Science fiction movie recommendations

Hmm. What good scifi is likely to be lying around on DVD in their archives.

• The Wave (2020) (interesting, but one scary scene (it's worth it))
• Brightburn (2019) (might be a bit too dark for you)
• Hotel Artemis (2018) (not spectacular but pretty solid)
• Upgrade (2018) (decent)
• A Quiet Place (2018) (excellent, almost no dialogue!)
• Annihilation (2018) (very pretty, not that smart)
• A Cure For Wellness (2016)
• Arrival (2016) (this one is really good)
• Paradox (2016)
• Terminus (2015)
• The Martian (2015) (also very good, a fav of mine, hard scifi)
• Self/Less (2015)
• Debug (2015)
• Tomorrowland (2015) (a very disneyesque romp)
• Ex Machina (2015) (also a good one)
• Turbo Kid (2015) (good, campy 80s vibe)
• Interstellar (2014) (excellent)
• The Giver (2014)
• Earth To Echo (2014)
• Snowpiercer (2014) (good one)
• Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) (very good, if the Cruise factor doesn't bother you)
• Frequencies (2014)
• Transcendence (2014)
• Her (2013) (good one)
• Coherence (2013) (this one is a mindbender)
• Gravity (2013) (overrated but good)
• Riddick (2013) (and the prequels, fun romps all)
• The World's End (2013) (excellent, by Edgar Wright, which means you die laughing)
• Elysium (2013)
• Upstream Color (2013)
• Cloud Atlas (2012)
• Looper (2012)
• Chronicle (2012)
• Robot & Frank (2012) (good one)
• In Time (2011) (bloody brilliant and amazingly fun)
• Real Steel (2011) (good one for kids, family style)
• Attack The Block (2011) (this one is fun)
• Limitless (2011) (another excellent movie)
• The Adjustment Bureau (2011) (good one, romantic)
• Inception (2010) (very good film, great score)
• Mr. Nobody (2009)

Also look into the Maze Runner series, I think there's four of them now. Not entirely terrible and some great moments.

There's more in my library here but that'll set you for the last decade. I haven't seen all of these yet myself but I left the derpy ones (that I knew about) and anything with a horror theme off the list. That should get you started. If I saw it and liked it, I made a note. I can do this all the way back to 1927 if you like. :)

I don't know if these are on Netflix, but I enjoyed these two:

Brazil -- The UK in 1985 was fucking weird and scary. Thatcher was in power; we feared nuclear destruction (eg our geography lessons included maps of the UK with fallout plumes overlaid on certain towns); interacting with government was a baffling experience. So Brazil really tapped into this level of bureaucratic paranoia.

Upstream Color I like this film more than the critics do. Critics always try to describe the film and the plot, and that's a mistake. You need to set aside some time and just go along for the ride. Allow the world building to grab you. I love his work.

If you are looking for good recommendations, I'll put forth Arrival and Cloud Atlas.

If you are looking for bad recommendations, I'll recommend the live-action Ghost in the Shell, Ready Player One, Jupiter Ascending, and Tomorrowland. They may be bad, but I liked them anyways.

Everyone hated Valerian but I think that it was one of the best movies of the decade.

• Snowpiercer
• Interstellar
• Ex Machina

All quite different to each other, and all amazing in my opinion.

Time for round two. Let's do 2000-2009, because I'm sick of watching politics today. :P

The further back in time we go the better I'll be at this, since scifi as a genre has been on the decline at least in film for some time now. I'd appreciate any I missed, I'm sure there are lots of unsung gems out there, particularly in foreign films.

• Splice (2010) not exactly horror, adult and creepy as hell
• Avatar (2009) sorry about colonialism, the genre - in spaaaace
• 2012 (2009) disaster flick that's so over the top the camp saves it
• Zombieland (2009) I find humor makes zombie flicks much better
• 9 (2009) great family friendly scifi, reminds me of old school disney
• District 9 (2009) if aliens ever live here, this is not far from the truth of how we'd react
• Knowing (2009) precog is rather atypical for scifi, not bad
• Watchmen (2009) the best adaptation of it we'll likely ever see, far better than the tv shows
• Moon (2009) this one is already a classic, Sam Rockwell is a treasure, 5/5 stars from me
• City of Ember (2008)
• Repo: The Genetic Opera (2008) can I interest anyone in a ridiculous scifi horror comedy musical
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) now with Commentary: The Musical
• Wall-E (2008) Pixar's finest in my book, great, fun scifi
• Sleep Dealer (2008) under the radar cult hit, smart
• Cloverfield (2008) if you can handle the shaky-cam, it's a good movie
• The Mist (2007) decent adaptation of one of King's classics, psych thriller, grim
• Timecrimes (2007) this one will surprise you
• Sunshine (2007) decent scifi that takes quite a turn
• The Man From Earth (2007) one of the best one-room all-dialog films ever made
• The Prestige (2006) it gets some static but I enjoyed it
• The Fountain (2006) if you're into metaphysical this one is tip top
• V for Vendetta (2005) the short, snappy version of Orwell in film form
• Serenity (2005) conclusion to the Firefly series, fine on its own too (but watch Firefly if you haven't)
• The Island (2005)
• The Final Cut (2004) one of Robin's best, and very unsettling
• Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow (2004) very stylized, alt history
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) or, the perils of playing with memory
• The Butterfly Effect (2004) it's decent, bit overhyped/quoted
• Shaun of the Dead (2004) my vote for the best zombie film of all time
• Primer (2004) the most heady time travel movie yet made
• The Animatrix (2003) the best part of The Matrix series other than the first film
• The Core (2003) another so-bad-its-good disaster camp movie
• Equilibrium (2002) another Orwellian romp, I enjoy it
• Solaris (2002) I for one like this version better than the original, first contact story
• Minority Report (2002) good movie, high Cruise factor
• Vanilla Sky (2001) ditto, only goes scifi in the last third
• The One (2001) Jet Li's interdimensional Highlander, campy kung-fu
• K-Pax (2001) if you don't mind Spacey
• Donnie Darko (2001) clever, sad, and spooky, great film
• Frequency (2000) one of the best scifi films ever made, can't say enough good stuff here

Let's plug three that everyone missed because Matrix...

• The Thirteenth Floor (1999) hard to plug without spoiling it, good film
• eXistenZ (1999) a somewhat sinister take on gaming
• Dark City (1998) make sure you get the Director's cut, no opening monologue, it's excellent

We have to knock down a few series here since some of them had releases in the 2000s.

• The Matrix Trilogy assuming everyone's seen this by now
• The Cube Trilogy first one was better than it had any right to be, high horror factor though
• The Unbreakable Trilogy frankly, better than the MCU if you want a true scifi take on superheroes
• The Chronicles of Riddick all in all, a good action-based series, I'm in for part four

As for Star Wars, calling it scifi is pushing it - it's fantasy in a scifi wrapper. Only Harmy's Despecialized Edition of the original trilogy exists. All other star wars properties are just an online conspiracy theory. :P

You may have also noticed that scifi took a dive into the gutter and fetishized dystopias the last two decades. Finding scifi films that aren't set in a post-apocalyptic hellscape or focused on military conflicts is rare now.

Edit: Man, I'm reviewing these trailers and wow, in retrospect 90s/00s trailers are just the worst.

Primer is probably the best time travel movie I ever watched.

Coherence is a mindblowing story made with zero budget.

I'm gonna go a bit against the grain here and recommend some older (pre-90s) scifi movies since everyone has covered the modern stuff admirably already. And beyond the classics, I will also try to include a bunch of relatively unknown/overlooked/underrated but still solid ones too. You may not actually be able to get a lot these on DVD anymore, especially through Netflix, but if you can find them they are all worth watching, IMO.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
It's incredible how well this movie holds up. The 2008 remake was decent, but honestly wasn't anywhere near as good as the original.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Different enough to both be worth watching. I personally prefer the 1978 movie, but the original is still very good too.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
This is an incredibly underrated movie. I have never once seen it mentioned when people talk about classic scifi, but it deserves to be up there with the other greats, IMO.

THX 1138 (1971)
Not the greatest movie, but still very good. Makes me wish George Lucas kept making more scifi outside of Star Wars.

The Andromeda Strain (1971)
An absolute classic for a reason. It's a solid, suspenseful scifi flick, but admittedly does feel a bit dated these days.

Silent Running (1972)
Definitely not for everyone, since it's quite slow. However I think it's a lovely character piece about isolation, similar to 2009's Moon.

Solyaris (1972)
Also definitely not for everyone, since it's also quite slow. But this is one of the best scifi films to ever come out of Russia, and ranks among my all-time favorite scifi movies. The 2002 American remake was not horrible, but far, far inferior.

Logan's Run (1976)
This movies is 70s as hell... so can be incredibly campy at times, and it's very cheesy looking, but still great, and an absolute classic.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Suspenseful, mysterious, and a beautiful Spielberg classic. Richard Dreyfuss also absolutely kills it in this movie. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor a remedy that immediately.

Alien (1979)
What can I really say that hasn't already been said about this movie. It's a classic for good reason.

Mad Max (1979)
Despite also being a classic, this one is a bit harder to recommend. The other Mad Max movies are far better, IMO.

Stalker (1979)
I can't in good conscience recommend this movie without some serious caveats. It's sloooooooooooooooooooow, doesn't have a traditional plot structure, and at times doesn't make any logical sense. However, if you can just relax your critical thinking long enough to let the movie immerse you in the world it creates, I think it's incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking.

Altered States (1980)
Bizarre, trippy, and thought-provoking, but undeniably flawed. Not for everyone, but I found it incredibly compelling.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
If you haven't seen this movie, I feel bad for you, but also jealous since you get to watch it for the first time. ;) Go watch it now!

Escape from New York (1981)
John Carpenter + Kurt Russel. What more could you want? It's campy, and cheesy as hell, but intentionally so, and a boatload of fun as a result.

Outland (1981)
Somewhat mindless action, but still lots of fun. It's Sean Connery in spaaaaaaace. ;)

The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter at his absolute best. One of the best scifi horror film ever made, IMO. The entire cast is great in it too.

Videodrome (1983)
Very similar to Altered States; see above.

Dune (1984)
Dune is by far my favorite scifi books series, which I have reread countless times now... and despite everyone else who is a Dune fan generally shitting on this movie, I actually quite like it. It's campy, and a bit slow, and doesn't hold up amazingly well, but I still love it.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Similar to MM2... go watch it now!

The Quiet Earth (1985)
A somewhat standard post-apoc "last man on Earth" type movie from Australia. It not the greatest, but is still worth watching, IMO.

Brazil (1985)
Words cannot really describe this movie. It's bloody bizarre and brain breaking, but brilliant. One of my all-time favorite movies by one of my all-time favorite directors (Terry Gilliam).

Enemy Mine (1985)
It's basically the ST:TNG episode Darmok, but made 6 years before it, and with slightly more compelling action.

Aliens (1986)
Also one of the best scifi horror film ever made, IMO. Go watch this now, if you haven't seen it yet!

Flight of the Navigator (1986)
It's ostensibly a kids' movie even though it's quite dark, and it's not the greatest movie... but it's still one of my absolute favorites. I usually rewatch this every couple years, along with my other favorite "kids' movies"; Labyrinth, NeverEnding Story, Princess Bride, The Goonies, etc. So that should tell you at least some of the company I think it keeps.

The Fly (1986)
Cronenberg body horror classic. Not much more to say. Go watch it. It's great.

Kin-dza-dza! (1986)
This is stretching my "still solid" promise at the start, since it's incredibly slow, and verges on "so bad it's good" territory at times. It is interesting regardless though, and at times feeling a bit like Waiting for Godot in spaaaaaace. Plus, even if you can't find the DVD, you can watch the digitally remastered version for free on the film-makers YouTube channel (make sure to turn on subs).

Predator (1987)
Mindless action, but awesome nonetheless. Again, if you haven't seen this, you're missing out and should remedy the situation immediately!

Spaceballs (1987)
You can never go wrong with Mel Brooks, and this is no exception. If you like Star Wars, and like parody comedy, then this is the movie for you. I can quote most of it by heart I have seen it so many times. ;)

Innerspace (1987)
Comedy scifi adventure. Not the greatest, but funny and a lot of fun, IMO.

The Running Man (1987)
This movie is absolutely terrible, IMO... but it's so terrible it's good. Dumb as hell, but lots of fun.

RoboCop (1987)
It's RoboCop. It's fucking great. What more can I say?

They Live (1988)
Also not the greatest, but a lot of fun as well. Cult classic for a reason.

Akira (1988)
One of the best anime movies ever made, IMO. Dark, bizarre, and beautiful.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
I recently rewatched this before playing Grounded (which is clearly inspired by it) with a friend, and it holds up surprisingly well. The movie was far better than the game. ;)

I can’t remember how old they are, but two of my recent favorites are Moon and Europa report. Mandy was also excellent but maybe that’s more horror. I say it because i don’t care much for horror either but really enjoyed it.

Primer is GREAT. You should also check Upstream Color while you're at it.

Just thought of a lighter sci-if: Star Trek: First Contact. It’s got Star Trek TNG, the Borg, time travel, and pre-contact earth all rolled into one!

Late to the party, but I recently saw Mutafukaz (MFKZ), a 2017 animated Franco-Japanese production, which was quite nice.

Children of Men is a must-watch.

Not movies, but Dark is the best science fiction show I've ever seen, and it's not particularly close.

Also, The Expanse (Amazon Prime) is a pretty good adaptation of a better book series.