Films based on short fiction

2220 quotes found

"Lydia Brenner: I wish I were a stronger person. I lost my husband four years ago, you know. It's terrible how you, you depend on someone else for strength and then suddenly all the strength is gone and you're alone. I'd love to be able to relax sometime. I'd love to be able to sleep... I'm not like this, you know, not usually. I don't fuss and fret about my children. When Frank died, you see, he understood the children, he really understood them. He had the knack of entering into their world and becoming part of them. That's a very rare talent... Oh, I wish, I wish, I wish I could be like that. I miss him! Sometimes even now, I wake up in the morning and I think: 'I must get Frank's breakfast'. And I get up, and there's a very good reason for getting out of bed until, of course, I remember. I miss talking to him. Cathy's a child, of course, and Mitch, well, Mitch has his own life. I'm glad he stayed here today. I-I feel safer with him here... Don't go. I feel as if I don't understand you at all and I-I want so much to understand... because my son seems to be very fond of you and I don't know quite how I feel about it. I don't even know if I like you or not... Mitch is important to me. I want to like whatever girl he chooses... Well, I don't think it's going to matter very much to anyone but me... Mitch has always done exactly what he wanted to do. But, you see, I don't want to be left alone. I don't think I could bear to be left alone. Oh, forgive me... This business with the birds has upset me. I don't know what I'd do if Mitch weren't here... I wish I was stronger."

- The Birds

0 likesDrama filmsFilms about birdsFilms based on short fictionThriller filmsFilms directed by Alfred Hitchcock
"I am leaving soon, and you will forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day, and the threat of aggression by any group, anywhere, can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure. Now, this does not mean giving up any freedom except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them. We of the other planets have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets—in space ships like this one—and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us; this power can not be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is that we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war—free to pursue more profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer; the decision rests with you."

- The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)

0 likes1950s American filmsCult filmsScience fiction filmsFilms based on short fictionApocalyptic films
"We, in this quiet corner of England, have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us - some close to this church: George West, choir boy; James Bellard, station master and bell ringer and a proud winner, only one hour before his death, of the Belding Cup for his beautiful Miniver rose; and our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago. The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There is scarcely a household that hasn't been struck to the heart. And why? Surely you must have asked yourself this question. Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness. Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed? I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home, and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom! Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after us from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters! Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right."

- Mrs. Miniver (film)

0 likes1940s American filmsDrama filmsFilms based on short fictionWorld War II filmsBest Picture Academy Award winners
"When I was the president of the Urbana High School Science Fiction Club, this would have been my favorite movie. But the movies have changed and so have I and today there is something almost endearing about the clunky special effects and clumsy construction of A Sound of Thunder. The movie is made with a gee-whiz spirit, and although I cannot endorse it I can appreciate it. There’s a fundamental difference between movies that are bad because they’re willfully stupid (“Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo”) and movies that are bad because they want so much to be terrific that they explode under the strain. A Sound of Thunder may not be a success, but it loves its audience and wants us to have a great time. The movie is inspired by a famous short story by Ray Bradbury, arguing that to travel back in time and change even one tiny element in the past could completely alter the future. In that it is firmly Darwinian, and indeed if the common ancestor of all primates had died without reproducing, where would that leave us? In the movie, a greedy entrepreneur (Ben Kingsley) charges millionaires a small fortune to travel back in time, kill a giant prehistoric reptile, and return with a video of themselves. In theory this will not change the present because (a) frozen liquid nitrogen bullets are used, which will evaporate making no difference, (b) the targeted beast is selected because in another second it would have died anyway, and (c) the travelers never leave anything behind."

- A Sound of Thunder (film)

0 likes2000s American filmsFilms based on short fictionFilms about dinosaursTime travel filmsScience fiction films
"This is one of those films that is so filled with twists, turns and unexpected developments that even the most oblique plot discussion threatens to wander into dreaded spoiler territory. Then again, I admit that I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen going in thanks to my familiarity with the source material, Robert Heinlein's celebrated 1959 short story "—All You Zombies—", and still found myself knocked out by its startlingly effective translation from the page to the screen. I will try to keep the details to a minimum, but, trust me, the less you know going in, the better, especially considering the fact that the story deals in no small part with time travel (and all of the attending paradoxes) and that is not even close to being its most unusual aspect. … Hawke … is an actor who in recent years has more often than not been gravitating towards material that is off-beat and original — at this point, his name on a marquee pretty much guarantees that the film in question will at least be somewhat interesting. … Sarah Snook delivers a knockout performance that calls on her to perform the kind of tricky scenes that could have resulted in bad laughs throughout if handled incorrectly. Not only does she pull off her performance brilliantly throughout — there is not one moment in which she is anything less that utterly convincing and believable — I would go so far as to put her work here up against any of the current front-runners for the Best Actress Oscar."

- Predestination (film)

0 likesScience fiction filmsFilms based on short fictionAustralian filmsTime travel filmsFilms based on works by Robert A. Heinlein