Movies with a slightly alternate present/future?
01-10-07, 07:48 AM
#1
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Movies with a slightly alternate present/future?
What are movies that have a slightly alternate present/future?
Examples would be Children of Men, White Man's Burden, and Fatherland (although that was set in the 1960's).
I'm looking for ones where a single element was changed (women are no longer fertile, whites are a social/economic minority, Germany won WW2) and it created an alternate world compared to the one we live in. Recognizable, but still very different.
(Not something where everything is very "sci-fi" (Planet of the Apes, Minority Report, The Matrix) or set too far in the future (Idiocracy, Gattaca))
Can you provide some more examples? Which of these is your favorite movie?
Examples would be Children of Men, White Man's Burden, and Fatherland (although that was set in the 1960's).
I'm looking for ones where a single element was changed (women are no longer fertile, whites are a social/economic minority, Germany won WW2) and it created an alternate world compared to the one we live in. Recognizable, but still very different.
(Not something where everything is very "sci-fi" (Planet of the Apes, Minority Report, The Matrix) or set too far in the future (Idiocracy, Gattaca))
Can you provide some more examples? Which of these is your favorite movie?
01-10-07, 08:42 AM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: In the mouth of madness.
Posts: 490
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Idiocracy
Planet of the Apes (original really isn't all that Sci-Fi and Earth is very recognizable)
Planet of the Apes (original really isn't all that Sci-Fi and Earth is very recognizable)
Last edited by ShaunoftheDead; 01-10-07 at 08:46 AM.
01-10-07, 08:46 AM
#4
Moderator
2009 Lost Memories (a Korean movie) comes readily to mind but that's because I just loaned it to someone 
Spoiler:
Last edited by nemein; 01-12-07 at 12:14 PM.
01-10-07, 09:03 AM
#6
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 8,756
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by ShaunoftheDead
Idiocracy
Planet of the Apes (original really isn't all that Sci-Fi and Earth is very recognizable)
Planet of the Apes (original really isn't all that Sci-Fi and Earth is very recognizable)
Did you just completely ignore the original post?
01-10-07, 09:25 AM
#7
DVD Talk Gold Edition
C.S.A. (Confederate States of America) is similar to Fatherland - the South wins the Civil War. (I haven't seen this by the way but that is the premise).
Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) is about a near future/present where procreation is outlawed for 20 years. Although the earth is poluted and resources limited, everything else is pretty much the same. I haven't seen this in over 25 years (and that on TV).
Fahrenheit 451 has more differences, but the central premise (reading is outlawed) is the primary one. This is one of my favorite movies. It also has a few sci-fi touches, but I like to think of it as taking place in the (then) present, and nothing is too far out there - well, maybe the escalating fire pole.
Z.P.G. (Zero Population Growth) is about a near future/present where procreation is outlawed for 20 years. Although the earth is poluted and resources limited, everything else is pretty much the same. I haven't seen this in over 25 years (and that on TV).
Fahrenheit 451 has more differences, but the central premise (reading is outlawed) is the primary one. This is one of my favorite movies. It also has a few sci-fi touches, but I like to think of it as taking place in the (then) present, and nothing is too far out there - well, maybe the escalating fire pole.
Last edited by obscurelabel; 01-10-07 at 09:29 AM.
01-10-07, 01:43 PM
#13
DVD Talk Special Edition
There's at least 4 different versions of the year 1985 in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985 is the "present" time).
It's A Wonderful Life is another good one too.
It's A Wonderful Life is another good one too.
01-10-07, 04:25 PM
#15
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Posts: 10,928
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
The first Mad Max had a fairly subtle take on the future (at least compared to the sequels), and in a similar vein the recent Japanese movie The Princess Blade had a cool, vaguely dystopian futuristic setting.
01-10-07, 04:41 PM
#16
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: The Illustrious State of Fugue
Posts: 6,255
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
A Scanner Darkly
Reason I love it: Loved the book and they didn't toss the story (and it's a great, tragic story) out the window and keep just the title. Second favorite (and it's close) movie of the year.
Reason I love it: Loved the book and they didn't toss the story (and it's a great, tragic story) out the window and keep just the title. Second favorite (and it's close) movie of the year.
01-10-07, 05:21 PM
#17
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Many of the movies mentioned don't seem to fit the original request.
I think of this more like each episode of Sliders, which was set "now", but each episode had them visiting an alternate reality where some event in the past (which did not occur in "our" timeline) had either a drastic or subtle effect on the timeline. These events were natural occurences (just different) and not the result of time travel. In movies that the OP wants, nobody would be trying to "fix" what went wrong and repair the timeline. Life would just be different.
I never saw C.S.A. (where life today is very different because the South had won the Civil War), but it sounds like a great example of what I think that the OP wants. Planet of The Apes wouldn't be, because an event in the future has an impact even further in the future.
I think of this more like each episode of Sliders, which was set "now", but each episode had them visiting an alternate reality where some event in the past (which did not occur in "our" timeline) had either a drastic or subtle effect on the timeline. These events were natural occurences (just different) and not the result of time travel. In movies that the OP wants, nobody would be trying to "fix" what went wrong and repair the timeline. Life would just be different.
I never saw C.S.A. (where life today is very different because the South had won the Civil War), but it sounds like a great example of what I think that the OP wants. Planet of The Apes wouldn't be, because an event in the future has an impact even further in the future.
01-10-07, 08:16 PM
#22
DVD Talk Hero
I'm looking for ones where a single element was changed (women are no longer fertile, whites are a social/economic minority, Germany won WW2) and it created an alternate world compared to the one we live in. Recognizable, but still very different.
01-10-07, 09:06 PM
#23
DVD Talk Hero
Just saw Final Cut yesterday. Didn't seem too far into the future (considering the scenes of the main character as a boy, it might even be the present), with one crucial difference being the development of the Zoe Chip. Not my favorite movie, but I just saw it, so it came to mind.
Also recently saw the remake of Manchurian Candidate, which also seems to fit.
Also recently saw the remake of Manchurian Candidate, which also seems to fit.
01-10-07, 09:23 PM
#24
DVD Talk Legend
Brazil is set "somewhere in the 20th century."
Cypher was set in the not-too far future.
Cypher was set in the not-too far future.
01-10-07, 11:23 PM
#25
DVD Talk Legend
The Handmaid's Tale (mentioned above).
And look up the author "Harry Turtledove", he has some good alternate history books. One was "The Guns of the South" where the South came across some AK-47s during the Civil War.
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Har...e=UTF8&s=books
And look up the author "Harry Turtledove", he has some good alternate history books. One was "The Guns of the South" where the South came across some AK-47s during the Civil War.
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Har...e=UTF8&s=books
Last edited by Heat; 01-10-07 at 11:25 PM.