Topic: The Movie Thread

@LN78 I didn’t really enjoy Interstellar when I first saw it, but I’ve seen it multiple times since and I really quite like it now. Again, the audio is absolutely on point throughout, which does a lot for my enjoyment of a movie. I didn’t like Michael Caine’s character and his recurring “do not go gently blah blah” bit, though. But then I don’t really like him in anything.

Speaking of him and sci-fi movies I don’t really like, Children of Men. Annoys me. Not strictly sci-fi perhaps but i’ll allow it.

Oblivion is a not so great sci-fi film that I do like

... It's my favourite trilogy @Ralizah

Pssssh... You young kids with your PushLife's and your NintendoSquare's! Don't know a good film if it bit you on the tuckus!

Didn't recall that but I think I'll follow suit and watch it then and try your advice!

Can't say there's any classic Sci-Fi films I don't like... Though last time I tried to watch the original Star Wars I couldn't get into it at all... Dunno if it was just me though

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Yeahhhh I agree, can’t stand Star Wars.

@Ralizah Oh I agree about the narrative. I was glad to see more of a an actual plot. That’s the only thing I preferred over the original though. I also agree with your opinion on The Last Starfighter and The Fifth Element for the most part. The former is a bit too generic for my tastes while the latter is too darn weird. I think both films are ok though.

@LN78 ah many people hate Tom Cruise, then they watch any film with him in and say “ok, this ones alright!”

Just face it, every Tom Cruise film is great!

Another hated on sci-fi movie that’s great - Vanilla Sky. One of my all time favourites. Don’t be giving me that “Open Your Eyes is better” spiel, it doesn’t have Tom Cruise or Sigur Ros in it!!

@LN78 I had the pleasure of seeing sigur ros back in 2004, they were great!

Have you seen Collateral? Come on, he’s great in that! War of the Worlds? Another good one 😂

Edit: sorry for my overuse of the word great, it’s been a long week and I’ve had a couple of beers. They were great.

I love the original Star Wars. One of my all-time favorite films. Although, if I'm being honest, I've never quite cared for any of the others as much. The Empire Strikes Back, for example, doesn't have the same sort of elegant flow to it. It has some great set-pieces, but I can feel the time pass when I watch it. Return of the Jedi is fine, except it's a bit padded, and it made the mistake of bringing back the threat of the Death Star. We'll not mention the terrible prequels and Disney films, of course.

By the way, if anyone hasn't seen "Her"... I recommend it. It's up there with Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival as one of the twenty-first century's best speculative fiction movies.

@LN78 Interstellar was a bit pretentious and cringe-inducing in spots (love transcends time and space, apparently), but I like it for being a big budget sci-fi movie that attempts to be somewhat rigorous with how stuff would actually operate in space, and for trying to be a 'big idea' film that inspires awe and wonderment in the viewer.

Not quite the new age 2001: A Space Odyssey the creators seemed to want it to be, but not everyone is Kubrick, and even that film suffers from an excess of pretentiousness at times.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I've actually never seen the other BttF films, so there's the possibility I might enjoy them.

GREAT SCOTT! There's hope for you yet @Ralizah

I agree on Arrival. Beautiful film from start to finish and a very moving film for me. Plus Abbott and Costello are cute in a weird way lol

Her was pretty good. Probably need to rewatch it though as I don't remember too much of it.

Just realised from your post @LN78 that I don't recall E.T in the slightest. In fact I'm not sure I've watched it properly!

What about Edge of Tomorrow? @kyleforrester87 that's a corker of a Tom Cruise film. The Mummy Reboot is absolute dreck though

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy yes Edge of Tomorrow is brill, and I’ll give you the Mummy haha.

Cruise was brilliant in Rain Man. Off the top of my head I'm struggling to think of a time he's matched that.

I actually quite enjoyed 2005 War of the Worlds, but I think that's just me being a bit weird.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy The author of the novella that Arrival was adapted from, Ted Chiang, is actually a really superb author of short-form science fiction, and I recommend his first story collection, Stories of Your Life and Others. There's a lot of range to his work. For example, one of the stories is about a mathematician having a sort of mental and spiritual breakdown after discovering that her work has extremely disturbing implications for the field of mathematics as a whole.

I imagine Her is probably less surprising in an age where A.I. waifus are seemingly integrated into all of our devices, but I really appreciated the way it mixed elements of social dystopias (you know things aren't well when romantic letter ghost-writing is apparently a bustling business), romantic comedies, and science-fiction thrillers into one unique and cohesive narrative.

@Gremio108 Good shout on Rain Man. Nothing wrong with War of the Worlds either, that young girl who’s name escapes me is very good in it. Doesn’t it have Andy Dufresne too?

A Few Good Men. Awesome film.

Jerry Maguire. Guilty pleasure.

Valkyrie. Nothing bad to say about it.

Toms great 😂

Dakota Fanning @kyleforrester87 and another one who finds War Of The Worlds 2005 pretty good too!

Not in my devices they aren't @Ralizah ! Those A.I can stay well away from me! 😅

And very interesting! I'll have to look up a copy of Stories of the Your Life and Others Thanks for the reccomemdation!

_{Let's stick to movies here instead of derailing the thread. If you wish to discuss what you were there is the Chit-chat thread. -Tasuki-}

I need to get around to seeing 2005 War of the Worlds eventually. Have it, just haven’t bothered with it. I’ve seen the 1953 version which is pretty good, although the remake has vastly superior special effects so I imagine it’s better for that reason alone. I enjoyed Oblivion as well, although I’ll admit I haven’t seen it since it came out on DVD years ago.

Yeah, Oblivion is a movie I really enjoy when it's on, tell myself I'm going to buy it next time I want to see it, then forget it even exists until I catch it on TV again and the process starts over.

@cheetahman91 I didn't know it at the time but they didn't use much CG for War of the World's. In fact I saw one of the sets when I went to Universal Studios a month ago and it was just amazing. One set they actually used a real 747 which they bought from a plane graveyard but still, it was quite amazing.

@Tasuki Cool. Nothing against CGI, but nothing beats really good practical effects. I do imagine that the remake still has vastly superior practical effects (though in all fairness the original has some of the best effects for a ‘50’s sci-fi movie).

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy @Ralizah I simply can’t stand by as The Princess Bride gets so unceremoniously swept under the rug! That movie is pure gold! One of the most quotable scripts of all time.

For me, I don’t care for Mad Max (the first one) or Men in Black (any of them). The former I found boring and latter was too absurd.

@Gremio108 @kyleforrester87 I loved Rain Man that is my favorite Cruise movie of all time. The chemistry between him and Dustin Hoffman was absolutely perfect.
Other good Cruise movies are

Top Gun
Risky Business
Days of Thunder
A Few Good Men
Last Samurai
Interview with the Vampire