Favorite top 5 Classic Sci-Fi movies

[mrc1214]

Has anyone mentioned Brazil? That usually gets alot of praise. Starting a horror thread would be a good idea. I'm not starting it though. I watched the Shininglast night and that would go on my list. In my opinion this is Jack Nicholson's best film as far as acting. Cuckoos Nest would be second. But he knocks it out of the park in the Shining. Just the way he acts creeped me out.

[Artycool8or]

I watched the Shininglast night and that would go on my list. In my opinion this is Jack Nicholson's best film as far as action. Cuckoos Nest would be second. But he knocks it out of the park in the Shining. Just the way he acts creeped me out.

I couldn't agree with you more, on both accounts.
Jack Nicholson RULES

[dan bailey]

I couldn't agree with you more, on both accounts.
Jack Nicholson RULES

The Kubrick Shining? Mediocre, at best. I know King himself regards it as somewhat insulting, & I have to agree.

For my money, the 2-part TV production from '99 or so was better.

[mrc1214]

The Kubrick Shining? Mediocre, at best. I know King himself regards it as somewhat insulting, & I have to agree.

For my money, the 2-part TV production from '99 or so was better.

I was refering to the Kubrick one. I haven't read the book yet it is sitting on my shelf though.

[dan bailey]

suspect I didIIRC (I haven't seen the flick in at least 25 years -- can't remember if I caught it at the cinema or not, though I think I did -- & obviously have no desire to repeat the experience), Kubrick, self-loving genius that he was, decided to make a movie that of course reflected his personal supergenius better-than-the-book interpretation of the original novel, since he was, of course, an ultra-supergenius as opposed to some hack horror writer.

The movie has some very nice moments, mostly derived straight from King's pages, but Kubrick's own interepretation takes prominent precedence & in so doing shows that he had as much understanding of horror per se as I do jazz or opera (.i.e none whatsoever).

[Cei-U!]

Nicholson's performance in The Shining is a stellar example of what a lazy hack the man can be if not kept on a tight leash by his director. His character is supposed to slowly go nuts during the course of the movie but Jack starts at crazy. Stinky, hammy scenery chewing from opening credits to closing credits. Ditto his awful Joker. I'll take Five Easy Pieces, The Pledge or As Good As It Gets any old day.

Cei-U!
I summon the dissenting opinion!

[Artycool8or]

The Kubrick Shining? Mediocre, at best. I know King himself regards it as somewhat insulting, & I have to agree.

For my money, the 2-part TV production from '99 or so was better.

Well, just shows that taste differs as those who have them.
However, I wouldn't even put the 2 part mini in the same context with Kubrick's Masterpiece. Yes, I've seen it.
And I'm not saying your comparison is wrong (nor right), but for me it's no contest. I regard the Shining (1980) superior to any and all Horror movies, with all due respect.

[CromagnonMan]

Nicholson's performance in The Shining is a stellar example of what a lazy hack the man can be if not kept on a tight leash by his director. His character is supposed to slowly go nuts during the course of the movie but Jack starts at crazy. Stinky, hammy scenery chewing from opening credits to closing credits. Ditto his awful Joker. I'll take Five Easy Pieces, The Pledge or As Good As It Gets any old day.

Cei-U!
I summon the dissenting opinion!

i love his Joker. i dont rate The Shining very highly though. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Chinatown for me.

[Artycool8or]

Nicholson's performance in The Shining is a stellar example of what a lazy hack the man can be if not kept on a tight leash by his director. His character is supposed to slowly go nuts during the course of the movie but Jack starts at crazy. Stinky, hammy scenery chewing from opening credits to closing credits. Ditto his awful Joker.

Cei-U!
I summon the dissenting opinion!

I can't take your words to be credible.

[CaptCleghorn]

Nicholson's performance in The Shining is a stellar example of what a lazy hack the man can be if not kept on a tight leash by his director. His character is supposed to slowly go nuts during the course of the movie but Jack starts at crazy. Stinky, hammy scenery chewing from opening credits to closing credits. Ditto his awful Joker. I'll take Five Easy Pieces, The Pledge or As Good As It Gets any old day.

Cei-U!
I summon the dissenting opinion!

My favorite Nicholson film? The Raven.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

As a kid I read a lot of science fiction. I think I started with Jules Verne and H.G. Welles. I became intensely interested in Welles and read most of his books--we even had An Outline of History in our elementary school library, which I tried to read. From there I graduated to Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, after which I moved on to Ray Bradbury and Edgar Rice Burroughs. And then by grade 12, I was reading Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I remember when Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared in the theatres it was a big hit, but I never saw the movie at that time (I guess I was too young to go on my own and nobody else in my family wanted to take me). But I was hearing "Also Sprach Zarathustra" on the radio all the time--although, I didn't know that was the name of the music. To me it was the music from A Space Odyssey. So I went to Jack Cullen's record store in the Brentwood Mall. I was asking at the store for the single of Space Odyssey and they sold me a 45. But when I took it home and played it on our turntable it didn't sound anything like it. It was in fact A Space Oddity by David Bowie. In the end I did get the whole sound track album from 2001--which was probably a good thing in hindsight, because it included a lot of other classical music, which got me interested in classical composers.

Clarke's 2001 was among the novels I borrowed from our school library, so I ended up reading the story well before I saw the movie. I have to say when I did finally get to see the movie, I was underwhelmed.

Jack Nicholson's most memorable role was probably on Andy Griffith in the Opie Finds a Baby episode. But as for his movies, I liked The Last Detail.

[destro]

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


4. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

].

Dan are you feeling okay? Please switch that to the original or even Day of the Dead as I'm sure you meant to before your illness compelled you to make this horrific typo... ;)

[berk]

I remember when Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared in the theatres it was a big hit, but I never saw the movie at that time (I guess I was too young to go on my own and nobody else in my family wanted to take me). But I was hearing "Also Sprach Zarathustra" on the radio all the time--although, I didn't know that was the name of the music. To me it was the music from A Space Odyssey. So I went to Jack Cullen's record store in the Brentwood Mall. I was asking at the store for the single of Space Odyssey and they sold me a 45. But when I took it home and played it on our turntable it didn't sound anything like it. It was in fact A Space Oddity by David Bowie. In the end I did get the whole sound track album from 2001--which was probably a good thing in hindsight, because it included a lot of other classical music, which got me interested in classical composers.

There must have been a revival of 2001 in movie theatres in the early 70s, because though I was too young to see it when it came out in [edit:] 1968, I did see it at the local cinema in my home town back in Nfld sometime around 1974 or so. I was blown away.

Like you, I soon bought the soundtrack album and again like you, it was basically my gateway into classical music.

[shaxper]

2. Things to Come

Been trying to find a decent copy of this film to watch for years now. Every version I've tried to watch has had such poor sound and video that I couldn't follow what was happening.

[Venomous Mask]

Dan are you feeling okay? Please switch that to the original or even Day of the Dead as I'm sure you meant to before your illness compelled you to make this horrific typo... ;)

He obviously meant to write 28 Days Later.