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.