Ask HN: Good sci-fi movies? - nowayyeah
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teacup
Going to repeat a lot of what has been said so far:

\- Minority Report (The TV show isn't bad either)

\- Ex Machina

\- District 9

\- Elysium

\- Oblivion

\- Edge of Tomorrow

\- Looper

\- I am Legend

\- Her

\- The Martian

\- The Matrix (Only 2 & 3 if you're super bored)

\- Basically any of the Mad Max series

\- Firefly (TV show, movies are OK)

\- Dark Matter (TV show)

\- Snow Piercer

\- American Ultra

\- Last Witch Hunter (more fantasy than SciFi)

\- Riddick

\- Dredd

\- X Files (I mean, it's not NOT scifi...)

\- Treasure Planet (Yes, the animated one)

\- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Gets a bad rap for being animated, but it has
it's own language and everything)

\- Serial Lain Experiments (anime)

\- Watchmen

\- The Dark Knight

\- Inception

\- The Prestige (technically SciFi)

I can go on for hours

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pjwal
I am officially too old apparently when this is the top comment and it lacks
Blade Runner at the top of the list (let alone even on it). Wow.

Great choices though...for like the last 10 years maybe, I'll give you Matrix
and X Files beyond that and that is it.

Would anyone like a real list from a 40 year old?

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teacup
It's an unpopular opinion, but I didn't love Blade Runner. Don't get me wrong
I like Phillip K. Dick as much as the next guy, the movie just wasn't there
for me.

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junkblocker
Same here. I loved the book (Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?) but didn't
care for the movie version at all as I felt it missed the magic of the book
completely. Maybe as in most such cases what got read/seen first mattered.

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schwarze_pest
Planet of the Apes (1968), Forbidden Planet (1956), A Clockwork Orange (1971),
Brazil (1985), Contact (1997)

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schwarze_pest
Forgot about that one... Not a movie, but besides the very well known TV shows
(ST:TNG, BSG, Firefly, etc.) I can really recommend The Expanse.

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combatentropy
Alien, Blade Runner, Minority Report, 12 Monkeys, Primer, Tron

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dllthomas
Minority Report was okay, but I really recommend reading the short story it
was "based on". Very different experience.

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partisan
Event Horizon.

I am fascinated with the concept of evil existing outside of the context of
humanity and this movie is what planted that seed.

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dllthomas
Oh god, I thought that movie was so bad. I don't even remember it well enough
to say why, I just remember remembering it being bad...

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partisan
Go watch it again. It ages well.

I'll throw another one in there for you as well: Starship Troopers.

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dllthomas
> I'll throw another one in there for you as well: Starship Troopers.

Yeesh, we are clearly going to have to agree to disagree.

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mattnumbe
I thought the same when I watched it the first time, but you should read some
analysis' of that film and watch it again. It's surprisingly deep.

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dllthomas
Are you talking about Event Horizon or Starship Troopers?

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mattnumbe
Starship Troopers

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dllthomas
Hmm, I would be surprised. I found the book quite interesting (despite mixed
feelings about the politics) but the movie seemed pretty thin (and the grafted
on drama really poor).

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dlhavema
Europa report, I liked interstellar, most didnt... I love me some good sci-fi.
13th floor is pretty good too, it got overshadowed by the matrix though.. I'm
pretty happy sure they came out around the same time...

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khein11
Dark City, 13th Floor, Pi, Gattaca, Time Crimes, The Jacket, Moon.

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mattnumbe
Time Crimes and The Jacket are the only two movies in this thread I haven't
seen. Thanks!

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mattnumbe
The Thing (1982), Slither, Dark Skies, Intacto (spanish), Another Earth,
Coherence

Primer is on here a bunch, but really worth watching if you like time travel
conundrums.

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skc
Surprised nobody has mentioned "Moon" yet.

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mozumder
1\. Total Recall

2\. Blade Runner

3\. Starship Troopers

4\. Superman 2

5\. Aliens

6\. Predator

7\. Mad Max: Fury Road

8\. Return of the Jedi

9\. Star Wars

10\. Empire Strikes Back

11\. Dark City

12\. Matrix Revolutions

13\. Matrix

14\. Matrix Reloaded

15\. The Fifth Element

16\. Robocop

17\. Gravity

18\. Godzilla (2014)

19\. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

20\. Jurassic Park

21\. The Thing

22\. Europa Report

23\. THX-1138

24\. Repo! The Genetic Opera

25\. Santa Sangre

(.. ok this list could go on forever)

Yes, the big 80's/90's action-sci-fi, especially the ones with Arnold, were so
god-damned entertaining. There are obivously lots of smaller sci-fi that's
cool & entertaining as well, but with the big 80's/90's action-sci-fi, you get
your money's worth.

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mattnumbe
I think this may be the first list ever to contain Santa Sangre and Jurassic
Park. Well done.

~~~
mozumder
That kind of juxtaposition is also in Repo! The Genetic Opera. It stars the
singer of one of my favorite industrial bands - Ogre of Skinny Puppy -
alongside Paris Hilton.

=^D

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elliott34
2001: A Space Odyssey

Sunshine

Blade Runner, gattaca, the matrix, alien etc.etc. basically just google "best
sci fi movies of all time"

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thebigkick
Moon, Ex Machina, The Matrix

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pythonbull
The Matrix Terminator Terminator Genisys Inception (2010) Iron Man 3 (2013)
Mad Max Fury Road (2015) Captain America Civil War (2016) The Dark Knight
Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice 2016

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jimmahoney
A few others that I don't think have been mentioned, in no particular order.

\- Guardians of the Galaxy

\- Back to the Future series

\- Men in Black

\- Groundhog Day

\- Elysium

\- Planet of the Apes (old & new)

\- Ender's Game

\- Independence Day

\- The Island

\- John Carter

\- I Robot

\- The Day the Earth Stood Still (old & new)

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romanhn
Stargate. District 9. Inception. Equilibrium. Mad Max: Fury Road. Moon. Edge
of Tomorrow.

Edit: The Man From Earth if you can dig independent cinema.

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dllthomas
I really enjoyed Galaxy Quest, as parody with a lot of heart. Not exactly hard
sci-fi, of course.

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jrnichols
It depends on how low your bar is. Last few that I've seen that I enjoyed:

Source Code Pacific Rim The Martian Pandorum

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mattnumbe
I thought I was the only person that liked Pandorum. Everyone I suggested it
to hated it.

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d0ml3nc
* Star Wars, * Ex Machina, * The Matrix, * Inception, * Alien, * Tron, * The Fifth Element

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tboyd47
Not a movie, but Stranger Things. Can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet.

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davidw
Star Wars - but not the prequels.

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Koshkin
Watch _The Matrix_. Again. It is very well made. And it's pretty deep.

~~~
mattnumbe
I watched a video essay on youtube the other day that presents the argument
that Mr. Smith is the One and not Neo. It was quite convincing.

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120bits
Ex Machina.

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gtvwill
Primer.

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JoClimb1ng
Ex Machina, The Matrix, Star Wars, Doctor Who

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1234567890abcde
Short Circuit

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crypticlizard
Dune

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dllthomas
I remember liking the Sci-Fi miniseries much better than the David Lynch
movie. And the book much better than either.

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planteen
Ex Machina

Primer

Her

Upstream Color

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type0
Robot and Frank

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big_paps
Stalker

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junkblocker
The book, [Roadside
Picnic]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic))
it is based on is equally amazing and both the movie adaptation and the book
stand great on their own even though the movie was an artistic interpretation.

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DrScump
The Abyss

