Science Fiction for the Cinephile
by sneaker-peeker | created - 05 Jun 2013 | updated - 14 Oct 2015 | PublicThis is perhaps the most popular genre in the modern film industry, mainly because it offers so many fascinating universes filled with spectacular visual effects, amazing creatures and awesome technological wonders. However, the best science fiction is the one that bends your mind to a point where new concepts are revealed in front of you, opening the gates for infinite possibilities of alternate realities. Whether it’s time traveling, space exploration or genetic manipulation, Sci-fi flicks are the written testament of mankind’s imagination. I consider the following films the work of truly visionaries translated into the movie medium:
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1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 719,216 | Gross: $56.95M
2. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,052,227 | Gross: $171.48M
3. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,050 | Gross: $6.21M
4. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,549,750 | Gross: $292.58M
5. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
Votes: 822,822 | Gross: $32.87M
6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Votes: 1,173,582 | Gross: $204.84M
7. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,216
8. Children of Men (2006)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Votes: 529,258 | Gross: $35.55M
9. 12 Monkeys (1995)
R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito
Votes: 646,531 | Gross: $57.14M
10. District 9 (2009)
R | 112 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.
Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Vanessa Haywood
Votes: 716,646 | Gross: $115.65M
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,066,671 | Gross: $402.45M
12. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,076 | Gross: $33.40M
13. E.T. (1982)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace
Votes: 437,363 | Gross: $435.11M
14. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,077,624 | Gross: $34.40M
15. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
PG | 138 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Roy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon
Votes: 216,800 | Gross: $132.09M
16. The Boys from Brazil (1978)
R | 125 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lilli Palmer
Votes: 30,557 | Gross: $19.00M
17. Minority Report (2002)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow
Votes: 584,169 | Gross: $132.07M
18. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm
Votes: 505,972 | Gross: $63.54M
19. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,179 | Gross: $9.93M
20. The Martian (2015)
PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Votes: 924,812 | Gross: $228.43M
21. Gattaca (1997)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Gore Vidal
Votes: 323,116 | Gross: $12.34M
22. RoboCop (1987)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox
Votes: 282,979 | Gross: $53.42M
23. The Abyss (1989)
PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester
Votes: 193,156 | Gross: $54.46M
24. Contact (1997)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
Votes: 293,021 | Gross: $100.92M
25. I, Robot (2004)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
In 2035, a technophobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk
Votes: 575,167 | Gross: $144.80M
26. Dark City (1998)
R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
Votes: 212,220 | Gross: $14.38M
27. Moon (2009)
R | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
Votes: 376,629 | Gross: $5.01M
28. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards
Votes: 322,944 | Gross: $78.62M
29. Vanilla Sky (2001)
R | 136 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kurt Russell
Votes: 285,616 | Gross: $100.61M
30. Prometheus (I) (2012)
R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
Votes: 643,999 | Gross: $126.48M
31. Looper (2012)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano
Votes: 602,839 | Gross: $66.49M
32. WarGames (1983)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 110,687 | Gross: $79.57M
33. eXistenZ (1999)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 107,171 | Gross: $2.84M
34. The City of Lost Children (1995)
R | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 71,651 | Gross: $1.51M
35. Man Facing Southeast (1986)
R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A patient in a mental hospital claims to be an extraterrestial. Could he be right?
Director: Eliseo Subiela | Stars: Lorenzo Quinteros, Hugo Soto, Inés Vernengo, Cristina Scaramuzza
Votes: 4,583 | Gross: $0.73M
36. Avalon (2001)
R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
In a dystopian world, a woman spends her time playing an illegal and dangerous game, hoping to find meaning in her world.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Malgorzata Foremniak, Wladyslaw Kowalski, Jerzy Gudejko, Dariusz Biskupski
Votes: 13,700
37. Ex Machina (2014)
R | 108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
Votes: 588,881 | Gross: $25.44M
38. Gravity (2013)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen
Votes: 863,038 | Gross: $274.09M
39. Under the Skin (I) (2013)
R | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell
Votes: 158,149 | Gross: $2.61M
40. Interstellar (2014)
PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy
Votes: 2,098,386 | Gross: $188.02M
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