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The best science fiction movies of all time

Tell said:
Robocop is quite close as wellin tone and awesomeness. The same director also did Starship Troopers which definitely also should make the list.
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Unwatchable, those robot scenes are terrible now.

 
I noted that Alien was 3rd in the list - if you enjoyed Alien, I encourage you to seek out the 1958 film It the Terror from Beyond Space. Ridley Scott borrowed liberally from the earlier film's plot (and that's being kind to RS). To wit, a crew on a rescue mission unknowingly admits a terrifying alien onboard and then departs on the trip home; en route the alien hunts down the crew members one by one in an increasingly claustrophobic ship. It's well worth watching and there are some 50s sci fi laughs along the way as we see the crew smoking cigarettes in the ships lounge (and yes, Ridley borrowed that bit as well).
 
Some other films that I like, that I don't think have been mentioned already...

Brazil (1985)
Dark City (1998)
Akira (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Donne Darko (2001)
Children of Men (2006)
Moon (2009)
District 9 (2009)
Ender's Game (2013)
Ex Machina (2014)
The Creator (2023)
 
Puddingbuks said:
Unwatchable, those robot scenes are terrible now.

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Of course it would look much much better doing that big robot using modern well directed CGI, but the stop motion used here is still okay, doesn't really pull me out of the story.

Berwhale said:
Some other films that I like, that I don't think have been mentioned already...

Brazil (1985)
Dark City (1998)
Akira (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Donne Darko (2001)
Children of Men (2006)
Moon (2009)
District 9 (2009)
Ender's Game (2013)
Ex Machina (2014)
The Creator (2023)
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Is Children of Men scifi? Yeah maybe? If so then I'd probably place it at #2 after The Fifth Element, it's of the best movies ever made imo. District 9 is of course very high on the list as well while The Creator was a movie that I really wanted to like but it just felt it quite flimsy especially towards the end. It wouldn't even be in the top 25 imo. Really good looking though!
 
Tell said:
Is Children of Men scifi? Yeah maybe? If so then I'd probably place it at #2 after The Fifth Element, it's of the best movies ever made imo. District 9 is of course very high on the list as well while The Creator was a movie that I really wanted to like but it just felt it quite flimsy especially towards the end. It wouldn't even be in the top 25 imo. Really good looking though!
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I know what you mean about The Creator. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but it was still a breath of fresh air compared to all the other slop that's been coming out of Hollywood in the last decade.
 
I have mentioned this forgotten gem before but if you have not seen it you will think about it for awhile after you do. Different from other scifi fantasy type films. Not for young children.

"In the prehistoric world, a Cro-Magnon tribe depends on an ever-burning source of fire, which eventually extinguishes. Lacking the knowledge to start a new fire, the tribe sends three warriors (Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nameer El-Kadi) on a quest for more. With the tribe's future at stake, the warriors make their way across a treacherous landscape full of hostile tribes and monstrous beasts. On their journey, they encounter Ika (Rae Dawn Chong), a woman who has the knowledge they seek."

1775848908963.png
 
I think Dune 2 has to feature, it was delicious. 2049 was good, but it's not top 20, the original trouces it. For Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back is the one. Aliens is better than Alien, but maybe it's an action movie first and foremost. I saw Akira get a mention above, top 5 easily, as much it's influence on animation in the west. Clockwork Orange and District 9 are epic. Finally, Interstellar. Best sci-fi movie, or maybe just the best movie? Thanks for this, I've seen them all, but I'm going to hit the rotten tomatoes 150, sci-fi is for me the greatest genre, infinite possibilities.
 
Robin L said:
To the best of my knowledge, "A Scanner Darkly" is the only "Philip K. Dick" movie that sticks to the source material. "Blade Runner" is a masterpiece and PKD gave his blessing to the parts he saw, but there are inclusions and exclusions not found in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". In any case, it's a hallucinogenic take of ales of extreme drug abuse, fantastic social comment and some amazing rotoscoped acting:

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Having read most of his books and short stories, and seen most of the adaptations, I think this is correct. Funny enough, "Screamers" is actually pretty close to the original story too, but it doesn't make many "best of" lists.

The one that really bums me out is Paycheck. The story blew my hair back when I first read it, I knew it would make an awesome movie with an exciting setup and one of his signature twist endings. The movie changed the entire plot - instead of it being a clever heist pulled off by the protagonist, he was just fighting a bad guy abusing the tech used for the heist in the short story.

e: FWIW Total Recall is pretty close to the source material for the first 10 minutes or so.
 
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Berwhale said:
I know what you mean about The Creator. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, but it was still a breath of fresh air compared to all the other slop that's been coming out of Hollywood in the last decade.
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The Creator was an aesthetically awesome movie, but I found it very disappointing in the end, plot and idea-wise it was thinner than gas station TP.

I think Akira is a good add.

Donnie Darko and Being John Malkovitch aren't truly science-y either, I think they just get lumped in with sci-fi because they have fantastical elements that aren't explicitly "magic".
 
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Many good films listed. I like the Abyss but not perhaps for its science fiction part.
 
Funny and enjoyable, not 10 best, last year's 2021's Don't Look Up
 
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Any such list without Forbidden Planet and Starship Troopers is just trash.


Project Hail Mary was meh...more a sentimental journey than a sci-fi banger. So much cuteness.

But yeah, because of that, it may well come to be a 'beloved' favorite.
 
krabapple said:
Any such list without Forbidden Planet and Starship Troopers is just trash.


Project Hail Mary was meh...more a sentimental journey than a sci-fi banger. So much cuteness.

But yeah, because of that, it may well come to be a 'beloved' favorite.
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I liked the PHM book more, there was a lot more actual science and problem-solving in it, somehow the movie got to be almost 3 hours and still had little time for anything other than Ryan Gosling making friends with a rock. That said, I still liked the movie and think it stands pretty tall among sci-fi movies.
 
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