Your Top 10 Best Sci Fi movies
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I mean, Star War is heavily inspired by Hidden Fortress. Just because a story can work in a different genre or context doesn't disqualify from being a part of the genre that it's in. Or do Magnificent Seven and Fistful of Dollars not qualify as westerns because you could set them in feudal Japan, change the gunslingers to samurai, and their central plots wouldn't change
I don't think that saying aliens and magic are equivalent has much truth to it, especially with how sci-fi uses the former compared to how magic is often presented. In the Science Fiction OT (yes, there's a dedicated Sci-fi OT), I put this quote in the heading
"Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible", by Rod Serling
I think that's a succinct explanation for what separates sci-fi from fantasy. Of course science fantasy straddles the two, but the fantasy in that subgenre often is a matter of far-future super-advanced tech, or lost precursor tech among post-post-apocalyptic feudal society
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Many people like Dredd. It's kind of a cult classc now. I don't get, I really didn't like. Like Looper, Moon and Fury Road, I though it was one of those overrated Sci fi movies.
I think it's impossible for me to make a list, so I'm just going to quote this post and say my god I can't wait for this.
Alright, if SW counts then here is my list.
1. Star Wars OT (I'm not ranking them separately).
2. Blade Runner.
3. Blade Runner 2049.
4. Alien/Aliens (I won't choose).
5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
7. Terminator 2.
8. The Matrix.
9. Interstellar.
10. Back to the Future.
Honorable Mention: 2001: A Space Odyssey. I respect the movie and love its cinematography, but I don't enjoy watching it.
1. Star Wars OT (I'm not ranking them separately).
2. Blade Runner.
3. Blade Runner 2049.
4. Alien/Aliens (I won't choose).
5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
7. Terminator 2.
8. The Matrix.
9. Interstellar.
10. Back to the Future.
Honorable Mention: 2001: A Space Odyssey. I respect the movie and love its cinematography, but I don't enjoy watching it.
Some genres are substantive and some are not. Samurai movies and westerns are often interchangeable because those genres describe aesthetic. Serling's contention is that science-fiction drives at the spirit of the story itself, or at least a part of it, and I agree with him. I don't think Star Wars fulfills Serling's definition for science-fiction. The sci-fi backdrop is just aesthetic. It isn't speculative.
edit: to play's devil's advocate, I think you could make a case for Star Wars as science-fiction on the basis that it renders its sci-fi trappings with so much grit. I don't know if many stories before Star Wars imagined spaceships as dismal pieces of flying garbage, but Star Wars does. Even the biggest and most impressive ships are brutal, ironclad monstrosities. If nothing else, I don't want to suggest that the aesthetic of Star Wars isn't meaningful. You could argue that it is essentially speculative.
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Blade Runner
Star Wars
The Matrix
Contact
Alien
Aliens
Robocop
Star Trek II
Fire in the Sky
2001
Star Wars
The Matrix
Contact
Alien
Aliens
Robocop
Star Trek II
Fire in the Sky
2001
Isn't it extremely reductive to say that the genre labels of samurai and western movies are based on aesthetic, and thus interchangeable? Aesthetic isn't what makes them "interchangeable"; the themes, characterizations and roles that the archetypes play in the setting and in the public consensus of the setting, the kinds of stories told in those genres and how they reflect societal themes are much more potent defining traits than merely aesthetic.
I didn't like it either lol... just put it there because I couldn't think of anything else. I'd probably switch Prometheus to 9 only because the visuals were stunning (didn't particularly like the movie though).
Blade Runner
Blade Runner 2049
2001: A Space Odyssey
Aliens
Predator
The Thing
Terminator 2
District 9
Mad Max: Fury Road
Her
Blade Runner 2049
2001: A Space Odyssey
Aliens
Predator
The Thing
Terminator 2
District 9
Mad Max: Fury Road
Her
In no order and only focusing on my favorite film of specific franchises:
Batteries Not Included (this is my "My List is different than your list!" Pick)
Star Trek: First Contact
12 Monkeys
Alien
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Inception
Terminator 2
E.T.
Batteries Not Included (this is my "My List is different than your list!" Pick)
Star Trek: First Contact
12 Monkeys
Alien
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
The Matrix
Inception
Terminator 2
E.T.
I think Dredd is a decent action movie with some really good scenes, but it was elevated due to being the first notable R-rated action flick in a while after a stretch of studios doing a lot of PG-13 action movies. After Dredd came John Wick, Kingsman, The Last Stand, The Equalizer, Riddick was R again after Chronicles was PG-13, Olympus Has Fallen, etc
I like Dredd most for its gritty grungy cyberpunk world, rather than for its action and story
This is hard, as sci-fi as a genre produced so many classics. In no particular order:
1. The Matrix - The movie that got me into philosophy. A Splinter in Your Mind is a good book about that by the way. Kick-ass action as well.
2. Robocop - Immensely quotable and very smart, it's satire of corporate greed is even more relevant now than during its release.
3. Eternal Sunsine of the Spotless Mind - The best movie about love ever made.
4. Interstellar - A movie that asks relevant questions. Is our pioneeeing spirit gone? Shouldn't we start looking beyond Earth as we're doing such a bang-up job of destroying it? Amazing visuals backed by Kip Thorne's science, great performances, an amazing soundtrack and the docking scene is one for the ages.
5. 2001 A Space Odyssey - Probably the best and most beautiful movie about the mysteries and grandeur of space and life itself. The symmetrical shots are works of art.
6. Her - A post-cyberpunk movie that explores our relationship with technology in a manner few movies do and certainly not as heartfelt as this one does.
7. Star Wars The Last Jedi - The most progressive, subversive, beautiful and best Star Wars movie ever made. Fight me, haters.
8. Alien - I'm a massive sucker for space horror - from Dead Space to Blindsight - and this masterpiece is the granddaddy of them all.
9. Starship Troopers - Verhoeven and Neumeiers brilliant dissection of fascism. A post 9-11 movie, made before 9-11 had happened. Visionary brilliance.
10. The Abyss - The Terminator films are awesome as well, but this movie about aliens warning us is pretty topical if you replace nuclear weapons with climate change. Cameron is often praised as a brilliant technical director, and rightly so, but he absolutely nails the characters and the emotions here as well. The scene in which Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has to drown is harrowing and brilliantly acted by her and Ed Harris. I'm a sucker for underwater movies (and games, hello SOMA) as well.
Will dabble in the official sci-fi thread later.
1. The Matrix - The movie that got me into philosophy. A Splinter in Your Mind is a good book about that by the way. Kick-ass action as well.
2. Robocop - Immensely quotable and very smart, it's satire of corporate greed is even more relevant now than during its release.
3. Eternal Sunsine of the Spotless Mind - The best movie about love ever made.
4. Interstellar - A movie that asks relevant questions. Is our pioneeeing spirit gone? Shouldn't we start looking beyond Earth as we're doing such a bang-up job of destroying it? Amazing visuals backed by Kip Thorne's science, great performances, an amazing soundtrack and the docking scene is one for the ages.
5. 2001 A Space Odyssey - Probably the best and most beautiful movie about the mysteries and grandeur of space and life itself. The symmetrical shots are works of art.
6. Her - A post-cyberpunk movie that explores our relationship with technology in a manner few movies do and certainly not as heartfelt as this one does.
7. Star Wars The Last Jedi - The most progressive, subversive, beautiful and best Star Wars movie ever made. Fight me, haters.
8. Alien - I'm a massive sucker for space horror - from Dead Space to Blindsight - and this masterpiece is the granddaddy of them all.
9. Starship Troopers - Verhoeven and Neumeiers brilliant dissection of fascism. A post 9-11 movie, made before 9-11 had happened. Visionary brilliance.
10. The Abyss - The Terminator films are awesome as well, but this movie about aliens warning us is pretty topical if you replace nuclear weapons with climate change. Cameron is often praised as a brilliant technical director, and rightly so, but he absolutely nails the characters and the emotions here as well. The scene in which Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has to drown is harrowing and brilliantly acted by her and Ed Harris. I'm a sucker for underwater movies (and games, hello SOMA) as well.
Will dabble in the official sci-fi thread later.
Empire Strikes Back
The Thing
They Live
12 Monkeys
The Fifth Element
The Matrix
Dark City
Predator
Starship Troopers
Furry Road
The Thing
They Live
12 Monkeys
The Fifth Element
The Matrix
Dark City
Predator
Starship Troopers
Furry Road
Magic Mushroom Is The Abyss horror or more sci-fi mystery/adventure? I've never seen it. Also are you on Letterboxd?
It is extremely reductive, but that's what genre does. Western and samurai describe setting. "Science-fiction" as a genre actually alludes to the author's purpose.
I would also argue that most settings are interchangeable. That doesn't mean the setting isn't meaningful. The meaning of the story will obviously shift as the context shifts. Blade Runner probably still works if you replace the sci-fi trappings with fantasy archetypes. It still says something about the human condition, but it is no longer speculative.
In no order.
The Thing
Alien
Aliens
Gravity
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
Interstellar
Wall-E
Mad Max Fury Road
The Iron Giant
I feel like I am forgetting a few, and could probably bump Interstellar and maybe Gravity out of there with, but I LOVE everything else.
Star Wars, The Iron Giant, and Wall-E are just classics from my childhood, while The Thing and the two Alien movies are more recent viewings that I have fallen in love quite instantly.
The Thing
Alien
Aliens
Gravity
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
Interstellar
Wall-E
Mad Max Fury Road
The Iron Giant
I feel like I am forgetting a few, and could probably bump Interstellar and maybe Gravity out of there with, but I LOVE everything else.
Star Wars, The Iron Giant, and Wall-E are just classics from my childhood, while The Thing and the two Alien movies are more recent viewings that I have fallen in love quite instantly.
The action scenes are definitely great, but the movie overall wasn't that exciting imo.
Not in order:
Serenity
The Lobster
Star Wars (franchise. Sorry, can't pick between the movies)
Starship Troopers
The Matrix
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Equilibrium
Pacific Rim
Aliens
Robocop
I mean, how can I not pick Serenity? For this moment alone. I nearly went SSJ in the theater.
Serenity
The Lobster
Star Wars (franchise. Sorry, can't pick between the movies)
Starship Troopers
The Matrix
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Equilibrium
Pacific Rim
Aliens
Robocop
I mean, how can I not pick Serenity? For this moment alone. I nearly went SSJ in the theater.
To hard to rank
Back to the Future
Terminator 2
Inception
Jurassic Park
Mad Max: Fury Road
Predator
Aliens
The Matrix
The Thing
ET
For TV
Stranger Things
Back to the Future
Terminator 2
Inception
Jurassic Park
Mad Max: Fury Road
Predator
Aliens
The Matrix
The Thing
ET
For TV
Stranger Things
So other favorites and honorable mentions
- Snowpiercer
- Pacific Rim
- Hard To Be A God
- Time Crimes
- The Martian
- The Terminator & Terminator 2
- Inception (although I'd argue this is more pseudo-cyberpunk)
- The Matrix Revolutions
- District 9
- Oblivion
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Predator & Predators
- Snowpiercer
- Pacific Rim
- Hard To Be A God
- Time Crimes
- The Martian
- The Terminator & Terminator 2
- Inception (although I'd argue this is more pseudo-cyberpunk)
- The Matrix Revolutions
- District 9
- Oblivion
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Predator & Predators
In no order:
Metropolis
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
The Thing
Aliens
Blade Runner
GATTACA
The Matrix
Primer
Children Of Men
Honorable mentions:
Sunshine
Akira
Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force
The Ghost in the Shell (anime)
Predator
Terminator
Upstream Color
Dark City
Moon
The Man From Earth
Best sci-fi movie never filmed:
A Topiary (the second and abandoned project of Shane Carruth; the whole mind blowing script is discussed here):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF-i48BJgyo
Metropolis
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
The Thing
Aliens
Blade Runner
GATTACA
The Matrix
Primer
Children Of Men
Honorable mentions:
Sunshine
Akira
Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force
The Ghost in the Shell (anime)
Predator
Terminator
Upstream Color
Dark City
Moon
The Man From Earth
Best sci-fi movie never filmed:
A Topiary (the second and abandoned project of Shane Carruth; the whole mind blowing script is discussed here):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF-i48BJgyo
In alphabetical order:
- Blade Runner 2049
- Brazil
- Children of Men
- Cloud Atlas
- Jurassic Park
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
- Serenity
- Starship Troopers
- Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
- Wall-E
No order:
- Blade Runner
- Blade Runner 2049
- Alien
- Children of Men
- Sunshine
- The Terminator
- Robocop
- Moon
- Wall-E
- Her
I'd argue that what separates sci-fi action from sci-fi with action is how and if the story explores the themes and questions its world presents or if it uses the world as a framework for action. I'd say that Fury Road is the latter, while Robocop is 100% the former. There are shootouts and gore and such but the juxtaposition between Murphy the man and Murphy the machine is always at the forefront, always riding a fine line between cool and tragic.
Same reason why I'd put The Thing on a horror list and not a sci-fi list, but I'd put Alien on both.
The latter. Definitely give it a watch when you can. It's not really action-packed like The Terminator movies, Aliens or Avatar but really good character-driven sci-fi.
And no, not on Letterboxd. :)
01 - Melancholia
The end of the world has never been so personally rendered.
02 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
The alpha and the omega.
03 - Upstream Color
I could have included Primer in the ten depending on mood, but I greatly preferred Upstream.
04 - Children of Men
My favourite 'action' film.
05 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The best film on this list, but not the best sci-fi one...
06 - The Fountain
Some people would debate it being a sci-fi film, but I believe it is.
07 - Gattaca
So cheesy, and so brilliant.
08 - The Man From Earth
It's kind of ugly, but such a wonderful tale, so well told.
09 - Blade Runner
I've grown apart from it over the years, but it's still the best looking and most atmospheric film on the list.
10 - Arrival
The best 'pure' sci-fi experience since 2001.
The end of the world has never been so personally rendered.
02 - 2001: A Space Odyssey
The alpha and the omega.
03 - Upstream Color
I could have included Primer in the ten depending on mood, but I greatly preferred Upstream.
04 - Children of Men
My favourite 'action' film.
05 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The best film on this list, but not the best sci-fi one...
06 - The Fountain
Some people would debate it being a sci-fi film, but I believe it is.
07 - Gattaca
So cheesy, and so brilliant.
08 - The Man From Earth
It's kind of ugly, but such a wonderful tale, so well told.
09 - Blade Runner
I've grown apart from it over the years, but it's still the best looking and most atmospheric film on the list.
10 - Arrival
The best 'pure' sci-fi experience since 2001.
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1. Stalker
2. 2001
3. The Thing
4. Alien
5. Blade Runner 2049
6. The Matrix
7. Terminator 2
8. Akira
9. The Fly
10. Jurassic Park
Honorable mentions:
Aliens
Videodrome
Back to the Future
ET
Empire Strikes Back
Starship Troopers
Ghost in the Shell 2
Ex Machina
Annihilation
I'm almost positive I'm forgetting something I love but this would be my list when trying to recite from memory.
2. 2001
3. The Thing
4. Alien
5. Blade Runner 2049
6. The Matrix
7. Terminator 2
8. Akira
9. The Fly
10. Jurassic Park
Honorable mentions:
Aliens
Videodrome
Back to the Future
ET
Empire Strikes Back
Starship Troopers
Ghost in the Shell 2
Ex Machina
Annihilation
I'm almost positive I'm forgetting something I love but this would be my list when trying to recite from memory.
In no order we got:
Starship Troopers
Brazil
Children of Men
San Junipero
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
End of Evangelion
Blade Runner
La Jetee
Gweomul, or The Host
Cloud Atlas (fuck the yellowface tho, don't @ me if you conveniently forgot the absence of black face)
Starship Troopers
Brazil
Children of Men
San Junipero
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
End of Evangelion
Blade Runner
La Jetee
Gweomul, or The Host
Cloud Atlas (fuck the yellowface tho, don't @ me if you conveniently forgot the absence of black face)
Silent Running
Sunshine
Ex Machina
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Blade Runner
Solaris (2002)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Sunshine
Ex Machina
2001: A Space Odyssey
Alien
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Blade Runner
Solaris (2002)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Happy to see Blade Runner 2049 dominance in this thread best sci fi ever and dare I say best sequel ever. Even over The Godfather II.
Time crimes
Terminator
The matrix
Sunshine
Inception
The Martian
Moon
Alien
Edge of Tomorrow
Interstellar would be there if Nolan had the guts to do anything interesting with the ending instead of some ridiculous love crap.
Time crimes
Terminator
The matrix
Sunshine
Inception
The Martian
Moon
Alien
Edge of Tomorrow
Interstellar would be there if Nolan had the guts to do anything interesting with the ending instead of some ridiculous love crap.
OP
OP
What a great list ! Just few comments.
On Matrix. I saw that movie in cinema with my best friend. People cannot understand what Matrix was at the time. There was NOTHING like it. Actually, It impacted us so much that we started to be involved in conspiracy theories and secret societies research. That was crazy looking back lol. My friend went even further by experimenting things linked to Matrix... He was INSANE.
On Interstellar. I don't think a movie moved me that much in theather in a long time. I had incredible expectations for that movie and it just blew me away ! I think it's the movie that is the closest in scale and ambition to 2001. Maybe Inception comes close. Nolan is just the closest thing we have to Kubrick, I swear.
2001. From a technical standpoint, only 2 movies in my book can claim the title of best sci fi movie : Star Wars and 2001. The latter one didn't make it for me because that movie is just an experience, not a movie. And you are NOT the same person aftet experimenting 2001. 50 years later, that movie remains still a mystery and it is still interpreted in various ways. But it's not an enjoyable experience, it's nearly physical... Not sure I managed to watched it enterly in one shot, too powerful !
The Last Jedi is probably the last movie that moved me in theatre. The first since Interstellar. In a way it's the perfect Star Wars sequel. The way it explores the force is a tour de force ( pun intended ). The only downside is that average scene on that casino planet, why ? But the reat of the movie makes it the best Star Wars movie for me. But because of that 20 minites wasted in the middle of the movie, it cannot be the best Star Wars, let alone the best Sci Fi movie.
One of the best and scariest Sci Fi movie. One of the finnest Donald Sutherland performance.
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