Very tough to come up with one, and since 2001 A Space Odyssey is in my top 10 of all films, I'll exclude that- too obvious a choice for me. Best: Blade Runner. Close: Forbidden Planet Solaris (original) Matrix Andromeda Strain (original) Empire Strikes Back Soylent Green ("soylent green is ______!") Alien
Forbidden Planet Just a really cool 50s science fiction flick that really overachieved in every way imaginable, from the story, the sets, the costumes, and the terrific music and special effects. Simply years ahead of it's time and it still holds up. I highly recommend it to those who haven't yet seen it.
I'll call your Blade Runner with 2001, and split the pot. Dark City. Brazil. Also, Metropolis holds up well, especially the restored footage version that came out a few years ago.
If for some god forsaken reason we're not counting Harrison Ford movies, I'll say Dr. Strangelove. Between the first star wars trilogy and bladerunner, it's virtually asking whats the 4th best sci-fi movie ever?
Dark City is truly great. (There's a Blu-Ray that came out for it that's usually priced lower than most other films, but is supposed to be a great transfer.) Ebert gave it four stars, at a time before his convalescence, when he started giving everything four stars. It doesn't have quite the reputation of Metropolis, but The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is also terrific Fritz Lang, and one can start a drinking contest trying to pick out all the potshots/allusions to Nazis Lang makes, in the years before he fled Germany. Planet of the Apes should be up there (it seems to play on an infinite loop on Fox Movie Channel). I think Soderbergh's imagining of Solaris was a worthy companion to the original (and, with fewer eight minute shots from the backseat of people driving through the city). Moon was quite good, earlier this year. And for a movie that cost $20 to make, Cube was decent, though the evils of capitalism dialogue was terribly heavy-handed. (Unlike, say, in Alien.) Just looked up the AFI list from a while back. A travesty of voting. A travesty: [rquoter]AFI: Top Ten Sci-Fi Films #1 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY #2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE #3 E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL #4 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE #5 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL #6 BLADE RUNNER #7 ALIEN #8 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY #9 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS #10 BACK TO THE FUTURE [/rquoter] If you classify A Clockwork Orange as sci-fi, I would agree it belongs on a best-of list. But Star Wars & ET over Blade Runner? T2 instead of the original? I think Predator and Total Recall are better action sci-fi movies than T2. If sequels are acceptable, Aliens was better than all three.
Off the top of my head, in no particular order: The Matrix District 9 Star Wars V Back to the Future Terminator 2 I have not seen Aliens yet...Im too scared to
Just gleaning the sci-fi movies off my top movies lists (and yes I love making lists for everything). 1. Dark City 2. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (it IS a sci-fi, just give it a chance) 3. Fifth Element 4. Children of Men 5. Gattaca Honorable Mention: Road Warrior (Mad Max 2, although I don't hate the first one nearly as much as I used to) Total Recall 2010 (the sequel to 2001, with Roy Scheider and Jon Lithgow) Sunshine Of the oldies, I do appreciate Bladerunner, but it's so much of a departure from the book that it's hard for me to like it as a standalone movie. Total Recall on the other hand was created from a short story which meant virtually from scratch, so I was able enjoy it much more.
Oh and does anyone here feel like me that Minority Report has gone unappreciated as a sci-fi classic? I know it's Tom Cruise and all, and I know that Spielberg has basically churned out nothing but horse dung ever since Saving Private Ryan (I would argue intentionally, in a Weezer-style backlash against the entertainment establishment just to prove how the public will soak up any crap), but Minority Report in my opinion is the black sheep of them all. It's well made, excepting a couple really large plot-holes, and it doesn't really get much credit for how good of a movie it was compared to, say, the Island, which has to go on my top 10 for Worst Movie Ever despite raking in comparable amounts of box office dollars.
If I had to pick one it would be either 2001 or Blade Runner. The original Solaris is up there but has some pacing issues (if you liked it, I would also recommend another Tarkovsky sci-fi flick - Stalker). While not the best another personal favorite of mine is Gattica.
Blade Runner is the first thing that came to mind. All I can think of adding to the already solid lists (well, the ones that include Blade Runner and Brazil) is Akira.
I would throw District 9 in the running. Well, not for best of all my time, but one of the best in recent memory.
