I spewed this out last week in response to a friend who asked for the names of good sci-fi or space based movies. Classifying films by genre is difficult task, but....I tried...briefly... Big issues arise when you try to categorise films by genre, and sci-fi is one of the toughest because it arguably overlaps (or should be made distinct from) other genres like space fantasy or space drama. In a fairly restrictive sense one could argue sci-fi films are only ones combining scientific hypotheses (often space travel or time travel, alien contact) within a fictional story – this is how they started with the HG Wells stuff way back when. Star Wars has often been lumped into the sci-fi genre, but I strongly feel it doesn’t deserve to be categorised as such – it is a fantasy adventure film (that happens to be set in space). The Fifth Element is also fantasy adventure (although it leans a bit more towards sci-fi, I guess). Alien is definitely sci-fi (but it overlaps horror), The Terminator flicks are a combo of sci-fi (arguably the sci-fi sub-genre time travel) and action thrillers. Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff are space based bio-pics. Gravity is a space drama/thriller. Moon, Blade Runner are perfect examples of sci-fi. 2001 is an overrated combo of sci-fi and mystical mumbo-jumbo. There’s lots of overlap so it is difficult to decide how to categorise many of these, but here’s a list of some options for you of films I like or love within sci-fi and/or space related genres: SCI-FI STRAIGHT – FUTURE SET Star Trek films (best ones are the two recent reboots and ’82 Wrath of Kahn) Total Recall Gattaca Blade Runner Elysium Oblivion SCI-FI STRAIGHT – CURRENT SET Jurassic Park series District 9 Close Encounters of the Third kind 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea The Abyss Short Circuit The Truman show Inception SCI-FI TIME TRAVEL STRAIGHT The Terminator Series Planet of the Apes series (best ones are the two recent reboots and ’68 original) SCI-FI APOCALYPTIC FUTURE Mad Max Trilogy The Matrix Series Children of Men Escape from new York Waterworld SCI-FI WAR MOVIES Aliens Starship Troopers Avatar Independence Day War of the Worlds Cowboys vs Aliens SCI-FI APOCALYPTIC FUTURE TIME TRAVEL Edge of Tomorrow SCI-FI TRUE STORIES/BIOPICS Apollo 13 The Right Stuff SPACE THRILLERS/DRAMAS Gravity Space Cowboys Aramageddon SPACE FANTASY Star Wars Trilogy Flash Gordon Fifth Element SPACE FANTASY COMEDIES Spaceballs SCI-FI COMEDIES Galaxy Quest Innerspace Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Men in Black Paul SCI-FI – TIME TRAVEL COMEDIES Back to the Future Trilogy Bill and Ted Series SCI-FI APOCALYTPIC COMEDY – CURRENT SET Shaun of the Dead SCI-FI APOCALYTPIC COMEDY – FUTURE SET Wall-E Some superhero films often get classed as sci-fi of part sci-fi, for example Superman (an alien among us) and Iron Man (using science/technology to drive the story) Another film that often gets categorised as sci-fi, but really is completely impossible to categorise because it’s so special, is E.T.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 04:46:26 +0000
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