Great scifi
by xl8r | created - 01 Apr 2014 | updated - 28 Nov 2016 | PublicUnfortunally, most of the scifi movies released today are totally grap. Claustrophopic running in narrow corridor, terrors of the modern science and apocalyptic scenarios have given the whole genre a bad name. This list contains none of those movies, just pure, real science fiction for inteligent lifeforms.
The list is not in any order.
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1. Primer (2004)
PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
Director: Shane Carruth | Stars: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya
Votes: 114,113 | Gross: $0.42M
A really low budget (IMDB says that the estimated budget vas $7000) movie presents a truely engineer oriented scifi scenario.
2. The Man from Earth (2007)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine.
Director: Richard Schenkman | Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford
Votes: 200,102
Conversations of the academic minds on history and philosophy. And its one of the most amazing stories ever told.
3. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 949,920 | Gross: $78.90M
Altough Alien is usually concidered as archtype claustrophobic horror movie, it is usually also forgotten, that the horror part is only about 1/4 of the movie. 3/4 of the movie is pure tech porn and can be concidered as pure hard science fiction.
4. Mr. Nobody (2009)
R | 141 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
Director: Jaco Van Dormael | Stars: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham
Votes: 245,769 | Gross: $0.00M
What if you could choose differently? The story of many lifes of Nemo Nobody
5. 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: 285,605 | Gross: $100.61M
A social drama with a scifi twist
6. Puzzlehead (2005)
Not Rated | 81 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Post apocalyptic Frankenstein-ish fantasy
Director: James Bai | Stars: Stephen Galaida, Robbie Shapiro, Mark Janis, Mark Lampert
Votes: 826
A deep deliberation on what is it that makes as humans.
7. The Fountain (2006)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
As a modern-day scientist, Tommy is struggling with mortality, desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Sean Patrick Thomas, Ellen Burstyn
Votes: 248,707 | Gross: $10.14M
It's not actually pure scifi movie, but a love story, told in a manner of scifi and history.
8. 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: 71,644 | Gross: $1.51M
A dark dreamy fairytale for adults.
9. 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: 863,000 | Gross: $274.09M
Dispite all the depate on how realistic Gravity actually is, it is still a lot more realistic than average hollywood action movie.
10. Cloud Atlas (2012)
R | 172 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 374,313 | Gross: $27.11M
An epic voyage through ages.
11. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 849,762 | Gross: $1.48M
Dark story about timetravel and causality.
12. 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: 529,215 | Gross: $35.55M
In dystopian future, women has lost their capability to carry children and because of that the mankind is dying.
13. Pi (1998)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart
Votes: 186,384 | Gross: $3.22M
A mathematican in the search of the formula that would explain everything.
14. 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: 212,208 | Gross: $14.38M
A mindblowing film noir on alien experiment.
15. Lathe of Heaven (2002 TV Movie)
91 min | Sci-Fi
In a near future society, a man claims that his dreams physically change reality. His therapist is confused at first, but soon decides to use him for his own gain.
Director: Philip Haas | Stars: James Caan, Lukas Haas, Lisa Bonet, David Strathairn
Votes: 1,045
What if your dreams would come true? Literally?
16. 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: 822,753 | Gross: $32.87M
Still, one of the most realistic representation of the days to come. What makes as humans? And what does it mean?
17. 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: 376,612 | Gross: $5.01M
Alone on the moon.
18. 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: 292,998 | Gross: $100.92M
The human kind captures an alien message that turns out to be a bluepirint of a device.
19. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
R | 100 min | Animation, Comedy, Crime
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Rory Cochrane
Votes: 117,097 | Gross: $5.50M
An undercover cop investigates the source of new trend drug.
Based on the book by Philip K. Dick
20. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,785 | Gross: $40.46M
David Gronenberg's reimagination of old horror classic about a scientist, who invents a teleport.
21. Bicentennial Man (1999)
PG | 132 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
An android endeavors to become human as he gradually acquires emotions.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt
Votes: 124,637 | Gross: $58.22M
Another movie about the problem of a definition of a human being.
Based on the book by Isaac Asimov
22. 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: 322,926 | Gross: $78.62M
The epic voyage of an artifical boy.
23. Her (2013)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara
Votes: 669,114 | Gross: $25.57M
Man falls in love with his operating system.
24. The Astronaut Farmer (2006)
PG | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A NASA astronaut, forced to retire years earlier so he could save his family farm, has never given up his dream of space travel and looks to build his own rocket, despite the government's threats to stop him.
Director: Michael Polish | Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern, Max Thieriot
Votes: 23,279 | Gross: $11.00M
A man builds a space craft in his barn.
25. Sleep Dealer (2008)
PG-13 | 90 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
The near future. Like tomorrow. In a world marked by closed borders, corporate warriors, and a global computer network, three strangers risk their lives to connect, break through the barriers of technology, and unseal their fates.
Director: Alex Rivera | Stars: Luis Fernando Peña, Leonor Varela, Jacob Vargas, Metztli Adamina
Votes: 6,682 | Gross: $0.08M
26. 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: 588,708 | Gross: $25.44M
27. 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: 158,128 | Gross: $2.61M
28. Arrival (II) (2016)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 770,424 | Gross: $100.55M
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