Look mom!!!...no strings!!!!

[RobertScorpio]

There have been many attempts, some good-some bad, at making a realistic scifi movie. A movie that you can watch and say, yeah, that looks pretty realistic...What are some movies that nailed it, and others, while reaching for an anchor ni reality, ended up on the bottom of the "ocean floor"


One movie that I thought was realistic SCIFI was Contact, with Jodie Foster. I could really see things happen the way they did. The movie took liberties from the book source, but I still liked it because it does seem to be rooted in a 'real life' feel.

No so good? Alien Nation; the movie. Yeah, I know, it has a pretty vocal fan base. But I thought that movie could have been a little more grounded in reality than it actuallly was...

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Mistral]

Well, 2001 and 2010 were benchmarks of "realistic" scifi. Destination Moon, from the R.A.H. script was pretty faithful to reality(at the time).
Sadly, most scifi is made by people who a.-aren't from a science background and b.-aren't fans of written scifi. This leads to bs like Independence Day(which I enjoy-but its CRAP as far as realism goes).

When I think about some of the amazing stories I've read over the years and then see what Hollywood puts out it makes me grind my teeth. I mean, there is such a WEALTH of excellent stories/novels out there and many of them are 'visual' in the way they are written-yet Hollywood insists on having script hacks put out movies instead of tapping what's already available. I'd like to see an Allen Steele novel or something by Fredrick Pohl made into a movie. Hell, Bladerunner is considered one of the best scifi movies made and Ridley Scott went to a lot of trouble to make it realistic but its Phillip K. Dick-he's just one of many and, IMO, not the best classic writer but Hollywood treats his stuff like gold. Frustrating. Where's the Arthur Clarke(beyone 2001), the Asimov, the Heinlein, the Alan Dean Foster or Keith Laumer movies? No where, cause Hollywood doesn't know what they are doing. Grrrr. Rant's over.

 

[trevanian]

ICEMAN was pretty realistic.

I'd kill to make an Allan Steele book into a film, it is EXACTLY what I want to do creatively.

I don't know that utter realism is the goal, though. More something that feels like realism but has the extra element of visual appeal. I mean, I like flicks that look like FRENCH CONNECTION, but it is easy to be seduced by slicker looking films too, and the slick aspect isn't always a distraction. In fact, the way things have looked for the last several years with the CSI monochromatic weirdness all over movies, I'd welcome a more slick look.

 

[Brikar99]

Dude, "Mansquito". All the way.

 

[JonathonWally]

There have been many attempts, some good-some bad, at making a realistic scifi movie. A movie that you can watch and say, yeah, that looks pretty realistic...What are some movies that nailed it, and others, while reaching for an anchor ni reality, ended up on the bottom of the "ocean floor"


One movie that I thought was realistic SCIFI was Contact, with Jodie Foster. I could really see things happen the way they did. The movie took liberties from the book source, but I still liked it because it does seem to be rooted in a 'real life' feel.

No so good? Alien Nation; the movie. Yeah, I know, it has a pretty vocal fan base. But I thought that movie could have been a little more grounded in reality than it actuallly was...

Rob
Scorpio

THX-1138

That's just off the top of my head without really thinking. It's going to be a lot harder trying to go with a movie about spaceflight and aliens. They're always going to seem a bit more "out there" for the viewer and of course at this point with our level of tech and whatnot being what it is, we're always going to hedge our bets and relate better to a movie that takes a very conservative take on flying through space and aliens.

Alien Nation may sound "outlandish" and not grounded in reality enough for you, but the metaphor for xenophobia worked.

 

[RobertScorpio]

There have been many attempts, some good-some bad, at making a realistic scifi movie. A movie that you can watch and say, yeah, that looks pretty realistic...What are some movies that nailed it, and others, while reaching for an anchor ni reality, ended up on the bottom of the "ocean floor"


One movie that I thought was realistic SCIFI was Contact, with Jodie Foster. I could really see things happen the way they did. The movie took liberties from the book source, but I still liked it because it does seem to be rooted in a 'real life' feel.

No so good? Alien Nation; the movie. Yeah, I know, it has a pretty vocal fan base. But I thought that movie could have been a little more grounded in reality than it actuallly was...

Rob
Scorpio

THX-1138

That's just off the top of my head without really thinking. It's going to be a lot harder trying to go with a movie about spaceflight and aliens. They're always going to seem a bit more "out there" for the viewer and of course at this point with our level of tech and whatnot being what it is, we're always going to hedge our bets and relate better to a movie that takes a very conservative take on flying through space and aliens.

Alien Nation may sound "outlandish" and not grounded in reality enough for you, but the metaphor for xenophobia worked.

I thought it was handed as well as dropping a hammer on someones head. To 'over cooked' IMO..

But I agree with you about THX...and 12 Monkeys has a real feel to it as well, I think at least..

Rob