perfidy

Speaking of movie lists, I found this list of the fifty most significant SF movies of all time over at Texas Best Grok. The list originates with SF author John Scalzi, who has composed a Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies.

The list itself is below the fold, where I have indicated those movies that I have seen with italics. You can assume that I want to see any movie that I have not, unless I indicate otherwise.

But first, some commentary on the list itself. Generally speaking, Zombie flicks and Superhero movies do not belong on a science fiction list. Even though the choices he makes are fairly good ones. The Incredibles, I find, is a bit of a borderline case. I can't really pin down a specific reason, but part of me feels that it should be on this list. Also, I think Scalzi has made some missteps in crafting this list. Movies that should have been on the list include:

• The first Terminator, maybe even entirely in place of the second. The second was no where near as important as the first, and no where near as innovative in terms of story. (It's a sequel, hard to be, really.) The only reason I would include the second would be for the ground breaking special effects.
• Altered States
• Andromeda Strain
• Charlie
• Gattaca
• Fifth Element
• The Time Machine (Early version)
• Soylent Green

Another recent movie that isn't earthshaking, but only because it got such limited exposure. Prime is a fantastic low budget time travel movie. Rent it at once.

So, on with the list:

• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! - I love this movie. Gonzo garage band style sf.
• Akira
• Alien - Classic horror in a thoughtful sf setting.
• Aliens - Arguably the best action adventure style sf movie ever made. More great lines in five minutes of this movie than in a whole summer of sequels.
  Alphaville
• Back to the Future - Silly, but pure fun.
• Blade Runner - Director's cut, naturally. Nothing like the book, really, but a masterful and beautiful film.
• Brazil - How many directors have two movies on this list?
• Bride of Frankenstein - A monster flick, but if we can argue that Frankenstein is the first sf novel, then we can legitimately argue that this is an sf film.
• Brother From Another Planet
• A Clockwork Orange - Much as I love this movie, I really can't watch it anymore. The violence is more disturbing than hundreds of Matrix showings.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind - kind of silly, now, but that catchy little tune…
• Contact - A lot of people slagged this, but I dig it. Jodie Foster can't make bad movies, and despite Sagan's saccharine notions of alien intentions, much more thoughtful than your run of the mill first contact story.
• The Damned
• Destination Moon - Truly groundbreaking. It's actually kind of painful to watch now (though I own it) but this was made in the early fifties with all the tech supplied by Heinlein. More accurate than many movies made half a century later, and they had real space flight to use as an example.
• The Day The Earth Stood Still - Classic. Must see, if you haven't.
• Delicatessen
• Escape From New York - Perfect dystopian shoot em up. Too many dystopian movies and stories are depressingly philosophical. Thing is, if things go bad, they'll go bad.
• ET: The Extraterrestrial - Not violent enough. Hated the reworked version.
• Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
• The Fly (1985 version) - Two words: perfect casting.
• Forbidden Planet - Another classic.
• Ghost in the Shell - I'm not into anime that much, but this was a good flick. We need a live action version of starblazers.
• Gojira/Godzilla - The platonic form of sf monster movies.
• The Incredibles - Pixar's best work to date.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version) - You may call it a Cold War allegory. I call it a good explanation for the behavior of some of my coworkers and superiors.
• Jurassic Park - Magical. Even with the goofy kids. That scene with the velociraptors in the kitchen – imho, one of the best single scenes ever filmed.
• Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior - See comments for Escape from NY.
• The Matrix - When Trinity levitated and beat the crap out of those donut eaters, I turned to wife and said, this movie is gonna kick ass.
• Metropolis – I really, really, need to see this, especially seeing as they've released it with the original score.
• On the Beach – The book is fantastic, I need to see this one.
• Planet of the Apes (1968 version) - Seven words: "Damn you! Damn you all to hell!"
• Robocop - I'll buy that for a dollar. Verhoeven's only good movie. What fucktard, though. Starship Troopers still breaks my heart.
• Sleeper - The only Woody Allen movie that I unreservedly love.
• Solaris (1972 version)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - You had me at Ricardo Montalban's fake pecks. The best of the ST movies, though they stole the battle scene straight from Run Silent, Run Deep.
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - Good,
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - Better, and then shit for the next four movies. Damn you, George Lucas!
• The Stepford Wives The original is great, the remake was okay.
• Superman - Great movie, but doesn't belong here.
• Terminator 2: Judgement Day - See my earlier comments.
• The Thing From Another World
• Things to Come
• Tron - Goofy now, but amazing at the time.
• 12 Monkeys - One of my all time favorite movies. Brad Pitt's best performance – "Fuck the bozos!"
• 28 Days Later - One of the best zombie flicks ever, but not an sf movie really.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - A classic.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey Except for the last twenty minutes, a truly great film. HAL is one of the best sf film characters ever.
• La Voyage Dans la Lune
• War of the Worlds (1953 version) Awesome.