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Favorite near-future SF on Blu

post #1 of 53
1/27/12 at 11:05pm
Thread Starter 

First, I wanted to say thanks for the responses on this other related thread. I've enjoyed readin the comments and opinions there.

 

Right now though, I'm lookin for some recommendations to add to my small, but gradually expanding collection of SF BDs (which currently includes F.P., Alien, Heavy Metal, Logan's Run, Planet Hulk, Stargate, SW 4-6) before a couple post-holiday sales/coupon/tradein offers expire. Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

Some examples of what I mean by "near-future" films (largely compiled from the suggestions here):

 

TITLE: WHEN IT TAKES PLACE: MOVIE: VIDEO TRANSFER QUALITY: COMMENTS:
The Omega Man 1977 C    
Escape from NY 1997      
Hardware 2000's
(Short Story: 2000)		      
2001: A Space Odyssey 2001 C    
Timecop 2004      
District 9 2010      
2010 2010 C    
Escape from L.A. 2013      
A Scanner Darkly ~2013      
The 6th Day 2015      
The Running Man 2017      
Surrogates 2017
(Graphic Novel: 2055)		 C C Teal & orange color filtering, but otherwise good.  
Terminator: Salvation 2018 C C Some color filtration.  
The Island 2019 C    
Bladerunner 2019-2020
(Novel: 1992/2021*)		 C   *Based on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which was originally set in 1992, but changed to 2021 in later publications.
Mission to Mars 2020      
Reign of Fire 2020 C

I have mixed feelings on this xfer. EE is evident in many places, and the image is a bit on the murky/muddy side, but most of the FX shots look pretty ok, and the BD xfer is a noticeable improvement on the rather abysmal DVD edition I've seen. So this gets a marginal C from me.

  
Johnny Mnemonic 2021      
Soylent Green 2022      
Children of Men 2027
(Novel: 2021)		 C    
The Terminator 2029 C    
V for Vendetta 2030's
(Graphic Novel: 1997)		      
Demolition Man 2032      
I, Robot 2035      
Minority Report 2055      
A Sound of Thunder Short Story: 2055
(Film=?)		 C   Don't think this is available on Blu, but it should be cuz it has some nice visuals.
Red Planet 2056 C    
Sunshine 2057      
Babylon A.D. 2059
(Novel: 2013)		   C Some color filtration.  
Screamers 2078     No BD yet.
Ultraviolet 2078      
Impostor 2079 C D Very murky & muddy.  
Total Recall 2084 C    
A.I. 2100's      
Avatar 2154      
The Matrix ~2199 C    
Logan's Run 2200's
(Novel: 2116)		 C C Very film-like.  
Forbidden Planet Early-2200's C C A bit soft and grainy at times, but otherwise pretty impressive for such an old film. My review.
The Fifth Element Mid-2200's C    

 

Near-future films with unspecified dates:

 

TITLE: WHEN IT TAKES PLACE: MOVIE: VIDEO TRANSFER QUALITY: COMMENTS:
A Clockwork Orange ? C D Film-like, but very soft/poor detail, and bad ringing on top and bottom edges of frame.  
Gattaca "not-too-distant future" C    
Mad Max "a few years from now" (presumably after 1979, when the film was made) C    
RoboCop ? C    
Soldier ? C C From wikipedia: "Soldier was written by David Peoples, who co-wrote the script for Blade Runner. By his own admission, he considers Soldier to be a "sidequel"/spiritual successor to Blade Runner..."

Edited by ADU - 9/5/12 at 6:33pm
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post #2 of 53
1/28/12 at 5:56am
I admit though it has been awhile since I have seen some of the others and I never watched Clockwork. Surrogetes and Minority Report were both pretty good.

2001 looks amazing on blu-ray.
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post #3 of 53
1/28/12 at 6:27am
Star Trek: The Next Generation
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post #4 of 53
1/28/12 at 6:34am
2001 is among my top favourite films.

From titles I have in my own library, I would also add:
  • Contact
  • Dark City
  • Moon
  • Terminator 2
  • V for Vendetta
  • Children of Men
  • 2010

Considering the list of movies you presented, I also think the terms "alternate-future" or "alternate present" also apply.
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post #5 of 53
1/28/12 at 7:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scorpiontail60 View Post

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Four hundred years is not "near" future.

Gotta go with Blade Runner on this one, hands down.
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post #6 of 53
1/28/12 at 12:12pm
The 6th Day....just kidding
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post #7 of 53
1/28/12 at 12:15pm
Children of Men
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post #8 of 53
1/28/12 at 12:57pm
Gattaca. Hard to say exactly how 'near term', but probably close enough.
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post #9 of 53
1/28/12 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by apog View Post

gattaca. Hard to say exactly how 'near term', but probably close enough.

+1
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post #10 of 53
1/28/12 at 1:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by apog View Post

Gattaca. Hard to say exactly how 'near term', but probably close enough.

"not too distant future" I swear I heard the year 3000 somewhere.
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post #11 of 53
1/28/12 at 1:11pm
The Island....
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post #12 of 53
1/28/12 at 1:21pm
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
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post #13 of 53
1/28/12 at 3:05pm
Thread Starter 
Some good suggestions so far. Thanks.

The time frame is flexible btw. So feel free to interpret "near" or "not to distant" future as you wish. FWIW, I've added a few more titles to the examples (including some mentioned above by others) and indicated the years in which the stories take place (if I could find em), in case that may be of any help.

I don't think I was aware (btw) that A.I. was partially based on a short story by Brian Aldiss called: "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long".
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post #14 of 53
1/28/12 at 3:28pm
The Book of Eli
Hardware
The Road
Sunshine
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post #15 of 53
1/28/12 at 3:35pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffer65 View Post

Surrogetes and Minority Report were both pretty good.

Not a huge BW fan, but I enjoyed him in Surrogates (in spite of the tweaked color on the film). Have not seen the BD yet, but I'm tempted to pick this up if I can find a good deal on it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tezster View Post

Moon

Seen this at my local rental shop, and been tempted to rent it. Guess I'll have to give it a look.

Quote:


Considering the list of movies you presented, I also think the terms "alternate-future" or "alternate present" also apply.

Works for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by neveser View Post

The Book of Eli

^ Also somewhat curious about this one (which I haven't seen yet).
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post #16 of 53
1/28/12 at 4:13pm
The Sci-Fi Blu-rays in my collection. These were exported from Movie Collector using a filter that equaled Science Fiction or SciFi or Sci-Fi.

20 Million Miles To Earth
2001 A Space Odyssey
2010: The Year We Make Contact
Aeon Flux
Alien Vs. Predator
Alien
Arrival, The Bad transfer, high black level. VG Sound FX in places, some music
Blade Runner Remix to 5.1 is done very well. Has one of the best music TKs of all time. New surround FX done VG.
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Constantine
Cowboys & Aliens Fairly well made. VG sound TK with many good surround FX and LFE.
Darkman
Day After Tomorrow
Dune
Fantastic Four
Fifth Element, The
Fountain, The
Gattaca
Hollow Man
I, Robot
I Am Number Four Fairly well made, some handheld and shaky camera work. Good surround TK, some top notch LFE sound FX.
Inception 2010 Christmas gift from Stacey & Jennifer
Indenpendence Day
Next
Planet Of The Apes
Predator
Red Planet
Robocop
Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow Fair sound track. Picture has a 'glow' therefore it is not very detailed. Fairly well made.
Soldier
Species
Stargate 15th Anniversary Edition
Starship Troopers
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines
The 6th Day
The Matrix
The Road Warrior
The X Files: Fight The Future
Thor Some handheld camera work. VG sound TK with some VG surround and several VG LFE.
Total Recall
Tremors
Tron Legacy First movie vied in new Media Room.; Well made, first class sound TK, some great low end, some good surround FX. VG pic.
War Of The Worlds (2005)
Watchmen Well made, some good sound FX, good sound Tk, VG pic.
X-Men: The Last Stand
X-Men
X-Men - First Class Fairly well made, one dumb sequence with split screens. VG sound TK with a number of good surround FX and LFE.
X2 • X-Men United
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post #17 of 53
1/28/12 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
Nice list! (Looks like I've got some catchin up to do. ) Are there any on there that you recommend avoiding after having seen them, or had buyer's remorse about?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland View Post

Soldier

^ Another good one I forgot about.

Quote:


Chicken Little

??
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post #18 of 53
1/28/12 at 4:41pm
Escape from New York....
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post #19 of 53
1/28/12 at 5:50pm
Firefly
Event Horizon
Pitch Black
Chronicles of Riddick
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post #20 of 53
1/28/12 at 6:00pm
Sleep Dealer
Damnation Alley
Enemy of the State
Universal Soldier
Demolition Man
12 Monkeys
Soylent Green
Johnny Mnemonic
Doomsday
THX 1138
Repo! The Genetic Opera
A Scanner Darkly
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post #21 of 53
1/28/12 at 6:27pm
Thread Starter 
I'll also add Babylon A.D.. Story was sorta so-so. But PQ on the DVD edition was pretty good for a recent film IMO. So my guess is it'd look pretty decent in HD as well, and may be worth a rent at least on BD for some folks.

I can't wholeheartedly recommend Planet Hulk btw. Picked this up dirt-cheap on BD as a blind buy, and the story (which definitely dragged in places) and animation were only so-so IMO.

Another animated title I'll put out for consideration is Redline. Haven't seen it yet, but the preview looked pretty cool. Released on BD earlier this month.
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post #22 of 53
1/28/12 at 7:07pm
Thread Starter 
Also these...

Resident Evil series
Ultraviolet

^ Haven't seen em on BD yet, but imagine some would be decent...
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post #23 of 53
1/28/12 at 8:34pm
Could Solaris be added to the list?
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post #24 of 53
1/28/12 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
^ Looks ok to me. Can't find a precise timeframe for it though. Maybe someone else knows?
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post #25 of 53
1/29/12 at 12:44am
One that I would really like to see released on BD is Wim Wender's Until The End Of The World. The best available version of this film is the Region 2 DVD release from Ripley's Home Video, and I'm not even sure if it's still available, I purchased my copy from Scarecrow Video in Seattle several years ago.
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post #26 of 53
1/29/12 at 1:59am
District 9
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post #27 of 53
1/29/12 at 4:19am
I'm still partial to BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II as 'near future' goes.
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post #28 of 53
1/29/12 at 8:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ADU View Post

Are there any on there that you recommend avoiding after having seen them, or had buyer's remorse about?

The Arrival black level is too high, it can easily be made viewable by adjusting your Brightness (black level) control on your display or video processor device. A pain, but this title most likely will never be re-released on BD.

Chicken Little, yea that was . Title info is imported from Movie Collector and DVD Empire.

Some titles that were missed:

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer
Max Payne - Special Edition
Percy Jackson & The Olympians - The Lightning Thief
Sorcerer's Apprentice, The
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post #29 of 53
1/29/12 at 9:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neveser View Post

Enemy of the State

A great little popcorn movie with replay value, but sci-fi? I'd call it "political thriller".
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post #30 of 53
1/29/12 at 10:47am
Screamers
Brazil

They are not yet released on Blu.
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