Movies for hardcore sci-fi geeks

Huckleberry

Yeah, for people where the interest already exists it is often those hidden gems gathering dust on a forgotten shelf that are sought after most. A popular movie isn't always a quality movie, especially lately it seems to me. My post was most directed at the ability of a well written story to inspire scientific interest where none was before despite the bad science. A lot of popular movies these days have neither a good story or good science. They aren't good for much of anything.

I've never seen Metropolis. I can already see that this thread is going to give me plenty of things to do with all my spare time.

edit- I never understood the popularity of the Harry Potter series. I enjoy fantasy as much as sci-fi, but that one never interested me. It might not help that I saw the first movie in Spanish. I don't have any interest in seeing the other movies or reading the books.

Ivan Seeking

IMO, it is well worth finding a copy of the rerelease by Giorgio Moroder ~ 1985. He added a modern soundtrack [music that helps to tell the story] that was exceptionally well-suited for the movie. There was also some lost footage that he restored.

TheStatutoryApe

Gattaca

Flight of the Navigator

The Last Star Fighter

I'm trying to rack my brains for decent sci fi movies. Most of them just aren't that great.

Huckleberry

'The Last Starfighter' was innovative with its implementation of CGI. I have this one on DVD. The old guy with his snakeoil salesman pitch is my favorite. It's the original video game movie (or maybe Tron takes that title) and reminds me of the times I used to beg my Mom to take me to the laundramat so I could dig between the machines with a coathanger to get quarters for the Galaga machine. It also costars Catherin Mary Stewart who I had a crush on back in the day. She also stars in 'Night of the Comet' which is similar to Romero's Living Dead series but with Valley girls. It's another genre I'm fond of. (zombie horror, not valley girls, though those oddly fitting 80's women's jeans are still something of a curiousity)

'Gattaca' is the first movie I can think of that involved its characters in a world where children's genetic code was selected by the parents. I can root for the underdog without being concerned about a political message.

'The Island'. The atmosphere is toxic and humanity lives and works inside isolated utopian communities. Sometimes they win a lottery and are sent away to retirement and a life of leisure. A few inhabitants want more from life and begin to discover the truth. This reminds me of an older movie. I want to say it stars Charlton Heston, but I can't find it in his filmography. When they escape their community they find the Earth isolated. Anyone know the name of it?

Other sci-fi movies with Heston 'The Omega Man' which was the precursor to the 'I am Legend' release with Will Smith. Heston also did 'Soylent Green'.

I mentioned 'Tron' earlier. Jeff Bridges stars in that and also stars in 'Starman' which is another movie directed by John Carpenter.

How about 'Enemy Mine' where Dennis Quaid plays a human pilot and Louis Gosset Jr. plays the alien? The races are at war with each other and the two pilots crash land on a remote planet and are forced to rely on each other for survival.

Here's one Danger might like, 'Cherry 2000'. A guys robotic girlfriend (Pamela Gidley) breaks down in an unfortunate lovemaking accident involving a dishwasher. The part necessary to repair her is no longer in production so he heads to the uncivilized wastes and hires Melanie Griffith to help him track down spare parts.

TheStatutoryApe

Sci Fi movies that I loved when I was a kid.

Batteries Not Included

Short Circuit

Explorers

TheStatutoryApe

That sounds really familiar but I don't quite remember it.

Huckleberry

Apparently I was wrong about 'Omega Man' being the inspiration for 'I am Legend'. The Richard Matheson novel 'I am Legend' was made into a movie 'The Last Man on Earth' starring Vincent Price, which released in 1964.

And the name of the movie I was looking for was 'Logan's Run' starring Michael York, not Charlton Heston, and released in 1976.

Huckleberry

I could tell everyone the story, but it's better to watch the movie. It's pretty good.

Oh, I also am a fan of Explorers

Ivan Seeking

Slaughterhouse Five

The Quiet Earth

Borek

Westworld.

Hardly the best movie I have seen, but as a teenager I was great fan of The Magnificent Seven, so any movie starring Yul Brynner was a must to see.

Pythagorean

Yes, only the original movie though. The more recent ones were kinda cheesy(er).

Ivan Seeking

Hah! This is part 1 of the release of Metropolis that I was referencing. Be sure to check it out. I think this is one of the great movies of all time - an absolute masterpiece; and imo, even more so with the additions from Moroder. When I first saw this, I literally had to watch it about ten more times in a fairly short period of time before I had enough.

B. Elliott

It's funny how you can see a lot of the inspiration for Terminator in Westworld.


My top sci-fi movies, in no particular order, are...

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (what inspired me to get into the submarine field)
The Abyss
Forbidden Planet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Logans Run
Stargate
The Time Machine (H.G. Wells original)
Tron
War of the Worlds (Wells original)
Aliens (2)
Predator

Huckleberry

The doors open. A teacher and some children exit. The guy falls in love. That's priceless. It's interesting how silent movies progress the plot, and the Flash Gordon type music is awesome. I have the movie on my netflix queue and will watch it this weekend if it arrives in time. The version they are distributing mentions it has been restored to include the 1927 orchestral score, but I don't think it's Moroder's version. I'm downloading that right now, just to make a comparison.

Hmm, just found out that Freddy Mercury sings the first song on the Moroder version soundtrack 'Love Kills'. He also composed all the music for Flash Gordon. I guess that's why I make the connection. Other artists on the soundtrack are Pat Benetar and Bonnie Tyler.

This is gonna be good!

Danger

I've been trying to find that damned movie for years, because I really want to see it. Good call. I never watched 'Dune'. Three times I tried to read the book and quit within 20 pages because it disgusted me to an unprecedented degree. Something about opening the book describing an obese predatory gay pedophile with a boy and a globe in his study put me off.
I must repeat myself here, from a previous thread, that 'Sci-Fi' is an horrendously insulting term to SF fans. It's like calling a man's wife a whore. Something like 'The Core' or 'Signs' or 'The Butterfly Effect' or 'Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster' are Sci-Fi. Things like 'Star Wars' or 'The Last Starfighter' are science-oriented fantasy. (I love both, bye the by.) Then you have science-oriented comedy such as 'Men In Black' or 'Galaxy Quest'.
True SF is creature-oriented (usually human, or an analogy thereof) with plausible scientific elements. 'Forbidden Planet', despite the robot, is a remake of 'The Tempest'. The 'Star Trek' episode 'Conscience of the King' is also rehashed Shakespeare.
As much as I hate cowboy ****, including westerns, I really enjoyed 'Firefly' and loved the 'Serenity' movie that came from it. Seeing cute little Summer Glau beat the living bejabers out of a barroom full of bad *** tough guys just made my day. (That's also why I love 'The Sarah Conner Chronicles'. )
I can barely remember THX1133, but I enjoyed it and the effects were remarkable for that era.
Still can't beat 'Flesh Gordon', though. I don't think that a single copy of the original hard-core version still exists, but the R-rated version is still way cool.

Ivan Seeking

Only to you as far as I know.

Ivan Seeking

The story does tend to jump. Presumably some of that is the result of lost footage that was never recovered. It was also somewhat inherent in films from that time. But I tend to disagree wrt your particular example. Love at first sight... Surely you aren't so old that you've forgotten what it's like?