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Top ten and orphans.

1. The Thing
2. Seconds
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Alien
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
7. Interstellar
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. War of the Worlds (2005)
10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

11. Colossus: The Forbin Project
13. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
19. Quatermass 2
21. The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
23. The Birds
27. Long Weekend
28. Young Frankenstein
29. Prometheus
33. Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
34. The Quatermass Xperiment
38. X the Unknown
40. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
41. Passengers
47. Sputnik
48. Monsters
50. Marooned

68/100

domino harvey wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:35 pm

zedz wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:20 pm

Only eight films on the final list that I haven't seen:
The iron Giant, The One I Love, Annihilation, Time Enough at Last, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Midnight Gospel, Unbreakable and Maniac.

I haven’t seen the two animated ones, but of the remainder, I think you’d get something out of the One I Love

Seconded

Also, I would've voted for The Damned if I had thought of it

Top 10 + Orphans

1. The Thing
2. Metropolis
3. Alien
4. Bride of Frankenstein
5. Videodrome
6. Aliens
7. Frankenstein
8. Robocop
9. The Fly ‘86
10. Playtime

Orphans

1. Playtime
2. Mon Oncle
3. Mad Max
4. Edward Scissorhands
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. The Blob ‘88
7. 28 Days Later
8. Stranger Than Fiction
9. The Running Man
10. Planet of the Vampires

I’ve seen 63 of the Top 100.

Also I had The Face of Another on my list, so I’m happy I wasn’t the only one and we spared it from Orphan status.

Since others are noting it--and I'm always one for the bandwagon--I'll note that I've seen 90 out of the top 100. My only blind spots are Detention, The Heart of the Earth, The Hole, Maniac, The Midnight Gospel, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, The One I Love, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Sound of My Voice, and Triangle.

Rayon Vert wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:58 pm

The Curse of Frankenstein is cited twice in the Orphans - is it possible it's not one?

Correct! Two votes, bringing it into a tie with fellow Also-Ran The Dead Zone

Mr Sausage wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:01 pm

“therewillbeblus” wrote: I really struggled omitting Annihilation from my list, because even though it's ultimately too flawed for me, the film is the perfect example of using sci-fi in the most frightening way possible- by eliminating all predictability to the scientific effects of time, evolution, development, etc. and making the symptoms affect each character differently, thereby reminding us of how little control or consciousness we have to feel stable in this world. I wrote more about it in the horror thread, but commend all votes cast its way here. The second act is relentlessly operating as one of the most effective uses of the genre I can think of offhand.

Did you watch the Folding Ideas video about how the movie is about the various ways we process trauma and grief? Seems like it’d be right up your alley.

This video? I just watched it, and agree overall with his thesis declared at the end. I'd go a bit further in the "existential horror" realm to reflect how grief et al. forces a confrontation with our limitations to comprehend or accept our lack of agency or stability (and I think he gets a bit too specific with Tessa Thompson's transformation) which the idea he focuses on -of living intimately with another human being who we cannot know or control- is fitting for that. I think he ultimately gets at the same points of interest I have, but because he only uses 20 minutes (well more like 10-15, since over five are spent criticizing anti-intellectualist videos), he leans a bit heavily on grief/loss in specifics rather than the broad loss of the false safety we feel from a sense of control born from the laws of physics. Dismantling those in total unpredictability allows all this other stuff to occur, but metaphorically assigning predictable meaning to some of them (i.e. Tessa Thompson's) kinda ruins the sci-fi existential horror impact for me. Overall great video, and when he pans back his argument to say this space is refracting all of these vague themes, that's where I get the feeling he has more to say in conjunction to what I took from it.

Nw_jahrles wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 9:06 pm

Orphans

1. Playtime
2. Mon Oncle

I imagine you voted for these for similar reasons as I wanted to for Batman Returns, we should have made a pact

I had Miracle Mile at no 53, The Face of Another at 54.

Fantastic job Domino and DarkImbecile - thanks for collating all of these.

Top ten and orphans:

1) 2001: A Space Odyssey
2) Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3) VideoDrome
4) Blade Runner
5) The Thing (Carpenter)
6) The Terminator
7) RoboCop (Verhoeven)
8) Quatermass and the Pit (Baker)
9) Arrival
10) Alien

12) The Abyss
15) Village of the Damned (Rilla)
17) Ghost in the Shell (Oshii)
37) Capricorn One
42) The "?" Motorist
44) Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150AD
46) Elysium
49) The Hidden

Was I really the only one to go for the Oshii Ghost in the Shell? Surprising. Less so for my other orphans. The Abyss absolutely knocked me out when I first saw it at the Odeon Leicester Square and, for all its flaws (neither cut is perfect) remains a favourite. Capricorn One is a childhood favourite, The "?" Motorist is one of my favourite pieces of early cinema whimsy (and is a space-faring car that much different to a time travelling police box?). And my avatar comes from one of the Cushing Doctor Who films so I had to go for one of them - I prefer the second which has some genuinely good SFX, a genius (if bonkers) idea and replaces Roy Castle from the first film with Bernard Cribbins. It's also very British - the futuristic war against fascistic pepperpots takes place in a recognisably blitz London complete with posters for 60s breakfast cereals. Wonderful stuff.

Films which really should have made my final list - Mad Max 2, Contact, Things to Come, The Fifth Element and several others.

I wish whoever voted for Godard's King Lear had posted a defense here, I'm very interested in reading that (and I'm quite malleable to persuasion with genres, so it could've possibly escaped its fated orphan status)

Green = also ran, red = orphan

01 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
02 The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
03 La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
04 Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
05 Spacy (Takashi Ito, 1981)
06 Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
07 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
08 Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
09 Primer (Shane Carruth, 2004)
10 The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986)
11 World of Tomorrow Series (Don Hertzfeldt, 2015-)
12 Mauvais sang (Leos Carax, 1986)
13 Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011)
14 The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr, 2011)
15 Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931)
16 Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)
17 The One I Love (Charlie McDowell, 2014)
18 The Double (Richard Ayoade, 2013)
19 Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante, 1990)
20 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991)
21 Krakatit (Otakar Vávra, 1948)
22 L'inhumaine (Marcel L'Herbier, 1924)
23 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
24 Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954)
25 Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
26 Upgrade (Leigh Whannell, 2018)
27 The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)
28 Towards a Six-Dimensional Cinema (Peter Rose, 2018)
29 Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
30 Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
31 World on a Wire (R.W. Fassbinder, 1973)
32 Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)
33 Tribulation 99 (Craig Baldwin, 1992)
34 Last and First Men (Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2020)
35 August in the Water (Sogo Ishii, 1995)
36 Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
37 Robot Monster (Phil Tucker, 1953)
38 Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (Jindrich Polák, 1977)
39 Sleeper (Woody Allen, 1973)
40 Twin Peaks: The Return (David Lynch, 2017)
41 Plan 9 from Outer Space (Ed Wood, 1957)
42 Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
43 Flight to Mars (Lesley Selander, 1951)
44 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
45 The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 1957)
46 Electric Dragon 80000 V (Sogo Ishii, 2001)
47 Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998)
48 A Trip to the Moon (Georges Méliès, 1898)
49 Coincoin and the Extra-Humans (Bruno Dumont, 2018)
50 Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick (Alan Resnick, 2013)

I've seen all from the main list but:

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Time Enough at Last
The Midnight Gospel

Damn, if I had kept Mauvais Sang at number 5 before bumping it to 13 at the last minute, it would've made the final list! Also, I decided not to waste another vote on Twin Peaks: The Return this round after the Horror list failure because no one spoke up seconding its qualifications in the thread. It easily would have cracked my top ten.

This is actually the first time I've voted for Twin Peaks on a list project. Ditto Spielberg and Cameron. Also, I voted for Alien here but not on the horror list

Well right because what other list projects besides Horror would Twin Peaks: The Return have qualified for in the last few years? It was my orphan for that project, but I can't think of any others that would make that a surprising or notable claim

Well I've also mentally written it off from inclusion on my forthcoming 2010s list. There's a lot I find sloppy about it but the sci-fi elements are the parts that really land. On a somewhat related note, I downvoted Donnie Darko because the sci-fi elements there (which take the forefront in the director's cut) are the worst part of the movie!

therewillbeblus wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 8:43 am

I wish whoever voted for Godard's King Lear had posted a defense here, I'm very interested in reading that (and I'm quite malleable to persuasion with genres, so it could've possibly escaped its fated orphan status)

It wasn’t me, but if you’ll recall the post-apocalyptic setting and the quest of Shakespeare’s kin, it fits. But I never remember that stuff when I think of the film either!

zedz wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 04, 2021 4:49 pm

18. Come into My World (Gondry, 2002) - On the principle that time travel always counts as science fiction, here's one of only two films I know that portrays time travel with no elision and no need for suspension of disbelief. The other one is Mokri's marvellous Fish and Cat, but the time travel there is only one aspect of a beautiful, bonkers film, whereas here it's everything.

Don't know if it slipped in upthread, but this might qualify.

swo17 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:37 am

33 Tribulation 99 (Craig Baldwin, 1992)
34 Last and First Men (Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2020)


38 Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (Jindrich Polák, 1977)

Tribulation 99 is one I might have voted for, along with Borden's Born in Flames. I wanted to watch Last and First Men for the beloved Tilda. I thought it might come out on DVD in time, but I suppose it's not coming out on DVD at all? I'll just have to learn how to "flip the bozo bit" and stream UK from Canada. Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea by the way was an also ran.

bottled spider wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:35 pm

I wanted to watch Last and First Men for the beloved Tilda. I thought it might come out on DVD in time, but I suppose it's not coming out on DVD at all?

It's out on Blu-ray in a combo with the soundtrack

bottled spider wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:35 pm

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea by the way was an also ran.

I'm just noticing it actually appears in both the also ran and orphan lists

Look, it was late and I was tired

Scald yourself

swo17 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:42 pm

bottled spider wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:35 pm

I wanted to watch Last and First Men for the beloved Tilda. I thought it might come out on DVD in time, but I suppose it's not coming out on DVD at all?

It's out on Blu-ray in a combo with the soundtrack

Thanks! I kept looking for it filtering on 'Movies and TV' and it wasn't showing up.

swo17 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:11 pm

Scald yourself

OK, now that I've corrected the list, the Polák moves into a five-way tie with fellow also-rans THX-1138 (George Lucas, 1971), Super 8 (J.J. Abrams, 2011), On the Silver Globe (Andrzej Zulawski, 1988), and The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989).