The 2008 Movie Genre of the Month Club

[ZapRowsdower]

I made a stupid mistake...

Queued up Total Recall on Netflix, because I could have sworn it was an 80's film. Imagine my disappointment to learn it was released in 1990. Damn. Nice movie, though.

What I'm sure WILL count...

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982, Nicholas Meyer)

My favorite of the Star Trek films. Ricardo Montalban is nothing less than excellent as the villain, Khan. It's fun, engaging, even poetic at times. The writer must be a fan of classic literature - considering how many recognizable quotes are used. Picard is still my favorite captain, but Kirk certainly pulled his weight in this film. KHAAAAAAAN! KHAAAAAAAN! 9/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

RECALL's a good movie, Paul Verhoeven's second best sci-fi after ROBOCOP, I feel.

Updated the scores:

January: 1980'S SCIENCE-FICTION

Heineken Skywalker = 8
Sybillness = 1
Slayrrr666 = 3
ZapRowsdower = 4
Livingdeadgirl = 2

We still have a little over a week folks, so those of you who haven't watched anything yet still have time to get on the board.
Also, for anyone wondering, Sybillness and I agreed when she first decided to be part of this that she, being my wife, also is not eligible to win the prize, so it definitely will be awarded outside of my home. Except for ROBOCOP, she has watched every movie I've seen, but it's up to her to actually post it here and voice her opinions on it.

[slayrrr666]

You're short-changing me there, Heiney. I've got 3, not 2:

Robocop
The Fly
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

Just to get you truely up to date.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Woah!! You're absolutely right. My most humble apologies, slayrrr.

The list has now been truly updated.

[slayrrr666]

You're forgiven. Honest mistake.

[LivingDeadGirl]

iamthesmitty said:

I
Queued up Total Recall on Netflix,

I have a question that's totally off topic, but speaking of Netflix...I've tried the Instant Viewing thing and whenever I try to use it it says something about disabling the Active X controls, which I did, but then it still says they are activated and I can't get it to work. Any suggestions, other than the computer is obviously smarter than I am?

[ZapRowsdower]

I had a similar issue the first time I tried to use Instant Viewing... I called Netflix tech support, and they were able to help me out. I don't remember exactly what they had me do, but they could probably help you out.

[Heineken Skywalker]

*BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED (1987)

A group of tenants in an apartment building who are being forced to move by land developers, are visited by a group of miniature mechanical life forms, kind of like small UFO's, who are adept at repairing things. The little creatures help the tenants "fight the power", so to speak.
Silly and boring movie produced by Spielberg who should've known better.

3/10

[ZapRowsdower]

The Abyss (1989, James Cameron)

Underwater aliens... can't argue with results. Excellent special effects for its time (although some of them would even hold up today). I can see Cameron's fascination with water... in my opinion, this one's rather underappreciated - even though it won the Oscar for visual effects, I feel it's often overlooked today. It held my interest for 3 hours, which is no easy feat. 9/10

[slayrrr666]

Gunhead (1988)-Sci-Fi/Mecha
Japanese/American co-production about giant battle robots (offically called Gunheads) who are used by both police squads and a gang of terrorists in a war. Visually impressive scenes is the order of the day, and is really the reason to see this. To many plot holes to count (if I can find them, they weren't that well done) and it gets a little too convoluted with all the different officers being given stories or motives, which is nice but for a squad of 6+, that is a little much. However, the special effects more than make up for that, with a never-ending series of impressive and at times jaw-dropping moves. The robots are all well-done, looking futuristic but plausible, and they leave a nice impression at times. Some of the moves executed during many of the action scenes are a little hard to imagine being done in practical turns, but it's still a lot of fun.
8.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

THE ROAD WARRIOR aka MAD MAX 2 (1981)

The second installment in the Mad Max trilogy, and easily the best, finds our hero Max (Mel Gibson) still driving around the highways of a post-apocalyptic Australia. Max soon finds himself in the middle of a war between a community of survivors who live in an oil refinery and a biker gang who is trying to steal all the gas for themselves. Action-packed almost from beginning to end with a few moments for comedy relief here and there, mostly thanks to the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence).
Loaded with great car chases and stunts, this film also led to many movies which "borrowed" the film's futuristic wardrobe of leather, rags and sporting equipment.

8.5/10

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)

Classic sci-fi comedy starring Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a teen who timetravels 30 years into the past, thanks to Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and his timetraveling DeLorean. While in the past, Marty accidentally comes between his still teenaged parents, which could prevent them from falling in love, and in turn, affect his own existence. Oh yeah, while back in 1955 he also invents skateboards and rock and roll.
Just great all around, from the cast, to the effects, to Robert Zemeckis' directing.

9.5/10

[ZapRowsdower]

Dune (1984, David Lynch)

Not as surreal as any of Lynch's other works (although far more surreal than others within the genre), this film does have a uniqueness to it. I think it has something to do with Sting as the villain... 8/10

[slayrrr666]

Akira-(1988) Sci-Fi/Animation
Young man studies rebel ideaology and fights back against government using souped-up motorcycle.
The only thing I've ever been able to get from Japanese culture is Giant Monster movies, and the trend continues. Anime is just to weird for me to get into, I think it's the eyes, they just look to different and wrong for me to get into the film long-term. That definitely had a helping hand here, as coupled with the films 2-hour run-time meant I was forced to stare at that for 2 hours, and eventually it grew tiresome. That said, the animation looked ok, there was plenty of action scenes with the fight against the military vehicles looking pretty good and it stayed fairly fast-paced for most of the time, not a bad thing. Would definitely be more enjoyable for those who like these kinds.
4.5/10

Empire Strikes Back-(1980) Science Fiction
I shouldn't have to give the plot here.
Still the best, and still my favorite of the trilogy. Expands from part 4 nicely, making us learn more about relationships and characters. Fantastic action, animatronics and special effects, still gets a lot of things right and remains enjoyable. Never really cared for the training sequence with Yoda, as it disrupts the flow and action, but they're still fun and actually mean more now. Highly enjoyable.
10/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

2010 (1984)

Sequel to 2001: A SPACE ODDYSEY finds Roy Scheider, John Lithgow and Helen Mirren among the crew of a joint USA and Russian mission to try to find out what happened to the crew of the Discovery in the original film. Meanwhile back on Earth, Russia and America are on the brink of nuclear war.
Good cast, even HAL 9000 is back, and it answers some of the questions that were raised by the original. It doesn't inspire quite the same sense of awe that 2001 did, but it's not bad.

6.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

THE ABYSS (1989) (Director's Cut)

What starts out as a joint rescue mission between a team of Navy SEALS and the workers of an underwater oil rig to find a crashed American submarine, becomes a close encounter with aliens. I have to agree with Zap that this one is underrated, but if you see it I definitely recommend James Cameron's "Director's Cut" over the original theatrical release. The D.C. adds almost 30 minutes of footage including more character development and a much better ending.

8.5/10