George R.R. Martin is wrong about Star Wars
George R.R. Martin says that 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Alien, Aliens and Forbidden Planet are better than Star Wars. Although these are all great films, he's clearly wrong. because they're not.
Forbidden Planet is his favourite. Yeah , it's good, I like it a lot, but it's The Tempest, cue flashbacks to studying Shakespeare at school.
He also suggests Charlie (never seen the film, thought the book was a bit dull), War Of The Worlds and The Time Machine (both the old versions). Hmmm. The Wells books are classics, the movies are cheesey. Surely no one likes them better with Star Wars? [Via SFSignal]
I might. ;)
Definitely like Alien and Aliens a lot more. Close Encounters has managed to generate an emotional connection with me for short periods of time whilst watching it. Never seen the others. And I have Big Problems with Star Wars!
Close Encounters is good to watch if you're feeling particularily lost and disillusioned. After watching it you can pretend that you're destined for "bigger things" :-)
I just worked out that GRRM was 8 years old when Forbidden Planet came out, which explains a lot. The best SF film ever is the one you saw when you were very young.
Which is why Star Wars resonates so heavily with many of us.
On the scale of things, I'd say Star Wars has to rate as number one purely due to the effect it had on the general reception of science fiction in general and not just in movies. Alien (and Aliens) is seminal, but the rest I'd take or leave.
As for War Of The Worlds (both versions), they're rubbish. The original story is fantastic and why oh why didn't Spielberg make a movie based on the actual story rather than reinventing it for the modern age? Personally, I'd love to see a full on translation of the Wells story in Victorian Britain and employing Jeff Wayne to write the score!
oooooLaaaaaaAAAA
I just really wanna see a kickass version of the scene where Thunderchild steams into view, scything down tripods!