Favorite Sci-fi movies?

[zridling]

I'd watch a bad sci-fi movie over just about any other genre. Here's my top five among others you gotta see. Share yours, as I'm needed new material.

• BladeRunner (1982)
• Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (hey, genetic engineering)
• Matrix I (1999)
• Soylent Green (1973)

And don’t forget three great/campy ones from the 50s (if you've ever watched Mystery Science Theater 3000, you've seen them all):

• This Island Earth (1955)
• 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

[mouser]

you forgot Alien and Aliens !

[app103]

These might not be my top picks, but I am trying not to repeat anything you already mentioned, and include some stuff you may not have seen.

Yes, I know some of these qualify as cheese, but I like cheese...cheese is good.  

• Electric Dreams (1984) (boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, computer gets jealous)
• Gattaca (1997)
• Cherry 2000 (1987)
• The Lathe of Heaven (1980) (TV) (based on my favorite novel)
• Logan's Run (1976)
• They Live (1988) (contains one of the most amusing fight scenes I have ever seen in a movie)

and of course ANYTHING Star Trek related. 

[jgpaiva]

Hey! Why didn't anyone mention Star Wars?

[cthorpe]

Dune (both David Lynch and Sci-Fi channel versions are good for different reasons)
Alien
Serenity (I'll admit it... I'm a JW fanboy)

They Live (1988) (contains one of the most amusing fight scenes I have ever seen in a movie)

Is that the one with the special sunglasses and the fight that goes on forever?  Awesome!

[app103]

They Live (1988) (contains one of the most amusing fight scenes I have ever seen in a movie)

Is that the one with the special sunglasses and the fight that goes on forever?  Awesome!

That's the one! 

[masu]

Alien Saga
Predator Saga
Terminator
Robocop 1
Dune
Serenity
Blade Runner
Equilibrium

[mouser]

masu, how could we forgotten the terminator series?  terminator 1+2 were one of the most unexpectedly best scifi movies ever.

BUT,
all who have posted so far should hang their heads in shame for not mentioning: 2001.

[nudone]

in no particular order:

blade runner (when harrison ford's face isn't on screen).

2001 (is everyone else here insane, this should be in everyone top sci-fi list).

alien (until they start doing stupid things in tunnels).

THE THING (the original is insane for its day, but carpenter's makes most other sci-fi horrors look tame).

clockwork orange (funny if you don't nod off during the dull bits).

zardoz (absolutely ridiculous, sean connery in a nappy, fun).

fahrenheit 451 (some good moments but it would have been nice to see a more faithful adaptation).

matrix (can't fault the coming of the cyber christ)

thx 1138 (seemed a bit naff for a while but makes most recent sci-fi look dumb).

Le Temps du loup (post apocalypse how it would really be, i.e. depressing, dangerous and confusing).

terminator (i prefer 2 over 1, or did, maybe i'd think differently now).

predator (better than given credit for).

attack of the clones (ignore the romantic interludes - this is the best star wars. you are wrong if think otherwise).

stepford wives (original version - i'm still waiting for the technology to arrive - not long now).

they live (just the glasses scene).

dune (first viewing is like watching an advert for the real film, takes about 3 viewings before it gets any good in my opinion).

dark star (good for a bad film).

anyone watched 'the fountain'? what a complete and utter load of crap. i thought the 'zen-fi' space scenes were good though.

i'd also include 'forbidden planet' with 'the day the earth stood still' for classic old style sci-fi.

(i see mouser has just commented on 2001)

[mouser]

the thing -> one of my favorites.

[tinjaw]

Twelve Monkeys 

[nudone]

oh, oh, what about...

primer (not that exciting but perhaps the best time travel movie - don't mention 'donnie darko', what an incredibly overrated piece of work that is).

[CWuestefeld]

In no particular order:

• Serenity
• The Abyss
• Star Wars episode IV: A New Hope
• When Worlds Collide
• The Matrix
• Planet of the Apes (original)
• Back to the Future
• The Road Warrior
• Heavy Metal

[nudone]

oh, yes. planet of the apes (original) has to be one of the all time classics.

[cthorpe]

attack of the clones (ignore the romantic interludes - this is the best star wars. you are wrong if think otherwise).

dune (first viewing is like watching an advert for the real film, takes about 3 viewings before it gets any good in my opinion).

If you like sci-fi literature, you should tackle the book.  It's really good.

[TucknDar]

Twelve Monkeys 

Excellent film!

I'm really fascinated by anything to do with time-traveling, and this is by far the best movie I've seen on the subject!!

[jgpaiva]

attack of the clones (ignore the romantic interludes - this is the best star wars. you are wrong if think otherwise).

Actually, i also conside it to be the best star wars, but for the oposite reason, the part i most like is the fact that they are falling in love

[nudone]

cthorpe, i tried reading Dune. it looked pretty heavy going - only got a couple of chapters in. just a bit too detailed for me. maybe i'll try again one day.

TucknDar, if time travelling is your thing then you should watch Primer. i wouldn't say it's fun unless you like having your head twisted - it's probably the most complicated time travel plot on film.

[app103]

We could be here all year adding to this list till the number of replies exceeds the ones for this post. 

Here are a few more I would like to add:

• Time After Time (1979)
• Enemy Mine (1985)
• Cocoon (1985)
• Westworld (1973)
• E.T. (1982)
• Short Circuit (1986)
• Starman (1984)
• *batteries not included (1987)

[wr975]

It's about movies, but my favorite science fiction show is "Babylon 5". Close second: "Farscape".

Some SF movies I like:
A movie so bad, you'd think it's a spoof, but they were dead serious: Battlefield Earth
As kid I wanted this great looking black computer: Tron
Really a great movie. It's just bad they made sequels: Matrix 1
Many people just see stupid action, but there's so much more: Starship Troopers

[Eóin]

My top favourites have been mentioned here many times so I'll just repeat my number one; Dune.

Now for one which hasn't been mentioned; 5th Element .

[Edvard]

I used to consider myself a connoisseur of this genre, let's see what I can dig up...

First of all, kudos to those who already mentioned some faves...

• Forbidden Planet (classic, classic, classic...)
• Cherry 2000 (and I thought I was the only one who liked this one...)
• The Thing (I loved the original, and John Carpenter's version was the only horror flick TO THIS DAY that I had to turn my head at MORE THAN ONCE)
• Tron (classic, classic, classic)

Now, for my own faves, starting with classics...

• Night of the Living Dead (George Romero's classic, fer sure)
• It Came from Outer Space in 3D (1953, starring Russell Johnson!!)
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (starring a posthumous Bela Lugosi)
• Body Snatchers (original and remake were both great)
• Die, Monster Die! (Vincent Price, need I say more? Although it's not exactly sci-fi...)

now for the more modern stuff...

• Buckaroo Banzai (classic, classic, classic)
• Hardware (ditto)
• Brazil (...)
• I Come In Peace (Dolph Lundgren, the intergalactic drug dealer, the jugular slicing CD gun, etc.)
• Existenz (wtf...)
• Society (again, wtf...)
• Night of the Creeps (Teenage Zombies and Alien Turbo Slugs, yeah!)
• Brainstorm (Christopher Walken, need I say more?)
• Runaway (Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons in the same movie, need I say more? oh, and creepy poison robots, too...)
• Battle Beyond the Stars / Space Raiders (same starship models, same intergalactic space battles, two very different movies...)
• Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (wtf? Molly Ringwald?...)
• From Beyond (pink squishy elder gods from the nth dimension, oh my...)

That oughta hold ya fer a spell...

[f0dder]

Oh god, noone mentioned War Games? :O

Btw, the Dune film by David Lynch should have resulted in Dave getting lynched. It's a disgrace and an insult to anybody who enjoyed the book... Sure, a few things have to be adapted for the widescreen, but Lynch goes out of his way to rape the book, exponentially worse than LOTR got raped in the theatrical version.

[IainB]

I rented out and have been watching the "special edition" video of Planet of the Apes (released 1968, screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, based on the novel by Pierre Boulle) with my 12½ y/o daughter. She had asked me to recommend some good SF to watch, as she is studying the category of Science Fiction in her English class. (I also rented out THX1138.)
This was the first time I had watched POTA on a video - I had previously only seen it in movie theatres and TV reruns. As we watched, there was one point in the film where the three orang-utan judges cannot reconcile themselves to the remorseless logic of the unwanted proposition that the human - Taylor (actor Charlton Heston) - must have evolved on their own planet, if he had not come from space as he insisted he had done (and which latter was a proposition they absolutely rejected as being absurd).
I thought to myself "What the heck are they doing with their hands?" - they were balling up their hands and fumblingly putting them to their faces - whereupon at 1:11:50 my daughter suddenly exclaimed "Oh! It's the three monkeys!".
I do not recall ever having observed this deliberate little joke when I watched the film previously. Very droll. I see it's mentioned in IMDb.

[attachthumb=#]

[Attronarch]

Solaris and Stalker.