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Science fiction movies
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In the last 100 years, we’ve been privy to science fiction movies’ evolution from the silent film classics like and Nosferatu to the super-slick, special effects blockbusters of today – The Matrix and The Terminator. But for all the special effects wizardry and “Oh wow” look and feel of modern science fiction and fantasy films, they all share a common thread. The ability to tell a good story, spin a good yarn if you will, is essential to storytelling since the dawn of man’s imagination. You can’t simply present great special effects without a great storyline. People will sit through the movie and leave dissatisfied. They’ll talk about the special effects and the crappy plotline, and in the end, they won’t remember the movie past the next special effects driven blockbuster. Within a year, the movie will disappear from the minds and hearts of everyone, with the most notable exception of science fiction movie special effects fanatics.
Great filmmakers know that to make an effective and memorable science fiction or fantasy film, you need a combination of good plot, great characters and superior special effects. Note how the effects come last in this formula. You don’t really need them to create a winning film. A prime example of this was released in 2004 with Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp. It had a few effects, but mostly came alive in your imagination and will remain memorable in how it made you feel, how the characters touched you and how it wove a superb plotline that left not wanting to leave their world at the conclusion of the movie.
Other movies have a plethora of special effects, but if you’re over the age of 12, you immediately grasp that the movie budget spent not with the writers, but with the effects team. Van Helsing, a new twist on the old Dracula theme, is an incarnation of how, if you sacrifice plot, get actors who can’t act or have nothing to act with and rely solely on great special effects, your audience is going to be less than thrilled. The best part of that movie was watching the baby vampires explode. After about three fly-bys of those vampire woman, the effect was over. Then it simply moved into the realm of annoying and campy.
Now, with the advancement of technology, everything is being remastered and released on DVD. We’ve included a page on the Top Science Fiction & Fantasy DVDs released here:
Some of the classics are also being released on DVD:
- The Day The Earth Stood Still
- The War Of The Worlds
- Forbidden Planet
- Logan's Run
- Soylent Green
And, remember the APES, well you can now get them in widescreen, fullscreen, in collections or just alone.
These are just some of the science fiction movies that are now offered on DVD. Every time a movie comes out in the theaters now, the countdown starts to when it will be released on DVD. Science fiction movies and fantasy movies are now the mainstay of popular culture. It went through one heck of an evolution, which we will begin to explore in coming articles and reviews of the best to the cheesiest in the buzz.
Tell us, of all of the science fiction movies you seen, which do you consider a classic?
