The best science fiction movies of all time

[LTig]

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.

Yep yep yep. For those who don't know it:

 

[tineared]

Yep yep yep. For those who don't know it:

Spoiler Alert

 

[Petrushka]

There’s nothing in the Blade Runner movie to suggest that artificial humans and animals are anything other than clones, and biologically, that doesn’t differentiate them from natural. Any more than in vitro fertilization makes one non human.

The memory implant thing is Harry Potter magic, neither science nor technology.

They are defined as non human to avoid the legal complications of slavery.

 

[mhardy6647]

They are defined as non human to avoid the legal complications of slavery.

I have to say (perhaps divulging more about the weirdness of my thought processes than is prudent) that this sentence made me smile.

The legal complications of slavery... it's a bit of a bother, isn't it?

I was also reminded (more weirdness) of this Calvin and Hobbes reflection on science and ethics -- specifically, the second panel:

And this was published long before Elon and the AI tech bros ruled the markets.

 

[aikofan]

Has anyone yet mentioned Mr. Nobody (2009) or World of Tomorrow (2015 animated short)?

 

[Short38]

Repo Man. If not already mentioned. Hilarious on so many levels. “natural causes…”

 

[DanielT]

I've now seen Project Hail Mary.

It was heartwarming and humorous. I recommend that movie.

Ryan Gosling was great. I think it lived up to the hype. Best ever? Well, I don't know about that, but one of the best made in the last few decades in my opinion:

Spoiler: Bonus , an Italian woman makes fun of France

Probably unconsciously but it sounded too damn funny,
Starting at 34:48

 

[Philbo King]

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.

As for Project: Hail Mary ... mark my words, this movie will one day be considered one of the greats. I was utterly blown away when I saw it, I didn't think such a movie was possible after years of Hollywood slop. I thought that all the talented writers were dead. Warning - spoilers ahead: There IS political messaging in it, but it's subtle and not shoved down your throat. To take one example: Eva Stratt has to make unpleasant decisions, even immoral ones. Like send a man to die against his will, and when he refuses, she has him sedated and sends him anyway. Do you think this was justified? She's not portrayed as a straight out villain, although her actions were certainly villainous. You can understand them, and maybe even justify them. Do extraordinary circumstances mean that we have to change our moral code? It is this kind of ambiguity that I loved about the old Star Trek, and I love about this movie.

What else would you put on this list, and why?

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy is (IF you've read the book)

 

[kemmler3D]

There’s nothing in the Blade Runner movie to suggest that artificial humans and animals are anything other than clones,

It's fair to say very little but I wouldn't agree with "nothing".

- The scene where they interrogate the eye guy to get to Tyrell, he says "I designed your eye" which is at least suggestive of something beyond cloning even if you assume lots of genetic engineering.
- They are stated to live only a few years, (implied to be total lifespan) but are adults. Clones as we know them are born and grow up just like normal humans.
- Shown to have unusual strength / speed, maybe meaningful?
- A scene or two where their eyes are shown to be retroreflective, not a normal human trait
-The snake scale has a microscopic serial number on it, this is highly suggestive of manufacture and not cloning.

They're more like highly genetically engineered robots or something than clones per se, but depending on how to define clone, it might just be semantics.

 

[Axo1989]

Has anyone yet mentioned Mr. Nobody (2009) or World of Tomorrow (2015 animated short)?

A friend strongly recommended Mr Nobody which I must get around to watching.

 

[JustAnandaDourEyedDude]

I echo the "great thread" sentiment. Consider practically every post in it to have received a Like from me.

Some further candidates for borderline Great to Great:

Tenet
Edge of Tomorrow
Another Earth
I Origins
Rollerball (1975)
The Man from Earth
Pi
The Cell
eXistenZ
Videodrome

Further candidates for Good to Excellent, but which do not rise to Great:

Splice
Species
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once
The Time Traveler's Wife
About Time
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
In Time
Equilibrium
Minority Report
Frequency
Predestination
Looper
Bugonia
The Faculty
Poor Things
The Lobster
Vanilla Sky (based on Abre Los Ojos, the Spanish original, which I prefer)

I have watched a lot (most?) of the post-1970 movies mentioned in this thread so far. Excellent suggestions and discussions throughout this thread. Particular shout-outs to the OP, and to the folks who mentioned Coherence, Annihilation and Repo Man, because I enjoy weirdness in sci-fi. I watched Repo Man and Liquid Sky, along with a bunch of wacky or off-beat, sometimes splendid movies in an art-house movie theater during the 1980s and 1990s. Coherence (2013) really brings the weirdness, mixing a fanciful interpretation (though highly implausible) of hard science (quantum mechanics) with suspense and human drama provoked by the scientific phenomenon, with a killer ending.

 

[rgpit]

Here's another good one. "The Age of Adaline".

 

[Vuki]

I loved Time Bandits and Time AfterTime...

 

[Palmer]

Silent Running 1972

 

[Multicore]

Maybe not top 20, The Black Hole

Solid score from John Barry. Largely incomprehensibly otherwise.

 

[mhardy6647]

Silent Running 1972

I love that movie. A tour de force for Bruce Dern... and the end makes me sniffle.

 

[aikofan]

A friend strongly recommended Mr Nobody which I must get around to watching.

Your friend must have good taste. This is an absolutely amazing movie that I never see mentioned. If you're like me, you'll need to block out 4.5 hrs to watch it because after you finish you'll want to go back and watch it again from the beginning.

 

[Palmer]

I love that movie. A tour de force for Bruce Dern... and the end makes me sniffle.

Saw it when I was, well, much younger - and despite the cute robots, the sadness lingers. Such is life, when one is saddened by such.
Cheers

 

[mhardy6647]

Saw it when I was, well, much younger - and despite the cute robots, the sadness lingers. Such is life, when one is saddened by such.
Cheers

You probably know this, but the cute robots were quite literally the archetype(s) - or at least the prototype(s) - for R2-D2.

The Birth of R2-D2 — Kitbashed

How Douglas Trumbull's 1972 low-budget, bleeding heart science fiction classic yielded not just the basic look of, but the humanity of R2-D2 and robots everywhere.

kitbashed.com

... and of course Douglas Trumbull cut his teeth working on Kubrick's 2001, tackling what Kubrick wouldn't, i.e., visualizing the rings of Saturn -- Kubrick moved the setting for 2001's encounter with the Stargate from Saturn to Jupiter to avoid the extra complications of those darned rings.

 

[Palmer]

You probably know this, but the cute robots were quite literally the archetype(s) - or at least the prototype(s) - for R2-D2.
View attachment 533026

The Birth of R2-D2 — Kitbashed

How Douglas Trumbull's 1972 low-budget, bleeding heart science fiction classic yielded not just the basic look of, but the humanity of R2-D2 and robots everywhere.

kitbashed.com

View attachment 533023
View attachment 533024

... and of course Douglas Trumbull cut his teeth working on Kubrick's 2001, tackling what Kubrick wouldn't, i.e., visualizing the rings of Saturn -- Kubrick moved the setting for 2001's encounter with the Stargate from Saturn to Jupiter to avoid the extra complications of those darned rings.


View attachment 533027

Thanks, of course - I was an aficionado of these things, and ended up in the entertainment business because of it. Not too much Motion Picture Film, but I had the fortune to work in a couple of independents. Great experience. Miss it. A little...

Great pics.