The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the Last 15 Years

[Snarf Zagyg]

They didn't include Avatar?

One of the biggest movies ever, also made 3d a thing for a while.

Yep...I'd say they don't know what they are talking about.

I .... agree with that omission.

Has there ever been a less consequential "big" movie than Avatar? How many Avatar fans have you met? How many people care about Avatar? When was the last time you were like, "Hey, I need another movie about people trying to mine ... unobtainium."

I'm sure the sequels that are going to be released are going to do fine, because no one has ever made money betting against James Cameron. But it's not like there were people clamoring for them.

Heck, I've seen Avatar twice (once, in the theater when it came out, and once a few years ago) and I still would be hard-pressed to recall the plot, other than "Something something blue people something something yay environment."

 

[MGibster]

They didn't include Avatar?

For a movie that was so huge it seems to have left a very, very shallow cultural footprint. I've never heard Avatar mentioned in the same breath as great science fiction stories by anybody. It might be a visual spectacle but it's not really all that good.

 

[payn]

It is staff and reader votes, so its going to be all over the place. I think they could have used a better criteria than simply best sci-fi in last 15 years myself.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It is staff and reader votes, so its going to be all over the place. I think they could have used a better criteria than simply best sci-fi in last 15 years myself.

They could have hired me. I will make rules.

THERE WILL BE ORDER.

 

[Deset Gled]

I think it's fair to compare Avatar with Logan's Run.

Both did better than expected at the box office. Both won awards (including Oscars) for special effects. Both were split in critical reviews. Both take place in a very interesting world that was not flushed out to it's full potential. Both were really big deals when they were released, but were quickly forgotten when better movies came out soon afterwards. Both are more historically significant than they are artistically significant.

IMNSHO, both are fun movies to watch but aren't overly amazing. I could see Avatar in the top 25 of the last 15 years, but not the top 10.

 

[GreyLord]

I .... agree with that omission.

Has there ever been a less consequential "big" movie than Avatar? How many Avatar fans have you met? How many people care about Avatar? When was the last time you were like, "Hey, I need another movie about people trying to mine ... unobtainium."

I'm sure the sequels that are going to be released are going to do fine, because no one has ever made money betting against James Cameron. But it's not like there were people clamoring for them.

Heck, I've seen Avatar twice (once, in the theater when it came out, and once a few years ago) and I still would be hard-pressed to recall the plot, other than "Something something blue people something something yay environment."

Added a PPS to my post.

Culturally, almost none of the movies on the list had the impact Avatar did, either in popularizing the Sci-Fi genre, or in the making of films in general (and Sci-fi films in particular have taken a LOT of cues from it, most of those on the list would not exist in the state they were released in without the influence of Avatar's cinematographic influence).

People like to say...hey...this is real sci-fi, or this is not...putting down the popular for the unpopular. What they don't see is the broader picture of the ACTUAL IMPACT the movie had. For example, the movie HER has had almost NO impact on movie making, culture, or even science fiction (at least as of present). It may have a somewhat interesting storyline, but it's actual impact and influence is almost NIL. Compared to other movies, including it on a list of the 25 best...is questionable at best...

Avatar had impact on how movies were made in general, which influence the cinematagraphy and HOW Science Fiction movies were shot. You wouldn't have Gravity as it is, or Guardians of the Galaxy (that's on the list for sci-fi films...really?) with the same shots or editing if there was no Avatar previously. The impact it had on the movie world was actually HUGE (it was almost the entire reason the movie industry went head over heels for 3d for almost a decade...which finally is dying...thank goodness as I hated the trend...which also influenced how movies were shot in regards to that 3d which also influenced other movies that were NOT shot in the same way).

 

[MGibster]

Both did better than expected at the box office. Both won awards (including Oscars) for special effects. Both were split in critical reviews. Both take place in a very interesting world that was not flushed out to it's full potential. Both were really big deals when they were released, but were quickly forgotten when better movies came out soon afterwards. Both are more historically significant than they are artistically significant.

I'm sorry, I was distracted by thoughts of Jenny Agutter and couldn't comprehend what you wrote.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

People like to say...hey...this is real sci-fi, or this is not...putting down the popular for the unpopular. What they don't see is the broader picture of the ACTUAL IMPACT the movie had. For example, the movie HER has had almost NO impact on movie making, culture, or even science fiction (at least as of present). It may have a somewhat interesting storyline, but it's actual impact and influence is almost NIL. Compared to other movies, including it on a list of the 25 best...is questionable at best...

Let's see. Her .... is incredibly well-known because:
1. Directed by Spike Jonze.
2. Starred Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde (you might be familiar with some of those actors).
3. Won numerous film awards, including an Oscar for best Original Screenplay (it was a nominee for picture of the year) and an AFI for film of the year. It pretty much swept all the various awards given for writing that year.
4. Won numerous science fiction awards, including Saturns for Best Fantasy Film.

It's regularly on the list of greatest MOVIES (not just "science fiction movies") of the 2000s.

I mean ... whatever your point was, I think you made a really bad choice for your flex. That's one of the few movies on the list that will probably be on similar lists 40 years from now.

 

[FriendlyFiend]

That's a surprisingly good list! I've seen 20/25.

As for films that should have been on the list; GotG 1 but not 2? I love GotG, but volume 2 is just perfect. And, yeah, Dredd really ought to be there.

Ranking-wise? I'd have Wall-E, Under the Skin and Her higher and Interstellar significantly lower.

 

[Maxperson]

1. Max Max: Fury Road (2015)

Why have you summoned me to this place in the middle of my beauty sleep?!

A. How many of these 25 films have you seen?
-Include which ones you have not seen.

It will be faster to just include the ones that I have seen.
A Quiet Place
Guardians of the Galaxy
Rogue 1
WALL-E

Dune is on my list, but my wife says she wants to see it with me and she's dragging her feet.

B. What film, or films, would you put on the list that are not on the list?
-If you're going to propose a film that should be on the list, you ALSO have to explain which film goes OFF the list.

I really liked the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek

C. Finally, what is the most egregious ranking(s) within the list?
-This is where you get to say that something was ranked too low or too high.

I found the premise of a quiet place to be too unbelievable to suspend disbelief, so it would not make a top 25 list of mine.