Board 8 > Gauntlet Crew Ranks Science Fiction Films I

(+) Yeah! (+)

One thing about this list is that I didn't use my normal ratings to determine my placements, but I instead rated them purely on my own personal feelings about a movie. I really didn't want to factor how "great" a movie was into the film, partially because this entire list really felt like it was full of movies that are tough to grade from decade to decade. On a list like Animation II, I'm a little more automated in my responses and really grade on whether the basics of filmmaking are there first, and then tack on my personal taste.
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Johnbobb, you do realize the point of the fucking movie is to say the viewpoint of the villains is wrong, right?

There's a goddamn reason the people who have feeling are the good guys and the ones that don't are the villains that lose.

Like holy shit is Farenheit 451 going to be #30 when we do books because you let the moral of the story go over your fucking head?
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Equilibrium interests me a little.

For what it's worth Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars.
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WickIebee posted...

Like holy shit is Farenheit 451 going to be #30 when we do books because you let the moral of the story go over your fucking head?

This line reminds me of this scene from West Wing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ZiezHWr_M" data-time="
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WickIebee posted...

the ones that don't are the villains that lose.

Actually, they reveal that the villains did have feelings and that it was all a front to control people.
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WickIebee posted...

Johnbobb, you do realize the point of the fucking movie is to say the viewpoint of the villains is wrong, right?

There's a goddamn reason the people who have feeling are the good guys and the ones that don't are the villains that lose.

Like holy shit is Farenheit 451 going to be #30 when we do books because you let the moral of the story go over your fucking head?

geez, calm down

Yes obviously the point is that the villains are wrong because the movie literally beats you over the head with it. Why would you possibly think that was the issue? The good guys feel/bad guys don't feel thing is so simple a toddler could get it

The problem is that the whole movie is centered on a stupid argument and a dystopia that doesn't make any kind of logical sense. The movie constantly contradicts its own loosely-defined rules and throws nuance out the window in favor of over-the-top gun fights

Farenheit 451 is a good book because there's actually an ounce of thought put into it
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There's clearly an ounce of thought put into the concept. It's not executed perfectly, but there is a message to this story.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

There's clearly an ounce of thought put into the concept. It's not executed perfectly, but there is a message to this story.

there's a message, but it's a very thin and obvious one

and by "not an ounce of thought" I was more referring to how they created the dystopia
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It's a movie. There are very few of them that can reach more than a thin message. It's also designed for a wider audience with less focus on the message than on entertainment, which isn't wrong for it to do.

Furthermore, the idea is that the dystopia IS flawed in construction. If it wasn't, you'd end up with 1984, and no hope to topple the structure. There has to be a human, flawed process somewhere in an emotionless society.

Now if you want to talk about some of the poorly scripted scenes, I would agree that on a micro level, there are certain functional issues with the film.
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I will say though with that out of the way we've dropped the only 3 movies in the list I actually thought were "bad"

I even almost guessed Equilibrium like 2 spots ago when everyone was guessing older movies but didn't want to spoil that I had it so close to the bottom of my list
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I feel like dystopia movies in general rely on the audience not thinking about how stupid society would have to be to devolve in such a fashion. Equilibrium with the suppression of emotions (coupled with professional murderers), Logan's Run with the unnecessary 30-year time limit, hell, the Hunger Games requires an entire country to just accept that 23 of their children will be murdered each year for the entertainment of the government.

It's just a matter of how much you can look past the lack of logic in the world-building to enjoy the film itself.
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Wow!

My next guess despite no hint: Soylent Green is people
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I've been trying to spread the hints out some to get some discussion that isn't just guessing.

Hint for #33: A Top 5er falls.
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I feel awful if I'm right...but I'm gonna guess Metropolis.
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so I wonder if I'll hold on to that least outlier spot like in martial arts

didn't come close for either animated list
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I think by reading some of the reviews for this film a lot of you guys missed some key elements of it. For one, not every one of the police force are trained the way Bale was. It's reserved for the Bishops, hence why the rest of the police are very scared of them and they can easily mow them down. Not sure how people missed this. Also the injections suppress emotion, they can't eliminate it entirely. And I also assumed that the system was corrupt; DuPont for example was clearly off the meds because he could get away with it. The suppression of emotion was more for the commoners; to keep them in check, easy to control. That's the vibe I got from it.

Way too low, and weird comments from some of you.
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the low rankers aren't exactly the minority here

the movie isn't deep or clever
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Well Ebert ranked it 3/4 so that's good enough for me.
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Johnbobb posted...

the low rankers aren't exactly the minority here

the movie isn't deep or clever

Oh right, the classic, "I can dismiss discussion by referring to other people instead of myself" argument.

Film is about subjectivity.
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...he literally just mentioned looking through reviews for it in the post before
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He was talking about the fucking reviews in this topic.
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I was referring to the low reviews from people here. I can't debate people who wrote reviews for this movie when it was actually in theaters.
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Okay with the hint changing my guess

Inviso posted...

I feel awful if I'm right...but I'm gonna guess Metropolis.

Sorry scar. I swear I'd discuss more but I'm in the middle of a novel and char demands my attention when we're home together because he's needy so I read as much as I can when I'm on my own. I'll make time for reading the writeups and discussion when I wake up- scouts honor.
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Don't feel bad. I can't even post the third ranking tonight! I'm stuck on my phone.
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As I said in Discord, clearly this delay is a falsified entry to make sure Soylent Green, the next movie to be eliminated, be ranked on Tuesday.
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WickIebee posted...

As I said in Discord, clearly this delay is a falsified entry to make sure Soylent Green, the next movie to be eliminated, be ranked on Tuesday.

I like this theory. People drops first tomorrow.
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equilibrium is a great movie. i probably wouldn't say it's "deep or clever" but i agree it's way too low.
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i think it is 2001 next because i don't really think soylent green has a top 5
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#33 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Snake - 4
Inviso - 14
JONA - 17
KBM - 22
Johnbobb - 24
Genny - 28
Karo - 34
charon - 35
scarlet - 36
Stifled - 39
Wickle - 39
Total: 292

"In the most superior version of this story, 78s Invasion perfectly captures the cutultural zeitgeist of the time. A thick sense of paranoia permeates the entire film, and Donald Sutherland is fantastic in it, perfectly showing his fear, shock, and sense of mystery over the strange occurrances happening around him. The camera work in this film is simply top notch, crafting scenes of disarry and dizziness as we attempt the solve the mystery along with the main characters. Elements of body horror cap of the sheer scariness of this picture, remaining one of my favorite horror experiences to date." ~Snake

"Now prior to this ranking, Id seen the original film and I thought it was pretty good. But after watching this remake, I think it managed to make the horror elements of the story feel all the more important, and really amped up the tension. Some of the body horror involved in the creation of the duplicates was really intense and frightening in a way that the effects of the 50s really couldnt capture properly. But Im comparing the remake to the original, when the story throughout both films is pretty amazing. Having an entire population overcome by mysterious space plants is extremely unsettling, but the fact that the invaders dont seem to be acting out of malice makes it all the eerier. The slow whittling away of people that the main characters can trust only serves to further amp up the tension until a twist ending VERY different from the original movie. This was just another very solid movie overall." ~Inviso

"This movie has a great cast and the movie takes its time to help get attached to the characters. It starts off slow but its also deliberate to help build the intrigue of what exactly is going on. Theres a great sense of fear and paranoia throughout the movie and it results in one of the most impactful endings on this list. " ~JONA

"President Snow does speed in order to stay awake and not get turned into an alien. Another nostalgic one for me on this list, this is right up there with Ben-Hur (1959), The Fly (1986), and True Grit (2010) in the best remakes ever conversation. Donald Sutherland has always had a great screen presence, but his '70s work is particularly dear to my heart for the singularly awkward charisma he had. The horror elements here are probably more effective than the sci-fi elements certainly the more memorable aspect of the film. That shrieking thing the body snatchers do is pulled off to chilling perfection and still sends chills down my spine, especially when Sutherland does it at the end." ~KBM

"So it kind of sucks that the one clip I had ever seen from this movie is the last shot. Completely spoiled the ending way in advance. Still, it was a fun ride getting there. Up until the last 1/3rd of the film, it's basically a passive aggressive alien invasion, which makes the whole thing unsettling. I think I enjoyed that aspect more than the pod people chasing every human they see, though the screams were a nice touch. It's creepy and thrilling and definitely not something I'd mind seeing again." ~Johnbobb
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"Invasion of the Body Snatchers is unique in that it's one of few films in which the antagonists win. I have no issue with this in itself, and honestly I wish more media had the balls to pull this off. No, my main issue with it is telegraphing it so damned early. It becomes a hopeless uphill battle when you realize that you literally cannot sleep or you risk possession. Our party was fucked from the jump by trusting the wrong "people". Once the seed pods made it onto the boat it was all over and there was nothing the brave protagonist could do. I do like the twist ending though." ~Genny

"Extraterrestrial space spores come to earth and replace the world's people one by one with evil duplicates for reasons that arent explained and honestly don't make a lot of sense any way you think about it.
This process takes place overnight, and nobody in the entire city ever notices the giant alien flower in the room replacing their loved ones with pod people because they are all reaaaalllllly sound sleepers.
The characters are not particularly memorable, and it's hard to reach any level of caring about them or anything else going on. The premise is stupid and difficult to believe, its just a typical dumb evil clone story thats been done a million times elsewhere, and done much better." ~Karo

"I guess this is a horror movie disguised as a Sci-Fi movie, based on the ending and all. I enjoyed some of the performances here but at times I felt the writing was strange and some of the plots were a bit ill-conceived. I disliked the forced romance between Matthew and Elizabeth, and I also felt the "get you while you sleep" thing didn't make total sense. How exactly does that work? I mean, why do you enter such a deep state of sleep and how do these giant pod things magically turn up? They explained some of it with the plant delivery to the bathhouse and Elizabeth bringing the flower inside, but what about when they all fall asleep? Only Matthew is outside, how do the plants start cloning all the others then too? The end is a bit jarring; you see it coming obviously but the way the lead hero goes down is ambiguous and underwhelming. If you are going to do a "bad end", at least have some sort of ultimate resolution that we can see as an audience." ~charon
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"What It Is: Donald Sutherland and Mister Spock attempt to make heads and tails of a metaphor for communism that is turning everyone into the worst singers ever imagined.

Why it Matters: At a time when the Cold War was alive and well, this movie proved both a huge critical and commercial success. In terms of remakes, this is often listed as one of the greats, and it ended up proving more successful in all fronts than the original by any measurable metric. It also had an impact on many filmmakers to come after, and supposedly was the movie that got Donald Sutherland his part years later in Hunger Games.

What I Think: I certainly love the final scene and all of the conspiratorial paranoia it creates inside of me, but it takes a long time to get to that point. The unease the movie makes is its strong suit. The relationships the movie fails to make cause major chunks of it to fall flat for me. I think there will be a large array of placements on this one simply because everyone in Gauntlet Crew processes relationships in film differently, and therefore they prioritize them differently. For me, the absolutely iconic moments (which are way better in this than the original), just don't outweigh what I feel is a slog to get through. Objectively though, the entire metaphor is so perfect for its moment that I have to admit this is one of the great remakes of all time." ~scarlet

"I was initially really excited to watch this because I love this movie. But waitDonald Sutherland? This isnt the one I saw. Oh god the remade it. Well that sort of remake with Nicole Kidman wasnt that bad so maybe this one will befuck. Its bad. Its really fucking bad. The priest on the swing with the kids at the beginning of the movie was honestly the creepiest thing about it because the rest was just awful. The woman knows her husband isnt really there and something is very wrong, but lets waste a ton of screen time on her and Donald Sutherland slowly hooking up. What a dirty cheating whore. And Donald is a damn homewrecker. I didnt want them to get together. I wanted them to focus on the invading aliens and forego bad romance subplots. But here we are. And even when the focus was on the aliens, it wasnt interesting or fun. The characters were all so boring and up their own asses that I couldnt bring myself to like them. I was rooting for the aliens. And wouldnt you know it? The aliens won! Donald screeching at the very end made me crack up laughing, so that was a nice way to end my suffering.

Traviss Opinion: Again with the PG rated nudity! No wonder we got a rating system. Anyways, Travis wanted me to sing a song about sheep instead of watching this movie. I think he had the right idea. " ~Stifled

"Man thinks he can stop an invasion of people that take over bodies after they have already taken over the entire city he lives in. News at 11 on why he fails. Like, itd make sense for them to try it if it they figured out what was going on and saw the plants while they were still taking over maybe a couple people a day. Where you could find everyone that was figuring out something was wrong, gather them together and bring them to fight. Not when theres four of you left, and even less so when there were two of you left." ~Wickle
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The Outlander Game Part VIII: Inversion of the Outside Rankers

Wickle - 93
Stifled - 92
Snake - 73
KBM - 70
JONA - 65
Inviso - 58
Genny - 54
Scarlet - 47
Karo - 45
Charon - 44
Johnbobb - 39

Wickle and Snake flip positions on ranking; on Equilibrium Wickle was the highest and Snake was the lowest. This time, the opposite is true. How cool is that?
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Boourns!
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I kind of expected to be the top ranker of this one. Still, glad there was a lot of agreement on the ending being incredible.
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I think my low ranking doesn't adequately convey that I really do like a lot of this movie.
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PrinceKaro posted...

i think it is 2001 next because i don't really think soylent green has a top 5

2001 being this low would be a travesty.

(not to be confused with 2001: a space travesty.)
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Hint for #32: I decided to break ties by dropping highest and lowest, and this beat Invasion.
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Possible to be my 40.
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Snake5555555555 posted...

I kind of expected to be the top ranker of this one. Still, glad there was a lot of agreement on the ending being incredible.

I can probably count the movies I've seen where there's zero doubt that the antagonist "wins" on one hand. Hollywood is generally very predictable.
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I can't believe you guys enjoyed Soylent Green more than Logan's Run on the whole. Do you hate the robot so much? It's a one-off character meant to explain away why the runners that escaped the dome never came back to try to liberate their brethren. Yes it's creepy and a little bit jarring but it's 100% meant to come across that way.

scarletspeed7 posted...

If you can't portray emotions, how do you convey if you're the bad guy? Taye Diggs really performs admirably on that tough tightrope he has to walk.

I must agree on this, which made me find even more fault in his anticlimactic exodus from the film. I get it, the entire time Diggs' character thought he was playing Bales' was a farce as Preston was a step ahead of him all along, but there had to be a more cinematic way to convey this than Preston one-shotting him. The entire first two acts played them up as equals, or at least on a comparable level only for the "final boss" to be the puppet-master no one gave two hoots about as his identity was revealed in the last ten minutes. That, to me, is the worst kind of conclusion. That guy had no charisma because most of it was wasted on the decoy mid boss.

To use a comparison like three of you will understand, I would rather see my heroes overcome tribulations and struggle to do so, because that's what makes them seem cool, not being so much stronger than everyone else that they can one-shot a dragon like Kirito from SAO. That's not cool, that's just broken and I'm gonna hate on it.

Alright, my guess for #32 is They Live!
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#32 - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Scarlet - 17
Johnbobb - 18
Karo - 21
Wickle - 21
Genny - 25
Snake - 25
Charon - 29
KBM - 31
Inviso - 33
JONA - 36
Stifled - 36
Total: 292

"What It Is: The Earth is destroyed. Then the movie continues for 90 minutes.

Why It Matters: An adaptation of the singularly most famous and well-read comedic science fiction novel of all time, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was an abberation, following the Matrix craze and just before the real superhero craze took flight. In the meantime, Hitchhiker's shows us Hollywood's desire to adapt the uber-successful, and it also gives us glimpses into three careers that are about to really take flight.

What I Think: My parents hosted a birthday party for my 8th grade? Somethingth birthday, and they took about 20 of my friends out for pizza and a movie based on my favorite book at the time. It still is one of my favorite books, but the film isn't quite on point with the novel itself. Still, there are some great hidden nuggets of wisdom in the film, that I absolutely love. Stephen Fry is perhaps the greatest possible narrator, Alan Rickman nails the character of Marvin... and the main three. Martin Freeman was just absolutely perfect as Arthur, Mos Def is a really interesting Ford, and the chemistry Zooey Deschanel has with every character is just on point. Freeman and Deschanel just nail the emotions of people who almost were into each other but just aren't quite there. It's awkward and charming and so real that it hurts. The end credits play out one of my all-time favorite scenes from the book extremely well. There is a lot to fix with this movie, as it does suffer from Adaptatitis (wherein the movie assumes the viewer knows more from the books than they should), but all-in-all, this is goofy sci fi fun with a few great subtle levels of depth worth analyzing." ~scarlet

"I loved this movie as a teenager. I went in now years later with full bias, expecting to like it a lot. I'll be the first to admit, I was able to see some of its flaws more than I had originally. The tone can be inconsistent, the plot's a little rushed, and the film as a whole feels oddly nihilistic. And yet, this is easy to forgive because the film is brimming with creativity. It's unique. It's memorable. It's the type of "with sci-fi, anything can happen as long as you're creative enough" attitude that ultimately made Rick & Morty so popular the last few years. I honestly think this would've made for a better TV show than a film, allowing us to spend a little more time exploring the vast improbabilities of the universe.: ~Johnbobb
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"In this adaptation of the acclaimed book series, the world's most ordinary british man gets abducted by aliens just in time to save him from the destruction of earth and he goes on an interplanetary adventure with a Wikipedia contributor and his friends.
Unfortunately it doesnt take very long to see that things are horrendously wrong, what should have been a charming and campy romp is instead an irritating exercise filled with loud and/or obnoxious characters and an insidious poison of creeping 'hipness' that belongs nowhere near the series.
Sometimes it seemed like they almost managed to capture the weird british humor of the original novel, except everyone was on crack and as a result the pacing is too hyper and frantic and there is barely time for the jokes to set in before we jump to another scene targeted at an ADD-addled teenager.
If this had been made back in the 80's it most certainly would have been something special, but sadly this was done quite a bit later and we all know that a cute or whimsical franchise being adapted to the 2000's generally goes about as well as Adolf Hitler being put in charge of an ethnic diversity committee.
Regardless of what the Guide says on the cover, you should definitely panic whenever hollywood gets its fetid claws in a franchise such as this one." ~Karo

"A comedy movie that spends most of its time not being funny, yet also enjoyable. The characters arent great, but their drive ends up gaining some value by the end. I really got nothing else to say, so So long, and feed dolphins lots of fish, I dont like seafood so they can have my share." ~Wickle

"Hitchhiker's Guide was a fun movie. I don't have much to say about it, but I enjoyed Deep Thought's wit. " ~Genny

"An amusing affair front to back but sometimes it thinks its being more clever than it actually is. Sam Rockwell is especially good however. " ~Snake

"Very disappointing honestly, because I had high hopes coming into this and with the general premise. There are some good characters here that they just never do anything with for some reason. At times the film feels like it's trying to tell too big of a story for its own good, which apparently it is I suppose. The problem with introducing characters you don't do much with just for the sake of having them pop up for people who are familiar with the source material is that people who really aren't are left wondering, why bother doing that? I feel like this universe would work better as a television show than a movie. Not to say it's bad, but I feel it can't capitalize on the universe in the form of a film." ~charon

"Between this and The Hobbit, Martin Freeman is building himself quite a reputation for giving performances that are way too good for the mediocre adaptations of beloved novels in which they appear. In both cases, the movies are pretty good when they follow the plot of their source material, and occasionally manage to really bring something about it to life, but tend to go off on pointless tangents that bring the product down as a whole. At times, this actually manages to bring to life the wild, madcap energy of Douglas Adams' novel to the screen (definitely more so than the lethargic '80s BBC version), and I love Alan Rickman as Marvin. My favorite scene is (predictably) the opening number, an infectious number that sets the bar too high for the rest of the picture. The biggest problem, of course, is that, unlike The Hobbit, it's practically impossible to adapt the Hitchhiker's Guide series well to a visual medium. So, of course, t's uneven, but still good enough to be rewatchable." ~KBM
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"Ive never read the Douglas Adams book that this movie was based on, and perhaps it deals with the bizarre non-sequiturs better than the filmed version does, but this movie just didnt connect with me. It just didnt feel like there was a coherent storyline to follow from beginning to end of the film. Dont get me wrong: the eclectic cast of characters kept things interesting, and Martin Freeman always serves well as a shy everyman type of character. ButI just wanted to watch an actual plot arise from this film. The only events that ACTUALLY mattered were the destruction of Earth, followed by the rebuilding of Earth, and everything in the middle of those two plot points felt random and unnecessary, unfortunately. I dont know what else to say. It was weird and felt very space alien in its sci-fi naturebut it ultimately didnt impress me a ton." ~Inviso

"I really wish this movie was better because there are some bits of comedy gold stuck in here. Stephen Frys narration is particularly great. However, the plot is just rushed, and the romance feels forced. Zooey Deschanels performance is not great here. Sam Rockwells character comes off as more annoying than funny. Its a shame that this is the final product because theres a lot of potential here." ~JONA

"This movie is very silly and very British. The humor and references completely went over my head. It reminded me of a British equivalent of the show All That. Very silly, slapsticky brand of humor and it wasnt my thing. A few jokes got a small chuckle from me, but it just came off as being weird for the sake of being weird overall. Alan Rickman as a robot and Helen Mirren as a gigantic thinking statue were pretty much the only positives I can muster.

Traviss Opinion: He seemed to enjoy the opening dolphin song, but he wasnt into the movie either really. " ~Stifled
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The Outlander Game Part IX: An Outlier's Guide to Extremity

Wickle - 104
Stifled - 99
Snake - 80
KBM - 71
JONA - 69
Scarlet - 62
Genny - 61
Inviso - 59
Karo - 56
Johnbobb - 53
Charon - 47

Does Wickle have this sewn up? We'll have to turn to his write-ups to determine if his perspective on moviewatching is so counterintuitive to the rest of us that it landed him the first hundo on this list.
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So I guess let it be known that I'm going to be the outlier of these movies, and the outlier of our outliers since it usually is the person that cares the most about the genre, and between this and an anime known as Planetes that I'm watching... I realize I just don't enjoy Sci-Fi. It's not that I dislike too much, but I mean, my 21 in ranking has a similar write-up to the people who have it at 36. That feel when I have more in common with Travis than any ranker on this list, ahaha~
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Well so long, and thanks for the fish I guess
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Hint from #31: From here on out, every film has at least one top ten ranking.
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I dunno it's hard to formulate my thoughts on the movie without having ever read the novel I suppose. The only thing I found predictable about the movie at all was the rats being those ancient philosophers. Other than that I had no idea where anything was going or how it was all going to end, which made it a very fun ride. Would I still enjoy the book despite no longer being a "young adult"? Is that even the target audience?

Edit: Wait this is for 31st

Guess for #31: Still They Live! , though I wouldn't be surprised to see The Day The Earth Stood Still, or Metropolis out next either.
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The book isn't a young adult book. It's really just a comedic science fiction novel. It's a lot like Terry Pratchett stuff.
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WickIebee posted...

That feel when I have more in common with Travis than any ranker on this list, ahaha~

Nothing wrong with that. Travis typically has exquisite taste!
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