Top 10 Sci-fi Movies
In an interesting upset, Sci-fi mag "SFX" in Britain had a vote on the top 10 sci-fi films of all time.
1. Serenity (2005)
2. Star Wars (1977)
3. Blade Runner (1982)
4. Planet of the Apes (1968)
5. The Matrix (1999)
6. Alien (1979)
7. Forbidden Planet (1956)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. The Terminator (1984)
10. Back to the Future (1985)
On its own, Serenity doesn't rate that high (imvho), but as a payoff to the series, it is powerful.
It's about the only sci-fi series that comes close to the golden standard - the original Trek series - in terms of story-telling, action, and humor.
You can get the whole shebang - Firefly, the series, and Serenity, the movie which ends the series - for about $35, plus whatever shipping, and for as many hours of great entertainment you get, it might be one of the best tickets out there.
8 comments:
Either I should have tuned into Firefly back in the day, or I should just surrender my credentials as card-carrying geek: I simply could not get into Serenity. In fact, I turned it off after 35 minutes. Why? The haircuts. Every one of these chuckleheads had a perfect, hot-off-the-chair coif, even the scruffy ones. The 79-80 TV vibe (Dirk Benedict, Gil Gerard) was so strong, I couldn't see through it. I'm guessing my reaction is a holdover from the glory days of grunge. But still...
whisky, you really need to watch Firefly (I missed it at the time, but got into it via Netflix). Best sci-fi series ever. And Joss Whedon says that one of those episodes is the best thing he's ever written in his life, which is saying a lot from the guy who wrote "Toy Story" and most of the BtVS series.
I share Yahm's view that Serenity is an excellent film, but not the best sci-fi ever. For my money, that would be Blade Runner.
Joel
Yeah, if you've got Netflix, or a library, it's worth giving it another shot. Though they don't ever fix the hair thing, they do get past some of the hoary-er cliches pretty quickly.
I'm not a big sf fan, but Eudoxus convinced me to watch Firefly and it was definitely better than the average. We even saw Serenity at the Alamo Drafthouse (one of the top 10 reasons to live in this town), where they had a great Drafthouse-produced short before the movie with step-by-step lessons in how to cuss in Chinese, given by an elderly and very amused relative of the Drafthouse manager.
Damn you Texas and your totally cool Alamo Drafthouse! I wish I could go!
Have you ever spotted Harry Knowles there?
After all the accolades, I've put Firefly at the top of my netflix list. Thanks for the tip.
I've never understood the draw of Blade Runner. I pretty much concur with Ebert - incredible visuals and effects, but thin story. Have yet to see the directors cut. Is it worth it?
Hm. Maybe, if I can find a rentable box of Firefly CDs, I'll give it a spin. Certainly the Joss Whedon connection is quite a recommendation.
FWIW, while I prefer the director's cut of Blade Runner, none of the changes are going to make the difference for someone who's not already in love with the flick. I saw it back in the day, the Friday afternoon it was released in a theatre full of guys my age who were contrasting it to the PK Dick story, so ... it's in the plasma, baby.
Sleemoth, I concur with whisky: if it hasn't done it for ya so far, the director's cut won't really make a difference. I'm one of those oddballs who likes the original with the voice-over, as bad as it is. The director's cut removes that, and switches a couple scenes around to hint the Ford is a replicant, too.
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