best sci-fi films ranked

[JBrainard]

If it hasn't been mentioned yet, John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing" is great.

I would have had Alien 2 up there as well.

With the original Star Wars trilogy at #1, Aliens deserves the #2 spot. It had pretty much everything you could want in a sci-fi movie: space travel, nasty aliens, cool weapons, good character development, and plenty of "edge of your seat" moments.

 

[exile]

With the original Star Wars trilogy at #1, Aliens deserves the #2 spot. It had pretty much everything you could want in a sci-fi movie: space travel, nasty aliens, cool weapons, good character development, and plenty of "edge of your seat" moments.

I see a kind of interesting connection between the Alien series, particularly the first one, and The Forbidden Planet. Most space movies (as vs. sci-fi literature) have storylines built on the premise that space, and space travel, can be terrifically dangerous (not an unreasonable assumption, lol!) But these two movies are based not on the sense of danger per se, but on the idea that there are horrors in space—biological in the case of the Alien movies, technopsychological in the case of The Forbidden Planet—that we're shielded from in our cozy planet bound lives.

Both movies were—for me, anyway, and most of the (admittedly few) other people I've ever talked about them with—extremely disturbing, the kind of thing that stays with you for a long time. In the Star Wars and Star Trek films, the special effects, and the spectacle they produce, are a big part of the kick, even when things get hairy. But with Alien and The Forbidden Planet, I don't remember the impression by the special effects (though these were quite remarkable for the time they were made and crucial to both movies' impact) so much as the kind of... skin-crawling response that the films both evoked, the feeling that you had just seen something almost sickingly awful about how the universe might actually turn out to be.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I'd have to put my number one as Pitch Black, but then I am a HUGE Vin Diesel fan. I reckon it does stand up on it's own merits though, I jumped like heck in various parts of that film.

I do agree with Logan's Run too though, I loved that film for years and even recently watched it again and thoroughly enjoyed it.

OK so now its
I Robot
Men In Black (the first movie)

and

"Pitch Black" not because of Vin Diesel however more because of Claudia Black, and it was a good movie.

 

[MA-Caver]

I would say that Omega Man is sci-fi because of the SCIENCE of microbiology...
The original War of the Worlds puts Tom Cruise's to shame... hokey yes in many ways and they still haven't gotten rid of those piano wires but damn it was a great movie. Perhaps someday someone will digitally remaster it all and clean up the effects.

Was thinking about a remake of Them! Thinking of a scene for scene remake but of course digital/CG ants and a lot faster and a lot more of them...

The giant nuclear mutant bug movies are still considered Sci-Fi. Andromeda Strain... another great one as well.

 

[Sukerkin]

If you chaps want to hear anything sensible out of me in this thread, you're going to have to stop mentioning Claudia Black .

Exile's point, about the lasting effects a movie has on you being an important consideration, is a very important one. 'Alien' transmits a feeling of bone deep fear throughout ... and that took an awful long time to fade for me (even now I don't like going into dark places ). Oddly enough, 'The Blob' did a similar job on scaring the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid (as did the Moorlocks) :lol:.

A film doesn't have to have the fingerprints of 'Hollywood Blockbuster' on it to be 'memorable'.

It can even be just a short section that wins you over (e.g. the meeting of Zero's and Tomcats in the 'Final Countdown' and the courage necessary not to stop the attack on Pearl Harbour has stuck with me all this time).

Sometimes it's a negative or warning message that stays - the 'barbarians' in Mad Max 2, for example, are Evil writ large and what I get from that is that we have to guard our sense of morality or that is what we can easily become.

All to rarely, sometimes it's a story or a character that uplifts us and makes us optimistic. Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi does that for me (an unpopular choice I know amongst Star Wars fans ) at that point where he reins in his anger and throws aside his weapon, refusing to sacrifice his nobility in the face of the Emperors power.

We had a spate of very well made, big-name acted, high budget SF in recent years but nearly all of them were soulless. Sorry Xue but (my opinion only) 'I Robot' and 'Minority Report' were examples of what I'm on about.

The 'Robot' series of books is very deeply rooted in what is the nature of humanity and Daneel has a huge role in the development and fate of human kind - the film threw all that aside for a 'robots rebellion' with a side order of 'fear the AI'.

I'm sad to say that the cinema does not have a very good record of bringing ace SF novels from the page. Sometimes the films are good and maintain the essence of the 'message' e.g. The Time Machine (the old one, not the poorer new one) but often, as noted, they stray very far indeed from the 'path'.

 

[Sukerkin]

I would say that Omega Man is sci-fi because of the SCIENCE of microbiology...
The original War of the Worlds puts Tom Cruise's to shame... hokey yes in many ways and they still haven't gotten rid of those piano wires but damn it was a great movie. Perhaps someday someone will digitally remaster it all and clean up the effects.

Was thinking about a remake of Them! Thinking of a scene for scene remake but of course digital/CG ants and a lot faster and a lot more of them...

The giant nuclear mutant bug movies are still considered Sci-Fi. Andromeda Strain... another great one as well.

Get out of my head MA! ROFL ... Where's my tin foil hat, darned telepaths are everywhere .

Of course, mentioning telepaths has made me think of 'Babylon 5', probably the best SF series ever created. The movies for it are really just extended episodes tho', so I don't know if they should be included in a discussion about Sci-Fi films.

 

[HKphooey]

Rumor has it they are supposed to remake Omega Man. Tom Cruise had been rumored to play the lead role. Do not know what happened to that.

Great Movie. Anyone recognize an actor in the Matrix who may have been in Omega Man ?

 

[HKphooey]

And we have Logan's Run......

 

[LawDog]

1- Aliens,
2 - Star Wars
3 - The Forbidden Planet

 

[exile]

The 'Robot' series of books is very deeply rooted in what is the nature of humanity and Daneel has a huge role in the development and fate of human kind - the film threw all that aside for a 'robots rebellion' with a side order of 'fear the AI'.

Sukerkin, I'm with ya 200%. IMHO, one of the very greatest moments in the history of science fiction is the very end of The Caves of Steel—remember, when Daneel turns to the Commissioner and says—apparently surprising even himself–`Go, and sin no more'. The whole narrative that leads up to that point, Lije's own hostility towards Daneel to begin with and his changing views of robots and humanity in general, are probably utterly beyond any moviemaker to capture. Similarly with the very end of the Foundation trilogy. Even with the best will in the world, I don't think anyone could make a movie of The Caves of Steel that captured the essence of the problem Asimov tackled, which is all about humanity's self-definition in the face of its apparent vulnerability and limitiations.

I'm sad to say that the cinema does not have a very good record of bringing ace SF novels from the page. Sometimes the films are good and maintain the essence of the 'message' e.g. The Time Machine (the old one, not the poorer new one) but often, as noted, they stray very far indeed from the 'path'.

Because the really great SF novels involve themes which the use of imagination and speculation serve to underscore in unexpected ways, whereas film as a commercial medium always yields to the tempation to treat them as the primary angle. You can bet that anyone foolish enough to try to make a movie of Childhood's End would wind up having to throw in a space battle or two. The means becomes the end, and that's gonna be fatal every time.

 

[Shaderon]

Pitch Black was great! I also liked the prequel to that "The Chronicles of Riddick".

Chronicles was the Sequel, not the prequel, Jack was grown up as Kyra in Chronicles remember?

There was a prequal to Chronicles which happened after Pitch Black but it as done in animation form and called "Dark Fury", and the game "Escape from Butcher Bay" was in the series too.

You can't catch me out, I TOLD you I was a huge Diesel fan... :lol:

 

[Kreth]

You can bet that anyone foolish enough to try to make a movie of Childhood's End would wind up having to throw in a space battle or two.

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books of all time. I'd love to see it done (and done right) as a movie.

 

[exile]

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books of all time. I'd love to see it done (and done right) as a movie.

Who would you pick to direct it, if you had your choice (any director, living or otherwise)?

 

[sankaku-jime]

Here's 2 more

Starship Troopers
Cone Heads

and what was that old black and white film about an android or something ?

just remembered it was Metropolis, Fritz Lang

 

[Bigshadow]

Chronicles was the Sequel, not the prequel, Jack was grown up as Kyra in Chronicles remember?

There was a prequal to Chronicles which happened after Pitch Black but it as done in animation form and called "Dark Fury", and the game "Escape from Butcher Bay" was in the series too.

You can't catch me out, I TOLD you I was a huge Diesel fan... :lol:

I was just testing you! Seriously though, I messed up, thanks for the correction.

 

[Blindside]

Here's 2 more

Starship Troopers
Cone Heads

and what was that old black and white film about an android or something ?

just remembered it was Metropolis, Fritz Lang

Starship Troopers!?!?!? In a list of top 10 movies? Lets ignore the rather huge deviation from the book of the mobile infantry not having what makes them MOBILE, their armoured jumpsuits, and lets ignore the entire sub-point that it is service to your country/planet makes you worthy to be a citizen, not just being born. Anyway, you've got a race of bugs that is apparently advanced enough that it can shoot astroids across multiple star systems and hit an enemy planet. (Lets go ahead and ignore how long that would take.) But when it comes to fighting on the ground their entire strategy against enemy ground troops is to run up and die.
The producer wanted a giant spiders vs. Melrose Place alumni movie and he got one, all other logical inconsistencies aside.

Coneheads the SNL skit was funny, but like most things SNL should never ever have been made into a movie.

Lamont

 

[sankaku-jime]

Starship Troopers!?!?!? In a list of top 10 movies? Lets ignore the rather huge deviation from the book of the mobile infantry not having what makes them MOBILE, their armoured jumpsuits, and lets ignore the entire sub-point that it is service to your country/planet makes you worthy to be a citizen, not just being born. Anyway, you've got a race of bugs that is apparently advanced enough that it can shoot astroids across multiple star systems and hit an enemy planet. (Lets go ahead and ignore how long that would take.) But when it comes to fighting on the ground their entire strategy against enemy ground troops is to run up and die.
The producer wanted a giant spiders vs. Melrose Place alumni movie and he got one, all other logical inconsistencies aside.

Coneheads the SNL skit was funny, but like most things SNL should never ever have been made into a movie.

Lamont

Starship troopers, despite all of that still manages to be a classic,

Coneheads OK, you got me there,

Metroplolis was amazing for its time, a true classic,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_6qtrimrQ&mode=related&search=

But best Sci Movie IMO would be Blade Runner,

 

[JBrainard]

Get out of my head MA! ROFL ... Where's my tin foil hat, darned telepaths are everywhere .

That reminded me of the tin foil hat scene in "Signs." Despite what others I've talked to thought about the movie, I feel that Signs did a really good job portraying what the human reaction to an immanent alien attack would be like.

 

[Blindside]

Starship troopers, despite all of that still manages to be a classic,

Coneheads OK, you got me there,

Metroplolis was amazing for its time, a true classic,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_6qtrimrQ&mode=related&search=

But best Sci Movie IMO would be Blade Runner,

Absolutely and completely disagree that "Starship Troopers" could ever be considered a classic (movie). The only saving grace of that movie would have been if they managed to contrive Denise Richards' character to just happen to be sharing the co-ed shower scene in the infantry barracks.

But I'm right there with you on Blade Runner, possibly one of my favorite movies, I like the monologue from the studio release, but I like the dark ending from the Director's Cut. Perfect example of a translation of interesting premise in a rather dull sci-fi story into a intelligent, engaging story for the big screen.

Lamont

 

[tshadowchaser]

What no one liked Attack of The Killer Tomatos