Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Class of 1999 was wildly entertaining. Teacher Cyborgs vs High School Thugs. Stacey Keach and Pam Grier are at their cheesy best.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just found out that Commander USA (Jim Hendricks) died March 17, 2018.

A lot of his shows are on YouTube so I'm gonna watch a few today.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I am going to go with yes. Also I know I am a few years late on the subject but man Theatrical > Donner Cut in a big way!

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I know it's not a good movie, but I just finished one of my favorite movies, Alien vs Predator. Call it kind of a guilty pleasure. I love the Alien movies, having the first four original ones on DVD. I also love the Predator movies, so when I first heard about a movie starring both, I was very happy.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Let's be honest, most sci-fi/fantasy movies are a guilty pleasure! Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of quality ones, but so many fall into that guilty pleasure realm...

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

And there's no accounting for taste. I'm incredibly hard on "new" (essentially anything made after Kubrick's 2001) SF/Fantasy films, often rating them several stars lower than what's on IMDB, but will typically rate the "B" movies from the 50s/60s higher-than-average.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

That's very true! I tend to like random movies and hate ones really beloved by everyone else. Heck, half the time I don't know when I'm going to like or hate something.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

B-Movies are some of my favorite movies. Especially when they are sci-fi or fantasy.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Last night I watched Colossal on a first time viewing. It was a blind buy based on good reviews and I was expecting a rip-roaring good time. Whatever those folks saw it wasn't in the movie I watched. I was expecting a comedy/sf/horror type film and got a rather bland film about nothing. It wasn't funny, scary, and had little sci-fi on display (mostly the "monster"). Was it supposed to be a waking dream? A projection of self? Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind - I *had* just finished Blade Runner: The Final Cut, a film I love. I really can't quite put it into words other than I didn't like it and won't watch it again.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

You went into Colossal with exactly the worst expectations. Though I don't think it's fair to say that it was a movie about nothing just because you didn't like it (or it didn't give you the kind of movie you were expecting). There's some good discussion of the movie in its own thread here. However, I clearly see how this isn't a movie for everyone (and for every person that loves there's at least one, if not more, that hate it).

Anyone else the Netflix movie Psychokinesis? It's my the director of Train to Busan. Very different kind of movie though, being a superhero comedy about a middle age schlub who gets powers after drinking water contaminated from a meteor. Nowhere near as good as Busan, and not particularly original, but I enjoyed it for some light weight entertainment.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I read your comments about the film and I still feel that I saw a movie that's essentially about nothing. My liking it or not has nothing to do with that feeling (I love Seinfeld, a TV show about nothing). Yeah the themes are there but there's nothing that clicks, at least for me. It meanders about and really goes nowhere, says little under a pretense of attempting to be socially relevant, and is rather unsatisfying. There's not a single likeable character in the entire film and it's a film where you should at least like Hathaway's character, who was rather pathetic. The big thing is I was expecting a "giant monster" flick with a sense of humor and didn't get that at all. The monster and SF trappings felt tacked on just so it could get SF/Fantasy genre tags. As I've said, I'm incredibly hard on newer SF/Fantasy films and have been for decades.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched Westworld (1973) last night. I've stated several times that I generally don't care for the books or movies based on the books from Michael Creighton. I saw Westworld during its original theatrical run and didn't much care for it. I thought it was too full of plot holes and improbabilities. Over the years I've seen it a handful of times, each time thinking maybe I'd see why people think it's so good. Nope. Never happened.

So... I recently purchased a BR ($5) to give it a better look. After all, he did rewrite the premise as Jurassic Park which is better realized as a movie and doesn't have all the plot holes. Never mind that I don't much care for it either, but do think it's the better of the two films. Surprisingly I found a better film than I recalled, although marginally. I enjoyed it a bit better and have a higher appreciation for Yul Brynner's gunslinger character. I'd never noticed before that he's essentially playing the same character he did in The Magnificent Seven, and wearing the same costume, which makes that part more enjoyable. But the plot holes, at least for me, are almost insurmountable.

I think most of my issues are "safe" but am going to spoilerize them just in case. FWIW, I've had these issues since that first viewing:


The computer/control room was fairly authentic for its time. I also liked how they just turned the androids off at night and then picked up where they left off the next morning.

The directing was serviceable but I often felt like it was a TV movie. One case in particular is the saloon fight which was too loosely timed. People duck over a second before some piece of furniture comes flying by or pause to wait for a punch to hit. While that's mostly choreography, the director is ultimately responsible for making sure it's properly tight or using camera angles to hide such errors. One of the major things that, to me, screamed "TV Movie" was that most of the actors were primarily known for their TV work. IIRC, Brynner was the only one who was a movie actor. I've often wondered if he took the role due to its use of his The Magnificent Seven character coupled with a "Would be a fun way to make a quick buck" attitude.

I watched the "Behind the scenes" special feature on the disc and had to laugh when Creighton claimed such technology was possible at the time (this was in 1972 - the best available was Disney's limited animatronics at their theme parks). He also claimed "I tried the idea... as a novel and it didn't work... It doesn't work on paper at all. It only works as images." He also claimed people get their images and fantasies of Rome, Medieval times, or the Wild West from movies, not books. He must not have read the books I'd read at the time. They were far more visual than most movies. Frankly, I think it'd have made a far better book than movie, as was "Jurassic Park." I liked the novel far more than the movie.

I've read the first cut was longer and Creighton found it long and boring so re-cut it. Small favors...

Anyway... I liked it better than I'd remembered but, based on ratings/scores, not nearly as much as others. It's yet another example of how I'm hard on post 1969 SF/Fantasy movies.

A co-worker who got me into Game of Thrones keeps trying to get me to watch Showtime's Westworld series. Based on my feelings about the movie, I just can't work up any enthusiasm for such a task.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Percy Jackson's Sea of Monsters. What a CGI shit show that was

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched Colossal for one of the challenges and didn't care for it. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood or it was overhyped, but I couldn't get into it.

I've watched part of the first season of Westworld and need to start again from the beginning. I want to love it, but it hasn't really grabbed me yet.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

It's been a while since I saw Westworld but I first saw it on tv as a kid (probably in the late 70's), so it made much more of an impression on me than it did for you. My family had a trip to Disneyworld shortly after I saw it, and the movie was clearly sticking in my impressionable brain. I kept asking my parents "Are they robots? Are you sure?!?!?"

Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror are centainly genres where the age you are for a first time viewing can have a huge impact. I think I'm about 15 years younger than you, so for me my generosity cut-off year is mid 80s.

I binge-watched Season 2 last week while I was staying with relatives who have HBO On Demand. It sounds like we have similar responses to the show. I wanted to love the show. And the idea seemed like a good one for a reboot. But while I can appreciate the ambition and that it seems well-made, I just don't enjoy watching it (and I'm not likely to be back for Season 3). Maybe all the cutting across time and characters, along with the show's tone and pacing, is just preventing me from connecting with it (and caring about the characters)? Maybe this is just a terrible show to binge-watch?

I'll go out on a limb and predict you wouldn't like it -ptth- Though who knows ... tone-wise it's closer to Blade Runner than than the original Westworld, so if you love the former maybe this will be your thing. The series is much less an sci-fi/thriller about robots gone amuck and more about the philosophy of what it means to be sentient. The science is better than the movie (it would almost have to be), but there are still lots of holes and flaws to pick at if one if so inclined.

I certainly agree that the practicality of a real Westworld doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. Especially today where advancing technology of VR and MMORPGs seems to be where things are going if people were looking to provide this kind of entertainment (instead of building a gigantic park full of robots). Though Season 2 did provide a couple of major plot revelations that addressed why so much effort would be put into making something like Westworld [beware ... gigantic Season 2 spoilers follow]:

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Yeah, I love these books so I was excited to see them on the screen but I felt both the first and second film really didn't capture anything I really enjoyed about the series. I was honestly bewildered how they managed to get a 2nd film out of it and then ruined it anyway!

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

If anyone is looking to watch the Harry Potter films, both USA and SyFy are running a marathon of the entire series this weekend.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Highly recommend the best Norwegian film of 2017, Thelma. Fantasy, horror, drama that is wonderfully shot and full of pathos.

It’s on Hulu, and my favorite film of last year.
https://www.hulu.com/watch/1256927

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

A friend posted a link to this short cartoon:

Superman: The Arctic Giant

. It's fairly short, 8ish minutes though almost a minute of it is credits.

Plot: Superman vs a T-Rex.

I have so many questions...so many questions!

Spoiler:


I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one! lol!

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I watched it for this challenge and second the recommendation! It's a slow-burner but rewarding for those who are game.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just finished a double-feature viewing of Jack the Giant Killer (1962) by first watching the original film, newly remastered on BR from Kino, followed by the musical re-edited version. They did a very good job on this minor stop-action classic. It's pretty much a rip off of Harryhausen's The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad right down to borrowing the director and principal cast members. Still, it's a fun little fantasy outing - if you're in the right mood. I usually am for these 50s/60s fantasy films.

The primary bonus/special feature on the new BR is the re-edited musical version of the film. Apparently this version was created due to Columbia studios, owners/distributors of Seventh Voyage..., suing the producer of Jack... for its too close for comfort resemblance to the Harryhausen film and it being deemed too "intense" for its intended kiddie audience. It's kind of confusing so I don't know if that's 100% correct - one article I read seemed to indicate it was the distributor for Jack... who sued the producer and not Columbia. It *did* receive a short theatrical release before this happened and it was pulled from distribution. For the musical, they took out some of the "violent" action sections and put in the music with generic singers performing the new singing voice over parts. It's quite a different movie this way. I'd never seen the musical version before and only recently discovered it existed *and* was the only way to see the film for decades. How did I not catch this on cable at some point? No matter... It was quite creatively done and interesting as a curiosity but frequently quite humorous due to the coming-out-of-nowhere music running with ludicrous lyrics and tunes that just don't fit the film. It's nowhere as good as the original, non-musical, version but worth a viewing, especially if you've never experienced the film this way.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I was browsing the Dish Guide and saw that Astro Boy was on Encore Family, so I figured, 'Why not?'. I used to watch the 80s version of the anime when I was growing up, and it was one of my favorite shows. As far as reboots go, the 2009 movie did a decent job, I thought. It seemed to be pretty faithful to the earlier series. I've never seen the original from the 60s, so can't make any comparisons to the original.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just watched Deadpool for the first time. It is a fun film. Predictable at times, well... most times, but fun. I liked many of the throw-away lines. IMHO, they were the best parts of the film.

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

My sister is letting me use her Netflix to watch Stranger Things. On the second episode. Liking it so far!

Re: 11th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The two seasons of that show are the best two days of binge-watching I seem to remember enjoying as much as I have in a lifetime. I sat down on release date preparing to watch an episode or two of the first season and... got to bed about 4 or 5 a.m. having watched the entire thing.

Season 2, I watched for the horror challenge last year and I can't be certain I showered or even ate while I watched every single episode of that season. Best day I had all year.