Nick Kyme

I sat up to watch a little Matrix: Reloaded last night. I only saw a bit as it was on really late and I am a pretty tired boy at the moment. As I was watching it, I remembered way back when it was first released. I had loved the Matrix, such a cool movie that maybe didn’t even need a sequel but Hollywood cash beckoned so here we are (yes, I know, I’m cynical – get over it). Hyped up beyond all belief and with a third movie just six months or so away (which was, I believe, unprecedented at the time), me and a bunch of friends went to the flicks with high hopes. It was good, definitely, but it did not live up to the hype (things seldom do, which is why I loathe hype but sometimes can’t help getting swept up in it) and it didn’t really do the first movie justice.

There are some great moments, the scene of the freeway fighting those two from Changing Rooms or some such UK DIY show, anyway – that really lives in the memory. Then, as I was watching last night, paying attention to the world building, especially with regards to Zion, the cool sf ships and those frankly awesome walkers with the big guns, I thought to myself ‘You know what, this is pretty damn good!’.

And it got me to thinking, as you do, about other sf movies I’ve loved over the years and that maybe I should dust them off and watch ‘em again – maybe I’ll find new things to like about some old favourites in the process. Pretty soon, with the ol’ cogs turning, I had a long-ish list of sf movies that I remember from my childhood and more recently. So, I figured I’d share it with the world and even solicit some opinion as to other peoples’ faves too. What I like about lists like this (I must be on a list trip or something at the moment, ’cause the previous post had a list too – ugh!), is that anyone can join in and they’re (hopefully) a good talking point.

So, here’s mine. No comic book movies (I put them in a different sub-genre i.e. comic book movies) or TV shows, just sf movies – plain and simple. Let’s have your thoughts. Who knows, we might even get a debate going.

Oh, and by the way, I won’t be giving chapter and verse on why they’re in the list, nor are they in any sort of order. It’s just the list. Feel free to probe at it, ask questions, debate fervently, agree vehemently – whatever floats your boat.

Here goes (at last):

Aliens
Probably the best action sf movie of all time. The explosive sequel to Alien that rewrote the book that sequels are never as good as the original. It was made in the 80’s but still looks bloody great by today’s standards.Some many great lines, so many great scenes. The cast of characters, while disposable in the main, is great and built on/created some memorable military sf archetypes. Oh, and what a soundtrack. That moment when Ripley and Newt are on the metal balcony and Bishop rocks up in the ship as the flames are burning and the music blasting – good bump time. Tension, action, aliens, colonial marines, big guns – how could it fail?

Matrix/Matrix Revolutions
It’s a cheat because it’s a two-fer. So sue me, it’s my list Adding to the comments above, Matrix was just one of those films that defined an era. It’s stylish, original (as you can be – film and word lawyers put down your keyboards, please), gave us ‘bullet-time’, swanky leather coats and sunglasses that mysteriously stay on your face with the benefit of arms. Kung-fu has always been cool, Matrix made it cooler. Oh, and Revolutions – battle for the dock: need I say more?

Blade Runner
As an exercise in word building this movie is stunning. Bleak, cold and oppressive, the far future has never looked so real and soulessly commercial. The Vangelis soundtrack is iconic, the two leading me give blockbuster performances and it’s one of the most eminently quotable films I know. Who could resist Hauer’s monologue towards the end?

The Empire Strikes Back
I’m not a Star Wars geek – there I said it. I don’t worship the Jedi, wish C3PO was my butler, Han Solo my best friend and Princess Leia my lady. But I do love this movie. Arguably the best Star Wars movie made (it beats the living crap out of those prequels – sheesh), Empire Strikes Back holds a heap of nostalgia for me. It’s one of those films I watched with my two brothers when we were all still at home. Great space battles, truly epic opening on Hoth, plus it’s got Vader kicking seven shades of the brown stuff out of everyone who crosses him. Legendary.

Event Horizon
Another Laurence Fishburne movie (he was in Matrix and its sequels, don’t you know), Event Horizon, for me, has to go down as one of the scariest, coolest, most fucked up sf movies ever. A space ship goes into Hell and comes back again – that’s the premise. Poor old Fishburne and co have to head over to investigate and it rapidly becomes a high tension, peeking from behind the cushions slaughter-fest. It’s a British movie, too, which is another good reason to love it. Ever wondered what aspects of a 40K space ship might be like? – check out this bad boy.

The Thing
Paranoia with a capital ‘P’, John Carpenter’s The Thing is a bloody triumph of the horror sf genre (which, incidentally, is the same category that Event Horizon falls into). This is one scary ass movie – and it’s totally messed up. Plaudits must rain down it for the superb effects alone, all done with putty and animatronics. It is deeply unsettling but weaves such a terrifying plot, where literally anyone could be the bad guy/thing, that you’ll have nightmares for a week.

Cloverfield
I watched this movie quite recently and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good as it was on the big screen. What must be said for Cloverfield is that it’s innovative. Shooting the whole damn thing on a hand-held camera (or at least making it look this way) was a masterstroke and really makes the film stand out and hit home. I couldn’t have really cared less about the insipid characters but seeing that bloody monster rampaging around New York as the army try to kill it, all on a camcorder, is a stunning experience. Even if you only watch it once (and hate it – it’s a kind of Marmite film), you should still watch it.

Starchaser: Legend of Orin
I love animation (though not Anime so much – I suppose that’s why Akira and Ghost in the Shell don’t feature here), so it’s inevitable that a cartoon would come in to this list at some point. Starchaser was one of those films I saw at a very young age. For a cartoon it’s violent, there’s sexual references and bad language – all the things a growing boy needs in his appreciation of sf. I actually bought the movie a few years ago on DVD and it was as good as I remembered. It has such a cool story, a real Space Opera kind of adventure. Highly recommended if you like a PG13 swashbuckle amongst the stars.

Flash Gordon
Yes it’s unashamedly camp, yes it’s chocked full of innuendo and double entendre, but Flash Gordon holds a special place in my heart. Christmas morning or Boxing Day there it was on ITV, one of the movies of my childhood. There’s something reassuringly gaudy, old school and hopeful about Flash Gordon. Part of me hopes they remake it one day with less tongues in cheeks, but, for now, this is the classic. So many great lines, so many uplifting moments. Who could forget Brian Blessed as the king of the hawk men? ‘Gordon’s alive!’ ‘Dive!’ – he totally got all the best lines.

Titan AE
Another animated feature and possibly a lesser known one than Starchaser. I picked Titan AE just because it has a really cool concept. Earth gets destroyed by a terrible alien race called the Dredge and our heroes must set about trying to find a new one – only they don’t really have to find one as such, rather create one by means of the Titan project. Like a lot of these films, it has a great soundtrack but it’s the signature tune by a band called Creed that really makes this soar for me (the song is called ‘Higher’ – no pun intended). Great animation and a really cool little story. This has always been one of my faves.

By my count that’s ten. There are others I could add (maybe should have added). Starship Troopers springs to mind, of course, and, on another day, may well have breached the list. Them’s the breaks. Dune too deserves a mention, though the movie doesn’t compare to the book. I don’t have a classic sf upbringing as such so you won’t see stuff like The War of the Worlds (the original version), The Day the Earth Stood Still (original version) or 2001: A Space Odyssey. I steered away too from the more family orientated, less action driven, films like E.T. All great movies though. So, that’s my shift, an ever changing, metamorphic beast of a thing, held in stasis by the virtue of this blog post.

Even if you don’t reply/speak up, I hope that got you thinking.

I feel like Max Payne, I’ve been dodging so many bullets lately.

I refer, of course, to season finale spoilers from various shows I like to watch. During the Horus Heresy meeting it was first Battlestar Galactica (I’m on season four first half, and about halfway through), swiftly followed by Lost (I’ve seen none of season five thus far, I got Sky One too late to record the episodes). Today it was Supernatural, and Christian gleefully telling me ‘there are some great spoilers on-line (please, I only have to wait until next week and then I’ll know, during the show…).

Thankfully, a short bout of fingers in ears and a chorus of ‘La, la, la – I’m not listening’ averted potentially disaster.

Sitting down to a little pasta this evening, I was browsing through some of the shows I’d recorded and came across the latest episode of Knight Rider. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t great. I’d recorded the mini-series/movie in a fit of nostalgia and am trying to stick with it. By the end of the episode (which involved a deadly poison, an antidote and some bizarre mask removal scenes) I was left underwhelmed. The show is like a weird amalgam of the old Knight Rider and the Mission Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. It’s all a bit contrived, cliche and, at best, competently acted. There’s no drama, no tension, no storytelling to keep me interested or challenge me in any way. Even the effects and explosions aren’t that good. I think I might be wasting my time on this one…

And this got me thinking. After the heroics of Lost, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes (well, season one at least), breaking through into the mainstream and opening sf up to a new and appreciate audience, even setting new bench marks for shows to aspire to, the whole movement has sort of petered out to mediocrity.

I suppose we got Fringe out of it (which is great – totally love that), but with the other shows ending, ended already or diminishing in quality, it leaves me kind of depressed with what we’re left with. Now, Supernatural is awesome, but it’s on its fourth season (soon to draw to a close – finale of Tuesday, folks…) and might have two or three more in it, if we’re lucky. Lost has one more season, and I doubt Heroes will last must longer. Likewise, Smallville is reaching its twilight seasons, too.

So what is there to replace them? Knight Rider is a ropey pastiche of a much-loved, but slightly cheesy 80’s show (though this formula did work for BSG – go figure), Doll House is just a bit lacklustre with one too many quips and lacking in any real bite (Joss Whedon’s other project after Buffy, Firefly, was something of a flop too, unfortunately – I can’t help thinking that Doll House is going the same way) with some dubious/annoying casting, A Town Called Eureka is fun enough but hardly compulsive viewing, so where does that leave us?

Personally, I really lament the loss of Pushing Daisies. Yes, it was weird and odd and off the wall, but that was part of its charm – there was no other show like it. I hear three final episodes are being filmed (and are excellent – bring it back; you did it with Futurama, now save Pushing Daisies too!) to close off the show after the somewhat rushed epilogue that was offered at the end of the original curtailed second season.

If anyone’s got any recommendations, by the way, I’d love to hear them. Don’t mention that awful Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronciles, though please. I’ve never had the misfortune of seeing such a charmless, derivative and tedious show for some time. It was like an exercise in how to really misuse a licence.

So, yeah. It’s starting to look like there’s a real dearth of good new sf shows out there. Let’s hope, for all our sakes, we don’t go back to the dark days of Mutant X or Dark Angel. Ugh! *shudder*