Post by v9733xa on Jun 24, 2017 12:33:51 GMT -5
So, hey, this was super difficult.
One of my biggest problems was asking myself, “what the hell is a true science fiction film anyway?”
I thought of this initially and figured I would skip all the Star Wars movies and stuff like that because that’s more “fantasy,” right? But then isn’t any science fiction flick fantasy in some way?
Then I figured I might want to skip post-apocalyptic films since they’re “dystopias” and more political statements, right? But if there’s any element of science in them, they have to go here too, don’t they?
And what about rootin-tootin blow-em-up action movies that are also based in science fiction? They should fit in too, maybe?
Finally, I figured, no, I should only include “hard” science fiction films, and if it doesn’t mention the Schwarzschild Radius or Hawking Radiation or real nerdy shit, then it’s not science-y enough. But that’s leaving out so many fun pseudo-science films that had us thinking, isn’t it?
The final result is a split down the middle of all that crap.
I don’t know how to define what I picked. Some of you will think I left obvious things out, or included ones you’d never consider in the category if something else was not. Part of me feels like the list is incomplete, part of me thinks I couldn’t have done any better. With that, off we go.
Honorable mentions: E.T., Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Metropolis, Midnight Special, District 9, Back to the Future, Inception, Children of Men, Gravity, Minority Report
10. Predestination (2014)
Lots of people have not seen this film. I only stumbled on it after literally seeing the title on the SciFi Channel (go figure). It’s based on a Robert Heinlein short story, “—All You Zombies—,“ which I had not read but had heard of. So anyway, this Australian film has one of my very favorite actors, Ethan Hawke, and the story is so freaking crazy that I don’t want to give away anything except for what’s in the trailer. I’ll mention though, that Sarah Snook is absolutely brilliant in a star-making performance. There have been lots of cool “time travel” movies. I of course put Back to the Future in the Honorable Mention list. Looper was also great, and so was Source Code. If you’ve seen and enjoyed either of those, you will love Predestination. Honestly, even Groundhog Day shares some interesting elements of this movie. It got 9 AACTA nominations (Australian Oscars, I guess) and should have swept most of them. There are not a lot of movies I had to go online and pour over descriptions, timelines, and fan theories immediately after watching. This is one of them. It was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had watching a scifi film. You’re just going to love the huge twist/reveal and the ramifications of it. Aside from just the coolness of this flick, it brings some mind-bending philosophical thought about choice and “fate” and what control we have in our lives. Do not read anything else about this movie!! Don’t ruin anything, it’s too freaking good to spoil any more than I said here.
9. Brazil (1985)
There is no doubt this is the weirdest film on the list. It also fits in that nebulous category of “dystopias” that I wasn’t sure how to include. Well, this was one I just couldn’t avoid, because Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece is one of the strangest but best scifi movies I’ve ever seen. I hope you watched the trailer; in a way it gives you an idea of what’s going on, but also probably confused you just as much. The reason why I liked it so much is because it reminds me, more than any film except the actual namesake, of one of my favorite books, 1984 – in fact, working titles for the movie, among several, were The Ministry and 1984½. You might get that vibe from the trailer. But, because this is Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame, but also responsible for genius films Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) you’re also going to get some bizarre slapstick comedy, pointed political satire, and wild nonsensical scenes that would be out of place in almost any other picture. It was nominated for 2 Oscars, the exact ones it deserved: screenplay and art direction. I love the “retro-futurism” feel of the architecture and set design. Absolutely amazing. What’s great about Brazil (aside from Robert de Niro’s manic scene-stealing performance) is while there are times that it is so bleak and foreboding, Gilliam throws in the oddest elements of satire to parody post-modern society. It’s not for everyone. If you like scifi but usually stick to comic book movies and stuff about spaceships, you might not like this. But if you like to think, then I’ve got a film for you.
8. Interstellar (2014)
Those who read the “Last Movie You Saw” thread know that I literally watched this last week. I have been waiting almost 3 years, through a comedy of errors I just never got around to it. But holy cow, this is one of the best “hard science” films I have ever seen. That’s exactly what I loved about it, Christopher Nolan (you know, The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento) tried to make this incredibly complicated fiction movie as real as he could get it. By the way, even if you’ve seen it before, watch that brilliant perfect trailer up there. It shows virtually no “giveaways,” succinctly summarizes the early plot and the hook of the film, and resists from telling you things that are only good if you see them right as the movie is revealing them to you. Other than that trailer, I think it’s best to go into this knowing virtually nothing at all. Needless to say, you might not know all that much about wormholes and supermassive black holes anyway. How about time dilation? General relativity? The Penrose process? Yup, all there, and my brief knowledge of Physics was put to the test as I tried to understand enough of the movie to follow into the next scene. I remember when Inception came out, there was a brilliant headline I saw: “Are You Too Stupid for Inception?” I still laugh at that. Well, yeah, you might be too stupid for Interstellar too, honestly, but even if you don’t have a degree in particle theory or relativistic thought, turn your brain off and just enjoy the incredible visuals here, all of which are as scientifically accurate as we can estimate from study. Add on to that what is actually a very good story, and you’ve got a hell of a film.
7. Blade Runner (1982)
What’s awesome about Blade Runner is that it’s really the only “neo-noir” scifi film on this list, which makes it extra cool, yet also one that not everybody enjoys. Much like the “hard science” of Interstellar turned a few people off, the strange nuanced brilliance of Ridley Scott’s master work that dabbles in philosophy, religion, and ethics isn’t easy for every viewer to digest. Sure there are chase scenes, and cool futuristic stuff, but this is not the ordinary scifi film about killing aliens or unlocking the truth about the evil bad guy. Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, director Ridley Scott (seriously, think of the amazing films he’s directed: Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, American Gangster, The Martian, what incredible range!), Harrison Ford plays a blade runner hunting down replicants, “manufactured humans you can’t tell from the real thing,” as he tells you in that trailer. The dark urban setting of 2019 LA (ha, yeah it’s just 2019, we’re less than 2 years away from flying cars) does have that familiar 80s scifi vibe to it, but this is different than the pseudo-future you usually see portrayed. I guess the key word is “nuanced,” like I used before. You have to pay attention, and you need to understand the conflicting motives of the replicants. They’re not aliens, quite, but they’re not humans, even though they have superior genetics in many ways. How do you tell? Well, the Voight-Kampff test of course:
That’s when you see the Nexus-6 replicants and how they don’t quite enjoy such an outing. Poor guy. Anyway, let’s hope that Blade Runner 2049 coming out this fall with Ryan Gosling (and Harrison!) is even half as good as this awesome movie.
6. The Matrix (1999)
If you dislike The Matrix, your opinion is wrong. This film revolutionized what a cool science fiction action film could be like, and ushered in our current age of thought-provoking but still super fun movies we now see every year. It’s hard to put yourself back into the position of seeing this the first time, but try, because there probably isn’t another film on the list like this one that elicited almost a viral enthusiasm and questioning of humanity itself. Perhaps the main theme in The Matrix isn’t new – other films have done something similar to this at times – but this is the first one to take it a step further, and not purposefully confuse the audience along the way. That’s one of the reasons I love this movie so much: while a couple others on the list are deliberately complicated, the Wachowski Brothers (now sisters? how interesting that they both are trans-gendered now) help you dive in with Neo, and spirit guide Morpheus takes us just far enough to understand as much as we need.
Let him show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Yeah, I know, there are so many memorable lines and scenes from this that a few of them are kind of cliched nowadays. The red pill, “I know kung fu,” bullet time, the lobby scene, Agent Smith. And some have criticized the film for a “pop culture” version of a scifi story that’s been used before. So what? This brought scifi cyberpunk to the masses. But at the same time, anyone who has read Immanuel Kant, Plato, and Friedrich Nietzsche could see all the philosophical influences to make The Matrix, and that’s certainly not an easy task. Also, as an aside, I additionally happen to like the two sequels as well, regardless of most popular opinion, especially Reloaded. They make a great trilogy.
5. Being John Malkovich (1999)
Our second straight film from 1999, Spike Jonze’s directorial debut (and Oscar nomination) is still today probably his best film (Adaptation comes close). Maybe more importantly, it was the debut screenplay of Charlie Kaufman (also an Oscar nomination), probably the greatest living screenwriter of our day. Is this science fiction? It was hard to put this here, but hard to leave off. There’s no question that is this is the funniest film on the list, and the only one that certainly was intended to be a comedy. I hope you watch the trailer, it gives you an idea of how bizarre and manic this all really is. Imagine a portal that lets you spend 15 minutes in someone else’s head; not just anyone, only one person, John Malkovich. Legend has it that John Cusack asked his agent to find him the “craziest, most unproduceable script that you can find.” Well that only turned into what Roger Ebert called the best film of the year – he also said “either Being John Malkovich gets nominated for Best Picture, or the members of the Academy need portals into their brains.” Well, it didn’t. Regardless, some of the scenes are so amazing, and yet still so funny, that I figured I would highlight my favorite:
Also, don’t miss Cameron Diaz’s shockingly great performance as Lotte, literally unrecognizable from virtually every other role she’s ever done. This is far and away the best acting she ever did in her career. And Catherine Keener, many times just one of those whatshername actresses who don’t have enough screen time, earns a Best Supporting Actress nomination for the incredibly adept and bizarre turn she takes with the Malkovich portal. It’s hard to explain how great this movie is without just watching it, and hopefully the trailer and awesome clip above gives you inspiration to do so. Maybe it’s the least science-y picture on this list, but it’s one of the most fun.
4. Moon (2009)
Duncan Jones is one of our finest young directors today, and since he seems to be a big fan of scifi (he directed the great Source Code and the very fun Warcraft) we should be grateful since Moon is a downright awesome film, and his debut! Sam Rockwell is also an incredibly underrated actor, and this is a showcase for his talents. Some time in the future, Sam (also the name of Rockwell’s character in the film) works alone on the Moon, harvesting helium energy for a multinational corporation, accompanied only by the helpful robot GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey). As you can see in the trailer, during a harvesting mission something horrible goes wrong, and Sam discovers another person previously unknown to him. Suffice it to say, things are definitely not what they seem, and the crazy twists come quickly in this fast-paced thrilling 90-minute film. Seriously, Sam Rockwell is a tour-de-force actor and consistently ignored for acting prizes. This is “hard science” fiction at its best. It’s hard to describe much more without giving away the awesome final act, and the trailer tells you just enough to get you interested I’m hoping. It’s amazing that this film was made for under $10 million, but yet still has the sleek and futuristic look that it deserves. It’s easily one of the best science fiction movies I’ve ever seen.
3. Snowpiercer (2014)
This is another one of the handful of movies that I didn’t know were appropriate for this list. But when I decided to through caution to the wind, I knew I could not skip one of the best movies that’s been made this century. I don’t mean that with any hedging, Snowpiercer is a phenomenal film whatever genre you decide to make it fit into. At a point in the not-too-distant future (see, another post-apocalyptic dystopia film I was unsure about), director Bong Joon-Ho creates a world – based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige – where climate change not only ruined the world, but the attempt to engineer the world’s climate unintentionally created an even greater catastrophe of a global ice age wiping out most life altogether. The eponymous train travels through perpetual motion literally around the globe, keeping mankind’s only survivors alive. Okay, fine, that premise is a little strange, but ignore it for a moment: this movie is not about a goddamn train, it’s about humanity, class war, and life itself. It’s probably the best “parable” of any scifi movie I’ve ever seen. And when you combine bizarre humour in scenes like this, it’s an amazing combination:
Tilda Swinton is a treasure. This is one of the most original films in years, albeit based on a novel, but you don’t see stuff like this usually made for the screen. Either it’s too hard, or too weird, or stars don’t want to show up to act in it. Well look at this lineup: Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, the late John Hurt, and I don’t give away who plays “Wilford” himself, but it’s worth the wait. I cannot recommend this film enough. I’ve never seen a movie so adeptly crisscross between social commentary and scifi action seamlessly. I was riveted until the credits screen.
2. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Really only one Star Wars film is deserving of this list, and while the original A New Hope holds a very special place in fantasy/scifi lore, nothing quite compares to the brilliance of its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Oddly, I contemplated leaving all the Star Wars films off the list altogether, because depending on who you ask you could classify this as fantasy, space opera, romance… but c’mon, it’s got to fit here. Empire magazine holds this film in such high regard they have it as number 3, all time, of literally any movie ever. Now, we’ve all seen this pic, I know that (good lord, I hope so!), so what am I going to say here that really breaks any ground? Probably nothing. But I’ll try to convince you of its masterpiece status. What the first film does so well, this does better. The drama is heightened, the darkness is ratcheted up, and the good guys don’t always win. Whereas in A New Hope you always saw the happy ending coming, and it works as a stand-alone film, the bleakness of Episode V is the ultimate takeaway.
Those are two of the best dramatic scenes ever, in any movie. They’re perfection. Add to those Lando’s deception, Yoda’s training, the absolutely amazing special effects for a movie made in the late 1970s, and you have the far and away best film of the Star Wars pantheon, only even barely approached by the first film, but miles ahead of any others. If you haven’t watched it in a while, and you don’t even have to sit and watch the whole trilogy, just take Episode V in by itself and rank it as a film on its own. While the Hollywood conventions aren’t quite there (in medias res opening, inconclusive ending), it’s hard to beat Empire.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
But of all the lists I’ve made so far, no Number 1 has been so easy to choose as this. There is nothing even close, in the same universe (no pun intended) as the brilliant and one-of-a-kind 2001: A Space Odyssey by virtuoso director Stanley Kubrick. This movie is maybe even so good, so perfect, so awe-inspiring, I’d classify it as real art. Sure, all cinema is art, but this is just unparalleled. I could just post goddamn films clips this whole time.
Transition into the “space waltz,” the greatest scene without dialogue in film history:
This is freaking 1968 for Christ sake. How the hell did Kubrick and Clarke and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth put this together? Anyway, aside from the stunning visuals, you have an immersing story, one that left me spellbound at first watch (the rewatch was just as good). A recently found artifact from the moon needs to be investigated, and suddenly the scientists disappear, seemingly by catastrophe. A year or two later, HAL 9000 is the computer controlling a spaceship bound for Jupiter, with five scientists on board (three in suspended animation). I think we all know that HAL has a mind of his own, and the iconic lines and scenes that follow elucidate that: “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave.” It’s not a giveaway to post this clip, what this smart Youtube user calls the “ontological scene” in the film:
But on top of all this, the final 20 minutes or so are some of the most mind-bending stuff I have ever seen on a screen. I won’t say a word about it, I’m so afraid of spoiling a moment. But goodness, it’s far more art than film. So, if you are somehow one of the people who never watched 2001, you have made a grave mistake. It’s so easily the best science fiction movie ever, and it ranks up there among the best movies ever made, period. (For those who have seen it, do yourself a favor and watch its sequel, the very underrated 2010: The Year We Make Contact.)
~~
Yikes that was difficult! Tell me which films I left out.
And if you have suggestions for the next list, let me know. I have a few ideas… action, foreign film, history/biopic/period film, sports, etc.
One of my biggest problems was asking myself, “what the hell is a true science fiction film anyway?”
I thought of this initially and figured I would skip all the Star Wars movies and stuff like that because that’s more “fantasy,” right? But then isn’t any science fiction flick fantasy in some way?
Then I figured I might want to skip post-apocalyptic films since they’re “dystopias” and more political statements, right? But if there’s any element of science in them, they have to go here too, don’t they?
And what about rootin-tootin blow-em-up action movies that are also based in science fiction? They should fit in too, maybe?
Finally, I figured, no, I should only include “hard” science fiction films, and if it doesn’t mention the Schwarzschild Radius or Hawking Radiation or real nerdy shit, then it’s not science-y enough. But that’s leaving out so many fun pseudo-science films that had us thinking, isn’t it?
The final result is a split down the middle of all that crap.
I don’t know how to define what I picked. Some of you will think I left obvious things out, or included ones you’d never consider in the category if something else was not. Part of me feels like the list is incomplete, part of me thinks I couldn’t have done any better. With that, off we go.
Honorable mentions: E.T., Star Wars IV: A New Hope, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Metropolis, Midnight Special, District 9, Back to the Future, Inception, Children of Men, Gravity, Minority Report
10. Predestination (2014)
Lots of people have not seen this film. I only stumbled on it after literally seeing the title on the SciFi Channel (go figure). It’s based on a Robert Heinlein short story, “—All You Zombies—,“ which I had not read but had heard of. So anyway, this Australian film has one of my very favorite actors, Ethan Hawke, and the story is so freaking crazy that I don’t want to give away anything except for what’s in the trailer. I’ll mention though, that Sarah Snook is absolutely brilliant in a star-making performance. There have been lots of cool “time travel” movies. I of course put Back to the Future in the Honorable Mention list. Looper was also great, and so was Source Code. If you’ve seen and enjoyed either of those, you will love Predestination. Honestly, even Groundhog Day shares some interesting elements of this movie. It got 9 AACTA nominations (Australian Oscars, I guess) and should have swept most of them. There are not a lot of movies I had to go online and pour over descriptions, timelines, and fan theories immediately after watching. This is one of them. It was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had watching a scifi film. You’re just going to love the huge twist/reveal and the ramifications of it. Aside from just the coolness of this flick, it brings some mind-bending philosophical thought about choice and “fate” and what control we have in our lives. Do not read anything else about this movie!! Don’t ruin anything, it’s too freaking good to spoil any more than I said here.
9. Brazil (1985)
There is no doubt this is the weirdest film on the list. It also fits in that nebulous category of “dystopias” that I wasn’t sure how to include. Well, this was one I just couldn’t avoid, because Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece is one of the strangest but best scifi movies I’ve ever seen. I hope you watched the trailer; in a way it gives you an idea of what’s going on, but also probably confused you just as much. The reason why I liked it so much is because it reminds me, more than any film except the actual namesake, of one of my favorite books, 1984 – in fact, working titles for the movie, among several, were The Ministry and 1984½. You might get that vibe from the trailer. But, because this is Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame, but also responsible for genius films Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) you’re also going to get some bizarre slapstick comedy, pointed political satire, and wild nonsensical scenes that would be out of place in almost any other picture. It was nominated for 2 Oscars, the exact ones it deserved: screenplay and art direction. I love the “retro-futurism” feel of the architecture and set design. Absolutely amazing. What’s great about Brazil (aside from Robert de Niro’s manic scene-stealing performance) is while there are times that it is so bleak and foreboding, Gilliam throws in the oddest elements of satire to parody post-modern society. It’s not for everyone. If you like scifi but usually stick to comic book movies and stuff about spaceships, you might not like this. But if you like to think, then I’ve got a film for you.
8. Interstellar (2014)
Those who read the “Last Movie You Saw” thread know that I literally watched this last week. I have been waiting almost 3 years, through a comedy of errors I just never got around to it. But holy cow, this is one of the best “hard science” films I have ever seen. That’s exactly what I loved about it, Christopher Nolan (you know, The Dark Knight, Inception, Memento) tried to make this incredibly complicated fiction movie as real as he could get it. By the way, even if you’ve seen it before, watch that brilliant perfect trailer up there. It shows virtually no “giveaways,” succinctly summarizes the early plot and the hook of the film, and resists from telling you things that are only good if you see them right as the movie is revealing them to you. Other than that trailer, I think it’s best to go into this knowing virtually nothing at all. Needless to say, you might not know all that much about wormholes and supermassive black holes anyway. How about time dilation? General relativity? The Penrose process? Yup, all there, and my brief knowledge of Physics was put to the test as I tried to understand enough of the movie to follow into the next scene. I remember when Inception came out, there was a brilliant headline I saw: “Are You Too Stupid for Inception?” I still laugh at that. Well, yeah, you might be too stupid for Interstellar too, honestly, but even if you don’t have a degree in particle theory or relativistic thought, turn your brain off and just enjoy the incredible visuals here, all of which are as scientifically accurate as we can estimate from study. Add on to that what is actually a very good story, and you’ve got a hell of a film.
7. Blade Runner (1982)
What’s awesome about Blade Runner is that it’s really the only “neo-noir” scifi film on this list, which makes it extra cool, yet also one that not everybody enjoys. Much like the “hard science” of Interstellar turned a few people off, the strange nuanced brilliance of Ridley Scott’s master work that dabbles in philosophy, religion, and ethics isn’t easy for every viewer to digest. Sure there are chase scenes, and cool futuristic stuff, but this is not the ordinary scifi film about killing aliens or unlocking the truth about the evil bad guy. Loosely adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, director Ridley Scott (seriously, think of the amazing films he’s directed: Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, American Gangster, The Martian, what incredible range!), Harrison Ford plays a blade runner hunting down replicants, “manufactured humans you can’t tell from the real thing,” as he tells you in that trailer. The dark urban setting of 2019 LA (ha, yeah it’s just 2019, we’re less than 2 years away from flying cars) does have that familiar 80s scifi vibe to it, but this is different than the pseudo-future you usually see portrayed. I guess the key word is “nuanced,” like I used before. You have to pay attention, and you need to understand the conflicting motives of the replicants. They’re not aliens, quite, but they’re not humans, even though they have superior genetics in many ways. How do you tell? Well, the Voight-Kampff test of course:
That’s when you see the Nexus-6 replicants and how they don’t quite enjoy such an outing. Poor guy. Anyway, let’s hope that Blade Runner 2049 coming out this fall with Ryan Gosling (and Harrison!) is even half as good as this awesome movie.
6. The Matrix (1999)
If you dislike The Matrix, your opinion is wrong. This film revolutionized what a cool science fiction action film could be like, and ushered in our current age of thought-provoking but still super fun movies we now see every year. It’s hard to put yourself back into the position of seeing this the first time, but try, because there probably isn’t another film on the list like this one that elicited almost a viral enthusiasm and questioning of humanity itself. Perhaps the main theme in The Matrix isn’t new – other films have done something similar to this at times – but this is the first one to take it a step further, and not purposefully confuse the audience along the way. That’s one of the reasons I love this movie so much: while a couple others on the list are deliberately complicated, the Wachowski Brothers (now sisters? how interesting that they both are trans-gendered now) help you dive in with Neo, and spirit guide Morpheus takes us just far enough to understand as much as we need.
Let him show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Yeah, I know, there are so many memorable lines and scenes from this that a few of them are kind of cliched nowadays. The red pill, “I know kung fu,” bullet time, the lobby scene, Agent Smith. And some have criticized the film for a “pop culture” version of a scifi story that’s been used before. So what? This brought scifi cyberpunk to the masses. But at the same time, anyone who has read Immanuel Kant, Plato, and Friedrich Nietzsche could see all the philosophical influences to make The Matrix, and that’s certainly not an easy task. Also, as an aside, I additionally happen to like the two sequels as well, regardless of most popular opinion, especially Reloaded. They make a great trilogy.
5. Being John Malkovich (1999)
Our second straight film from 1999, Spike Jonze’s directorial debut (and Oscar nomination) is still today probably his best film (Adaptation comes close). Maybe more importantly, it was the debut screenplay of Charlie Kaufman (also an Oscar nomination), probably the greatest living screenwriter of our day. Is this science fiction? It was hard to put this here, but hard to leave off. There’s no question that is this is the funniest film on the list, and the only one that certainly was intended to be a comedy. I hope you watch the trailer, it gives you an idea of how bizarre and manic this all really is. Imagine a portal that lets you spend 15 minutes in someone else’s head; not just anyone, only one person, John Malkovich. Legend has it that John Cusack asked his agent to find him the “craziest, most unproduceable script that you can find.” Well that only turned into what Roger Ebert called the best film of the year – he also said “either Being John Malkovich gets nominated for Best Picture, or the members of the Academy need portals into their brains.” Well, it didn’t. Regardless, some of the scenes are so amazing, and yet still so funny, that I figured I would highlight my favorite:
Also, don’t miss Cameron Diaz’s shockingly great performance as Lotte, literally unrecognizable from virtually every other role she’s ever done. This is far and away the best acting she ever did in her career. And Catherine Keener, many times just one of those whatshername actresses who don’t have enough screen time, earns a Best Supporting Actress nomination for the incredibly adept and bizarre turn she takes with the Malkovich portal. It’s hard to explain how great this movie is without just watching it, and hopefully the trailer and awesome clip above gives you inspiration to do so. Maybe it’s the least science-y picture on this list, but it’s one of the most fun.
4. Moon (2009)
Duncan Jones is one of our finest young directors today, and since he seems to be a big fan of scifi (he directed the great Source Code and the very fun Warcraft) we should be grateful since Moon is a downright awesome film, and his debut! Sam Rockwell is also an incredibly underrated actor, and this is a showcase for his talents. Some time in the future, Sam (also the name of Rockwell’s character in the film) works alone on the Moon, harvesting helium energy for a multinational corporation, accompanied only by the helpful robot GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey). As you can see in the trailer, during a harvesting mission something horrible goes wrong, and Sam discovers another person previously unknown to him. Suffice it to say, things are definitely not what they seem, and the crazy twists come quickly in this fast-paced thrilling 90-minute film. Seriously, Sam Rockwell is a tour-de-force actor and consistently ignored for acting prizes. This is “hard science” fiction at its best. It’s hard to describe much more without giving away the awesome final act, and the trailer tells you just enough to get you interested I’m hoping. It’s amazing that this film was made for under $10 million, but yet still has the sleek and futuristic look that it deserves. It’s easily one of the best science fiction movies I’ve ever seen.
3. Snowpiercer (2014)
This is another one of the handful of movies that I didn’t know were appropriate for this list. But when I decided to through caution to the wind, I knew I could not skip one of the best movies that’s been made this century. I don’t mean that with any hedging, Snowpiercer is a phenomenal film whatever genre you decide to make it fit into. At a point in the not-too-distant future (see, another post-apocalyptic dystopia film I was unsure about), director Bong Joon-Ho creates a world – based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige – where climate change not only ruined the world, but the attempt to engineer the world’s climate unintentionally created an even greater catastrophe of a global ice age wiping out most life altogether. The eponymous train travels through perpetual motion literally around the globe, keeping mankind’s only survivors alive. Okay, fine, that premise is a little strange, but ignore it for a moment: this movie is not about a goddamn train, it’s about humanity, class war, and life itself. It’s probably the best “parable” of any scifi movie I’ve ever seen. And when you combine bizarre humour in scenes like this, it’s an amazing combination:
Tilda Swinton is a treasure. This is one of the most original films in years, albeit based on a novel, but you don’t see stuff like this usually made for the screen. Either it’s too hard, or too weird, or stars don’t want to show up to act in it. Well look at this lineup: Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, the late John Hurt, and I don’t give away who plays “Wilford” himself, but it’s worth the wait. I cannot recommend this film enough. I’ve never seen a movie so adeptly crisscross between social commentary and scifi action seamlessly. I was riveted until the credits screen.
2. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Really only one Star Wars film is deserving of this list, and while the original A New Hope holds a very special place in fantasy/scifi lore, nothing quite compares to the brilliance of its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Oddly, I contemplated leaving all the Star Wars films off the list altogether, because depending on who you ask you could classify this as fantasy, space opera, romance… but c’mon, it’s got to fit here. Empire magazine holds this film in such high regard they have it as number 3, all time, of literally any movie ever. Now, we’ve all seen this pic, I know that (good lord, I hope so!), so what am I going to say here that really breaks any ground? Probably nothing. But I’ll try to convince you of its masterpiece status. What the first film does so well, this does better. The drama is heightened, the darkness is ratcheted up, and the good guys don’t always win. Whereas in A New Hope you always saw the happy ending coming, and it works as a stand-alone film, the bleakness of Episode V is the ultimate takeaway.
Those are two of the best dramatic scenes ever, in any movie. They’re perfection. Add to those Lando’s deception, Yoda’s training, the absolutely amazing special effects for a movie made in the late 1970s, and you have the far and away best film of the Star Wars pantheon, only even barely approached by the first film, but miles ahead of any others. If you haven’t watched it in a while, and you don’t even have to sit and watch the whole trilogy, just take Episode V in by itself and rank it as a film on its own. While the Hollywood conventions aren’t quite there (in medias res opening, inconclusive ending), it’s hard to beat Empire.
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
But of all the lists I’ve made so far, no Number 1 has been so easy to choose as this. There is nothing even close, in the same universe (no pun intended) as the brilliant and one-of-a-kind 2001: A Space Odyssey by virtuoso director Stanley Kubrick. This movie is maybe even so good, so perfect, so awe-inspiring, I’d classify it as real art. Sure, all cinema is art, but this is just unparalleled. I could just post goddamn films clips this whole time.
Transition into the “space waltz,” the greatest scene without dialogue in film history:
This is freaking 1968 for Christ sake. How the hell did Kubrick and Clarke and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth put this together? Anyway, aside from the stunning visuals, you have an immersing story, one that left me spellbound at first watch (the rewatch was just as good). A recently found artifact from the moon needs to be investigated, and suddenly the scientists disappear, seemingly by catastrophe. A year or two later, HAL 9000 is the computer controlling a spaceship bound for Jupiter, with five scientists on board (three in suspended animation). I think we all know that HAL has a mind of his own, and the iconic lines and scenes that follow elucidate that: “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Dave.” It’s not a giveaway to post this clip, what this smart Youtube user calls the “ontological scene” in the film:
But on top of all this, the final 20 minutes or so are some of the most mind-bending stuff I have ever seen on a screen. I won’t say a word about it, I’m so afraid of spoiling a moment. But goodness, it’s far more art than film. So, if you are somehow one of the people who never watched 2001, you have made a grave mistake. It’s so easily the best science fiction movie ever, and it ranks up there among the best movies ever made, period. (For those who have seen it, do yourself a favor and watch its sequel, the very underrated 2010: The Year We Make Contact.)
~~
Yikes that was difficult! Tell me which films I left out.
And if you have suggestions for the next list, let me know. I have a few ideas… action, foreign film, history/biopic/period film, sports, etc.