Best Sci-Fi Movies of all time?

[Dakkon]

Aliens or BladeRunner, very hard pushed to say one is better than the other.

[stephen300o]

Also loved Ghost in the shell, if manga counts.

[Ace-T]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Anybody familiar with 'The Chronicles of Riddick' ? Good fun and some nice dialogue eg :

'You did 3 things wrong:
1. You took the job
2. You came light. A crew of 4 for me ? - f*cking insulting' etc etc

Very good film, but like Star Wars I would argue that it is not science fiction but fantasy.

2001 is Sci fi, so is Blade Runner and Gattaca. Indeed Star Trek is science fiction too.

IMO 2001 is the best Science Ficiton film ever. I have not seen Metropolis though as I believe that is generally regarded as one of the best too.

Trace

[derestrictor]

Jonc said:

The Thing

...and so do I.

Amazing what can be done with melted crayon! Phenomenal piece o' work, amazing tension.

[Alexj800]

Has anyone seen Metropolis? I've had it in my collection for ages, but havent got around to watching it yet. German made silent film made in 1927 and it's supposed to be pretty good.

[A4_Family_Man]

Few leftfield choices:

Alphaville

Fahrenheit 451

Things to come (1930's)Great depiction of the widespread fear (at the time) of the bomber will always get through. Imagine the horror of the Blitz having seen this in the cinema a few years before - the nuclear holocaust of it's day.

Edited by A4_Family_Man on Saturday 14th March 18:01

[NickyTwoHats]

andy400 said:

The Black Hole - great film!

First film I ever walked out of....

[Sciroccology]

THX 1138


Which I now know has already been mentioned.

Edited by Sciroccology on Saturday 14th March 18:06

[DrTre]

Quite like The Andromeda Strain...a quiet sci-fi film.

[Jasandjules]

DrTre said:

Quite like The Andromeda Strain...a quiet sci-fi film.

As in based on the Crichton novel? I haven't seen the film but read the book and it was not bad.

[dibbly_dobbler]

Ace-T said:

dibbly_dobbler said:

Anybody familiar with 'The Chronicles of Riddick' ? Good fun and some nice dialogue eg :

'You did 3 things wrong:
1. You took the job
2. You came light. A crew of 4 for me ? - f*cking insulting' etc etc

Very good film, but like Star Wars I would argue that it is not science fiction but fantasy.

2001 is Sci fi, so is Blade Runner and Gattaca. Indeed Star Trek is science fiction too.

IMO 2001 is the best Science Ficiton film ever. I have not seen Metropolis though as I believe that is generally regarded as one of the best too.

Trace

Ace - I'm intrigued, what is your definition of Sci-Fi then ?

[A4_Family_Man]

crap name for a film but enjoyed:

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

with the original Batman!

[DrTre]

Jasandjules said:

DrTre said:

Quite like The Andromeda Strain...a quiet sci-fi film.

As in based on the Crichton novel? I haven't seen the film but read the book and it was not bad.

Yeah it is, film focuses (sp?) more on the people than the sciencey bit...quite a chilling film in a subtle way, to me at least.

I've not read the book, I meant to pick it up though...will go and have a gander on amazon..

[djmck30]

derestrictor said:

For obscurity's sake, one from recent times called The Thirteenth Floor.

Yes! Fantastic film - very underrated. I won't spoil it but the twist ending is one of the best i've ever seen.

[Mojocvh]

andy400 said:

Event Horizon

Oh yes, one of the best.

oops spaca moment

Edited by Mojocvh on Saturday 14th March 18:33

[FunkyNige]

Jonc said:

What? no mention of Tron, Weird Science, Spaceballs, or The Thing?

When's the last time you saw Spaceballs? I saw it as a kid and thought it was great, saw it again at 18 (ish) and it really hasn't aged well...

And is it me, or has no-one mentioned any films in the last 15 years except Serenity, Gattaca, Pitch Black, the Matrix and I, Robot? Are we having a drought of good sci-fi flicks or are the modern sci-fi films just a CGI-fest without having anything else to keep the watcher hooked?

[Dupont666]

Equilibrium
Children of Men
The Day the Earth Stood Still
12 monkeys
Grindhouse

[Ace-T]

dibbly_dobbler said:

Ace-T said:

dibbly_dobbler said:

Anybody familiar with 'The Chronicles of Riddick' ? Good fun and some nice dialogue eg :

'You did 3 things wrong:
1. You took the job
2. You came light. A crew of 4 for me ? - f*cking insulting' etc etc

Very good film, but like Star Wars I would argue that it is not science fiction but fantasy.

2001 is Sci fi, so is Blade Runner and Gattaca. Indeed Star Trek is science fiction too.

IMO 2001 is the best Science Ficiton film ever. I have not seen Metropolis though as I believe that is generally regarded as one of the best too.

Trace

Ace - I'm intrigued, what is your definition of Sci-Fi then ?

There is 'average bod sci-fi' and 'hard sci-fi'.

Average bod sci-fi is anything set in the future and/or in space and/or involving [Dr Evil]layzrs[/Dr Evil] in which if you strip out all the 'Sci-fi' stuff you can replace with existing or historical stuff; i.e. guns or swords; in essence the sci-fi bit is just the backdrop of a conventional story. Take Star Wars for example; just a fairy tale about a boy following a quest and growing to greatness with baddies along the way and a redemption sub plot.

Hard Sci-fi is where the science/technology is a fundamental strand of the story and how people/society are affected/changed by it. Gattaca for example is where the technology of genetic profiling has been extrapolated into the future and has caused major changes in society meaning that if you are not 'perfect' you are banned from doing things. The science is a fundamental part of the story.

Back to the Future is hard sci-fi IMO so it doesn't have to be serious stuff. The Forbidden Planet is regarded as sci-fi but is it a retelling of a Shakespeare play!

This of course is all up for discussion should people disagree!

Trace


PS This doesn't mean I don't like the entertaining romp that is Star Wars!

[DrTre]

FunkyNige said:

are the modern sci-fi films just a CGI-fest without having anything else to keep the watcher hooked?

Yeah IMO, although I don't think it's restricted to sci-fi.
Seems to me too much time is devoted to setting up "amazing" set pieces at the expense of the story.
CGI moves too quickly, just for the sake of visual impact and again, it's difficult to keep the narrative going because of this.
Don't get me wrong, it can be done and done very well (Starship Troopers, T2 (although that was real explosions)) but other times films just lose me because they are simply 2 hour adverts for the CGI effects to be shown off (Spiderman, Matrices 2 and 3..there are loads more but I can't think at the mo..)

ETA there are exceptions to this but in general I think CGI is used as a very lazy tool nowadays that doesn't enhance, but detract.

Edited by DrTre on Saturday 14th March 18:36

[HD Adam]

As a quick heads up, THX-1138 and Dark City are both on the SKY movie channels at 9pm.
I, Robot is on tonight too.

I love all the old "B Movie" science fiction. 50's cars, , girls in tin foil costumes, metaphors for Communism, rubber monsters, rubbish special effects etc.