The best science fiction movies of all time

[kemmler3D]

My definition of "Science Fiction" as a genre comes from years of shelfing mass-market paperbacks at Borders Books. Not to mention what I read ages 13-35 or so. There's a blur between Science Fiction and Fantasy, thrillers, dystopian novels. Can't say Heinlein is all that science-y, but he is essentially Science Fiction. Same with Ray Bradbury or Arthur C. Clark.

As with all genre classifications, the stricter you try to be, the less interesting the category gets and the more stuff that should fit, fails to fit. I have just come around to the idea that "science fiction" that happens to take place in space but seems completely innocent of any actual scientific knowledge doesn't count anymore. I think science fiction should be defined by something other than a visual aesthetic. I take the same stance on Cyberpunk as a sub-genre.

I think Cyberpunk pretty much always examines the line between man and machine and the relationship between corporate power, individual agency, traditional government, and society. It is not just any story that takes place in a dark, rainy setting with robots and neon lights scattered around. So from that point of view, Robocop is actually cyberpunk, The Matrix is not, and Fallout is sometimes, borderline.

And that illustrates why strict genre definitions are annoying to talk about, nobody wants to hear about how their definitions are underspecified and wrong. I think your approach of "know it when we see it" works, and it's not really an important debate to have most of the time.

 

[Robin L]

As with all genre classifications, the stricter you try to be, the less interesting the category gets and the more stuff that should fit, fails to fit. I have just come around to the idea that "science fiction" that happens to take place in space but seems completely innocent of any actual scientific knowledge doesn't count anymore. I think science fiction should be defined by something other than a visual aesthetic. I take the same stance on Cyberpunk as a sub-genre.

I think Cyberpunk pretty much always examines the line between man and machine and the relationship between corporate power, individual agency, traditional government, and society. It is not just any story that takes place in a dark, rainy setting with robots and neon lights scattered around. So from that point of view, Robocop is actually cyberpunk, The Matrix is not, and Fallout is sometimes, borderline.

And that illustrates why strict genre definitions are annoying to talk about, nobody wants to hear about how their definitions are underspecified and wrong.

It's funny, I'm volunteering at the local library. We get donated books/DVDs/CDs for resale to support the library. I sort audio visual materials and mass-market paperbacks. In sorting paperbacks my only concern is appearance—if the spine is cracked, it goes back. Don't spend too much time looking at the content. Peg lords over the mass-market paperbacks and sorts those books that are less than perfect into genres, Science Fiction absorbing some Fantasy titles. I love Ursula K. LeGuin's work, there's a little bit of science but a whole lot of eco-feminism and Magical Realism as well, so where do you file "The Dispossessed ?" There's a clear divide to the next category, Mystery/Thriller, not to mention a tray full of Romance novels. I guess this is all what they used to call "Pulp Fiction", eh?

 

[kemmler3D]

It's funny, I'm volunteering at the local library. We get donated books/DVDs/CDs for resale to support the library. I sort audio visual materials and mass-market paperbacks. In sorting paperbacks my only concern is appearance—if the spine is cracked, it goes back. Don't spend too much time looking at the content. Peg lords over the mass-market paperbacks and sorts those books that are less than perfect into genres, Science Fiction absorbing some Fantasy titles. I love Ursula K. LeGuin's work, there's a little bit of science but a whole lot of eco-feminism and Magical Realism as well, so where do you file "The Dispossessed ?" There's a clear divide to the next category, Mystery/Thriller, not to mention a tray full of Romance novels. I guess this is all what they used to call "Pulp Fiction", eh?

Maybe a better dividing line would be: Does the story get you to think about our world as it might be but isn't, or does it get you to think about an entirely different world? The former is sci-fi, the latter fantasy, if the more pertinent thing is that the scenario is acutely scary, it's horror.

Example, the Southern Reach series (Annihilation) definitely hews to "our world" even though there is no solid scientific explanation offered for any of the fantastical stuff that takes place in the books. So in that definition it still fits sci-fi even though the science aspect is utterly paper thin.

 

[Robin L]

Maybe a better dividing line would be: Does the story get you to think about our world as it might be but isn't, or does it get you to think about an entirely different world? The former is sci-fi, the latter fantasy, if the more pertinent thing is that the scenario is acutely scary, it's horror.

Example, the Southern Reach series (Annihilation) definitely hews to "our world" even though there is no solid scientific explanation offered for any of the fantastical stuff that takes place in the books. So in that definition it still fits sci-fi even though the science aspect is utterly paper thin.

Or does it do both, at the same time?

Gotta tell you, that's one of the things I love about Pynchon—the science is layers deep and really significant. Let me tell you about Quaternions . . .

 

[lozoyad]

I think these should be added -
Contact
Project Hail Mary
Gravity
War of the Worlds (either one)

Remove -
Anything Star Wars
Metropolis

 

[tineared]

Maybe a better dividing line would be: Does the story get you to think about our world as it might be but isn't, or does it get you to think about an entirely different world? The former is sci-fi, the latter fantasy, if the more pertinent thing is that the scenario is acutely scary, it's horror.

Example, the Southern Reach series (Annihilation) definitely hews to "our world" even though there is no solid scientific explanation offered for any of the fantastical stuff that takes place in the books. So in that definition it still fits sci-fi even though the science aspect is utterly paper thin.

I make allowances for some "fantastical" stuff due to self-preservation, but I draw the line at matter transportation and time travel (in a non-relativistic fashion).
Having said that, I did make allowances for Arrival, so nothing's written in stone...

 

[Titurel]

One reason it's hard to narrow the genre is the scarcity of scientific ideas which are:

1. Conceptually novel - not over used
2. Not yet entirely settled scientifically
3. Readily comprehended by non-scientists
4. Capable of engendering (or at least supporting) a compelling dramatic narrative, that thing without which, Hollywood won't be opening its checkbook. Thus, we get a lot of cowboys in space.

Such properties are don't turn up all that often, which is why I'm surprised no one ever picked up Gregory Benford's novel "Artifact" and made it into a picture. It's got nearly everything:

1. Archeology
2. Physics (Quantum entanglement)
3. Political and Academic intrigue

Just saying...

 

[rgpit]

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Oblivion
Time After Time
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Starman
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Slaughterhouse 5
The Time Machine
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Frankenstein (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

 

[Power Pop 23]

Let's kick off this discussion with this video:

It's a straightforward list of the best 20 movies in the author's opinion. These are:

20. Metropolis (1927)
19. ET (1982)
18. Arrival (2016)
17. Alien (1979)
16. The Thing (1982)
15. Back to the Future (1985)
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
13. Total Recall (1990)
12. Dune Part 1 (2021)
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
10. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
9. The Terminator (1984)
8. Interstellar (2014)
7. Inception (2010)
6. Aliens (1986)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
4. The Matrix (1999)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
1. Blade Runner: 2049 (2017)

I have watched every movie on that list except for The Thing. I think there are some movies that don't belong - Back to the Future was fun, but it wasn't great. And Metropolis hasn't aged as well as the author thinks. And more than a few of those movies have been ruined by their sequels, notably Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Terminator, and Aliens.

I would add two movies: WALL-E and Project: Hail Mary. The genius of WALL-E is that there is hardly any dialog, and the geniuses at Pixar somehow made you care about a trash compacting robot and his cockroach friend. The social commentary was pretty biting, humanity had devolved into a race of fat slobs whose every need was taken care of and all they did was fly around in space wheelchairs eating junk food and watching mindless entertainment.

Agreed.

I have younger relations who had nightmares after viewing a theatrical showing of Wall-E at age 12 in 2008.

Their mother thought the ratings board should have given the movie a rating of 'PG-13' instead of 'G'.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

With the exception of Metropolis the list seems to be more "Best SciFi Movies That Were on Lunchboxes" than any serious effort. I've only scanned the first page of comments where others have already rightly pointed out the omission of foundational titles such as Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still. I acknowledge that ALL "xx best" lists are inherently flawed and by nature subjective but this seems to be "most popular popcorn movies that many classify as science fiction"; and there's a place for that, too.

 

[Titurel]

With the exception of Metropolis the list seems to be more "Best SciFi Movies That Were on Lunchboxes" than any serious effort. I've only scanned the first page of comments where others have already rightly pointed out the omission of foundational titles such as Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still. I acknowledge that ALL "xx best" lists are inherently flawed and by nature subjective but this seems to be "most popular popcorn movies that many classify as science fiction"; and there's a place for that, too.

I don't disagree entirely with your observations, but i would point out that "Forbidden Planet' is not Sci-Fi so much as it is a Shakespeare retread (The Tempest) wrapped in a thin veneer of of well done (for 1956) special-effects.

I'm increasingly convinced that Sci-Fi is typically not so much a film genre as it is a Production Design choice.

 

[JeffS7444]

Has anyone else watched Aleksei German's Hard to be a God, (Трудно быть богом) based on a novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsy? I haven't read the novel yet, but wonder if it's the key to understanding the movie, which admittedly, I didn't really understand at all.

 

[LTig]

Has anyone else watched Aleksei German's Hard to be a God, (Трудно быть богом) based on a novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsy? I haven't read the novel yet, but wonder if it's the key to understanding the movie, which admittedly, I didn't really understand at all.

I saw it in a cinema some 10 years ago. Despite knowing the story both from reading the book and having watched an earlier movie by Peter Fleischmann (1989) in the 1990's I didn't understand much of it and was very disappointed. I liked the Fleischmann version much more (sorry, German only):

Edit: found an English version:

 

[JeffS7444]

I saw it in a cinema some 10 years ago. Despite knowing the story both from reading the book and having watched an earlier movie by Peter Fleischmann (1989) in the 1990's I didn't understand much of it and was very disappointed. I liked the Fleischmann version much more

Thanks! Wow, what a difference, not just between Aleksei German's and Peter Fleischmann's films, but also between the two versions of Fleischmann's film that you've linked to: Would guess that the German-language version is a more recent edit, as it removes some rather awkward story explanations. Meanwhile, Aleksei German's version offers almost no explanation at all, but IMO his cinematography is awesome.

 

[LTig]

Thanks! Wow, what a difference, not just between Aleksei German's and Peter Fleischmann's films, but also between the two versions of Fleischmann's film that you've linked to: Would guess that the German-language version is a more recent edit, as it removes some rather awkward story explanations.

It is a West German-Soviet-French-Swiss coproduction: a German director, some German actors (including Werner Herzog, director and actor). German might be the leading language.

 

[TLEDDY]

Blade Runner - Rutger Hauer quotation:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

 

[Petrushka]

I don't disagree entirely with your observations, but i would point out that "Forbidden Planet' is not Sci-Fi so much as it is a Shakespeare retread (The Tempest) wrapped in a thin veneer of of well done (for 1956) special-effects.

I'm increasingly convinced that Sci-Fi is typically not so much a film genre as it is a Production Design choice.

Science fiction, even the golden age, wrapped contemporary issues in a veneer of speculative tech. Sometimes it was just historical fiction with techno magic.

Some of the speculation was garbage, and some of it gold.

 

[mhardy6647]

Science fiction, even the golden age, wrapped contemporary issues in a veneer of speculative tech. Sometimes it was just historical fiction with techno magic.

Some of the speculation was garbage, and some of it gold.

Pithy but insightful synopsis of the genre, I would opine.

 

[Keith_W]

Blade Runner - Rutger Hauer quotation:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

Yes, that moment really made the movie. You watch the whole thing thinking the protagonist is an evil replicant hell-bent on killing us. And at that moment, you realize that he is as human as we are.

 

[JiiPee]

Arguably the first one: Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon)