The Top 100 Sci-Fi Films

[last.caress]

Actually, thinking on it further, maybe it’s the case that sci-fi is defined entirely by it’s objective and physical presence, so EVERY movie with an element of fictional science and/or engineering is sci-fi. But each movie is set within an objectively visible genre (sci-fi, Western, urban, period, sports etc.) and then driven by a relatable and recognizable human emotive response, which themselves are also divided into genres (love, action, horror, comedy, hope, tragedy, thriller etc.).

Hm.

[stanton]

@titoli

So Back to the Future (the first one) is NOT, although it has future in the name

It contained future technology, so it was set in the future.

[Dorado]

I have seen 93 of the movies on that top 100 list and I must say that along with the good ones there is also a lot of crap.

[stanton]

This amazing guy Stanton rates the future, and as we all see the future is not hopeless but certain:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) 12/10
2. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) 8
3. Alien (Scott, 1979) 9
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977) 7
5. Aliens (Cameron, 1986) 7
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Lucas, 1977) 3
7. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985) 9
8. Metropolis (Lang, 1927) 9
9. The Terminator (Cameron, 1984) 7,5
10. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980) 5
11. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982) 8
12. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) 8,5
13. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999) 9
14. Moon (Jones, 2009) 8
15. Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) 8
16. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1991) 6
17. Solaris (Tarkovsky, 1972) 9
18. Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006) 8
19. The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986) 8
20. Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956) 7
21. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985) 7
22. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) 9
23. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg, 2001) 6
24. Twelve Monkeys (Gilliam, 1995) 8
25. RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987) 6
26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956) 8
27. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971) 10
28. La Jetée (Marker, 1962) 9
29. Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968) 6
30. Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) 7
31. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951) 7,5
32. Gattaca (Niccol, 1997) 7
33. Silent Running (Trumbull, 1972) 7
34. Galaxy Quest (Parisot, 1999) 5
35. The Man Who Fell to Earth (Roeg, 1976) 7
36. Inception (Nolan, 2010) 7
37. Primer (Carruth, 2004) -
38. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978) 7
39. Dark Star (Carpenter, 1974) 9
40. WALL-E (Stanton, 2008) - (actually i haven’t directed that)
41. They Live (Carpenter, 1988) 5
42. The Fifth Element (Besson, 1997) 8
43. Total Recall (Verhoeven, 1990) 5
44. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (Meyer, 1982) -
45. District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) 7
46. Her (Jonze, 2013) 8,5
47. Contact (Zemeckis, 1997) 7
48. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) 7
49. Starship Troopers (Verhoeven, 1997) 6
50. Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013) - (still not released here)
51. Fantastic Planet (Laloux, 1973) 7
52. Predator (McTiernan, 1987) 6
53. Akira (Otomo, 1988) 6
54. Soylent Green (Fleischer, 1973) 7,5
55. Repo Man (Cox, 1984) -
56. The Time Machine (Pal, 1960) 6,5
57. Dune (Lynch, 1984) 6
58. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001) 9
59. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013) 10
60. Quatermass and the Pit (Baker, 1968) -
61. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981) 7
62. Dark City (Proyas, 1998) -
63. Je t’aime, je t’aime (Resnais, 1968) -
64. Sleeper (Allen, 1973) 6,5
65. The War of the Worlds (Haskin, 1953) 6
66. The Abyss (Cameron, 1989) 8
67. The Thing From Another World (Nyby, 1951) 7
68. Westworld (Crichton, 1973) 6
69. Logan’s Run (Anderson, 1976) 6
70. Iron Man (Favreau, 2008) 6
71. The Prestige (Nolan, 2006) 6
72. Seconds (Frankenheimer, 1966) 7,5
73. The American Astronaut (McAbee, 2001) -
74. Flash Gordon (Hodges, 1980) 5
75. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) 4
76. The Truman Show (Weir, 1998) 8
77. Avatar (Cameron, 2009) 6
78. World on a Wire (Fassbinder, 1973) 8
79. Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995) -
80. Star Trek (Abrams, 2009) 6
81. The Iron Giant (Bird, 1999) -
82. Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013) -
83. Things to Come (Menzies, 1936) -
84. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) 8
85. The Andromeda Strain (Wise, 1971) 8
86. Barbarella (Vadim, 1968) 7
87. The Damned (Losey, 1963) 7
88. Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) 6
89. Fantastic Voyage (Fleischer, 1966) 6
90. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Richter, 1984) -
91. Attack the Block (Cornish, 2011) -
92. Solaris (Soderbergh, 2002) 8
93. THX 1138 (Lucas, 1971) 7
94. Alphaville (Godard, 1965) 7
95. Serenity (Whedon, 2005) 8
96. Pitch Black (Twohy, 2000) 7
97. Superman (Donner, 1978) -
98. 2010 (Hyams, 1984) 4
99. Three Colours: Red (Kieslowski, 1994) 9
100. Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996) 6

[last.caress]

Some good ratings there Stanters, largely. Not seen The Matrix yet, sir? Also, I can’t recommend Moon or Repo Man highly enough. Fantastic movies.

[stanton]

ooops, forgot some. Moon and Matrix can be part of a future watch-list only as reruns. Also The Day the Earth Stood Still and Silent Running.

Repo Man is one I always wanted to watch in the last 25 years. But I have a great and long future, so one day it will happen. (Hey Alex, sent me a free copy or I skip your Spagie top 20)

[stanton]

That no Jack Arnold film, not even The Incredible Shrinking Man made the list is unforgivable.

[last.caress]

@Stanton

That no Jack Arnold film, not even The Incredible Shrinking Man made the list is unforgivable.

Agree with that 100%.

[scherpschutter]

My take (I skipped the movies I haven’t seen or don’t remember too well)

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) 6/10
2. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) 7
3. Alien (Scott, 1979) 9
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977) 5
5. Aliens (Cameron, 1986) 8
6. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985) 6
7. Metropolis (Lang, 1927) 6
8. The Terminator (Cameron, 1984) 7,5
9. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980) 6
10. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982) 5
11. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) 7
12. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999) 6
13. Moon (Jones, 2009) 8
14. Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) 8
15. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1991) 6
16. Solaris (Tarkovsky, 1972) 8
17. Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006) 6
18. The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986) 6
19. Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956) 6
20. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985) 7,5
21. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) 7
22. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg, 2001) 5
23. Twelve Monkeys (Gilliam, 1995) 6
24. RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987) 7
25. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956) 7
26. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971) 9,5
27. Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968) 7,5
28. Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) 7
29. Inception (Nolan, 2010) 4
30. WALL-E (Stanton, 2008) 6
31. The Fifth Element (Besson, 1997) 7
32. Total Recall (Verhoeven, 1990) 7
33. District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) 6
34. Contact (Zemeckis, 1997) 7
35. Starship Troopers (Verhoeven, 1997) 8
36. Predator (McTiernan, 1987) 7
37. Soylent Green (Fleischer, 1973) 7
38. The Time Machine (Pal, 1960) 7
39. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013) 8
40. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981) 7,5
41. Sleeper (Allen, 1973) 7
42. The War of the Worlds (Haskin, 1953) 6,5
43. The Abyss (Cameron, 1989) 7
44. Westworld (Crichton, 1973) 6
45. Logan’s Run (Anderson, 1976) 7 (8 for the legs, rest of the movie 6)
46. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) 5
47. The Truman Show (Weir, 1998) 7
48. Avatar (Cameron, 2009) 7,5
49. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) 7
50. Barbarella (Vadim, 1968) 6
51. The Damned (Losey, 1963) 7
52. Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) 7
53. Fantastic Voyage (Fleischer, 1966) 6
54. Alphaville (Godard, 1965) 6
55. Serenity (Whedon, 2005) 7
56. Pitch Black (Twohy, 2000) 6,5
57. Three Colours: Red (Kieslowski, 1994) 7
58. Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996) 6

The Incredible Shrinking Man would be an 8 too. great movie
My favorite SF movie seems to be A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. I can live with that.

[last.caress]

This is the (rough) order in which I would put the films from that list that I’ve seen:

3. Alien (Scott, 1979)
4. Repo Man (Cox, 1984)
5. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
6. Moon (Jones, 2009)
7. Akira (Otomo, 1988)
8. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
9. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999)
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
11. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
12. The Terminator (Cameron, 1984)
13. The Prestige (Nolan, 2006)
14. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
15. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981)
16. Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968)
17. They Live (Carpenter, 1988)
18. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001)
19. Inception (Nolan, 2010)
20. WALL-E (Stanton, 2008)
21. District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009)
22. Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995)
23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956)
24. Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002)
25. Attack the Block (Cornish, 2011)
26. Primer (Carruth, 2004)
27. Aliens (Cameron, 1986)
28. Predator (McTiernan, 1987)
29. Westworld (Crichton, 1973)
30. RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987)
31. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985)
32. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931)
33. Iron Man (Favreau, 2008)
34. Twelve Monkeys (Gilliam, 1995)
35. The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986)
36. Solaris (Soderbergh, 2002)
37. The Thing From Another World (Nyby, 1951)
38. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978)
39. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983)
40. The Iron Giant (Bird, 1999)
41. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013)
42. Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993)
43. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951)
44. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)
45. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1991)
46. Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956)
47. Dark Star (Carpenter, 1974)
48. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982)
49. Dune (Lynch, 1984)
50. Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013)
51. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977)
52. The Fifth Element (Besson, 1997)
53. Superman (Donner, 1978)
54. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
55. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg, 2001)
56. Pitch Black (Twohy, 2000)
57. The Truman Show (Weir, 1998)
58. The Abyss (Cameron, 1989)
59. Starship Troopers (Verhoeven, 1997)
60. Barbarella (Vadim, 1968)
61. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
62. Total Recall (Verhoeven, 1990)
63. Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996)
64. Flash Gordon (Hodges, 1980)
65. Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013)
66. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Richter, 1984)
67. Avatar (Cameron, 2009)

[scherpschutter]

Okay, my Top 10
I just thought of N°10, it’s not on the list (it’s a short, 25 mns)

1. A Clockwork Orange
2. Alien
3. Stalker
4. Solaris
5. Starship Troopers
6. Gravity
7. The Incredible Shrinking Man
8. Aliens
9. Moon
10. Voices of a Distant Star (Makoto Shinkai)

[last.caress]

[quote=“scherpschutter, post:31, topic:3405”]Okay, my Top 10
I just thought of N°10, it’s not on the list (it’s a short, 25 mns)[/quote]

Taking into account movies that didn’t make that list, my Big Ten would very probably be the first nine I just chose there, with The Animatrix squeezed in with them.

1. Alien (Scott, 1979)
2. Repo Man (Cox, 1984)
3. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
4. Moon (Jones, 2009)
5. Akira (Otomo, 1988)
6. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
7. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
9. The Animatrix (Various, 2003)
10. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)

Yep, looks pretty-much right to me, I think.

[Lone_Gringo]

Planet of the Apes(Schaffner, 1968) is the best science fiction film i’ve ever seen.

[sartana1]

I really like They Live and Flash Gordon but I’m surprised to see them ranked among some all time great Sci Fi movies! There are some “interesting” selections on that list. The Damned is really one of my favorites. Love that movie. How about Battle Royale and Darkman? Also if you’re going to include animated movies Appleseed Ex Machina should be uo there

[scherpschutter]

Battle Royale and Darkman should be both on the list, but neither of the two would have a place in my Top 10

[Dorado]

My top list.

1. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
2. Mad Max the road warrior (1981)
3. Alphaville (1965)
4. Blade Runner (1982)
5. 1984 (1984)
6. A clockwork Orange (1971)
7. Equilibrium (2002)
8. Alien (1979)
9. Aliens (1986)
10. The running man (1987)
11. The Terminator (1984)
12. 2001: a space odyssey (1968)
13. Starship troopers (1997)
14. Stalker (1979)
15. Solaris (1972)

And I rate ”The thing” by Carpenter as a horror movie and not a sci-fi movie.
Otherwise it would have been in my top 3.

[sartana1]

I was thinking the same about The Thing, more of a horror. And what makes Donnie Darko a Sci-Fi movie?
My favorite (not necessarily top) 10

1. Blade Runner
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Terminator
4. Them
5. Appleseed Ex Machina
6. Starship Troopers
7. These are the Damned
8. Robocop (1987)
9. The Blob (original)
10. The Quatermass Experiment (1955)

[last.caress]

@sartana1

How about Battle Royale and Darkman?

@scherpschutter

Battle Royale and Darkman should be both on the list, but neither of the two would have a place in my Top 10

Battle Royale!!

An outstanding film and a big favourite which most definitely would make my ten sci-fi movies, and I forgot it altogether. I’m a twatspasm.

1. Alien (Scott, 1979)
2. Repo Man (Cox, 1984)
3. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
4. Moon (Jones, 2009)
5. Akira (Otomo, 1988)
6. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
7. Battle Royale (Fukasaku, 2000)
8. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999)
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
10. The Animatrix (Various, 2003)

There. Carve it in stone now, it’s done. Yep.

[alk0]

Let me steal your idea Stanton:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) - 9
2. Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) - 10
3. Alien (Scott, 1979) - 9
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg, 1977) - 7
5. Aliens (Cameron, 1986) - 9
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Lucas, 1977) - 6
7. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985) - 9
8. Metropolis (Lang, 1927) - 9
9. The Terminator (Cameron, 1984) - 9
10. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980) - 6
11. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg, 1982) - 5
12. The Thing (Carpenter, 1982) - 10
13. The Matrix (Lana & Andy Wachowski, 1999) - 2
14. Moon (Jones, 2009) - 7
15. Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) - 6
16. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1991) - 8
17. Solaris (Tarkovsky, 1972) - 7
18. Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006) - 8
19. The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986) - 9
20. Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956) - 8
21. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985) - 7
22. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) - 8
23. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Spielberg, 2001) - 7
24. Twelve Monkeys (Gilliam, 1995) - 5
25. RoboCop (Verhoeven, 1987) - 8
26. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956) - 8
27. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971) - 8
28. La Jetée (Marker, 1962) - 8
29. Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968) - 8
30. Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) - 7
31. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951) - 7
32. Gattaca (Niccol, 1997) - 8
33. Silent Running (Trumbull, 1972) - 9
34. Galaxy Quest (Parisot, 1999) - 6
35. The Man Who Fell to Earth (Roeg, 1976) - 8
36. Inception (Nolan, 2010) - 7
37. Primer (Carruth, 2004) - 7
38. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978) - 6
39. Dark Star (Carpenter, 1974) - 8
40. WALL-E (Stanton, 2008) - 8
41. They Live (Carpenter, 1988) - 7
42. The Fifth Element (Besson, 1997) - 6
43. Total Recall (Verhoeven, 1990) - 8
44. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (Meyer, 1982) - 6
45. District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) - 6
46. Her (Jonze, 2013) - 9
47. Contact (Zemeckis, 1997)
48. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) - 7
49. Starship Troopers (Verhoeven, 1997) - 7
50. Under the Skin (Glazer, 2013)
51. Fantastic Planet (Laloux, 1973) - 8
52. Predator (McTiernan, 1987) - 7
53. Akira (Otomo, 1988) - 9
54. Soylent Green (Fleischer, 1973) - 7
55. Repo Man (Cox, 1984) - 7
56. The Time Machine (Pal, 1960) - 7
57. Dune (Lynch, 1984) - 6
58. Donnie Darko (Kelly, 2001) - 8
59. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013) - 6
60. Quatermass and the Pit (Baker, 1968) - 9
61. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981) - 8
62. Dark City (Proyas, 1998) - 7
63. Je t’aime, je t’aime (Resnais, 1968)
64. Sleeper (Allen, 1973) - 8
65. The War of the Worlds (Haskin, 1953) - 5
66. The Abyss (Cameron, 1989) - 7
67. The Thing From Another World (Nyby, 1951) - 7
68. Westworld (Crichton, 1973) - 7
69. Logan’s Run (Anderson, 1976) - 7
70. Iron Man (Favreau, 2008) - 6
71. The Prestige (Nolan, 2006) - 7
72. Seconds (Frankenheimer, 1966) - 8
73. The American Astronaut (McAbee, 2001)
74. Flash Gordon (Hodges, 1980) - 7
75. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) - 6
76. The Truman Show (Weir, 1998) - 7
77. Avatar (Cameron, 2009) - 5
78. World on a Wire (Fassbinder, 1973) - 9
79. Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995) - 8
80. Star Trek (Abrams, 2009) - 6
81. The Iron Giant (Bird, 1999) - 8
82. Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013)
83. Things to Come (Menzies, 1936) - 7
84. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) - 8
85. The Andromeda Strain (Wise, 1971) - 7
86. Barbarella (Vadim, 1968) - 7
87. The Damned (Losey, 1963) - 8
88. Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) - 7
89. Fantastic Voyage (Fleischer, 1966) - 7
90. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (Richter, 1984) - 6
91. Attack the Block (Cornish, 2011)
92. Solaris (Soderbergh, 2002) - 6
93. THX 1138 (Lucas, 1971) - 8
94. Alphaville (Godard, 1965) - 7
95. Serenity (Whedon, 2005) - 5
96. Pitch Black (Twohy, 2000)
97. Superman (Donner, 1978) - 7
98. 2010 (Hyams, 1984) - can’t remeber that one
99. Three Colours: Red (Kieslowski, 1994) - 9
100. Independence Day (Emmerich, 1996) - 4

Maybe I will try to watch the missing ones and rate them as well.

[chuck_connors_brother]

1. Aliens
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. Face/Off
4. Mad Max 2
5. Twelve Monkeys
6. Godzilla (1954)
7. Robocop
8. The Running Man
9. Total Recall
10. The Invisible Kid