Best Sci-Fi Tournament -- Round 1, Group O

[fernandito]

[fernandito]

The Matrix and Alien, because obviously.

Demolition Man is a guilty pleasure

[mae]

Coming soon:

[mae]

Going with:

E.T.
On The Beach
The Matrix
Things to Come
The Butterfly Effect
Alien

[DoctorDodge]

ET is still an incredibly beautiful story that left its mark on a lot of films since, The Matrix is a virtually perfect blend of action, science fiction and deep philisophical themes (and while the sequels weren't that great, I can appreciate where the filmmakers wanted to go, at least), Alien is by far one of my favourite movies of science fiction and horror ever made, and Chronicle really surprised me. It's got some inspiration from the superhero genre, but feels quite a bit more grounded than most takes, and I love the suspense there is in it throughout. So it easily gets my vote here.

[Randall Flagg]

Matrix and Alien only.

[Ben Staad]

You have to give some love to the three seashells.

[Mattrick]

The Matrix
Alien
Demolition Man (my nom)
Chronicle (my nom)

I think I nominated 12 films almost half of them got into two groups....it's a C-O-Nspiracy!


Demolition Man rules and for a fun action movie it has a lot of palpable commentary that shows the extremes of political correctness and 'being nice' lol/

The Matrix is a classic sci-fi film but compared to other films (as I imagine it will advance) I won't be giving it my vote in crunch times.

Alien is about as classic as you can get for a sci-fi film and there are few films that have influenced multiple genres as heavily as Alien has. It's easily a sci-fi masterpiece as well as a horror masterpiece which is the rarest of rares.

Chronicle shows superpowers like how comic book films wish they could have. This is THE comic book origin film that has no comic book origin. The (alien?) technology that made them what they are is never fully explained which is okay since all that matters anyways is how it affects us psychologically. Also a very unique and clever twist on found footage films which, after seeing the film 5 or 6 times as left me asking....who/what editted what we are watching?

[pathoftheturtle]

They were talking about remaking The Forbin Project for a couple of years. I thought it might be for the best when it fell through cause I doubted they could do better than the original, -it's a product of another era- but if nobody recognizes that classic, then maybe it should be remade. If that's what it takes to get attention.

[mae]

I hope The Butterfly Effect gets enough votes to move on, it's a very strong and underrated film.

[webstar1000]

The matrix wins.

[fernandito]

After Alien, The Matrix is the best film on here. That film just took the world by storm. It's a shame the sequels were never able to live up to the name.

[Merlin1958]

After Alien, The Matrix is the best film on here. That film just took the world by storm. It's a shame the sequels were never able to live up to the name.

Oh, IDK. Reloaded has long been my favorite Matrix film. "Hmmm, upgrades" and the Marovingian scene in the restaurant is a classic as is the "Freeway" chase.

[pathoftheturtle]

I agree "Reloaded" has some good scenes and nice effects, but it doesn't have resolution and structure to stand beside the first film, which is good on its own. As a trilogy, the better parts ultimately drown in a mishmash of pretension.

[fernandito]

For me, one of the primary reasons the sequels could never match the original is that Neo is ridiculously overpowered, neutering the suspense.

Some of the best segments of the first film were the members of the resistance very narrowly escaping the virtual clutches of the omni present Agents. The bit where the team scales down the inner wall of the hotel to avoid capture was dripping with tension. All of that gets diluted in the sequels were Neo can single-handedly dispose of a platoon of Agents, seemingly effortlessly.

I can see where that might have been an organic evolution of the narrative, but it came at the cost of a crucial element.

[Merlin1958]

For me, one of the primary reasons the sequels could never match the original is that Neo is ridiculously overpowered, neutering the suspense.

Some of the best segments of the first film were the members of the resistance very narrowly escaping the virtual clutches of the omni present Agents. The bit where the team scales down the inner wall of the hotel to avoid capture was dripping with tension. All of that gets diluted in the sequels were Neo can single-handedly dispose of a platoon of Agents, seemingly effortlessly.

I can see where that might have been an organic evolution of the narrative, but it came at the cost of a crucial element.

I understand what you mean, Ferny but are you telling me you weren't mesmerized by the Marovingian? Or gripping your seat when they hit the "Freeway"? Or engrossed in the the closing scenes? Just a little? LOL

[fernandito]

Oh, absolutely I do! The highway chase scene in Reloaded is probably my favorite set piece of the entire series. That entire segment is high concept executed with verve and imagination. Trinity navigating and zig zagging through incoming traffic was nicely choreographed and is always a pleasure to watch.

[needfulthings]

[Heather19]

The Butterfly Effect
Alien
Chronicle

I absolutely loved About Time, but don't consider it sci-fi at all so I couldn't vote for it.

[mae]

Utterly surprised by the votes for Demolition Man. To me it's a really bad '90s flick. Suppose it's that so-bad-it's-good variety?

[Still Servant]

For me, one of the primary reasons the sequels could never match the original is that Neo is ridiculously overpowered, neutering the suspense.

Some of the best segments of the first film were the members of the resistance very narrowly escaping the virtual clutches of the omni present Agents. The bit where the team scales down the inner wall of the hotel to avoid capture was dripping with tension. All of that gets diluted in the sequels were Neo can single-handedly dispose of a platoon of Agents, seemingly effortlessly.

I can see where that might have been an organic evolution of the narrative, but it came at the cost of a crucial element.

This.

You'll never beat a film that shows the progression of a regular guy that learns he is special and then that journey of him finding who he really is. That alone makes The Matrix the best film in the series. I know it's a cliche story arc that has been done a million times, but it just works perfectly here. I also think The Matrix is great because you are learning about this world. Once the second and third films come around, we already know about the real world and the matrix.

[mae]

I absolutely loved About Time, but don't consider it sci-fi at all so I couldn't vote for it.

Well it does have time travel. What would you consider that to be, fantasy, magic realism?

[pathoftheturtle]

There are countless romantic fantasy films not really grounded in science. Big, Prelude to a Kiss, The Invention of Lying ...and plenty involving "time travel" e.g. 13 Going on 30. Let's list more! Everybody contribute until this page is full, at least -- Contest threads still on their first page are all so hard for me to view with my DROID ever since my polite request to spoiler-tag groups of videos was ignored.

[mae]

Contest threads still on their first page are all so hard for me to view with my DROID ever since my polite request to spoiler-tag groups of videos was ignored.

I do apologize for the inconvenience, but after I did that and tried viewing them on my iPad, the videos within spoilers were distorted. They didn't fit within the spoiler field and so part of one side was cut off.

[mae]

So looks like Alien is another one of our 100% films. As expected, I guess, since it was the winner of the Horror tournament.