I’m trying to get a gauge of what people here are interested in.
Big fan of long-form science fiction. Bladerunner 2049 is fantastic, as is Stalker by Tarkovsky.
Tarkovsky in particular has brilliant works.
Sci Fi top 6 ‐ focusing a bit on the soft sci-fi
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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) dir: Stanley Kubrick
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Arrival (2016) dir: Denis Villeneuve
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Her (2013) dir: Spike Jonze
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BladeRunner (1982) dir: Ridley Scott
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Children of Men (2006) dir: Alfonso Cuarón
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GATTACA (1997) dir: Andrew Niccol
Little known fact: all mattes are shot on first generation film. Kubrick would shoot the matte, put the film in storage, put it back in camera, then shoot the inside of the matte. It looks pristine to this day because there was no generation loss since there was only one generation even in the most effects heavy shots.
If you haven’t seen it, Ex Machina (2014) fits the vibe of your list. It’s one of my favorites.
I can recognize 2001 as being incredible and inspiring for its time, but it doesn’t hold up very well. By modern standards, it is painfully boring and tedious.
Disagree, I think 2001 is perfect. Yes it’s slow, but that’s intentional, it’s part of the feeling of the film.
Modern standards don’t really apply, because I don’t think anyone nowadays is trying to do what Kubrick was, nor (obviously) was he trying to live up to any standards of future movie making.
Each to their own of course, but wanted to put a friendly counterpoint :-)
Actually, I’m wondering now what you thought of the 2002 Solaris remake. I’ve not seen the Tarkovsky version, and I’m assuming you have. Of his other films, I’ve heard of Stalker. Recommend any others specifically?
Haven’t seen either of Solaris, but the big deal here is that the US version loses a lot of Tarkovsky’s specific, drawn out and contemplative styling in favor of a more active and dynamic version for the US.
Andrei Rublev and Mirror are standouts, to my knowledge, and are generally seen as better than Solaris but not quite as great as Stalker.
