Thursday, August 26, 2010

25 Classic Science Fiction Movies That Everybody Must Watch

io9's 25 classic science fiction movies that everybody must watch is a pretty reasonable list.

My all time fav is (the original) Planet of the Apes. I'm not as big a fan of Robocop and would probably replace it with Verhoeven's Total Recall. I'm also not a huge fan of Ghost in the Shell but it does represent a genre very well.

I do agree that "The Incredibles is arguably the best Pixar film, and the best superhero film, of all" and would add, it's also a very good James Bond film.

I don't get all the raving about Children of Men and District 9. Men had some great filmmaking techique with a very underdeveloped story. It was all about the subtext (guantanamo) and forgot about the text. District 9 had a great idea and blew it by making the protagonist such an ass (I never got over that) and making the aliens (with a handful of excepts) into dumb drones so that moral question was easier. The best scene in the trailer, the interrogation, and all that it implied, wasn't in the film.

They also did a list of The top 20 essential science fiction TV shows which isn't nearly as strong. I've never seen Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blake's 7 or Cowboy Bebop. The original V shouldn't be there (maybe the miniseries but it doesn't hold up) and the new one certainly shouldn't be there (it's not). BSG in spite of the last season should be closer to the top.

2 comments:

Shea said...

'K, stop what you're doing, go rent Cowboy Bebop, and watch a few episodes. This is something you need in your life, if for the music alone.

DKB said...

I agree, I think I'd rate Total Recall well above Robocop, but perhaps it was chosen because there are more common pop-culture references to Robocop or somesuch arbitrary reason.

I have seen all but Ghost in the Shell and Inception (yes, I know, you commanded us to see Inception. I think we're going to see it at The Movie Tavern tomorrow evening now that David F is back home.