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Are there any other movies like? I've seen Solaris, and liked it for the portrayal of contact with an intelligence beyond us. I wouldn't want to see Contact, as I'm not much of a Jodie Foster fan. What are some films that offer a realistic portrayal of space, and the weirdness of a potential first contact?
Bad Post-Doc
I would argue that there are no movies like 2001, but that's a stylistic thing. And what do you have against Jodie Foster? I'm watching a Jodie Foster movie right now, as it happens. (Admittedly not a very good one.) I would say that filmmakers tend to shy away from slower science fiction movies.
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Gillian
"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"
"You can't erase icing."
"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"
Order of Kilopi
High praise for film makers who will take a chance on a good movie without the compulsory guns, explosions and car chases and generally disturbed psyche
problems and bad manners. Hope for the future makes a great Christmas wish.
Best regards,
Dan
Order of Kilopi
...keep in mind that film was made at the height of the 1960's psychedelic era.
Of course it's based on AC Clarke's novel.
Bad Post-Doc
Not quite, no. Movie and novel were written at the same time.
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Gillian
"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"
"You can't erase icing."
"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"
Established Member
Movie and novel were inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel." As was The Byrds' song "Space Odyssey."
I would argue that the first Star Trek movie tried to be similar (Asimov was science adviser), but was only partially successful. 2010 did a good job---although I am one of the few people who really likes it.
Order of Kilopi
2010 is a great film and tied up a lot of loose ends. Superb cast and design. High praise indeed.
Dan
Order of Kilopi
Mission to Mars tried very hard to capture that sense of wonder and alienness in a first contact. The problem is, it just wasn't a very good movie.
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
Established Member
What ruined it for me was the Martians portrayed as benevolent, yet psychopathic murderers. The most recent Indiana Jones movie had the same problem.Originally Posted by Noclevername
Established Member
Like Dan, count me in..! 2010 got the inevitable criticism via comparison to 2001, but crikey...
When it first came out I was very surprised to see someone have the courage to try a sequel (of sorts) and I watched it with an open mind and moderately low expectations (that always helps!). I really enjoyed it. My thoughts were:
- fine cast (Floyd's youthfulness was a bit weird at first but Scheider played his role very well, I thought. - however, I'm afraid Helen Mirren's Russian was only passable..)
- very good special effects
- some very 'human' moments (eg the scared/comforted Natasha Schneider for aerobraking, and then John Lithgow's hyperventilation)
- Keir Dullea's appearance was a chilling, yet uplifting masterstroke (ok, maybe I'm easily pleased..)
- very good, if not great, story and a pretty well-crafted ending
BTW, drifting offtopic - there are three versions of the first Star Trek movie on DVD and one of them is HORRIBLYbutcherededited, leaving several holes in the story. So it is possible that some of those disappointed with it, may have seen the bad one.. Look for the remastered director's edition. However, it is a long and rather slowly paced movie..
but I like that in a film...
Order of Kilopi
Agreed on all points. I'd read the book, and found it turgid - I'd read most of Clarke's fiction, loved it, moved on to other authors, returned to Clarke and was now aware of his shortcomings - so I wasn't expecting much from the film. I was very pleasantly surprised.
(It's the familiar problem of successful authors making themselves editor-proof. J.K. Rowling is a recent example. Because nobody dares to edit these authors, their wheat-to-chaff ratio drops. Then somebody makes a film version, and they leave out all the chaff, and we end up with films that are better than the books.)
Pretty much agreed again.
I think the problem was, the makers of STTMP saw films like 2001 (and possibly Tarkovsky's work) and assumed that making a film long and slow is a magic formula for making a film deep and meaningful.
By contrast, there are those film makers who are convinced that audiences will walk out if there's more than 30 seconds without the hero leaping for the landing skids of a burning helicopter that's dangling from a volcano that's about to erupt. The recent Tintin film suffered from the lack of any sort of relief.
Established Member
I agree 100%---the Director's cut was FAR superior to the original theatrical version. The story was that the studio hacks complained that Robert Wise focused too much on character and not on the expensive, pretty special effects. The DC, restores Wise's balance. Definitely slow paced (like 2001) and NOT for the MTV/Star Wars crowd. Flawed, but still a noble attempt at decent science fiction, IMO.
Established Member
It's not realistic, but for what it is, it's very well done--Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind
If you think about it though, the aliens are real jerks. Kidnapping people, including snatching a young child from his mother in one of the freakiest ways imaginable, and it's all swept under the rug.
"Hey, they blinked some lights at us and blew out some musical notes, gave us a smile . . . you know what? They're benevolent."
"What?!"
"BENEVOLENT!"
Order of Kilopi
I rather liked MOON myself.
Order of Kilopi
Smallville?
(ducks and runs)
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
Order of Kilopi
SF films that give a realistic portrayal of space and the weirdness of first contact? Well, Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy has the second part of that down (although it was not a very good movie).
Established Member
Yes!!!!!!!!!!
Established Member
How about Carpenter's "Dark Star" with it's beachball alien? The movie is STILL funny
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Another one from the Dark Star era was "Silent Running (1972)" with Bruce Dern trying to save ships carrying domes of forests.
(Here's the trailer)
The fx were done by Douglas Trumbull (who also directed) who did the fx for "2001", "Close Encounters" and "Star Trek".
Established Member
I saw 2001 on the big screen at the age of six in 1971. For me, no other film experience could ever match that. Blew my mind and inspired a lifelong passion for space.
Order of Kilopi
Speaking of 2001, here are some nice drawings: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=15169
Moderator & Sausage Gawd
I really liked Silent Running at the time but I watched it again some time back, only to find it horribly dated and syrupy. Still, Huey, Dewey, and Louie rank among my all time favorite SF robots.
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I thought exactly the same (and I think I posted that some place). Not to mention I'm a big Joan Baez fan and she did the music. But it hasn't held up well and is full of a lot of bad astronomy (like how did they create artificial gravity?).
Established Member
There's a late 1960s film, Five Million Years to Earth (original title Quatermass and the Pit) that dealt with possible origins of humanity, and was pleasingly thoughtful for its time.
Order of Kilopi
And the girl was pretty !
Established Member
When I was a kid I loved the movie 'Marooned', I still make time to watch it from time to time, for that old school NASA like feel.
Moon was excellent as was 2010 and a real oddball choice but a favorite of mine was James Caan and Robert Duvall in 'Countdown' which I think was Hollywood's last attempt at a fictional moon landing right before the actual landing in 69.
Order of Kilopi
The original SOLARIS was described as the Soviet Space Odyssey. Both it and the remake are lovely films, even if the planet itself and much of the story were neglected in favor of the Guests.
Order of Kilopi
My bold.
I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it in this thread. These are the second and third film versions, not the original and remake.
The BBC radio play is lovely too.
Order of Kilopi
When was the first released?
Order of Kilopi
1968, four years before the Tarkovsky version, and seven years after the novel.
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