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| lshap |
 Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:01 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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| I really think we should sit down and talk about this...Dave... |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:04 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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Here's Marilyn's comments and list of film assignments:
OK, everyone. I've got the final list. This was very difficult. I tried to balance themes, eras, directors, and popular favorites. I know my effort isn't perfect, but I think these films are representative of the best and most influential scifi films ever made. I have grouped them, and we'll watch them in these groupings. I'm open to one-at-a-time discussion of the films, but I hope we can watch them as groups and use them as points of discussion and to lead us to other films.
(Drum roll)
1. Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut (1982/1992) [Scott] future worlds/humanity and its machines/apocalyptic visions
2. Tron (1982) [Lisberger] humanity and its machines
3. Metropolis (1927) [Lang] future worlds/humanity and its machines
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) [Wise] aliens/apocalyptic visions
5. The Thing (1982) [Carpenter] aliens
6. Planet of the Apes (1968) [Shaffner] future worlds
7. 12 Monkeys (1995) [Gilliam] future worlds/humanity’s manipulation of nature/apocalyptic visions
8. Frankenstein (1931) [Whale] humanity’s manipulation of nature
9. Videodrome (1983) [Cronenberg] future worlds/humanity’s manipulation of nature
10. Forbidden Planet (1956) [Wilcox] overall
11. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) [Kubrick] overall
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:09 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| The funny thing about The Day the Earth Stood Still is that for most of the movie, there are no space-ships, robots, or gadgets. Yet the sense of tension is very strongly maintained. It's an ominous movie, much more so than, say Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which I like a lot, as well), despite little occuring throughout the bulk of the running time. A superb picture. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:11 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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Off to Hollywood Video I go tonight... The only movie I question they may have in stock in Metropolis. And I already own both versions of Tron on DVD.
This is cool... I'm actually pretty excited about this new forum. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:13 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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This'll be a great excuse to watch "The Day The Earth Stood Still" for the very first time. Yes, I know it's a classic, and I love sci-fi, but 50-year old science fiction is often limited by an extreme lack of knowledge.
There are, however, notable exceptions. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:17 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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lshap wrote: This'll be a great excuse to watch "The Day The Earth Stood Still" for the very first time.
*gasp* .. (as I pick myself off the floor).
Wow.. you will love this movie... I can't wait to hear your comments after watching it. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:21 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4246
Location: Montreal
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| Gotta find the bugger first! |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| If anyone has problems getting their hands on a film on the list, please post about it ASAP. I hope we can cooperate in getting copies of the films to those who want them. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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Chilly,
You almost surely will find Metropolis, which is the rare silent movie to be stocked most everywhere, but the question will be: which version? There was a major restoration done recently, but this is a movie that was hacked to pieces early on, and reassembled in different ways. And it's in the public domain, so any video company that chose to find a print and release a version could. You may find a bad print, or a beatiful one, or even the 80's re-release by Giorgio Moroder with stills from lost scenes (though apparantly he cut a lot of traditional footage out) and songs by then-current rock bands, including Queen, written to provide the music accompaniment. I think it's really cool, myself. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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Just called my local Hollywood Video and they have all 3 available. They only have one copy of Metropolis, but it's not been rented for a while.
The other two are already waiting at home... he he
I learned something about Metropolis. The orginal movie was about 90 mins long.... the new restored version is 153 mins. An extra hour added on. Makes me that much more curious. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| censored-03 |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:30 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: Gotham, Big Apple, The Naked City
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| Marilyn I am glad that you picked 2 from the 50's after all it was THE sci-fi decade. I am surprised nobody besides me mentioned Them the giant ants invade, with the great James Whitmore and James Arness, Edmund Gwenn and Fess Parker. Do we have a giant nuclear caused anything on our list ? I like the list a lot don't get me wrong a few were even on my list, but I will miss the humor so much a part of a lot of sci-fi particularly unintentional humor. To me that is half the fun of Science Fiction movies. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:31 pm |
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Location: Houston
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Lorne,
I'll be really interested in your respose to The Day the Earth Stood Still. I saw this movie for the first time when I was like 10, and have seen it countless times over the years. I have no critical distance. |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| That's why Forbidden Planet is on the list. It is the quintessential 50s B-scifi movie. There are so many parody and trash films I love. Maybe we could do a subgenre called trash scifi. I'd pick Re-animator as the first movie; it's my favorite. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I kinda hope we can deal with I Married A Monster From Outer Space, which has a gimmicky title but is one of the best movies of the decade. It used to be pretty easy to come by, but I'm not sure now. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:33 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8250
Location: Salt Lake City
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Joe Vitus wrote: You almost surely will find Metropolis, which is the rare silent movie to be stocked most everywhere, but the question will be: which version?
This is the one Hollywood says they have:
http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/movies/movie.aspx?mid=908
It's the restored version. The last one I saw was in the late 80's on VHS. It was 90 mins long and wasn't the best in quality. That's another reason I'm excited to watch this one.
As for the version that was remade in the 80's, I never saw that one all the way through... only parts of it. For some reason, never got into it then. Wanted to see the orginal. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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