Your top-10 science fiction films of this century (2000-2023)

Cafe Society
1

Listening to the latest The Big Picture podcast and the hosts (Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan) are doing their top-10 lists of sci-fi films released this century, an exercise perfectly suited for this audience, so let’s have at it!

Rules:

  1. You define what is science fiction. For example, if you think that Marvel movies are science fiction, have at it. If you think they aren’t, just leave them off your list and let others make their own definitions w/o arguing.
  2. Cutoff dates are films which had their American first-run theatrical (or streaming) debut on 1-1-2000 or later. Yes, this means that some films which may have been released in Europe in late 1999 and in America on January 2000 will make the cutoff (though I have zero idea if any films fit this description). C’est la vie.
  3. Sean Fennessey has a few rules when he thinks about these things, which may help y’all in making your lists:

a. Is the film artistically significant? (Eternal Sunshine)
b. Is the film culturally significant? (Children of Men)
c. Is the film a gonzo box office success? (Avatar)

  1. But Sean apparently forgot another rule: Is the film, simply, just one of your favorites? (War of the Worlds, for me)
  2. Limit yourself to 10 movies, at least at first. I’m sure many of us will have post-posting moments where we’re like “OH, shit, I forgot…!”, which is fine, but don’t throw a list of 30 movies at us in your initial post.
  3. Rank them if you want. Or don’t. But let us know one way or another, if you can.
  4. I kinda mentioned this in point one, but let’s not jump on other people for their suggestions. Feel free to comment, of course, but keep it polite. And if you can’t be polite, well, if you don’t like a film or don’t think it’s really science fiction show that by leaving it off your list.

And, because I like to read, if you write something about why these films are on your list, that would be great… but not required. :slight_smile:

Three lists to help in your list building:

Have fun! :smiley:

2

My list (kinda ranked, from 10 to 1, I guess):

  1. Rogue One. The only Star Wars movie on my list and a film that, to me, captured the most thrilling parts of the space opera novels I love, with an emotional punch at the end which few films… sci fi or otherwise… deliver.

  2. War of the Worlds. I know a lot of people don’t like this one, but I don’t care - it was a great film to share with my daughter, which she called “The Scary-Monster-Alien-Robot-Movie”, and… at the age of 10… was also her answer to “what is your favorite movie quote, Sophia” (“No, Robbie, not like Europe!”) I also love the cinematography in this one, absolute masterful work.

  3. Children of Men. A fantastic bit of near-future world building, harrowing and believable, definitely not a film for “Fun Movie Friday”.

  4. Edge of Tomorrow. My second Tom Cruise movie on this list, and one which will certainly appear on some of yours. Fun and deep at the same time, effectively a re-imagining of Groundhog Day in a more science-fictioney setting. One could argue that this is a video game movie where you watch the main character try to get through the Boss level over and over and over again, but done so goddamned well it doesn’t matter.

  5. The Incredibles. Other Pixar movies apply, but this is going to be my selection (and will probably be the only ‘comic book movie’ on my list).

  6. Super-8. In some ways, probably the weakest selection on this list, but like WotW, a personal favorite which was boosted by the nostalgic, 80s-esque, vibe of the movie and, again, a great Sophia movie experience.

  7. Cloverfield. My favorite “found footage” film of all time, probably the best marketing campaign of all the films on my list, and a fun watch even today, this is JJ Abrams at his best.

  8. The Congress. The smallest film on my list, this Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel film is an exploration of both the impact of AI on the arts, and of the addictive qualities of the electronic (and chemically-enhanced) worlds we are building. I believe I mentioned this in the “Films you’ve seen lately” thread and someone reacted quite negatively towards it. C’est la vie.

  9. Gravity. I have no idea if any of this is possible, but holy hell, what a thrill ride! Clooney is charming while Bullock is just lovely, this is my 2nd Cuaron movie on this list.

  10. Arrival. Just loved, loved, loved this movie, I think it has everything I enjoy about the genre and, well, film in general. Great looking, heart-rending, philosophical and emotional explorations, more focused on characters than plot, and they don’t really reveal much about the motivations of the aliens (which is fine - I don’t need everything explained to me, which is why I still love LOST).

I am surprised, in looking at the above, that Nolan didn’t make it, but he does big-assed movies which are (at least for his sci-fi stuff), inherently flawed in one way or another. Not that the above films don’t have their flaws, but for some reason, the flaws in Nolan’s films tend to be as big as the film itself. Oh well.

(Anyone want to clue me in why my list, written from 10-1, displays as 10-19? Can this be fixed?)

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In no particular order other than the order I thought of them in:

1: The Martian. Good hard SF is tough to come by, but here they managed to improve on an already-excellent book.

2: Gravity. Not quite as good as The Martian, but also very solid (and to answer @JohnT , the space stations were implausibly close together, but other than that completely plausible).

3: Guardians of the Galaxy. I won’t be putting any of the other Marvel movies on my list, just because I’m not really sure that “superhero” is the same genre as “science fiction”, but this one, the only reason it’s a “superhero movie” is because it’s Marvel. And it’s just plain fun.

4: Rogue One. Star Wars is enough of a juggernaut that it needs representation on this list, and this is by far the best of the Star Wars films this century.

5: Wall-e. I liked The Incredibles much better, but as mentioned, I’m not sure it’s SF.

(checking those Wikipedia lists…)

6: Terminator 3. I know that this is very much a minority opinion, but I think this is the movie that Terminator 2 should have been.

7: Serenity. Though this is mostly because of the TV show, not the movie itself.

…And, wow. I don’t think I can come up with three more. There are a few other movies that I’ve seen that I thought were fine, but not great, and of course, I can’t rate any that I haven’t seen. Contact and Deep Impact, I’d both put on the list, but they’re a few years too early.

Discourse knows better what you intended than you do. Numerical lists always go in increasing order, therefore, if you started a numerical list with 10, then it must obviously be from 10 to 19.

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Looper: absolutely blinding time travel sci-fi (also part of two other lists “almost apocalypse” where society as we know it is still around but its not doing so well, and the more niche “Bruce Willis in a mind bending time travel film”)

Edge of Tomorrow: really clever time loop action sci-fi.

Primer: absolutely mind bending low budget time travel sci-fi. Makes other mind bending time travel sci fi look pretty linear and formulaic in comparison.

Sean of the Dead: hilarious zomcom

Wall-e: not only the best Pixar movie by a country mile, but genuinely awesome sci-fi movie

Children of Men: not controversial this one, absolutely cracking movie (also entry in my “almost apocalypse” list)

Into the Spiderverse: definitely the best of the plethora of super hero films that have been released this century

Arrival: similarly uncontroversial choice

Minority Report: really not a fan of Tom Cruise so loathe to name two Tom Cruise movies but damn, he knows how to choose an sci-fi movie

Dune: absolutely nailed the (pretty much unfilmable) book

5

It almost made my list. But I was going to say the opposite, the film is amazing, the series is just ok.

6

I also somehow missed…

Mad Max: absolutely the best post apocalyptic movie, not just of this century.

Which would allowed me to bump Minority Report and not have two Tom Cruise movies :wink:

7

My overall impression after going through the Wiki lists was that there were too many titles I had not seen and/or heard of to make my selections seem truly (or usefully) “informed.” Nevertheless, I picked out the following ten flicks - listed in chronological order - as movies I generally enjoyed (i.e., not necessarily “favorites” or the “best” or most ambitious or highest quality in terms of story, theme or filmmaking, but… it was the best I could do):

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) – Revisionist kaiju entry. Highlights include (but are not limited to): many awesome VFX, scene-stealing performance by Mothra and one of the greatest titles ever.

Returner (2001) - Cute Milly from the future tries to reunite an ET-like bugger with its mothership to prevent a future war with aliens. Less derivative and more fun than expected.

Appleseed (2004) - Visually dazzling motion-capture anime with enough great action to compensate for the lame elements in the plot.

Immortel (2004) – One of the first “Green Screen Films” - along with the incomprehensible Casshern (2004) and the monotonous Sin City (2005) - features awesome virtual production design and VFX, good action, humor and concepts.

A Scanner Darkly (2005) – Rotoscoped P.K. Dick tale of Substance D abusers. Great plot, humor and dialogue before a predictable twist leads to an unsatisfying end.

Day Watch (2006) – Superior and less bombastic sequel to Night Watch (2004) has imagination, humor and some dynamic direction, plus outstanding VFX sequences and cool supporting cast of characters. If only the leads were a little more appealing….

Outlander (2008) - Good set-up, monster design and mayhem triumph over a dull lead, stock characters and predictability.

Avatar (2009) – BUT ONLY IN 3D (and only for the 3D)!

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) – Tom Cruise dies repeatedly. Give the people what they want and they will come.

Alienoid (2022) – This wasn’t even on the Wiki list! Korean-made genre-hybrid is impossible to describe, remarkably coherent and fun. Now, if they’d only release the sequel (which was allegedly shot at the same time).

8

Oh that’s a good one. Though to me it’s more of an honorable mention than the top ten. Though of all the plethora of Philip K Dick adaptations its the only one to capture the bonkers-ness of his books

9

10- Upgrade (2018) - this is a pulpy cyberpunk movie that is more interested in delivering action and thrills than it is in about exploring ideas about the technology in its setting, but this is so well made for what it is that I had to include it on my list.
9- Computer Chess (2013) - this wasn’t on the Wiki list but I think it counts as sci-fi even though it’s set in the past (I’ll just say it gets weird near the end). I just really liked its recreation of the early '80s visual aesthetic and how it evoked the early days of personal computers when they were both exciting and ominous.
8- Predestination (2014) - Nolanesque time-travel action thriller based on a Heinlein story. A mend-bending plot that confronts the paradoxes of time travel head on.
7- Moon (2009) - has that old-fashioned 1970s sci-fi feel to it, and in a good way. Sam Rockwell gives a great performance having to carry the film virtually all by himself. The only outer space movie on my list, oddly enough.
6 - Looper (2012) - there were several articles written about this one last year to mark its 10th anniversary, so it’s certainly being deservedly remembered.
5- Children of Men (2006) - I have a nagging feeling I should rate this one even higher.
4- Ex Machina (2014) - a lot of interesting ideas in this movie, but the three-way push and pull between the characters made it very compelling as well.
3- Possessor (2020) - I’m a big fan of David Cronenberg’s classic '80s movies, futuristic movies and very stylish movies so this ticked a lot of boxes for me. Right from the opening scene when a character plugs what looks like an audio jack into her head, I was hooked.
2- Her (2013) - I’m surprised this has not been named yet. Like The Truman Show did for reality TV and The Matrix did for simulated worlds, this movie is going to get namechecked more and more often the way use of AI among everyday people is headed.
1- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - one of my favorite films ever regardless of genre.

10

I’m terrible at lists, so this is really just off the top of my head…

Arrival
Safety Not Guaranteed
Edge of Tomorrow
Prey
Minority Report
Inception
Arrival
Arrival

11

I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I liked these:
The Incredibles (2004)
Serenity (2006)
Let the Right One in (2008)
Gravity (2013)
Under the Skin (2013)
The Martian (2015)
Arrival (2016)
Border (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Isle of Dogs (2018) (Actually, thinking of Wes Anderson films, I liked Asteroid City a bit better)

12

Oh yeah I really can’t believe I missed that one. Absolutely belongs in top ten. Very much the gold standard for a reboot/prequel in any genre, completely changed direction, and made a better all round movie, but still did what made the original films good (over the top human-predator fight scenes) even better than the original.

13

From the wiki pages, a “quick pick” no particular order:

  • The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
  • War of the Worlds
  • The Prestige
  • The Mist
  • Iron Man
  • Paul
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • Terminator Genisys
  • Cloverfield
  • Shin Godzilla
14

Went through the wiki lists and ended up with 20. Tough narrowing down but ended up with:

-Minority Report
-Children of Men
-The Prestige
-Looper
-Edge of Tomorrow
-Mad Max Fury Road
-Bladerunner 2049
-Dune
-Ready Player One
-Tron Legacy

15

Going through the Wikipedia lists, I came up with the following, mostly by selecting the ones I don’t mind watching again, and also not including the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Hellboy
Children of Men
V for Vendetta
Sunshine
District 9
Knowing
Moon
Watchmen
Real Steel
Chronicle
Midnight Special

16

The only way to get down to ten was to make it a personal list. No numbering, as they are all great.

Gravity
Yes, there are discrepancies, but this film made us feel as close to being in space as anything before or since

Her
A brilliantly conceived alternative view of The Singularity. The AI doesn’t conquer or support, it just doesn’t care anymore.

Under the Skin
A nearly wordless, moody view of the aliens among us.

Arrival
A great translation of a story without losing the core meditation on time.

Logan
The only Marvel movie that achieves greatness (YMMV).

The Shape of Water
A wonderous cross-species love story (with a bit of Cinderella mixed in). More fantasy than sci-fi, but hey, it’s my list.

Settlers
A little seen film, but it raises important questions about human beings in a sci-fi future, which is what the best sci-fi does.

Dune
The best translation to film of a seminal sci-fi novel.

After Yang
Like Settlers, not seen by many, but another AI meditation that does not go for easy cliches.

Everything Everywhere All At Once
Bonkers, bonkers, bonkers film about family and reconciliation. Still the best film about the multiverse.

Regretfully cut to make it to ten:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Ex Machina
V For Vendetta
WALL-E
Attack the Block
Looper
Upstream Color
Edge of Tomorrow
Interstellar
Fast Color

17
  • Ex Machina
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Dune
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • Her
  • Mad Max Fury Road
  • Arrival
  • Inception
  • Interstellar
18

What about?

  • Surrogates
19

I almost put this on my list. Indescribable genre mash-up. The only drawback was the lack of a sequel.

20

It really did surprise me with how good it was. It’s crazy to me that Dan Trachtenberg (who co-conceived of and directed this) has only directed two feature films to this day, this one and 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Actually, that one could probably be on my imaginary list too. It’s only a little bit of silliness at the end that converts this from being a Twilight Zone episode (“the neighbors were the real monsters all along”) to being true monster sci-fi, but I’ll accept it.