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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)
- But Sean apparently forgot another rule: Is the film, simply, just one of your favorites? (War of the Worlds, for me)
- 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.
- Rank them if you want. Or don’t. But let us know one way or another, if you can.
- 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.
Three lists to help in your list building:
Have fun!