...you haven't seen it yet? Considering your nostalgic bent, and considering that it's possibly one of the purest sci fi movies ever made, you should watch it ASAP. It's one of Robert Wise's finest, as well as one of his earliest; his last movie was Star Trek The Motion Picture.
To get back some cred, about 10 years ago I saw Metropolis and while I don't remember much of it, I found it absolutely mesmerizing at the time. Earth has always been a distant ping on my radar, like "I'll get to it someday, maybe." Knowing Netflix, I really should watch it ASAP. I was excited as hell when I saw Battleship Potemkin was on their streaming service, never got around to watching it, and now it's disappeared.
Oh yes. I'm aware they're two different kinds of movies. Though, to defend Earth, sometimes cheapness and camp ads an extra layer of charm to a film. There's a fine line and it's hard to tell where it's drawn, but it's definitely there. Since it's 60+ years later and people still talk about it, I bet Earth is on the right side of that line.
Metropolis is on Netflix right now if you feel like giving it a second go. It's totally understandable if you don't want to though. Sometimes it seems that despite their charms, silent films take a bit of extra effort to watch. The Day the Earth Stood Still was pretty good. It didn't feel cheap at all and it was kind of refreshing that the movie gets straight to the point without a lot of buildup, though on the flip side, that ending was abrupt as hell. It's kind of interesting as well that it's a very plot driven movie, and while a lot happens, and what happens is significant, it didn't really feel all that profound. It seems like there were quite a few times where they seemed more than ready to jump into some philosophical aspects, only to just scratch the surface and leave the viewer hanging a bit. All in all though, it was pretty good. I might see if some of my friends would want to watch it with me.
It's based on a short story called Farewell to the Master which was effectively rewritten to build a metaphor around nuclear armageddon following the first Soviet tests. It wasn't made for a lot of money and it wasn't made in a lot of time; Wise deliberately chose actors that no one had ever heard of so that there would be no associations with existing stars. Link vaguely related. Sony wants me to watch Passengers. They gave me a screener. I haven't worked up the energy and it's been a week.
I just looked at the trailer for Passengers. It looks stupid. Might I recommend two other movies, both on Netflix, that I found were quite good? Flame and Citron is a wonderful spy/thriller/war movie. It's dark, compelling, and probably a bit formulaic but has a really good story at its core. Dark Valley is just amazing. It's dark and messed up, but it's beautifully shot and paced.
It looks like the first 30 pages of Richard K Morgan's Thirt33n, published (and optioned) that same year. But then, Thirt33n then goes on for another 400 or so pages and becomes kind of interesting. 'round here we're dealing with the flu by reacquainting ourselves with base building in No Man's Sky.
Hmm. I can't seem to find that book. Could it be under a different title? I'd like to look up the synopsis and see how it's different. Never mind. I think I found it.
It's a famous [Black List](zhttps://blcklst.com/) script - those being the spec screenplays that are passed around town and read but, back when the list started, never purchased for one reason or another. Now of course it's just another cock-sucking way for managers to brag about what a great job they're doing getting their client's names out there (so they can do one partial-pay doctoring step on the eighth remake of Lost in Space or some shit). Passengers was a big deal in 2007. Nine years ain't bad... but in the end, this is the bastardized story that made the guy who fucked up Prometheus with Damon Lindelof famous. As with most famous spec scripts that suddenly end up with a bajillion dollars behind them, it ends up being a different movie entirely.