Ideas for futuristic movie collection

[Kyonshi]

Im big fan of those kinds of movies. Inevitably this made me play WipEout since it takes place in the future, with technological advancements and futuristic cities. I always found so cool the chronological storyline in the WipEout '95 booklet!

Now i want to know about good futuristic movies that i may not have into my collection right now. It may be (post)apocalyptic, fantasy, perfectly evolved society like in Star Trek, time-travelling, i dont mind. I'm looking for pass 70's movies at least, not the ones like 1927 Metropolis, even though its a classical masterpiece. Here's what i got so far:

- Blade Runner (1982)
- Alien Quadrilogy (1979-1986-1992-1997)
- Back To The Future Trilogy (because of BTTF 2 in 2015) (1985-1989-1990)
- Minority Report (2002)
- The Fifth Element (1997) - Im so A-M-A-Z-E-D looking at 23rd century New York everytime i watch this movie!!! :D
- The Matrix Collection (1999-2003-2003)
- Babylon A.D. (2008 )
- Star Trek (2009)
- I, Robot (2004)
- I Am Legend (2007)
- Akira (1988 )
- District 9 (2009)
- Total Recall (1990)
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
- 28 Days Later (2002)
- X-Men Trilogy (2000-2003-2006)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
- Resident Evil Trilogy (2002-2004-2007) Not very "futuristic" in fact, but the 3rd movie is taking place in a somehow apocalyptic future Las Vegas.

Now i want:

- The Postman (1997)
- 28 Weeks Later (2007)
- All Mad Max movies (1979-1981-1985)
- Bicentennial Man (1999)
- A.I. (2001)
- 9 (2009)

Some people maybe "outraged" :lol that i don't already have classicals of the genre like Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, etc. Im searching for them in Blu-Ray preferably, and also there's so much to cover. And when the goddamn hell will they release Star Wars 4-5-6 in BluRay... :brickwall

[Dan Locke]

Which version of Blade Runner do you have? The 5-disc Blu-Ray collector's edition?

Some recommendations:

Battlefield Earth

It's the best bad movie EVER. Cavemen from the year 3000 mining gold for aliens with dreadlock-covered eggs for heads. Copious use of the words "crap", "man-animal", and "rat-brain". John Travolta shooting the legs off of cattle and delivering the most hilariously overacted lines in recent memory. It's a thing of beauty.

Starcrash

The second-best bad movie ever. Imagine Star Wars, but shot in three weeks (!) on a shoestring budget. Also, David Hasselhoff is in it.

Alien and Aliens

How can you not have these movies? Better than Star Wars, and almost as good as Blade Runner. Don't bother with any of the later sequels, though; they aren't nearly as good.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Pretty underrated. It isn't great, but it's a pretty decent Aliens-meets-New Age movie. The name's a misnomer, though - it has literally nothing to do with the games apart from the "Gaia" force (a stand-in for the Lifestream).

Akira

Incredible anime that looks just as cool today as it did back in 1988. Think Blade Runner, but with motorcycles and not as seedy.

Treasure Planet

Another underrated movie. It's essentially a sci-fi version of Treasure Island with solar-powered galleons and holographic treasure maps. It doesn't hold a candle to the book, of course, but I can't get enough of its visual aesthetic.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

It's a crime that you have the awful 2009 remake of the series, rather than this classic. Interestingly, it's actually a continuation of a story from the TV series.

The Black Hole

A terrible, terrible movie, loaded with bad writing, bad acting, and bad comic relief. On the flip side, the special effects tend to be excellent (the embarrassing "weightless" scenes notwithstanding), the sets are grand and cavernous, and the overall visual direction is exceptional. It simultaneously embodies what I love about bad sci-fi and what I love about good sci-fi.

The Battlestar Galactica TV movie

Very good, even though the planetary scenes are incredibly underwhelming and 21st-century-Earth-like (a flaw that would, sadly, plague the series itself). Picture the interesting characters and exciting space battles from the series, but without the worthless camera movement.

Moon

Excellent. The moon base is realistically-presented (to the point that one NASA engineer was taken aback by its similarities to projected future developments), the characters (all three of them) are well-written and engaging, and the plot and scenario manage to simultaneously be gripping and moving. Also, clones.

Avatar

Yeah, it's almost completely devoid of originality. What isn't blatantly copied from Aliens or Pocahontas is still immediately recognizable from other sources (Roger Dean, anyone?), the underlying message is delivered with the subtlety of an anvil to the head, and the dialogue isn't that great, either (especially in the cringe-worthy makeout scene). Still, it's one of the biggest, most impressive, and most well-produced sci-fi movies that I've ever seen, and it would be silly to pass it up.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I actually hate this movie. A lot. Still, it's considered (by others) to be a classic of the genre, and it at least looks amazing. Do yourself a favor, though, and skip to the 20 minutes where stuff actually happens (the HAL 9000 turns off life support, and Dave has to deactivate him) - it's the only part that anybody remembers, anyway.

So, yeah, that's my two cents. Also, in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a huge sci-fi nerd.

If you're interested, I have a few book recommendations as well:

Foundation* (Isaac Asimov)

Downbelow Station* (C. J. Cherryh)

Dune* (Frank Herbert)

Out of the Silent Planet* (C. S. Lewis)

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy* (Douglas Adams)

Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)

Neuromancer (William Gibson)

*First in a series

[drell]

Do you watch just movies or TV series too?
For movies I would recommend, I'd have to think about it a while. You have some I would already on your list (Like Fifth Element, I Robot, I Am Legend...)

Independence Day. Now typical Hollywood movie, but it holds together quite well IMO. There are also the other Roland Emmerich films (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) but they are much worse.

Now more onto TV series, but still movies.

Stargate (Also a Roland Emmerich film, and the base of the Stargate SG1 TV series.)
Stargate Continuum (Involves time travel, based on Stargate SG1.)
Stargate The Ark of Truth (Conclusion to Stargate SG1's final season and the Ori story.)

And finally TV series:

Stargate (Both SG1 and Atlantis. I DO NOT recommend watching Universe, unless you like severe pain to the head.)
Defying Gravity. There are only 13 episodes in all, because the show was cancelled. It was quite nice. It has the same structure as Stargate Universe + uses flashbacks often, but unlike Universe the characters are not used to introduce cheap drama. The story was most interesting, but did not develop far beyond what the writer said on a blog post in a corner of the internet (due to the cancellation.)

[Dan Locke]

If TV series are open for discussion:

Star Trek

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Babylon 5

Stargate: SG-1

Stargate: Atlantis

Battlestar Galactica (The remake, and not the awful original. This also happens to be my half-sister's favorite show.)

Firefly

And animé:

Cowboy Bebop

Starship Operators

Space Pirate Captain Harlock

(Bear in mind that, with most of these shows and cartoons, I haven't watched more than a few episodes. I apologize in advance for any potential disappointment.)

[Kyonshi]

@Dan Locke

If you read again, i mentioned Alien Quadrilogy... So yeah i got the 2 firsts movies. Aliens is my favorite one of all. Ripley is the best female hero EVER. Perfect acting, you can feel her determination to save Newt. To say Sigourney refused to take part in the movie until James Cameron accepted to re-write her character more inclined toward maternal personnality. He HAD to listen to her!:)

Yep i got the Blu-Ray Special Edition of Blade Runner. How could i pass over this?:P

FF: Spirit Within is awesome movie, true. To bad they gave it the wrong title. Very dumb idea while FFVII was the big hype. I'm gonna check about it.

I actually like the 2009 reboot of Star Trek. Beside Spock making out with Uhuru (wtf?!?), i still feel the core spirit of the series. But that's my opinion of course, i'm aware a lot of people disagreed with the reboot. From the TV series, i always loved Voyager. Dunno if they released the whole serie in DVD or Blu-Ray, but if it happens, im on it. :P

Nice mentioning The Black Hole! Poor movie yes, but it fascinated me while being a kid :P

Somehow, i dont feel the need to have Avatar, even though its a beautiful movie. The scenario isn't something revolutionary, true. But since i saw it in 3D IMAX, i dont enjoy the idea to never look at it again until i buy a 3D TV, which also won't be happening soon.

I too can't stand 2001: ASO... Watching someone having a badtrip during 15 minutes within colored vomit vortex isnt my bag of tea at all. I just don't go in the same way as people enjoying it. I wonder why people consider it a great movie. Because its Kubrick? I always thought that its not because someone is a legend that you have to like all of his/her stuff...

Thanks for mentioning Dune and Starship Troopers books, totally forgot about those!

[Dan Locke]

If you read again, i mentioned Alien Quadrilogy... So yeah i got the 2 firsts movies.
D'oh! That's what I get for skim-reading!

[Woopzilla]

In the anime category there's Ghost in the Shell (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=247). Simply amazing how it looks at all sorts of sociological effects of cybernetic enhancements and the world politics of the future after a World War 3 and 4.

Then there's Ergo Proxy (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=3302). A pretty bleak look at a post apocalyptic world with both utopias and dystopias existing. If you're not part of the aerodomed utopian cities then you're out in the wastelands. Again, focuses heavily on philosophy, existentialism and sociocultural evolution.

[Dan Locke]

I can't believe that I forgot it; it's my favorite TV show ever:

Mystery Science Theater 3000

It's an awesome show. An awesome, awesome show. Joel's last seasons were the best.

[blackwiggle]

I just had a really quick browse at my disc collection on the way to the kitchen :p, so here's a few.

Close encounters of a 3rd kind [one of the best movies on Blueray]
The Abyss
Cube I & II also Cypher by the same people.
Dark City
Galaxy Quest
Armageddon
Blade movies
The chronicles of Riddock & Pitch Black
City of the lost Children
Hellboy movies
Red Planet
Underworld movies
Sunshine
Silent Running [classic 70's Sc-Fi movie]
Solaris US version [The original Russian version loses too much with subtitles]
War of the Worlds
The Andromeda Strain [original 70's version with Donald Pleasence ]

[Dan Locke]

Silent Running [classic 70's Sc-Fi movie]
Just saw that one again the other night; I'm angry with myself for not mentioning it earlier. It's quite preachy here and there (even more so than Avatar), but the main character is great and very well-acted. And the robots are awesome.

Oh, and I should probably give you a bit of a warning about Mystery Science Theater 3000, Kyonshi: a lot of the jokes might fly over your head. Not all of them, of course, but it's a '90s American show, and it makes a lot of pop-culture references. Even I have trouble following them.

[BulletWraith]

Demolition Man T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18e4GeUwVWs)
eXistenZ T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAdbdUt_h9M)
Judge Dread T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43-BefmjMFg)
Nausicaa of the Vally of the Wind T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeJH-B6-0EM&feature=related) (Insanely Wonderful Anime, Studio Ghibli FTW!)
Serenity T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLv_GTmAbEE&feature=related) (the Firefly the movie)


(T = it's movie trailer via youtube)
2 Sylvester Stallone movies I know, I'm not a big fan of his but those movies are great!, also Mad Max and Water World weren't mentioned Love Akira as well, I read that the Blu-Ray version has better red's, as they appear kinda orange on the DVD
also +1 for Dark City and +1 million for Hellboy HB1T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob9J3kCELXE) , HB2T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEYhiZM5mms&feature=related)
although I did post the tailors I just suggest you buy/watch the films, especially the Hellboy movies

-Stevie
(btw zer0shen met a girl a couple months ago and hasn't touched a videogame since, but don't cry he'll still drop in from time to time to annoy Lance)

[Koleax]

You still need Contact and Gattaca, probably the two greatest Sci-fi films ever made, IMHO.

Face/Off wasn't supposed to be futuristic, but obviously the technology used in the film is not present day. The whole film has a very futuristic dystopian feel about it.

Contact was supposed to be present day, too, but man that scene where she's walking out over to the device with the rings spinning and everything, it's hard not to think of that future fantasy type stuff. Oh I get shivers just thinking about that cold giant machinery.

But absolutely Gattaca. I still have yet to hear someone argue that there's a better Sci-Fi movie than that.

Oh, you must want that recent Speed Racer film as well? Hard to think of a film that comes closer to Wipeout.

And good of someone to mention Demolition Man in the post right about mine. Good libertarian favorite. ;)

[Kyonshi]

Nice mentions guys!

I just remembered i already got:

- The Running Man (1987). Damn this movie is cool! Outdated props of course (all screens in the movie are HUGE projection TV :lol) but the idea is awesome and could take place in a not so distant future from now, put aside deadly hazards.

- Equilibrium (2002). AWESOME movie, its a shame it didn't had much marketing. Grammaton Clerics doing Gun Kata and Combat is THA sh!t!!! :D Nice scenario of an emotionally sanitized society. Christian Bale is very good in it, along with Taye Diggs.

- I bought The Postman and finally, at long long last, Minority Report!!! YEAH!! :P I gotta get Pandorum (2009) too, while we wait for the Dead Space live action movie... ;)

Blackwiggle mentioned a lot of movies. I already got Dark City, but i don't consider it very futuristic movie. I see it more like dark fantastic thriller. Armaggedon, Blade, Hellboy and Underworld are not so futuristic movie as well to me, but that's my opinion. But i will note Sunshine, i got to see this one! I also saw Solaris (remake) and i loved it. I saw Cube 1, The Abyss and the 2 Riddick movies. I will put them on the list! I'm gonna also see about Silent Running.

@zer0shen

I can't believe i didnt thought of Demolition Man, eXistenZ and Serenity! Thanks for mentioning them.

@Koleax

And i can't believe i also forgot Contact and Gattaca!!! Jesus man, you are absolutely right, Contact is good but misunderstood. The producers didn't thought that you have to be spiritually open-minded to seize this movie, and i'm not talking about religious bull-sh!t. Somewhere in this universe, time and distance doesn't exists, and we're not alone in this immensity, it's ain't simply possible.

Gattaca is NOW. Or very soon. You can already chose the sex of your child, genetic manipulation on stem cells is a reality. Very soon we will see racism between natural people and scientifically enhanced ones, it's inevitable.

[ACE-FLO]

Futuristic movies, :D Don't get me started... too late ;)

Saw a good futuristic anime recently called Vexiille , shoulda got it in Bluray, was that good. What's it about? Well, in the near future, Bio-technology gets used to improve the quality of life for humans, but it has to be made safe. Therefore the UN govern its use. Japan weren't happy about the UN telling 'em what to do and how to do it so they close their doors to the rest of the world, Jap[an becomes a fortress nation.

Anyway, the UN dispatch a secret team called SWORD tro infiltrate fortress Japan, so they can discover what's going on... I'm not gonna spoil it for you, but I was left with my jaw hanging open at times. Did I mention that it was 3D cell shaded and very well animated? Same team who created the 3D Appleseed movies did this one too. And the Appleseed moives are awesome :) So is this one.

If you liked Ghost in the Shell, this one is a good un for you to get... Ah, Ghost in the Shell, another one worth the mention here, in this thread... Thing is, for an anime which was created decades ago, it managed to accurately predict some technologies we use today, like the mobile phone with internet access on it, at a time when people didn't even know what the internet was... food for thought, Ghost in the Shell is a real collectors item if you're a future sci-fi movie fan. Worthy to note that they have re-released the original Ghost in the Shell movie as Ghost in the Shell 2.0 - apparently it's had the Hi-Def treatment done to it :) so gonna get it. I have all of them already, the movies and the both the series, but i'll get the Hi-Def 2.0 version anyway, it's worth it imo :)

@Woopzilla - good call on Ghost in the Shell mate, :)

[designer_79]

Kyonshi, + 1 on Equilibrium this movie is really awesome, and the idea of a brainwashed, drug-induced peace loving society seems to be a major inspiration for the later 'The Matrix'. I also agree , that Christian Bale gives a superb performance.

If you are waiting for Pandorum, why not check out 'Event Horizon' before? I reckon it was the main inspiration for Pandorum and this movie still gives me the creeps , even knowing every scene by heart by now ... Hell in space, or like the director likes to call it a 'haunted house story in space'. This movie definitely goes under your skin! But the sets are beautifully done (although creepy, ah ... did I mention already that this movie is evil? :evil )

[KIGO1987]

Nothing, and i do mean nothing beats 1990's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone Total Recall That movie is brilliant, never, never get sick of watching that film, its a couple of decades old now but its still amazing to watch and the special effects still hold well in this time too, such a well made and thought out movie.

I so love the taxi scene in the movie, me and my mate die laughing watching that;

"drive drive

would you please repeat the destination

oh, anywhere, just go go.

please state a street and number

****! ****!

im not familiar with that address, would you please repeat.....

arhhhhh"

Then he shakes the crap out of the robot taxi driver. haha, brilliant to watch, never gets old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGHt1KLJcJI&feature=related

[billychanxtr33m]

i cant think of anything that hasnt already been mentioned here
for recommendations: total recall and running man are both top notch ah-nold

equilibrium has some pretty nice gunfu and is a good representation of an emotionally repressed "farenheit 451" esq society, also sean bean!

the fifth element = ultimate nerdgasm

and nausicaa is my favorite miyazaki film which is saying a LOT, but then i really like post apocalyptic stuff

[Kyonshi]

@Designer 79

Of course,Event Horizon! :) I want the unrated, un-censored version though. Space dementia is greatly exploited and the mix of infernal/demonic entities with sci-fi is an awesome idea. If Doom would have been more related to the game, i would have bought it too.

I like the idea of space dementia being (correctly) exploited in sci-fi movies. I Could also mention Sphere (1998 ), even if its nothing happening in space but deep sea. It could be the same though, its almost the same "environment". Brilliant film who crashed itself on the ground because people find it such a burden to use their "brains", as science calls it. The minute you talk sci-fi movie, people wants lasers shooting through Neo's Tauntaun eyes while fighting the Mother Queen Alien at lightspeed... But Sphere was intelligent sci-fi with a surprising, deeply twisted scenario.

All this makes me think again about the most probable Dead Space (2011) live action movie, Necromorphs and another futuristic movie in the same genre. Did anyone remember:

- Leviathan (1989): This where i think we can find the most ressembling specimens of Necromorphs. Workers in an undersea mining station discover Russian shipwreck with a cargo containing vodka. What they don't know is that its mixed with a strong mutagen that transforms the crew into some kind of ugly-ass monster made up with dead body parts of the deceased crew. Pretty ****ed-up idea if you ask me. The only thing different here is that the mutagen transforms living bodies first.

[BulletWraith]

@ Kyonshi
I don't see the Hellboy films as futuristic and was going to point that out in my previous post, but then I looked back at your initial post and read 'Fantasy' so it fits into that category for sure!, Equilibrium is awesome!

to the list I'll add A Scanner Darkly T (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpGaOqb2Z8)

-zer0shen

[Motorsagmannen]

@eureka: If joo ar mii, den hoo am ai?!?. best schwarzenneger quote ever :lol

[Koleax]

I saw Total Recall when I was about 8, so it was one of my first exposures to futuristic sci-fi. I was probably too young, so it made me hardcore.

Demolition Man is such a noteworthy film, though. It features future governor Jesse Ventura, who kills the fascist overlord. It predicts the political career of Arnold Schwarzeneggar a decade ahead of its time.. It stars Wesley Snipes, an income tax protestor, and Dennis Leary, a libertarian democrat. The only thing not vocally libertarian about the movie is Sylvester Stallone. I remember watching it as a kid and thinking, "well that future looks great, what's the problem? People needing more freedom? Is it really that big a deal?" What a film! It's the only action film I can think of where blowing stuff up in a pristinely constructed city has metaphorical significance.

[UB3R~JKP]

Speed Racer is practically WipEout on wheels! I love it for that sole reason.

[Dan Locke]

Because, really, there isn't much else to love it for. :turd