I don't hate all films, despite what this forum may lead you to believe.
I take great pleasure and passion in hating on shitty films, but that doesn't mean I don't like the good ones!

Here are some films of fairly resent times that you may not have seen that you should really, really check out. I'm not going to say they are perfect and I am well aware of their faults….but just for once indulge me while I gush on things I like!

Children of Men
This movie is full on bad ass.
Challenging, serious science fiction that poses a disturbing concept (the end of human reproduction) and takes it to its chilling conclusion.
Agonisingly tense, exciting, harsh and wonderfully shot, check this one out!

District 9
What I love about this film is that it doesn't give you a simple black and white morality.
Its a tale of racism retold with aliens as the minority, but unlike inferior films *cough* Avatar *cough* the aliens are not blameless and immaculate. They suffer racism and oppression, which leads them to crime, drug abuse and violence.
This is something I am always going for in Harkovast, showing people as imperfect and flawed, as we really are.
Also it has giant bad ass robots and the awesome way South Africans pronouce “fuck”.
A cliche concept gets a really awesome reinvention here.

Kick Ass
This film lives up to its title.
Just when you thought there was nothing else you could do with the super hero genre, this films comes along and just blows everything away.
Nicholas Cage in this film is so awesome I cant even explain it here and his side kick Hitgirl is the most most butt kicking female super hero I've ever seen in film. (This is in part because she is a young girl and thus cant be sexualised or objectified like adult female characters would be, which is a sad example of what is wrong with our society…but I digress.)

Inception
Another one that I cant explain.
If I explain it, it will sound shit.
If I tell you the cast it will sound shit (Leonardo Dicaprio and the young one from third rock from the sun? Seriously?)
But this film is fucking sweet.
You must see it!

I've seen District 9 and Kick Ass and loved them both!

And all of these that you mentioned are fantasy/Sci fi except Kick Ass, which is plain lunacy (but in a good way). And there is an argument to be made that Kick Ass is also a type of fantasy…

Personally, I believe that Sci-fi and fantasy are not genres: they are settings. You can have a mystery fantasy because thats a mystery in a fantasy setting. You can't really have a thriller in a comedy setting! (though I bet someone will prove me wrong on that…)…

And if we are talking about things we like…

Have you seen Babylon 5 before? I love that show! It may appeal to your cosmopolitan concept of species (ie, buncha aliens in a room and talking… but several different aliens, all stuck on a space station, which is supposed to function like the UN or something). Warning: There are humans though… almost weren't, but there are…

I think I will give that topic its own section.
There is plenty to say.

All good films.

Sci fi isn't just a setting. Hard sci fi explores the affect science and technology has on humanity and such like.

Actually looking at it now, 3 out of 4 there are science fiction.
Interesting, but hardly surprising for me.
I will have to even it out by finding an incredibly awesome romantic comedy to add to the list.

Yeah, geez. Always with the Sci Fi!

Hmm. I always liked Princess Mononoke. Miyazaki's films set my standard for watching anime, and its a pretty high standard. So thats a fantasy.

Also, I loved Lord Of The Rings. Haven't watched it in a while though.

Romantic Comedy?… hmm. Maybe? No, no, no… uh… Oh yeah, I remember Moonstruck! It had Cher and Italians in it. Can't remember if it was good though. Big Fat Greek Wedding… funny I suppose, maybe that's more of a comedy though.

What I also liked about District 9 was the relative lack of the “white saviour” complex, though it might not seem that way at first. Really, the white fellow messes everything up and only doesn't behave like a self indulged idiot (read, realistic) at the… what? Not gonna spoil it completely.

Also, I didn't mind the new Star Trek film. It beat the new Star wars films anyway… oh, yeah, never thought I'd say that.

hmm…

V for Vendetta
Controversial statement time-
I liked the movie more than the comic!
I thought the movie was bad ass!
The ending was such delightful anti establishment anarchism that it cant help but raise a smile.
I also liked that it was set in the UK, but didn't harp on that fact too much.
It was just comfortably taken for granted- “This story is in the UK.” rather than constant references to fish and chips, driving on the wrong side of the road, visiting the queen and all the other unfunny ignorance that tends to get brought out in hollywood movies set over here.

Readers should not be afraid of their webcomics…webcomic should be afraid of their readers (so please keep reading! Eeek!)

That's right. V for Vendetta. How did I forget about that one? Loved the movie, never read the comic. Honestly? From what I've heard? I probably wouldn't like the comic nearly as much.

I've read the comic, but haven't seen the movie, but from what I've heard of the movie, I'd probably prefer the comic. I'll admit i didn't like the comic the first time i read it, but after the 2nd time I thought it was amazing. I want to see the movie, cause it looks amazing.
the problem is that while a comic has 100's of pages to work with, a movie only has about 2 hours. thus you inevitably lose alot. this can't make up for everything though. for example; watchmen. what the hell. I won't start, because i could go for a bit on what was wrong with the watchmen movie, but then it would segway into something else, and it would end with me explaining why Morpheus is nothing more then a fanatical terrorist, who leads poor fools to their deaths for nothing, or why there are likely no, or very few atheists in the movie cars.
I'll do it if you want tho

Tip: I've heard that the movie and comic for V for Vendetta are pretty different. For some this may be bad, but sometimes different works.

Tip 2: If you mention something rant worthy, do it! Even start a new section. Because if you mention it and don't start your own rant… well… Hark might do it first! He'll undercut you and steal your rantingness!

I was lucky, I got to Avatar before he even watched it!

Tiberius...
because i could go for a bit on what was wrong with the watchmen movie, but then it would segway into something else, and it would end with me explaining why Morpheus is nothing more then a fanatical terrorist, who leads poor fools to their deaths for nothing, or why there are likely no, or very few atheists in the movie cars.

I am really interested to read all of that!

I love the movie V for Vendetta, but the comic just didn't connect with me.


The movie had a level of anti-establishment bad assery that somehow really speaks to me.

“You've got nothing, nothing but your knives and your fancy karate gimics. We've got guns.”

“No, what you have are bullets and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer standing, because if I am…. you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.”

He also had a chunk of plate mail armour under his clothing. But those gun loving dumbasses didn't think V would come prepared.

But most importantly was the fact that under his cloak was an idea…and ideas are bullet proof.

harkovast
Children of Men
This movie is full on bad ass.
Challenging, serious science fiction that poses a disturbing concept (the end of human reproduction) and takes it to its chilling conclusion.
Agonisingly tense, exciting, harsh and wonderfully shot, check this one out!

UGH! Children of Men was the most disappointing movie I had ever seen in my life! The book was BEYOND AWESOME! My father got it for me for my birthday in 92. I lent it to my mom, who in turn lent it to my aunt, who lent it to someone else. End result is that I never saw it again. A bit miffed about that, but the book is probably going around the world in that manner. Prolly folks are wondering who the guy that my father wrote an inscription to on the inside cover is.

The movie only took the basic premise of the book, a handful of characters, and nothing else. Most of the key plot points were changed, the ending was changed, and everyone spoke true English. It's not the nice leisurely British accent that we in America have come to love and understand, it's the machine-gun English that made me want captions. I'm in a loud movie theater and I can't understand what they are saying. All that would have been fine if the movie even remotely followed the book. Most importantly the ending was changed. The ending in the book…

BLEW

MY

MIND!!!!!

It was like the most satisfactory ending of a story I had ever read. I closed the book and said to myself, out loud mind you, “Wow”. Such is the nature of the book you simply HAVE to share it, so it's no wonder it never made it back to me.

Now the ending of the movie was…


meh


So much was lost between the book and the movie that they ended up being two different stories. Like comparing “House of the Dead” to “Night of the Living Dead”. Sure they're both about zombies, but they aren't even close to being equal.

I didn't even know there was a book of children of men (though it makes sense, it has that cool concept sci fi feel that you get more with books than films.)
I watched it just as a movie, without reference to any other source, and I thought it was bad ass.

And saying you cant understand English people is not a valid criticism!
That's a criticism of YOU, not the film!

Hey!

I have a legitimate medical condition that makes you guys really hard to understand!

And the rest of the world needs to adjust their lives around mine!

Mary and Max
This is truly wonderful Australian claymation film about two people who become pen pals.
The characters portrayed are often grotesque in appearance but are truly beautiful.
They are presented with a brutal, wonderful honesty that really moved me.
Another must see.

Anyone ever see Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky? It is a beautiful Soviet era art film (not the kind that the government liked, the kind that eventually helped get Tarkovsky exiled). The cinematography in it was enough to bring tears to my eyes, and the philosophical discussions throughout often did the same.

As for films that were pretty good, but don't hold a candle to the book, how about The Road? The book was easily the most dark, depressing, troubling work of fiction that I've ever read (the vision that Cormac McCarthy created is pretty much my default image of what a nuclear winter would be like), and while the film was very good, I found that the book was that much better.

@Canuovea: I remember seeing Princess Mononoke a while back; I don't really care for Anime, but I did enjoy that film. I can see why Miyazaki holds such respect as a director.

Yeah, I don't consider myself a fan of anime. In fact, in almost every single case it kind of annoys me. But with Miyazaki I don't really notice the anime part. He doesn't rely on the medium, he relies on the story itself. Every, and I mean every, Miyazaki film I've ever seen has met my standards, it can be as epic as Princess Mononoke or as small scale as Porco Rosso (both are arguably his best films). I, for some reason, have yet to watch Spirited Away though.

Actually, there are very few animated films that I actually like, or would like now that I'm older, regardless of if they are anime or not.

Who else has animated films they like?

Animated movies?
Well The Secret of Nim is an obvious choice.
It doesn't get much more awesome then that.

Also, I would never forgive myself if I didn't mention Mask of the Phantasm, the absolutely amazing film of Batman-TAS.
I need to on and write a review of that one!

If they made a film/ TV show of Harkovast, it would deffinitely be animated (and proper animation, not CGI bollocks!)

The Secret of Nim was one of the greats, but for me its got to be Watership Down.
One of the best films ever in my opinion and easily my favourite animated movie. Its faithful to the book, has an environmental message which works (Its not that humans are evil, its that they don't even care about killing nature which is unfortunately true), has a great ‘world creation’ story and the characters are amazing, though any film with John Hurt in it gets my vote. Also…

DOGS AREN'T DANGEROUS!!!

Man, I love that film!

Someone
If they made a film/ TV show of Harkovast, it would deffinitely be animated (and proper animation, not CGI bollocks!)

Get the makers of the barbie cg movies to do it.

Both the Secrets of Nim and Watership Down are great.

As a child I also liked The Last Unicorn and Flight of Dragons. Not too bad actually, but I don't know how they stack up now that I'm older.

Flight of dragons holds up pretty well. It could be the nostalgia speaking but I still think it's better than 90% of disneys output.

James Earl Jones. I mean, he made the baddy just plain awesome/creepy. After all, just look at what he did for Star Wars! Star Wars wouldn't have been half as good as it was (well, the old trilogy anyway) without Vader's James Earl Jones voice.
And, speaking of Disney, what is everyone's favourite Disney Movie? I'd have to say the Lion King. I think it was pretty darn good. And although I haven't actually seen it recently, The Hunchback of Notre Dame has to have one of the best villans I have ever seen (but I don't remember the rest of the movie really).

Schindler's List was amazing (one of the films that I think everyone should see in their lifetime), and on the subject of the Holocaust The Grey Zone was pretty good too.