[crzylgs]

Another good suggestion for this random 'decent sci-fi' list would be Event Horizon...Think I might have mentioned it a good few pages back. More than dips it's toe in to the horror genre. I have very little interest in 'horror' as a genre (and avoid the vast majority) but this film works for me. Mainly enjoy it because it works SO well as an unofficial 'Warhammer 40k' universe origins story 

[Fiend]

Exactly what a mate and I thought when we saw it as relative yoofs at the cinema. "WTF is GW doing marketting Khorne and Slaanesh to kids JFC". I had to play Quake for 3 hours straight before I could go to sleep that night.

[lagerstarfish]

I've never seen The Matrix but it seems to me to have had an immensely negative cultural effect (no doubt unintended). The whole "red pilled" thing has become the default get out clause for racists and misogynists wishing to excuse their hatred as having the blinkers lifted while the rest of us sheeple (a pathetic term) wallow in ignorance. Seriously, I think it planted a malign seed.

The Matrix also has a lot to answer for in regards to ill people's paranoid delusions.

Traditionally (50's to 80's) , people used to think about machines and ray guns putting thoughts into their heads or being able to tell what they are thinking - hence the tin foil hat (ray gun proof, innit) interest. Since The Matrix, lots of mad fuckers have delusions about getting occasional glimpses into how things really are behind the imposed version of what's real in a Matrix stylee.

Especially the folk with a religious slant to their paranoia; for some reason.

They even say that it's "like in the matrix"

plenty of books around with similar ideas way before the film, but having it available in a simple visual format seems to have been the key for the idea catching on.

[Mr E S Capegoat]

Hehe, I already said that lagers! And the Truman show.... we’re all on a reality tv show ‘earthenders’

[lagerstarfish]

Hehe, I already said that lagers! And the Truman show.... we’re all on a reality tv show ‘earthenders’

yeah, but you only said that because they told you to - I have a direct line to the truth

[TobyD]

Event Horizon...More than dips it's toe in to the horror genre. I have very little interest in 'horror' as a genre (and avoid the vast majority) but this film works for me.

I love actual proper horror movies, but I loath the slasher - shocker movies, all of them. Event Horizon is very horror-y and, I agree excellent. I saw Ad Astra recently, which managed to do a similar thing, only not as well, and with far more money and a better cast. Sam Neill is pretty scary in event horizon, when TJ Jones turns up in Ad Astra, it all gets silly, and it had gone on too long by then.

[Andy F]

Event Horizon...More than dips it's toe in to the horror genre. I have very little interest in 'horror' as a genre (and avoid the vast majority) but this film works for me.

I love actual proper horror movies, but I loath the slasher - shocker movies, all of them. Event Horizon is very horror-y and, I agree excellent.

Same here. Event Horizon is, IMHO, perhaps the finest 'space horror (along with the first Alien)'. It was left open for a sequel, pity they never made one.

[SA Chris]

Good Sci-Fi = Solaris (Trakovski's), Silent Running  , Ex-Machina, Close Encounters, Alien, 2001, Akira, Children of Men, Moon, District 9, Under the Skin, Arrival plus several more that I can't recall.

You missed out Real Steel.

I got very bored with Ex-Machina, could predict most of the outcome from 1/3 the way in.

[tomtom]

I remember seeing Event Horizon when living in Leeds late 90's.

I went with a housemate and we were both quite shaken up afterwards - didnt really say much to each other until the second pint at the pub afterwards... Not dared to see it since!

IIRC it was the split second cut-aways to some purgatorial scenes that did me in...

MrsTT is a big sci fi buff and always raves on about Sunshine....

[TobyD]

The extensive discussion of sci fi, though undoubtedly diverting has disguised that people should see The Report. It's a good film, although it does lack aliens, spaceships, giant robots or radioactive lizards. 

[cowboyhat]

 1The only real thing a film can do wrong is be boring, in my opinion.
 2 Sure some films make an attempt to be meaningful, but I tend to either ignore or forget about it within about 10 seconds because it's so completely irrelevant to real life; particularly with sci fi.

1 agree
2 I couldn't disagree with this more. The appeal of sci-fi in print and film has always been its ability to explore themes and problems that within normal, regular fiction would seem trite.  This ties with andy popps point about westerns as allegory; which performs the same function.

An example, The Word for World is Forest is a pretty much straight up Vietnam allegory, as is its often said, The Forever War.

I didn't see the original Bladerunner mentioned. Starship Troopers is a funny one cos it wasn't recognised AFAIK at the time but has cult following now. Bow before Verhoven though. Robcop and Total Recall...

Drowned World is an interesting idea for un-filmed, I was thinking about that earlier today but in this case wondering why Mockingbird by Walter Tevis has never been a movie, especially considering his other books have been made into such massive films. And it is a brilliant novel.

Finally on The Matrix again; good, bad, derivative, innovative, whichever and all, look back over the two pages of discussion and as I said

'Name another film that has permeated popular culture more completely in the last twenty years... there isn’t one. It’s a remarkable achievement.'

For better or worse, that is that.


oh yeah, p.s. here I drop a name. the 'Visions of Hell' (as it was referred to), sequence from Event Horizon was edited by my old boss Nicholas, guy I worked for as a runner and then edit assistant, albeit few years after he did that movie. He was then a name in music video editing and they got him in specifically for the montage. I haven't seen him for over a decade; he moved to LA.

[Durbs]

Frozen 2....? I genuinely enjoyed it, possibly more than the first one - but  possibly because I've "seen" the first one 200 times thanks to the daughter.

[tomtom]

oh yeah, p.s. here I drop a name. the 'Visions of Hell' (as it was referred to), sequence from Event Horizon was edited by my old boss Nicholas, guy I worked for as a runner and then edit assistant, albeit few years after he did that movie. He was then a name in music video editing and they got him in specifically for the montage. I haven't seen him for over a decade; he moved to LA.

Tell him it left an impression on me!

[SA Chris]

as is its often said, The Forever War.

Wonder if that's ever been considered as a film or mini-series. Maybe a bit ambitious.

The graphic novel version is worth a look if you haven't seen it yet.

[Fiend]

Alistair Reynold's "Century Rain".

Future sci-fi alt-reality detective noir thriller. Great book, very gripping, and would make a superb film - all the way through I was finding it very visual and cinematic.

[tommytwotone]

oh yeah, p.s. here I drop a name. the 'Visions of Hell' (as it was referred to), sequence from Event Horizon was edited by my old boss Nicholas, guy I worked for as a runner and then edit assistant, albeit few years after he did that movie. He was then a name in music video editing and they got him in specifically for the montage. I haven't seen him for over a decade; he moved to LA.

Tell him it left an impression on me!

God - Event Horizon. I went to see that with by girlfriend at the time having found the film we wanted to see sold out when we got to the cinema. We thought it was just a fairly benign sci-fi film - I was traumatised for a while afterwards!

I read that for that "vision of hell scene" a) they hired amputees and p0rn actors to be in it, and b) apparently there is/was a more intense version that was cut for the final edit, intended for a "director's cut", but it was lost in a fire at the studio's storage facility.

[TobyD]

knives out

A great couple of hours of pure,  uncomplicated escapism.  Slightly camp, reasonably witty and free of pretension or pointless sentimental subplots.  A murder mystery with an edge of silliness sufficient to make it possible that literally anyone might have done it.

[Mr E S Capegoat]

Rambo ‘last blood’

A poignant and visceral satirisation of the Trump presidency. Just let it go Teasel, let, it, go.....

[Yossarian]

The Varian Revelation

Where are you now John?
I'm chilling at Kentmere.
I doubt that.
Why would you doubt that?
If you were at Kentmere right now we'd be having this conversation face to face.

Jason Bourne and the Lattice assets have seized Cheetham and imprisoned him at a secure black rendition site operated by the terrifying Fiend Corporation. The An-Cap Protocol has been secured, but the Power Klub consortium shatters the short-lived amnesty when their leader Shark reveals grainy footage taken during an interrogation of fugitive mercenary John Gaskins. Believed to be responsible for a string of clinical assignments across northern England, Gaskins is a legend. He operated in the shadows, backed by a network known as the New Breed.

Breaking cover from his arctic hideout, crypto-anarchist Dan Varian reveals shocking evidence that Gaskins claimed responsibility for missions he had not undertaken. Varian, a billionaire who hacked DARPA’s mainframe in the 1990s, stealing the blueprints for a classified Cold War training device codenamed the Beastmaker which he then flagrantly sold on the open market, was originally an adherent to Gaskins’ unconventional method. Now, his explosive revelations threaten the entire world order.

You're in a big puddle of shit, John, and you don't have the shoes for it.

Meanwhile, an NRA satellite reveals an unsanctioned Level 6 training camp operating in Kalymnos, Greece. Level 9 Lattice assets Barrows and Littlefair are despatched. Their mission: to capture the leader - Gresh - a deadly operative skilled in amphibious warfare and unconventional training techniques. If they succeed, sustained latticeboarding could force Gresh into revealing the location of his former kill squad partner, Emmett.

Armed with Varian’s evidence, Jason Bourne must find Gaskins and force him to reveal the truth. If Varian is right, will Bourne uncover the identity of the enigmatic operative Gaskins was impersonating? Could Gresh be connected? Did he train Gaskins? This thrilling sequel will answer all of these questions and more...

[UnkArl]

 

[Will Hunt]

 

[Mr E S Capegoat]

Kung Fu Panda,

Best training movie ever. Get on it. There’s more to be gained from that than a lifetime of training beta podcasts and energy systems gumph

[webbo]

Did you write that Si O’Conner spoof years ago Yoss. The one that had him on run from the SAS and escaping by campussing his way up some huge cliff.

[crzylgs]

Got around to watching 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'. For me one of the better Tarantino films in a while. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are both excellent, Brad Pitt probably edging it in terms of performances. 5* for his visit to the ranch and the magnificently brutal use of a tin of dog food!

Ultimately it is a film about changing times, society moving on, ageing, facing mortality or 'not being as good at things as you used to be'. The DiCaprio:Pitt characters work in a similar duality to that of Norton:Pitt in Fight Club. They could easily be interpreted as two parts of a single entity. Part of which desperately wants to fit in, prolong popularity + success... The other raging against the new wave, wanting to go out all guns blazing. Would be a perfect film for the resident Mr E S Capegoat to interpret regarding his stance about the direction of culture within the sport of climbing that we all love 

Probably not a spoiler (as it is mainly about historical events)... but just in case:

***

NSFW  :

I'm not in the slightest bit phased by the change of history that occurs at the end... So this did not detract from the film at all for me. I believe there was quite some 'internet outrage' over this part in particular. This might be because (being a UK and not US citizen, also maybe a bit too young) I know less about those events and they certainly aren't close to me. To expand on this I had heard of the 'Manson family' knew of their infamy due to certain vicious incidents. I would not have known this took place in Roman Polanski's residence while he was abroad. I would not have recognised the name 'Sharon Tate'. However, I did know those details prior to watching having heard them covered in a popular Radio 5 Film Review Podcast - Hello to Jason Issacs and all that good stuff. Also, considering the film has 'Once Upon a Time...' in it's title perhaps people should have been expecting some Tarantino fuckery? Which I rather enjoyed the bittersweet 'what if' when considering how such tiny twist of fate could have a monumental impact on life and history.

***

Worth a watch either way

[Yossarian]

I thought it was pretty decent. The Bruce Lee section was particularly amusing...