Your top 5 sci-fi movies (and why)

[payn]

I mean, as trilogies go...it's up there.

eh... for me the third one was a let down. Love 1 and 2 tho.

 

[Autumnal]

The kids have good taste! Guardians 3 is no worse than a bunch of films I love, and objectively better than a bunch of them. No criticisms.

 

[Kannik]

They debated Guardians 1 vs Guardians 3. They liked the Rocket arc if I understood correctly.

Adding Guardians to the mix (yeah, pun intended ) I'd rank them 2, 3, & 1. 1 was fun, but 2 and 3 are stronger in their themes and thematic/character exploration. Rocket's arc especially really kicks into high gear in 2 (the ending, so perfect) and comes to fruition in 3.

 

[Parmandur]

The kids have good taste! Guardians 3 is no worse than a bunch of films I love, and objectively better than a bunch of them. No criticisms.

Actually a pretty solid list, some deep cuts.

 

[Parmandur]

eh... for me the third one was a let down. Love 1 and 2 tho.

Most 3 film arcs fall way flatter on their faces, though.

Notice how nobody has brought up Return of the Jedi.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'd feel better with a top 100 list, because there are just so many that I think are part of my "must be watched" list. In no particular order, except for the first:

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" - A true classic and the first anti-nuke movie.
"Forbidden Planet" - Shakespeare in space and a serious Leslie Neilsen? What's not to love?
"Silent Running" - As we work to wipe ourselves out of existence, there's still hope.
"They Live" - You just have to have a silly alien invasion story.
"Logan's Run" - SciFi is at its best when it holds a light up to society. Commentary on the cult of youth in modern society for the win.

I thought about watching Logan's Run the other day to see if it held up. Haven't yet.

 

[Kobold Stew]

3: Bladerunner - The stunning visuals made cyberpunk. It has to be the version WITH the voice-over, and WITHOUT the unicorn dream sequence.

I'm pleased we get to have some edition wars in this conversation. You're right, in my view, that the 1982 release is the most satisfying.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I thought about watching Logan's Run the other day to see if it held up. Haven't yet.

It doesn't, but I love it anyway. Logan's Run is in the unfortunate position of being the last great SF film before Star Wars, which just blew everything else out of the water. I was too young to see it in the theatres, and it was always on at like 2am, so I didn't see it until 1982 or so (I had tried staying up once before that but fell asleep before they got to Washington). But by the time I saw it, I'd read the Marvel comics, read the novel and its ridiculous sequels, and seen some of the tv show episodes. I was in.

 

[payn]

I'm pleased we get to have some edition wars in this conversation. You're right, in my view, that the 1982 release is the most satisfying.

Oh edition war indeed I missed how wrong on both counts this take was.

 

[Clint_L]

I'm reevaluating my Star Wars is fantasy/western in sci-fi drag thesis. In terms of story and themes, I'll stand by that assertion all day long. But, given that this is a film discussion, I should be giving more weight to the look and sound of the movie.

So I asked myself, "given that SW is a purely fantasy story, would it work as a purely fantasy film?" In other words, had they shot it but swapped all the sci-fi visuals and sounds for fantasy equivalents, does it still work? Is it still the history-altering behemoth it became? And I think the answer has to be that it doesn't and isn't.

A lot of the sequences would work just fine. All of the stuff on Tattooine could be done as a fantasy film, as could the quest inside the Death Star, which is essentially a dungeon crawl.

But that opening sequence that blew my mind as a little kid? The final two space battles? Those were barely achievable with 1970s technology, and machines in space are a lot easier to do than are dragons in flight or whatever the fantasy equivalent would be. And the scale and scope of those shots...it's hard to imagine a fantasy equivalent. Not to mention the mind-blowing sound design.

And in terms of influence, SW really boosted sci-fi as a genre (there was some carry over into fantasy; they've always appealed to a similar readership). Even if it was kind of the wrong kind of sci-fi (i.e. actually fantasy) from the perspective of a lot of "serious" sci-fi authors, they weren't saying no to the book advances and screenplay options.

If there's no Star Wars, Alien and Bladerunner, in particular, don't get budgeted.