Trying to find a movie.

[Precipice]

Hello people. I'm going crazy trying to find a specific movie I watched as a small kid. I don't know who is in it, I don't know the story, I don't even know if it is any good. I just remember one scene from it. It was one of those sci-fi dystopian types, a guy who I keep incorrectly picturing as James Spader has just won a fight against a la femme assassin android thing, whose last request is to die looking at the sunrise. Or sunset. I forget. And they dueled with what looked like that blade thing from Halo. So this guy turns her head toward the sun and that's all I remember. I keep vaguely remembering a scene with someone trying to sell the guy water but he waves a thing at it and decides it is poison, but I think that might have been Mad Max.

Failing that specific title, if anyone has any suggestions for movies or games along the lines of sci-fi neo-noir dystopian future, cyberpunk fantasy involving androids, clockwork men, matrix-like stuff, hit me up. People keep telling me to watch Bladerunner so I'll probably start with that.

As for games, I just finished Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, and Shadowrun Hong Kong. The modern Shadowrun series is like a slow and very wordy lovechild of KoTOR and Dragon Age, both of which I probably enjoyed more. I liked Shadowrun, I'm just afraid to recommend it to others because it's very niche, as though designed specifically for people who want that sort of thing, and most don't.

 

[TRA Rotid]

The movie doesn't ring any bells, but you can try Stackexchange. Fun site overall and story identification is a particular skill of theirs.

Other recommendations... hmm... Bladerunner is the obvious choice (I wasn't very fond of it myself, but I probably watched it in a wrong mood and didn't invest myself into it enough. A rewatch is in order).
Something that should fit your criteria perfectly is Dark City - not gonna mention anything else as it might spoil it.
Want something sick - Tetsuo.
There is Robocop - a classic, Dredd (2012)
Also Brazil - haven't seen it yet, but been on my list for a while.

There are a ton of dystopian movis out there, perhaps a little less in the cyberpunk theme.

 

[Precipice]

Cyberpunk is a hard genre to do right. When Shadowrun was pitched to me as a neo-noir dystopian cyberpunk fantasy thriller game, I immediately jizzed several times in rapid succession. Sadly it didn't live up to my expectations. With movies, well there's The Matrix; I liked the first, but the sequels ruined the brand for me. Just don't repeat that to my friends - they would burn me alive for blasphemy.

Robocop was great. Even the remake was pretty good, I thought. I haven't seen the remake of Judge Dredd. Stallone's Dredd made great material for a How Did This Get Made episode, as do many Stallone movies. Link. I haven't seen or heard of Tetsuo, Dark City or Brazil. I'll look into those and check them out.

I felt bad about posting my question here, and almost started it with an apology. Thank you for the link to Stackexchange. As it happens I always have questions like this and having a place like that to ask them is perfect.

 

[HobbeBrain]

Hello people. I'm going crazy trying to find a specific movie I watched as a small kid.

When were you a small kid? This might help us track down the film, if you give us the years to work with.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Sunrise scene reminds me of the end of Blade II.
Poison scene reminds me of Princess Bride.
So I have no idea.

Well-circulated sci-fi films pre 2000? I don't know many.
Pretty much just Dark City and Cube.

 

[Precipice]

When were you a small kid? This might help us track down the film, if you give us the years to work with.

Not that long before you were a small kid, according to your profile. I probably saw this movie when I was 5 or 6, I'm pretty sure it was pre-millennium, if not immediately after.

Sunrise scene reminds me of the end of Blade II.
Poison scene reminds me of Princess Bride.
So I have no idea.

Well-circulated sci-fi films pre 2000? I don't know many.
Pretty much just Dark City and Cube.

It's been a while since I've watched Blade. Don't think I ever saw the sequels. Princess Bride, I could watch that whenever, it has a classy wit to it that you don't much see anymore. And I think I've watched part of Cube, but I could stand to watch it proper.


What about you guys? In the very broad scope of sci-fi, do you guys have any particular favorites? Ranging from Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! to Star Wars to whatever else.

 

[Zarkes]

A cyberpunk movie that I thought was incredible was Hackers. Kids in the 80's have a hobbie of hacking the system and accidentally get involved in a terrorist conspiracy.

Of course the Matrix, I completely agree the sequels didn't live up to it. I liked the philosophy more than the action.

A really good new one is Zero point or w/e. I'm not a computer scientist so it all went over my head but the jist is a dystopian future where an autistic man is given an assignment to prove that 100%=0 and that the whole of the universe is meaningless.

Blade dancer of course

The Cube is really good. People are trapped in a giant rubix cube of death built by the government and have to solve it to escape.

Although far to old and out of touch for most people is 2001 a Space odyssey. That was an incredible masterpiece and I learn something new every time I watch it. If you can suffer its old age it blows even the Matrix out of the water.

A really good one is the Fifth Element. It has that human nature goddess in an industrial world theme.

The movie Pi. It bleeds cyberpunk. Set in black and white a jewish computer scientist finds the numerical name of God. The knowledge can win the stock market, fulfill prophecies and the lot. Having it inside his head gives him a tumor it was just really cool.

Straying away from Cyberpunk some punky movies I've enjoyed recently are Salt Lake City Punk, Heartless, and Horns by that harry potter dude.

A good documentary on some punks was Napster, how some college boys in the closet cost the music industry billions and gave Apple an idea. And of course all the the indie video game documentaries, where the color pink is discovered to be the most punk thing there is or will ever be.

 

[Precipice]

Got a headache trying to find a meaningful combination of words for what I'm looking for, but it doesn't really matter. It's like really enjoying a specific thing and trying to trace the reason you enjoy it to a specific event, and not being able to find it. Technoir. Neonoir. Postmodernistic postapocalyptic (neo?)dystopian cyberpunk futurepast spacemagic fantasy adventure with alien terrestrials, human robots and laser gunswords. So it's basically the monomyth, like everything else.

I saw the napster docu. If they'd just cut the music industry in on the take they'd have been fine.
Fifth Element, is it bad that I liked it? I might get called out for this, I don't like Bruce Willis. But I liked the movie.
Space Odyssey. I'm sorry Dave. Daisy, Daisy. How about a nice game of chess? Oh, wrong movie. Also a good one.
Hackers was pretty good. If you liked it, I'd recommend Sneakers. Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, other cool people, and has nothing to do with shoes.

 

[TRA Rotid]

Well the likes of Cube kinda veers from your initial territory, but one thing to remember: NEVER WATCH THE SEQUELS! The movie is also far from a simple 90 minute thrill. Subtexts are strong with this one.

Also I remembered something a little more fun (if you can handle foreign cinema) - Sexmission. A movie about two blokes travelling into the future where they are the only two males alive.

Why would it be bad to like Fifth Element? It's awesome.

If we take it a bit broader, I'd throw in Pitch Black as well. I find it to be somewhat underrated.

 

[Firis]

The scene you described with the duel sounds extremely familiar, and now it's bugging me because my mind just keeps thinking "Ultraviolet" when I know darn well it isn't that movie.

As for sci-fi movies (Outside of Star Wars) my top three at the moment goes
1. Bladerunner: The whole movie is very noir, has a dark and rainy mood which I love. The acting and setting are both excellent.
2. Fifth Element: There's nothing really to say other than it's one of the funnest and most re-watchable sci-fi movies I have ever seen.
3. Dune: My introduction to Lynch, and one of the first movies I can remember seeing after Star Wars/Trek had turned me on to the genre; after reading the book I began to understand the criticism of the movie, but it is still well done in it's own right and is very captivating, if you watch it though buckle in because it's a long ride.

I wish I had seen more movies that truly captured the cybergoth vibe, it's time to start browsing Netflix.

 

[Precipice]

Having just finished watching Bladerunner, fantastic. Dark City's next. I'd watch it now but I'm very tired.

The scene you described with the duel sounds extremely familiar, and now it's bugging me because my mind just keeps thinking "Ultraviolet" when I know darn well it isn't that movie.

Happens to me all the time. For instance, me thinking James Spader is in the movie, which led me to watch Stargate and Supernova and they're alright, just not what I'm looking for. Also watched The Watcher and Less Than Zero. I knew it wasn't those but hey, I like them.

cybergoth

I don't like you. I have not seen that word before but now I have and I like it and I will use it, probably a lot. But I already have a lot of words and now I have to squeeze another one in there. I'll correct this now:

Technoir. Neonoir. Postmodernistic postapocalyptic (neo?)dystopian cyberpunk futurepast spacemagic cybergoth fantasy adventure with alien terrestrials, human robots and laser gunswords

Even if there's some overlap between a lot of the terms, it's important to check all the boxes that apply.

Dune was amazing and I wouldn't be surprised if it had an easily measurable impact on the Star Wars franchise and perhaps the genre as a whole. The spice must flow man.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Serenity was cool. I'm a lifelong fan of the Terminator films (LOVED Genisys).
While I'm on obvious picks: Star Wars, the JJ Abrams Star Trek films, Alien, Alien 3, I liked Total Recall AND Total Rekall, District 9, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind off the top of my head.

My biggest problem with some sci fi movies is they don't spend much time setting the scene or explaining the universe. There's no context. Some tend to just drop you in the middle of a universe you don't understand and expect you to remember outlandish character names, alien races, terminology, and everything else with little to no preparation. Most of the worst offenders remain only cult hits for those reasons.

The movie Pi. It bleeds cyberpunk. Set in black and white a jewish computer scientist finds the numerical name of God. The knowledge can win the stock market, fulfill prophecies and the lot. Having it inside his head gives him a tumor it was just really cool.

Second this. Pi is one of my favorite movies.
It's based around the conspiracy theory surrounding the fibonnaci sequence and it sells the theory very well.

I also quite liked the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Even if it's a pretty unfaithful adaptation, it captures the humor of the books pretty well.

Mr. Nobody was an awesome flick. Makes you think about life and decisions and ****, ya know?

OH MY GOD WHY AM I NOT THINKING OF IT SOONER INTERSTELLAR IS LIKE OMGWTF@$@!ur BEST MOVIE EVARRR IT HIT RIGHT. IN. THE. FEELS.

 

[Zarkes]

RIGHT. IN. THE. FEELS.

"Well I want a hot dog." Most realist movie evar

 

[TRA Rotid]

*snip*

Some good movies there, but have little to do with dystopian, cyberpunk, or other genres OP was aiming for. Except Total Recall - the original cult classic is awesome.

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Some good movies there, but have little to do with dystopian, cyberpunk, or other genres OP was aiming for. Except Total Recall - the original cult classic is awesome.

What about you guys? In the very broad scope of sci-fi, do you guys have any particular favorites? Ranging from Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! to Star Wars to whatever else.

 

[TRA Rotid]

Ah, my bad there.
To continue from that, I think Mr. Nobody deserves a mention indeed, as it's not very known and might be skipped otherwise.
And District 9 is one of my all time favourite movies ever.

 

[Quistrix]

Ghost in the Shell is always good, but that's an obvious one. :thumbsup:

 

[Precipice]

I have a strange relationship with Ghost in the Shell. It's kind of like the game, except instead of losing when I remember it, I can win by watching the latest iteration of the franchise. So, thanks. Now I have plans for the night, winning.

 

[Quistrix]

Happy to help. :lol:

 

[HobbeBrain]

I also quite liked the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Even if it's a pretty unfaithful adaptation, it captures the humor of the books pretty well.

Mr. Nobody was an awesome flick. Makes you think about life and decisions and ****, ya know?

OH MY GOD WHY AM I NOT THINKING OF IT SOONER INTERSTELLAR IS LIKE OMGWTF@$@!ur BEST MOVIE EVARRR IT HIT RIGHT. IN. THE. FEELS.

I strongly agree and then almost entirely disagree with you. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best films I have ever, ever seen. Ridiculously fun to watch, and I still feel that they were excellent at keep the Douglas Adams vibe strong, even though, as you said, it was unfaithful.

My only real complaint is that they took liberties with the appearance of some characters, like Ford Prefect, explicitly described in the books as a ginger man with a large nose, is played by an actor who is black, and, more bafflingly, American. And Marvin doesn't look like how the book describes, but that's less of a whole to pick.

Interstellar, or the other hand? 6/10, at the very best. Some elements of it were fantastic, both visually and conceptually. But every single scene set on Earth I found frustratingly tedious. And I'm not some dunderhead who only likes cool spaceships and black holes, I'm always down for a bit of drama, American Beauty is one of my all time favourites. But every time we went to Earth, I wanted to tear chunks of my brain out and lob them at the TV.