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

Originally posted by Beast Of Gevaudan
Isn't there supposed to be a movie in the works called Majic, or something similar to this?

I remember hearing Stanton Friedman say in an interview once that the film would be based on his investigations into UFOs and the Majestic 12, and that his character would be played by Richard Dreyfuss?

Does anyone else remember hearing this?

Close Encounters is a classic in my opinion, I thought Fire In The Sky was a decent film as well. I found both to be thought-provoking and awe-inspiring.

Yep. It was allegedly going to be called Majic Men, and it was supposed to be based on Friedman's research into the Majestic documents and his book Top Secret: Majic. I would definitely like to see that project come to fruition. But I think he was joking when he said Richard Dreyfuss would be involved.

Originally posted by DaTroof
There have been many UFO movies featuring the plot points you describe. However, these films also feature lots of CGI and explosions.

I felt Close Encounters sucked. There's no payoff, just a huge waste of time.

You must be under 30, likely never put "Close Encounters" into the context of the movies that were out at the time.

I saw it in the theatre, when it was brand new. The movie was one of the top 10 of the decade, for sure. The alien ship scenes throughout the movie were groundbreaking special effects at the time.

Originally posted by JohnnyAnonymous
I prefer Documentaries on the subject

James Fox's
Out of the Blue

UFO Crash at Kecksburg

Also I know What I Saw

But I will say that the TV program Dark Skies is one of the best series on the subject.

edit on 4/28/2012 by JohnnyAnonymous because: (no reason given)

There's a really great UFO documentary available to watch instantly on Netfilx called UFOs: The Secret History.

It's probably the best one I've encountered as far as telling the factual history of the phenomenon, without really trying to prove the reality of the phenomenon. I love James Fox's movies, and until I saw this one Out of the Blue and I Know What I Saw were at the absolute top of my list.

I've often thought how great a Ken Burns documentary on the history of the modern UFO phenomenon could be. This is probably as close as we're ever going to get.

Originally posted by Orkojoker

Originally posted by Beast Of Gevaudan
Isn't there supposed to be a movie in the works called Majic, or something similar to this?

I remember hearing Stanton Friedman say in an interview once that the film would be based on his investigations into UFOs and the Majestic 12, and that his character would be played by Richard Dreyfuss?

Does anyone else remember hearing this?

Close Encounters is a classic in my opinion, I thought Fire In The Sky was a decent film as well. I found both to be thought-provoking and awe-inspiring.

Yep. It was allegedly going to be called Majic Men, and it was supposed to be based on Friedman's research into the Majestic documents and his book Top Secret: Majic. I would definitely like to see that project come to fruition. But I think he was joking when he said Richard Dreyfuss would be involved.

I agree, it would make for a very interesting film. I should've realised he was joking when he mentioned Richard Dreyfuss.

I wonder if this film will ever see the light of day. There's so much interesting material out there that Hollywood could use to make a serious film about the topic.

BTW Thanks for the link, I'll have to check that one out.

reply to post by Beast Of Gevaudan


Totally agree, Beast. There is endless opportunity for any filmmaker with talent and balls. I'd like to see someone do a movie based on Richard Dolan's book AD: After Disclosure, which attempts to describe the likely aftermath of the sudden realization by the world's population that there in fact are "Others" cruising around our skies.

you obviously dont understand how movies work.

they aren't going to s-p-e-l-l it out for you, they may throw hints everywhere.

everything is usually symbolic anyways.

2001 a space odyssey, star wars, indiana jones (newest one) even more recent films like Skyline, Transformers, heck even Thor or The Avengers has aliens in it. all of which have an "ET contact" trend in them.

pay attention.

lately iv been seeing the notion of "Dragons" in media.

computer games ( skyrim) tv ( game of thrones) etc

im positive dragons represent something, perhaps could be the whole "draconian star system" debate or could be something else... we wont know until it all happens.

peace

Originally posted by DaTroof
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, you sound like the typical 20 year old douchebag who thinks Michael Bay and Quentin Tarantino make the best movies of all time

You know what was beautiful about the old movies (mostly 1930s - early 1980's)? They made you think, most of the time you had to figure things out for yourself as the great legendary film makers left things open for debate. Not everything was delivered on a silver plate, not every character was paper thin and the dialogues were actually intelligent.
Sayinth that those movies were boring and nothing happened is ignorant to the extreme.
Maybe one day you'll see the truth, until then, enjoy Transformers 10 aka "Still the same CGI crap" and Tarantinos "I rip off 70's movies in a very bad an lame way" stuff

As for the topic: Contact from 1997 is OK, the ending was bad, but everything else i thought was pretty good. Especially between all those "Kill 'em all' #fests of the time like Independence Day.

reply to post by Furbs


thanks for mentioning K-PAX. Got it and watched it last night.
I enjoyed it. Pretty shallow but entertaining and that was exactly what i needed yesterday

The X-Files : Fight The Future must deserve a mention.

In my opinion there are at least half a dozen stories in ufology that could make a very good film compared with the mediocre crap that is out at the moment.

Originally posted by babybunnies

Originally posted by DaTroof
There have been many UFO movies featuring the plot points you describe. However, these films also feature lots of CGI and explosions.

I felt Close Encounters sucked. There's no payoff, just a huge waste of time.

You must be under 30, likely never put "Close Encounters" into the context of the movies that were out at the time.

I saw it in the theatre, when it was brand new. The movie was one of the top 10 of the decade, for sure. The alien ship scenes throughout the movie were groundbreaking special effects at the time.

I saw it as well, in a theatre, when it was brand new. 110 percent agree. It was the late 70s and we'd never seen something like that in our lives. Beyond that, the special effects in Close Encounters were far more believable than most of the CGI stuff today. The CGI stuff today is phantasmagoric. But believable? Nah. You know you're watching a movie and you never get fully sucked into the story.

I would add that virtually everyone who saw it when it first came out was mesmerized by it. Way ahead of its time. And I don't mean to insult anyone but people who weren't even born when it came out and want to judge it against this contemporary incredible-but-crap CGI stuff (and largely focus on special effects and not really what makes a movie good and believable), well, I probably don't even need to finish this sentence. But you folks seem to focus on computer competencies. I'm a real movie buff, and when a movie is really good, at some point I completely forget about my life and become concerned for, and VERY interested in, the characters, and all the parameters of their situation and the conflict in general. Close Encounters did that, and I can still watch it today and love it. It is Spielberg's most underrated movie.

"Can you tell me where Cornbread is? TURKEY!!!"

(Gotta love Richard Dreyfuss)

Originally posted by Orkojoker

Originally posted by JohnnyAnonymous
I prefer Documentaries on the subject

James Fox's
Out of the Blue

UFO Crash at Kecksburg

Also I know What I Saw

But I will say that the TV program Dark Skies is one of the best series on the subject.

edit on 4/28/2012 by JohnnyAnonymous because: (no reason given)

There's a really great UFO documentary available to watch instantly on Netfilx called UFOs: The Secret History.

It's probably the best one I've encountered as far as telling the factual history of the phenomenon, without really trying to prove the reality of the phenomenon. I love James Fox's movies, and until I saw this one Out of the Blue and I Know What I Saw were at the absolute top of my list.

I've often thought how great a Ken Burns documentary on the history of the modern UFO phenomenon could be. This is probably as close as we're ever going to get.

Correction: Leslie Kean's History Channel documentary topped both of James Fox's I think.

Most of the movies mentioned by a lot of people have been pretty good. But my problem with them has always been that they are about science fiction fantasy when they are simply about alien invasions, and as some people have mentioned, full of special effects that are entertaining but lack substance.

I would rather see something that might approach some truth about what is really going on rather than fairy tales that are a little spooky, comedic and have simple "winners" at the end. Some of the movies, like some of you have mentioned, approach some possible real life issues, like Communion, Close Encounters, and a few others.

I'd like to see something where someone stumbles into and gets wrapped up in the little secret world of Alien presence, whether they are planning to "take us over" or not. Something that is sort of scary, or at least discomforting. I am thinking that truth is stranger than fiction, and may be more frightening than the imagination of fiction writers. Something that gives real pause for thought and begs more questions than it answers.

reply to post by karen61057


I know you didn't just compare cheesy Twilight to Anne Rice's Vamps....

There is NO comparison.

reply to post by DaTroof


oh my god..you must be really young to say that...needing action and a lot of brain food..
nothing happenS? thats just not true.it happens a lot but not in a sense young people would understand.

I am EXTREMELY surprised that no one mentioned the 1992 film 'Intruders':

www.imdb.com...

It is possibly the scariest UFO film that I have ever watched (and no, it is not full of explosions, gore, or The-Ring-style monsters), and the one that most closely mirrors the way that the abduction phenomenon is projected in society. It is like Communion but better.

Edit: Apparently, it is based on Budd Hopkins' work, did not know that until I read the imdb summary today.

reply to post by Orkojoker

Some recent info on Mirage Men...

Here’s the first trailer for the Mirage Men film, created by mine and John Lundberg’s new partners on the project, Roland Denning and Kypros Kyprianou. Huge thanks to both of them for their amazing work. them for their amazing work. The music extracts are by Earth (‘Mirage’ from Hex or Printing in the Infernal Method) and Cyclobe (‘You’re not alone, you’re dreaming’ from Luminous Darkness), and are used with permission The film is well on its way to completion now, and we’ll have more news, clips and nformation about preview screenings over the coming months.

Mirage Men blog with movie trailer...
link

Originally posted by Orkojoker
Correction: Leslie Kean's History Channel documentary topped both of James Fox's I think.

Thanks for that link. Leslie Kean's the man--um, uh, champ!

Independence day was the best

reply to post by Orkojoker


That new Battleship movie opening this coming, looks like it might be pretty good. Looks like they might be USO's.