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The Invisible Sci-Fi box office!
With the news that 2001 star Keir Dullea AKA Dave, will appear in Middletown in June, now seems like a good time to revisit some recent sci-fi movies that were unjustly overlooked and/or misunderstood.
While 2001 is considered a classic now (and is one of the very best films ever made, in my opinion), acclaim was not so universal when it came out in 1968. Revered critic Pauline Kael called it “the biggest amateur movie of them all.� But then again, she pretty much hated anything Stanley Kubrick directed, so what did she know?
Here are five science fiction films I feel were not given their due. Again, in (mostly) alphabetical order:
Mars Attacks!: Tim Burton’s spoof of cheesy 50s sci-fi alien invasion movies was greeted with a collective “Wha??� when it was released. Sure, it was kinda odd (what Burton movie isn’t?), but I thought it was an absolute hoot, and 100 times more fun than Independence Day turned out to be. And no matter what you think of the movie, you have to admit, it features the all-time most original way to destroy Martians. Ack ACK Ack ack!
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: I have taken a lot of heat for daring to put this on my 10 best list for 2004. May the haters all be zapped! I don’t care what anyone says; I thought this dazzlingly retro fantasy was nirvana. I’ve rarely had so much fun just looking at a movie (the Wizard of Oz scene alone is worth the rental), and director Kerry Conran’s love of classic cheesy pre-50s sci-fi was infectious.
Solaris: Steven Soderbergh’s remake of a Russian sci-fi film was burdened with the double albatross of having a story that didn’t always explain what it meant, and of being mis-sold by 20th Century Fox, a studio that has a tragic record of misrepresenting its movies. (Exhibit A: In Her Shoes). Fox tried to sell it as a romance with George Clooney when it was really more about illusion and loss. Admittedly, it’s not for all tastes, but those who acquire it will find a film that rewards on many levels.
Treasure Planet: Disney’s sci-fi upgrade of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island was a box office disaster and held up as a symbol of all that had gone wrong with Disney animation. Avast, ye swabs! I loved the endlessly imaginative design and great characters like the part hand-drawn part CGI Long John Silver. It was many fathoms better than Titan AE or Disney’s own Atlantis, and I’ll go you one further: I prefer this movie to the live-action Pirates of the Caribbean.
A.I. : We end as we began, with a Stanley Kubrick movie—kind of. Many hated Steven Spielberg’s tribute to Kubrick, who had initiated the project before he died in 1999. When Spielberg took it on, A.I. became something special, because it was like nothing either man had made. This fascinating hybrid doesn’t always work — the Flesh Fair scene proves decisively that Spielberg and death metal do not mix — but shining through it all was the amazing acting of Haley Joel Osment, who gave the best performance of … 2001.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Lists
Comments
By SRCputt
March 22, 2006 3:32 PM | Link to this
ACK. ACK ACK!!!By Allie D.
March 20, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
We are in total agreement with Sky Captain. I thought that movie was wondrous and was shocked that it didn’t receive more acclaim! Solaris and Mars attacks are also great. A.I. didn’t completely work for me, but it was defintely a beautiful film to look at.