Hmmm, Good Question
It's one of those getting-to-know you questions: "What are your top ten favourite sf/horror films, in no particular order?" How can you pick just ten? How do you define sf and horror? Of course, no pressure coming from the fact that the guy who asked me this is a movie nut and film editor...
What I did was leaf through VideoHound's Sci-Fi Experience to remind me of films I've seen, look through my own DVD collection and my own mind, made a list, crossed out and added... I made it easier on myself by just doing sf films. Easier enough to make it possible, anyway.
So here are my TOP TEN SCIENCE FICTION FILMS, in no particular order:
1. A Clockwork Orange: funny, sad, violent. A great film exploring language, youth, and free will. Great over-all look and music.
2. Demolition Man: along with Judge Dredd, my favoure Sly double-bill. I think it says something about the futility of supressing "bad" and the blandness of "good". Benjamin Bratt is a cutie, Sandra Bullock is funny, and Sylvester Stallone is both, as well as being the consumate action hero. Besides, I always get a kick out of what an honour it is to be taken out to dinner at Taco Bell, the winner of the Franchise Wars. An interesting vision of the future, good action.
3. Fahrenheit 451: I love the novel by Ray Bradbury, and the movie is very well done. Yeah, it's a dated, 40-year-old vision of the future, but it's slick. The destruction of words, of books and stories is a fear close to my heart. Reminds me a lot of Soylent Green.
4. 1984: Another great interpretation of a great book. It looks wonderful, close to Orwell's premonition of Soviet life. Good performances by Richard Burton and John Hurt. Romance, fear, betrayal, bad government, impoverishment of language and the interior life, and trying to keep a spark of humanity alive in yourself despite overwhelming odds.
5. The Omega Man: Enough said.
6. On the Beach: End of the world. End of hope. Die the best way you know how.
7. Soylent Green: I enjoyed the book by Harry Harrison, titled Make Room, Make Room! It's about the haves and have-nots, too many people and not enough resources, the heavy hand of government, the control of knowledge, and devaluing of human life and the discounting of the old and sick.
8. Total Recall: Great premise! I am a big Philip K. Dick fan (this was based on a short story titled "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale"), but it was tough to pick just one movie for the list. Lots of action. Another movie about betrayal, paranoia, and the sometime fluidity of memory and history.
9. 12 Monkeys: Trying to save the world, being a voice in the wilderness. Time-travel and hopelessness, deadly plague.
10. The Matrix: Slick vision of the future (present?), it's about choosing reality and individuality, what's right rather than what's safe even when it seems there is no hope.
This list is open to debate and would probably change from month to month depending on what I've seen recently, movies that were better or worse than I remembered, things that fit together differently in my head, and newly discovered movies.
Next I'll try my top ten horror films.
What I did was leaf through VideoHound's Sci-Fi Experience to remind me of films I've seen, look through my own DVD collection and my own mind, made a list, crossed out and added... I made it easier on myself by just doing sf films. Easier enough to make it possible, anyway.
So here are my TOP TEN SCIENCE FICTION FILMS, in no particular order:
1. A Clockwork Orange: funny, sad, violent. A great film exploring language, youth, and free will. Great over-all look and music.
2. Demolition Man: along with Judge Dredd, my favoure Sly double-bill. I think it says something about the futility of supressing "bad" and the blandness of "good". Benjamin Bratt is a cutie, Sandra Bullock is funny, and Sylvester Stallone is both, as well as being the consumate action hero. Besides, I always get a kick out of what an honour it is to be taken out to dinner at Taco Bell, the winner of the Franchise Wars. An interesting vision of the future, good action.
3. Fahrenheit 451: I love the novel by Ray Bradbury, and the movie is very well done. Yeah, it's a dated, 40-year-old vision of the future, but it's slick. The destruction of words, of books and stories is a fear close to my heart. Reminds me a lot of Soylent Green.
4. 1984: Another great interpretation of a great book. It looks wonderful, close to Orwell's premonition of Soviet life. Good performances by Richard Burton and John Hurt. Romance, fear, betrayal, bad government, impoverishment of language and the interior life, and trying to keep a spark of humanity alive in yourself despite overwhelming odds.
5. The Omega Man: Enough said.
6. On the Beach: End of the world. End of hope. Die the best way you know how.
7. Soylent Green: I enjoyed the book by Harry Harrison, titled Make Room, Make Room! It's about the haves and have-nots, too many people and not enough resources, the heavy hand of government, the control of knowledge, and devaluing of human life and the discounting of the old and sick.
8. Total Recall: Great premise! I am a big Philip K. Dick fan (this was based on a short story titled "We Can Remember it for you Wholesale"), but it was tough to pick just one movie for the list. Lots of action. Another movie about betrayal, paranoia, and the sometime fluidity of memory and history.
9. 12 Monkeys: Trying to save the world, being a voice in the wilderness. Time-travel and hopelessness, deadly plague.
10. The Matrix: Slick vision of the future (present?), it's about choosing reality and individuality, what's right rather than what's safe even when it seems there is no hope.
This list is open to debate and would probably change from month to month depending on what I've seen recently, movies that were better or worse than I remembered, things that fit together differently in my head, and newly discovered movies.
Next I'll try my top ten horror films.
posted by silvereyz at 5:20 PM
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