Unpopular Sci-fi/ Fantasy movie opinions!

[Goliath]

Since our experience of movies is mediated through our own bodies, it follows that when we discuss movies, we're really just discussing our own reactions to those movies.

That is to say: when people talk about movies, they're really just talking about themselves.

For this reason, a person's opinion about a movie tells us a lot about that person, but nothing about the movie itself.

Immanuel Kant posts on Trek BBS.

Actually, I've never read Kant. That part of my post was inspired by passages in Spinoza's Ethics.

Ergo, pornography is the best kind of entertainment.

I'm not sure about that.

If what I posted was correct, then commercial value essentially equals aesthetic value. And while porn is a multibillion dollar industry, I'm pretty sure that its profits are dwarfed by those of the conventional film industry--or even the video-gaming industry.

I could buy that, actually. If trapped on a desert island with a DVD player, a TV, and an enigmatic power source, but only one DVD of my choosing, I'd rather have a good porno than a good mainstream movie.

It's kind of a shame that porno is often left out of aesthetic discussions.

Yes. Especially given the obvious parallels between sex and traditional story structure: that is to say, initial incident, rising action, climax, falling action...

LOL What a load of shit.

Perhaps.

But my goal here was to post a truly unpopular opinion.

To judge from your reaction, I succeeded.

 

[stj]

^^^Given the legal restrictions on porn, comparing the profits of pornography and fully legal media is comparing apples and oranges.

But, for the virulent reactionaries who equate profits and esthetic value, the box office rates the movies, and the networks rate the revenues. Since these express those persons' esthetic opinions, when such trouble themselves to write posts, they are repeating what everyone knows already. Plainly, this is spamming: These people should be warned, as per bbs rules.

Most television and movies are about vicarious fulfilment of fantasy. There is no esthetic difference between pornography and those other forms of entertainment, merely differences of taste. Of which they, there's no arguing taste. Which means such people holding such views again are spamming, and should be warned.

 

[Myasishchev]

For those who dislike CGI, I'll point out that pornography still principally relies on practical effects work.

I wonder if, in a future of medium distance, mainstream entertainment will begin to include hardcore sex.

Take all those James Bond holodeck programs from DS9 that Bashir liked to play--it is obvious to me, at least, that the most fun element, and most direct way to reward successful gameplay, would be to continue the scenes where the Bond film's directors usually cut. Sure would beat a new gun or other ordinary measure, anyway.

Of course, it's not like this hasn't been tried before, and the results are uniformly awful, but that's likely because pornographers aren't trained or experienced in or particularly enthusiastic to be making films* (cf. Bob Guccione, Caligula) and filmmakers aren't trained or experienced in or particularly enthusiastic to be making porn (cf. Vincent Gallo, Brown Bunny).**

*Shorthand, of course, for "serious" or "mainstream" film; New Wave Hookers 4 is as much part of the medium as Citizen Kane.
**That said, Chloe Sevigny's spectral appearance and subsequent blowjob is only scene in that fucking movie worth watching. This is not, however, at all an unpopular opinion.

Actually, I've never read Kant. That part of my post was inspired by passages in Spinoza's Ethics.

Just joshin'. I'm not ultra-familiar with Kant either, although I believe that your quoted content is very similar to the distinction between phenomena (perception) and noumena (ultimate reality). Can we not know the film-in-itself?

 

[Shazam!]

Unpopular opinion: David Tennant is way overrated as the Doctor. While I liked his early seasons, by the end, I was so ready for this insufferable overactor to leave.

Undoubtedly an unpopular opinion, and one with which I agree (almost) completely.

Yes, you can put me down for this one too - it pretty much sums up my feelings on Tennant's tenure.

Yep.

 

[Goliath]

Just joshin'. I'm not ultra-familiar with Kant either, although I believe that your quoted content is very similar to the distinction between phenomena (perception) and noumena (ultimate reality). Can we not know the film-in-itself?

I was sorely tempted to say "no, we kant."

But I manfully resisted such an obviously unworthy impulse.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Spider-Man 2 was an angsty mess that derailed the franchise long before Spider-Man 3 came along.

This.

The (non) chemistry between the lovebirds was dwelled on so much in the film. Argh!

 

[thumbtack]

if opinions about movies are unpopular, it's because they deserve to be unpopular.

Certainly true from a business standpoint. And possibly from a critical standpoint.

 

[Harvey]

Moon was better than any other science fiction film released in 2009.

Actually, nearly every film critic in the country agrees with you. I'm still not entirely sure how it happened that 2 sci-fi films were nominated for Best Picture that year and neither one of them was Moon. From what I've heard, District 9 was ambitious but uneven. Meanwhile, I'm convinced that the only reason why Avatar was nominated was so that liberal Hollywood could cheer on its simplified environmentalist message.

Sadly, though reviews of Moon were generally positive, reviews of District 9 and Avatar were even better.

 

[ToddKent]

The Daleks are boring, one dimensional villains.

 

[Worfmonger]

A mediocre Trek episode involving time travel is still better than the unmitigated boredom and narcissism that is Donnie Darko.

Waterworld is just a fun damned movie, though a bit long.

Battlestar Galactica was largely directionless crap after Season 2.

Peace

Worfmonger

 

[ToddPence]

Star Trek V is a better movie than Star Trek VI.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Unpopular opinion: David Tennant is way overrated as the Doctor. While I liked his early seasons, by the end, I was so ready for this insufferable overactor to leave. (I think he had a lot of potential but should never have been paired up with RTD. Both of them have a tendency to go way over the top, reenforcing each other's worst habits. Christopher Eccleston had a more suitable, subtle approach, where he was often able to give his performance an unexpected twist just at the moment when the scripts were skewing towards overwhelming melodrama.)

You probably have a valid point. Not enough of Doctor Who fan to say myself.

However, I'd rather watch an entertaining overactor (Shatner! Bruce Campbell) than a dull underactor (William Hurt, Sam Worthington). That may be a unpopular movie opinion right there.

 

[Kelthaz]

The Daleks are boring, one dimensional villains.

Yeah, they are rather overrated. I think their only real appeal comes down to nostalgia. Although they worked very well in "Genesis of the Daleks".

 

[scnj]

Wow, here goes.

1. Blade Runner isn't as good as the book it's based on
2. The Chronicles of Riddick is a better attempt at universe building than Avatar, and a far better film
3. Cube 2 is better science fiction than Cube, though not a better film
4. Day of the Dead is better than Night of the Living Dead
5. Death Proof is just as good as Planet Terror
6. Death Race is better than Death Race 2000
7. Ghost Rider is a good origin film
8. Volume 3 of Heroes is decent television, and the best aside from volume 1
9. The Incredible Hulk is a better film than Iron Man
10. Kick-Ass is too long, poorly paced and suffers from focusing too much on the Hit Girl character
11. The Matrix Reloaded is the best of the trilogy by far
12. Men In Black is an inferior sci-fi comedy to Evolution
13. The Mummy 3 is better than The Mummy Returns
14. Near Dark is one of the best vampire movies ever, along with 30 Days Of Night
15. Predator is better than any of the Alien films
16. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was an excellent film
17. Star Trek 3 and 4 are horrible movies that serve only to undermine Spock's sacrifice
18. Star Trek 2 is merely a competent film, not the great sci-fi movie its fanbase believes it is
19. Star Trek 11 is the only Star Trek film that actually feels like a feature film
20. Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars movie by a long shot
21. Stargate Universe is superior to both SG-1 and Atlantis, which were held back by their episodic structure
22. Starship Troopers is an excellent film
23. Starship Troopers 3 is worse than Starship Troopers 2
24. Terminator 2 is a clear attempt to reach a mainstream audience and Cameron should have stuck with the darker tone
25. Titan A.E is a massively underrated movie
26. WALL-E is one of the best sci-fi movies of the last decade

And onto books and comics...

1. Batman tends to be the least interesting character in any of his stories
2. Mello was the best Death Note character because he was the least predictable
3. The best part of the Forever War is the part about society on Earth
4. The Gunslinger is a better novel than the Drawing of the Three
5. The Walking Dead has better characters than any zombie movie it draws inspiration from

And finally, video games...

1. BioShock is better than the two System Shock games
2. Dragon Age: Origins had more likeable characters than Lord of the Rings
3. Half-Life and its sequels (including Portal) are vastly overrated
4. Halo has a very well thought out universe, but the stories they tell within it aren't as interesting
5. inFamous had a more interesting hero's story than the Spider-Man films
6. Mass Effect has more believable alien species than anything in the entire run of Star Trek
7. Star Wars: Republic Commando is better than any of the Call of Duty games

I also have to agree with Tennant being a poor Doctor. His constant shouting and running around stopped being entertaining after about half a season.

 

[Kelthaz]

You don't pull any punches do you scnj?

 

[Myasishchev]

8. Volume 3 of Heroes is decent television, and the best aside from volume 1

That reminds me--I liked Volume 2 all right. The major problem (other than the writer's strike, of course) is that they kept using same bullshit tools of coincidence and convenience that were acceptable in Volume 1, which needed to be abandoned once the premise had already been established. Oh, Adam Monroe's face heel turn was ridiculously petty.

And yet I sorta liked it!

26. WALL-E is one of the best sci-fi movies of the last decade

And, from the other side, but probably even more unpopular: WALL-E is one of the most insulting, most immoral movies ever made.

 

[Deckerd]

About Mass Effect - I should think animated game alien species would be required to look more innovative than a non-cgi live action TV show. Or am I being picky?

 

[Neroon]

26. WALL-E is one of the best sci-fi movies of the last decade

And, from the other side, but probably even more unpopular: WALL-E is one of the most insulting, most immoral movies ever made.

Now see... a thread like this which can be very fun to read, would be even more if you went into a bit of detail on just why you feel that way.

 

[scnj]

About Mass Effect - I should think animated game alien species would be required to look more innovative than a non-cgi live action TV show. Or am I being picky?

Perhaps, but I always felt that Star Trek suffered from having too many different kinds of aliens. They put effort into differentiating their main villains like Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians etc, but the aliens of the week often just looked like humans with vaginas on their noses.

I understand that there were budget constraints, but it did often lead to me wondering if the aliens were sometimes the same species week to week, due to them all looking too similar.

 

[Myasishchev]

26. WALL-E is one of the best sci-fi movies of the last decade

And, from the other side, but probably even more unpopular: WALL-E is one of the most insulting, most immoral movies ever made.

Now see... a thread like this which can be very fun to read, would be even more if you went into a bit of detail on just why you feel that way.

I have before, so didn't want to echo myself.

The short version is, the return to Earth is a unilateral decision made by a dictator without discussion, without warning, yet the film treats it as an unconditional good. Resettlement plans for thousands are ordinarily viewed with suspicion if not contempt (the Trail of Tears, the enforced population of Siberia, the Diaspora, and so forth), but it's okay because Captain Fatass is "right."

It's the sort of movie Ra's al-Ghul would appreciate.

Edit: I liked WALL-E and EVE though. They're pretty cute, although the idea of gendering robots that aren't sexbots is bizarre.