We are back to our non-horror related themes and first up it’s scientists! I could think of no better topic for this week because this I can very well connect to sci-fi and well, sci-fi has all kinds of scientists, right!? I mean, I don’t even have to think of a theme within a theme for long because here it is – space scientists. Came up with that in the time it took me to write this intro.
1. EVENT HORIZON (1997)
How cool it is that I can put my podcasting experience to good use. A few weeks back I visited The LAMBcast and we talked about this very movie. Granted, I did very little talking because I’m incapable of podcasting without saying “does that make sense” after every rant I have. It’s a gift. Anyway, space scientist in this is played by Sam Neil who is called a doctor but hear me out. He designs the space ship that is able to time travel…. so not a medical doctor but a scientist. Anyway, he turns out to be “quite” the scientist indeed. Fun movie, was better than I thought after I heard some behind the scenes stuff about the problems Event Horizon was faced with.
2. INTERSTELLAR (2014)
Don’t hate me but this movie was so confusing to me that I ended up not liking it. I think it was a very ambitious one to tackle and well, it’s likely I have to give it another try soon. Anyway, I’m mentioning it because Anne Hathaways’ character is a scientist… in space. If you asked me what she did there, I would have no idea. I remember something about Earth dying, Matt Damon was somewhere and they time traveled. The rest is a constant blur of cool visuals and CGI stuff. Though, like I said, I think I watched it at a very wrong time. This movie definitely demands more time and more effort which I thought I didn’t need to have. So, revisiting it soon-ish.
3. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
The more I think about this movie, the more I find myself liking it. Which is of course obvious for many reasons but for me it’s strange. You see, I was a bit hesitant to watch in the first place. Having not seen it, being a novice with the classics, one just doesn’t jump into classics and feel like home. Turns out, it takes time to get used to and well, I’m starting to love 2001: A Space Odyssey more and more as time passes by. Probably because I now notice how many or almost all sci-fi movies are referring back to it. It’s the foundation for science-fiction movies and that’s awesome. Anyway, the movie is about two mission pilots and scientists and one computer… and the rest is movie history.
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
2
2001: A Space Odyssey is going on my Blind Spot for next year, I’ve avoided it for far too long now. Event Horizon is a new one to me but sounds fun!
I think you would benefit from watching 2001 first and then Event Horizon after. They compliment each other quite well, at least in my opinion. 😛
I never got around to seeing Interstellar! I feel like for a bit there we had a ton of space related movies out and I just couldn’t see all of them! What a great list though.
Thank you! Interstellar… I saw it in the wrong time, I’m sure of it but I have an idea for a series next year (if I ever get back to the blogging mojo) that might bring me back to Interstellar. We’ll see if it’s better the second time around.
I really loved Interstellar though I admit some bits confused me. But the concept of time being different in space than here was so fascinating to me. And I think this is the movie where Anne Hathaway started to really grow on me. Excellent picks!
Thank you! I feel like Hathaway was my fav in Princess Diaries and after that, she has had a few roles where I’m okay with her. Ella Enchanted was also good. I just like her in Disney movies. 😀 But yeah, the concepts and the visuals in Interstellar are great, I just wasn’t paying enough attention and it was so long.
Your picks fit so well that I wish I could say that I loved them but unfortunately I can’t. I really hated both Event Horizon and Interstellar which was just an endless headache of a film. I respect what Kubrick did with 2001 I just didn’t enjoy the journey.
Thank goodness Horror month is over I struggled for picks the entire time. This was much easier with two I love and a daffy comedy thrown in for fun.
Creator (1985)-Wildly eccentric but brilliant scientist Dr. Harry Wolper (Peter O’Toole), head of his department at a prestigious medical research university, is at a crossroads. After years of living an unconventional but steady life, which includes trying to clone his late wife in his backyard laboratory, two people enter his sphere and radically change his perspective. Funny, poignant, quirky, evocative comedy drama is anchored by a masterful performance by the great O’Toole.
Hidden Figures (2016)-Three brilliant African-American women, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), work behind the scenes at NASA. Though in many ways they have superior skills to their supervisors they face double discrimination because of both their sex and color but slowly things begin to change as the agency prepares to launch astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit. Involving drama which like Apollo 13 manages to impart a sense of suspense despite the outcome being a known.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)-When his kids sneak into inventor Wayne Szalinski’s (Rick Moranis) upstairs lab to retrieve a baseball, his experimental shrink ray miniaturizes them. On that goofy premise this silly but very successful comedy hinges. Followed by far too many sequels.
Ah well that’s an interesting goal to achieve, all three picks and you like none of them. I mean, that’s quite the achievement. 😀
Hidden Figures and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids are such different picks but I love both. I think I saw Honey, I Shrunk the Kids like more than 10 times as a kid… awesome pick!
Event Horizon is really great, glad you liked it! I hope the TV series they are making based on this movie will be good
They are making a show?! What.. more things for me to watch.. dear god, help me.
Yep I mentioned it in RF a while back. Adam Wingard is making it, so who knows how it goes
I like all of your picks as I think Event Horizon is underrated. I knew you’d like 2001. Yes, it’s not a film to be liked after a first viewing but one of Kubrick’s gifts as a filmmaker is that you end up thinking about what you saw and you re-watch it to the point that you like it even more the 2nd and third time around.
Yes, 2001 is not an instant LOVE IT but it sort of… grows on you because you start to notice it embedded in all the scifi movies in a way. I love that about it. It’s in that sense.. forever on my mind.
I haven’t seen your first pick but I’ve seen the other 2 and they kind of give me a headache and almost make me want to watch an Adam Sandler flick:). Inters5ellar is one I just don’t get and 2001 is a nice head trip
Sci-fi can sometimes be so overwhelming. I love it though, when I’m in the right mood.
The only one I’ve seen is Interstellar and I did not like it. I found it too long and melodramatic.
I had a similar problem but I’m hoping a second viewing will fix it.