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Let's hear it for tragically underrated sci-fi flicks

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F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
My pick:

strange_days_ver2.jpg


Strange Days (1995), by Kathryn Bigelow.

Teaser
Theatrical Trailer

From IMDB:

Set in the year 1999 during the last days of the old millenium, the movie tells the story of Lenny Nero, an ex-cop who now deals with data-discs containing recorded memories and emotions. One day he receives a disc which contains the memories of a murderer killing a prostitute. Lenny investigates and is pulled deeper and deeper in a whirl of blackmail, murder and rape. Will he survive and solve the case?
Click to expand...

But I didn't even know about it, why is so great?

Well, it is just a great movie. It has the right dosage of mid-90's techno-grunge pessimism and desperation, some very pungent cyberpunk themes (even if the movie is not straight up CP), a tremendous soundtrack chock full of great songs, Ralph Fiennes being Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Lewis playing her troubled-but-totaly-hot part to a tee, fat, sweaty Tom Sizemore being a complete sleazeball and Angela Bassett chomping away every scene she is in while kicking ass and taking names (it's impossible not to love her after this movie). Also, MiniDiscs.

Why it didn't work?

I wish I could tell. The movie was pretty much a gigantic bomb (made 7 million on a budget of 42 million according to Wikipedia) yet highly competent in every front, technical or otherwise. One thing is for sure: Strange Days was way, way ahead of its time and I love it for it.




Your turn, GAF.

Edit: per eravulgaris suggestion, here's a list of GAF's favourites so far

  1. 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
  2. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
  3. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
  4. Alien Cargo (1999)
  5. Alien Nation (1988)
  6. Another Earth (2011)
  7. Avalon (2001)
  8. Avalon (2001)
  9. Batteries Not Included (1987)
  10. Boku no kanojo wa saibôgu (Cyborg Girl)
  11. Brazil (1985)
  12. Cargo (2009)
  13. Children of Men (2006)
  14. Cocoon: The Return (1988)
  15. Code 46 (2003)
  16. Control
  17. Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
  18. Control (2004)
  19. Crazy Thunder Road (1980)
  20. Cube (1997)
  21. Cube Zero (2004)
  22. Cypher (2002)
  23. Dark City (1998)
  24. Dark Star (1974)
  25. Day of the Triffids (1963)
  26. Enemy Mine (1985)
  27. Equilibrium (2002)
  28. Event Horizon (1997)
  29. eXistenZ (1999)
  30. Fallen (1998)
  31. Fantastic Planet (1973)
  32. Flight of the Navigator (1986)
  33. Gamera: The Brave (2006)
  34. Gandahar (1988)
  35. Gattaca (1997)
  36. Ghosts of Mars (2001)
  37. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
  38. Heavy Metal (1981)
  39. Hollow Man (2000)
  40. Hunter Prey (2010)
  41. Idiocracy (2006)
  42. Imposter (2008)
  43. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
  44. K-PAX (2001)
  45. Kin Dza Dza
  46. Krull (1983)
  47. La Jetée (1962)
  48. Lifeforce (1985)
  49. Looker (1981)
  50. Mission to Mars (2000)
  51. Moon (2009)
  52. Mr Nobody (2009)
  53. Mutant Chronicles
  54. My Science Project (1985)
  55. Never Let Me Go (2010)
  56. Night of the Comet (1984)
  57. Night of the Creeps (1986)
  58. On the Beach (1959)
  59. On The Silver Globe (1988)
  60. One Point O (2003)
  61. Open Your Eyes (1997)
  62. Outland (1981)
  63. Outlander (2008)
  64. Pandorum (2009)
  65. Phase IV (1974)
  66. Pi (1998)
  67. Pitch Black (2000)
  68. Primer (2003)
  69. Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)
  70. Puzzlehead (2006)
  71. Repo Man (1984)
  72. Retroactive (1997)
  73. Returner (2002)
  74. Robot Jox (1989)
  75. Runaway (1984)
  76. Screamers (1996)
  77. Seconds (1966)
  78. Silent Running (1971)
  79. Sleep Dealer (2008)
  80. Sleeper (1973)
  81. Solar Crisis (1993)
  82. Solaris (2002)
  83. Source Code (2011)
  84. Sphere (1998)
  85. Split Second (1992)
  86. Stalker (1979)
  87. Starman (1984)
  88. Strange days (1995)
  89. Summer Time Machine Blues (2005)
  90. Sunshine (2007)
  91. Tank Girl (1995)
  92. Terminal Voyage (1994)
  93. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
  94. THX 1138
  95. The Abyss (1989)
  96. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
  97. The Arrival (1996)
  98. The Black Hole (1979)
  99. The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
  100. The City of Lost Children (1997)
  101. The Faculty (1998)
  102. The Fifth Element (1997)
  103. The Fountain (2006)
  104. The Green Smile (1968)
  105. The Hidden (1987)
  106. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
  107. The Host (2006)
  108. The Ice Pirates (1984)
  109. The Last Starfighter (1984)
  110. The Man From Earth (2007)
  111. The Navy vs The Night Monsters (1966)
  112. The Quiet Earth (1985)
  113. The Science Project (1985)
  114. The Stuff (1985)
  115. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
  116. The Wraith (1987)
  117. They Live (1988)
  118. Time Masters (1982)
  119. Timecop (1994)
  120. Timecrimes (2007)
  121. Triangle (2009)
  122. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
  123. Videodrome (1983)
  124. Virtuosity (1995)
  125. Virus (1999)
  126. Weird Science (1985)
  127. Westworld (1973)
  128. Wizards (1977)
  129. World on a Wire (1973)
  130. Zardoz (1973)
 
U

Uchip

Banned
61262-b-sunshine.jpg

so much this
nobody has even heard of it
recommended to around 7 people, all of them liked/loved it
 
J

jtb

Banned
Uchip said:
61262-b-sunshine.jpg

so much this
nobody has even heard of it
recommended to around 7 people, all of them liked/loved it
Click to expand...

this would be up there with the best sci-fi of the decade... BUT, danny boyle just had to go and remind us he was behind the camera and pull one of the shittiest third acts of ALL FUCKING TIME.

yeah. still pissed.

great movie besides that. too bad "that" is a big fucking dealbreaker.
 
U

Uchip

Banned
the walrus said:
this would be up there with the best sci-fi of the decade... BUT, danny boyle just had to go and remind us he was behind the camera and pull one of the shittiest third acts of ALL FUCKING TIME.

yeah. still pissed.

great movie besides that. too bad "that" is a big fucking dealbreaker.
Click to expand...

Danny Boyle is a great director
im not sure what you are implying. its simply not his best flick.
but the fact that almost nobody has even heard of it, makes it really underrated.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Not underrated but definitely underseen:

primer-movie-poster-2004-1020240454.jpg


One of my absolute favorite science fiction films of all time, even if it did take me three viewings to get a handle on the plot.
 
F

Forceatowulf

G***n S**n*bi
Never heard of Strange Days until now. The trailer has certainly piqued my interest.

Anyways, my vote would have to be Moon. Every time I mention it's existence to my friends they have the most quizzical look. It's really fucking sad.
 
S

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
Equilibrium

6900497.3.jpg


IMDB

Kind of seems like it's a Matrix rip-off but it really isn't. Good flick.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
The problem I have with Strange Days is that if you read the script, you will see just how much Bigelow wasted the potential of that film. Feels like a bad B-movie now.

Anybody shitting on Sunshine can eat a dick - or if you're already so inclined, a vagina.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
The_Technomancer said:
Not underrated but definitely underseen:

http://karlails.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/primer-movie-poster-2004-1020240454.jpg[IMG]

One of my absolute favorite science fiction films of all time, even if it did take me three viewings to get a handle on the plot.[/QUOTE]


It's quite unique and well made (especially given the budget), but it's not a movie I would recommend to just anybody.
Click to expand...
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
ThoseDeafMutes said:
It's quite unique and well made (especially given the budget), but it's not a movie I would recommend to just anybody.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if most people react between "meh" and "the fuck was that?" after seeing it, but I still think its really really good. I think more people should see it just so that the few people who really really dig it but wouldn't otherwise know it exists can discover it
 
poppabk

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Thequietearth.jpg


Quiet earth.
Standard last man on earth plot is transformed by some great acting and a believable descent into madness. Kind of loses its way at the end though.
 
N

nitewulf

Member
Funky Papa said:
Well, it is just a great movie. It has the right dosage of mid-90's techno-grunge pessimism and desperation, some very pungent cyberpunk themes (even if the movie is not straight up CP), a tremendous soundtrack chock full of great songs, Ralph Fiennes being Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Lewis playing her troubled-but-totaly-hot part to a tee, fat, sweaty Tom Sizemore being a complete sleazeball and Angela Bassett chomping away every scene she is in while kicking ass and taking names (it's impossible not to love her after this movie). Also, MiniDiscs.
Click to expand...
i'm glad you picked this, its one of my favorites as well. brilliant movie, and i'd argue it is TOTALLY cyberpunk. painfully so. Cameron had a hand in the script as well IIRC.
 
J

jtb

Banned
Uchip said:
Danny Boyle is a great director
im not sure what you are implying, its simply not his best flick
but the fact that almost nobody has even heard of it, makes it really underrated
Click to expand...

I'm implying that pre-slumdog millionaire Boyle had this tendency to have his films completely collapse in the third act. This could also potentially have been garland's fault - never been a fan of him, though ultimately they both have to share some of the blame (so don't get me wrong though, huge boyle fan). the guy just does not know how to close out a movie, and even slumdog and 127 hours didn't have the most compelling of third acts. that's all.
 
D

Dead

well not really...yet
nitewulf said:
i'm glad you picked this, its one of my favorites as well. brilliant movie, and i'd argue it is TOTALLY cyberpunk. painfully so. Cameron had a hand in the script as well IIRC.
Click to expand...
It was Camerons movie, he wrote the original script. He gave it to Bigelow because he couldn't find time to direct it IIRC.
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
the walrus said:
I'm implying that pre-slumdog millionaire Boyle had this tendency to have his films completely collapse in the third act. This could also potentially have been garland's fault - never been a fan of him, though ultimately they both have to share some of the blame (so don't get me wrong though, huge boyle fan). the guy just does not know how to close out a movie, and even slumdog and 127 hours didn't have the most compelling of third acts. that's all.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I actually like the way the Garland/Boyle third acts operate most of the time.

I really like 28 Days Later's third act, whilst most people just wanted Jim, Selena and the family to keep roaming around London as they had been for the first two thirds of the film.

Sunshine's third act had Capa's jump which automatically makes it amazing.

The only third act I dislike is The Beach.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Uchip said:
61262-b-sunshine.jpg

so much this
nobody has even heard of it
recommended to around 7 people, all of them liked/loved it
Click to expand...

The alternate ending is much better.
Where the 'killer' turns out to be an automated system, a kind of Von Neumann machine that detects species capable of stellar engineering, sets them up with a test scenario (dying sun)identifies that as a threat and destroys them. The first group actually fails in its attempt and so the Von Neumann machine lets earth survive. When the second group gets there and succeeds, it apologizes (in the form of the 'killer') and ironically wipes out Earth BECAUSE they made it.
 
B

Bombadil

Banned
ElectricBlue187 said:
This probably counts

285317_det.jpg


Cheesy in that 90's way but good
Click to expand...

I liked this film a lot. It fell apart for me in the third act when Ice-T and the dolphin show up, but the idea of being a memory courier with hard drives implanted into your brain is really cool, in my opinion. Although it made no technical sense that he was able to fit more data in his brain than there was room for.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Forceatowulf said:
Yeah, I heard almost nothing but bad things about this flick, and how it didn't live up to 2001.

Well I gave it a watch and.. I really liked it. Damn fine movie.
Click to expand...

I love it almost as much as the first one for completely different reasons. It's almost what Aliens was to Alien (if Alien were slow as molasses and maybe a bit too brainy for its own good). 2010 was an extremely competent film that happened to divert way too much from the first movie.
 
S

sans_pants

avec_pénis
Bombadil said:
I liked this film a lot. It fell apart for me in the third act when Ice-T and the dolphin show up, but the idea of being a memory courier with hard drives implanted into your brain is really cool, in my opinion. Although it made no technical sense that he was able to fit more data in his brain than there was room for.
Click to expand...

they seriously need to remake it, you can even have keanu play the same role. just take ti more seriously with a real budget
 
F

Forceatowulf

G***n S**n*bi
Write me down as one of the people who didn't enjoy Sunshines third act. The twist comes out of left field and not in a good way.
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
Fari said:
ndXPL.jpg


There's nothing else like it.
Click to expand...

Fuck. Yes.

The original dune movie I think is underrated. It's certainly not respected as much as it should be. It's not perfect but it is great.

Oh and outlander.

Oh and waterworld is kinda good but everyone just assumes its sucks.

Edit: *batteries not included is a good one.

I never hear people talk about Short Circuit anymore.
 
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