Printable View
Apologies for my two big omissions, not seeing your post acknowledging the importance of Titanic, and missing the name of Canadian director (and producer) Norman Jewison, a middlebrow powerhouse with some real accomplishments and movies everybody's heard of such as The Thomas Crown Affair(!)! In the Heat of the Night, The Russians are Coming the Russians Are Coming, Rollerball, A Soldier's Story, Agnes of God, and Moonstruck.
Titanic is a wonderful film.
I'm not crazy about the love story, but what guy is?
But I admit that it is the glue that holds the whole thing together.
Without Kate and Leo's relationship, the movie wouldn't have been as nearly as compelling as it was.
The sinking of the ship is still one of the greatest sequences ever filmed. The scale of it was nailed by James Cameron.
He made us in awe of that hulk rising out of the water.
It was realistic in feel.
There's another ship that is only 6 meters shorter than the Titanic, the Super Battleship Yamato, of the Imperial Japanese navy, the largest battleship ever constructed, and a movie of it was made in 2005 and only released in Japan, and it gives Titanic a run for it's money in the epic scale department.
I've seen it online and I have a rip copy. A friend of mine who's a huge WWII naval warfare student has turned me into a student of the Yamato, Shinano and Musashi battleships. Their stories are fascinating. And so is the German battleship Bismarck. They need to do a kick-ass movie on the Bismarck. If you can track down the Yamato movie, you'll be in for a real treat. Only released in Japan, but you can find it on DVD if you look. (I located a pirated copy in Chinatown and the quality is actually really good).
But yes, Titanic is a landmark in cinema history.
I've never left the room or turned it off while watching.
It's a seriously great film which can be watched many times over.
Jewison's contributions to science fiction being "Rollerball" dealt with the evetual expansion of roller derby, a sport considered at one time so popular that it would eventually replace the NFL. Now where is it? When was the last time they held a roller derby match in your city? That demonstrates the danger of predicting the future (something I tried to avoid in my novel that takes place in 2016).
Look at "Escape from New York" another science fiction film that predicted New York City's crime rate would increase to the point that it would eventually turn into one big jail cell. So much for that prediction. The story is set in the terrible futuristic year of 1997! Who knew?
When we look at at what Roddenberry thought the future would look like in 1967 and compare that to 2009's Star Trek, the two futures look very different indeed. In one hilarious line, the current Bones (Karl Urban) makes a casual reference to his "boots." This reflects on the style of shoe they wore on the original show that was suppose to represent future shoes. I laughed.
"Prediction is at least two things: important and hard." Howard H Stevenson, Harvard University
Roller Derby is still very popular in Canada at least.
But it's not a huge money-making enterprise like the NFL or NHL.
And it's more popular with the ladies than the men.
We have leagues here with all-women teams.
Those chicks can really bang!
Yes, but does it beat hockey or draw the same crowds as a soccer/football match?
Not by a mile.
But the fans are pretty rowdy.
They really get into it up here.
I went to a roller derby near Belleville that was a really raucus night. And of note is the fact that they still wear those old clunker roller skates, exactly like the ones from the 70's: leather uppers and 4 wheels. (not like the much better roller blades we have now). Don't ask me why they still wear those old skates...
I apologize for not having anything substantial or provocative to say about Star Trek. I just want to share that I enjoyed it and felt that my time and money was well-spent. I didn't go into it expecting anything ground-breaking or particularly "deep". I'm also not the biggest sci-fi fan. I absolutely love AI, La Jetee, 2001, Solaris (1972), Alphaville, Brazil, Blade Runner, and Stalker. But I never go to the movies expecting to add to that list.
I benefited from seeing TERMINATOR SALVATION after STR TREK. The latter was so evidently a great deal more fun even though I've seen better.
I just re-watched Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE on DVD.It has an excellent commentary too by the film's science consultant Professor Brian Cox, and it's even more exciting and beautiful than i thought when I saw the very last East Bay showing of it two years ago. To anybody who has not seen SUNSHINE, do. It's really one of those "Produced and Abandoned" movies (using Michael Sragow's phrase). A lost gem at the box office but available on Netflix.
Boyle's Sunshine is much more ambitious than successful.
I will totally pass on Terminator: Salvation.
People are still enjoying and discussing Sunshine and it remains one of the most beautiful sci fi films ever. Terminator Salvation has no colon. You do well to avoid it.
While I don't want to spent much time discussing SUNSHINE (1997) as this is a thread about STAR TREK (2008), but I did want to point out to some readers that underneath the visual beauty of SUNSHINE, the storyline and characters aren't as compellingly superlative as the look of the movie, its more image over substance - it's more like superior version of EVENT HORIZON (1997). While a good movie, it has its problems. For those who enjoy an eerie sci fi storyline with decent atmospherics, I recommend instead FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS (1962). At the time, this was one of the few serious efforts at hardcore sci fi, though it also tied in with the Cold War era of the times. For more of my opinion regarding SUNSHINE you can access it on this website at http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/show...light=Sunshine
Since we are discussing obscure science fiction films in reference to Star Trek (2009), then I suggest you rent "Silent Running" starring Bruce Dern. While many science fiction films show their age, this film holds up surprisingly well in storyline and special effects. When sci-fi fans who are well acquainted with the genre vote, they often chose this gem on their top ten lists.
Every cast member and many of the crew watched many if not all of the original 79 episodic "Star Trek" television series to prepare for their roles despite the admonishments in their interviews (according to producer J J Abrams).
A friend of mine swears that Forbidden Planet and Robinson Crusoe on Mars are the best sci-fi films ever made.
The latter has Adam West, and he swears by that movie as one of the greatest ever made. I haven't seen either one of them but I've decided to buy both DVD's sight unseen, his passion is so serious.
He says Forbidden Planet was the 2001 of it's day.
And I just found out the Crusoe is a Criterion release!
How's that!
"Forbidden Planet" is often touted as brilliant. However the strange animated film was the "Midnight Movie" at revival theaters across the country in the 1970's. It frequently played on a double bill with "2001" as a stoner's paradise, the reason being for the strangeness in both films. During the light show toward the end of "2001" was often referred to as the "light up" period of the film. Curls of marijuana smoke filled movie theaters then. "Forbidden Planet" had the same mystique about it. While the animation is very crude by today's standards (and even back then) the story holds some interest. However, I find that "Silent Running" is a much better science fiction film.
"Robinson Crusoe on Mars" is a very strange movie. Most of the film is dominated by the performance of Paul Mantee (name three of his films!) who struggles to keep our interest. I do not agree with many people that this is a science fiction classic. However, thinking of that film made me recall another really good movie about being stranded on a strange planet...
"Enemy Mine" is a brilliant little film about an astronaut stranded on a planet with his mortal enemy. The harshness of the world force the two beings to survive together. Brilliantly acted by Louis Gosset Jr and Dennis Quaid (some of his best work), I found this work is often overlooked and under appreciated by fans of the genre. The special effects are good but the score by Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago) is outstanding. I cannot watch the very end without crying every time. This movie explores how war often reduces racism to "those people." After the final scene, listen to the score all the way through to the end of the credits. Jarre created one hell of a good suite for this film. If you love big orchestrations, this one is bigger than "Star Wars."
Between "Enemy Mine" and "Silent Running" science fiction fans can't go wrong.