Looking for a good sci-fi movie to watch

In summary, Flat World was a good animated movie that made me think of how 4+ dimensional objects may appear to us from our 3 dimensional perspective. Gravity made me look up the difference in orbits between the Chinese space station Tiangong and the ISS. THX1138 made me wonder how much of our personality is dependent on our environment.
  • #1
WaxyChicken
11
4
I'm actually running out of sci-fi movies to watch.
I like sci-fi movies that keep their feet on the ground with science, don't mash much with fantasy (wizards, etc...) and at the same time spur "What If..." thought or make you pause and hop to the web to look something up.
for example:

Flat World was a good animated movie that made me think of how 4+ dimensional objects may appear to us from our 3 dimensional perspective.

Gravity made me look up the difference in orbits between the Chinese space station Tiangong and the ISS.

THX1138 made me wonder how much of our personality is dependent on our environment.

(Primer i had to watch twice and have mixed feelings about)

To me, good Sci-Fi movies keep my attention and also spur thought and research.
Know any that i may not of seen?

(most under-rated sci-fi series ever: "The Starlost")
 
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  • #2
My choice of the greatest Sci/Fi movies are...
2001: A Space Odyssey:
The Day the Earth Stood Still: 1953 version.
War of the Worlds: 1953 version.
Contact:
Mission to Mars:
Forbidden Planet:
Gravity:
Interstellar:
 
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  • #3
bummer, Marou, i already saw all of those.
Good suggestions, though, i liked them all :biggrin:
 
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  • #5
Yeap. I've seen way too many Sci-Fi movies.
I think the only thing I've seen more than Sci-Fi is PBS documentaries.
 
  • #6
There is the old TV series 'Twilight zone'.
Yes it s old, but quite a lot of the episodes are thought provoking stuff.
(While admittedly there are other ones that can only be described as silly.)
 
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  • #7
rootone said:
There is the old TV series 'Twilight zone'.
Yes it s old, but quite a lot of the episodes are thought provoking stuff.
(While admittedly there are other ones that can only be described as silly.)
I was only a young teenager at the time, but I loved "The Outer Limits" as silly as some episodes were...:biggrin:
 
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  • #8
I've seen every episode of every iteration of the twilight zone (it was rebooted twice, and the movie).
even the Lost Classics of Rob Sterling.
I've seen every Outer Limits and Night Gallery and Amazing Stories.

I once had a job where the most important duty was attendance.
I would pass the time by watching PBS and Sci-Fi.
I held that job for over 6 years with 12 hour grave shifts.
That's why it's so hard for me to find new material to be fascinated by.

_________________________________________________________________________
To learn what your place is in the universe, you must first learn the place of everything else.
From the multiverse theories to the black holes that can encompass an entire solar system,
to the tiniest spec on the tiniest particle and even the space between those particles.
It's not the answer to your place in the universe that is intriguing and fulfilling,
it's the quest for discovery itself.
 
  • #9
Who do I contact to see if your previous job is currently vacant and so requires a dedicated worker?
 
  • #10
rootone said:
Who do I contact to see if your previous job is currently vacant and so requires a dedicated worker?
It was Security.
A lot of security jobs just need a warm body.
for example, construction sites need a physical person on the property 24/7 until fire systems are installed.
Often they pay a security agency to provide a guard even if there is nothing to actually guard.
The down side is today you can have a job just being a warm body, and the next day you can be the guard outside a convenience store at 2am because they've been robbed 4 times in one week.
and they all pay the same. In my state it's minimum wage.
But it put bread on the table during the financial crash.

_______________________________________________________________
you want to know what the matter is?
The masses worry more about who Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton are dating instead of the millions
of refugees, Larson Ice Shelf C melting, or fake news has contributed to the recent election and the next
four years.
But on the bright side, at least you know what the Chew is serving on tomorrows episode. Doesn't it smell
great when they cook on TV?
 
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  • #11
Have you seen "Strange Days" by James Cameron?

Have you seen "Unbreakable" by M Night Shyamalan?

Have you seen "Moon" staring Sam Rockwell?

Have you seen "Pacific Rim" by Guillermo Del Toro?

Have you seen "The Thing" by John Carpenter?
 
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  • #12
Yes to all of those.
In a way i kind of saw the Moon's surprising twist coming, but it was still very well done and under-appreciated (probably due to lack of advertising)

Pacific Rim, although just an excuse to have giant robots fighting Voltron style, i found also to be under-appreciated by the public because it's story lines were stronger than expected and it didn't skip on the plot or eye-candy budget.
 
  • #13
I recommend Creation of the Humanoids (1962) .

The old TV series Science Fiction Theater is also good. You can see where lots of the ideas came from that were in later series.
 
  • #14
Mystery Science Theater 3000 has a great deal of quality syfy.

Don't ask me to define "quality", please.
 
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  • #15
Red dwarf?.
 
  • #16
sanman said:
Have you seen "Strange Days" by James Cameron?

Have you seen "Unbreakable" by M Night Shyamalan?

Have you seen "Moon" staring Sam Rockwell?

Have you seen "Pacific Rim" by Guillermo Del Toro?

Have you seen "The Thing" by John Carpenter?

I have not even heard of any of these, except for The Thing, and I haven't seen that one.

However, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness is one of the few movies where I left the theater -- at night of course -- having had a genuinely scary experience. I don't want to spoil the plot. So I'll just say that one scene towards the end seemed uncannily real. Something to do with tachyons.
 
  • #18
Noisy Rhysling said:
David Reeves, you might like "The Last Man on Earth", with Vincent Price. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

I haven't watched it yet, but it's been on my list for some time.

That reminds me, Vincent Price stars in one of my favorite sci-fi movies, Scream and Scream Again. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are also in that one. It's a real gem.
 
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  • #19
rootone said:
There is the old TV series 'Twilight zone'.
Yes it s old, but quite a lot of the episodes are thought provoking stuff.
(While admittedly there are other ones that can only be described as silly.)

One of my favorite episodes in this series, Valley of the Shadow, actually has a physics theme of sorts. It's fitting that James Doohan (Mr. Scott) has a minor role.
 
  • #20
Aufbauwerk 2045 said:
I haven't watched it yet, but it's been on my list for some time.

That reminds me, Vincent Price stars in one of my favorite sci-fi movies, Scream and Scream Again. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are also in that one. It's a real gem.
I was thirteen when it came out. It was dark when I left the theater. I walked home through a graveyard. At about 50 mph.
 
  • #21
WaxyChicken said:
It was Security.

So you were working security on the graveyard shift, and you watched some scary movies among other types. While you were working, did you ever watch a TV program where someone or something attacked a security guard on the graveyard shift while he was watching TV? This recursion could go on indefinitely.

This reminds me of the time some of us kids hung out late at night in the local graveyard. No one seemed alarmed. But still the horror movies scare us.

When someone works security at a graveyard, do they still use the term "graveyard shift?"

:)
 
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  • #22
I didn't watch horror. I watched Sci-Fi and Documentaries. and no, i wouldn't of done that if it was a high risk or a hands-on assignment. I was just a warm body assignment.

"Creation of Humanoids" - i'll check it out. i hadn't seen that one, good job!
 
  • #23
Do you like shlock cheesy or campy films?
 
  • #24
Another thought; you could investigate anime. It tends more toward fantasy than sci-fi, so you'd have to weed out what is really sci fi; and the quality in many cases is, uh, well, variable . . . lots of giant robots, moppets, etc.

But even so there might be something there. For example I assume you've seen the famous anime version of Ghost in the Shell, plus the sequel of that? That's pretty much the best of the lot. There are TV series versions of the franchise which I think aren't as good, but could certainly pass a lot of security guard time. Plus if you are willing to go a notch lower in quality, and still see some interesting ideas, there is Harlock: Space Pirate which may appeal if you like your steam-punk space ships to feature giant skulls on the front grill:

4473049908160df851a558b58814df98.jpg


Here's someone's "best of" list of sci-ci anime films; quickly scanning and wincing, I do recognize Neon Genesis Evangelion, a TV series that I have watched a little of; an extremely strange apocalyptic giant robot paranoid moppet head trip. Anime seems to mix dreck with interesting concepts in equal quantities.

P.S. I highly recommend that you never watch Space Battleship Yamato, a live-action film made from an anime series.
 
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  • #25
Cowboy Beebop was fun.
 
  • #27
UsableThought said:
Looks like it might be fun - I'll have to check it out, thanks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop

3b65f4420c31d7bd91c5cd657f972b1d.jpg
If you don't you'll have to put up with "MAN! How can you have NOT seen it!1!"
 
  • #28
There's always Buckaroo Bonsai, Across the 8th Dimension.
Weird and funny, with a great cast: Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum (dressed as a cowboy from New Jersey!), John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Ellen Barkin
 
  • #29
BillTre said:
There's always Buckaroo Bonsai, Across the 8th Dimension.
Weird and funny, with a great cast: Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum (dressed as a cowboy from New Jersey!), John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Ellen Barkin

When it first came out, I hated it; because it was so obviously trying to be campy and cult. Or maybe the problem was ice-cold Peter Weller as the lead. Then as time passed by I found I liked it in spite of its flaws. Lithgow is especially fun. Certain catch-phrases remain with me, e.g. "Red Lectroids!"
 
  • #30
UsableThought said:
Lithgow is especially fun.
Dr. Emelio Lizardo!
 
  • #31
UsableThought said:
Looks like it might be fun - I'll have to check it out, thanks! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop
MAN! How can you have NOT seen it!1! :-p

I loved it when I first saw it, something like a decade ago, but I was an impressionable young man back then. I wonder if I'd still like it if I were exposed to it only today. It has a lot of swag and moxie, and the science in its S-F is remarkably solid, but it's not free from the characteristic anime campiness. Could be something of a guilty pleasure, perhaps.
 
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  • #32
Bandersnatch said:
MAN! How can you have NOT seen it!1! :-p

I loved it when I first saw it, something like a decade ago, but I was an impressionable young man back then. I wonder if I'd still like it if I were exposed to it only today. It has a lot of swag and moxie, and the science in its S-F is remarkably solid, but it's not free from the characteristic anime campiness. Could be something of a guilty pleasure, perhaps.
I saw it first time this year. Even at 66 year old it was fun. Old school scifi.

Harlock, Space Pirate, was weirderest.
 
  • #33
There's a fairly obscure flick from 1984 called "The Philadelphia Experiment".
It had a 1993 sequel named "The Philadelphia Experiment II" and a modernized sort of sequel in 2012.
It's not really hard SciFi, but has some interesting time travel issues.
 
  • #35
'I robot' is quite good.
 

FAQ: Looking for a good sci-fi movie to watch

What are some popular sci-fi movies to watch?

Some popular sci-fi movies to watch include "Inception," "Blade Runner," "The Matrix," "Interstellar," and "Star Wars."

What makes a good sci-fi movie?

A good sci-fi movie typically has a unique and thought-provoking concept, well-developed characters, and impressive special effects. It also often explores themes related to science, technology, and the future.

Are there any must-watch classic sci-fi movies?

Some must-watch classic sci-fi movies include "2001: A Space Odyssey," "The War of the Worlds," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and "Alien."

What are some recent sci-fi movies that have received critical acclaim?

Some recent sci-fi movies that have received critical acclaim include "Arrival," "Gravity," "Ex Machina," "Annihilation," and "Mad Max: Fury Road."

Can you recommend any lesser-known sci-fi movies that are worth watching?

Some lesser-known sci-fi movies that are worth watching include "Moon," "Primer," "Coherence," "District 9," and "Sunshine."

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