Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies 1st (first) Edition by Gerani, Gary (2011) Paperback

great book

Top 100 Sci-Fi MoviesSteve Chorney Top 100 Sci-Fi MoviesSteve Chorney Top 100 Sci-Fi MoviesSteve Chorney Top 100 Sci-Fi MoviesSteve Chorney Yeah

Amazing book... ótimo custo benefício. Um dos livros mais completos sobre o tema. Grande apelo visual. Apesar de todo em inglês, é fantástico.

As I lifelong fan of science fiction films, I realized long ago that reliable, informative criticism of such films is pretty hard to come by. Oh, sure we've had magazines like Starlog and Cinefantastique to keep us informed, but the articles often read more like press releases than honest appraisal of a film's merits, or lack thereof. Phil Hardy's The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction has remained the definitive text for the past two decades, and no one has come close to Mr. Hardy's level of commitment to the subject.Now Gary Gerani has arrived on the scene with his boldy-titled "Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies." And I personally think this is a very GOOD thing, because it's past time someone offered up such a list. And whereas lists of the past have focused almost exclusively on sci-fi cinema's "Golden Age" of the 1950's, Mr. Gerani has augmented the list to include many modern films as well. Whether or not they all belong on the list. . .well, that's up to the reader.But let's look at the book itself for a minute. It's a truly gorgeous work from cover to cover, with literally hundreds of color and black & white pictures, as well as movie posters for each film. With a few exceptions, each film is given a one- or two-page spread, liberally decorated with high-quality photographs. Most of the these are scenes from the film itself, along with the occasional promotional or behind-the-scenes pic. Icons at the top of the page represent a film's running time, screen aspect ratio, and whether the sound is stereo or mono. The review is then broken up into 3 categories: (1) WHO MADE IT? gives the film's technical credits; (2) WHAT IT'S ABOUT gives the film's plot; and (3) WHY IT'S IMPORTANT makes the case for the film's inclusion in the list. Naturally, this final category is given the most space, and Gerani really proves time and again that he is an obvious fan of the genre.So. . .what about the list itself? Any hardcore fan of the genre certainly has his or her own Top Ten or maybe even Top Twenty list in mind. But think for a moment: Could you come up with a Top HUNDRED? It's a daunting task, but the author seems up to the challenge. As I said above, he pays due respect to the acknowledged classics; roughly half of the top 20 (see? I think we're just conditioned to think of shorter lists!) are from the 50's and 60's. Conversely, Golden Age films that fall near the bottom 10 (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Conquest of Space) left this reader feeling something wasn't quite right. Some choices are downright baffling (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? District 9?) while purists will balk that J.J. Abrams 2009 Star Trek reboot falls a full 25 places above Wrath of Khan.And frankly, I could go on and on with my personal nit-picks. But here's the thing: For every choice I deemed strange, there were films I hadn't seen or even heard of. And since I almost always enjoyed the reviews of films I WAS familiar with, I figure I should maybe seek out some of the lesser-known ones that are getting high marks. As a fan, I was also gratified to realize that the author really likes all the same films I do. Indeed, if I were to sit down and come up with a Top 100, I'd estimate our lists would be something like 80% compatible.If you're even a casual fan of the genre, this definitely belongs in your personal libary. I'm sure I'll be referring back to it in the future, and it has certainly given me food for though regarding the films I haven't seen. Its appealing design also makes it a great "coffee table" book. All in all, a very nice effort whose only real deficits are a few differences of opinion. Enjoy!

There's lots of fun facts and good info in this book, although it's only a few paragraphs per film. One reason is probably to avoid completely spoiling the plot for you. Another is likely to leave room for all the wonderful photos (and there are plenty!) This is a great guide to find those great gems you might have missed or never even heard of. I bought all three and enjoyed them.

Gerani carefully picks and rates 100 magnificent Sci-Fi movies. I'm getting a chill just thumbing through it right now, I cannot disagree with his choices for his top ten. However Gerani is not perfect. It is wonderful that he included DUNE against the wishes of his friends; well then he should have included LIFEFORCE, a similarly undeservedly maligned movie. Also he is quite wrong about the "cables holding up the [Martian war] machines [being[ painfully visible" in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953). In fact, I am seriously disappointed in Gerani for either (1) not knowing the facts or (2) not doing his research, or (3) knowingly misspeaking for the sake of younger viewers whose only experience with the movie is on disc. The cables were NOT visible in the original Technicolor prints due to three-strip Technicolor's inherent subdued resolution and the fact that the cinematography of the battle scenes were dark. Between the darkness and the slightly diminished resolution, the wires blurred a little and were rendered invisible in the original run of the film from 1953 to the mid-1960s. This was carefully planned out by the effects team that went on to win the Academy Award.However, beginning in the late 1960s, for reasons of both economy and ease of handling, The War of the Worlds prints were commonly struck (that is, copied) onto the one-strip industrial strength Eastman Color film stock, which was much easier to use than Technicolor. But Eastman Color had almost no blurring effect and also tended to be brighter with higher resolution than the Technicolor prints. As a result the carefully hidden wires of the 1950s version of the movie suddenly popped into plain sight, so that some late 60s theater audiences laughed out loud. It's utterly astonishing to me that nobody noticed the problem or fixed the problem. To make matters worse, transferring the Eastman Color prints onto Laserdisc and DVD only accentuated the problem due the discs’ inherent higher-resolution. Again, where were the technicians who should have seen the problem and who should have fixed it? But nothing was done and this crown jewel of a movie was allowed to be perceived as defective when in fact it was not so originally. As a result, severe criticism of the visible wires is commonplace amongst the critical community today by critics who really ought to know that the wires were not visible during the original showings in the 50s. Gervani should have known this and he should have added a caveat saying something like "Unfortunately the wires that were invisible in the original 1950s prints have become visible due to the higher resolution of modern media, through no fault of the filmmakers." Furthermore, steps should be made to remove the wires in future disc releases. Wire removal is commonplace today and should be implemented to bring the movie back to the gorgeous wire-free film its filmmakers intended. Somebody at Paramount Pictures needs to know about this and act on itThis is discussed in more detail in the new book Mars in the Movies: A History which references Gerani's Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies” seven times. This new Mars movie book is about the making of about 100 Mars movies from 1910's very first Mars movie that was made by Thomas Edison—the 5-minute-long “A Trip to Mars”—to the films that quickly followed on the heels of Scott's "The Martian". Rutgers University’s John Powell in his “Emerald Insight” review of Mars in the Movies: A History says “Miller’s book would serve as a compliment to [‘Keep Watching the Skies!’ (Warren, 2010) and ‘Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies’ (Gerani, 2011)]” He also notes correctly that “[Miller] pens the ultimate 292-page love letter to an often-overlooked sci-fi sub-genre… [but] make no mistake, Miller is authoritative on this topic and it is refreshing to read his insightful comments.”It is clear that Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies is every bit Gary Gerani's own love letter to the genre.

Great list of classic scienfiction movies from the golden age of cinema to the present. Excellent price for such a great work of art.