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Posted

TCM this morning, as part of their 31 Days of Oscar theme, ran five movies nominated for an Oscar in the Sci-Fi genre. They were Marooned, the Time Machine, Them, Destination Moon and Close Encounters. 

i didn't get up in time to see Marooned, except the last half-hour and I had to skip Close Encounters.  But I had a very enjoyable six hours of watching some all time favorites (much to the wife's annoyance). I always find it interesting about space movies that even the best sci-fi writers didn't quite measure up to the real space travel. Many predicted moon landings, but nobody thought the whole world would sit at home and watch them doing it.

OBTW, First Man about Neil Armstrong is an excellent movie, as is the book from which it is taken.

What Science Fiction films do you like?

Posted

One of my favorites was the remake of War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise.

Others include:

All of the Mad Max movies.

The original Alien.

The original Planet of the Apes.

2001, A Space Odyssey.

 

Some more recent ones include The Martian and District 9.

 

Steve

Posted

I liked the second Aliens better than the first. 

I also enjoyed Outland, which of course is basically High Noon in space. 

Big fan of Firefly/Serenity, which I've always thought of as The Outlaw Josie Wales in Space.B)

Posted

I may be the only one that liked Event Horizon. I thought it touched on what could happen with long term space travel.

Posted

How could I have forgotten to mention Terminator? The second one wasn't bad either but after that, meh....

Posted

Empire strikes back

Return of the Jedi

Termanator and T2 Judgment Day

The Fly  Jeff Goldblum

Jurassic Park 

Lost World of Jurassic  Park 

Both Jurassic Worlds

Posted

Being a Ridley Scott disciple, I like Blade Runner and Alien. Also John Carpenter's The Thing. Those were cutting edge sci fi films at the time and that's how I sentimentally view them.

I also like District 9.

31 Days of Oscar on TCM is about the best network TV watching there is. A great way to discover some of the best movies filmed.

Posted
12 minutes ago, Lunajammer said:

Being a Ridley Scott disciple, I like Blade Runner and Alien. Also John Carpenter's The Thing. Those were cutting edge sci fi films at the time and that's how I sentimentally view them.

I also like District 9.

31 Days of Oscar on TCM is about the best network TV watching there is. A great way to discover some of the best movies filmed.

Oooo, I forgot about "The Thing"!

I liked that one too!

 

 

Steve

Posted (edited)

TMI, tl;dr, etc. etc.

Any other geezers in here remember Forrest J. Ackerman? Editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and sci-fi collector extraordinaire?

Years ago, Forry used to conduct tours thru his amazing 18-room home in Los Angeles, which also housed his collection.  You didn't need any special Hollywood connections, you just called him up and scheduled a tour.  A friend and I did that one Saturday morning.  It was one awesome experience.

His collection included the "Maria" robot from the 1927 silent sci-film "Metropolis."  And a fan letter from a 10-yr-old boy who wanted to write horror stories when he grew up.  It was signed "Stephen King."

He showed us a photo from a 1939 sci-fi convention in New York City: Ackerman, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and some other famous names.  Forry said: "The steak dinner in our hotel cost $1.50, and none of us could afford it."

And we got to hear this great sci-fi related story: Ackerman's grandfather was an architect who helped design the Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles. (Not named for Ray, but a 19th-century L.A. real-estate developer).

The Bradbury Bldg. was designed from the descriptions of future buildings in one of the first American sci-fi novels, "Looking Backward (From the Year 2000)" by Edward Bellamy. (His cousin Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance.) 

With its exposed elevator machinery and soaring atrium, the Bradbury has always been a favorite filming location. It starred in the original "Blade Runner" movie in 1982, and the "Outer Limits" episode "Demon With a Glass Hand," written by Harlan Ellison. Not sci-fi, but we also see a lot of the Bradbury Bldg. in the creepy 1951 re-make of the classic crime movie "M."

That was a day I'll never forget.

Edited by Mike999
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Posted
On 3/5/2019 at 4:28 PM, Mike999 said:

TMI, tl;dr, etc. etc.

Any other geezers in here remember Forrest J. Ackerman? Editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and sci-fi collector extraordinaire?

You got to meet 4SJ, and see his collection?  I am truly in awe.

TCM is one of a very short list of reasons why I still have cable, and both 2001 and Forbidden Planet I will watch whenever they're on.  Blade Runner is a classic, and I thought Blade Runner 2049 was a worthy sequel, which was no small feat.  I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Villieneuve does with Dune.

Some  other recent scifi films I've enjoyed:

Oblivion

The Martian

Gravity

Arrival

 

Sidetracking to TV for a moment, The Expanse was easily the best scifi series on the small screen, or any screen, for that matter.

 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I don't think it was ever nominated for any Oscars, but The Day the Earth Stood Still started out as an excellent movie, and has weathered the passage of time amazingly well. 

Posted (edited)
On 3/2/2019 at 10:33 PM, Lizard Racing said:

What Science Fiction films do you like?

Last week I had the awesome privilege of attending a presentation by special effects legend Richard Edlund. It was a small crowd and I got to visit with him afterward. He and John Dykstra developed Industrial Light and Magic at the request of George Lucas. Among Edlund's four academy awards for special effects is Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and a special achievement academy award. Earlier in his career he hand lettered the trademark font for Edlundstartrekfont-vi.png

And it's his hand as "Thing" in the opening of the Addams Family. Edlundthing-vi.jpg

Riveting to hear how he and his team solved unique FX problems for Hollywood in films like Poltergeist, Die Hard and more.

Edited by Lunajammer

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