Bladerunner, Minority Report, Sunshine, 2001, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, certain Star Trek movies, the Road Warrior, Dark City.
Great science fiction is my greatest love. You might say it was my first love. Serious science fiction attempts to explore the dangers of science or the cosmos, and make serious minded predictions about where the human race & our society are headed... if things do not fare well. Bladerunner is about a population nightmare taking place on Earth, that is its real unifying them. Minority Report is about what the government might do if can prove precognition exists. Sunshine is about what we might do if the Sun begins to burn out. Dark City is about what it might be like to be part of a population of humans taken captive by an alien race for experimental purposes.
These movies are very deep when they are good. They are written by the smartest writers the world has ever known. It is no wonder that so much of this material sails right over the heads of most movie critics and audiences. To understand science fiction, you need a basic understanding of Algebra, physics, chemistry, and maybe even engineering. These subjects play a prominent role in such movies. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of human beings who have passed through this veil of tears have been illiterate, innumerate, and scientifically ignorant. There is not much chance that the typical joe can comprehend Sunshine or 2001.
2. The Science Fiction/Fantasy movie
Star Wars, Stargate, The 5th Element, Stargate, Chronicles of Riddick, The Fountain
Who doesn't like the original Star Wars? Who didn't like the 5th Element? I hesistated to include The Fountain under this heading because it is a deadly serious existentialist tale with serious Buddhist lessons to teach us. However, the mixture of religion, supernatural belief with science is the halmark of Science Fantasy movies. Many programs on SciFi channel freely combine elements of science fiction with religion philosophy supernatural phenomenon and horror. When this blending is done right, you get some of the most potent entertainment the world has ever seen. When you blend these elements poorly, you get nitroglycerine that explodes in your face. Some of the most embraressing disasters in film history have been serious attempts to combine these elements.
3. Adventure
Ghost and The Darkness, Mountains of the Moon, The Man Who Would be King, Apocalypse Now, 1492 Conquest of Paradise, the Last of the Mohicans, Willow.
You know, they never make these movies anymore. Films like these rank among my favorite of all times. Generally, the hero steps out of a state where he is doomed to an ordinary life, and he begins a long journey that changes everything... sometimes for everyone he comes into contact with. The movies above are fantastic tales of adventure, full of thrilling moments and discoveries. I especially favor those movies with a historical tinge to them; the ones that give you a strong sense of the risk the British felt they were taking as they explored Africa, Asia, or North America.
4. Really Smart Comedy
Life of Brian, Being There, Dr. Strangelove, Silverstreak, The (original) Producers, Groundhog Day, Grosspoint Blank, Real Genius, Team America World Police.
These sorts of movies are the rarest gems in Hollywood. One of these films comes along every 8 or 10 years. They are few and far between. Comedians are not often smart people. They rehash the same collection of jokes over and over. They steal like hell from one another. They are dreadfully prone to reach for cliches. Rather than being edgy people, they are utterly controlled by Political Correctness. They often forget to include any point or unifying theme in their movies. Far too many SNL spin offs are utterly pointless, loose collections of bad jokes.
Still, when you get a work of genius [like Dr. Strangelove] it kind of makes you forget the bullshit.
5. The Superhero Movies
Spider-Man (1), X-Men II, Ironman, The Incredible Hulk (2008), Batman Begins, Dr. Strange, The Incredibles, Wonder Woman (2009).
I hesitated to include this category, because Hollywood has done far more bad than good in this category. I am often disapointment by very poor implementations of great comic books. Warner Brothers has never implemented Superman correctly. Spider-Man has been running down the drain lately. I did not like the Watchmen. I believe that the Dark Knight is greatly over-rated. The first two Punisher movies were absolute rubbish. The Daredevil movie disapointed on several levels. The Fantastic Four ranks as one of my greatest film disapointments of all-time. Still, I was an avid comic collector when I was a kid. So was my brother. We always get enthusiastic whenever a Super Hero makes it into a new movie. The good stuff--like Ironman--rank among my favorite movies. Love them Super Heros.
The greatest and most consistent flaw that all Hollywood studios keep recapitualating as they make these movies is that they omit the moral and religious dimension of the Superhero comic book. Superhero comic books are mortality plays. There is always a moral dilema at hand. The hero is always confronted with a moral connundrum which he must solve. The climax is the solutions set to the dilema. In the process, kids of my generation were given a religious catecism in basic morality. Comic books used to embrace classic Judeo/Christian morality and teach it to the kids. Now morality is a dirty word. In no small measure, this sea-change is due to the vast efforts of Hollywood perverts. Naturally, these same Hollywood perverts are making the Superhero movies these days. They are strongly disinclined to teach basic morality or endorse it in any way.
As I mentioned, Warners has never implemented Superman correctly. They may have made plenty of money doing counterfeit Superman movies, but they have never yet done a real Superman movie. Why do I say that? Superman is not a romantic figure. Superman comic books are not Harlequine Romance novels for little girls. In most issues, Lois Lane doesn't get much space. Lex Luther is far from Superman's most dangerous foe. Superman is comic book about smackdown on an epic scale so large it boggles the mind to see & read it. One man--with no technology at his side--turns back entire alien invasion forces. One man turns back foes so powerful that they can literally destroy the Earth more completely than nuclear war. One man defeats foes so dramatically beyond human-scale that we would have no chance of survival if it were not for Superman.
6. The British Gangster Flick
Layer Cake, Rocknrolla, Snatched, The Long Good Friday, The Bank Job, etc.
There is something fascinating about the culture of crime. How these guys operate completely outside the boundaries of society, and yet claim to have order and duty is often beyond me. I suppose the point of all these movies is the same: Although Organized Crime claims to be organized it is not, and although they claim to follow a set of rules, they do not. All of these movies show how unstable the 'equilibrium' is. This is why none of these fellows ever lasts long.
Of course, America is famous for doing Italian style mob movies. While these are fascinating enough, I find the British version to be better and more entertaining.
7. The great spy flick
Borne Identity, Body of Lies, Traitor, The Company, Casino Royale, The Good Shepherd
Great spy flicks are few and far between. We have had some good ones lately. The overwhelming majority of the Bond movies have not been good. When Spy flicks are bad, it is usually for the same reason: Incoherance. It is not clear why a mission begins. It is not clear why the lead spy is chasing someone. It is not clear why he travels from point-a to point-b. It is not exactly clear how the ending resolves the issue at hand. What is the issue at hand anyway? When the movie is clear and precise in its movements, Spy flicks can be a real joy. I believe Quantum of Solice missed the mark because it showed most of these attributes.
If they give you some important historical insights, or interesting insights into the geo-political world today, it is all the better.
8. The Grindhouse movie
John Carpenter's Vampires, Escape From New York, Doomsday, Planet Terror, Shoot 'Em Up, Death Race, Ghost Rider, Dusk Until Dawn
Just what is a Grindhouse movie? Generally, Grindhouse movies are guy flicks that are so bad that they are actually good. John Carpenter's Vampires is unapologetically camp, corny, cheezy and greezy. Everybody is ham acting. I loved it. I though it was very entertaining. Many hard belly laughs are found in this movie. Ghost Rider is not as good, but it is similar. The implementations of the Ghost Rider villains are hysterically bad funny. I think Sam Elliot died laughing trying to recite some of his dialog. In the end, many big laughs were enjoyed by all.
Contrary to what Quintin Tarentino says, the term Grindhouse does not refer to the theater that shows these movies. It refers to the studios and production teams that grind them out. Hollywood used to have uniform military budgets and schedules for the production of just about all movies. Occasionally, they would approve a special movie with a different budget and schedule allocation. Back in the Silver Age of Hollywood, studios ground-out a lot of great cheezy/greezy/corny SciFi & horror movies. I used to love these when I was a kid. KMPH used to have a schedule called Saturday Morning SciFi Theater where they would show 2 or 3 of these in a row. Back in the days before College Football, I used to watch these all the time.
So what is the point of this?
I think a number of valuable lessons can be distilled from my selections. Clear patterns are evident. They are the opposite of most of the rubbish you hear Hollywood types talk about when it comes time to discuss good, popular, succesful entertainment. I would recommend that Hollywood execs take careful note of these notions:
- "I relate to the character" is a horrible design principle for entertainment. I don't want to relate to the character. The last thing I want to do is work all week in a cubical in front of a computer and then watch a movie about people doing the same thing. I do not want to see you attempt to do a movie about computer programmers. You will get everything wrong and I will walk out of the theater early on you. Don't even try it. That is no escape from my life. Male waiters do not want to watch a movie about guys waiting on tables. "" is a principle only when designing chick flicks.
- "I want to be that guy" is a great design principle. When I was a kid we used to say things like "I want to be Spiderman" or "I want to be Green Lantern". We wanted to the characters we saw. We did not relate to them, we wanted to be them because they were not like us. You need to show me a guy who I wish I was. Tony Stark is a good example.
- Adventure is important. We need to get away from our every day lives in film. You may want to call it escapism. I call it adventure. Honestly, I don't need you analyzing the lives of ordinary guys like me and making points about it. You'll get it all wrong, and I will walk out of the theater. Stick to grand adventure. Get away from mainstreet. Go back in time, go forward in time, go into space, go into a different dimension or supernatural reality. Just don't keep us here.
- Conflict is important. And I am not talking about two sisters arguing their feelings about one guy. I am talking about a really epic conflict. Think Muslim vs. Christian. Think Braveheart. Think about cops and robbers. Think about predator and prey.
- Intelegence is important. Stupid movies are bad movies. If you don't have a solid idea, don't go into production. If you have a half-assed opinion, you are going to make a shitty movie. If you dialog sucks, you movie sucks. If you don't communicate a big point well, your movie is pointless.
