how to overcome writer’s block….

One of the most frustrating things that can happen to a writer is the onset of writer's block.   Writer's block (WB) usually occurs at a transition point.   This could be the first line of your novel, the beginning of a chapter, the transition of character point-of-view or the transition from dialog to action.   No matter where it occurs, it creates a feeling of anxiety in the writer.

What causes WB?   I'm sure there's a lot of explanations and theories already posted on the Internet and in books, so I'll only go into what causes it for me.   The beginning of anything is never easy.   The act of giving life would never in and of itself be described as pleasurable for either mother or child - so goes the start of a novel.   In this instance, it has to do with the numerous options available to you, which at times can be so overwhelming that you can't decide how to pen that first line.   This is the area of WB that gives me the most trouble.   I usually start off a novel in one of two ways.   I either use narration to bring the reader up to date with the buildup of conflict (easiest way), or I jump right in with the protagonist facing an initial conflict (best chance of getting hit with WB).

The start of a new chapter can present problems similar to that of starting the novel, but usually not as dumbfounding.   The end of the previous chapter should occur naturally in the scheme of things - and if it does, then you should have a "natural" starting point to begin the next chapter (change in POV, location, time or conflict/resolution).   The single greatest tool to avoiding WB at chapter transitions is the outline.   I write up a thorough outline prior to the start of any novel.   I also put together character "sketches" of all characters.   For primary characters this can be quite broad.   I sometimes include the family background - even though those characters themselves will never be part of my story, they have exerted influence in the values and behaviors of my primary character.   When I do my outline - I put censorship to the side and let my creative juices flow.   For me, this is when the real creativity takes place.   Once I have my outline, writing the novel is nothing more than an extrapolation of those ideas.   And of course my outline guides me smoothly through the transition from one chapter to the next.

Transitioning from POV will never be a problem if you let your characters live their life.   You've done your background on your characters - you've given them the experiences that will shape their values and behaviors - now let them live.   If WB is the most frustrating aspect of writing, then giving your characters life is the most enjoyable.   Sure...giving them this luxury may create little diversions off the path to the end of your story, but hey, that's what makes the story real.

Transitioning from dialog to action is probably the least source of WB.   If you've written dialog that adds to the movement of the story, then that dialog should "push" the characters into action (whether that be a kiss, a punch to the gut, storming out of the room or something as simple as ignoring the other character).   So keep your dialog crisp and meaningful and you shouldn't have a problem.

How to overcome WB?   First and foremost - use an outline to help guide your creative decisions.    Second, spend the extra time to sketch out your characters - give them motives and behaviors - in short make them real.    Third, make sure you dialog adds movement to the story's progression.    If all else fails, and I use this myself, mentally picture the transition like a scene from a movie.   Determine what you'd like to see in that movie and then put it down on paper.   Of course sometimes, even if you've done all this, you'll still find that you can't get past the block.   In these cases all you can do is walk away.   Let your mind clear and come back later when you can look at the issue with a fresh set of eyes.

 Until next time, keep writing.  J/W

my movie review of ‘The Invisible’…

The other night I rented 'The Invisible' (2007).   This was a movie that I thought about seeing in the theater, but then I fell in to the same old routine that garnered me the nickname of CB (cheap bastard).   So instead of forking out the bucks to go see this at a matinee, I waited for the DVD to come out.

The movie is really about the relationship/appreciation that develops between two high school students after one accidentally "kills" the other.    The student who gets "killed" (actually beaten to a pulp and left for dead, where his soul can leave his body and observe the drama unfolding around him) is Nick Powell, a loner, artistic type of fellow.   The would be killer in this case is Annie Newton, a self-imposed tough chick who among other things, earns her keep as a burglar and lone-shark.   The conflict arises when Annie mistakenly thinks that Nick turned her in for a recent burglary.   From there, she and her goons beat the stuffing out of Nick and leave him for dead.

But as I said, the real meat of the story is the relationship that develops after Nick is left for dead.   As it turns out, if someone can find his body soon enough - there's a chance they can bring him back.    Unfortunately for Nick, the only one his "spirit" can turn to for help is the girl responsible for his "death" - Annie.   Annie can somehow sense and hear Nick's presence around her - and his pleas for help before it's too late.   As the story moves along, we find out Annie's background and begin to understand why she turned out the way she did.   So does Nick.   In the end, Annie sacrifices her life so that Nick can regain his.

I thought the idea behind this story was great.    Justin Chatwin plays Nick (you may remember Justin as Tom Cruise's son in the 2005 movie 'War of the Worlds').   I thought he did an admirable job given the limitations of his character.   Since he's "dead" and invisible to all but Annie, it was a rather difficult role to play.   Margarita Levieva who plays Annie Newton did a superb job.   She gave life and empathy to a character that starts off cold.   In fact I would say that her role as Annie was the real star of the movie.   I was surprised to find out that until this movie, she was limited to mainly television - I would say that she's a star in the making.

'The Invisible' isn't scary, but it's a damn fine movie with a good amount of tension.   The ending is particularly touching.   In my scale of 1-5 (with 5 being a great movie), I'd give 'The Invisible' a score of 4.

Until next time, enjoy your rentals. J/W 

the plaza lights in Kansas City…

Some of the traditions I enjoyed while growing up in Kansas city include the Smokestack restaurant for great BBQ, FunHouse Pizza for probably the best pizza ever made, and of course crossing the state line to get 3.2 beer in Kansas.   But until just recently, I never participated in one of the most well-known KC traditions - joining the celebration of the turning on the Plaza lights.

For those who have never been to Kansas city, the Country club Plaza is a must-see.    The "Plaza" designed in 1922, is a retail district that comprises roughly 14 square blocks of beautiful Spanish architecture.    There are over 150 shops and dozens of fine restaurants, including premier steak houses, bars and sidewalk cafes.   The Plaza represents the hub of Kansas City's fountains.   For those who don't know, KC is second only to Rome in the number of municipal fountains.   The Plaza is also right next to two nationally renowned museums.   So if you ever visit KC, you really need to go to the Plaza.

"The Plaza Lights" as you can guess, are the Christmas lights strung up on and around all the shops, trees and fountains in this wonderful area.   In all, there's over 80 miles of wire with over 280,000 bulbs.   Yeah... it's pretty bright.   Every year thousands upon thousands of spectators converge on the Plaza to see the lights turned on Thanksgiving evening.   It's a truly beautiful sight.

Now as I mentioned, although I thoroughly enjoyed the Plaza lights while growing up in KC, I'd never actually been there to see them turned on.  My wife and I decided to remedy that a few years back.   Now before I go any further, you need to know two things vital to this story.  1) It's not uncommon for KC to have wind chills in the single digits this time of year.  2) The center of my life force, my "Achilles Heel" so to speak, is the body heat I generate and store in my ass.   As long as my ass is okay - I'm okay.   As an example - three years ago we went to the Indiana / Purdue football game.  Through three quarters of play, the cold metal seat sucked the heat right out of my ass.   In the end - it nearly killed me.   So for me to venture out in the late November cold of KC to see lights turned on was something pretty amazing.   But that's just the kind of man I am.  Braveheart had his call for freedom, I have my ass-heat.

So there we are, guzzling hot chocolate by the barrel as we huddle among the masses to see the lights flicked on.   If you were there you might remember me - I was the one with a foam seat cushion strapped to my ass.   Anyway, even with the hot chocolate and the seat cushion, with every tick of the clock I could feel the life slowly being drawn out of me.   As the seconds counted down to the throw of the switch, I stood brave and cheered with the others.   As luck would have it, at the count of seven I started to feel a sneeze coming on.   Hold it!   At the count of four my nose started twitching.   Hold it!  At the count of two my head started to tilt back.   Hold it!

The earth-rattling sneeze that followed stole the moment.   When I opened my eyes and focused - the lights were on and everyone was jumping with cheer.   My wife was nearly in tears at such a wondrous sight.   But all I could do was grab my ass and check for life!

Until next time, enjoy your own traditions.  J/W

christmas fact or fiction….

St. Nicholas (later known as Santa Claus) was born in Patara, Lycia (modern day Antalya province, Turkey) in 270 AD.   Lycia was one of the most important cities under the Roman Empire due to its large cedar forest.   Cedar was one of the most demanded materials in antiquity - used for construction, ship building and coffin making.   Because of this, Lycia prospered under imperial rule.   Vast monuments were constructed as a testament of their loyalty to Rome.

The decline of Lycia began with two imposing earthquakes in 141 AD and 240 AD.  Then as Christianity began to spread in the 3rd century AD, several Lycia citizens began to refute the sacrifices to the imperial gods.   Such refusal was looked at as a treasonous offense and so began the 'Great Persecution' of the early 4th century.   The Roman army was directed to forcibly expel all Christians who refused to follow their civic duty to the Emperor.

Of the several martyrs to make a stand in support of Christianity, St. Nicholas who had become the Bishop of the Lycian city of Myra, is perhaps the most well known.   In his fight against religious oppression, St. Nicholas used the concealment of night to enter the homes of key city officials and Roman guard, and faithfully dispose of those who would stand against the Christian belief.   The 'Christian Upheaval' continued for four years, until 311 AD.   During this span, Christians told their children not to fear, that St. Nicholas and the other martyrs knew who should be killed and that no harm would come to those who believed in the one true God.   To propagate the belief that such action was the will of God, the spoils of those killed were distributed to those who demonstrated the strongest belief.    As such, the movement grew.   Before his eventual capture and execution, St. Nicholas and the other martyrs, murdered over 300 citizens and guard in the name of God.

In 312 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine gave up the fight and made Christianity legal.

Is this recount based on fact or fiction...you decide?   Until then, J/W

from the land of the rising sun… comes ninja warriors

There's a television show on G4 that I've become addicted to - it's called 'Ninja Warriors'.    For those who've never seen it, it's a very enjoyable competition of strength, balance and endurance.    In a way it reminds me of the 'Superstars' competition that was televised on ABC back in the '70s.     But instead of using professional athletes from track & field, football, speed skating, basketball... it uses the regular Joe (like you and me) who is lucky enough to be included in a group of 100 contestants that get a chance to try their luck on 4 grueling "obstacle" courses.  The obstacle courses have all kinds of inventive challenges to overcome.    For safety reasons, most are done over a murky, cold pool of muddy water.    Some of the more fun ones are:

1. You bounce off a mini-trampoline and try to grab onto an angled rope web.    Several wipe-outs here.    Momentum flips several people, who end up going face first in the water.

2. Giant "log" rolls and holds (variants).    Here contestants either wrap their arms and legs around a giant log (horizontal variant) and hold on for dear life as it rolls down metal guide poles, or in some variants they hold on for dear life (in a vertical position) as the log progresses through a series of drops meant to shake the contestant lose.

3. Spider walk.    Contestants jump off a mini-tramp into a gap between two parallel Plexiglass walls.    The gap is roughly four feet wide.    Contestants spread their hands and legs out and press against the walls to maneuver themselves up and down a course that sometimes has moving Plexiglass panels in it.

4. Giant Swinging Mallets.    You guessed it.    These giant mallets try to knock contestents off a 6 inch wide beam - yeah... suspended over that same cold, murky pool of water.

5. Wall Grip.   This looks to be the hardest challenge.   Contestants hang by their fingertips from a two inch wide metal ledge.    They have to inch themselves along this ledge filled with gaps, and changes in height and width.

Nearly all the contestants are Japanese, but every once in a while you'll find an American who's given a shot to become a Ninja Warrior.    The commentary (English subtitles) is energetic and funny, as well as several of the characters who try their luck.   Most of them come with some kind of prop (I've seen a man dressed as Superman, one with a robe made out of crabs (he was a crab fisherman) and even one with a hang glider outfit).    There are men and women, old and young alike.

Needless to say, this show which has nothing to do with Ninja weapons of any sort.   It combines the wackiness of 'Let's Make a Deal' with the stunts off of  'Fear Factor'.    If you haven't seen it (and assuming you get G4) then you've got to give it a try.  

Until then, J/W    

an alliance of two great houses…

No...I'm not talking about an alliance between House Atreides and House Harkonnen.    I'm talking about the strikingly visual tie-in between two great series of movies.    Two series that I think almost all horror / SciFi fans would say stand great on their own.    I'm talking about the masterful job of tying in the Alien saga to the Predator series.    It started with 'AVP Alien vs. Predator' in 2004 and I just saw the preview for 'Alien vs. Predator: Requiem' due out this December (saw the preview during my recent screening of 'The Mist' - see my review from 11/22).

Now I know some people didn't like AVP.    I actually thought it was quite good, not only from an action and horror standpoint, but from the ingenious way they brought the story lines together.    They never departed from the motives or expected behavior of either of the antagonists.    I loved the old mining town in the arctic and thought that the location worked perfectly for setting mood as well as being a plausible reason why we hadn't found evidence of their association before.    The script was tight, believable and suspenseful.   Special effects were on par with the previous films.   Sanaa Lathan did a great job as the heroine and of course you have to like Lance Henriksen - he's been great in every movie I've ever seen him in.    He was so good playing his character in this movie, that it probably didn't register for most of us that he starred in 'Aliens' as Bishop (the good android) - now that's a testament.

I can only think of one other attempt to bring two separate antagonists together in the horror / SciFi genres and that was 'Freddy vs. Jason' in 2003.   Now I know that some of you probably thought that movie was the best thing since sliced bread - but I thought it was a waste of time.    After the very first 'Nightmare', I thought the series was tired and lacked any creativity.   And for Jason - 'Halloween' and 'Halloween II' were great movies.   But then they came out with 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch' which had nothing at all to do with Jason and was just a bad, bad, bad movie.    So when I speak of the Halloween series as being great - make no mistake about it, I'm talking JUST about the first two movies.   So as you can see, I wasn't a big fan of 'Freddy vs. Jason'.

I'm looking forward to seeing 'Alien vs. Predator: Requiem' this Christmas along with 'I Am Legend'.   For my next post I'm going to talk about something that's probably as far away from horror / SciFi and writing as you can get.  I'm going to talk about a television show that I've become addicted to - 'Ninja Warrior' which is broadcast on the G4.

Until then, move silently into the night.   J/W 

the price of sanity…

The after Thanksgiving Day mad rush to stores... big sales, big crowds... big deal.    Okay, here's the straight scoop.    I saw where Best Buy was going to mark down DVDs by 10% today.   As it so happens, Best Buy is right next to Kohl's (which seems to have a sale about every other day).    My wife likes to take advantage of the sales at Kohl's and so I thought 'Hey... I'll get me some DVDs in Best Buy while she's looking at clothes.'    So at a little before six this morning, I scraped the ice off the windows on our car and we headed out on our quest for the great white deal.

Now we live in a small town, so whenever I go into the city I make sure that I obey all speed limits.    Well forget what they say about city folks not being kind.    I must have had a dozen or so cars speed by me and honk the holiday cheer and wave my a fond good-day.    Or at least I think they were waving.     Anyway, once we got to the stores I spent about a gallon of gas driving around looking for a parking space.    I finally found one way out by the highway.    I could have used a shuttle to pick us up, but since there wasn't one, my wife and I set out on foot to cross the great blacktop divide of the parking lot.    After fearful encounters with such iron beasts as the jaguar and mustang, we parted and went our separate ways.     She disappeared inside Kohl's as I stepped inside Best Buy.   As soon as I stepped through those magical doors, I felt like a boy with a golden ticket stepping into a place where dreams come true.

But at the same time I could feel myself falling into the same feverish hunt as the other shoppers.    I could smell blood.    With a grunt, I pushed an old lady out of the way and ran back to the DVD section.    There before me lay such a beautiful sight.     Like fresh kill already dressed, were the aisles upon aisles of DVDs marked down from $9.99 to $8.99.    I let out a little squeak for joy as I raised up on my toes.     Within minutes I had scooped as many as I could.   Did I already have some of the titles?    Who cares.     The more movies I bought - the more money I saved! 

Arms fully loaded, I spun around to sprint up to the checkouts at the front of the store.    But as my bounty spilt to the floor, I sadly realized that I was in line.     The lines to the checkouts ran from the front of the stores, back through electronics, past the music section and into the movie section where I found myself standing.    I felt that if I strained my eyes hard enough, I might possibly see Moses up near the front leading us out. 

In my shock, I accidentally bumped into a woman standing in front of me.    She turned and grunted something primal.   I grunted back and bared my teeth.    If I only had a club!     As I waited ten minutes for the line to move one person, I gradually began to notice that the entire line was swaying from side-to-side.    I turned to look at the man standing behind me.   His eyes were locked in the blank stare of the dead.    It gave me the strangest sensation that we were living in some unearthly story from Bentley Little, like 'The Store'.    Heaven help us all!

I dumped everything and ran for dear life screaming all the way.

What's the price of our sanity?    It seems to be about 10%....     Until next time, enjoy your shopping....   J/W

my review of ‘The Mist’ the movie…

As promised, I saw 'The Mist' today.    I have to say that my favorite time to go to a movie is an early matinee on Thanksgiving Day - my wife and I were the only ones in the theater.    We didn't take full advantage of it, I mean we didn't pass a football around or anything.    But it sure was nice not having any cell phones go off, any babies crying or having to put up with the annoying guy who usually sits behind me and keeps kicking the back of my seat.    So all in all, it was the perfect time to get a good, clean review of a movie.    Unfortunately for 'The Mist', it might have fared a little better if some of the "annoyances" had been present.

CAUTION: my comments may spoil the movie.

I'll present the good and the bad, along with how it relates to the novel:

The good: 

1. Except for the ending and a few little diversions, the movie stayed true to the novel.

2. Marcia Gay Harden played the role of Mrs. Carmody to perfection.    I swear if she ever decided to give up acting she could start immediately as an Evangelist.    The way she worked the people up in the store was perfect.    And the best part was that when opportunities popped up for her characterto strengthen her position - she seized them.

3. David and Amanda didn't sleep together in the movie.   If you read my review of the novel then you know that I thought that it was completely out of character for either of them to want to sleep together.

4. The giant spider/crab/monster at the end.   Great special effects and I think the artistic vision of what that creature looked like was right on!    I especially liked the bird type creatures flying along side it.

5. The rope scene - when Brent Norton's group decides to leave, David convinces one of Norton's followers to tie a rope around his waist so that the rest of them can "see" how far he gets.    I thought the tensest part of the movie was when the rope started to zip out of David's hands.

6. Speaking of Brent Norton, I thought that Andre Braugher (whom I've enjoyed in several television shows) did an excellent job with the character.   The behavior of Brent might have been a tad unbelievable if it weren't for the fine talents of Mr. Braugher.

The bad:

1.  Unfortunately, much like the novel, this movie was slow, lacked almost any tension (except for the rope scene) and really wasn't very scary at all.    This was a great idea for a novella, but difficult to stretch into a novel or movie.

2. At the end when the military came, the mist started clearing.   What's that about?   Okay they fight off creatures, but if we're to believe that dimensions had merged (or whatever) why would the mist clear just by killing the monsters?   Didn't buy it - didn't like it.

3. One of the additions to the movie (departure from the novel) was the inclusion of an MP spilling his guts (literally) about how the military's Arrowhead project was to blame for all that damn mist.    Come on!     Anyone over the age of two got that already.    I could go on and on about this...but I won't.

4. The end of the movie.    Now it was a big departure from the novel, but I was okay with the concept.    What I didn't like was the suicide pack just minutes after they ran out of gas.    No monsters had bothered them since they got in the car (explained in the book but not in the movie).    Now I know it looked hopeless, but if it were me - blowing my brains out would probably fall somewhere near the bottom of my options.   I mean come on!    Maybe after spending a few days without any sign of rescue or escape, but for the out of gas light to come on and everyone say "What the hell...let's just end it all right here" right after parking (my paraphrase) was just a little silly.

5. The worst part of the movie though was the direction.    You start with an acclaimed director like Frank Darabont who's put out such great King adaptations like 'The Green Mile' and 'The Shawshank Redemption', and somehow the movie falls flat on its face.    It looked like it was made for TV (no disrespect intended for television directors). 

6. No eeriness was established with the mist at the beginning.    In the novel it's blowing against the wind - that tells you something right there.   In the movie, the only mention of any strangeness to it was that it was coming across the lake.

7. The storm at the beginning.    The novel uses the storm as a plausible reason for why something got knocked out-of-wack at the Arrowhead project.    The movie does nothing with it - they might as well as not even had it in the movie.

8. The burn victim (clumsy goof with the torch).   Wasn't in the novel, I believe the sole purpose of this departure was a contrived reason for the venture to the drug store.   Why?   The reasoning of just doing it for a test run and to see if there were any survivors (like in the novel) worked just fine.    But if they'd done that then they wouldn't have had a role for the gut-busting MP.

Overall:   If you've read the novel then the movie will most likely be a disappointment.   If you haven't read the novel or are easily scared, then the movie is worth the price of a matinee ticket.   On my scale of 1-5 (5 being a great movie), I'd have to give 'The Mist' a 2.5 because of the fine acting of Marcia Gay Harden and Andre Braugher - take them out and my rating would be a 1.5.

Click on the image to order the book from Amazon.com:

Until next time, enjoy the holidays.  J/W  

my top 10 SciFi movies (part 2)…

Sorry about missing yesterday.    I wanted to put in an outlet on the front of our house (for Christmas lights...) and thought it would only take me an hour or two.    As you can guess, just like every other man who's ever lived, I misjudged just how long it would actually take.    By the time I removed a brick for the outlet and drilled up through the sill plate from our crawl space - I was three hours into it by the time I started to run the wire.    But hey it's done... now I can get on with presenting part 2 of my top 10 favorite SciFi movies (see my post from 11/19 for part 1).In no particular order....

1.  'Alien' 1979:  I thought Ridley Scott did a wonderful job in making this movie as realistic as possible.   I may be wrong, but if memory serves me correctly, I think this might have been the first space travel movie where the ship actually looked like a working vessel where people lived.    It also fooled a lot of people (including me) who were thinking that Tom Skerritt's character was the hero.    And as such, really launched the career of Sigourney Weaver - who I feel was cast perfectly for the role.   The only part of the movie that I felt was somewhat contrived, was when Ash turned out to be an android on a secret mission for the military.   What a stretch!    I haven't read this particular book in the series... so who knows, maybe that's the way it was written.

2. 'Forbidden Planet' 1956:  This movie is a must for my list based on the special effects alone.   For 1956 - it doesn't get any better.    I loved the idea about an ancient civilization who unwittingly opened Pandora's Box.   The invisible creature caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand when I first saw it, and still brings a chill today.    When I watch this movie (yes I own the DVD) I still have to shake my head when I see Leslie Nielsen.    It seems like he's done comedic roles for so long that it's hard to remember that there was more to him before that.

3. 'Contact' 1997:   Based on Carl Sagan's great novel.    What I like so much about this movie/story is the way the subject matter is approached and how the story develops.   I know a lot of people were put off by what Jodie Foster found when she finally reached the end of the worm hole, as well as the religious aspects of the movie.    But neither bothered me.    To me it's realistic to think that a race so advanced as the one depicted in the movie, would want to choose something familiar to their first human contact - not only to ease our natural fear of the unknown, but to facilitate an open communication.    As far as the religious aspect - I have no doubt that religious zealots would object or at the very least, question the authenticity of any subsequent findings - after all the sanctuary of our religious beliefs would be at stake.

4. 'Dark City' 1998:  First off, I like any movie that has to do with the power of the mind.   I thought the concept was new and refreshing when it comes to our dealing with an alien life force.    Probably my favorite part of the movie though is the nightclub scene where Jennifer Connelly lip sinks the song 'Sway' by Anita Kelsey.    I'd love to go to a bar like that where I could enjoy a beautiful song and still be able to carry on a conversation.

5. 'The Terminator' 1984:   The perfect role for Arnold Schwarzenegger (all three movies).   Actually my favorite is the third installment, but the first made the list because it set the storyline up.    The story could have been mindbogglingly complicated (man goes back in time to save a woman so that she can give birth to the leader of the Resistance so that he can send him back to save her....)  WOW!    Could have been, but wasn't thanks to the direction of James Cameron who kept things simple enough that we didn't question it, we just enjoyed it.

Side note: As I mention, I'm a fan of movies that deal with the power of the mind.   I couldn't say such a thing without expressing my enjoyment of the movie 'The Medusa Touch' 1978 staring Richard Burton.    If you like these kind of movies and haven't seen this film - you have to... you simply have to.

I'm going to see 'The Mist' (movie) tomorrow so I'll post a review on it and compare it to the book.   Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving.  J/W

my top 10 SciFi movies (part 1)…

Now that I fulfilled my promise of reviewing Stephen King's 'The Mist' (see my post from yesterday), it's time for me to keep up my end of the bargain.   I'm going to list my top 10 favorite SciFi movies of all time (5 today and 5 tomorrow).    As is always the case when you go about putting a list together, there are several other movies that I would have loved to have thrown in, but couldn't - simply because of the self-imposed ten movie rule limit.    With that said, a couple great movies that didn't quite make the cut are: '2001: A Space Odyssey' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.    Don't hate me for not including these great movies - remember, it's all subjective.  

Here's my list in no particular order:

1. 'Dune' 1984:   I thought Frank Herbert's book was great and I thought David Lynch's visualization of the book was equally as great.   I know a lot of people say that you can't fully understand or appreciate the movie without having read the book first.   To that - I say balderdash.    True some elements are different or missing, but to say that you had to read the book to enjoy this great flick - are you kidd'en me!   For me, this was and still is one of the best SciFi movies of all time.   Of course I'm also a big fan of prophecy based storylines. 

2. 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' 1951: This movie was groundbreaking.    Not only did it depict (for the 1st time that I'm aware of) an alien life-force as good and moral, it presented the United States / World as anything but good or moral.   It exposed our fears and ignorance of things we don't understand.   It was a movie about peace, made on the heels of WWII when we were still feeling pretty high and mighty of our lofty victory.   Okay! off my soapbox.    This is a really good movie, that while low on typical genre conflict - still managed to raise the hairs on my neck (speaking of when Klaatu stopped all power).

3. 'Starman' 1984: I listed this movie next because you can basically take everything I said above about 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and apply it here.    Great movie by one of my favorites, John Carpenter.    If this movie didn't choke you up a little bit at the end - then you're the alien.   Besides Karen Allen looked just so darn cute.   But seriously, this movie probably 'moved' me more than any other SciFi flick.    Love it!

4. 'War of the Worlds'  1953: You can't have a list of great SciFi movies without including the original, the one that started it all, the one that's been copied, robbed and remade more than any other SciFi flick - the truly great 'War of the Worlds'.    H.G. Wells was a master story teller and Byron Haskin did a wonderful job of giving life to that story.   This movie has it all.   It's scary, realistic (special effects way ahead of its time) and in the end offers hope that something greater than us, is watching over us.

5. 'The Chronicles of Riddick' 2004:  I know you're about to explode!    But I had to shake it up.    This in one of my favorite recent SciFi movies.   The cast is superb especially Colm Feore (who I told you about in 'Storm of the Century') and of course Vin Diesel, but there was no lack of talent in any of the roles.    This also falls along the prophecy storyline that I mentioned above liking so much.    In the movies that didn't quite make the cut I could have also included the prequel to this movie 'Pitch Black' - another great mixture of horror and SciFi.    This movie has one of those great lasting lines that you tend to never forget "Are you with me Kyra?"   If you haven't given it a try, do yourself a favor.

There are the first 5 of my list of 10.   Check back tomorrow to see if your favorite made the list on the back end.    Until then, look to the stars.  J/W