Sci-Fi Movies – My Inspiration Pt6

movie reviewNow between Pt5 and Pt6 i took myself a longer break. Other things had higher priorities. However! Now it’s time to continue the series of Scifi movies that will forever inspire me when doing Scifi art. Again it’s a mix of classics and newer movies. As always i can recommend seeing all of the movies. But if i would have to pick absolute favs then ‘Fire In The Sky’ and ‘Quiet Earth’ have a special place in my heart.

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Forbidden Planet (1956)

It’s always fascinating seeing that young Leslie Nielsen in that film. This is one of the movies the words ‘Sci-Fi Classic’ were invented for. Again it’s a movie that took new visual directions. You never get to see the old alien race that once lived on that planet… but the environment they left behind suggests on so many levels how they could have looked. I, particularly, love the Matte Painting work in the underground alien factory/generator thing. They really took some stuck concepts and got a bit further with them. Who said aliens had to look humanoid? They really managed to make the aliens take shape in our heads. Instead of showing us and taking away our own imagination. A really nice movie to watch with some tea and cake on a rainy afternoon.

The Forbidden Planet on IMDb

Fire In The Sky

This is one of the most scary movies i ever saw. It actually is a movie about a guy who got abducted by aliens. The movie shows it all from the perspective of his buddies who had no other chance than to run away. To leave behind their friend. While everyone is thinking these guys murdered him. No one is believing their story. No one can find their friend for days. When he suddenly shows up again he is completely changed. Shocked. Can’t even start to explain what happened. You may ask what’s so scary about it. Well… they show the inside of the UFO. Where our guy got captured. What he lived through on that ship. They have some really cool design going on in that part of the movie. That alone makes it worth watching. But it also has that amazing atmosphere. I really like this one. And it’s after a true story.

Fire In The Sky on IMDb

Soilent Green

Another classic in my list. Somehow i love the old Charlton Heston scifi movies. I bet everyone has seen this one at least once. I really like the concept and the technical execution. Back when it was released i can imagine that the whole breakup, of what soilent green actually is, was quite an eye opener. The picture of the future we see there nowadays doens’t look too far away and could sooner or later become our actual reality. So the movie was quite ahead of its time and gets my highest recommendations.

Soilent Green on IMDb

The 5th Element

When i first went out of the theater after seeing this movie i wasn’t sure what to think of it. And i still get the same feeling when i watch the movie today. While i really really like the feeling of the movie, i also really really don’t like the french influences that found its ways into the movie. That certain kind of humour. Visually the movie is a fantastic example of how detailed you can portrait a futuristic world. So many things going on in it. And Bruce Willis kicks ass. This certainly is one of his best works. Even if he’s playing only a darker version of John McClane again. And you can never go wrong with McClane. Oh and Gary Oldman… love his evil characters.

The 5th Element on IMDb

The Black Hole (1979)

Now this one has a special place in my heart. I remember when i was young i got a cassette tape as a gift from my mom. I don’t know anymore what the occasion was. And that tape was this movie. It was weird getting that story told without the actual pictures to it. A while later i saw the movie and it really looked how i imagined it when i was listening to the tape. What really stands out is Maximilian Schell as the crazy scientist. He is so awesome in it. Of course the movie is pretty outdated now but some of the visuals are still very inspiring to me. So it definitely belongs into this list.

The Black Hole on IMDb

Quiet Earth

This is also a movie that i saw when i was very young. Probably too young to understand the movie as a whole. A few years ago i dug it out and rewatched it. Then i knew again what fascinated me so much. There are many movies like this one but there’s only a few that can capture the atmosphere that good. The story is basically that a failed experiment made all people disappear from the face of the earth. Except for one man. This man belongs to the crew of scientists who worked on that experiment. Now this man is trying to find out what went wrong. The fact that there is no one left makes him slowly go crazy. There is also something happening to the environment. Something that points to a radical change. This is a movie that you can watch for the last two minutes of the movie. Like movies you only watch for that one awesome moment that you love. The end is one of the most amazing eye openers i have ever seen. Have to watch it again soon.

Quiet Earth on IMDb

End of part 6. Like i said earlier i can easily recommend all of them. Every single one of these has visual qualities or special ideas that immediately send my imagination on a trip. Especially ‘Forbidden Planet’ does that very nicely in never showing the actual aliens. That gives your imagination a lot of room and challenges the viewer. Anyway… seek them out if you have some time! It’s worth it!

Regards

signed

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