Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Technician

Cyberpunk Summer

Recommended Posts

This week pretty much marks my first week of summer so I decided to have a little marathon of cyberpunk films.


I have recently watched:

Robocop
Ghost in the Shell
Armitage III (American version)
Terminator


I have currently gathered:

Blade Runner
Brazil
12 Monkeys
Alien

Please list some of your favorites and I’ll see if I can’t hunt them down and add them to the list.

Share this post


Link to post

Most of my run-ins with cyberpunk have been with anime. Akira is pretty good, as is the original Bubblegum Crisis (the 2032 and 2033 ones; it was an OVA and there were only six episodes). Genocyber was decent enough to watch once. But if you've never seen it before, and are wanting to watch something cyberpunk-ish, check out Serial Experiments Lain. It's light on the action, but easily one of my favorite anime series.

For real films, I remember Johnny Mnemonic being entertaining. Escape From NY is a classic, as is Tron. You might like Gunhed, though I thought it moved slowly. The Fifth Element and Judge Dredd are both favorites of mine as well.

I remember one movie that was hard to find called A.P.E.X. growing up. It was actually pretty good, though my recollection could be hazy. I'd love to find this one again if I could.

Also, I'm not sure if you'd consider it cyberpunk exactly, but either the live action movies or the anime series for Guyver might float your boat. The second live action movie was a heck of a lot better than the first, though.

Share this post


Link to post

Hackers. They're so l33t, they use 3D GUIs over a remote desktop on dialup. In 1995. \m/

Also your list is a bit vague, but if RoboCop is on there, I'd recommend some Demolition Man.

Share this post


Link to post

Great! Now we're starting!

I do own

Tron

Akira (The manga was fantastic by the way)

Tetsu the Iron Man (fantastically strange kind of like eraser head)

I forgot all about Judge Dread and Demolition Man. I guess I should also see the Matrix (Only the first) and Fifth Element again. I'm also going to find Bubble Gum and Serial Experiments Lain. I wish my Otaque friend was still here to dumb these off of. I should also re-watch Metropolice and the anime adaption. I think I'll Youtube a few eps of Astro Boy to be safe.

A.I. too I guess.

I got all summer so lets keep going.

Share this post


Link to post

My List:

A scanner Darkly
Aliens
Bladerunner
Brazil
Equillibrium
eXistenZ
Fifth Element
I, Robot
Minority Report
Pi
Strange Days
Twelve Monkeys

Share this post


Link to post

Cyberpunk, my favorite genre.

HACKERS!!! It's got great laugh value, but you gotta admit, it is hell cyberpunk. Oh noes, my garbage files!!!1!

There was a 1998 film New Rose Hotel, made of the William Gibson short story of the same name, though I haven't watched it yet.

Pirates of Silicon Valley, Resident Evil, THX1138, Aeon Flux, Dune, Event Horizon, Mad Max, Mission Impossible, Goldeneye, Starship Troopers, Fifth Element, The Wizard, Ultraviolet, TRON, X-Men, X-Files, Spaceballs :P

Serial Experiments Lain is hell weird, though definitely on topic.

If you want to branch into TV shows, there are two Dune miniseries, Firefly, Quantum Leap, Red Dwarf, Roswell, Sliders, and the sadly-cancelled Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles.

You could also just trawl http://project.cyberpunk.ru/ and http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/

I love how nobody's mentioned the Doom movie yet :P

Share this post


Link to post

Ah yes, Dune was a good fucking movie. I shuold sit down and watch that again soon.

Anyways, looks like you've got a pretty good list going, with Blade Runner coming up soon and such. Although, what "exactly" defines a Cyberpunk movie? (I get the general idea, but I'm not sure on the specifics)

Share this post


Link to post
Kirby said:

Ah yes, Dune was a good fucking movie.

Are you kidding? It was absolutely terrible! I heard somewhere that there were riots in cinemas on its' release because it was so disappointing to fans.

The acting is pretty B-grade, and that MacLachlan dickhead has this idiotic "oh-my-god-i'm-actually-in-a-feature-film" look on his face the whole thing. The only person to come out of Dune with any dignity is Patrick Stewart, and maybe even only cos he has Star Trek to rest upon these days :P

Share this post


Link to post
Super Jamie said:

THX1138

I saw that through Netflix recently. That is an odd, odd movie. Good, but odd. I think I expected something very different from George Lucas and not so artsy.

Share this post


Link to post

Wow, people recommending Tetsuo, never thought I'd see that.

New Rose Hotel is seriously worth finding, Walken and Defoe are awesome in that movie IMO. The IMDB rating for it is very flawed.

Anime, you could try Megazone 23 and Patlabor 2. Also get the full version of Armitage 3 and the sequel.

The first Lawnmower Man, maybe. If you don't mind B-movies then try Nemesis and Nirvana.

Share this post


Link to post

You guys have odd concepts of what cyberpunk is. Anyway...

Blade Runner
Ghost in the Shell
The Fifth Element
Dark City
Total Recall
A Clockwork Orange (might qualify, though came out decades before the genre was around)

Also, any episodes of Max Headroom you're able to find.

Share this post


Link to post

I just watched Matrix Revolution a couple weeks ago. I forgot how epic that movie was.

I'm dying for Terminator Salvation though. May 22nd, cant wait!

Share this post


Link to post
DJ_Haruko said:

I saw that through Netflix recently. That is an odd, odd movie. Good, but odd. I think I expected something very different from George Lucas and not so artsy.

Back when he was interested in making good movies, not just computer-generated muppets and releasing as much crappy merchandise as he could.

Share this post


Link to post

Belial said:
New Rose Hotel is seriously worth finding, Walken and Defoe are awesome in that movie IMO.

Funny, I've always wanted to see those two guys in the same movie, so I guess I'll check that out...

Share this post


Link to post
Kirby said:

Although, what "exactly" defines a Cyberpunk movie?


I was thinking that, many seem to blur the line between cyberpunk and dark future in general. Maybe this might help.

Anyway, given the blurring line I'll add a few more:

The Running Man
Rollerball
Futuresport
Fortress 1 & 2
Outland
The Tower
Freejack
The 6th Day
Paycheck
Eraser

And ofc in a few years time you can add this to the list:

Real-Life (tm)

Share this post


Link to post

Cyberpunk traditionally is set in the future and basically asks one question "what is human" A Clockwork Orange works well because it involves human conditioning.

I'm not entirely sure if the environment has to be set on earth or not but I’m pretty sure it must deal with a not too distant future.

And also the original Rollerball kicked serious ass. I'll need to rent the original Running man again seeing as I just finished Steven King’s short story.

Share this post


Link to post

I always thought that cyberpunk wasn't about dystopias in general, but rather the loss of humanity and purpose as technology marches on endlessly, hence cyberpunk. If is was strictly about dystopias, that would mean Brave New World and 1984 are cyberpunk. I guess in some senses they could be considered cyberpunk, but that makes the definition rather loose.

Either way, most of the movies suggested here are pretty damn good. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Technician said:

Cyberpunk traditionally is set in the future and basically asks one question "what is human" A Clockwork Orange works well because it involves human conditioning.

Well the guidelines for Cyberpunk that I've always known were that it needs to be futuristic, dystopian, and urban...preferably with some Dickian messages in it. Clockwork Orange is both futuristic and dystopian, it's partly urban, and it does have similar themes to Philip K. Dick's work. The kind of moral argument as to whether someone should get their desires stripped away in order to make them a working part of society seems like something he would base a story around.

I guess a better way to put my last qualifier would be "a moral quandary posed by the application of technology". Just because we can, should we? What are the implications of this new technology on our morals and how will/should they be effected? That kind of stuff.

Share this post


Link to post

t.v. said:
And my favorite: Omega Doom. Rutger Hauer is da shit.

Haven't seen that, but the movie the wikipedia says influenced it is great (but not cyberpunk).

Share this post


Link to post

There is another action one that I can't remember the name of...it had Kris Kristofferson (I think) as an old-fashioned detective who hated technology, and he was partnered with a young female FBI agent who specialised in cybercrime. It was set in the future, and people wore weird costumes in the bars/clubs, and over it's course he had to overcome his hate of technology to catch the bad guys.

(I don't think it was NetForce, as Kristofferson's character dies early in that, in this one he lives. Maybe it was a different actor, can't remember it was years ago when I saw it)

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×