I was inspired (again!) by Rinn over at Rinn Reads - here is her post.
Today we are talking about our favourite Sci-Fi movies of all time. Mine are in alphabetical order, because although I love lists, it's hard for me to choose which is best, and which is a bit less good. It was difficult to choose only 10, but I just kept removing the films one by one, and these are the ones I was left with:
2001
With Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor.
In the future society, humans have created realistic robots (called mechas) to serve them. But can mechas really have feelings and what happens when they are no longer wanted?
Why favourite: the topic of artificial intelligence is ever interesting - even if we program robots to "feel", are those then true feelings?
1979
With Sigourney Weaver.
Spaceship Nostromo is surprised by an unwanted extraterrestrial visitor.
Why favourite: mad scientist doctor following orders of a mega corporation is willing to jeopardise the whole mankind in the name of science. Hilarity and horror ensue; time to place your bets - will the mad scientist be the first to die? Also, Ellen Ripley is a kick ass character.
1985
With Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
A teenager is sent 30 years into the past in a time-travel car constructed by his buddy mad Doctor Emmett Brown; he must bring together his high-school age parents to save his own future existence.
Why favourite: Who can say no to time travel, hilarious characters and awesome 80ties-90ties clothing style? Also, it's one of those rare cases where sequels are excellent too.
Sequels: Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990).
2012
With Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon.
How do the actions of individual lives impact each other in the past, present and future?
Why favourite: I am not even going to pretend I am not biased here - this book is so good that it probably contributed a few points towards the movie making it to TOP 10. This is a very complex, layered story that takes place in the past, present and future. This kind of heavyweight of Hollywood stars would usually shy me away from the movie, but in Cloud Atlas they earn their money - literally, since everyone plays several different characters.
1997
With Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett, Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings, Waybe Robson.
Seven people who do not know each other wake up in a giant cube, filled with thousands of different rooms. They start figuring out why they are there while trying to find the way out of cube, each room is full of unknown traps.
Why favourite: Look at that concept! (Though sequels are of questionable value, I would not recommend.) The cost of this film must have been super low because everything takes place in rooms that look pretty much the same... except you can die in hundreds of different ways. Also, Cube proves that mathematics can be really scary.
Sequels: Cube 2: Hypercube (2002), Cube Zero (2004).
2002
With Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Sean Bean, Emily Watson.
In a Fascist future where all forms of feeling are illegal, a man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.
Why favourite: For me personally, this takes the cake as the most underrated movie ever. If you like books 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, chances are good you will like this movie. Also, how awesome is this cast.
2010
With Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine.
What if someone steals your thoughts and secrets while you are sleeping? Can you get lost in a dream never to return? Will you even want to?
Why favourite: Based on all these questions - another fascinating concept (or more like a proper mindf**k that requires several viewings). Also, Christopher Nolan and the cadre of people assembled for this film are impressive.
1999
With Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving.
In future, hackers are capable of hacking into human mind. The battle between reality and artificial reality.
Why favourite? This film was launched at the time when computer geekness was spreading its wings, and I was already on board. I was also attracted to the cool black leather coats and shades. The slo-mo fight scenes were a very new thing back then! (What happened to the sequels, though? From bad to worse.)
Sequels: The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003).
2009
With Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey.
Future mankind has discovered how to solve the Earth's energy problems with the help of the Moon and astronaut Sam Bell is to spend three years on the Moon, only companion his computer GERTY.
Why favourite: it is kind of a minimalist setting - lunar station, a bit of the Moon's surface, one man and one computer. Lots can happen when a man has to spend such a long alone in the space...
2012
With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt.
The year is 2074 and people who have become trouble are sent 30 years back in time to get executed. What if one day you are facing yourself on the execution scene?
Why favourite? I can't resist a time conundrum. Nothing more enjoyable than spending the rest of your evening (or few days, or weeks) trying to figure out the time paradox (if you go back in time and kill yourself, how can you be there to go back in time in the first place?)
Bonus entry:
2013
With George Clooney, Sandra Bullock.
A medical engineer and an astronaut are the sole survivors of an accident that destroys their space station, but oxygen is running low, so what next?
Why favourite: It is a tragic, beautiful survival story. The space is beautiful, especially if you view it through 3D glasses safely in the movie theater! The details that are put into this movie are astonishing and although there are a few scenes that make you think "IS THIS REALLY POSSIBLE?" (and if you are like me, make you manically google at home afterwards :p), it does not take away from the fact that this movie is brilliant.
Some of them are my all-time favourites too, and the others I've noted as "watch soon" :) But how, how could you left out The Fifth Element??? It's EPIC!
ReplyDeleteBTW, is Cloud Atlas, which you say is so great, a sci-fi book? I'll add this to the sci-fi challenge list then (which I HOPE I'll finally post today!)
For very simple reason - I have never properly seen The Fifth Element *hangs head in shame* I'll fix it soon!
DeleteCloud Atlas is cross-genre book. I don't want to spoil anything but if you know how this book is constructed, you can kinda see how it can be sci-fi as well as some other things. Wiki says its sci-fi-fantasy-drama, which I guess is fairly accurate... But I would probably have no problem adding it to my own list if I hadn't read it already.
Can't wait to see your list!
Oh, watch it!! I was fangirling really hard when it first came out :)
DeleteOK, I'll add it :) I'm adding also the books I have read, because I want it to be definitive, you know :)
Yeah, my fiancé also said that it's a very good movie and that he is willing to watch it with me, and I saw it's on Netflix so it's gonna work out well :)
DeleteMoon is one of my favorites, glad to see it made your list. Looper drove me crazy though.
ReplyDeleteMoon was really good! Looper drove me crazy too, but in a good way - I like it when stories mess with my head :)
DeleteYay, lists! =D I like lists.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually seen A.I. ... I think I was supposed to see it for a friend's birthday when it came out, but she was ill or something so we never went! And I've only seen the first Back to the Future...
I still need to see Cloud Atlas, but I want to read the book first (so much to read and watch!). I've also been recommended Moon by someone else, so that looks like another 'must watch' - and I hope to see Gravity soon!
I *love* lists! :D
DeleteI've heard many people say A.I. was nothing special but I've seen this movie more than once so I guess it's special for me. Moon's awesome, but I guess it can be a bit depressing, depends how to look at it. And yes - if you want to see Cloud Atlas, definitely read the book first, it will make it a lot easier to understand what is going on!
Equilubrium - I love this film!! Can't believe I forgot about it.. Christian Bale is awesome! Love it. Moon i've been told multiple times I should watch - I really should get round to it. The Matrix and Inception feature on my top 5 films too :) Looper is on my list to see, Alien is awesome, Back to the Future is not a favourite of mine. I've not heard of Cube, but it sounds great! I saw Gravity at the cinema, i thought it was beautiful and the concept was great, but I felt there wasn't enough to the plot.
ReplyDeleteA great list :)
Kirsty
Christian Bale is one of my favourite actors, but Equilibrium would be good even without him (or would it? hmmmm... :D)
DeleteI think Back to the Future has this nostalgia element, in that I saw it so many times as a child/teenager, so it's hard to evaluate objectively.
I agree about Gravity that the plot was not the deepest, but at the same time I kinda enjoyed this minimalist/subtle approach - let's face it, the main thing about this movie is the visuals, so for me it worked out well (although under different circumstances I am the one usually complaining over flaws in plot :) )
So many good films! Sci-fi is actually one of my favourite genres when it comes to films and some of these are way up there in my films I love list. The Matrix, Inception, Looper and, of course, Back to the Future are all amazing! I really need to see Gravity and I have added the others (except Alien because I know it will scare me) to my 'to watch' list.
ReplyDeleteI went to see Back to the Future a couple of months ago in an open air cinema which was a completely brilliant experience. The audience were cheering and clapping along with the film! It's one of those films that doesn't seem to get old even with the slightly outdated special effects :D
Back to the Future is just so funny, isn't it. And if you see it for the first time as a kid, how cool is that future world? The floating skateboard and all those things. Jan has those films on DVDs and we just watched all three a few years back.
DeleteFor some reason, I've been a bit intimidated by the thought of reading Cloud Atlas...the movie trailer looked so good though it's been making me want to pick up the book since I always like to read the book before the movie if I can (guilty-pleasure Nicholas Sparks movies excepted -- sometimes I need a light & fluffy movie and I don't care much whether or not I read the books too!)
ReplyDeleteInception was really good too!
Cloud Atlas isn't exactly an easy read, and in the beginning can be really confusing, but once you get a bit in, it appears to have this very interesting concept (and construction especially in the book). The film didn't follow the book exactly and things had to be changed because of the peculiarities of story construction in the book, but I really liked it and I really want to see the film again. Despite the book being a more complicated one, it was one of the best reads I had last year.
DeleteFantastic list! Ellen Ripley is probably my favourite movie heroine. I also love that you included Cube! I feel that the original movie deserves better appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI saw Cube on Netflix so maybe I'll watch it again. Too bad the sequels were such failure, but then again, you can't really make a good sequel if so much of the success of the original movie relies on the concept - obv the concept is no longer new in the next film.
DeleteEllen Ripley is totally awesome.
Oooo I am loving the sci-fi love!
ReplyDeleteI just saw Alien for the first time a few months ago... and I had a lot of issues with it. In all fairness, I didn't really have any interest in it and my friends were kind of forcing me to watch it, and we all know how stubborn I can be when I don't want to do something.
I NEED to see Gravity. And Looper. And I wanna re-watch all the Back to the Future movies, because man it's been at least a decade.
Alien is also one of those movies I saw when I was a kid, so I'm not sure if seen later in life it would have that kind of impact. But I do like the heroine character a great deal. Also I know what you mean, if someone forced me to watch something saying "omg it's so good" and I didn't really have that much interest myself, I'd be sure to dislike the film.
DeleteGo and see Gravity! In 3D! I wanna rewatch Looper too 'cos man, that time paradox thing still breathes somewhere in the back of my brain.
Those are great ones!
ReplyDeleteAlthough mine would probably be a fluid list, I'd say my 10, in no particular order, would be:
Original Star Wars trilogy
Moon
Oblivion
Star Trek (2009)
Serenity
City of Lost Children
Matrix
Equilibrium
The Island
John Carter
I liked Star Wars, Oblivion, new Star Trek movies and Serenity all a great deal as well! City of Lost Children and John Carter definitely go to my to-be-watch list.
Delete