The Fogg Hierarchy of Movies

Went to see The Island with the Wife on Sunday. Pretty decent movie for what it was, don't know why it's tanked at the box office. Wasn't the crapfest that another "science fiction" action movie from the same director happened to be.

Which brings me (in a roundabout way) to the point of this entry. I don't mind bad SF movies, for the most part, particularly SF action movies, since there's a different standard there.

Good Science Fiction Movies - These are movies that have actual plots, and the science is usually pretty good.

• Contact
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 2010: The Year We Make Contact
• Deep Impact

Good Science Fiction Action Movies - These are popcorn flicks, essentially. Fun for the action and the gimmicks, but don't get too bogged down in the science of it. I don't mind these films as long as they don't claim to be something they're not (like the ludicrous claim when Armageddon was released that NASA officials were consulted on the making of the film - if that was the case, they clearly didn't listen to anything the folks at NASA said).

• The Island
• Minority Report
• Total Recall

While we're on the topic, let's not forget:

Good Science Fantasy Movies - science fiction elements, but clearly not happening in our world.

• Star Wars: The Original Trilogy
• The Fifth Element
• The Matrix

What really bothers me is when you've got a movie that starts out with decent science and then at some point, usually for dramatic license or to simplify things for the viewing public (since they're apparently all idiots), veers off sharply into the realm of fantasy. Lost in Space and Armageddon are both decent examples of this. The worst, however, are movies like The Core or Mission to Mars. Don't even get me started.