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
