Your top 5 sci-fi movies (and why)

[Clint_L]

I tend to find getting into the nitty gritty of genre classification to be non-productive and find it's generally better to have a broad tent approach. If you want to call it a fantasy western with a sci-fi aesthetic, okay, but that sure sounds like a fancy way of saying it's science fiction to me.

I've had people seriously look me in the eye and tell me Alien isn't science fiction.

I debated Alien because horror is its first genre, but it definitely falls into the speculative fiction category, as well, in ways that Star Wars does not.

The genre distinction is important for me because, for me, sci-fi and fantasy are very different experiences. Sci-fi wants to make you think, while fantasy wants to make you feel (very broad assertion, but not without merit, I believe). And fantasy tends to espouse much more conservative values; it's backwards looking while sci-fi is forwards looking.

The only thing that makes Star Wars not perfect fantasy is the aesthetic, really; the wizards, knights, evil empire, dark lord, monsters, kidnapped princess, quest structure, orphaned Chosen One theme, etc. are all Fantasy 101. It's even introduced with a "once upon a time" text crawl.

Also, this is a thread about genre, so I think debating the definition of the genre is fair game. I still love Star Wars, though; it had far more impact on my life than any other film. I definitely consider it my #1 fantasy film.

 

[agrayday]

1. Alphaville: Strange, noirish, French, great movie, i have watched it many many times.
2. Ghost in the Shell: Saw it in theater release, a wonderful immersive world with cool design, music, and settings.
3. Brazil: Gilliam created a strange unique world stirred many different thoughts and emotions.
4. Blade Runner: Saw it in theater, The world building, detective noir tones were great to immerse in.
5. Star Wars: Saw it in theater release, first sci-fi movie i had seen in a theater, a space Scifi movie no less, that had a huge impact on me as a child.

Honorable Mentions:

• Tron (1982) Steven Lisberger.
• Stalker (1979) Andrei Tarkovsky.
• Seconds (1966) John Randolph *Does the black and white to color switch in the movie, stars Rock Hudson.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) Michael Radford.
• Kafka (1994) Steven Soderbergh *Also does the black and white to color switch in the movie, stars Jeremy Irons.

 

[Autumnal]

Seconds has Evil Will Geer! Stunning little movie. And Kafka! I love that movie, and almost nobody ever saw it. The bit with Jeremy Irons and Ian Holm facing off is so great. And Stalker! Mmmmm. This is a great list.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yes, a movie about spaceships using lasers to blow up a giant space station can easily not be speculative fiction. I stand by that.

Sure, lots of SF isn’t speculative, but exists purely to entertain (just like movies in any other genre). I do think there is a lot of intellectual snobbery going around here. For example, 2001 doesn’t have any sophisticated intellectual message, it just propagates the widely derided Ancient Astronauts theory (much like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull*). That doesn’t affect its quality as a movie. It’s the performance of Hal’s voice actor that makes it.

Often the distinction between between SF and Fantasy is meaningless. Godzilla clearly isn’t fantasy because it doesn’t have wizards!


*which Clarke also wrote about.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It has a flimsy sci-fi set dressing, like Star Wars or Spiderman.

IMHO, most sci fi films- including many mentioned in this thread- could be described as being “flimsy” or sci-fi in name only. That doesn’t disqualify them for me. YMMV.

 

[Parmandur]

Children of Men

Oooooh, another honorable mention.

 

[Parmandur]

Godzilla clearly isn’t fantasy because it doesn’t have wizards!

The scientists may as well be wizards in the context of what they do, and the title character is a storm Kami.

 

[Parmandur]

IMHO, most sci fi films- including many mentioned in this thread- could be described as being “flimsy” or sci-fi in name only. That doesn’t disqualify them for me. YMMV.

Indeed, one's mileage may vary: I generally prefer fantasy as a genre, but positing the question of " est sci-fi"....then I am including a judgement of "sci-fi-ness" as part of the judgement.

 

[Mannahnin]

This thread is for sci-fi—I’ll do fantasy movies separately. Superhero movies similarly.

5. Star Wars. It kicked off the biggest sci-fi franchise in the world. Sure, Empire is better. But this is the one which launched the franchise and the one I remember most from my childhood.

4. Bladerunner. I don’t ‘love’ this movie but I recognise it for its importance. It basically invented cyberpunk. The visuals are gorgeous. It dries with atmosphere. The worldbuilding is epic. This is such an important movie.

3. Terminator 2. The first was great but T2 is one of the top action movies of all time. And it still holds up today!

2. The Wrath of Khan. I enjoy Voyage Home more, but this is the better sci-fi movie. It’s not just a good Trek movie, it’s not just a good sci-fi movie. It’s a good movie.

1. Alien. It presented sci-fi to me in a whole new light. A horror movie with space truckers. It was this or Aliens, which I love even more, but I have to give it to Alien for inventing the franchise.

That's a killer list.

Five is hard to do, but this is my best attempt for today:

5. The Terminator. Barely edged out T2 for me, in part because some of the humor in T2 is a little lame. Just a super tight, suspenseful script and story. Both have amazing scores.
4. Blade Runner. Some bits of it haven't held up for me, but overall it's so gorgeous and influential and enthralling. Hauer's work as Roy and that soliloquy/monologue he created for the end climax is utter poetry. At times in my life this has been my favorite film.
3. Aliens. Alien I categorize as slightly more in the horror category than sci-fi. Both are among my favorite films of all time. This is just another wonderfully-written, suspenseful, incredibly well-shot and edited and performed movie. Awesome score. Endlessly rewatchable and quotable.
2. Star Wars: A New Hope. The Empire Strikes Back being a better movie is proverbial now, but this one has so much. So much worldbuilding, such groundbreaking special effects, such a singular aesthetic vision, so much rewatchability. One of the greatest film scores of all time. Even Lucas' weird dialogue contributes to the effect, but we have to thank Marcia Lucas and Richard Chew in particular for editing this into such a near-perfect package.
1. Children of Men. Dark horse contender, I know, but IMO this is a perfect film. Perfectly grounded in our world, gorgeously shot and wonderfully acted, brilliantly written. Suspenseful, unpredictable, immersive. And with one of my favorite flawed protagonists ever. Next time you watch, notice his interactions with animals and with weapons.

My top honorable mentions have to be Her and Blade Runner 2049. I think both of them have a real chance to get on this list once I watch them some more.

Others vying for top 10 include Wrath of Khan, T2, Gattaca, Primer, Arrival, Moon, and Back to the Future (another perfect film). Maybe 2001 for Hal and for the visuals. Edit: And The Matrix, of course. Forgot it initially.

I classify The Thing and Alien more as horror than sci-fi, so I get to sidestep the agony of putting those up against my final top 5. They're two of my very favorite movies ever.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Oh wow. Let's see, I previously did a Top 10 Science Fiction Shows of all Time...

Thread 'Science Fiction: Greatest TV Shows Part III'

Jun 9, 2021

Part I (Dramas):

The Greatest TV Shows of All Time (Kinda): The Top 10

Greetings and recriminations, and welcome to a very special edition of the Snarf's Musings about the Media. If you haven't seen the posts leading up this, they are located here: https://www.enworld.org/threads/firefly-reconsidered-why-firefly-isnt-hall-of-fame-great.680424/ ...and here...

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Part II (Comedies):

The Greatest TV Shows of All Time Part 2: HA HA! Comedy Illustrated

If you haven't seen it yet, then here is Part 1 - the Dramas. Oh, the DRAMA! You'd think that people would be understanding if you create a list of shows and put forth reasons for having the list exclusive (such as American shows, and no Comedies) given that you were only doing 10, but, of...

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What are the top 10 SCIENCE FICTION shows of all time? Why do this? Why not? Procrastination is a helluva drug.

Before starting, the criteria I use, because I am a masochist and love writing stuff everyone ignore in order to argue with the premise.

1. The show must be complete, and have lasted at least one full season. In other...

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• Forum: *Geek Talk & Media

(That was as of June 2021)

But top five movies? In no particular order...

2001. This is pretty much the alpha and omega of serious science fiction movies. There's before 2001, and after.

Blade Runner. It's hard to think of a more influential movie in terms of shaping our perceptions of what a dystopian future looks like.

Metropolis. Okay, there might be one film that ranks with 2001 and Blade Runner in terms of influence. And maybe outranks.

Star Wars. Sure, it might actually be fantasy, but this created the science fiction blockbuster. And the shared universe/sequel ... for better and worse.

Solaris (1972). Some might put Stalker higher- I appreciate that, but to me this is the Tarkovsky film that approaches 2001. Even though Tarkovsky didn't like 2001, and Kubrick didn't like Solaris. Game recognizes hates game. I'd also accept The Matrix for this spot given the sizeable impact it had on post-2000 movies.

Now, those are the top five. My own personal Snarfian list would be quite different. I tend to really enjoy films like Under the Skin, and would ask questions like, "Is Poor Things science fiction?"