So we're not gonna have any of these in the next round: Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still... Why the backlash against classic sci-fi? In an all-time tournament!
So we're not gonna have any of these in the next round: Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still... Why the backlash against classic sci-fi? In an all-time tournament!
I highly disagree, sorry. They're classics because they've withstood the test if time. It's an open question whether some of the contemporary so-called classics will in 50-60 years.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Cute gifs aside, I must take issue with the notion that classic movies "look very dated". What does that mean? If a film was done in the 1940s or 1950s, in black and white, it was done in the style and technical abilities of that time. So now in 2014 you have to take that into account. And of course the idea that a undisputed classic like The Day the Earth Stood Still somehow does not "stand the test of time" is frankly laughable. It has a 94% critics rating on RT and is rated 7.9 on IMDB. The AFI list of the Top Ten Sci-Fi movies of all time has it at #5, with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original, of course) at #9: http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=7
I thought The Day the Earth Stood Still and Invasion of the Body Snatchers were very good films. I'm pretty sure I voted for them in earlier rounds. I certainly don't consider them "dated." Good movies will never be "dated."
However, for both of these movies, my initial introduction was the original written work. The short story "Farewell to the Master" and of course the Finney novel for Body Snatchers. I had read them several times prior to seeing the movies, so that is what stuck with me the most. Like I said, I enjoyed the movie versions very much, but in this round I had to pass them by.
Having said that, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers. Was the movie as good? No. Not from a character or philospohical standpoint. But the movie just kicked ass, man. The insectoids, the battles--that movie "goes to 11." If that makes me inconsistent (written form vs. movie), so be it.
I've got an idea... let's remake The Day the Earth Stood Still with digital graphics and the star of The Matrix! That should be good, right?
That is being taken account though; It looks dated in comparison with cinema today. I'm not sure what the misunderstanding is here...
No two groups - or websites in this case - can agree 100% on what defines "best".And of course the idea that a undisputed classic like The Day the Earth Stood Still somehow does not "stand the test of time" is frankly laughable. It has a 94% critics rating on RT and is rated 7.9 on IMDB. The AFI list of the Top Ten Sci-Fi movies of all time has it at #5, with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original, of course) at #9: http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=7
I've noticed that dot com's tend to rank films through nostalgia colored lenses, they give precedence to films that did things first, or were the the inspirational genesis for other films and genres. The trend setters of their times, if you will. It's why films like Citizen Kane and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (both of which I love) almost always feature at the top of their lists even though there are thousands of objectively more 'impressive' films. Sentiment and the love of of the art of cinema and its history plays a huge role.
This conversation could probably be its own thread, in all honesty.
That's why I voted for it too. It has some ludicrously delicious visuals, and some pretty exhilarating fight sequences. I still get chills in that scene where Michael Ironside's character looks over the barricade and sees those thousands of bugs charging up the hill, seconds away from overwhelming the exterior walls. LOVE IT.
Well if you're starting a new thread, please realize there are different points to make about classic science fiction than about classic films in general.
The new thread would be about films in general, not just sci fi.
Yes, I noticed you were blaming nostalgia as a general fault in cinephiles, but there was a particular era for science fiction when fear and optimism stood in a certain fertile balance different from where culture is at this point. And even in the case of a later film like 2001... well, technically, 2001 is already long gone, lol.
I can't be blamed for nostalgia since the 1950s were well before my time.
BUMP
Poll is closing tomorrow! Get those votes in, stragglers.
A little variety would've been nice, but the semi finals will be Star Wars vs. Alien(s).
The original Alien is a great film, sure. But some bonafide classics have already been eliminated or are about to be.
These films only look cliche because they came first i.e. everything else borrowed from them. The Day The Earth Stood Still is fantastic and the remake was a blight to mankind. As as for being dated, all films from the 50's etc. look dated. Are you saying fantastic film like Rebecca, All About Eve or The Apartment (Best Pictures winners from 1940, 1950, 1960) are dated, which make them inferior films?
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These films only look cliche because they came first i.e. everything else borrowed from them. The Day The Earth Stood Still is fantastic and the remake was a blight to mankind. As as for being dated, all films from the 50's etc. look dated. Are you saying fantastic film like Rebecca, All About Eve or The Apartment (Best Pictures winners from 1940, 1950, 1960) are dated, which make them inferior films?
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Those films were great in their own time but their impact diminished as cinema evolved. It's not just the photography or set design that makes these films dated, it's also the style of acting. Can you honestly say that the acting in Rebecca is as good as the acting in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)? Personally, I think the acting in Rebecca comes across as wooden and stilted when compared to such a film. Or how about comparing the sweeping visual grandeur of Out of Africa (1985) against the simplistic tableau of All About Eve - which of the two has more impact? Or the raw emotion and narrative drive of Braveheart (1995) compared to the lack of such substance in The Apartment - which of those two has the bigger impact?
Best Picture films of the 40's, 50's and 60's just cannot compare to Best Picture films of the 70's, 80's and 90's.
That's a very narrow viewpoint on cinema as a whole. Some of the very best films of all time come from that period and that's a universal fact: Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, 12 Angry Men, Casablanca, Double Idemnity, Rashomon, and I can go on and on.