Best Sci-fi Tournament - Round 3, Group F

[fernandito]

Note:
Please choose UP TO 2 films to advance to the next round!

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060430131933/starwars/images/c/cb/Ep5DVD.jpg

http://prometheus-unbound.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/aliens-movie-poster.jpg

http://img.hindilinks4u.to/2014/08/Mad-Max-1979-In-Hindi.jpg

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7273/6862894092_68f80ab49d_z.jpg

https://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/65/MPW-32823

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still_1951.jpg

[T-Dogz_AK47]

WOW! I got first comment AGAIN! LOL! LOL! LOL! :D

This is just as easy:

Aliens
The Empire Strikes Back

Take that shit to the bank! LOL!

[Ricky]

Star Wars for me.

[Mattrick]

Goodbye Mr. Carpenter :(


Aliens
Day The Earth Stood Still

[Heather19]

The Abyss
The Thing

[DoctorDodge]

Oh fuck! Aliens and The Thing appearing in the same fucking round as Empire?!? Without Empire, it'd be easy to vote for both of them, but as it is...along with Empire, vote has to go for The Thing. JUST. Both films have claustrophobia and paranoia at certain parts, but The Thing has just a little bit more. Plus: the most disgusting alien life form ever shown on film. In so many interesting ways! :lol:

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Oh fuck! Aliens and The Thing appearing in the same fucking round as Empire?!? Without Empire, it'd be easy to vote for both of them, but as it is...along with Empire, vote has to go for The Thing. JUST. Both films have claustrophobia and paranoia at certain parts, but The Thing has just a little bit more. Plus: the most disgusting alien life form ever shown on film. In so many interesting ways! :lol:

But isn't claustrophobia and paranoia elements for a Horror film rather than Sci-fi?

As a Sci-fi film, Aliens wins by a mile.......

[DoctorDodge]

Not necessarily, in fact, those are elements I enjoy in a lot of genres. This is the interesting thing about science fiction - it's very, very hard to truly define what is and what isn't great science fiction based on that particular label alone.

[Mattrick]

The Thing is barely science fiction. It's an alien life form but in the end it's a monster movie. The most scientific they got in The Thing was using petrie dishes lol

[pathoftheturtle]

Set on present day Earth, says nothing about present day society. Whereas Aliens goes further than its first chapter with the concealed plan to exploit the aliens. Clearly shows how corrupt and ruthlesss that future is.

Sorry, DD, but "nobody understands sci-fi anyway" is a fallacious argument.

[mae]

The Abyss should move all the way to the Finals along with The Day the Earth Stood Still. Two of the best sci-fi films of all tine, no contest.

[divemaster]

Gosh, this is tough. Aliens is one of the best sci-fi films ever so it gets one of my votes.

I'm not a total Star Wars fanboy like a lot of my generation, but it's hard to pass over The Empire Strikes Back. And The Thing is one of my all-time favorite films period--but, yeah, it's more of a horror.

But The Abyss has just something more to it than battles in space and Yoda. So, yeah, The Abyss gets my second vote (even though I actually like The Thing better).

[mae]

How does The Abyss have only a third of the votes so far? Shocking!

[frik]

Aliens
The Abyss

sk

[fernandito]

I'm not a total Star Wars fanboy like a lot of my generation, but it's hard to pass over The Empire Strikes Back.
Yup. Ep. V is one of those sequels that just got everything right. A natural progression of the previous chapter, a darker tone, higher stakes, better duels (Vader vs Luke on Cloud City is my favorite fight of the entire series), a startling revelation - it's a complete science fiction film.

[pathoftheturtle]

But wait. Can you explain this? Luke leaves Hoth, flies to Dagobah, finds Yoda, studies the Force, has vision, and flies back. Meanwhile, Han and Leia fly through asteroids to Cloud City and spend one night there.

[fernandito]

I call it, narrative contrivance! However if we go down that route, we could tumble the very pillars of cinema itself lol.

[pathoftheturtle]

if we go down that route, we could tumble the very pillars of cinema itself lol.LOL - Very good!

[DoctorDodge]

Set on present day Earth, says nothing about present day society. Whereas Aliens goes further than its first chapter with the concealed plan to exploit the aliens. Clearly shows how corrupt and ruthlesss that future is.

Sorry, DD, but "nobody understands sci-fi anyway" is a fallacious argument.

I wasn't saying that. Just in my experience, what's generally termed as 'science fiction' has an incredibly broad label - some films or stories focus on telling something about our society, some focus on hard edged science ideas and exploring those ideas as realisticially as possible, and some focus on just being awesome! Wasn't trying to be patronising, just keeping in mind that my 4 favourite science fiction series are Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Doctor Who are all broadly labelled as science fiction, and every single one is a radically different take on the genre.

Good points raised about Aliens and The Thing, anyway.

[pathoftheturtle]

And I'm not saying The Thing is not science fiction. I just agree it would be nice to have sci-fi reasons to vote for it. Thanks for clarifying your point, anyway.

P.S. Does anyone have better criticism of The Abyss than mine for ESB? Cause I may have to vote that way.

[fernandito]

The only criticism - and I use the term loosely - regarding The Abyss is that it wasn't very memorable... however that may have more to do with my mindset and expectations at the time I watched it rather than any perceived short comings. I'll need to watch it again soon even though it appears its number may be up...

[Mattrick]

Set on present day Earth, says nothing about present day society. Whereas Aliens goes further than its first chapter with the concealed plan to exploit the aliens. Clearly shows how corrupt and ruthlesss that future is.

Sorry, DD, but "nobody understands sci-fi anyway" is a fallacious argument.

I wasn't saying that. Just in my experience, what's generally termed as 'science fiction' has an incredibly broad label - some films or stories focus on telling something about our society, some focus on hard edged science ideas and exploring those ideas as realisticially as possible, and some focus on just being awesome! Wasn't trying to be patronising, just keeping in mind that my 4 favourite science fiction series are Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Doctor Who are all broadly labelled as science fiction, and every single one is a radically different take on the genre.

Good points raised about Aliens and The Thing, anyway.

For the purposes of this tournament I choose what the film is trying to do most. The Thing is trying much harder to be scary than science fiction and even Aliens is trying harder to be action than science fiction and I won't be giving it my vote against more science fiction focused films.

[Heather19]

The Abyss should be right up there as a strong contender. I can't believe it's not doing better.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

The Abyss should be right up there as a strong contender. I can't believe it's not doing better.

Not against Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back, it shouldn't!

[mae]

Aliens is an action movie, I agree. But The Abyss is actual sci-fi. And it's one of my favorite movies if all-time, and it's certainly one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. How wasn't it memorable? It's got some of the first uses of CGI in history, it mostly takes place underwater (how many sci-fi movies do?), and the aliens are benevolent and unique. The scene of the descent into the abyss is exceptionally tense, even on rewatch after rewatch. It was recently restored in HD final and I watched it on Cinemax and had goosebumps same as back in '89. It's a tremendous film, easily Cameron's best, but since film is subjective I can understand that not everyone will have it impact them equally.

[pathoftheturtle]

The Abyss should be right up there as a strong contender. I can't believe it's not doing better.

Not against Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back, it shouldn't!
Maybe not... but could I ask again how come you don't think so?

[Heather19]

The Abyss should be right up there as a strong contender. I can't believe it's not doing better.

Not against Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back, it shouldn't!

I'd easily rank it above both of those films.

[OchrisO]

This category has too many good films in it. I voted for Empire and Mad Max(in honesty, Aliens is probably the better sci fi film, but I just love the Mad Max movies too much), but it wasn't easy.

[Still Servant]

The Thing is on every single "Best Sci-Fi Movies" list I could find online. It's also listed as Sci-Fi on every major movie website. The Thing is Sci-Fi.

[Mattrick]

Sci-Fi in the loosest sense, because there is an alien in it. When I think of The Thing I think 'what a wicked horror movie' not 'what a wicked sci-fi film'. I'm not voting for the best movie to feature an alien or space or a robot when I vote, I'm voting for the best film that is first and foremost science fiction. If you were to have a checklist of all common things in a film to classify it as sci-fi The Thing would still only have 'alien' checked off. Love the thing but it's far more horror than sci-fi, not even close to a fifty-fifty split.

[Merlin1958]

Sci-Fi in the loosest sense, because there is an alien in it. When I think of The Thing I think 'what a wicked horror movie' not 'what a wicked sci-fi film'. I'm not voting for the best movie to feature an alien or space or a robot when I vote, I'm voting for the best film that is first and foremost science fiction. If you were to have a checklist of all common things in a film to classify it as sci-fi The Thing would still only have 'alien' checked off. Love the thing but it's far more horror than sci-fi, not even close to a fifty-fifty split.

Are you kidding me? The expedition force is scientists studying at a polar station and an alien and his craft are discovered. What more do you need?

[Mattrick]

No, the alien and his craft are discovered at the Norwegian Base. The Plot of The Thing entails such little science considering it's a bunch of scientists in a remote outpost you wonder what they do out there at all. It's a monster movie that happens to have scientists and an Alien in it. While I don't think Mimic is too sci-fi heavy too, at least the monsters in the movie were generated by scientists trying to stop an epidemic that was killing the children of New York and deals with the hyper evolution of creatures they made and has more science fiction merit than The Thing does, but still is a monster movie above all else. Even Imdb has The Thing listed in this order: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi...meaning they consider it more mystery than sci-fi; comparatively Alien is marked 'Horror, Sci-Fi' while Aliens is marked 'Action, Adventure, Sci-fi'. A mere sci-fi element is not enough for me to vote for them in this tournament, regardless how much I may love a film. I like The Thing more than Day The Earth Stood Stood but the latter is a better sci-fi movie so I voted for it.

[Merlin1958]

You're very difficult to please. Glad you aren't in my "Secret Santa"!! LOL

[pathoftheturtle]

Mike, could you at least cut&plaigarize some of the reasoning from those critics?

The Abyss is about scientists doing science, and the moral is we might find something wonderful.

If that is what The Thing is about, then the moral must be that we might find something awful.

BTW, I finally decided that I do believe that Gravity is sci-fi. It does not appear to say anything about the space program it features, but if you think about it, it really says that even if it is bad, it's better to go and try than to hide on Earth and never find out.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

If Alien, or Aliens win this contest outright, I am going to be so dissappointed.

[fernandito]

The quarter finals are going to be fucking nuts lol.

[Still Servant]

Mike, could you at least cut&plaigarize some of the reasoning from those critics?


I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to.

[fernandito]

I think he's referring to your post up there^ about The Thing being on every sci fi list you could find.

[Still Servant]

I think he's referring to your post up there^ about The Thing being on every sci fi list you could find.

Oh, I'm not sure why he wrote "plagiarize" though. It makes me feel like he was implying that I plagiarize things I write. I'm probably taking it the wrong way.

Anyway, Path, I can't give you examples because many of the lists I speak of are lists I've read in the past. If you want to check for yourself, you can Google it just as easily as anybody else I would hope.

[pathoftheturtle]

Mike, could you at least cut&plaigarize some of the reasoning from those critics?


I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to.
It's a play on words. The proper term is copy & paste. I'm saying it would be more informative to hear your thoughts on what that film contributes to the genre than accounting of experts who agree., and joking that sharing quotes some of them might have made on the subject could be easier.

[Ricky]

If Alien, or Aliens win this contest outright, I am going to be so dissappointed.

Me too. :lol:

[T-Dogz_AK47]

If Alien, or Aliens win this contest outright, I am going to be so dissappointed.

Me too. :lol:

I don't know why either of you would be... :confused:

They are both brilliant and Alien was very much the deserving winner of the Horror tournament. :clap:

[Still Servant]

Mike, could you at least cut&plaigarize some of the reasoning from those critics?


I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to.
It's a play on words. The proper term is copy & paste. I'm saying it would be more informative to hear your thoughts on what that film contributes to the genre than accounting of experts who agree., and joking that sharing quotes some of them might have made on the subject could be easier.

Okay, my mistake. I kind of figured I was misunderstanding you.

[pathoftheturtle]

Well, you'd be right to object, strictly speaking - I was needling you a bit unfairly. We all tend to rely upon collective thought more often than not. You can tease your friends about such things, but I know you're supposed to build trust first. I'm just awkward that way: no respect for common manners. I pretty much treat everybody the same.

[mae]

I hope those that voted against The Abyss without watching it (or having seen it a long time ago) will give it a chance after this. I know at least Heather agrees that it's one of the best sci-fi films ever made. To me it ranks right up there with Metropolis, Close Encounters, 2001, etc.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I hope those that voted against The Abyss without watching it (or having seen it a long time ago) will give it a chance after this. I know at least Heather agrees that it's one of the best sci-fi films ever made. To me it ranks right up there with Metropolis, Close Encounters, 2001, etc.

I saw The Abyss, didn't like it then - still don't like it now. IMHO Aliens is James Cameron's masterpiece...

[mae]

Aliens? Not T1, T2, Titanic?

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Aliens? Not T1, T2, Titanic?

T1... No. IMO it's not as good as T2.

T2... Very, very good - certainly his next best film ever, but not quite Aliens.

Titanic... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Shit! I just sprayed coffee all over my laptop, AGAIN!!!! :rofl:

[mae]

Well I'd rate Cameron's films something like this, more or less:


The Abyss
Titanic
The Terminator
Avatar
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
True Lies


All very good in their own ways. The Abyss is outstanding on every level. The unique underwater setting is only matched by Avatar's alien world. Titanic is a great film, despite people's apparent dislike of it, which I still don't understand. It was a monumental achievement. The hard sci-fi and gritty action of T1 is much better than the polished and shiny action of T2, though admittedly the T-1000 is very very cool.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Movie sins: Everything wrong with Titanic in 9 minutes or so....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb5VtLL-JqU&list=PLtorEaHhqGlOJTVLzxHHjRty7vVxLv39Y


A film so 'great' Stephen King had this to say about it:

"I watched Titanic when I got back home from the hospital, and cried. I knew that my IQ had been damaged." :P

[fernandito]

I will always consider T2 Cameron's best work. Aliens a close second.

T2 is such an improvement over the first one it's mind boggling. I mean, he took the initial core concept and just enhanced it on every level. The T-1000 is one of the most creative villains ever -- millions, trillions of units working in unison to form an nearly indestructible whole? Brilliant. The entire film is shot in a bluish hue to underscore that 'metallic feeling'. It's small details like that, and larger details like more refined, more epic action and the whimsical nature of fate that cement it as one of the all time greats. I love that film.

Titanic? LOL.

[Mattrick]

You're very difficult to please. Glad you aren't in my "Secret Santa"!! LOL

I'm very easy to please. I'm a minimalist. I don't need much. I was just afraid with this tournament real great sci-fi films would lose to films that are more popular and are loosely sci-fi, like The Thing for example. The Thing is a very strict horror film that as a few sci-fi elements. It's 90% horror, 10% sci-fi: this shouldn't beat films who are 90% sci-fi, 10% horror. The Mist was the same way and a few others that were on here. People are voting for the fact they love The Thing, I think, more than they think the Thing is a great science fiction film. I am more lenient with Alien/Aliens because the sci-fi elements permeate those movies start to finish, they are as close to 50/50 in terms of sci-fi/horror or sci-fi/action as you can find.

[mae]

With all due respect to SK, his tastes in movies and books are not very close to mine.

[mae]

A lot of critics and respected best-of lists often place T1 above T2 and I agree. It's a better film.

[pathoftheturtle]

They're both very creative. Any time you start to feel down on one, just look at how T3 combined the worst of both.

And that King quote is hilarious!

[Jean]

With all due respect to SK, his tastes in movies and books are not very close to mine.
not to mine, either

I have never gotten around to watching Titanic, though. Something's telling me I am not going to like it.

[divemaster]

With all due respect to SK, his tastes in movies and books are not very close to mine.
not to mine, either

I have never gotten around to watching Titanic, though. Something's telling me I am not going to like it.

You probably wouldn't, Jean. I, however, found it phenomenal.

[mae]

Really a huge disappointment to see both Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still not make it any further. Yet all three Star Wars films will move on.

[Jean]

With all due respect to SK, his tastes in movies and books are not very close to mine.
not to mine, either

I have never gotten around to watching Titanic, though. Something's telling me I am not going to like it.

You probably wouldn't, Jean. I, however, found it phenomenal.
surprise... maybe I should reconsider, then

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Really a huge disappointment to see both Forbidden Planet and The Day the Earth Stood Still not make it any further. Yet all three Star Wars films will move on.

And so they should. :thumbsup:

[divemaster]

With all due respect to SK, his tastes in movies and books are not very close to mine.
not to mine, either

I have never gotten around to watching Titanic, though. Something's telling me I am not going to like it.

You probably wouldn't, Jean. I, however, found it phenomenal.
surprise... maybe I should reconsider, then

Well don't blame me if you don't like it! I'm a sucker for "star-crossed lover" stories and well, the ship was impressive. When it started to go down, I was really caught up in it. Plus I've had such a crush on Kate Winslet that it might have colored my impression of the movie. But, hey, even though many profess disdain for the movie, it must have done something right at is made billions of dollars, right?

[Jean]

n-no, I don't think so...

love Kate Winslet, though

[Mattrick]

I really like Titanic. Not sure why it gets the hate. I mean, Billy Zane, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill...one of the best ensemble of character actors in all of film.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I really like Titanic. Not sure why it gets the hate. I mean, Billy Zane, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill...one of the best ensemble of character actors in all of film.

Yeah, you must really like Titanic to think that Maggie Smith appeared in the movie. LOL! LOL! LOL! :rolleyes: :lol:

[Mattrick]

I really like Titanic. Not sure why it gets the hate. I mean, Billy Zane, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill...one of the best ensemble of character actors in all of film.

Yeah, you must really like Titanic to think that Maggie Smith appeared in the movie. LOL! LOL! LOL! :rolleyes: :lol:

Are you really so lonely in life that you've grown obsessed with every post I make? No, that's not. It's jealousy. I can't say that I blame you. I would be pretty jealous of myself too. I'm actually thinking of starting a support group for it and I'd be more than happy to accommodate you.

[Still Servant]

I really like Titanic. Not sure why it gets the hate. I mean, Billy Zane, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill...one of the best ensemble of character actors in all of film.

Yeah, you must really like Titanic to think that Maggie Smith appeared in the movie. LOL! LOL! LOL! :rolleyes: :lol:

He probably meant Gloria Stuart.

It's good to know that you've never made a mistake though.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I really like Titanic. Not sure why it gets the hate. I mean, Billy Zane, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, David Warner, Bill Paxton, Victor Garber, Bernard Hill...one of the best ensemble of character actors in all of film.

Yeah, you must really like Titanic to think that Maggie Smith appeared in the movie. LOL! LOL! LOL! :rolleyes: :lol:

He probably meant Gloria Stuart.

It's good to know that you've never made a mistake though.

Yeah, it's easy to mix those two up. Gloria Stuart was an American Actress that was born in 1910, and Maggie Smith is an English Actress that was born in 1934. So apart from an age gap of 24 years and a noticeable difference in accent, the similarity between those two is uncanny! LOL! LOL! :rolleyes:

I'm sure I have made plenty of mistakes in the past. However unlike Mattrick, at least I don't arrogantly force badly misguided, ill-informed and pretentious opinions down other people's throats and go around acting as if I'm Roger Ebert.

[Mattrick]

He probably meant Gloria Stuart.

It's good to know that you've never made a mistake though.

I confused Maggie Smith with Frances Fisher. An honest mistake for a film I haven't seen in about a decade. Don't get mad at TDogz though for pointing out even the smallest of my follies, he's just jealous he's so narrowminded he can't enjoy old movies like other people can. We should be trying to help him instead of making him feel bad about himself. POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT!


I'm sure I have made plenty of mistakes (NOT BLOODY LIKELY) in the past. However unlike Mattrick, at least I don't arrogantly force badly misguided, ill-informed and pretentious opinions (WHICH MAKES MY, TDOGZ, OPINIONS TOTALLY AWESOMELY GUIDED, WELL INFORMED AND TOTALLY PEDESTRIAN AND TOTALLY RIGHT AND CORRECT AND AWESOME BY DEFAULT) down other people's throats (MATTRICK COMES TO MY HOUSE AND PRIES MY EYELIDS APART AND FORCES ME TO READ EVERY ONE OF HIS POSTS) and go around acting as if I'm Roger Ebert.

Now that you make me think about it, I AM ROGER EBERT! SEE MY MOVIE!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/7048_10154630870585571_8481363526920972849_n.jpg?o h=30bebf48afae70a32d3e2cc83c5e9c33&oe=54D00E12&__gda__=1419352559_b8501fbc943ef4836d394b76f5b08a1 8

[Still Servant]

I've seen people get into it on these boards more than a few times over the years, but it usually ends after a little while. T-Dogz just isn't letting it go though.

You've really gotten under his skin, Matt.

http://memeforge.net/memes/img/mf-140214-246487030411076960.jpg

[Ricky]

Maybe everyone should just take a break and build a snowman.

[Still Servant]

Ricky, do you want to build a snowman?

[Ricky]

For the first time in forever, yes!

[Mattrick]

Snowmen always give me the cold shoulder.