So far this year I have watched Metropolis and Zardoz for the first time. What are some other must see SciFi movies?
I noticed a lack of Anime. If I may:
Ghost in the Shell (the entire collection if you have the time)
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Akira
Galaxy Express 999
Captain Harlock
Battle Angel Alita
Serial Experiments Lain (Series)
BubbleGum Crisis Tokyo 2040 (Series)
Red Baron (Series)
Saber Marionette (Any, but J is a series that hits maturity in the second half with aplomb)
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Series)
Cowboy Bebop (Series)
The Big O (Series)
Roujin Z
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Iria: Zeiram the Animation
Steamboy
PaprikaAnd more I can’t think of right now.
Also, if you count ~20 year old movies as classic, I’d add Bicentennial man and Artificial intelligence, haven’t seen these mentioned yet.
Ooh, I have a list:
- Looker - directed by Michael “Jurassic Park” Chricton. The first ever film to create 3D shading with a computer that produced the first ever CGI human character was the model Cindy (Susan Dey).
- Westworld (1973) - also written by Michael Chricton
- Mac and Me - It’s a movie that’s SO UNBELIEVEABLY BAD IT MUST BE SEEN TO UNDERSTAND HOW BAD IT IS. After you watch it, you’ll understand why Paul Rudd tortured Conan O’Brien with this famous clip.
- The Last Starfighter - another cheeseball 80s knock off of Star Wars. Also pioneered the use of CGI
- Enemy Mine - Dennis Quaid bonds with an alien enemy and eventually helps him bear children. Directed by Wolfgang ‘Neverending Story’ Petersen. You have been warned.
- The Quiet Earth - A scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.
- The Stuff - A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation, but the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world. Co-stars Paul “Goodfellas” Sorvino
- Miracle Mile - What would you do if you accidentally found out that the world was ending in a little over an hour? Features Anthony “ER” Edwards
I guess most of the famous classics are going to be listed anyway, so to add something that most people probably haven’t seen, I suggest *batteries not included. It’s nothing grandiose (more like a family-friendly flick, I feel like it’s in the same category as Flubber or Short Circuit), but it’s really sweet, light-hearted and enjoyable.
Lol at Zardoz being on anyone’s “must see” list.
Haha I never said it was must see. I watched it last weekend and I’m looking for some ideas for this weekend.
Edit. I guess I implied it was must see by saying “other must see movies”. My apologies.
Some that I’m not seeing here much yet:
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Gattaca, Heavy Metal, Repo Man, Starship Troopers, The Fifth Element, Tron, Tron Legacy, Independence Day, Idiocracy, Predator, Star Trek (2009), Escape From New York, Galaxy Quest, Total Recall, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T., Wall-E, Jurassic Park (1993), District 9, Robocop, Children of Men, Inception, and the Back To The Future trilogy,You mention Star Trek, but TOS movies are the classic and superior Trek movies.
I like them all. I own almost all of them…maybe all…not sure…
If you can handle subtitles Tarkovsky’s 1972 version of Solaris is brilliant.
The modern version with George Clooney actually isn’t half bad either.
I like them both. I’ve read the book and they take different tracks but they’re both good.
Forbidden Planet, Logan’s Run, Death Race 2000, The Day the Earth Stood Still, …
What’s your cutoff for “classic”? Are we talking about the classic film era, or anything older than 25 years?
Great picks. I’m not too concerned with the timing. Even more recent, soon to be classics, are fair game.
Well in that case:
- The Matrix
- Dark City
- Pi
- Confluence
- Predestination
- Primer
- Brazil
- Time Bandits
- Gremlins
- They Live!
- Escape from NY/LA
- Big Trouble in Little China
- The Fifth Element
- 12 Monkeys
- Six String Samurai
- Robocop
- Total Recall
- Terminator & Terminator 2
- Event Horizon
- Stargate
- Johnny Mnemonic
- Soldier
- The Truman Show
- Mars Attacks!
- Demolition Man
- Starship Troopers
- Tank Girl
- Cube
- Species
- Men in Black
- Iron Sky
- Robot Jox
… and many more!
The Truman Show is great but I’m not really sure I would put it in a list of sci fi classics.
The Truman Show is stealth sci-fi. It has literal world-building.
Yeah, now that I think about it, if you described Truman show to someone that has never seen it, they would have to think it was sci-fi. But it’s done so well and plays so close to the realm of possibility that I’ve never really considered it sci-fi…
Whatever it is, it’s brilliant.