From ‘Blade Runner’ to ‘The Thing’: The Best of 80s Sci-Fi

Here we have another obvious example that completely demolishes that cliché that second parts were never good. In most cases, it depends on the approach, on not repeating the formula without adding anything new, on knowing how to understand a specific universe and having the ability to expand it to different places, putting it to the test, betting on risk and courage. James Cameron would not have made the mistake of not strictly adhering to this philosophy and happily accepted the challenge to continue the classic with which Ridley Scott dazzled the world seven years earlier, yes, without repeating it for a second. And there was the key that made ‘Aliens: The Rise’ an exemplary sequel.

Cameron injected a dose of action into the vein of the saga, added muscle to the plot, and replaced much of the horror touch with explosive epic. For many viewers, he not only rose to the occasion, but he surpassed them. He could say a lot, but What is clear is that this is one of the best films of Cameron’s career, a perfect blockbuster.

Aliens: the return to eCartelera

There are films that can survive based on something as basic and complex as their sense of survival. Lack of oxygen, shortness of breath, tension breaks the back, whispering freezes the blood and silence turns nerves into thorns. “The Thing,” a science fiction and horror classic directed in 1982 by the most inspired John Carpenter of his career, is one example that continues to meet each of these requirements. A classic with the status achieved and justified by time and cinema. A lot of cinema.

Starting with a simple, but no less exciting story, ‘The Thing’ found its greatness in the details, in the way they aligned with the exact nature of the whole to result a brilliant visual exercise that, fortunately, hasn’t lacked an iota of soul. The elements appeared in the most appropriate place, including an alien danger that was pure tension, in the most appropriate way and with the strength of an ice storm that cannot be faced. A masterpiece that passed over you and ended up sinking into your bones.

The thing in eCartelera

“ET the Alien” condenses all the virtues of the cinema of Steven Spielberg, more than numerous, with emotion and the ability to grab the viewer, whatever his age, and not let go as the main banners. Many of us fell in love with cinema thanks to it, turning it into something more than a contemporary classic. First level essential and emotional education.

Impossible to remain with each of the scenes that lead to the most sincere tears in one of those indisputable masterpieces that have marked several generations. Those bicycles that flew, that withered flower that came back to life, that heart that beat when there was no more hope, that unforgettable goodbye. Impossible to stop going back to her. Impossible to stop being excited over and over again.

ET, the extraterrestrial of eCartelera

Despite the time passed since its premiere, the way Hollywood gave Paul Verhoeven the opportunity to dress up a film as wild, explicit, bloody and violent as ‘Robocop’ as a blockbuster is still amazing. Sure, the 80s was pure freedom, but even then it’s shocking to see how this classic crossed nearly every possible line, rounding an irresistible spectacle of pure excess.

A proposal that starts by pressing the accelerator to maximum and manages to keep the vertigo during a hundred frenetic minutes that give no respite. A wonderful absurdity to be enjoyed without prejudice or resistance.

Robocop in eCartelera

Neither ‘Crazy About Them’, nor ‘Broken Brakes, Crazy Cars’, the two films that Robert Zemeckis had directed under the production of Steven Spielberg before tackling ‘Back to the Future’, had managed to be successful. Not much less. For this reason, when the director of ‘Forrest Gump’ thought of returning to King Midas’ office to offer him to collaborate on his time travel story, he decided to abort the mission to avoid a third consecutive failure which, probably, would have ended up definitively sink his career. Zemeckis thus set to work with ‘Tras el corazón verde’, a stupendous adventure which, finally, won the favor of critics and audiences, becoming the respite the director needed to return to his master, who he accepted with joy and has brought the project to Universal to start work on it.

From this moment the madness begins. Apparently, one of the studio executives was especially creative and started suggesting such crazy ideas as changing Doc’s dog into a chimpanzee. As well as. Another of the brilliant decisions that were made during the process was to change the original name of the film to “Astronauts from Pluto”, since no work with the word “future” in the title had been a hit throughout weather. cinema history. Spielberg, with the full support of Zemeckis, managed to shoot down all these proposals. One of the many ingenious decisions surrounding one of the essential blockbusters of the last few decades.

Back to the future in eCartelera

For many, many people, the absolute pinnacle of anime history. And for the rest? At least one work of art. Katsuhiro Otomo’s ‘Akira’ arrived in Spain four years after its premiere in Japan, but the echo of its impact remains strong among several generations who have found there one of the most brutal cinematic experiences of their lives. Complex, hypnotic, frenetic and loaded with images of indelible memory, ‘Akira’ is a prodigy that goes far beyond the limits of genres, styles and labels. A stainless classic.

Akira at the eCartelera

“A group of mercenaries is hired by the CIA to rescue some pilots captured by guerrillas in the Central American jungle. The mission is a success, but on the return trip they realize that something mysterious and invisible is hunting them for one. That something turns out to be an alien hunter who keeps the skulls of his victims as trophies.”

‘Predator’, the cult classic directed by the great John McTiernan in the late eighties has gone straight since its own synopsis. little joke, We are talking about pure and hard testosterone exploding in lapidary sentences, loud action and overwhelming final climax. All as predictable as it is effective, as threadbare as it is solvent, as ridiculous as it is funny. An all-round success.

Predator on eCartelera

Before the arrival of the Imperator Furiosa, at his feet, and company, “Mad Max 2, the road warrior” was practically unanimously considered the best chapter in the George Miller saga. And there were many reasons for this. An apocalyptic future described with the same dose of precision and energy by a director in dazzling form who has raised the tension to the maximum, pressing the accelerator in a rousing action film that improved on its predecessor in practically everything, especially in its most dizzying parts. Particular attention to its masterful final climax and fantastic score by the great Brian May.

Mad Max 2, the road warrior by eCartelera

‘Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back’ was a great success as the fifth episode which embraced the darkness with all its might, without neglecting the adventure and action that made its predecessor great, giving greater depth to its characters, more complex plots and, above all, a high number of twists that ended with the most emblematic surprise ending of the blockbuster genre. Knowing that viewers would expect less craziness from a proposition of these characteristics, George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan saved the perfect trick for the saga’s most powerful result.

A scene, a sentence, a scream. Cinema history. The ‘Star Wars’ universe was blown up, permanently turning Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker into more than action figures. Drama slipped into their lives, popcorn fell on the floor of the room and the saga launched a veritable órdago. He won the game. And by far.

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back at Movie’n’co