3 things I miss from 80s and early 90s movies

[KThunder]

I like scifi that doesn't try to have some big over-riding moral or anything. Avatar was good but I pretty much ignored the moral behind the story. I thought about it afterwards of course, but during the movie I just want a good plot, good acting, lots of action and good believable effects.

I don't think movies have to be "life changing" or even thought provoking to be good. Star Wars wasn't. It was just cool, with different worlds, and different creatures, and action and stuff.

A lot of movies today think that they need to have some big moral or else they are just driven by special effects.

[KThunder]

Star Wars is accepted as Sci Fi in popular culture even though technically it isn't. I consider it a Fantasy. But i think you were right in calling it a Space Western.  Actually i think the correct term for it is Space Opera. Star Trek was a Space Western too - "Band Wagon to the Stars"?

Define Sci Fi? Easy. Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting.

P.S. SF actually means Speculative Future and is not Science Fiction. SF is the same as Sci Fi but minus the science.

By your definition, why isn't Star Wars and SF scifi? If we had interstellar spacecraft (technology) we would likely have the impact and intrigue displayed by the empire and republic, of different worlds interacting as they do in SW.

I would define Space Operas (my favorite are by Alistair Reynolds) Space Westerns (SW) and SF (Star Trek) as all genres of scifi.

SciFi is just fiction with lot's-o-science.