Board 8 > Gauntlet Crew Ranks Science Fiction Films I

(+) Yeah! (+)

And I tried to watch 2001 but after watching 20 minutes of ugly apes doing nothing while my telomeres are getting shorter and I'm getting closer to death, I turned it off.
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I think it really can't be called 100% one way or the other

like I "get it." I recognize everything it did right and in some ways is really impressive

but I also think Kubrick made some significant stylistic mistakes that make it hard to just sit down and enjoy, which is ultimately why it ended up around the middle of my list

Ive never liked how certain movies are almost immune to criticism (and I don't mean that against people here, just overall). It still happens today (for example, I didn't think Lady Bird was very good)
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I'm sorry, but if you really believe that then there is nothing to do but end the conversation; stating what you are as a fact is demeaning and offensive. To be so turned off to other opinion that way is unhealthy.

It isn't science; there is room for debate. Not all professional critics agree this is a good film either.
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I just want to say that I was going to post something but when I came to a fork in the buttons on my screen, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

...also, i like men in black! it just has no business being above 2001 on any ranking of science fiction movies that is to be taken seriously. one is an absolute masterpiece and one of the most monumental achievements in movie history, the other is a fun popcorn flick.

In my world, it's also like saying that The Avengers is better than The Godfather. Or that Happy Gilmore is better than Back to the Future.
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LinkMarioSamus posted...

In my world, it's also like saying that The Avengers is better than The Godfather.

even that's being too generous in my view, as i'm actually a pretty big fan of avengers 1.

it's more like saying... doctor strange is better than the godfather.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

it's more like saying... doctor strange is better than the godfather.

But it IS better than the Godfather
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Actually it's more like saying Shrek 2 is better than Shrek 3. It's like saying White Christmas is better than Miracle on 34th Street. It's like saying Pete's Dragon is better than Interstellar. It's like saying The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is better than Sleuth. It's like saying Mamma Mia is better than Cabin Fever. It's like saying JFK is better than The Postman. It's like saying Expendables 2 is better than Sleepless in Seattle. It's like saying Inherit the Wind is better than Father's Little Dividend. It's like saying Shrek 3 is better than Shrek 2.

Please, for the love of God, stop wearing opinions as if they're badges that define objective interpretations of fact rather than subjective interpretations of art. This is what I was talking about earlier. There are very few positions you can take that are objective metrics of anything in art, especially in film.

What about the people who "got" the film and still didn't like it? Did I miss some crucial bit of data that you in your infinite wisdom wish to provide to me like Prometheus with fire for the gods? Or does it happen to be possible that the act of watching film differs from person to person? Does a list have to be based on the supposed greatness and artistic merit of a film? I expressly took that out of my personal rankings because I wanted to rate all of these staples of the genre (all of which I've watched more than once at least) based solely on my love of science fiction and the childlike factor of enjoyment and eye-opening wonderment at what those films provide to me personally.

When you talk about how you can't take the rankings seriously, I can't take the attitude of an intellectual bigot who continues to return to the thread time after time after time despite claiming he was clearly finished with his cruel assault on friendly rankings seriously. I bet dollars to donuts that some of the group wanted to share more about 2001 and now they won't at all because this kind of behavior prevents further discussion by demonizing outlying opinions.

This is Twitter intellectualism.

Look, I know I'm a divisive user with some poor judgment at times and I tend to go off on a crusade like Don Quixote. But I'm on a mission to civilize here. And we can't have open discussions when people demonize the simple act of having opinions that are counter-intuitive to their own. I feel like the kid at the end of Camelot, riding from town to town, trying to maintain the legacy of Camelot, a city on a hill where opinions are embraced, explored, developed, reaffirmed. The greatest writing doesn't come from the complete dismissal and shutdown of alternative ideas. Those alternatives are what lead to some of the greatest points of view and changing attitudes. Counter-culture and Timothy Leary. The Protestant Reformation. The Supreme Court dissenting argument dug up by some clerk decades later to change an archaic law.

Why can't we all be more romantic about our notions of how we talk about the creative, the sublime, the imperfect art of observation?
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Is it just me, or is Lasa not actually explaining why 2001 is a good movie beyond just "it's artistic and a classic and is better than MiB"? I mean, I explained MY peace on the subject. I thought the pacing was slow and I thought the plot was lacking. I'm not obligated to rank something high just because it's considered a cinematic masterpiece by certain subsets of the filmgoing public.
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MiB has its own set of problems that are very different than 2001's, but someone who goes around acting like anyone who ranks Will Smith in a Suit higher than Monkeys & Monoliths is some sort of dumbass pleb who doesnt understand cinema is a really elitist tool imo
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Ultimately, it's less Lasa even has an opinion of the movie, and thinks ratings and rankings must be purged of such a concept. Differences shouldn't exist if opinions are lacking, but that's not the point of these things.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

What about the people who "got" the film and still didn't like it?

then that's fine.

look, i get that film is subjective and i shouldn't harp on the point that men in black is higher than 2001. to me that's ridiculous but you're right about that being nothing more than my subjective opinion. you can put plan 9 from outer space at #1 and it's still just as legitimate a list.

the REAL thing that's "twitter intellectualism," however, is claims like the movie is "kubrick masturbating to classical music." it's a dismissive, extremely surface-level analysis that doesn't do any justice to the movie whatsoever. because nobody else was speaking out against this, i felt the need to. if i see people say a bunch of stuff about this movie in a serious ranking topic that has the depth of a regular tweet, i'm like "come on, try harder." and if you're not going to try harder, then at least ACKNOWLEDGE that you didn't put in much effort (which nobody did either, as i pointed out).

i get that i might be overly aggressive about this because i see several people shit all over one of my favorite movies in a bunch of short, dismissive paragraphs. but if you post stuff about the movie on a public forum, you're opening yourself up to criticism. that's how it works. i don't see this as "cruel assault" at all.
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Inviso posted...

Is it just me, or is Lasa not actually explaining why 2001 is a good movie beyond just "it's artistic and a classic and is better than MiB"?

i'm not here to explain why it is a good movie. i could, but it's obvious that its detractors don't give a flying fuck about the movie and probably won't care at all about my arguments for why it's a masterpiece, so why bother?
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Lasa, you're berating us for having "incorrect" views on one of your favorite movies, yet you've done exactly zero to explain why we're wrong. You just arrogantly claim "it's stupid that MiB is rnaked higher than a masterpiece of filmmaking" without offering any explanation. Those of us who ranked 2001 low gave a full write-up as to why we didn't like it. What you're doing is Vlado levels of "well I'm right and you should all just KNOW I'm right."
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You realize these writeups aren't our only thoughts, right? They are not essays we're handing in to professor scarlet.

You effectively scared off the more quiet members from continuing any conversation about this movie.
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Well, a lot of people do write ups for comedic effect and have for actual years of these lists. Karo is a prime example. The meat of the actual discussion comes from conversations both here and in Discord, where we all talk more openly about movies. These are just basic jumping-off points.

And the reason this is an assault when the write-ups aren't is simply because, without using so many words, you dismissed a huge chunk of my friends as stupid rubes. They dismissed a work. You dismissed the people. Write ups aren't transformative works, and movies are.
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Didnt put much effort? Listen son, I probably spent just as long making these writeups than I did watching the fucking movies. Just becasue you are a fragile little snowflake who can't handle a little shade thrown at your favorite films doesn't indicate a lack of effort on anyone's part.

fyi 'kubrick masturbating to classical music' is one of my favorite lines I typed out for the whole project, so Lasa, you can take that and shove it where the sun don't shine.
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I don't agree with that line, but it was quite amusing.
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Inviso posted...

Lasa, you're berating us for having "incorrect" views on one of your favorite movies, yet you've done exactly zero to explain why we're wrong. You just arrogantly claim "it's stupid that MiB is rnaked higher than a masterpiece of filmmaking" without offering any explanation. Those of us who ranked 2001 low gave a full write-up as to why we didn't like it. What you're doing is Vlado levels of "well I'm right and you should all just KNOW I'm right."

again, i haven't explained it because i don't want to. it would take a lot of time and effort and i think it would be pointless so i don't see why i should bother.

if you seriously think you've done a thorough analysis of the movie and all you got out of it is "the pacing is slow" and "the plot is lacking" there's nothing i can say to convince you you're wrong.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Well, a lot of people do write ups for comedic effect and have for actual years of these lists. Karo is a prime example.

if the masturbation line is one of his favorites, did he really only use it for comedic effect?
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So you're too lazy to engage in actual debate and just want to swoop in to crap on those of us who thought 2001 was a boring fucking slog to get through. And you DON'T understand that you're being a complete jackass right now? I'm immediately reminded of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhRiFVVZJI" data-time="
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

Inviso posted...

Lasa, you're berating us for having "incorrect" views on one of your favorite movies, yet you've done exactly zero to explain why we're wrong. You just arrogantly claim "it's stupid that MiB is rnaked higher than a masterpiece of filmmaking" without offering any explanation. Those of us who ranked 2001 low gave a full write-up as to why we didn't like it. What you're doing is Vlado levels of "well I'm right and you should all just KNOW I'm right."

again, i haven't explained it because i don't want to. it would take a lot of time and effort and i think it would be pointless so i don't see why i should bother.

if you seriously think you've done a thorough analysis of the movie and all you got out of it is "the pacing is slow" and "the plot is lacking" there's nothing i can say to convince you you're wrong.

It's actually more pointless than anything else to take this much time to criticize without presenting any real information into the discussion. That's what contest only users do about shit like Tifa. If you want to continue engaging people stop pretending yiur time and effort are more valuable than oira and it would demean you to even deign to share these mythical deeper thoughts you have. Because that's how you're coming across.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

Well, a lot of people do write ups for comedic effect and have for actual years of these lists. Karo is a prime example.

if the masturbation line is one of his favorites, did he really only use it for comedic effect?

That's why he likes it. Because it's overexaggeration and shock value silliness.
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Inviso posted...

So you're too lazy to engage in actual debate and just want to swoop in to crap on those of us who thought 2001 was a boring fucking slog to get through.

i'm not particularly interested in a debate with people who call me "lazy," a "precious little snowflake" and a "complete jackass," no (on top of misinterpreting a lot of what i'm saying and not putting in much effort into understanding what i'm trying to say).

it's not that my time is so valuable but i find you guys to be extremely unpleasant to argue with.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

scarletspeed7 posted...

Well, a lot of people do write ups for comedic effect and have for actual years of these lists. Karo is a prime example.

if the masturbation line is one of his favorites, did he really only use it for comedic effect?

Yes, it is meant to be funny. Kubrick is waaaay too free with the amount of screen time he dedicates to panning around his spaceship figurines, so i'm like 'wow he's probably getting a rise out of this or something' and boom a quote is born
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You come into OUR topic and immediately shit on us for collectively thinking "fucking men in black should be above 2001" and essentially deigning yourself intellectually superior for recognizing 2001 as a masterpiece of film-making. You then continue to insult us as a group by saying we "just didn't get it" and that only charon was willing to admit that, again painting yourself as our intellectual superior. You won't explain why we're wrong, and when called out on it, you call us unpleasant...maybe because we don't take kindly to some asshole coming into our topic and insulting our intelligence. But of course you have to make US out to be the bad guys rather than admit that you came in here acting like an arrogant douche, offering absolutely nothing in the way of constructive criticism or, you know, THOUGHT. You just took the easiest route of "I'm smart and you guys are dumb", which is a rather stupid method of debate to begin with, and makes me question what kind of intellectual enjoyment you got out of 2001 in the first place, since your mental capacity seems better suited to the Transformers franchise.
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Transformers is better than Scooby Doo. Prove me wrong: The Lasa Story.
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Lasa, even if you don't want to type up your own essay on what makes it a masterpiece, surely there are people who have typed up essays online you can link, give some goddamn actual evidence rather than whining they didn't write enough of an essay of why they didn't like it.
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Inviso posted...

You come into OUR topic and immediately shit on us for collectively thinking "fucking men in black should be above 2001" and essentially deigning yourself intellectually superior for recognizing 2001 as a masterpiece of film-making. You then continue to insult us as a group by saying we "just didn't get it" and that only charon was willing to admit that, again painting yourself as our intellectual superior. You won't explain why we're wrong, and when called out on it, you call us unpleasant...maybe because we don't take kindly to some asshole coming into our topic and insulting our intelligence. But of course you have to make US out to be the bad guys rather than admit that you came in here acting like an arrogant douche, offering absolutely nothing in the way of constructive criticism or, you know, THOUGHT. You just took the easiest route of "I'm smart and you guys are dumb", which is a rather stupid method of debate to begin with, and makes me question what kind of intellectual enjoyment you got out of 2001 in the first place, since your mental capacity seems better suited to the Transformers franchise.

when the fuck did i say ANYONE was dumb? i literally said i "didn't get it either when i first saw the movie." was i calling myself dumb? all i said was that you guys obviously didn't do a thorough enough analysis of the movie to understand it (no karo, a few hours is not enough time). truffaut's law states that a critic should watch a movie three times, or the review should come with an apology. this law applies more than any other movie to 2001.

it makes total sense that you didn't spend enough time on it, because why WOULD you dive deep into a movie you did not enjoy? i hate transformers 2. did i rewatch the movie several times and read up on analyses of the movie? of course not, because i'd rather forget that the movie exists.

and mind you that i'm not just saying "you didn't get it" based on the fact that you didn't like it - i'm basing it off of the things you said in the writeups. "the pacing is too slow"? you don't get why the pacing is deliberately slow. "the plot is weak"? you don't get that the plot is not the most important aspect of the movie. "the last 30 minutes is nothing but nonsense"? ...uh, no. you just didn't get the point of the last 30 minutes.

all i want is some acknowledgment that you didn't put in the sufficient amount of time to analyze this movie.

but yeah, you just did insult my mental capacity, killing off any modicum of interest i still had in discussing 2001 with you guys. have fun with the rest of the list.
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From my side of the story, I specified that it was "in my world" to note that I was just offering my view and NOT acting like I was some sort of premier film critic. And Mr. Lasa was just saying that he couldn't take the list seriously anymore, which I quite frankly agree with him on.

I was going to provide more "opinions" in my original post, but I cut it down to those two, partially because I've actually seen Men in Black, 2001, The Godfather (and part 2), The Avengers, and Happy Gilmore all this year. Whew. But just for the fun of it...in my world it's like saying that:

-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is better than The Shining
-The Firm is better than Die Hard
-Ocean's Eleven is better than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
-The Phantom is better than Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
-Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is better than The Dark Knight
-Star Wars: The Last Jedi is better than Beverly Hills Cop

This is probably doing more to discredit that point of view lol.
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And some people don't want to watch films where the plot isn't important.

Some people don't want to watch films where the pacing is deliberately slow.

Therefore they are going to rank films with those qualities lower in their subjective opinion.

Just because the slow pacing was deliberate rather than poor editing doesn't change whether someone dislikes the film due to the pacing.

Who said this was an objective criticism of the movies list rather than opinion rankings exactly? I think a lot more time would have been needed to do only objective criticism of all 40.

I think you just had the wrong expectations for what this topic was Lasa.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

all i want is some acknowledgment that you didn't put in the sufficient amount of time to analyze this movie.

You're not getting it. I enjoyed it less than the ones I ranked it under, because I didn't have a good time watching it. Again, the write-ups aren't the end of the thoughts on the subject, they are a window into it.
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Except that few if any critics watch a movie three times before sharing their review, and what these are are, in fact, reviews. And also, what you do by saying, "You don't get it" is imply that people are too stupid to pick up something a film. This ain't Shakespeare. It's the talking, moving pictures. There are significant amounts of time where you can ruminate upon what you're watching and achieve an adequate interpretation of what the story conveys.

But if you're bouncing from the topic for real, I hope that you leave with this: my roommate and I watched Blade Runner for this list. Afterwards we spent 90 minutes dissecting what we saw and sharing our interpretations of it. Neither of us are all that intellectually acute. Heck, he's never seen the film before. But the conversation was one of the best I had this year despite us not watching the film 3 times, because Truffaut can't diminish my experience or perspective on a film and the meaning which I find within myself and within that vehicle of expression.
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LinkMarioSamus posted...

From my side of the story, I specified that it was "in my world" to note that I was just offering my view and NOT acting like I was some sort of premier film critic. And Mr. Lasa was just saying that he couldn't take the list seriously anymore, which I quite frankly agree with him on.

I was going to provide more "opinions" in my original post, but I cut it down to those two, partially because I've actually seen Men in Black, 2001, The Godfather (and part 2), The Avengers, and Happy Gilmore all this year. Whew. But just for the fun of it...in my world it's like saying that:

-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is better than The Shining
-The Firm is better than Die Hard
-Ocean's Eleven is better than One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
-The Phantom is better than Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade
-Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is better than The Dark Knight
-Star Wars: The Last Jedi is better than Beverly Hills Cop

This is probably doing more to discredit that point of view lol.

Total Twitter intellectualism. All you articulate are opinions without observations. My post early was a parody of your post AND YOU HADN'T EVEN MADE IT YET.
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I just did that to provide a taste of what I would have done earlier had I not wisely scaled back. Basically it was just for the fun of it.
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I doubt anyone actually read my play-by-play notes on 2001 in my writeup, so here are the main reasons I hated it:

1. The pacing is absolutely slow and torturous. Even the action scenes in space were at a snails pace. Anything that could have been exciting was not on the least as a result.

2. There were obnoxious noises all throughout the space sequences when silence would have been better. In particular, awful beeping and buzzing noises.

3. The first hour did not matter at all to the movie. It could have easily been cut. The apes were pointless. The focus character of the early space station scenes was not seen in the important half of the movie. There was 15+ minutes of classical music scenes without dialog or plot.

4. The entire ending sequence is nonsense that does not give any payoff to technology failing humanity. It was just bright flashing colors, slow movement, and a space baby.

It was the worst movie I have ever seen. Bar none. Ive never felt like my life and time had been wasted to such an extent with a movie.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

truffaut's law states that a critic should watch a movie three times, or the review should come with an apology

Imagine having so little value for your time that you would rewatch a movie you hated 2 more times

I would argue if you need to watch a movie 3 times to understand it that's an inherent flaw in the movie and it should be criticized as such. To me a review of a movie that's from a person who watched it once arguably has more value because realistically I'm determining whether I want to watch it once, not three times.
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Turns out, today was a great day for no rankings! Thanks for all of you being understanding with my sitch.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Turns out, today was a great day for no rankings! Thanks for all of you being understanding with my sitch.

We had a friendsgiving at my place today, so I was also busy. Life happens, man. You dont need to apologize. How is your dad?
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Turns out, today was a great day for no rankings! Thanks for all of you being understanding with my sitch.

Today, great day.
2 day
Terminator 2 Judgment Day out next!?!?
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Good. He just broke two bones in his ankle, so he has a cast on, but otherwise, perfectly normal. Climbing ladders has been a good source of jokes today.
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scarletspeed7 posted...

Good. He just broke two bones in his ankle, so he has a cast on, but otherwise, perfectly normal. Climbing ladders has been a good source of jokes today.

Haha thats always a good sign when humor can take over. Im glad hes ok.
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now that we've got yesterdays unpleasantness out of the way, lets get back to considering which #1 will drop!
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#25 - They Live! (1988)
Snake - 1
JONA - 4
Scarlet - 12
Stifled - 12
KBM - 18
Inviso - 28
Genny - 31
Charon - 32
Johnbobb - 32
Wickle - 32
Karo - 39
Total: 241

"Part action, part horror, part satire, all awesome! "Rowdy" Roddy Pipers aloof and awkward (in a good way) performance as John Nada is the perfect medium to stumble down this rabbit hole of subliminal messaging, conspiracy, and misdirection. The sunglasses that reveal the truth to you is one of my favorite film concepts ever, and the scene where Nada first tries them on is so shocking and incredible. It makes you instantly think of the real world, and how subliminal messaging is a totally real thing. I could easily sit here and list all my favorite parts and lines, but special mention needs to made to the near six-minute long straight fight scene between Nada and Frank, which is almost so unnecessary and overly brutal that I couldnt imagine the film without it. Finally, the classic Carpenter score puts the perfect little cherry on top to make this a near perfect film." ~Snake

"A big reason this ranks so high is because of that damn fight scene. It is so fucking great. One thing I liked about the movie was the difference in John Nadas attitude before and after learning the truth about the aliens. Pipers character acts rather reserved before the big moment and then just explodes afterwards. The aliens have great designs and its not just that one fight scene thats great in terms of action. The big climax of the movie is very thrilling. Just an awesome ride." ~JONA

"What It Is: In an effort to eradicate a group of elitists with a stranglehold on modern society, two homeless guys resort to the use of asskickery sans a supply of chewing gum.

Why It Matters: They Live has become an utter cult classic, with a large and passionate following. The film has been referenced countless times and many aspects of its plot as well as lines have entered modern vernacular.

What I Think: Theres been a lot said about gaslighting in America as of late. Partisan cable networks and politicians often rattle off falsities (fake news) that makes us question what truths, facts, and reality even are anymore. If people cant understand the truth, what do they even know? Carpenters scathing satire about unfettered capitalism can be read any number of ways, beyond its primary anti-Reagan themes. But in the current American political climate, Rowdy Roddy Pipers tumble down the rabbit hole somehow gives audiences a new sense of empathy for his everyman character. Piper uncovers a reality that most people cant even perceive, and in turn he has to prove his sanity by convincing others of the truth. Theres it feels so timely in a world where people are capable of living in a reality with falsehoods being misrepresented as truth.
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"I was very confused about what form of Roddy Piper I was getting. At first, he was coming off like a strong silent type. Then he was acting like a bumbling, clumsy idiot. Then he was screaming like a classic Roddy Piper promo. WHO ARE YOU, PIPER?! But those inconsistencies aside, this was a wild ride of a movie. Every aspect of it was as good as the next. The homeless camp told a really good story in of itself. The church stuff and the alien reveal was great. The impromptu back alley brawl was amazing and was probably the best part. Piper brazenly picking fights with every alien he sees, not giving a shit if he is vastly outnumbered is video game logic and I love it. The only thing that really irked me was the girl. There was nothing good about her. She was robotic, she was a backstabber, and she wasnt even pretty. I dont even think the movie knew exactly what her deal was and just decided as it went along. Hostage? Love interest? Enemy? Lets just not commit to any of them and have her show up everywhere for NO REASON! Ugh. Piper was already having to battle in a friendship on a pole match with Keith David. He didnt need any addition antagonism. But that hiccup aside, I will definitely watch this again.

Traviss Opinion: I probably could have gotten away with showing him this one. It really wasnt that bad. But after I screwed up with District 9, I tried to be more conservative with the R rated movies. Maybe next time Ill let him watch it with me. Hell probably love the wrestling match. " ~Stifled

"One of my personal favorite John Carpenter movies, just short of the likes of The Thing, Halloween, and In the Mouth of Madness. This is one of those where the social commentary is poured on almost painfully thick, and I really enjoy it anyway (sci fi and horror being two of the genres that can get away with this more effectively than, say, a historical drama). A subversive take on Reaganomics and consumerism (of which Carpenter is clearly not a fan), They Live! Turns out to be a ridiculously entertaining middle finger of sorts. Rowdy Roddy has an impressive screen presence, and great chemistry with the always-wonderful Keith David (not to be confused with David Keith). No scene better encapsulates both the entertainment factor and the unsubtlety of this movie than the scene where the two of them are just beating the shit out of each other for like half an act. I also love the concept of the sunglasses, and the way everything looks through their lens is great." ~KBM

"This is a movie that lives or dies on how much you enjoy cheesy, corny moviesand I feel like They Live! manages to be a perfect degree of cheese to be enjoyable, while I can still admit that its not as good as a lot of other films on this list. Im here to chew bubblegum and kick assand Im all out of bubblegum. You either put on these glassesor start eating that trash can. Youre okay. This one? REAL fucking ugly. Its just so corny and hilarious at the same time. And even the premise is this bizarre parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, mixed with an anti-capitalist message. Rowdy Roddy Piper is just such a hokey action hero that he single-handedly elevates this film to newfound degrees of hilarity. And honestly? If the ending felt more satisfying (not-Kirstie Alley randomly turning heel is downright stupid), I could honestly rank this several spots higher. But I think this is still a good placement given the caliber of films on this list." ~Inviso
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"They Live! is probably the most quotable movie in existence in contention with like T2: Judgment Day, but unlike that movie it's not very good. It's super campy and the pacing is very bad. I get that the fight choreography was realistic and entertaining, but so much time is wasted on it that it actually took me out of the movie wondering when the hell it was going to end. It ends up meaning nothing when David's character gets the glasses on anyway. I have no words." ~Genny

"Very campy and odd of course, this film is a bit of an oddity to me. It's obviously how most common people know Roddy Piper I think, as the phrase he utters is obviously pretty well known. It reminded me of how good of shape he was in the 80's. The premise is interesting but it doesn't really do anything too astounding either, and I feel like you'll either hate or love the very extended fight scene between the main protagonists that lasts longer than some WWE matches today do. It's kinda cool and cheesy, but I can't say it stands up that well against more thought provoking content." ~Charon

"I've seen this movie referenced so many times without seeing it, and now that I have... yeah, I guess that's kind of what I expected? It's hard to call a GOOD movie. Roddy Piper isn't a particularly good actor. So he puts on some glasses, things look weird through them, and his first reaction is to immediately kill some cops, steal their guns and go shoot up a bank. I mean, I guess he was right, but it immediately sends the movie into "what the fuck is happening" mode and it never really comes out of it. Maybe that's the point? There's is a good bit to enjoy here though, namely the long fight between Piper and Keith David. " ~Johnbobb

"A movie that did Invasion of the Body Snatchers a lot better except also not, as the characters were still dull, and it decided to play one scene off as satire when this entire movie was PG-13 had they not just thrown some random naked girl having sex with an alien at the very end. Like really? Fuck off. That scene was goddamn pointless and utterly unfunny for the satire its trying to achieve. (To explain said satire, they were showing that everyone is seeing the aliens, including the TV programs, and one of the programs had a guy doing the sort of complaint about sex and violence on TV). Yeah, Im often that kind of guy, youll have some movies on this list I stop talking about it on at least." ~Wickle
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"A homeless professional wrestler stumbles onto a terrible secret with the help of some rad sunglasses that reveal rich people as evil bug-eyed aliens who are mind controlling the working class and gee we're not even going to be subtle about this, are we.
Basically the protagonist wanders about slowly in a daze while somebody plays the same five notes on a bass guitar over and over again. And over and over and over and over and over again. It doesnt matter whether the scene is supposed to be relaxed, tense, or god knows what else, it is always dooo-DO-doo-DEE-doooo.
Every so often we pause to get some awful ham-fisted dialogue or idiotic one-liners spouted from our neanderthal lead just so the audience knows that he has barely enough IQ to form human speech.
Fighting against 'The Man' is something that is done a lot in movies, but this goes so much further than that, and the result is truly horrifying. The glorification of class warfare reaches a point where the film demonizes those who have done well in life as either monsters or traitors, and are literally not even worthy of drawing breath.
In one scene the 'hero' busts into a bank and starts blowing away random unarmed people with a fucking shotgun because he sees the truth and all those damn fat cats had it coming. Jesus Christ.
The message it is trying to deliver is so incredibly heavy-handed that it makes FernGully look sane, and in all honestly the plot feels like a ridiculous wet dream of someone from the occupy wall street movement who has sexual fantasies about shooting up the 1% with a AK-47.
In a time where there is a proliferation of gun violence and dehumanization of those who think different runs rampant, a film like this is akin to a large bottle of salt poured into a festering wound. It is as dated and cringey as some old-time actor dancing around in blackface, and should be thrown down the deepest darkest pit in damnation, along with Roddy Piper's acting career." ~Karo
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The Outlander Game Part XVI: Snake Doesn't!

Wickle - 184
JONA - 172
Stifled - 171
KBM - 143
Snake - 134
Inviso - 134
Genny - 120
Charon - 110
Karo - 109
Johnbobb - 105
Scarlet - 95

Great movement by JONA as he grabs second-place right out from under Stifled.
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Expected that kinda spread for They Live! but thought a lot less would be on the positive end. Pleasant surprise! It's definitely my kind of cheese to be sure. (To be fair when I called it for last I hadn't realized how many of the old movies I hadn't actually seen)
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I pretty much knew it was going to be my number one. It's too over the top to not be divisive and I will admit it has flaws up the wazoo, especially the rushed ending, but it's just so enjoyable to me, I can watch it over and over and not get tired of it.
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