Dystopia Flicks, Part 2

That was part 1, now, part 2...


1984

The film-

The grandaddy of them all.

The history-

Haven't seen it though.
One of those ones you always hear about, but never get around to.


Brave New World

The film-

Eh...*wavey hand*

So, yeah, this um, is where the whole "Alpha", thing came from that got injected into our political/public discourse, and got picked up by strutting meat-heads.

Surely not the author's intention, I'm sure...

The history-

Saw once on Sci-Fi Channel.
Yeah, there was actually a time before they got obsessed with churning out z-grade monster movies.


The Time Machine

The film-

A classic.
And, definitely a Dystopia.
Okay, maybe this is the grandaddy of them all...

The history-

Seen all my life on one classic movie channel or another.


Soylent Green

The film-

As said before, in combination with "Omega Man", and "Planet of the Apes", makes up Chuck Heston's Dystopia trilogy.

Great stuff.
Well, chilling, but you know what I mean.

Reality inches more towards the dark 70's stuff all the time...

The history-

See The Time Machine.


Logan's Run

The film-

Speaking of dark 70's ones...

Yeah, this isn't even science fiction anymore, this is MTV's business model.
Hell, the whole recording industry has picked it up.

The history-

See Soylent Green.


Rollerball

The film-

The grandaddy of stuff like "The Running Man".
What with the theme of games and mass media having sway on the populace, and all.

So, in this one, political disputes are resolved by deadly roller-derby.
Ah, if only.
And by that, I mean roller-derby being popular on television.

The history-

They did a shitty remake of this.
It was called "Robot Jox".
Hahahaha!
Ahhh....


Death Race 2000

The film-

Came out the same year as "Rollerball".

Eh, this one is more satirical fun.
Lotta film snobs thumb their noses at it.
Screw them, I think it's a hoot.

And hey, you got a pre-Rocky Stallone in this!

The history-

See Logan's Run.


Zardoz

The film-

Pretentious and weird.

I like it.

I miss movies like this.

When they go for pretentious and weird these days, you don't get "Zardoz", you get "Inception".
It's just not the same.
It's just...not...the same..
:-(

The history-

Eh, only seen it a couple times, must buy someday though.


THX-1138

The film-

And with this, George Lucas's career was born.

Don't you miss this gloomy, subversive, rebellious, transgressive George?
Boy, I sure fucking do.

Yes, kiddies, this is where Unca' George got the name for the theater sound system.

"1138", also pops up as an easter-egg in other Lucas flicks as far back as Star Wars.

Anyway, the plot is basically a mish-mash of "Brave New World", and "1984", but, it has its own style.

The history-

This used to cycle more on cable.
Now, you're lucky if TCM plays it once every 5 years.
*Grumble*


Dune

The film-

Well....Lynch probably did as well as a human being possibly could to cram the novel into a 2 hour flick.

But....without knowing the novel like the back of  your hand, you'll definitely be lost, at least on the first viewing.
Takes a few times through to get this.

It's...all right, the performances are good, the casting is pretty decent, looking back, it's a very strange confluence of events that a film this weird even exists.

It took a lot of liberties, to be sure.
Like, the whole "weirding module", thing isn't in the book at all.
They took one little throwaway line out of the book literally, and ran with it.
Maybe some studio suit thought Dune needed a gimmick like Star Wars's lightsabers, I dunno...

As far as Dystopia, well, an unstable top-heavy form of government addictively reliant on a volatile rare natural chemical resource of a hostile nation?
Where have we seen that before...hmm....

The history-

HBO.
Hey, didja know Lynch was on the short list to direct "Return of the Jedi"?
Now that would have been interesting.


Brazil

The film-

Another spooky totalitarian Orwellian government.
This time, Terry Gilliam style.

He (Gilliam) claims that this, along with "Baron Munchhausen", and "Time Bandits", make up a thematic trilogy.

The theme being "the dreamer".

Okey-dokey..

The history-

Y'know, seen this in pieces, but never all the way through....


The Running Man

The film-

D'oh, I shoulda had this, and "Commando", in the Arnold section of "Action Heroes".

Yeah, this one's pretty merciless on the whole gameshow mentality.
Which, at the time, was pretty garish.
Still a grim chuckle to watch.
I'd put it next to "Death Race 2000".

The history-

Conventional gameshows are essentially dead, if we ever had a "Running Man", style future happen now, it'd look more like "Survivor".

Amazed to this day no one's taken a bad spill, and gotten killed on that thing yet.

Shit, amazed no one's killed for ratings yet...
Tch, well, I think "reality", TV has shown The Dark Overlords that people are just as happy to watch bland, dull, listless, mediocrity-reality, like dwarves trying to get pregnant, and religious cultists having no problem at all shitting out 18 kids, or a guy baking cakes.

I think that's where that future frittered away to.

*Laughs*
So, there you go, TLC saves lives!


They Live

The film-





Need I say more?
Need I...say more?

The history-

Saw this in the theater.
Didn't like it at the time, wasn't hip to the satire.
I've since fallen under its spell on cable, indeed anything Carpenter, and I kick myself.


12 Monkeys

The film-

Another Gilliam.

His bleakest one yet.
Well, "Brazil", is pretty fucking bleak too, but cutened up with his "dreamer", thing.
This, not so much.

The history-

Nicely's rental.


A.I.

The film-

Famous of course, for being "the lost Kubrick film".

I would have rather have seen his "Napolean", but...there you go...

The history-

Rental. Meh.


Gattaca

The film-

Barely fucking science fiction.

We've got fucking diseased people out there right now who stubbornly think the world represented here would be a wonderful thing, and tirelessly labor to make it so.

Look upon it, and despair.

The history-

Cable.


Idiocracy

The film-

Not EVEN science fiction, a fucking documentary.

The history-

Cable.


Minority Report

The film-

Oh, they'd make this come true if they could.

Thankfully, quantum mechanics simply won't allow future prediction.

But if it could, you'd be living this nightmare right fucking now.

They'd do it of they could, they'd do it if they...COULD.

The history-

Seens bits of it.


A Scanner Darkly

The film-

Another gloomy, paranoid, totalitarian super-surveillanced police state.

And, an ending as depressing as "Brazil".

Good though.
Good cast, CG rotoscoping is interesting.

The history-

Based on a Philip K. Dick book.
Yep, the Bladerunner guy.


Serenity

The film-

Firefly the movie.

S'okay, I liked the show better.

Don't think non-fans of the show even bothered with this, did they?

The history-

One of the very last Nicely's rentals.


Wall-E

The film-

From here...

A post-apocalyptic film for children.
That had to be a hard sell.

But damned if it ain't one of the best films I've seen, period.
The 00's had a lot of those.

The history-

Got the DVD of this kicking around somewhere, keep forgetting...
I gotta watch it again.
Hopefully, without choking up this time.
Dammit.


Gamer

The film-

Eh, seems silly to me that such a world (gamers controlling cons as war puppets) would come about, but if you plopped some of today's gamers INTO that world, I've no doubt they'd gleefully take right to it.

The history-

Philip never did review this for me.

Ah, well...


The Futurama Movies

The films-

Excellent, hilarious, pretty good, and okay.

Well, Futurama is fun, for US, but...they really are in a Dystopia when you stop and think of it.
Robot Nixon for President, suicide booths, Soylent Green, killer Robot Santa, Mom, lotsa hideous stuff.

The history-

So, this retroactive sorta-season filled the yawning chasm between Fox moron scumbags cancelling the show, and the show coming back with regular episodes on Comedy Central.

I dunno why resurrecting this show took an act of fucking Congress, but it did, and it was just as fucking slow.

Yep, we waited as long for this as the Trekkies did between TOS and the movies, I think...*counts fingers* yep, exactly as long.
So, stow your martyrdom, boomers.
We went on that ride too.


Probably lots more...but I think I got all the good ones...

Up next...I dunno....