Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Slashdot Asks: What's Your Favorite Sci-Fi Movie?

Posted by msmash on from the this-should-be-interesting dept.

Many say it's the golden age of science fiction cinema. And rightly so, every month, we have a couple of movies that bend the rules of science to explore possibilities that sometimes make us seriously consider if things we see on the big screen could actually be true. The advances in graphics, and thanks to ever-so-increasing video resolution, we're increasingly leaving the theaters with visually appealing memories. That said, there are plenty of movies made back in the day that are far from ever getting displaced by the reboots spree that the Hollywood is currently embarking. With readers suggesting us this question every week, we think it's time we finally asked, what's your favorite science-fiction movie? Also, what are some other sci-fi movies that you have really enjoyed but think they have not received enough praises or even much acknowledgement?

Editor's note: the story has been moved up on the front page due its popularity.

17 of 1,222 comments (clear)

  1. It's a toss-up by dugancent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Metropolis (1927) or The Fifth Element.

    --
    SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
  2. Oldie but Goodie by s.petry · · Score: 5, Interesting

    2001 Space Odyssey. "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  3. total recall by avandesande · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's one of the few movies that has actually become more though provoking over time. Sure it's full of cheese and an-old but great story.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  4. Based on HEINLEIN's work: PREDESTINATION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Based on HEINLEIN's work: PREDESTINATION - Starring Ethan Hawke (gives NEW meaning to the phrase "Go fuck yourself", lol).

    * It is truly awesome...

    APK

    P.S.=> A friend of mine brought it home & the SECOND I saw Robert Heinlein on it, I just knew it had to be great (it didn't disappoint)... apk

    1. Re:Based on HEINLEIN's work: PREDESTINATION by TrumpShaker · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I saw it a few weeks ago, and it was awesome! I searched it out as I had read it was based on Heinlein's work.

      Honestly, I think most of Heinlein's work should be made into movies.

  5. Gattaca by Jogar+the+Barbarian · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I saw it four times in the movie theater and it was the first DVD I ever bought.
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt01...

    --
    3. Profit!
    2. ???
    1. On Soviet Slashdot, a Beowulf cluster of alien Natalie Portman overlords welcomes YOU!
  6. 2001 by k6mfw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because Kubrick did meticulous research from flat screen displays and glass cockpits. Also had all actors be boring just like the characters they portrayed, i.e. people that do space are not expressive like most actors (compare 2001 to 2010). Of course Kubrick missed a few things, like Pan Am no longer exist, we ignored the Moon after 1972. But then I'm old enough to remember seeing this movie in 1968 shown at Century theatres on Winchester Blvd, a time when it seemed only obvious because soon we will have men walked the surface of the Moon. And many people were around to remember reading the news of first flight of Wright Bros and Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. By the time they were retirement age, they can ride an airplane that comfortably flies across continents or oceans. Hey when I'll be their age, I can do the same with space travel. But no, still waiting to see who will walk the surface of the Moon again, still waiting for my flying car (oh wait there's roadable airplanes I cannot afford). However, we got computers to enable me to rant on the forums (can't do that with a HAL9000).

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
  7. Enemy Mine by admin7087 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Because of the story it is based on, which I had read before. Westworld (1973) was also pretty good. Unfortunately, there are not so many good Science Fiction movies, although there are quite a few. I don't remember any good recent ones, even though I watch all of them. Metropolis with live classical piano accompaniment was also very good. They Live is also fantastic, and I also liked Solaris (1972). Many more, of course, but I'll stop there.

  8. To avoid normal responses: Nightwatch and Daywatch by kfh227 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Night Watch (Russian: , Nochnoy dozor) is a 2004 Russian urban fantasy supernatural thriller film written and directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, and is the first part of a duology, followed by Day Watch. You have to watch both movies to get the complete narrative and it is friggin awesome! This is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy movies I have ever seen!

  9. Re:Bladerunner... by fwarren · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Agreed. I don't care that the movie is darker and more brooding and implies Deckard is replicant without the overdubbing. I don't care that Harrison Ford thought it was stupid to do the voice over and did it in the most passive aggressive monotone voice he could manage. Since the movie is shot in the film noir style, the monotone hardened detective voice over is perfect.

    --
    vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
  10. The red pill by cahuenga · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Loved the fist Matrix movie. Philosophy, virtual reality, crazy new visual effects. I remember walking out of that movie and there was silence from the audience. Many were still processing the meaning and some were discovering brand-new ideas for the first time.

  11. Colossus: The Forbin Project by imatter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Colossus: The Forbin Project

    So many others,
    A Boy and His Dog
    Quintet
    Zazrdoz

    Oh yeah and I forgot, The Ice Pirates, fucking Robert Urich.

  12. Easy choice by rholtzjr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fifth Element. Just like in real life, you know you have an arch nemesis out there, you just may never meet them. Your actions are always in direct conflict with theirs even if you never come face to face with them.

  13. Re: Golden age of remakes maybe by taiwanjohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would also put some of those originals (and their contemporaries) in the top tier: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing from Another World, War of the Worlds... Obviously, you have to forgive the limited special effects of the day, but some of the stories were every bit as good as the top-rated films today.

    And, though it's not a movie per-se, um... Twilight Zone anyone?

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
  14. I think Gattaca deserves a mention by Verdatum · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Gattaca followed the rules of what Science Fiction should be, from it's traditional meaning, extremely well. It took a scientific premise, and explored how the world would be shaped socially as a result of that premise. The result, forces the viewer to reexamine the current state of society in the present and their feelings about it. I really can't think of all that many films that do a good job of that.

    I love 2001, but many of the key themes are more in the realm of fantasy. I love Forbidden Planet but it's really an adaptation of The Tempest; replacing the sorcery with science. Metropolis is a beautiful film, but it hardly depends on the scientific themes to deliver its message. Same thing with most of the other dystopian films like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, or Logan's Run.

    But that's really the tricky part about "best science fiction". You've gotta get everyone to agree on what defines quality science fiction.

  15. Re:Golden age of remakes maybe by matthias.paschke1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Edge Of Tomorrow" - a clever sci-fi interpretation of "Groundhog day" with a good choice of a cast

  16. The Black Hole by normanjd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I never did understand why Live Action Disney movies of the past never did well... I really loved The Black Hole... I think I even had a Lunch Box... Other good ones: The Absent-Minded Professor Tron And for a more modern favorite (but not Disney): Stargate