Movies That I Don't Consider When Discussing Great "Sci-Fi Films"
They all fit into another genre for me. LOTR would be at the top of my list in a "fantasy" discussion and Wall-E would be up there in an "animated" discussion. Alien of course, horror.
The best way I could describe it would be Back to the Future. In my top 10 of all time. Even being a huge fan of the film and sci-fi, it is just not a "sci-fi" film for me. It is a family film or comedy at best. Just not a sci-fi for me any more than part III is a western.
Oh no lol, I agree about LOTR.. they aren't SciFi.. I was inquiring about Alien and Wall-E.
are you talking you don't consider them sci-fi flicks or you just don't like them enough to consider them when listing off great sci-fi movies?
personally I'd call...
1 - sci-fi
2 - sci-fi
3 - fantasy
4 - depends, a lot of them can be science fiction, others fantasy
5 - horror (though I can see that it does have sci-fi elements technically)
6 - sci-fi (if it was supposed to be a horror movie it fooled me, heh)
7 - sci-fi
8 - sci-fi
9 - sci-fi (animation is just a style, like black and white or colour to me, not the genre)
10 - sci-fi
it's all debatable because 95% of movies have elements of more than one genre in them anyway, nevermind the countless and contradicting subgenres that go on and on... lol
@John - Sorry, I expanded my comment above.
@Cochise - The word genre's definition is "A category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter." The movie The Artist is catagorized as a "silent film", Schindler's List is catagorized as a "black and white film" and Wall-E is catagorized as an "animated film". That's just how I see it. I'm not saying anyone is wrong if they see it as a "sci-fi" movie. Just not me.
Another extreme example would be Hot Tub Time Machine. Does it have an element of "sci-fi" just like Back to the Future? Sure. But, it's a comedy. If anyone ever brought it up in a top ten sci-fi list on here, I'm pretty sure we would all have something to say about it. (Mostly because they would need to watch some sci-fi movies if that was included in their top ten. LOL!)
@brian - with the Hot Tub Time Machine that's how I basically narrow them down, like I said most movies have more than one genre in them, so what defines them as a genre for me is whichever genre (if there's more than one present) is the most prominent in the movie. As for the silent film/animated film/black and white film thing, I get what you're saying but we'll just have to agree to disagree... to me when I look at it that way then wouldn't Saving Private Ryan, Tower Heist, Wrath of the Titans, You've Got Mail, Goon, etc. etc. etc. just get the label of 'colour movie' instead of War/Comedy/Fantasy/and so on? I mean I agree that they are animated films, colour films, black and white films, silent films but I see that separate from the genre (sci-fi, comedy, fantasy, etc.) of the film rather than being in the same category like you do, which there's nothing wrong with, just saying.
No, I don't mean to say that there's anything wrong with it either. It was just a list as how I see it. Maybe you would consider Green Lantern a sci-fi movie. But imo then you would have to classify Captain America as a war movie and The Incredible Hulk as a horror movie and Batman as an Animal Planet documentary on nocturnal animals. ;) Yes, I was being more and more ridiculous on purpose, only to say that anyone can view each movie as they want. I just catagorize them different. Some people consider Batman and Iron Man action movies. You will never find them in my list of action movies, because just like all of the films I have listed, I see them as comic adapted films.
As far as the analogy to silent film/b&w/animated, I may have not made the point I wanted to make. You had said that Wall-E is a sci-fi movie that happens to be animated and that animated is not the "genre", but rather the style. I was pointing out the other films to say that they are ALL styles of film and therefore a genre all their own. But, that wasn't to say that I see it that way. There may be someone who has a collection of DVD's that has set them aside in a "silent film" section because they love silent film and they would probably include The Artist in that section. Another person may have it in their "Oscar Winner" section. For me, it would simple be put in "drama" along with Schindler's List. I would have Wall-E in my animated section right beside Titan A.E.
I don't keep my animated Lord of the Rings with the live action trilogy, because imo they are not fantasy, they are animated films that are about fantasy. Nobody is right or wrong... except I'M right and YOU'RE wrong. ;P
lol... so after all of this I think we can safely agree that GENRE CATEGORIZATION IS FUCKED =P hehe oh well
LOTR is definitely not sci-fi, it's fantasy so I agree with you there... but I would kindly disagree with 9 as well as Alien.
Can I ask why you don't consider those two?