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bottled spider wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:11 pm Through a Scanner Darkly

Decade Breakdown for my Top 50:

1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1950s: 2
1960s: 1
1970s: 4
1980s: 10
1990s: 5
2000s: 5
2010s: 21 (!)

I should really get around to The Mouse on the Moon, the first film was right up my alley as a kid — I actually think I saw it before Dr. Strangelove — and I love Richard Lester.

Submitted my list last night and after coming up completely empty at 47 entries, I filled it out with three goofy childhood favorites I have more affection than admiration for. The idea of a sci-fi list seemed really fun to me but actually sitting down and thinking about it, I find that even though my favorite film of all is sf (2001: ASO) and it’s the passionately preferred genre of my mom and sister who were deeply influential on my own taste, something about most of the chestnuts in the field doesn’t really appeal to me. The original Star Wars films were a ubiquitous staple in my home as a kid and I will never forget how surreal it was when it dawned on me that while I knew them more or less by heart, I didn’t actually enjoy them or have any deep interest in them except as feats of production design (which Lucas stymied badly when he “remastered” them in the ‘90s). But the more formative experience was when I was locked up one summer with my sister’s collection of VHS tapes and took the opportunity to discover many of the more grownup all-timers like Alien and Blade Runner and find that, for one reason or another, they just weren’t for me. I’ve tried to explain why before but ended up sounding dismissive which isn’t my intention. But while there are exceptions, those kind of stories just aren’t where I gravitate, or maybe I just don’t generally relate to the way cinema pares them down into rational narratives.

I didn’t get time to revisit much for the project this time apart from films that overlapped with the ‘50s and those, like This Island Earth, I find more interesting as relics than as artful experiences unto themselves. But I’ve read everyone’s remarks with interest and will make a point of checking out all of the recommendations I haven’t seen when I can.

therewillbeblus wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:00 pm

bottled spider wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:11 pm Through a Scanner Darkly

Another classic I haven't gotten too yet. The next time I really want to feel miserable, I'll watch a Through a Glass/Scanner Darkly double bill.

My breakdown:
2010s: 13
1980s: 11
1970s: 7
1950s, 1990s, 2000s: 5 each
1960s: 4

My project breakdown:

Films viewed for Project: 49
Films from my viewing logs that made it on list: 6
Average year of the films on my list: 1982
Films with Stan Lee appearance: 2
Criterions (laserdiscs, DVDs, and BD) on my list: 16
Animated films: 7
Country breakdown: Australia: 1, Canada: 3, France: 5, Germany: 2, Japan: 2, UK: 8, USA: 25, USSR: 4
Directors with more than one entry on my list: David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang, Ridley Scott, Andrei Tarkovsky
Blood relations between directors on my list: 1

Managed to come up with 25, so list submitted. I'm sure I'll think of some omissions.... eventually.

bamwc2 wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:04 pmCountry breakdown: Australia: 1, Canada: 3, France: 5, Germany: 2, Japan: 2, UK: 8, USA: 25, USSR: 4

I tried for a range of countries in my viewing curriculum. What Australian sci-fi did you find?

I'll join the party: my now-official decade breakdown:

1960s: 3
1970s: 5
1980s: 4
1990s: 4
2000s: 11
2010s: 22
2020: 1

The condensation of World of Tomorrow episodes and one switched title stopped my list from the even 50% 2010s it once was (though all I wanted was to beat DI's 2010 number so)

bottled spider wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:57 am

bamwc2 wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:04 pmCountry breakdown: Australia: 1, Canada: 3, France: 5, Germany: 2, Japan: 2, UK: 8, USA: 25, USSR: 4

I tried for a range of countries in my viewing curriculum. What Australian sci-fi did you find?

All will be revealed after the list comes out!

bottled spider wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 12:57 am

bamwc2 wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:04 pmCountry breakdown: Australia: 1, Canada: 3, France: 5, Germany: 2, Japan: 2, UK: 8, USA: 25, USSR: 4

I tried for a range of countries in my viewing curriculum. What Australian sci-fi did you find?

Surely a Mad Max, The Road Warrior from the 1982 clue

Decade Breakdown for my Revised Top 50:

1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1950s: 1
1960s: 1
1970s: 1
1980s: 1
1990s: 1
2000s: 1
2010s: 42

DarkImbecile wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:15 am Decade Breakdown for my Revised Top 50:

1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1950s: 1
1960s: 1
1970s: 1
1980s: 1
1990s: 1
2000s: 1
2010s: 42

DarkImbecile wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:15 am Decade Breakdown for my Revised Top 50:

1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1950s: 1
1960s: 1
1970s: 1
1980s: 1
1990s: 1
2000s: 1
2010s: 42

I managed a 25 film list at the last minute which also skewed recent, but it wasn't that skewed!

1950s: 1
1960s: 4
1970s: 2
1980s: zilch
1990s: 3
2000s: 6
2010s: 8
2020s: 1

Fourteen countries represented: Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, Ukraine, USA, USSR.

I guess I’ll be the first to just pop the balloon and post my list. I don’t have anywhere near the skew of the rest of you and honestly don’t get the recency bias.

I believe DI was joking in response to my post about beating him in the 2010s

1890s: 1
1920s: 1
1930s: 1
1940s: 1
1950s: 5
1960s: 3 (all in my top 4)
1970s: 7
1980s: 5 (all in my top 12)
1990s: 6
2000s: 6
2010s: 13
2020s: 1

1900s: 2
1950s: 3
1960s: 6
1970s: 9
1980s: 11
1990s: 6
2000s: 4
2010s: 9

Although looking at it, I missed at least one 30s and one 80s film which should have gone in... Oh well, that's the way of things.

1930s: 1
1950s: 2
1960s: 3
1970s: 2
1980s: 6
1990s: 3
2000s: 4
2010s: 4

From my list of 25.

1920s: 1
1930s: 2
1960s: 2
1970s: 4
1980s: 7
1990s: 2
2000s: 1
2010s: 6

Also, I have three Schwarzenegger films. He’s my biggest auteur for this list I think.

I had three as well I think; I assume both Terminators and either Total Recall or Predator?

Bingo.

My breakdown:

1920’s - 1
1930’s - 3
1940’s - 0
1950’s - 3
1960’s - 7
1970’s - 5
1980’s - 16
1990’s - 4
2000’s - 5
2010’s - 6

Arnie is also featured prominently on my list.

My only Schwarzenegger film to make the list is his masterpiece on advanced male fertility, Junior.

Ridley Scott and Terence Fisher tied at 4 for me, Spielberg and Val Guest at 3.

I have two Arnies. I think my biggest auteur has 5 (four as director and 1 as writer). I have a very un-auteur director with three - and it wouldn't have taken much persuasion for me to have four Val Guests in there. Looking over the list, I can see SO MANY OMISSIONS - but I'm not sure what I'd drop...

Edit: But no Fisher! I really should have included at least one Frankenstein, and I have a real soft spot for both The Earth Dies Screaming and Night of the Big Heat.