Hard Core SciFi Movies

Here's his list
Based on that and my reading experience, here are my Top Ten SciFi Movies of all Time:

10) Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan: Tying into the classic episode "Space Seed," the movie worked great for Star Trek fans by tying up a loose end from the classic series. Let's face it ... Ricardo Montalban was even more creepy in the movie (P.S. you know the chest was fake, right?) Featuring Captain Kirk at his most devious and clever ... we learn a good deal more about his past than perhaps we want to. Did anyone really care about his whiney son? But ... what takes this movie over the top is one of the GREATEST space ship battle sequences EVER.

9) Alien: Okay, so it's kind of a horror movie. But such a counter to the "cute alien" theme of ET and Empire Strikes Back that it needs to be here. The subplot of the company wanting a specimen provides more depth than the usual "something's out to get us." Sigourney Weaver plays the original tough babe!

8) Close Encounters of the Third Kind: More classic, memorable scenes that any other movie in this genre. When Richard Dreyfus starts piling up the mashed potatoes at the dinner table, when he starts throwing bricks and shrubs in the kitchen window, the line where the artist says his pictures never showed a particular path up the mountain and Dreyfus says "Try sculpture next time" ... CLASSIC!

7) Mad Max: The best post-apocalyptic movie ever made. Mel Gibson is incredibly tough. The film deals realistically with the battle for resources and the ways that humanity might deal with it. Even though everyone is pretty rotten (there's not really a good guy), it makes you feel sad for the lost humanity. This movie makes you want to drink a big glass of water with all that dust and heat.

6) The Terminator: Ah, time paradox. Can you change the future by altering the past? Will humanity bring about its own destruction? Although this movies at first appears to be a showcase for Arnold Schwartzenegger at his baddest best self, it asks a number of questions about the future in a quite clear way (SciFi can tend to be obscure at times).

5) The Matrix: Could Keaunu Reeve be any more COOL? A masterful blend of virtual reality AND alien invasion. The scene where he wakes up in the "battery" pod is not graphic, but so incredibly creepy! Plus, it features the excellent SciFi tactic of the complex plot with the satisfying yet open ending. This movie was just GOOD.

4) 12 Monkeys: This movie was weird and convoluted. Great science fiction provokes a certain amount of involvement in the world created by the story. We really have to feel for Bruce Willis' character ... Brad Pitt was just perfect as the guy who went over the edge. You're at the edge of your seat for the entire movie. Then, the ending is one of the most ironic ever. And isn't irony one of the classic tools of SciFi?

3) Dune (The Editor's cut ... NOT the theater version): The book by Frank Herbert was a complex mix of politics, war, intrigue, manipulation, and prophecy. Nearly impossible to cover adequately in any length movie, and not done completely succesfully here. You get the most out of the movie if you've read the book, but even without it, this is still a powerful film. Plus, it stuck to the book quite faithfully. My only gripe: the battle scene at the end with the Queen soundtrack wailing away.

2) The Fifth Element: Excellent use of future technology (witness the "resurrection" of Lelu). GREAT satire! SciFi is an excellent tool and the Fifth Element is a prime example. Fun action scenes courtesy of Bruce Willis. Gary Oldman is the essential bad guy ... who plays the nervous "what have I gotten into?" part perfectly.

1) Blade Runner: Based on the book "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?" by classic SciFi author Philip K. ****, this is one of the few movies in any genre that was better than the book. Sometimes SciFi books are a little obscure as to the deeper meaning of the book, but who can miss it in the movie with Rutger Hauer's final soliquoly, "I've seen things you people can't imagine..." ending with the symbolism of the dove taking flight. Fantastic effects, great cinematography, and of course, Harrison Ford at his most vulnerable, beat-up self.
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Bi-Centennial Man

Bicentennial Man (1999) - IMDb

pretty much a decent conversion of Asimovs book. the book and film had me in tears with it's scenes of human mortality.

Outland
Outland (1981) - IMDb


one of sean connery's best films. a scifi version of a western theme. lone sheriff with no backup in an isolated town, solving local crime and hearing because of it hitmen are coming in on the weekly coach to take him out

The Final Cut
The Final Cut (2004) - IMDb

new robin williams film. totally hardcory scifi storyline, few flashy visuals, utterly unmissable

Nothing
Nothing (2003) - IMDb

David Hewlett (SGA fame)starring in what to me resembles a drama students warm up erxercises exploring emotion and bodily movement. great viewing

Donnie Darko (watch both versions in order)
Donnie Darko (2001) - IMDb

the original format makes you think of donnie as suffering a mental disease and coincidences provide the incidents around him. then since the first film, anyone who has explored the cryptic official film site will have gleamed some insights into the story, was the scifi real? was he really suffering from a mental disease only? the directors cut throws all the information into the film and it becomes true scifi


Imposter
Philip K Dick - Imposter - Gary Sinise - Madeleine Stowe

a sadly overlooked film starring Gary Sinise. major twist near the end of the film. very fast paced film due to the infomation supplied along the way almost always being a step behind what you see and hear. pretty good story that could come straight out of a hardcord scifi short

Runaway
Runaway (1984) - IMDb

still good to watch now, if you can look past the bad guys awful caricature. Tom Selleck is great in this one, taking his magnum PI style of acting into the future

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - IMDb

for the more intelligent viewer, we once did a poll on this and the only people who walked out of the cinema having understood the film totally before they left the darkness of the stalls have an IQ of over 120. seriously! we actually held a poll on this when i was admin on a media site :) (oh, i am 124 by the way!)

Casshern
http://www.casshern.com/

while people complain of far too much talking and not enough action, the long length of this epic film contains some essential live manga and some great military scifi moments. by word of mouth this film set the internet on fire. stick "casshern" in google and count the pages linking to forums where people are discussing and singing it's praises


Some of those imdb links are HUGE!!! i'll have to learn how to shorten them for forums at some point!
 
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