"Guardians Of The Galaxy" has been in theaters for a whole week now, and finding enormous success everywhere it goes. Marvel's first attempt at the space opera, it keeps, as we discussed in our review, a little too close to the studio's playbook at times, but is positively refreshing in the way that it looks and feels big, bold and different. These aren't the sterile galaxies of the "Star Wars" prequels, or the Apple Store future of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," this is a space that harkens back to messier visions: the Cantina Bar of the original "Star Wars," and various other oddball sci-fi movies of times gone by.
Now that many of you have caught up with James Gunn's film, you know that it's a detailed and lived-in world, full of colorful characters and strange creatures. And so, to mark the film's success, we've hopped in our spaceships and looked back at a selection of oddball, gonzo takes on space and science-fiction, from classic B-movies to more recent freak-outs. Perhaps one of these might scratch a post-'Guardians' itch? Take a look at our list below, and let us know your favorites in the comments section.“Galaxy Quest” (1999)Do you know anyone who’s seen it who doesn't love
“Galaxy Quest”? Of course not, that shit is funny. And sweet and tenderhearted and affectionate toward the culture (obsessive
“Star Trek” fandom) it sends up. And yet it’s a film that seldom gets the props it deserves on either science fiction lists or classic comedy lists, despite an awesome cast (and
Tim Allen, who to be fair, does a pitch-perfect Shatner), all in top form.
Alan Rickman gets to be funny,
Sigourney Weaver brilliantly skewers Trekkie sexism,
Sam Rockwell is his most Sam Rockwell and
Enrico Colantoni makes an absolutely adorable alien. Oh and there is a great
Tony Shalhoub turn, and
Daryl Mitchell as an ex-child prodigy pilot. By Grabthar’s Hammer, we shall restore its reputation.
“Galaxy Quest” is a totally cherishable sci-fi spoof, unless you’re
George Takei who refers to it as
“a chillingly realistic documentary.”“Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” (2005)Wow, next year
“Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” is going to turn 10 years old -- that’s mildly depressing. The popular series about mismatched space hijackers didn't get the greatest reception on film, but any movie that depicts the destruction of Earth by poetry-loving pig-like aliens, has a melancholic robot voiced by
Alan Rickman, and boasts
John Malkovich and
Sam Rockwell playing aliens, is good company in our books. While plenty of the nonsense and bells and whistles made the translation, what the film misses is the undercurrent of crackling intelligence we get from the books, which work as brainy, curious sci-fi, as well as out-there humor. Still, the off-offbeat space comedy is worth your time, if for no other reason than as a portal into the Douglas Adams' book, which is one of the few indisputable proofs of genius that exist on planet Earth.
“Spaceballs” (1987)Most
Mel Brooks films qualify as oddball, to be sure, but perhaps none more than this 1987
“Star Wars” spoof. Though infused with the comic director’s’ typical anachronistic, hodgepodge buffoonery and plenty of other reference points—
“Alien,” “Star Trek” and
“Planet of the Apes”, hell even
“Blazing Saddles”—there was something almost immediately dated about the movie, what with its release some four years after
“Return of the Jedi.” Regardless,
“Spaceballs,” by no means Brooks’ finest hour, is still a lot of fun.
Rick Moranis, as
Dark Helmet, reaches even more hilarious nerdy heights than his work in
“Ghostbusters.” It did solid box office despite divided critical opinion, but there are enough memorable quotes and solid gags to recommend giving it a shot, either for nostalgia purposes or as a first go-round.
“Starship Troopers” (1997)It may not star any wacky talking plant life, but Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 box-office disappointment could be the weirdest film on this list, in that it's hardly even an actual film, more a bunch of stuff that happens, almost panel by panel, like a cartoon comic strip. The bland 2D handsomeness of the soap opera B-list cast, and the almost complete absence of plot, characterization or coherent subtext, made the teenaged us feel, back in the day, like "Starship Troopers" might just be a very bad movie. But time has changed that. There’s a slyness running through the film that suggests it’s closer to pastiche than satire, and is getting off on the knowledge that people are going to tie themselves in knots figuring out its satirical intent when actually it’s a plasticky cartoon featuring a bunch of tremendous bisections (which haven’t aged a day.)
“The Fifth Element” (1997)Luc Besson began writing
“The Fifth Element” when he was only 16 years old, and when it finally reached theaters, it underperformed in the U.S. but made more than twice its budget overseas. It’s infused with such a goofy, often-nonsensical spirit, and mashed-up from so many disparate pieces, that it's clear Besson was collecting influences as he wrote it over a 22 year period. There’s a little
“Heavy Metal” mixed with a generous helping of
“Star Wars,” and even some
“Koyaanisqatsi” to name a few. It’s an enjoyable, though sometimes trying, pastiche--the contributions from game cast members
Gary Oldman and
Chris Tucker go big and bold here, and it mostly works. And comic book writers
Jean Giraud and
Jean-Claude Mézières (their works were another huge influence on the film) contribute beautifully crafted production design, which, alongside the awesomely bizarre costumes by
Jean-Paul Gaultier, make for a memorably weird mainstream summer movie.
Rest at source.
So many good movies! Is your favorite movies listed?