantasy, and Supernatural = Horror. But aint it all wonderful when someone pulls off a good melding of genres.

Nicely said.

Also, has no one yet mentioned Event Horizon? Great sf horror.

In which vague vein (minus any supernatural aspect, but heavy on the suspense facet of horror), Pitch Black wasn't bad at all, either.

[dan bailey]

And I believe I neglected to mention Strange Invaders as doing a great job of paying tribute (minus the out-&-out slapstick aspects of the fun flicks I did mention) to the great '50s films. Bad, bad me.

Speaking of evoking the '50s, I really liked Pleasantville, though probably it's more fantasy in the Ray Bradbury or maybe Jack Finney sense than it is sf.

Others I think highly of -- The Arrival, The Hidden, The Fly (remake; I've seen portions of the original over the years, but I'm not sure they all add up to a full viewing), Deja Vu, The Final Countdown ... If I sat down & went over my Netflix viewing history of the last 8 years or so, I'm sure I'd have at least a couple dozen more to add, but at this writing it's too early in the morning to attempt such a feat.

[MDG]

And I believe I neglected to mention Strange Invaders

Glad you did--have my five now:

The Thing (1951)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Alien
Strange Invaders
Timecrimes

[dan bailey]

so is someone going to start a "Top 5 Classic Horror" thread?

Well, see, that would be pointless, because it's a matter of universal agreement --

1. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
2. The Exorcist
3. The Beyond
4. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

And I forget No. 5, but probably it's Carnival of Souls.

Though I have a nagging feeling, not being (still) at all awake yet, that I'm forgetting something delectably Lovecraftian, a la Dark Waters or In the Mouth of Madness.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I was reading about one of my picks--La Jetee--and I see that Terry Gilliam used the idea for Twelve Monkeys, which I've never seen. Despite being directed by Gilliam--who I love, as evidenced by my Time Bandits pick--I think I never saw this movie because it stars Brad Pitt and I was always anti-Pitt (especially after seeing Legends of the Fall).

For me it's a lot about the idea in the movie. When I see something that strikes me with a new idea, it makes an impression on me. I can see other movies with the same idea, maybe even earlier-made movies, but they don't have the same force as that first one. With La Jetee, it wasn't just the idea about fixed memories, time travel, and those kind of ideas, but the fact that it used still photos (except for one short scene)--proving that you could make something with powerful ideas, using very limited technology, and that art is not restrained by commerce. We saw this movie/picture show in one of my film studies classes at university and our professor made the point that something so small can still be very impressive.

[DubipR]

Top 5? Ask me in about an hour it will change, but I'll give you my Top 5 constant re-watches of Science Fiction:

1. Blade Runner
2. Things to Come
3. The Time Machine (George Pal version)
4. Logan's Run
5. Forbidden Planet