The Greatest Movie of All Time, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Region

(Intro from the initial thread:)

OK. Here's the deal. Being a little bored, being a movie nerd and having a little extra time, I've built a few brackets. The idea is to, eventually, crown the Greatest Movie of All Time. (Hence the thread title.)

First, these are the movies I happened to choose. Some good ones got left out. Some that you think are good aren't thought good by the masses or, more importantly, by me -- since, well, I made the bracket. And you may then disagree with the seedings, too. And that's fair. But just play along, if you're interested. Could be fun.

Reply on the thread with the seeds and names of your winners of each pairing. I'll let the first round go for a while, then add up the votes and post the winners/next round's pairings.

Not represented in this particular tournament are the 'smaller' genres, like war, western, documentary, etc. And, sorry international MFPers, I didn't go foreign, either. So consider this The Greatest (American) Movie of All Time Bracket Tourney, I suppose.

The four genre regions are Comedy, Action, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Drama/Thriller. Winners of each region will be determined, starting with Comedy, and then will pair off for the Final Four. Comedy will face Drama/Thriller, Action will meet Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

And to spark more discussion, feel free to give your reasons for some of your choices!

Comedy's region has a winner; the genre will be represented in the Final Four by Monty Python: Holy Grail. Action, too, has given us a representative in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc. Now, it's time for Sci-Fi/Fantasy, which will then be followed by Drama/Thriller.


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SCI-FI/FANTASY: FIRST ROUND

(1) Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back vs. (32) Independence Day

(16) Aliens vs. (17) E.T.

(8) 2001: A Space Odyssey vs. (25) Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban

(9) King Kong vs. (24) Serenity

(5) Wizard of Oz vs. (28) Planet of the Apes

(12) Jurassic Park vs. (21) The Day the Earth Stood Still

(13) Jason and the Argonauts vs. (20) Donnie Darko

(4) Avatar vs. (29) Dark City


(3) Bladerunner vs. (30) The Abyss

(14) Close Encounters of the Third Kind vs. (19) Gattaca

(6) LOTR: Return of the King vs. (27) Dune

(11) LOTR: The Two Towers vs. (22) Conan the Barbarian

(7) Clockwork Orange vs. (26) Invasion of the Body Snatchers

(10) Star Wars: A New Hope vs. (23) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

(15) Back to the Future vs. (18) Star Trek: Wrath of Khan

(2) Alien vs. (31) Highlander


* Note: King Kong, Body Snatchers and all the rest of the classics here are the originals, not the remake crap.