SCI-FI September!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Pandorum (2009)

Utter twaddle which i turned off after 35 mins. It's pitch black much of the time and incomprehensible for the rest. The director of Antibodies (2005), a high point in German horror cinema in the 00's, completely makes a mess of this film in what could have been a moody sci-fi thriller instead comes across as an incoherent and scare free remake of The Descent...in space.

Drivel. I ended up watching Four Lions (2010) which was as satirically brilliant as ever.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)

One of my favourite Ray Harryhausen films. Earth vs the Flying Saucers is fairly basic in plot - it's basically an alien invasion in which flying saucers take over the worlds famous landmarks (A technique the Cybermen would adopt in Doctor Who) and there's a lot of talk after a fairly exciting introductory set up. However when the full scale invasion begins this is terrific stuff.

There's a truly unforgettable assault on Washington DC. Flying saucers raising buildings to the ground, their energy rays blowing the city to kingdom come. Harryhausen's saucers are amazing, and even with my preference of watching the colorized version of the film the effects work is seamless as explosions and devastation reign supreme.

The film isn't faultless. As i already alluded to it's quite talky in the middle third and the alien attack i suppose is similar to War of the Worlds from three years previous, it also seems to borrow from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) in design, but it clearly was a huge influence on Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (1996) However these are minor niggles and take nothing away from the majesty that is Earth vs the Flying Saucers.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Thus Sci-Fi September comes to an end for me...

...as the witching hour approaches

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Final list update and rankings:

Sep 1st:

Invaders from Mars (1953) - 68/100
The Man from Planet X (1951) - 52/100
First Men in the Moon (1964) - 59/100

Sep 2nd:

Track of the Moon Beast (1976) - 41/100
The People Who Own the Dark (1976) - 64/100

Sep 3rd:

Attack of the Puppet People (1958) - 63/100
Phase IV (1974) - 72/100
The Invisible Woman (1940) - 62/100

Sep 4th:

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983) - 38/100
Black Friday (1940) - 55/100

Sep 5th:

The Road (2009) - 70/100
Bride of the Monster (1955) - 46/100

Sep 6th:

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - 69/100

Sep 7th:

Deadly Eyes (1982) - 46/100
Watchers (1988) - 49/100

Sep 8th:

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962) - 68/100
The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) - 67/100

Sep 9th:

Barbarella (1968) - 69/100

Sep 10th:

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - 71/100

Sep 12th:

Doomsday Machine (1972) - 51/100
Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) - 48/100

Sep 13th:

Master of the World (1961) - 63/100

Sep 15th:

Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) - 72/100
Upstream Color (2013) - 71/100
Westworld (1973) - 74/100

Sep 17th:

Futureworld (1976) - 54/100

Sep 19th:

The War Game (1965) - 90/100
Hard to Be a God (2013) - 84/100

Sep 20th:

Trancers (1984) - 45/100
Computer Chess (2013) - 55/100

Sep 21st:

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) - 72/100
Bride of Re-Animator (1989) - 68/100

Sep 22nd:

Four Sided Triangle (1953) - 62/100
The Cosmic Man (1959) - 50/100

Sep 23rd:

The Damned (1963) - 71/100

Sep 25th:

Sleeper (1973) - 36/100

Sep 26th:

Devil Girl from Mars (1954) - 51/100
Stranger from Venus (1954) - 47/100

Sep 27th:

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) - 71/100
The Brother from Another Planet (1984) - 66/100

Sep 28th:

Not of this Earth (1957) - 65/100
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - 77/100

Sep 29th:

Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) - 54/100
The Colossus of New York (1958) - 52/100

Sep 30th:

Alien Raiders (2008) - 49/100

45 films watched in total.

Now comes Horror October!

[Inspector Abberline]

Ant Man (2015)

Not my last science fiction ever,just the last for this thread,I was a little intrigued because I had read a few good reviews on here so thought I would give it a chance.If I seem a little hesitant its because I have no love for any of these Marvel Universe films,give me Blade any day over these other guys.But I was mildly surprised by how good Ant Man was compared to the other over blown Avenger movies.Although I guess Ant Man will indeed be part of that universe when all the sequels get churned out,but I digress.How much of the original script by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish was left after they parted from the project,but it has a nice sense of humour,and Paul Rudd does a great job of being affable without being annoying or just plain corny.Of course it has all the usual mainstream trappings,training montages,comedy sidekicks and of course the wise old Michael Douglas as Hank Pym,the heroes mentor plus a love interest with Pym's daughter played by Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne.And of course there is some shit blowing up as well,in fact to be precise Thomas The Tank Engine gets blown up.What was really interesting was all the stuff about controlling and using ants,was pretty interesting and of course the effects were suitably impressive.I especially liked it when Ant man was interacting with the ants,kind of reminded me of the film The Incredible Shrinking Man when Scott Carey (Grant Williams) has to deal with his own giant spider etc. I can't say I have read an Ant man comic's,so have no idea how faithful this film was to the original story,but it was an entertainng super hero movie,but I guess they will screw it up with the sequel's.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Ant Man (2015)

Not my last science fiction ever,just the last for this thread,I was a little intrigued because I had read a few good reviews on here so thought I would give it a chance.If I seem a little hesitant its because I have no love for any of these Marvel Universe films,give me Blade any day over these other guys.But I was mildly surprised by how good Ant Man was compared to the other over blown Avenger movies.Although I guess Ant Man will indeed be part of that universe when all the sequels get churned out,but I digress.How much of the original script by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish was left after they parted from the project,but it has a nice sense of humour,and Paul Rudd does a great job of being affable without being annoying or just plain corny.Of course it has all the usual mainstream trappings,training montages,comedy sidekicks and of course the wise old Michael Douglas as Hank Pym,the heroes mentor plus a love interest with Pym's daughter played by Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne.And of course there is some shit blowing up as well,in fact to be precise Thomas The Tank Engine gets blown up.What was really interesting was all the stuff about controlling and using ants,was pretty interesting and of course the effects were suitably impressive.I especially liked it when Ant man was interacting with the ants,kind of reminded me of the film The Incredible Shrinking Man when Scott Carey (Grant Williams) has to deal with his own giant spider etc. I can't say I have read an Ant man comic's,so have no idea how faithful this film was to the original story,but it was an entertainng super hero movie,but I guess they will screw it up with the sequel's.

I need to re-evaluate Ant Man at some point as i watched when i hated all that Marvel stood for. At the time i thought it started off really well but by the end had descended into the usual throwing buildings about bull shit.

However now i've seen the light, even quite enjoying Captain America The First Avenger second time around, it's one i'll revisit and quite likely revise my opinion.

[Inspector Abberline]

Its contractual that when super hero's turn up buildings are gonna get trashed,whether its an ant or the Hulk.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Is anyone watching any sci-fi this September?

[nosferatu42]

Well i've just picked up the original "Invasion of the bodysnatchers" on Blu ray and "Planet of the Vampires" so i say yes .eventually.
I also bought the U.K blu of "IT the terror from beyond space" and it was totally fuc*in' awful, avoid the 101 films release as it's almost unwatchable.
How is the U.S midnight movies transfer?

[trebor8273]

Think I will watch pitch black which not seen before but that seems more horror than sci-fi