http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,61313524001_1953100,00.html?iid=tabvidrecirc The Fountain ('06) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Silent Running ('72) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Gattaca ('97) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Dark City ('98) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Primer ('04) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Never seen The Fountain or Primer. In fact, I've never heard of The Fountain until now. The other three are great movies, IMHO. I was a little surprised that they considered Gattaca "underrated," since it featured Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, and Uma Thurman pretty much in the primes of their careers. One could probably say the same of Spielberg's '05 War of the Worlds, which I love. I think it gets dissed because of Cruise and Fanning, but I think they did very well; plus there's a minor problem with the ending.
np The Fountain was directed by Darren Aronofsky who also directed The Wrestler and Black Swan, but even more interestingly, he directed a little-known movie back in '98 named "Pi." I would call that one sci fi because it has to do with number theory and chaos theory, and to a lesser degree, computers. I haven't seen it in a few years but it was really good, and probably cost next to nothing to make. It's even in black & white. That's one that could easily be on this list. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_6
There were certainly a lot of great movies that didn't appeal to the media for one reason or another. Consequently they fell into obscurity. The media likes having it's ass kissed and not all people kiss ass.
Out of those 5 movies, Silent Running is the only one I haven't seen. The rest of them are fantastic movies that I recommend everybody try out.
Silent Running was part of the same late-60's, early 70's wave of sci fi that included A Clockwork Orange, The Illustrated Man, The Andromeda Strain, Marooned, Fantastic Voyage, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and 2001. Silent Running and The Illustrated Man were by far the lesser known of that batch. Bruce Dern starred in Silent Running and was about the only known player. It was released the same time as John Wayne's The Cowboys. Dern played the bad guy in The Cowboys, and was the first and maybe only bad guy that ever shot John Wayne dead until his finale The Shootist. It probably hurt Dern's career and it's no wonder Silent Running was overshadowed (not to mention the ecology movement was just getting going-- the EPA-- signed into law by that commie liberal Richard Milhouse Nixon-- was only a couple years old at the time)
Primer is the hardest movie to follow that I've ever seen in my entire life. Go in sober and very much awake, because you're going to be confused as shit. You'll likely need to watch it twice to really be able to figure it all out. It's worth the second watch though. I really liked Dark City. The ending was a little anti-climactic, but the movie was entertaining. Gattaca is probabaly the biggest "must watch" IMO. I'm always amazed when people haven't seen this movie. Haven't seen The Fountain or Silent Running yet.
