Unpopular Sci-fi/ Fantasy movie opinions!

[stj]

You can't make a list of the fifty best science fiction movies without redefining "best" as "has aspects that fans of that kind of movie can really appreciate."

Superhero movies are science fiction movies but are mostly awful, which earns science fiction movies a lot of disrespect.

Steampunk peaked with Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Tron, Sunshine, The Fountain and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow prove conclusively that VFX does not and never will make a movie a hit.

If you ignore visual originality, scoring, editing, strong if simple characterization and relentless grasp on story themes, Star Wars is a dreadful movie with a stupid plot and atrocious dialogue. What Star Wars had going for it was that most science fiction movies suck at visual originality, scoring, editing, strong if simple characterization and relentless grasp on story themes, while also having atrocious dialogue and a stupid plot.

And Avatar is like Star Wars with competent dialogue and an acceptable plot.

The Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi were a single movie in two parts, and claiming one is better than the other is nuts.

Ditto Matrix Reloaded/Matrix Revolutions.

Ditto Back to the Future II & III.

Neo coming back to life at the climax of The Matrix was BS and the movie only worked because of Keanu Reeves' performance

And Matrix Reloaded/Matrix Revolutions may have had a sophomoric philosophy but they were about something other than Keanu Reeves being a superhero, which alone made them better.

Not only Dark City but The Thirteenth Floor were better movies than The Matrix.

Back to the Future is one of the best science fiction movies ever made.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was a good movie but the remake was better.

The Wrath of Khan has too many cringingly bad scenes to be classed as a good movie.

In spite of the obvious influence, Forbidden Planet was too hipped on virginity to be a true anticipation of Star Trek.

Ladyhawke is an underrated fantasy.

Return to Oz was a severely underrated fantasy.

Whether horror movies use science fiction or fantasy elements is irrelevant, they are horror movies.

Dreamscape was a dark and gritty superhero movie before the trend, but still gets no credit because dark and gritty is about fashion, not theme.

 

[Tyson]

-JJ Abrams isn't awesome. I don't understand how he got to be some sort of nerd saviour. He manages to be an awful director too.

-Anime is objectively terrible. There are no good animes. Anime fans usually have something wrong with them, mentally.

-Michael Bay knows he's Michael Bay and therefore is awesome. It's not clever to hate on something cause it's popular.

-The Stargate TV shows wish they were Star Trek, except for the latest one which wishes it was BSG. It's not, it's a joke, and so are it's "fans".

-Most fandoms are comprised primarily of idiots. If you are reading this I am probably referring to you.

 

[tomalak301]

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the most overrated thing in the history of Film

2. Following up on #1, Watching Return of the King win all the awards almost made me throw up that year's Oscar season. How the heck can other movies made that year compete against three movies from three years. It wasn't fair and it was actually a crime I thought.

3. Battlestar Galactica (2005), while decent, was not the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, it's no where near the quality of my favorite Scifi shows/movies

4. Voyager was a very good quality series that I enjoy watching every so often.

5. Star Trek is something I respect, but don't absolutely love

6. Empire Strikes Back is a great movie, but I actually like Return of the Jedi more

7. Scifi in the 1990's has been so much better than the Scifi of today (Not sure how unpopular it is, but with series like Farscape, which was 1999 I know but that's still 90s, DS9, TNG, X-Files, and movies put's this current time to shame).

 

[Neroon]

Most of the opinions expressed in this thread are not actually held, but are calculated to tick others off.

 

[Orac Zen]

Most of the opinions expressed in this thread are not actually held, but are calculated to tick others off.

Possibly, but not mine.


In no particular order:

* DS9 isn't as good as it's made out to be
* Voyager isn't as bad as it's made out to be
* TWoK isn't as good as it's made out to be
* Firefly is the most overpraised and overrated TV show I've ever seen
* what I saw of nuBSG was boring beyond any attempt at description
* new Doctor Who is okay, but no more than that. Classic Who made far, far, far better use of the show's premise than new Who has ever looked like doing
* Whedon, Moore and RT Davies aren't the second coming
* dyed in the wool fan of B5 that I am, Straczynski isn't the second coming, either
* Berman and Braga aren't evil incarnate
* Star Wars (collectively) isn't as good as it's made out to be
* Blade Runner isn't as good as it's made out to be
* TOS wasn't some sort of revolutionary, groundbreaking masterpiece and Roddenberry wasn't a great visionary. He - with considerable help from other talented people - made a pretty damned good TV show. No more or less than that.

There are undoubtedly others, but that will do for now.

 

[SeerSGB]

-- TMP is the only "Star Trek" (TOS) movie, as in the only movie to really capture the feel.

-- Had STV been a TOS episode people would be singing it's praises, as a movie they roast it, despite it been on average with TOS writing. (note: I love TOS, it is my favorite series)

-- TNG never had a good movie, just movies that should have been 2 hour episodes.

-- Canon is not the same as continuity and vice versa.

-- Canon is overrate most of the time

-- Lost In Space (reboot movie) isn't that bad of a movie.

-- Ron Moore is getting up with there with Gene and Lucas as far as over-hyped creators/producers go.

-- BSG (remake) was good, but they wasted a lot of potential.

-- Darth Vader and the Emperor were right: The Jedi were a threat to the Republic.

-- Take 1 obscure character with less than 10 minute screen time, add fan hype, and you'll have a cult-fan-favorite. (Ex: Boba Fett)

-- 1701-D has few good angles.

-- Voyager didn't neuter the Borg TNG did.

-- Star Wars EU, on average, is pretty subpar and undermines the story of the original movies.

-- Karen Traviss should have just dealt with it and keep her mouth shut and her fan[dolorians] need to shut up and get over it.

-- Not all 1980s American animation is total shit, some series are pretty good to great.

-- Joss Whedon: stop believing your fans, you're good but not that good.

Most of the opinions expressed in this thread are not actually held, but are calculated to tick others off.

Not in my case. These are my real opinions on the topics.

Which is why I usually watch a show for the entertainment value, and worry less about the "politics" of fandom.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Another unpopular opinion: Joss Whedon is not God.

 

[Kelthaz]

Most of the opinions expressed in this thread are not actually held, but are calculated to tick others off.

Yeah, pretty much. What forum-goer would ever turn down the invitation to flame something and piss a bunch of people off?

Well, my turn.

- 2001: A Space Odyssey is quite possibly the worst sci-fi movie ever made. I haven't seen Plan 9 From Outer Space yet, but I imagine it would be better.
- Star Trek: TOS is horrible. No, it's not because it's dated (Doctor Who from the same time is still fantastic), but because it's horrible. The episodes are terribly written (with a few notable exceptions) and none of the cast could act themselves out of a wet paper bag.
- The Star Wars Prequel movies are ... okay. Not great, but not exactly the worst thing mankind has done since the Holocaust either. Just okay.
- Independence Day is fucking awesome.
- Super Dimensional Fortress Macross is horrible.
- Jason & The Argonauts is mediocre. The skeleton fight was impressive, but the film was pretty poor.
- And, saving the most controversial for last, Colin Baker's outfit as the sixth doctor was pretty cool.

 

[tomalak301]

I've got a couple unpopular Doctor Who opinions I should share:

-Some of the outfits are terrible. If there is one thing I don't like about Matt Smith's Doctor is the outfit. It looks like he's waken up from the 20's or something. The best outfit was the more modern look from Christopher Eccleston

-I think there should be a female Doctor and we're in that time where it should be mandatory

-Amy is an ok companion. Not as good as Rose or Donna though

-Doctor Who has such a charm about it and can be a really fun show. If that's the case, then why is there a lot of hatred in the fandom? It's almost as bad as Star Trek, but in terms of Who, it's the same show

-Absolutely bashing Russell T. Davies for everything he does makes you idiotic. Ok, so there are some episodes that are poorly written, but newsflash: HE BROUGHT THE SHOW BACK AND INTRODUCED AN ENTIRELY NEW AUDIENCE. For that alone he get's a Free Pass.

 

[JonathonWally]

Most of the opinions expressed in this thread are not actually held, but are calculated to tick others off.

Mine are actually held, but then again, I don't think mine are overly antagonistic, maybe with the exception of my love for Phantom Menace.

 

[Rett Mikhal]

I was never really bothered by midichlorians.

Woah, pitchforks down, gentlemen.

Let me clarify. I interpreted it differently. I never thought it was "the Force isn't a magical energy that we all make, it's actually bacteria", that doesn't make sense. No, instead I got the impression that the Force runs in your blood (and it DOES, since Force users that have children have children strong in the force) and thus midichlorians live in the blood of strong force users. Therefor the measurement of the amount is still viable, and the fact they are there has nothing to do with making you strong in the force, the fact they are there is just a clue that you are.

That's how I always took it, and it never bothered me at all. I don't see why anyone else says it otherwise. Sure, Qui-Gon says midichlorians first "taught us about the force" but that's still believable. A strong force user before the force was fully understood received a message from the organisms that require force to live. It had to start somewhere, right? Why not a message from the Force itself, basically?

If you take it the other way, yeah, that's godawful, so... just don't do that. Simple...

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Steampunk peaked with Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

The genre peaked decades before the term was even coined.

TEMPLE OF DOOM is the only Indiana Jones sequel worth a damn and even its half the movie RotLA is.

Judge Dredd is a good movie, considering no one in the USA outside of hardcore comic nerds ever heard of the character it's surprising it was made at all...or that they are making a new one.

Mad Max is the least entertaining Mad Max movie (it's still good.). Also, the villain in the US dub sound sooo much more menacing.

James Cameron's movies are pandering crap, all of them, even the ones I liked. It's no wonder he's done so well.

2001's premise was stupid and does a disservice to serious science fiction.

1961's Mysterious Island is one of the best sequels ever.

The Back to the Future sequels never should've been made.

Tim Burton's last good movie was Batman.

The Highlander franchise is lame and how it got popular, I'll never understand.

Star Trek IV is the worst Trek film.

Guillermo Del Toro is a mediocre director.

Most fantasy/supernatural and sci-fi horror movies are tripe.

Gollum is the worst part of The Two Towers and Return of the King.

Heavy Metal sucked, and Heavy Metal 2 sucked even more.

Babylon 5 was at least 60% garbage. But that's a t.v. opinion.

None of the Spider-Man movies were especially good.

The best parts of Iron Man were Iron Man battling terrorists; the worst parts were the cliched Iron Monger/Stane villainry.

I prefer the original Blade Runner theatrical edit.

 

[cpicard]

Batman The Dark Knight is a truely horrible movie.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

I was going to withhold mine, since it's a tv opinion - but seeing as plenty of others have voiced tv opinions in this thread now... what the hell? Here goes:

Space: 1999 is one of the most scientifically literate shows.

 

[Silent_Bob]

I liked 'The Postman', enjoyed every minute of it. More recently i also liked 'Legion' and found the theatrical cut of 'Daredevil' more entertaining than the directors cut.

 

[Myasishchev]

^In that spirit, I liked Waterworld. It's actually the only Kevin Costner movie I've ever seen that I did like.

There's something to be said about a movie with the nerve to open with the main character drinking his own piss. I think something good.

 

[T'Girl]

I'm not a big fan of moral ambiguity. In my very black-and-white worldview, there's good and evil and that's it. That's why movies like TF appeal to me. Megatron is evil, and loses; Optimus Prime is good, and wins. Optimus is the kind of hero that we need more of, because he is absolutely incorruptible and honest - he's not flawed, not weak, not plagued by self doubt. He's not just good, he *defines* good.

My friend, this has got to be the best thing you have ever posted.

I totally understood both sides in Avatar. The Corporation - Marines wanted to save the lives of billions of people on a far away world, their goodness was tempered by avarice. The natives wanted the save their territory - property in the face of a foreign invasion, their goodness was tempered by indifference to the plight of others.

Waterworld was a truly superior film, the longer the version, the better it got.

Practical stunts and wire-work are preferable to CGI and computer tricks.

Sit down with a DVD of your favorite move and an old VCR, make a copy without any FX or fight scenes, sit down with friends and popcorn and watch the edited version. If it holds up, its a good movie.

To slightly rephrase:

-Most fandoms are comprised primarily of idiots. If I am writing this, I am probably referring to myself.

That's better.

 

[stj]

Steampunk peaked with Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

The genre peaked decades before the term was even coined.

To rephrase, the only time steampunk was really successful was Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Beneath the Sea. Yes, that includes Firefly's faux-Western horses and spaceships.

And when steampunk combines fantasy with old costumes, it's even worse.

But it occurs to me that steampunk is a much bigger deal in print.

 

[SeerSGB]

Steampunk peaked with Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

The genre peaked decades before the term was even coined.

To rephrase, the only time steampunk was really successful was Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Beneath the Sea. Yes, that includes Firefly's faux-Western horses and spaceships.

And when steampunk combines fantasy with old costumes, it's even worse.

But it occurs to me that steampunk is a much bigger deal in print.

There's an article someone e-mailed me a while back about Steampunk (which I love) and it was basically, IRC, that if t looks more like Star Wars or LotR with steam engines and goggles it isn't steampunk.

I get into trouble with a lot of StmPnk folk over the fact that I draw the line with HG Wells-- fictional/speculative technologically speaking. I honestly believe that modern steam punk (which in reality is probably 95% of the genre, seeing as Verne and Wells weren't steam punk authors, they just sorta got drafted into the genre) is more Fantasy or sci-fi with "brass and glass" over "steel and blasters".

Doesn't make it bad, in fact some of it is very enjoyable, but it's like saying Star Wars and 2001 are similar cause they both have a spaceships and take place in space.


Which brings me around to a opinion that gets my ass flamed a lot:

-- Jules Verne & HG Wells were not originally steampunk writers. They just wrote fiction, they weren't thinking about writing steampunk, steampunk didn't exist. And while their work slots into the genre nicely, and it makes for a good foundation, it's a bit insulting to them to classify them as steampunk authors just to fatten out the library.

-- William Gibson, overrated. Good writer, definitely has a style and a talent, but his talent is over rated in both steampunk and cyberpunk fanbases.

-- Some writers and producers are considered "great" or "gods" in a genre not by a measure of their talent but the measure of how vocal and rabid their fanbases are.

-- Unless you're doing fantasy-steampunk (more so than steampunk already is fantasy), then stop and ask yourself if it's something that could logically come out of Victorian science and technological bases.

-- Technobabble does not a story make. That's true for Star Trek, it's true for any story. If the only way to get your characters out of a jam at the end is too have the techobabble equivalent of "the wizard did it", then rewrite the damn story.

-- Shows and movies from your childhood are never as cool and great as you remembered them being.

-- Bow-ties are cool. So you can just suck it.

 

[DarthPipes]

2001 is boring and Blade Runner is overrated.