Monday, August 15, 2011

Pithy Reviews (7) - Classic Sci-fi Edition

Let's travel to the future in the past, when America was afraid of a commie invasion and filmmakers exploited the hell out of it...

The War of the Worlds (Byron Haskin, 1953)
The first big-screen adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel (which is one of my favorite pieces of Sci-fi literature) is a bit clumsily made at times and the acting is pretty flat, but it compensates with a bunch of startling sequences, including the meeting with the alien "tentacles" at the farmhouse, the explosion of an A-Bomb, the cruel, rioting crowds in L.A. and many others.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)
It's Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in outer space! Almost... Astronauts arrive on a distant planet searching for the survivors of a "shipwreck" that took place 20 years earlier. They meet a robot, a passive-aggressive scientist and his hot young daughter (the only survivors), the remains of an ancient alien civilization and they face the stuff that nightmares are made on.
Rating: 4 out of 5

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 1957)
After passing through a radioactive cloud, Scott Carey begins to lose height. The first half of the movie is mostly a awkward family drama (with the added benefit of some comedy), but after a pint-sized Carey is chased in the basement by his own cat, it becomes an adventure movie, as the character explores his almost-microscopic new world in a series on scenes that rely on mood, music and clever effects rather than the occasional narration. Also, the ending really puts things into perspective...
Rating: 4 out of 5


3 comments:

Young Coot said...

Ce tare, asta vroiam eu sa fac, sa ma uit la niste SF-uri clasice. Do these next:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089092/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168922/

Victor said...

That was fast! :D
N-am vazut filmele, dar am sa le caut... "Enemy Mine" pare interesant...

Young Coot said...

Enemy Mine e destul bun, l-am vazut cand eram mic. Alalalt nu l-am vazut.