Comments on: Top 10 Science Fiction Flicks For The Thinking Man (beerandscifi version)

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:39:30 +0000

Oh, and I also have to throw support to the commenter who mentioned that Sunshine belongs on the list!

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:38:19 +0000

Great list! I’m so glad you included Alphaville!…one of the most underappreciated movies of all time!

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:38:22 +0000

Maybe “twist” was the wrong word. I still think they didn’t do a very good job at making me care about anything that was happening.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:34:42 +0000

I don’t understand your points against Dark City. There really was no twist as far as I could tell. Everything logically culminated as Schreber had finally found the vessel he needed to stand up to the strangers after they underestimated his humanity. The only “human” in the film is Schreber; everyone else, including John has fake memories. The fact that John has fancy tuning abilities is an aberration of biology and has no bearing on his humanity.

I don’t think Dark City qualifies as a ‘Top 10 Sci-fi Flicks for TheThinking Man’, but for reasons totally unrelated to yours. The strangers were always destined to fail. Their entire experiment was broken; it didn’t even make sense. They created a schizophrenic society where everyone was an amalgam of memories but no one actually had the experience. If John had gotten his imprint like he was supposed to, he would have become the serial killer he was meant to be. Instead, he was left mostly blank and made choices which led him to become who he was. That is how humans work. The memories dumped on the people were the result of a set of choices they didn’t actually make.

I agree that Bladerunner should have been on your list.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:00:15 +0000

Oh, and no love for Contact?

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:58:49 +0000

Sunshine is a great sci-fi movie (although not really top 10 material). LOVE Gattaca, and only just recently realised the title is made of of the DNA code letters. Duh.

The Fountain should be on your list, or RT’s, or both. Beautiful and mindbending.

By: Eli

Eli — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:12:41 +0000

Some of you guys take matters of opinion way too seriously. I loved Sunshine, and I like The Matrix. I hated Handmaid’s Tale. I thought The Fountain was intellectually stimulating. But I refused to call anyone a asshole, idiot, or psuedo-intellectual garbage. Take the list with a grain of salt. It’s not like Mr. Steen named this article “Watch these movies, or your a fucking idiot!”

By: Noirling

Noirling — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:15:05 +0000

Fail. No Bladerunner? No Matrix? Primer was complete and total pseudo-intellectual garbage.

By: ericmsteen

ericmsteen — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:11:36 +0000

Hey brian,
you make a good point about the matrix. concerning “top 10″ though I think it’s totally fair to call this a top 10. “Top 10″ is a very relative term and people have differing opinions. I called it the top 10 (beerandscifi version).

By: brian

brian — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:10:44 +0000

Interesting list, though i don’t think calling it a “top 10″ is fair given your criteria; just because everyone has seen 2001 and blade runner doesn’t mean they aren’t amazing films. Gattaca is an amazing film though, i’d agree with it’s place there.

As for the comments re. the matrix films… they’re taught in philosophy classes because they give an accessible and recignized account of philosophical ideas, not because they’re good movies or good philosophy. Their philosophy is clumsy and hackish, and is just a collection of poorly understood ideas that could be lifted any 1st year philsosophy course.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:33:30 +0000

GREAT choice on Handmaid’s Tale and Gattaca!

- Kelly
The Convention Fans Blog
http://conventionfans.today.com

By: Jordan Lund

Jordan Lund — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:44:20 +0000

Handmaid’s Tale? Really? That flick was a total TRAINWRECK.

Now if you want to talk about the book, I’m with you 100%, but Jesus Christ you might as well be talking about “Clan of the Cave Bear” or “Flowers in the Attic” in terms of cinematic quality.

I’d rather have seen you list “The Fountain” as a flick which demands and inspires critical thinking.

By: Mac

Mac — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:03:23 +0000

Thanks for this list! Got it netflixed.

By: Geek

Geek — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:32:32 +0000

THX 1138.
Just love the absurdity of a derailed modern society.

By: Bill Simmon

Bill Simmon — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:07:54 +0000

We discussed the Rotten Tomatoes list a bit on the last episode of Poli-Sci-Fi Radio (http://www.poliscifiradio.com) and I think you have some good alternatives here. I would also add Brainstorm (1983) and The Quiet Earth (1985). Brazil too, if you consider it “science fiction.”