Monday, January 12, 2009

BEST SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

Everyone has an opinion on the best science fiction movies made. A lot has to go into a selection -- your personal taste, what you have seen, when you saw the film, etc. Picking just a few is hard -- but there will always be those that stick out -- way ahead of others that have come and gone in theaters around the country.

I have trouble coming up with a #1. A lost depends on your mood when you are making the selection. Do I go with the traditional STAR WARS -- or the sentimental E.T. or CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF A THIRD KIND. There is also BLADERUNNER -- which I have not yet seen from end to end, and then the classics like THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and WAR OF THE WORLDS. Where do you fit in THE MATRIX or TERMINATOR or ALIEN? And you can't forget 2001, A SPACE ODDESY or FORBIDDEN PLANET or THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN or JURASSIC PARK. Many of these we watched as we were growing up and they definitely had an impact on how we perceived science fiction. I still prefer true science fiction -- not the horror or true fantasy elements that have krept in over the years. I have to admit that it is getting harder to separate the two.

Having grown up with Rocky Jones, Space Ranger and Captain Midnight, it is hard to think of my childhood without these mainstays of the early TV schedule. Lost in Space and shows like Star Trek brought science fiction into our homes every week and made us think about life on other planets and beings that didn't look like us.

Hollywood continues to crank out movies at a tremendous pace -- but I fear there are fewer and fewer that we can call "great" or even "classic". We can keep hoping that someone will come along with a fresh look at life in space. Joe Straczynski did it 15 years ago with Babylon 5.

Take care,
Sandy

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the post... I love "The Matrix", the sound effects, the visual effects and the stunts are all excellent... Being a student of film school I always dream of making such movies which are complete entertainers...

Sandy said...

The Matrix really set the bar very high for all other movies of this sort. The entire Matrix series created such amazing visual effects one can only strive to emulate. And Keanu Reeves was marvelous in the title role!

Sandy