Infamous Quests
Public Forums => Banter and Chit-Chat! => Topic started by: Blackthorne on March 13, 2013, 09:27:36 AM
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Well, I grew up in the early 80's, when there was a big resurgance in Fantasy movies - of all kinds, from sword and sandals to sci-fi. Some of my favorites?
The Beastmaster
Dune (1984)
The Last Starfighter
Tron
Heavy Metal
and what I'm currently watching at the moment, Conan The Barbarian (1982).
I was definitly a big fan of that late 70's/early 80's Fantasy and SciFi ride... it was an interesting time in movie technology. Though when viewed today, the special effects are primative, they were making massive leaps back then.
So, what are some of your favorite fantasy/sci-fi films?
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As much as I enjoyed classics like Princess Bride and Willow I find myself favoring more modern fantasy films. Though Brazil is one of my favorites if you can count that one. Fantasy is such a broad genre you can generally go as far as any film that challenges reality. Though if we're looking at typical fantasy movies with swords, creatures and supernatural occurances I have many faves.
I love Stardust. Think it's a great story, memorable characters and it's funny. Haven't read the Neil Gaiman novel but it's on my to-do list.
Pan's Labyrinth is also damned good. Love the setting, storyline and how the dark elements. A fairytale for adults as they say.
And as for animated fantasies I'm a big fan of Studio Ghibli works from Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.
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I'm sure it's cliche, but I can honestly say that no fantasy movie has gotten me as emotionally invested as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies.
If we're talking classic fantasy, I'd say the original Clash of the Titans has always been a favorite of mine. Also, the movie Flight of the Navigator was always one of my favorites as a kid. Great 80s sci-fi schlock right there.
And Labyrinth! How could I forget that?
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Aside from the obvious "biggies" from the 1980s (Star Wars / Star Trek / Indiana Jones / Back To The Future / Ghostbusters / RoboCop)...
Excalibur (1981)
Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior (1981)
Time Bandits (1981, Terry Gilliam)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Dark Crystal (1982)
TRON (1982)
Brazil (1984, Terry Gilliam)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
Highlander (1986)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988, Terry Gilliam)
(Sorry for skewing more Sci-Fi -- it's what I like!)
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Haha, don't judge me but I was a huge fan of The Neverending Story...
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Haha, don't judge me but I was a huge fan of The Neverending Story...
Uh oh. Prepare to incur Blackthorne's wrath. He HATES Neverending Story. Ruined his childhood.
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Haha, don't judge me but I was a huge fan of The Neverending Story...
Uh oh. Prepare to incur Blackthorne's wrath. He HATES Neverending Story. Ruined his childhood.
:o
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Labyrinth,
Dark Crystal,
Jason and the Argonauts,
Flight of dragons,
Neverending Story (deal with it, Bt),
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe (1979 animated version),
Legend.
Broomie, read the Stardust book if you get the chance, it's even better than the film, really beautiful writing, unsurprisingly from Gaiman. Agree with you on Pan's Labyrinth too, and in fact anything Del Toro has done, the visual style and mood of his films is incredible, dark and magical.
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I like how to train your dragon myself, though I didn't mind the original never ending story - the bits that didn't get too sappy that is.
I'm also probably one of the few who hasn't seen all the lord of the rings movies - I've tried watching the third one, but just can't do it.
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LAMBONIUS IS MESSING WITH ALL OF YOU.
He knows I love the Neverending story. God, I had an hours long conversation with him once about how cool the Sphinxes are at the Southern Oracle!!!
I was including Sci-Fi in this, too, Goatmeal - so no apologies! Did I mention "Dragonslayer" or "Krull" yet?
Bt
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LAMBONIUS IS MESSING WITH ALL OF YOU.
He knows I love the Neverending story. God, I had an hours long conversation with him once about how cool the Sphinxes are at the Southern Oracle!!!
Hahahaha....I win the thread.
I am a little sad that you managed to get in and comment before I got a chance to tell the story of how you were so traumatized by the giant rock creature that you developed a petrifying (see what I did there?) lifelong fear of rocks that has seriously hampered your abilities to hold down jobs and relationships. Oh well. There's always the next forum.
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oh dear I'm really going to have to think now, favorite sci fi movie.
nope, to difficult I'm just going to have to say the good ones, with plot and characters that grabbed me.
not those gods rotten evil vile horrid unspeakable soul destroying monsterously insane (I'd call em aweful but that implies awe somewhere) ones where they try to wow you with special effects no matter how good.
my usual response to that technique is well that looked really cool, still wasn't worth the rest of the movie. I may be a geek but I do have standards
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I was including Sci-Fi in this, too, Goatmeal - so no apologies! Did I mention "Dragonslayer" or "Krull" yet?
Bt
Arrgh! I TOTALLY forgot Dragonslayer (1981) -- starring Peter "The Biscuit" (Ally McBeal)/"Janosz Poha" (Ghostbusters II) MacNicol -- when I was looking at my DVD list earlier today... ::)
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I am a little sad that you managed to get in and comment before I got a chance to tell the story of how you were so traumatized by the giant rock creature that you developed a petrifying (see what I did there?) lifelong fear of rocks that has seriously hampered your abilities to hold down jobs and relationships. Oh well. There's always the next forum.
Unfortunately, this derailed Blackthorne's boyhood dream of becoming a world-renowned Geologist...
So which type is the most frightening for you, BT? Igneous rock? Metamorphic rock? Sedimentary rock? Easy listening adult middle-of-the-road 1970s soft rock?
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Igneous. Just look at that scary yet smug name. Hi. I'm IGNEOUS rock.
Bt
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I am a little sad that you managed to get in and comment before I got a chance to tell the story of how you were so traumatized by the giant rock creature that you developed a petrifying (see what I did there?) lifelong fear of rocks that has seriously hampered your abilities to hold down jobs and relationships. Oh well. There's always the next forum.
Unfortunately, this derailed Blackthorne's boyhood dream of becoming a world-renowned Geologist...
So sad, Geology totally rocks man
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So sad, Geology totally rocks man
BT should definitely try again, if only he was a little "boulder" in his actions...
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(Sorry for skewing more Sci-Fi -- it's what I like!)
Me too. Much more so than fantasy.
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Ahhhh THE PUNS!
See - I love both the Sci-Fi flicks and the Sword/Sorcery Flicks that came out in that late 70's/early 80's wave. I don't quite know what it is - it's probably because they're burned into my brain from my childhood, but even as an adult, I like the design aestehtics they used... even the slick stuff didn't look so SLICK, you know? I think fantasy and sci-fi today just looks a little TOO clean, if you know what I mean. These films feel more lived in - could be due to the budgetary and technological limitations, but I liked that.
Like, the classic Blade Runner - it's the future, but everything looks old... run down. I love that. People try to do it today, and it still looks too... perfect. They should go back to shooting things on crappy grain 35mm film!
Bt
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my sediments exactly
(I think I did warn you I like to pun, a lot its kinda like breathing)
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Puns rock.
HAH.
Bt
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Thats a tough question BT, because there's so damn many!
Bladerunner
Total Recall (the real Arnold version)
Conan the Barbarian (Destroyer sucked)
I am also a big fan of He-Man. It's really quite a well thought out cartoon at times!
I think the thing now-a-days is that TV does this stuff better than movies!
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I have three copies of Total Recall in my house somehow (Arnie version, obv). I have watched it to death, brilliant film!
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Oh, yeah, Verhoven's Total Recall IS awesome! I have two copies of it... one on DVD, and one on Blu Ray!
Bt
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Three VHS copies. Don't ask me how it happened.
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I know how it happened. It was Cohagen and Hauser. Those bastards.
Bt
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I know how it happened. It was Cohagen and Hauser. Those bastards.
Bt
Give doze pee-pull da ay-uh!
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I saw Oz the other day. Not bad, but not great. Terribly miscast but it was enjoyable at least. I can see them moving onto Wizard of Oz next.
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Favorite Scifi:
Back to the Future
Total Recall (or as it's known in my house "Toe-toe-re-caahl")
Star Trek (2009)
Fantasy:
The Avengers. Nuff said.
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I saw Oz the other day. Not bad, but not great. Terribly miscast but it was enjoyable at least. I can see them moving onto Wizard of Oz next.
Just watched the Red Letter Media review of "Oz" last night -- they also said every part was horribly miscast. As a fan of Sam Raimi, Reviewer Jay said it almost followed the "Army of Darkness" plot...
However, they said that Disney went out of their way to avoid any obvious references to "Wizard of Oz" since Warner Bros owns the MGM movie, as well as some of the movie-specific changes from the book (the book's silver shoes changes to ruby so they would "pop" on screen in color, IIRC)...
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I really, really enjoyed Oz. It was a Sam Raimi film, through and through. I know what Broomie means by Mis-cast. But I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd see it again, in 3D, because the visuals were that impressive. The movie starts out in Sepia, 4:3 Academy Ration, and the opening credits were so mesmerizing - I'd go again just to see them in 3D.
Bt
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Yeah I saw it in 3D IMAX and it was a great experience. And I hate 3D movies normally. The transition from Kansas to Oz was terrific and loved the visuals. I didn't mind James Franco or Mila Kunis, thought they were good but just think they were odd choices. I liked Zach Braff as Finley though, and I tried to spot Bruce Campbell seeing his name in the opening credits but I must have missed him. According to IMDB he was the winkie gate keeper so I'll keep my eyes peeled next time.
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Dude. How could you miss Bruce Campbell. He WAS a Winkie Guard. He was THE winkie guard. The one Tony Cox (Sourpuss) kept hitting in the head when they were at the gates.
Bt
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I must have forgot to look out for him and got too immersed into the magical land of Oz.
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now that sounds like a good movie.
not so sure about it myself due to the 3D aparently the non 3D version gives people headaches (ok one person I know of) I don't want a headache when I see it cause thats the version I'd see. Stereoscopic 3d doesn't work on me.
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Zardoz, anyone? ;D Seriously though, 70-80s sci-fi films are the best, and I speak as someone who doesn't have any childhood memories of that stuff. I have childhood memories of Total Recall, though. Well, nightmares, mostly. :D
Among my favourites, apart from the obvious masterpieces like Alien, Blade Runner and Brazil(and everything else by Terry Gilliam as well), are:
Logan's Run, with it's adorably kinky 70s costumes and set-pieces and charming conceptual naivete;
A Boy And His Dog, featuring young Don Johnson and a telepathic dog in a post-apocalyptic world;
Mad Max and Mad Max 2 (or The Road Warrior) - classic post-apocalyptic action;
Soylent Green, Omega Man and Planet of the Apes - all featuring the delightfully horrendous overacting by Charlton Heston and tons of silliness, but some moments of pure sci-fi bliss;
Time After Time - featuring a time-hopping HG Wells, trying to catch Irenicus Jack the Ripper;
The Man Who Fell To Earth, featuring even more David Bowie's junk than Labyrinth :D ;
Also - pretty much everything by Carpenter(Escape from New-York, Big Trouble In Little China and more) and Cronenberg (especially Videodrome) and... there's just too many to remember them all, and there's plenty of great sci-fi from the 90s too. Lucky us! :P
Fantasy genre seems to be slightly less fortunate in the great movies department, but Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and Legend are all quite wonderful. :) And there's a bucketload of amazing Hayao Miyazaki films, of course, with Nausicaa Of the Valley Of the Wind being my personal favourite. :)
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We used to insist in university, first time round, that anyone who wanted to be part of our gang had to first produce from somewhere a hard copy of "the man who fell to earth" as proof of their worth :p We were so cool.
Also, just saw Nausicaa for the first time a few months back, pretty cool film. We were looking over it for reference for my animation :)
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Now that Ilyich has broken the pre-80s barrier, here are a couple more...
John Carpenter's "Dark Star" (1974), co-starring the original "Smart Bomb", Thermostellar Bomb #20. Definitely a great melding of trippy early '70s comedy and sci-fi.
"The Black Hole" (1979), Disney's attempt at jumping on the "Star Wars" bandwagon, still holds a fond place in my heart -- even though they could have picked a better story than remaking "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" in space.
And I'm sure I'll take a lot of heat for this, but Michael Crichton's "Westworld" (1973) is the superior example of 'theme-park-run-amok' over his "Jurassic Park" (1993), and "The Terminator" (1984) owes a debt of gratitude to Yul Brenner's 'Gunslinger' character...
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Ah, so many good choices in here! Y'all are listing some of my favorite flicks. Funny someone mentioned Soylent Green - I watched that and The Omega Man again recently - what a great couple of 70's Sci Fi flicks. Chuck Heston is delightfully over the top.
I also saw Krull again - man, what a crazy film. Apparently, it was supposed to be a Dungeons and Dragons movie... definitely an amazing cast on that one. I always wanted that weird blader-ang thing he had. Can't think of the name right now. Lemme google. 1 sec.
...Aha! The Glaive! Cool.
(http://mimg.ugo.com/200711/23249/the-glaive.jpg)
Bt
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And I'm sure I'll take a lot of heat for this, but Michael Crichton's "Westworld" (1973) is the superior example of 'theme-park-run-amok' over his "Jurassic Park" (1993), and "The Terminator" (1984) owes a debt of gratitude to Yul Brenner's 'Gunslinger' character...
It is also the first feature film to use CG! (the view you see through the gunslinger's eyes). I was totally captivated by that film as a kid, but then I was much the same with Jurassic Park, if I'm honest. I'd agree with your Terminator comment also, very obvious similarities for sure.