1. Serenity (2005)
Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his band of smugglers (Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, etc.) take on an Alliance assassin to protect one of their own and wind up uncovering a vast conspiracy. I saw this on the big screen and have been a Browncoat ever since.
2. Return of the Jedi (1983)
Luke and Leia rescue Han, Luke and Han rescue Leia, Lando and R2-D2 rescue everyone at once... and that's only the first sequence, which happens to be my most favoritest. I've seen the first 40 minutes of this more often than any other segment of any Star Wars movies.
3. Independence Day (1996)
A pilot (Will Smith), the President of the USA (Bill Pullman), and a variety of other humans band together to save earth from an alien invasion. I love how it mixes serious, exciting, and funny together so seamlessly.
4. A New Hope (1977)
An idealist (Mark Hamill), a princess (Carrie Fisher), a smuggler (Harrison Ford), and an aging hero (Alec Guinness) help the Rebel Alliance take out the Empire's greatest weapon. What can I say about it that hasn't been said a billion times before?
5. I, Robot (2004)
A robot-phobic policeman (Will Smith) reluctantly joins forces with a robot (voiced by Alan Tudyk) to stop a robot uprising. Sleek and smashing.
6. Equilibrium (2002)
A law-enforcement officer (Christian Bale) takes on the regime that has outlawed all emotions. Imagine if The Matrix had been written by Ray Bradbury. I just wish Sean Bean was in more of it.
7. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Luke learns the truth about his parentage, Han and Leia try not to fall in love, and the Empire tries to figure out what hit them. I like half of this movie a lot, and am bored by the other half.
8. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Two melllow high school students (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) travel through time to collect info so they can finish their homework and save the future. Smarter and funnier than you expect.
9. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
A pilot (Jude Law) and a reporter (Gwyneth Paltrow) try to figure out why there are giant flying robots attacking New York City. Retro and gorgeous and fun.
10. Back to the Future (1985)
Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) uses Doc Brown's (Christopher Lloyd) time-travelling car to go back to the 1950s and make sure his own parents get together. Classic and wonderful.
Totally agree with /Equilibrium/! I find myself randomly thinking about that movie all the time.
ReplyDeleteI really should watch it again -- I've realized I've forgotten a lot of details and just remember specific scenes. But those scenes do pop up pretty often!
DeleteIf that's an insane list then I'm a monkey's uncle. You have smashingly fun taste!
ReplyDeleteStill curious about the whole FireflySerenity Franchise... I had no idea Joss Whedon was responsible for it! Makes sense, though.
Ah, Star Wars! Reminds me of our friends who have never even seen it... we should probably drag them into watching it together. By the by, did you hear the actor who played Lando, Billy Dee Williams, is doing a stint on Dancing With the Stars right now? I think he must have a bad back or something, so he struggles a little with the dancing, but it's still neat to see him.
Equilibrium sounds so tantalizing! I love dystopias with a bit of a psychological twist to them (and Chrisitan Bale and Sean Bean? Sounds pretty hard to beat...)
Speaking of...an IRobot fan? YAY. I watched it again with some friends a few weeks ago; they heckled to it mercilessly the *entire* time. Still, all of the philosophical hinting and potential symbolism in it just drives me nuts. Pretty super fun, to boot. (now how did that manage to slip out of my favorites list...)
Have you seen Alice? It's a modern sci-fi remake of Alice In Wonderland, with a few other odd twists, including Kathy Bates and Tim Curry. Definitely a little weird, but nothing weirder than some episodes of Doctor Who. It's got some neat themes about living off of entertainment, and the entertainment industry living off of us. I believe it's available on the netflix DVD service, though they've taken it off of streaming.
"philosophical hinting and potential symbolism drives me nuts" in a good way, that is. Like solving a puzzle or chewing on a licorice. Good stuff.
DeleteWell, thanks! I'm glad you like lots of them too. I think you would dig Equilibrium -- it's got that mix of thinkyness and action that I, Robot has too. And what silly friends you have! IR is a delightful movie.
DeleteI've never seen Alice, but I'll keep an eye out for it. Weird can be good!
Oh, and the Firefly world is amazing. Find and watch! It's quirky Joss wonderfulness -- you know how great he is at assembling a band of misfits and getting them to work for and against each other.
DeleteI love this list! Very eclectic but all fun movies. :) So many of these are on my favorites list, especially Serenity and Firefly. What's your favorite Firefly episode?
ReplyDeleteHee, thanks!
DeleteMy fave Firefly ep is "Jaynestown." Yours?
Well, the ones on this lists that I've seen I love...The Star Wars movies, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, etc. (and Independence Day and Back to the Future are a lot of fun too.) I might have to see some of these other ones, though.
ReplyDeleteHave fun discovering some new movies, then :-)
DeleteI love Return of the Jedi. :) It was my favorite movie when I was five and for a long time after and it still is one of my favorites! :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it delicious? I've always wished I could get my hair to look like Leia's when it's all loose and has those tiny braids here and there on Endor.
DeleteYes! :) Oh, I love Leia's hair, she's beautiful. Isn't this music happy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7Wh4vrVyk :)
DeleteGood list, I don't question your sanity at all, even though you did leave out some of my favorites, but I think Serenity, Star Wars and Back to the Future are awesome, Independence Day and I, Robot are solid, and Sky Captain is just in a category of his own! :D
ReplyDeleteI think I should probably watch Equilibrium, I'm sure I would enjoy wishing to see more of Sean Bean in it as well. ;) And I know I need to see Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
I know some people who think Equilibrium is just a Matrix rip-off, and others who find it too stylized or whatever, but I really dig it. But there's totally not enough Sean Bean.
DeleteAnd Bill & Ted is delicious and silly.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI've nominated you for the Beautiful Blog Award at my blog, if your're interested. http://allthingsbonnyandbeautiful.blogspot.com/2014/03/beautiful-blog-award.html
~Emma
Wow! Thank you! I'm very honored :-) I'll get right to work on my post, and hope to have it done soon!
DeleteAs you probably know, the Original Star Wars would be my top three favorite sci-fi flicks, and I am glad to see them on your list as well. Serenity is another favorite of mine, and it would easily make my Top 10 as well. It is such an excellent continuation of the series!
ReplyDeleteEquilibrium was a fun movie, and mixes the Matrix with Bradbury is a very accurate assessment of the film. The fight scenes in it were really well done.
Haven't seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, but I usually see it on Top Fantasy movie lists, not sci-fi. I wonder why?
Back to the Future is one my favorites for sure! Somehow I did not get around to watching until a few years ago, and not when I was younger. It is one of those few movies that I actually watched again within a week because it was so much fun!
-James
P.S. Sorry for not commenting sooner. Now that my semester is finished, I have time to catch up on some posts that I missed.
Delete-James
The great thing about blog posts is that they're still there for you when you have time for them :-)
DeleteI consider Bill & Ted to be sci-fi instead of fantasy because it involves time travel and the future, not swords and magic. But maybe it's lighter than people think sci-fi should be? That's odd that people classify it as fantasy. Anyway, it's light and funny, and I'll forever pronounce Socrates "SEW-crayts" in its honor :-)
I first saw "Back to the Future" when I was probably sixteen or seventeen. Saw the sequels in college and... they were okay.
Independence Day is such a fun movie! It's definitely one I could watch again and again. And I've only watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow once, but I do remember enjoying it. Very retro and cool. The others, I have not seen. *gasp* I know! I've seen the original Star Wars once and none of the sequels or prequels. This is a great list, Hamlette! :D
ReplyDeleteDon't feel bad! I'm not a huge sci-fi person myself. In fact, I only really like maybe twelve or fifteen on them, so this was a pretty easy list to make.
DeleteBut try to find "Back to the Future." It's wonderful.
As I might have indicated elsewhere, I am definitely a Star Wars fan (fan of the original trilogy, that is) so I was quite pleased to discover you like all three of them. Now you have me very curious, though -- which half of The Empire Strikes Back did you find boring? I love your ways of summarizing them too. And yes, I also wish I had Leia's hair.
ReplyDelete~Marcy
Marcy, it's funny, but I rewatched The Empire Strikes Back recently, for the first time in several years, and really liked the whole thing a lot better than I used to. The parts with Luke on Dagobah are what bored me previously.
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