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From that bastion of intellectual movie criticism...Rotten Tomatoes.comIn alphabetical order:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Children Of Men
Close Encounters of The Third Kind
Dark City
Gattica
Planet Of The Apes (orig)
Primer
Sleeper
Solaris (Tarkovsky)Lists are always good for argument and discussion, although, quite honestly, several of these aren't IMO the most intellectually challenging movies. I wouldn't argue about the merits of 2001, Blade Runner, Dark City or Children Of Men, or even Gattica, as they would all (except possibly the latter) be in my own top ten. Close Encounters could possibly make my list as well, although I'm famously allergic to Spielberg. I haven't seen Primer (but I've been meaning to get around to it.)
But..Sleeper? One of Allen's funniest movies but just how thoughtful is it? Don't think I would include Planet of the Apes, it hasn't worn that well for me.
I suppose Alien isn't brainy enough? Too much of a horror movie. Is A Clockwork Orange sci-fi?
But...
How could he leave out Brazil? The Man Who Fell To Earth? Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes, the foreign version, not the icky Tom Cruise remake), LaJette (too short?) or its descendent 12 Monkeys? Pi? Sunshine? Andromeda Strain? The Truman Show? You could even make a case for A Boy & His Dog and THX1138 (I won't, but someone could.) Is 28 Days Later horror and not sci-fi? I would be strongly tempted to include Code 46 too. Is Donnie Darko not as complex as...Planet Of The Apes??? Any inmates seen the recent film The Man From Earth? While Solaris is one of Tarkovsky's best known films, wouldn't The Stalker also qualify as "sci-fi"? It's certainly a masterpiece.
Apparently fifties touchstones The Day The Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet aren't brainy enough by late 20th century standards. (Darn that Robby the Robot.) But wouldn't 5 Million Years To Earth (AKA Quatermass & The Pit) qualify? ("What color is the sky?" - "[sob]...it's...BROWN [choke}".)
No animated or silents made the list, thus no Metropolis, no Wall-E, no The Iron Giant, no anime (name your favorite).
What movies do you think should be included on a list of sci-fi for the "thinking person"? No SW please ;-) No actioners posing as sci-fi either (Terminator).
FYI - for those of you who like sci-fi braintwisters, the well regarded Timecrimes is making the rounds this winter. The time-travel Spanish film opens today at the Music Box in Chicago. I hope to see it there.
Edits: 01/09/09 01/09/09Follow Ups:
Loved this movie, makes me laugh every time!
...is it a thinking man's sci-fi movie? ;-)
..isn't it's absence interesting.........The Matrix?
An relatively early use of CGI. I remember being enthralled by the water beings.
d
I saw it not long ago and it's worn much better than it might have IMO.This was William Hurt's film debut, and he takes the role and runs with it. I know this controversial film will be over the top for some inmates, especially those who are allergic to Ken Russell, but for me it's no more excessive than something like Aliens, and frankly, I find it a heckuva lot braver, more searching and entertaining.
Whatever else you could say about it, Altered States is thoughtful, it does ask the "big questions", and makes universal one man's lonley, tortured personal quest. The material was a good match for Russell, who was relatively restrained, except of course fro a few erm...famous sequences. The bravura served his story well in this case. (If only Russell had reined in Blair Brown's performance a bit.) The scientist John Lilly, on whose life and work the novel and film were based, liked the final product. So do I.
It was quite startling for its time - made 1979, released 1980. Won a bunch of awards. Not much discussed nowdays, which is a shame. Victim of the declining interest in hallucinogenics or backlash against Russell?
Edits: 01/11/09
After we saw it wife and I both booked 1/2 hour in an immersion tank. Should have had some peyote first I guess.
There was a time when I went for weekly sensory deprivation/flotation tank sessions. I had several profound moments in there. Did with the other component as well... but never together.
"The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
A lot of good choices so far.Would any consider these?The Quiet Earth
The Last Wave
A Boy And His Dog
eXistenZThese are among my favorites not yet mentioned.
Edits: 01/11/09
Also from NZ.Is it fantasy or sci-fi? If Dark City is sci-fi, then The Navigator, A Medieval Odyssey, certainly could be. It was directed by New Zealander Vincent Ward, who also directed What Dreams May Come, Rain Of The Children and a lovely film almost no one has seen, Map Of The Human Heart. Ward had a hand in Alien 3 too but I don't hold that against him, and his original story was so reworked it's hard to tell who did what to whom. I haven't seen The Quiet Earth, but always intended to do so. I will fix that - I tend to like Kiwi movies and directors. I saw the same director's Freejack, which isn't in the same class. So even sight unseen, I say "The Quiet Earth" would certainly qualify for a thoughtful sci-fi short list.
I strongly debated listing The Last Wave myself, and finally decided that it wasn't exactly in the "sci-fi" genre, although it is indeed one of my favorite films, from one of my favorite filmmakers (Peter Weir, for those of you not following). The Last Wave is a work of brilliant imagination, so who knows what genre it is? Only labels after all. I did mention A Boy And His Dog. I haven't seen it in forever. FYI of nothing significant, I did meet Harlan Ellison at a sci-fi convention in Chicago one.
Edits: 01/11/09
...it holds up pretty well for a film I was seeing in College along with the likes of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
Jason Robards, Don Johnson, Suzane Benton (yummy as in good taste) - what's not to like; my fave Harlan Ellison.
I can barely come up with ten I like enough for a "top" list.
Solaris (original)
2001
The Day the Earth Stood Still
THX1138
A Clockwork Orange
The Manchurian Candidate (original)
Brazil
Dr Strangelove
Picnic at Hanging Rock (alien abduction anyone?)
Slaughterhouse Five
I considered "The Man Who Fell to Earth", "12 Monkeys", "Gattaca" and the remake of "Solaris" for my list, and they could replace any of the above that might not be real science fiction.
And let's not forget "Them," a thinking man's movie on periodic table
chart placement alone. Hmmm, Quatermass anyone? Regards,
J.R.
I don't think I'm familiar with that one.
Them is a classic of its kind.
For comments on The Last Wave see above. I think some of us just want to get Peter Weir on the list ;-)
I have already professed my love for Quatermass.
Surprised this hasn't been mentioned.
.
So these are "serious" scifi films, embodying someone's vision of the future with some embedded moral lession that gives the story relevence and moves it beyond a live action "Popular Mechanics" feel. I have to put a plug in here for some of the original programming on SciFi channel, not specifically a "movie", but definitely serious scifi.
1. Forbidden Planet
2. 2001
3. Clockwork Orange
4. Silent Running
5. Star Wars (just can't resist)
6. Omega Man/Planet of the Apes/Soylent Green
7. Donne Darko
8. Blade Runner
9. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)
10. Sunshine
Sorry...I thought the cinematic version of "Dune" was beyond lame compared to the book. I agree with the running commentary on "Contact", but I really enjoyed the film anyways. Also, a top ten list is fun, but a little constrained.
Thanks for reading.
- Slaughterhouse Five
- 2046
- Little Otik
- Howl's Moving Castle
- Groundhog Day
- Electric Dragon 80000V
- Cocoon
- The Invisible Man (Claude Rains)
- Frankenstein (Boris Karloff)
- Men In Black
has all the elements of low budget crumminess that make for great Sci-Fi
As Frank Zappa once sang: "A little more Cheepnis, please"
GW
It's probably been 20 years since I saw Silent Running, but it seemed a bit more thoughtful than average.
For those who haven't seen it, it's about a future where the only remaining forests are in big greenhouses in space. Budget cuts dictate that the greenhouses be destroyed, which doesn't sit well with Bruce Dern's character.
Ron
Huey, Duey, and Louie were the real stars.
We're chasing terrorists in the wrong place...they're on Wall St.
nt
I always liked 'Silent Running' for its message being so right so early on, and for the restraint in the filmmaking. The film has some nice touching moments in it.
It's a film that tends to divide people, with some feeling it is 'tree-hugging hippie stuff' perhaps because of Joan Baez' admittedly 'period' songs on the soundtrack, but the movie has its heart in the right place.
I still cherish my original soundtrack LP, in see-through green vinyl...the score was by PDQ Bach himself, Peter Schickele.
.
...and I would put it in the list, certainly over Planet of the Apes. This is one of Dern's best roles.
Keep 'em coming!
Lots of oldies here, but it just goes to show that you need more than special effects to make a good sci-fi movie.
1. Blade Runner
2. Alien
3. Fahrenheit 451
4. The Time Machine (orginal)
5. Day of the Triffids (original, but the UK TV series wasn't bad)
6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I can dig both the original or the 1970s version)
7. 2001
8. The Thing (Carpenter remake)
9. Children of Men
10. Things to come (original)
The Road Warrior is my guilty pleasure. I know it's just a car chase movie, but it *is* set in the future :-)
...RW is one of my top ten favorites.
chase scene. If you can, listen to the DVD through a great sound system. The recording of the superchargers (@ 110db) always makes the hairs stand up on my neck.
.
.
Second on the Blu-Ray of RW; one of the first BRs I bought. It just sucks you into the action with all the extra detail and texture.
I thought Sunshine was pretty interesting. Also, the current Battlestar Galactica really good!
.
...although, the last 20 minutes ain't up to the rest, but it still looks pretty amazing compared to what came after.
This movie is one of my main guilty pleasure.
That Toto soundtrack though...eecchh.
The first one OF COURSE!
I can not resist this movie, maybe it is just the message it sends - I am sypathetic to it's cause. The pace that it moves seems just right and it's told with great clarity.
Among my favorite guilty pleasures.
thanks
Phil
I think TDTEST stands up very well, a true classic, and it's at least as thoughtful as Planet Of The Apes. Patricia Neal's performance is very fine and grounds the whole thing. And I must confess, Michael Rennie is just superb, and superbly sexy, as the mysterious alien.Klaatu barrada nikto! And take me to your planet!
Edits: 01/11/09
nt
There are only a handful of movies that are real scifi. It's a rarity.
2001, Contact, a few others.Not really enough to make a list.
Which raises the question as to what is real scifi. Scifi is about the effect technology, or changes related to some development related to tech.
In 2001, we explore the solar system and encounter an alien race.
We could get that far out with current technology. We aren't culturally
ready; but we could have done it years ago.In Contact, Sagan imagines a message from Space. I liked the book and loved the movie. Want to guess how many movies dive into the politics of science? The movie shoves the uncertainty and questioning front and center.
There are a bunch of movies that live on the border. Clockwork Orange, Andromeda Strain, etc. I really shouldn't exclude Andromeda Strain.
If it wasn't written by you know who I probably would put it on the list, cheese and all.Clockwork Orange is in with a bunch of dystopia films. One of my favorites is Cherry 2000 :) Now there's a classic... The problem with the ones like Clockwork Orange is that they are more of the same. Brainwashing is hardly new.
The problem with many of the others is that they are dead ends. Yes, civilisation could collapse. But you have to remember I have been reading dystopia fiction for over 40 years. That's a long time, and enough books to sink the Titanic, and dys ain't dat, if you get my drift...
Edits: 01/09/09 01/09/09
Funny, I am a sci-fi nut, but have a heck of a time thinking up 10 good movies, and haven't seen most of the ones mentioned here!
Not in order....
Planet of the Apes - Original; a classic ( I did also like one or two subsequent, as well the recent MarkyMark remake)
The Thing - Another classic, suspenseful, entertaining
The Island - Neat concept, I enjoyed this one, nobody ever mentions it
Alien
Aliens
2001
5th Element - Love it or hate it, I like it
Running out of ideas....
Gattaca maybe
Stargate - I thought was pretty good for its day, OK that's 9....
OK, I'll throw Blade Runner in there to be agreeable. :) Saw it many years ago, thought it neat. I'll try to rent it again soon to update my thoughts.
...Mystery Science Theater 3000's film version of This Island Earth.A true thinking man's classic.
Edits: 01/09/09
And what were the criteria ? E.g. "Planet of the Apes" didn't get me thinking... that one was simply "Bad Action theater" for me. I'm not sure what would make my top 10 list but "Andromeda Strain", "Contact", "Forbidden Planet" would be higher up the list than "Dark City", "Children of Men", "Sleeper" etc...
"Solaris" and "The Stalker" both deserve to be ranked as highly as any. "Brother from Another Planet," also is strong.
Not quite sure which film currently on the list I'd swap it out with though.
Definitely yes.Gattaca sucked so bad I can't describe it politely. Lousy premise that needed a contrived, and dishonest, plot.
Solaris sucked. The original story was tedious, marginally entertaining at the time,
but has not held up. I read it when it was published, and liked the ambiance, but when I reread it after seeing the Russian film, I realised times change and so did I. Why they made the first movie, much less the second,
is beyond me.Close Encounters was good for it's time. But it hasn't held up either, IMnotsoHumbleO.
I didn't like Dark City,either.
There's plenty of room.
Edits: 01/09/09
Contact was a very entertaining movie (perfect by no means, but very enjoyable) until the dream scene. Brought the movie from a 3 1/2 to 4 (out of 5), down to 2 1/2 max right there for me. I thought it had a good plot, effects, etc. I still clearly remember how almost p'd off I was at the downturn in that scene. Never watched it again, don't think I could. Too bad.
Warning: Spoiler Alert!
David S.,
Sorry, but I found "Contact" to be annoying as it had such promise, but was spoiled by the main subplot of the contrived conflict between Foster and Tom Skerritt, in which the character dismisses Foster's work and then tries to take credit, and the anticlimax of the segments on the other world in which Foster meets her dead father on a dreamy beach who has the message, "Though you've spent $100 Trillion, many lives, and traveled 400,000 Light Years to get here, I just wanted to say your species is not ready for any meaningful message."
It was a well-made movie, and had some good casting- enjoyed the all too brief John Hurt appearance, but was in the end there were too many cliches and missed opportunities.
In a somewhat similar theme, I appreciated, "The Arrival" much more.
Cheers,
Bambi B
I both love and hate "Contact." For all its glaring flaws, I'll probably watch it again more than once in the future.
Now "The Arrival"... it has a few flaws too, but I agree it should probably be on the list. Heck, what kid wouldn't want one of those little spheres to clean his room now and again???
I think it's a bit underrated myself.
.
the on-going 'faith' argument between Jodie and the Matthew McConaughey character. I understand that this was nowhere to be found in Carl Sagan's book, and the film critics rightly took issue with it.
Actually, I found the 'dream sequence' to be quite satisfying and plausible. Didn't diminish my enjoyment or overall opinion of the movie, which I feel should definitely be included on that list.
C.B.,
Yes, I agree the odd "faith" sub-plot between Foster and McConaughey seemed artificial and intrusive. Of course, that subplot is important as it's a religious extremist Jake Busey who sabotages the (first) machine and kills Skerritt, though I don't remember any connection between that character and McConaughey. I didn't know it was not included in Sagan's original story. For such an important plot point, the religious sub-plot was very weakly presented.
I've often wondered if the minor religious subplot of the early 50's movie version of "War of the Worlds" (the minister prominent in the early part of the movie who walks toward the alien ray reciting Psalm 23 and the climax in the church near the end) was also added into the mix or was included in the book?
Cheers,
Bambi B
Personally, I don't think Close Encounters or Sleeper belong on that list-I'm not sure about Planet of the Apes either. I never liked Gattica. I do think Quartermass and the Pit and Forbidden Planet would be better choices. Possibly Fantastic Planet too.
Just some random thoughts for the morning...
Jack
Forbidden Planet not brainy enough? How about the wonderful speech that Morbius gives about the history of the Krell ("adamantine towers of glass and steel...")? More effective for me than a thousand exploding space ships.
I think there are probably many more '50s sci-fi flicks that should be included, like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Or is that considered a horror flick?
Or how about Invaders from Mars (the original)? That one creeped me out big time when I was a kid.
...what the personal criteria actually were for the original compiler. He liked some movies more than others, lol.
This much I know - no monster mashes or action flicks masquerading as sci-fi, that I could tell. Can't really disagree. But that leave a wide lattitude.
I adore Forbidden Planet and everything about the Krell fascinated me as a kid. I'm not exactly overjoyed about the proposed remake (into a trilogy no less). I thinl FB was quite thoughtful for its day. In fact, hbris is an equally apt subject today.
original's, either.
When the music began as the massive metal steps bent, that was indelible. And that scream.... that scream!
I'd also mention Anne Francis and her outfit. THOSE were the real, "Forbidden Planet," for the kid I was when I first saw it.
At the end of the scene, as she climbs out of the pond, you can see, for a split-second, that she's wearing a flesh-colored bathing suit. That's the '50s for you!
"..as she climbs out of the pond, you can see, for a split-second, that she's wearing a flesh-colored bathing suit. That's the '50s for you!".
At least she did actually climb out of the pond in person, unlike Angelina Jolie in Beuwolf. That's the '00s for you. :0)
Best Regards,
Chris redmond.
Alien (it might be horror, but I think it's SciFi)
Aliens (alright, it's really a western in space)
The Thing (Carpenter's version)
And Close Encounters?? It's a kiddy flick.
Mike
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