In honor of Star Trek into Darkness, one of my most anticipated movies of the year, May is hereby declared science fiction month on my blog. It’s going to be all sci-fi, all the time (except for The Great Gatsby, which I can’t miss). I am a big fan of sci-fi, but recently I have come to realize that I actually haven’t seen that many sci-fi films. 2001? No. The Matrix? Nope. Star Wars? Okay, I’ve seen those!
So I have seen some Sci-fi movies, but not nearly enough. The only one I’ve reviewed so far is Contact, one of my favorites. This is a serious problem that needs to remedied as soon as possible. I hope to get a good mix of films this May; new ones, old ones, some classics that I haven’t seen, and some rewatches.
Here are some films that I have planned so far: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Planet of the Apes (1968), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), The Matrix (1999), Serenity (2005), Children of Men (2006), Oblivion (2013), and most notably, I am going to go through all the original Star Trek movies, as well as the 2009 reboot, leading up to Star Trek into Darkness (2013).
I’m really excited for STID, as I’m sure everyone who saw Star Trek is. I just saw the trailer at the theater the other night, and I’m even more excited. I’m sure it’s going to be a hugely entertaining movie, plus I have a real attachment to the characters so I’m excited to see them again as well. Plus, since I don’t watch Sherlock (I know, I know) I’m excited to see what all of this fuss about Benedict Cumberbatch is.
So I’ll kick everything off on May 1st with a review of Serenity, which I have been dying to see ever since I got through Firefly over Christmas break. I’m already mad at myself that I waited this long because it’s been getting spoiled for me a lot, but I’m sure I’ll still enjoy it. This is really exciting for me, because although I’ve liked sci-fi ever since I was about eleven and I saw Star Wars for the first time I haven’t actually seen that much outside of Star Wars and Star Trek. This needs to change, and this month, I’m going to change it.
The Soul of the Plot 
Looking forward to your marathon. 2001’s my second favorite movie, and I love Blade Runner and Alien as well. Also, I recommend seeing A. I., which I think is a highly underrated film.
That’s funny because I started watching AI last night! I didn’t list all the films I planned on doing in case I can’t find them, but I will be reviewing AI next week. I’m only about 30 minutes in or so, but it’s pretty frightening so far. I don’t know if I would be able to handle it if I had kids! David is so cute, and it’s weird to think he’s not actually human.
I’m excited too! Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres and it really surprised me to learn how little of it I had actually seen!
That’s a nice lineup. You’ve got some sweet movies to look forward to this month, Hunter. 😀 I might actually recommend the ’78 Body Snatchers over the original, but they’re both good 😀
Why, thank you. I have actually already seen the original, and I love it. I can’t wait to watch it again and write it up. Such a gloriously cheesy movie. Maybe I’ll check out the ’78 version as well if I have time.
Well, how is somebody supposed to read that and then not recommend movies? Logan’s Run, the Time Machine (1960, Rod Taylor), and the Thing (1982, Kurt Russell). I cannot recommend the Thing too highly; one of my top five movies overall.
I also have a tremendous soft spot for Tank Girl…
Ha ha! I would have straight up asked for recommendations, but there are so many sci-fi films I haven’t seen that I booked myself up pretty dark fast! I did consider The Thing though, and it is still on my alternate list in case I need some more stuff. I don’t think I will though 🙂
Even if I don’t get to it this month, I’ll probably get to it eventually 🙂
Hi, Hunter:
Well detailed and executed review! Looking forward to Sci~Fi Month.
I’m very Old School when it comes to Sci~Fi. Grew up on 1950s ‘Red Scare’ (Us vs. Them) flicks like ‘The Thing From Another World’, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’
and any George Pal film.
‘2001’ still holds the top slot for story and detail. Still think ‘2010’ is a decent sequel.
While ‘Alien’ is just an up scaled and effected ‘It! The Terror from Beyond Space’. And ‘Aliens’ is a great throwback to the flicks I grew up with.
Awesome! Me too!
I tried to get some old stuff in there, but didn’t succeed as well as I hoped. I really wanted to watch Metropolis (1927) which is about as old school as you can get, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Watching all of the Star Treks takes up a lot of time.
I didn’t even realize 2001 had a sequel! I will have to check that out sometime!
I am pretty excited for Alien though, and hopefully I’ll get the whole franchise. Though that takes up a huge chuck of time too, but I’m trying to fit in it with Fincher Friday, so it seems worth it.
Good line-up there. Looking forward to seeing what you think on some of them.
Awesome! I’m excited too 🙂
You’ve picked some great movies for your sci-fi marathon, looks like a lot of fun. May I suggest Close Encounters of the Third Kind? One of my all time sci-fi favorites.
Yeah, the movies I have watched so far have all been really good!
I am pretty booked up, but I’ll add Close Encounters to the list. I’ll get to it if I have time! I have seen it, but it was a long time ago and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep, so it doesn’t even count really. I don’t remember any of it. I’ll definitely have to go back to it! 🙂
of course i choose this month to drop off the face of the earth, jeeze. and the fuss about benedict cumberbatch? totally deserved. his voice as a villain…mmmm i cant wait. and you need to watch sherlock.
Ughh! You know how everyone (including me) tells you to get a tumblr? That’s like me with Sherlock. I will watch it eventually! But Star Trek is coming first.
And I’m sure Benedict Cumberbatch is really good and everything, but I haven’t witnessed it. He’s going to be in like three movies this year, so don’t worry!
woah wait three movies? this, the hobbit 2 and what else?!
Oh I forgot about the Hobbit! So really it’s four. Dang, he is busy. And just kidding about that, a trip to imdb revealed that the actual count is FIVE! And Sherlock too, so he’s even busier than I thought.
So Star Trek, The Hobbit, Twelve Years a Slave (I forgot about that one, I think I knew he was in it but that one has such a large cast of familiar actors that he wasn’t one that I remembered), August: Osage County, and The Fifth Estate. Whew!
Twelve Years a Slave is about a guy that gets kidnapped and sold into slavery, based on a true story. The guy that played the Operative in Serenity (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is playing the slave, Cumberbatch is playing some guy called William Ford, don’t know who that is. The film also has Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry (they were both in Beasts of the Southern Wild), and also Paul Giamatti and Paul Dano, who I had also forgotten about.
The Fifth Estate is about Wikileaks. Should be interesting.
The trailer just came out for August: Osage County, and that has a huge cast to. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Sam Shepard… it’s a disfunctional family thing based off a play. It doesn’t look like something I’d normally see but with that cast and the source material it’s bound to be an oscar contender, making it really hard to pass up.
So yeah. Once this year is over, I will definitely know who Benedict Cumberbatch is.
O.O this will be a good year. and you better watch sherlock.
I know! I will. And you read the Great Gatsby.
indeed
oh i would also like to suggest a movie, if youre not completely booked. though i think you should still watch it even if you cant fit it in now, because SYMBOLISM! starship troopers 1997. i may have told you about it before but…super cheesy, a lot of violence, and so much symbolism its awesome.
I am sort of completely booked. I might make this a tradition though, there’s bound to be a sci fi movie coming out in May next year, right? Though it would be pretty hard to be bigger than STID though.
But… it’ll go on the list anyway. Violence and symbolism! What more do you need?
Thanks for coming back by the way. 🙂 missed you buddy.
i kind of figured lol. also i thought of a fun sci fi movie, galaxy quest. a giant star trek parody but absolutely hilarious. you dont have to review that but its a fun movie. and of course i came back! love this blog
Awesome! I’ll look into it.