What Are The Best / Your Favorite Sci-Fi Movies?

[White Borders]

My Top 12 Sci-Fi Movies (Pre-1990)

2001 A Space Odyssey.jpg

Blade Runner.jpg

Star Wars.jpg

A Clockwork Orange.jpg

Alien.jpg

Back to the Future.jpg

Forbidden Planet.jpg

King Kong.jpg

Rollerball.jpg

Close Encounters of the Third Kind.jpg

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.jpg

Tron.jpg

[Butch7999]

Not sure why there's a 1990 cut-off, but here are a dozen of our pre-1990 favourites
and our top 10 from 1990 onward, surely arguable depending on one's taste
and on one's definition of what does and doesn't qualify as "sci-fi"...

The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956
2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
Colossus: The Forbin Project, 1970
Silent Running, 1972
Sleeper, 1973
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1978
Alien, 1979
Blade Runner, 1982
The Thing, 1982
Lifeforce, 1985
Aliens, 1986

Total Recall, 1990
Contact, 1997
Dark City, 1998
Galaxy Quest, 1999
Solaris, 2002
The Host, 2006
Cloverfield, 2008
Apollo 18, 2011
World War Z, 2013
Arrival, 2016

[mikemb]

My top 5:

The Giant Behemoth (1959)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Target Earth (1954)
Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)
The Monitors (1969)

Mike

[White Borders]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

Not sure why there's a 1990 cut-off

There's not a 1990 cutoff or a limit. There are also many that I like 1990-present, such as Hunger Games, Jurassic Park, The Martian. I might share those in a future post. 1990 was just a good break-point for me. BTW - It was very hard for me to leave "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Soylent Green" off of my list.

[rats60]

My top 10 regardless of date
The Empire Strikes Back
A Clockwork Orange
The Matrix
Back to the Future
Inception
Terminator 2 Judgment Day
Interstellar
Mad Max Fury Road
Blade Runner
2001 A Space Odyssey

[Butch7999]

Hey, we hear ya. We could easily have compiled a Top 50 of our own favourites, and several on our list above
are "on the bubble," subject to replacement by Forbidden Planet, Soylent Green, The Martian,
Return of the Living Dead, and more, depending on our mood and our ever-shifting definition of "sci-fi"
at any particular moment. Along with the obligatory obvious choices, we deliberately included a few
slightly more obscure films that other sci-fi fans here might have overlooked...

[2dueces]

All the above are excellent choices!

[Prof_Plum]

guess these would be considered sci-fi

Godzilla movies
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Attack of the 50 ft Woman
Them!
Flash Gordon - with Buster Crabbe
...and there was another old black and white series where some 'hero' guy would put on a helmet and be able to fly, can't remember the name (rocketman????)

As a kid could not wait to watch Creature Feature and Chiller Theatre on Saturdays My favorites are from the 50's The Thing, Them, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Earth vs the Flying Saucers, Invasion of the Saucer Men

[packs]

Fire In The Sky has always freaked me out.

[AustinMike]

Many great movies listed. One i haven't seen listed yet is "Invaders From Mars" from 1953. I saw this on TV in about 1961 when I was 7. This is definitely in my top 10.

On a side note and not meaning to hijack the thread, another sci-fi movie I would recommend is "Plan 9 From Outer Space." It is sooooo BAD, it is kind of entertaining.

[mikemb]

Originally Posted by AustinMike

Many great movies listed. One i haven't seen listed yet is "Invaders From Mars" from 1953. I saw this on TV in about 1961 when I was 7. This is definitely in my top 10.

On a side note and not meaning to hijack the thread, another sci-fi movie I would recommend is "Plan 9 From Outer Space." It is sooooo BAD, it is kind of entertaining.

Inxvders from Mars is a great movie that scared me. Plan 9 from Outer Space is really bad but it is so funny!!

Mike

[edtiques]

No love for Independence Day?

[quinnsryche]

All 5 ORIGINAL Planet of the Apes movies
Alien
Predator
Star Wars
2001: A Space Odyssey
Terminator 2

[White Borders]

My Top 12 Sci-Fi Movies (1990 - Present)


The Martian (2015)
The Hunger Games (2012)
The Matrix (1999)
Men in Black (1997)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Pitch Black (2000)
The Fifth Element (1997)
Cube (1997)
Divergent (2014)
Prometheus (2012)
Tank Girl (1995)
Starship Troopers (1997)

[judsonhamlin]

Some great movies listed, but no love for District 9? Well-made and well-acted South African movie.

[tedzan]

Off the top of my head, my favorites are.....

The original (1933) KING KONG
Actress Fay Wray recently passed away, age 96.

and, THE BLOB (Steve McQueen's first movie)
This thriller was filmed in1958, only 25 miles from where we live in Pennsylvania.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[Butch7999]

District 9, indeed overlooked and a worthy choice.
There's a thin blurry line between actual science fiction and what we'd call "space opera" or "space fantasy,"
which certainly has its charms (e.g., Flash Gordon, Star Wars), and a slightly broader but no less blurry line
between sci-fi and monster-horror. Anyone up for that discussion?

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

Some great movies listed, but no love for District 9? Well-made and well-acted South African movie.

That was my #11

[clydepepper]

So many good ones already mentioned, but one I have not seen listed:

War of the Worlds



I may have overlooked it since there have been so many discussed. I prefer the newer version to the original.
.

[White Borders]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

There's a thin blurry line between actual science fiction and what we'd call "space opera" or "space fantasy,"
which certainly has its charms (e.g., Flash Gordon, Star Wars), and a slightly broader but no less blurry line
between sci-fi and monster-horror. Anyone up for that discussion?

To me Science Fiction is a very broad category encompassing many genres/elements including:

Time Travel (The Time Machine)
Futuristic Settings/Technology/Weapons (Logan's Run)
Space Travel (Mission to Mars)
Space Opera (The Last Starfighter)
Super Heroes (Batman v Superman)
Alien Invasion (Pacific Rim)
Creature Features (Tremors)
Post Apocalyptic (A Boy and His Dog)
Psychological/Thriller-Suspense/Horror Sci-Fi (The Butterfly Effect/Escape Room/Resident Evil)

But I do see Sci-Fi as being distinctly separate from:

Fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent)
Action/Adventure (Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Jumanji)
Pure Horror (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Rosemary's Baby, The Shining)

[White Borders]

Science Fiction Double Feature lyrics from The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Rains was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Faye Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran

Science fiction, double feature
Doctor X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Whoa oh oh oh oh
At the late night double feature picture show

I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel when
Tarantula took to the hills
And I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott
Fight a triffid that spits poison and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes
And passing them used lots of skills
But when worlds collide said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills
Like a...

Science fiction, double feature
Doctor X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Whoa oh oh oh oh
At the late night double feature picture show

I wanna go oh oh oh
To the late night double feature picture show
By R.K.O oh oh
To the late night double feature picture show
In the back row oh oh oh
To the late night double feature picture show

[clydepepper]

Johnny Mnemonic

The Book of Eli

Hey Ted- Fay Wray died 16 years ago, but, at one time, that was 'recently'.


.

[White Borders]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

The Book of Eli

Ohhh, I'd forgotten about that one! Good movie with Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman and Jennifer Beals.

[Butch7999]

Hi Craig, thanks for electing to engage in our slightly tangential discussion. Our definition is much narrower
-- not saying you or anyone else is wrong, and not saying we don't enjoy well-made space opera or sci-fantasy
just as much. But just to fit our definition, "sci-fi" has to have some actual science involved, extrapolating
from real technology, and not ignoring or deviating too far from or violating the known laws of physics.

You've now added some additional entertaining titles to the long list accumulated throughout this thread,
thanks for that -- and for your breakdown of sci-fi subgenres (we'd place a couple of those in our puritanical
"not quite sci-fi" category), which reminds us of yet more films not yet mentioned (both sci-fi and
"borderline" sci-fi) that we consider well-made and worthwhile... Frankenstein (1932) and its sequels
(Bride of..., 1935, and Son of..., 1939), Things to Come (1936), AI ~ Artificial Intelligence (2001),
Elysium (2013), and Looper (2012), one of the very very few time-travel stories we've liked. Whoops,
sorry, despite our anti-time-travel prejudice, we rather enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow (2014) as well.

[White Borders]

Hey Butch. I agree that in it's purest form, Science Fiction is exactly as you described it. When I think of pure Sci-Fi, Verne and Wells immediately come to mind. Some of their stories that were made into movies have already been mentioned in this thread, but I'll list four from each:

Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Mysterious Island

Herbert George Wells
The Time Machine
The Invisible Man
The War of the Worlds
The Island of Doctor Moreau

[clydepepper]

This one freaks me out:

Eraserhead.jpg

[Jcfowler6]

You guys are nailing it on the movies. I’ve enjoyed most of them and will watch a few I haven’t seen listed.

I’m just gonna say this dude was good and is one of my favorite non-sports cards.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[White Borders]

Love the Verne card!

[Butch7999]

Very cool card, JC. Hearing Verne interviewed, several years ago, on some ancient audio seemed like
science fiction itself. We think the more obscure entries on our list above (post #3) are worth a look...

Clyde/Ray/Robbie, we love anything by Lynch, with Eraserhead right near the top of our list of favourites.
Only reason we didn't include it is that we were going by our narrower definition of sci-fi; Eraserhead,
to us, is more "surrealism," like an extended hallucination.

Craig, well put. Actually, though, we've found Verne and Wells film adaptations generally disappointing.
The 1936 Shape of Things holds up pretty well despite the Flash Gordon-level space launch and the
requisite miniskirts-and capes look for men (why does all 1930s-'40s sci-fi and space opera have guys
dressed in miniskirts or 1970s NBA hotpants and capes?). The whole altruistic Air Men versus
the Boss' anti-science thugs is visionary, particularly in today's climate.

A few more nominees for discussion:
Metropolis (1927), rightfully a classic
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), deeply philosophical in its way
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), slow and hard to follow, but, hey, Roeg and Bowie
Robocop (1987) -- Verhoeven's penchant for ultraviolence came thisclose to chasing us from the theatre
in the opening 15 minutes. Glad we stuck around.
Gravity (2013), pretty solid tech and spectacular big-screen visuals
Annihilation (2018), improves with a second or third viewing

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

Very cool card, JC. Hearing Verne interviewed, several years ago, on some ancient audio seemed like
science fiction itself. We think the more obscure entries on our list above (post #3) are worth a look...

Clyde/Ray/Robbie, we love anything by Lynch, with Eraserhead right near the top of our list of favourites.
Only reason we didn't include it is that we were going by our narrower definition of sci-fi; Eraserhead,
to us, is more "surrealism," like an extended hallucination.

Craig, well put. Actually, though, we've found Verne and Wells film adaptations generally disappointing.
The 1936 Shape of Things holds up pretty well despite the Flash Gordon-level space launch and the
requisite miniskirts-and capes look for men (why does all 1930s-'40s sci-fi and space opera have guys
dressed in miniskirts or 1970s NBA hotpants and capes?). The whole altruistic Air Men versus
the Boss' anti-science thugs is visionary, particularly in today's climate.

A few more nominees for discussion:
Metropolis (1927), rightfully a classic
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), deeply philosophical in its way
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), slow and hard to follow, but, hey, Roeg and Bowie
Robocop (1987) -- Verhoeven's penchant for ultraviolence came thisclose to chasing us from the theatre
in the opening 15 minutes. Glad we stuck around.
Gravity (2013), pretty solid tech and spectacular big-screen visuals
Annihilation (2018), improves with a second or third viewing

Obviously, I did not 'do' as much as y'all did...so, to me, it was sci-fi.

.

[clydepepper]

....also...Godzilla, King of the Monsters is terrible!

Especially, the way it ended.


Besides, we all know who's King...


no. Not Alf!



.

[White Borders]

Looking back through all of the posts (Great posts! Thanks everyone) I don't see that Fantastic Voyage has been mentioned. To me, any movie that has Raquel Welch in it is worth watching Oh, and it also stars some fellow named Donald Pleasance

[MikeGarcia]

.."It Came From Outer Space"........I became a life-long Richard Carlson and Joe Sawyer fan...

..

[Writehooks]

I'm old school, as you can tell from my Top 10 faves:


1. The Fly (1958)
2. The Fly (1986)
3. Soylent Green
4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
5. Logan's Run
6. Silent Running
7. Star Trek: Generations
8. The Man Who Fell to the Earth
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still
10. The Time Machine

[White Borders]

Originally Posted by Writehooks

I'm old school, as you can tell from my Top 10 faves:


1. The Fly (1958)
2. The Fly (1986)
3. Soylent Green
4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
5. Logan's Run
6. Silent Running
7. Star Trek: Generations
8. The Man Who Fell to the Earth
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still
10. The Time Machine

Good Stuff! When I was a kid I remember watching Soylent Green with Heston and Robinson, Logan's Run with Farrah (yes I had the red swimsuit poster), and Bowie (my all-time fav glam rocker) in The Man Who Fell to Earth

[White Borders]

Does anyone remember these movies with star actors (or at least recognizable names?)

Videodrome (1983) with James Woods and Debbie Harry
Dark Star (1974) with Dan O’Bannon
Death Race 2000 (1975) with David Kung Fu Carradine and Sylvester Stallone
THX 1138 (1971) with Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence
The Running Man (1987) with Arnold and Richard Dawson
Oblivion (2013) with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman
Judge Dredd (1995) with Stallone
Demolition Man (1993) with Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock and, you guessed it, Sly Stallone

[Jcfowler6]

I liked Enemy Mine and The Last Star Fighter.


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[White Borders]

Originally Posted by Jcfowler6

I liked Enemy Mine and The Last Star Fighter

I wonder how many quarters were dropped into arcade games by kids hoping to become the next Last Starfighter

[Jcfowler6]

Originally Posted by White Borders

I wonder how many quarters were dropped into arcade games by kids hoping to become the next Last Starfighter

No kidding. I remember thinking I bet someone is watching when I played games.


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