imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 years

[Too Much Fun]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

That's a pretty lame list. I'd think the people who run IMDB had better taste. I consider "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "X2: X-Men United" bonafide classics and two of my all time favourites in any genre. They bring some much needed prestige to the list, but they share it with a lot of crap. I love "Donne Darko" and "Men In Black" too, but I wish they weren't ranked below a Harry Potter movie and that Star Wars rip-off. How insulting.

The first Lord of the Rings movie bored me so much that I never wanted to see a Lord of the Rings movie again after it was over. Still haven't seen the other two. "Revenge of the Sith" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Bad acting, bad writing, bad special effects, bad everything. What a waste of time and money.

I agree that "Dark City" and "Minority Report" should have been included, and would add "Twelve Monkeys" to the list of movies they left out that are much more worthy of a spot on the list than poorly written junk like the Star Wars prequel and "Avatar". I would have liked to see "Equilibrium" on there too. I know it's silly and not that popular, but I find it much more engaging than a lot of their choices.

 

[That]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I think it's one of the worst films ever...

Really? As an all around whole, you think it is one of the worst films ever made? Not just in its script form, but as a whole?

And I presume by saying "one of the worst," you don't mean there's only 5 films ever made that you like, and the rest are the worst.

There are only a few films that have been able to overcome a bad script, usually through sheer will, through having all the best people and the best talnents brought to bear on every aspect of a production to make sure the film works despite script problems. One such film is, perhaps, on the list: Avatar.

But Minority Report relies so heavily on the very premise that it is built around that this is not the case. Culturally, this film has been deservedly forgotten by much of the public, as it deserves to be.

Don't you get it? Your opinion is WRONG!!! Everyone but you think Minority report is a decent movie. Get it through your thick skull, YOU ARE WRONG!! Go cry a river elsewhere, and accept that you arrogant attitiude is worthless and incorrect.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Moon is only 20th, while Independence Day is 13th???

And where the hell are Twelve Monkeys, Gattaca, or Children of Men?

 

[Deckerd]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Not sure why Moon is there, to be honest, although I thought it was a very good movie.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

For comparison, these are all movies from the last twenty years on IMDb's own “Top 50 Sci-Fi” list: http://www.imdb.com/chart/scifi

1) Inception
4) The Matrix
5) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
7) WALL-E
10) Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind
16) District 9
17) Avatar
18) Donnie Darko
23) Star Trek (2009)
24) Twelve Monkeys
25) V for Vendetta
30) Children of Men
37) The Men from Earth
41) Moon
42) Iron Man
44) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
45) The Iron Giant
46) Jurassic Park
47) Serenity
49) Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion


The same with the "Top 50 Fantasy" movies:

1) Toy Story 3
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
4) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
6) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
7) Amélie
8) Spirited Away
9) Pan's Labyrinth
10) The Prestige
12) Up
14) The Green Mile
16) Princess Mononoke
18) Avatar
20) Toy Story
21) How to Train Your Dragon
23) Groundhog Day
26) Ratatouille
33) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
36) The Incredibles
38) Let the Right One In
42) Big Fish
43) Howl's Moving Castle
48) Toy Story 2
50) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

 

[barnaclelapse]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I guess this makes for a pretty grim indication of what's been passing for "Good" science fiction/fantasy over the last two decades. I think those years have seen some good movies, but damn if this list doesn't remind me of the crap that's come out, too.

Meh. Overall a disappointing list in my opinion.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Really? As an all around whole, you think it is one of the worst films ever made? Not just in its script form, but as a whole?

And I presume by saying "one of the worst," you don't mean there's only 5 films ever made that you like, and the rest are the worst.

There are only a few films that have been able to overcome a bad script, usually through sheer will, through having all the best people and the best talnents brought to bear on every aspect of a production to make sure the film works despite script problems. One such film is, perhaps, on the list: Avatar.

But Minority Report relies so heavily on the very premise that it is built around that this is not the case. Culturally, this film has been deservedly forgotten by much of the public, as it deserves to be.

Don't you get it? Your opinion is WRONG!!! Everyone but you think Minority report is a decent movie. Get it through your thick skull, YOU ARE WRONG!! Go cry a river elsewhere, and accept that you arrogant attitiude is worthless and incorrect.

I think you should be reported for flaming.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I think they did not include animated films as a rule, otherwise there would be far too many contenders

 

[TheBrew]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Really? As an all around whole, you think it is one of the worst films ever made? Not just in its script form, but as a whole?

And I presume by saying "one of the worst," you don't mean there's only 5 films ever made that you like, and the rest are the worst.

There are only a few films that have been able to overcome a bad script, usually through sheer will, through having all the best people and the best talnents brought to bear on every aspect of a production to make sure the film works despite script problems. One such film is, perhaps, on the list: Avatar.

But Minority Report relies so heavily on the very premise that it is built around that this is not the case. Culturally, this film has been deservedly forgotten by much of the public, as it deserves to be.

Don't you get it? Your opinion is WRONG!!! Everyone but you think Minority report is a decent movie. Get it through your thick skull, YOU ARE WRONG!! Go cry a river elsewhere, and accept that you arrogant attitiude is worthless and incorrect.

I like you.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I think they did not include animated films as a rule, otherwise there would be far too many contenders

Except for WALL-E...

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

ah, good point

 

[Gojira]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

The list looks pretty good to me. I have seen pretty much everything on the list and own about 14 of them on DVD. I really enjoyed Minority Report, but since all of this stuff is subjective, to each his own.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

For comparison, these are all movies from the last twenty years on IMDb's own “Top 50 Sci-Fi” list: http://www.imdb.com/chart/scifi

1) Inception
4) The Matrix
5) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
7) WALL-E
10) Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind
16) District 9
17) Avatar
18) Donnie Darko
23) Star Trek (2009)
24) Twelve Monkeys
25) V for Vendetta
30) Children of Men
37) The Men from Earth
41) Moon
42) Iron Man
44) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
45) The Iron Giant
46) Jurassic Park
47) Serenity
49) Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

This is a little better because it's based on votes by IMDB users, rather than their staff. And it reminds me that if there had to be only one animated feature on a list of top 20 science fiction movies of the last 20 years "The Iron Giant" is a way better choice than "Wall-E".

 

[Lapis Exilis]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I'm fine with Avatar and agree with those who said Dark City and The Incredibles deserve spots on that list, but the one most glaring omission to me is Children of Men. That movie is simply spectacular and definitely better than at least half the movies on the list. (imho)

No doubt! I can't believe more of us haven't noticed that omission. Quite an excellent film, and very good sci-fi.

I'm not disagreeing that ST : XI was a bit more dumbed down than most of it's predecessors. There were a few cringe worthy moments like the whole Scotty in the water-tube sillyness, Scotty's lame ewok buddy as well as some of the McCoy humor. There's also well as the inexplicable decision to abandon Kirk on a God-forsaken winter planet where he will almost assuredly die and Kirk going from punishment/expulsion to Captain of the fleet's starship. I think a promotion to first officer or something would have been more than sufficient to end the movie and then pick up 3 years later after he made captain. Still, sacrifices, I think, must be made in order to get the story to a place where it's ready to start fresh without any more "origin" story in the second movie and that was accomplished, though at the expense of believability at times.

You are much, much more forgiving than I, my friend. A list that long of hard-to-swallow moments, plus a lame stock villain and the plot brought to a screeching halt to shoehorn in a really rather useless cameo by Leonard Nimoy (which introduced further plot absurdities) - it was all just too much for me. The irony is I'd been an advocate of recasting the original crew for at least 15 years, and I really liked most of the new actors. For the first three minutes of the film I thought they'd really nailed it, because to me Trek is less about intellectualism (which, even in its best moments was still tv shallow) than about heart. Sadly, after the main title came up - I wasn't seeing a lot of heart.

All that being said, it's not as if there weren't some equally lame humor/moments in ST III, IV and VI. And we won't even mention the train wreck that was the Final Frontier.

As a general rule, Trek movies blow. That's part of why I'm doubtful that a movie series without a tv series will really extend the franchise's lifespan much.

As a fan of JJ Abrams and his shows like Lost, Alias and Fringe, it's my hope that he continues intelligent, engaging story telling and that this next Trek movie can retain it's popularity and still be thought-provoking. I realize for every Inception or Matrix there's a thousand Avatars or Independence Days, but I would hope that Abrams track record would be enough to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

That may be the main source of our difference of opinion. I don't find Abrams' work all that impressive. I'm watching Lost now and it's entertaining enough, but I've seen a lot of stunt plotting and beautiful people, but very little heart so far.

You might be right about where the franchise is headed, though obviously for old trekkers like myself, I hope not.

Don't get me wrong, I'd be ecstatic if I saw something that captured the spirit of Star Trek in a new package.

Neither of us really know where the franchise is going to head based on what definitely qualifies as a pretty "special circumstance" type of movie and for all I know, you may be right. Still, my hope, however misguided it may be, is based on what I've experienced from Abrams and his various shows and especially from the Fringe writers who penned this movie (Orci/Kurtzmen).

I haven't seen Fringe, but I have seen some other movies by Orci and Kurtzman, and they were utterly forgettable.

All the being said, I must reiterate that as distinguished and intelligent as Trek could sometimes be in the past, some of the previous Trek movies weren't any "deeper" or more thought-provoking than ST XI in many ways. While I've enjoyed all Trek movies to one degree or another, some of the humor/action/scenes in ST III, IV, V and VI didn't exactly set the gold bar standard for excellence in writing so I don't want nostalgia to put previous incarnations on too high a pedestal here because I don't think it's all that warranted in many cases.

But see, I think where TOS went off the rails was generally around STIII/ IV. Entertaining, sure, but parodies of their former selves, and certainly not what I'd like to see emulated in further Trek projects. Trek has always been a hit or miss kind of thing with fantastic episodes sprinkled among purely serviceable ones and sometimes downright awful stuff. That's why it's always done better in a tv series format. Perhaps it can survive purely in movie form, but I am highly dubious. That said, I haven't written off the new team. I'll probably see the next effort in the hopes that it will manage some of the old spirit, hopefully reinterpreted and moved forward, like the best of the Trek franchise has always done.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

No Galaxy Quest? (Mostly joking)

Not a terrible list but I have a strong dislike for Donnie Darko.

My top 20 would definitely have Twelve Monkeys on it. Probably Hellboy too.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Don't you get it? Your opinion is WRONG!!! Everyone but you think Minority report is a decent movie. Get it through your thick skull, YOU ARE WRONG!! Go cry a river elsewhere, and accept that you arrogant attitiude is worthless and incorrect.

Opinions do not work that way.

 

[bigdaddy]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

The list isn't that bad.

I don't think Star Trek should be there and Avatar is too high on the list, but besides that it's a fine list.

I'd include...

Twelve Monkeys
V for Vendetta
Children of Men

 

[Skellington]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

The list isn't that bad.

I don't think Star Trek should be there and Avatar is too high on the list, but besides that it's a fine list.

I'd include...

Twelve Monkeys
V for Vendetta
Children of Men

Yes, yes and yes in that order.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

Oh, The Prestige is another great film sorely missing from their list. I think it certainly holds up better than Inception.

As a general rule, Trek movies blow. That's part of why I'm doubtful that a movie series without a tv series will really extend the franchise's lifespan much.

I think part of the reason why the previous Star Trek movies were able to remain profitable was because they were able to amortize the sets of the TV shows. They were playing in a much smaller pool back in the 1990s.

 

[label]

Re: imdb lists THEIR opinion of the top 20 sciffy flicks of past 20 ye

I'm fine with Avatar and agree with those who said Dark City and The Incredibles deserve spots on that list, but the one most glaring omission to me is Children of Men. That movie is simply spectacular and definitely better than at least half the movies on the list. (imho)

No doubt! I can't believe more of us haven't noticed that omission. Quite an excellent film, and very good sci-fi.

Yes, and to echo others in this thread (and I can't believe I missed this one) is 12 Monkeys.

You are much, much more forgiving than I, my friend. A list that long of hard-to-swallow moments, plus a lame stock villain and the plot brought to a screeching halt to shoehorn in a really rather useless cameo by Leonard Nimoy (which introduced further plot absurdities) - it was all just too much for me.

You're right, those elements were also less than desirable. In retrospect, I'm not sure how I liked the movie at all. . I dunno, maybe my I was partially blinded to all the flaws in the movie by the cast (which I though was almost all spot-on perfect), the action, the heart - especially the opening scene with Kirk's father and the relationship between Kirk and Spock and Kirk and Mccoy which I though was handled very well.

The irony is I'd been an advocate of recasting the original crew for at least 15 years, and I really liked most of the new actors. For the first three minutes of the film I thought they'd really nailed it, because to me Trek is less about intellectualism (which, even in its best moments was still tv shallow) than about heart. Sadly, after the main title came up - I wasn't seeing a lot of heart.

I totally agree with you. I loved the new actors. Love the new Kirk, Spock and Mccoy. All the other actors were comptently filling their predecessors shoes........I guess from that perspective, that gives me a lot of hope in that they got the cast right and that's near impossible to overcome if you don't at least do that right.

And I also agree with the heart in the first 15 minutes....it was brilliant. Great action, suspense, heart-break.......it had everything and the rest of the movie never quite got back there. That being said, we know they're capable of that writing and hopefully if they're not having to juggle an "origin" story of character everyone's known for 40 years, the focus will be more on the type of action we got in the first 15 minutes. Can you tell I'm in one of those "hope springs eternal" type of moods today?

As a general rule, Trek movies blow. That's part of why I'm doubtful that a movie series without a tv series will really extend the franchise's lifespan much.

Agreed. I meant to touch on this as well. I think the next movie should launch a new series. Not neccessarily a new Enterprise series with the cast of the movie, (though that'd be awesome) but let someone from the new team try a new perspective on a new series that takes a few chances but stays true to the spirit of the series. That's ultimately what the movies are to me........a springboard for another 5-7 year series that we can really savor like TNG or DS9.

That may be the main source of our difference of opinion. I don't find Abrams' work all that impressive. I'm watching Lost now and it's entertaining enough, but I've seen a lot of stunt plotting and beautiful people, but very little heart so far.

Not sure where you are in the series right now so it's hard to respond. Suffice to say in there were plenty of moments throughout the series that had me in shock, tears, laughter or all of the above at times. Yes, the people were pretty (for the most part) but after season 1, I didn't really felt like that was much of a factor and the story really took over towards the end of Season 1.

I haven't seen Fringe, but I have seen some other movies by Orci and Kurtzman, and they were utterly forgettable.

Well, the first Season of Fringe would probably be pretty forgettable for you as well. It wasn't until the very end of Season 1 and then the last 2/3 rd's of Season 2 that the series really started to live up to it's potential. It's only been out for a couple of seasons so if you had the time and inclination, it might be worth your time to get caught up as Season 3 has been very strong out of the gate. As Walter's character arc unfolds, the show definitely shows a lot of heart but there's a fair amount of "forgettable" stuff in Season 1 to get through until you get there. (though everything does end up being important in the end and ties into the main arc)

But see, I think where TOS went off the rails was generally around STIII/ IV. Entertaining, sure, but parodies of their former selves, and certainly not what I'd like to see emulated in further Trek projects.

Yeah......I'd have to agree with this as well, at least where the original cast was involved. Generations made efforts to get back to a more thoughtful, philosophical Trek and were appreciated even if they fell flat in places. First Contact's take on Moby Dick was pretty outstanding in places (though I didn't care for the planet-side goofiness nearly as much). Still, the "here, no further" scene has to rank among in the top 5 best scenes in all of the trek movies(behind, of course, the last 20 minutes of ST : II) Come to think of it, I'd say all the TNG movies definitely tried to stay true to the core of what made the series so good, even if they failed to do so in the last couple of movies.

Trek has always been a hit or miss kind of thing with fantastic episodes sprinkled among purely serviceable ones and sometimes downright awful stuff. That's why it's always done better in a tv series format.

I couldn't agree more. The best trek is the week to week stuff that yields the occasional brilliant episode and allows for character arc growth over time.