Why hasn't there been a decent UFO movie in 35 years?

Originally posted by Orkojoker


Dramatic Hollywood embellishments aside, Close Encounters got a lot of things right. Unexplainable sightings. Baffled citizens. Government secrecy. Why is it that no mainstream film has tackled this subject in a serious way since Spielberg did it in 1977?

Discuss.

Because the writers and directors try to appeal to what people are interested in at the time....Apparently right now, people are into sparkling vampires, crappy CGI and bad acting.

This is the era of remakes and reboots...Sad really...I hear they are working on another sequel to Bill And Teds Excellent Adventure.....

Maybe if we quit paying to watch this crap, they would get off their butts and start working on new ideas.

Because the best of it is likely not on the internet.

Does that answer the question?

reply to post by greyer


How about tens of thousands of witnesses in Phoenix 1997? Look it up. THAT would make a good flick.

Originally posted by Urantia1111
Hollywood decided long ago that aliens will only be portrayed as a hostile invading force bent on worldwide destruction.

They sure did.


Starman
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Mork and Mindy
ALF
Avatar
The Bother from Another Planet
Contact
Flight of the Navigator
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
K-PAX

Here are 10 stories from Holiwood that break that idea, and these are just the ones I could think of as I was typing this up. Plenty more than that out there.


Also:

The Phoenix Lights would be a boring film. Let me write the script for you now.

Person 1: Hey, what's that?
Person 2: I dunno.

Fast Forward to present day.

Person 1: Hey, remember when we saw those lights?
Person 2: Yeah.. that was weird..

Fin.

Originally posted by amongus

Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
reply to post by Orkojoker

 

"Signs" did that to some extent, and although the plot centered on the story of the family there were snippets of global reportage in the movie.

Now THAT movie, signs, had the most disappointing ending in movie history.

It was like M. Night literally gave up on the ending.....

Ah, Signs, the film where Aliens killed by water engage in a ground invasion of a planet covered mostly of water.

Utter bollocks, only surpassed recently by Skyline.

As previously suggested Dark Skies is a forgotten gem, worth seeking out the box set of the only series.

reply to post by Orkojoker


Orkojoker, thought 'District 9' and 'The Objective' were pretty good but you're right about 'Close Encounters' being an absolute classic here's Stephen Spielberg discussing Dr J. Allen Hynek's involvement in the film and it's probably also got the distinction of being the only movie featuring a police UFO chase which was based on actual events:

Thread

Cheers.

reply to post by Furbs



Oh you got me good. Puppets, comedians and cartoons. You have no interest in the reality of the subject. I get it.

Douche

Fin

Somewhat related, and a really good flick imo. The ending is really good me thinks. Not so much earthly ufos, but still aliens and a bit of tied history with us.


ETA: As to why no movies at the same caliber? I am not sure, the ability and money has always been there, but there seems to be lacking much positive encounters, other than the Abyss and Mission To Mars. A conspiracy to keep us from the idea of peaceful contact? Maybe Close Encounters set a bar so high nothing else compares. As a kid that movie blew me away, and then I watched the Directors HD cut a couple of years ago and again was in awe. It is genuinely in a class by itself.
I would like to see Peter Jackson do a fantasy positive ufo movie.

Peace

Originally posted by Urantia1111
reply to post by Furbs

 

Oh you got me good. Puppets, comedians and cartoons. You have no interest in the reality of the subject. I get it.

Douche

Fin

edit on 27-4-2012 by Urantia1111 because: (no reason given)

Not sure which is worse, your attitude, or the idea that you got a star for your unnecessarily aggressive post. Don't infer that I have no interest in the reality of the subject just because I took your asinine claim and turned it on its head.

The truth of the matter is simple.

Hollywood wants to make money. Money is made from big budget violence porn, regardless of whether or not aliens are involved.

reply to post by Orkojoker

I think the reason that there have been very few, if any, good UFO movies (not "alien invasion" movies) is because the topic of UFOs is highly ridiculed by the public. It's the kind of thing that people have been conditioned to make fun of, and they do, their entire lives ---until/unless they finally see one for real. Then it's a different story and they realize there's more to the world than they've been led to believe.

I imagine that before the invention and proliferation of television, people might have spent more time outside at night. Before radio, people might have been outside watching the celestial spectacle, maybe telling stories around a backyard fire when the weather was good. And, even with the advent of radio, maybe they had the radio playing as they sat on their porches watching for shooting stars ----what an imagination inducer. Think of it: no light pollution, bright stars and planets, the Milky Way, shooting stars... Anyway, once TV came around, people herded themselves INSIDE, watching programming. So, just when the height of the UFO age came about (early 1950s), people were inside watching irresistable programming while the skies were filled with strange, glowing objects buzzing to and from.

UFO (again, NOT alien invasion) movies don't go over too well to a public that's been conditioned to believe in simple explanations (via Occam's Razor -they don't fail to pound that point home in high school, do they?) instead of considering the possibility. Einstein himself said that imagination is more powerful and important than knowledge. So, it's no surprise that a true UFO movie would not sell well, unless written and/or directed by a master like Spielberg.

The UFO subject may not offer too many movies, but it does offer its BEST genre: the documentary. There, you will find COUNTLESS ones. WARNING, though, only in the last few years has the topic been well-treated by documentaries. And, even today, there is still a tendency by a minority of documentaries to discredit. In the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, UFO documentaries usually started off GREAT, but by mid-to late show, -certainly by the end- skeptics using straw-man arguments would discredit the sightings and explain them away with some mundane proclamation. Like Stanton Friedman says (speaking as a skeptic), "Don't bother me with the facts, I've already made up my mind," and "Investigation by proclamation." However, with shows like UFO HUNTERS, UFO FILES and especially ANCIENT ALIENS (which deals more with UFOs than you might expect from the title), the producers have more control than in the past, and evidence is fairly presented.

Back in the 70s there were a couple of UFO movie/documentaries. Any of you remember that age, when documentaries about cool things like Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle and UFOs were released at the theater? Also, consider checking out some radio shows (like Coast to Coast AM) interviews about UFOs that have been posted to Youtube, some with visuals, some without. Either way, it's sort of a return to the days of radio, when you could sit outside at night, and look into the sky while letting your imagination run wild...

Originally posted by DaTroof
reply to post by Orkojoker

 

On the contrary, it's boring and literally nothing happens. Then again, it was the 70s, so it was like every movie from that era.

Wow....

I actually prefer older movies for many reasons. They have more depth to them. Today's movies are all about how many times you can blow up something, CGI and no real story line or it's one that has been redone to death.

Also why do so many movie makers remake all the old movies if they suck so bad?! There is no real creativity left in Hollywood, they just steal from everyone else. I looked at movies coming out thru November and there are 1 or 2 I will see, the others are crap that has been done to death.



OP I love "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The ending is my favorite scene. I really liked "Signs" and I know most hated it. That movie still gives me the creeps and I watch it weekly...no joke lol. It wasn't done like most invasion movies where they show every city getting destroyed and the military running around. It's about this man and his family. I really like the story line and what each character deals with. It's not the typical alien invasion movie but it still scares me! Watching it the second time you see all the "signs," and I don't mean crop circles.

Other than that I have been disappointed with the alien themed movies. There are a few other known ones I enjoy but there hasn't been one I really liked since "Signs."

I was happy to hear of an upcoming alien movie BUT I found out Rihanna is in it and I will not see it. I'm sorry but I don't buy her as some wanna be tough military chick fighting aliens. Give me a break! She needs to stick to being a singer. I wish Hollywood would get actual actors and not people who think they can act. I get tired of seeing musicians think they can act and then they wind up ruining what could have been a decent movie.

There is one alien satire movie I will see and that is "Iron Sky." I hope it's playing near me, guess I'll find out next weekend.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


I loved that movie! I need to add that to my Netflix queue now!

This was a good movie. I also really liked "The Abyss."

UFOs are boring, man! They're just blinky lights that fly around in the sky. Big deal. And the same thing happens in all the movies. Aliens try to take over and we fight them and somehow luckily manage to win. Ho-hum.

Vampires and ghosts. That's where all the action is these days.

reply to post by mblahnikluver

Yea The Abyss is right up there with Close Encounters imo. The ending scenes were mesmerizing and I would encourage those that have not seen it to watch the directors cut. That was a powerful movie too, with intense human drama and emotion, highly recommended. The aliens and their craft were done very well!
Mission To Mars has to be one of the best on the subject too, both the story and effects were highly entertaining.

Peace

reply to post by Orkojoker


that's because this generation has half the attention span of a goldfish.

and if movies, these days, don't explain every little plot point and what the characters are doing now, you'll have a movie theatre full of people staring blankly at the screen and each other.

Originally posted by Urantia1111
How about tens of thousands of witnesses in Phoenix 1997? Look it up. THAT would make a good flick.

You'd still have to frame it in a way where there was some conflict between people that would work out in the end. Remember, the number one thing you need to make a good movie is a guy (or gal) with a PROBLEM. So you'd still need to fictionalize it in some way. Not just "a guy sees a huge ship fly over and then it flies away." Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Originally posted by Blue Shift
UFOs are boring, man! They're just blinky lights that fly around in the sky. Big deal. And the same thing happens in all the movies. Aliens try to take over and we fight them and somehow luckily manage to win. Ho-hum.

Vampires and ghosts. That's where all the action is these days.

Hey UFOs are awesome! Why? Because aliens are in them I'm all for a movie involving aliens but I better see an alien and not just some ship and lights.....um The Fourth Kind comes to mind. Terribly disappointed when I saw that movie.

Now how about a movie with UFOs, aliens, ghosts and vampires

Thank goodness for True Blood, vampires were being wimp-a-fied by Twilight


Ghosts....the last scary ghost movie I saw, well I can't even recall one! Ghosts don't really freak me out all that much since I've had my own paranormal experiences but there were a few episodes of the show "A Haunting" that really give me the creeps and chills. 13 Ghosts was a ghost movie I really liked. It had a huge creep factor to it.

Originally posted by GhostLancer
I think the reason that there have been very few, if any, good UFO movies (not "alien invasion" movies) is because the topic of UFOs is highly ridiculed by the public.

I would say the answer has more to do with the fact that when it comes to "real" UFOs, nothing ever happens. There are never any answers. Never any proof. Like with Bigfoot Hunters. Where's the damned Bigfoot? If you make a realistic movie about UFOs, what's going to happen? Somebody sees a UFO and it flies away. Nobody knows what it is. The photo doesn't show anything. THE END.

It's not the ridicule. It's just that reality is frequently very boring.

reply to post by GhostLancer


GhostLancer, you have actually addressed the question in the OP. Thank you.

People, it's not that I have anything against Independence Day or War of the Worlds. I enjoyed them both, but they have nothing to do with the issue I'm attempting to bring up. Independence Day is no more a movie that deals with the UFO phenomenon than is Caddy Shack. The responses that are making up this thread indicate that practically nobody here is familiar with this subject outside of its pop culture cartoon version.

Read this.

And this.

Please feel free to stop back when you're done and let us know how well you feel Men in Black and Flight of the Navigator reflect the reality of this topic.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver

Originally posted by Blue Shift
UFOs are boring, man! They're just blinky lights that fly around in the sky. Big deal. And the same thing happens in all the movies. Aliens try to take over and we fight them and somehow luckily manage to win. Ho-hum.

Vampires and ghosts. That's where all the action is these days.

Hey UFOs are awesome! Why? Because aliens are in them

I'm all for a movie involving aliens but I better see an alien and not just some ship and lights.....um The Fourth Kind comes to mind. Terribly disappointed when I saw that movie.

Now how about a movie with UFOs, aliens, ghosts and vampires

Thank goodness for True Blood, vampires were being wimp-a-fied by Twilight

Ghosts....the last scary ghost movie I saw, well I can't even recall one! Ghosts don't really freak me out all that much since I've had my own paranormal experiences but there were a few episodes of the show "A Haunting" that really give me the creeps and chills. 13 Ghosts was a ghost movie I really liked. It had a huge creep factor to it.

Best vampire movie is Stakeland. Very under-rated and very well executed for its budget.

I'm with you on the Abyss. I actually think that next to Aliens thats Cameron's finest film to date.