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

[payn]

To make my position clear, I do think you can/should separate sub-genres of sci-fi. I dont consider some more than others, although I do have preferences.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Though when you say "future", it doesn't have to be a thousand years in the future.

EDIT - And you're discounting a Golden Age movie like "the Day the Earth Stood Still" which is clearly SF, but effectively takes place in the (to them) modern world.

Not to mention so very many episodes of the original Twilight Zone!

 

[payn]

Not to mention so very many episodes of the original Twilight Zone!

Or its decent cousin The Outer Limits!

 

[Ryujin]

Or its decent cousin The Outer Limits!

Please stand by...

 

[Cadence]

"The Best" tend to have real staying power, as opposed to being box office hits. How many science fiction movies to you remember form the 1950s, for example? My mind immediately jumps to 2, then another 2 sort of sneak in the back door when I'm not looking:

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" - Arguably the first anti-nuke movie made in the US. Sure, it has a beautiful girl and a big shiny robot, along with a little action, but it's more about taking a good, long, dispassionate look at ourselves.

"Forbidden Planet" - Another one with action and a big robot, but it's based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest." It covers the nature of man, good and evil, etc..

The others...

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - A movie with multiple remakes. Thinly veiled allusions to communism and the Cold War, the nature of being, etc..

"The Thing From Another World" - aka "Invasion of the Carrot Man from Outer Space." A good enough shoot-'em-up SF that it has been remade, twice. More thinly veiled allusion to communism and McCarthyism.

These films are watchedd again and again, debated over, or just plain enjoyed. I don't know that many movies that rely too heavily on special effects, rather than story and character development, will be able to say the same.

Seeing "The Day the Earth Stood Still" mentioned had me go look up a few things. The AFI list for sci-fi (put out in 2008, so not much time for things to make this list) had:

1 - 2001: A Space Odyssey -1968
2 - Star Wars - 1977
3 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - 1982
4 - A Clockwork Orange - 1971
5 - The Day the Earth Stood Still - 1951
6 - Blade Runner - 1982
7 - Alien - 1979
8 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day - 1991
9 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers - 1956
10 - Back to the Future - 1985

AFI defines "science fiction" as a genre that marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation. The other categories were Animation, Courtroom drama, Epic, Fantasy, Gangster, Mystery, Romantic comedy, Sports, and Western.

National Film Registry - IMDb has a slightly out of date list that lets you search the Library of Congress National Film registry by the genres IMDB uses (Original LoC list at Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress ) . As for the LoC itself, starting at the bottom of page 1 this document defines how they see fantasy and science fiction: https://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/scific.pdf , but I haven't found a list of how they classified the movies. Wall-E was put on the list in 2021, and is one of only four movies from 2008 or later so far.

 

[Mannahnin]

It's a good list. As far as great sci-fi films of the last 15 years go, I would probably put Her at the top of it. I absolutely loved Fury Road as well, but the writing is inferior.

If it was the last 20 years Children of Men would bump Her back.

 

[Mannahnin]

I’ve seen 18/25.

I have not yet watched Snowpiercer, Colossal (although I meant to and now again plan to), Attack the Block (same), Under the Skin, Gravity, Edge of Tomorrow, or Interstellar. Both Gravity and Interstellar, specifically, I missed the chance to see in 35mm or another proper prestige format theater and still hope to. Under the Skin was not on my radar at all, but Snarf’s comments in the OP definitely spark my interest.

Since neither Children of Men or Primer fall within the 15 years, I don’t see any egregious missed inclusions. Sunshine, Monsters (2010), and 10 Cloverfield Lane are probably more worthy than (of the ones I’ve seen) Pacific Rim, Rogue One, and Guardians of the Galaxy, much as I enjoyed the latter two. Dredd, the 2011 prequel to The Thing, and at least one of the Planet of the Apes movies are reasonable contenders too. I liked Pandorum as well.

My top five from this list evaluated as sci-fi films are probably Her, Ex Machina, The Martian, Annihilation, and Fury Road. Just as movies the order probably more like Her, Fury Road, Inception, Wall-E, Ex Machina.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I’ve seen 18/25.

I have not yet watched Snowpiercer, Colossal (although I meant to and now again plan to), Attack the Block (same), Under the Skin, Gravity, Edge of Tomorrow, or Interstellar. Both Gravity and Interstellar, specifically, I missed the chance to see in 35mm or another proper prestige format theater and still hope to. Under the Skin was not on my radar at all, but Snarf’s comments in the OP definitely spark my interest.

Since neither Children of Men or Primer fall within the 15 years, I don’t see any egregious missed inclusions. Sunshine, Monsters (2010), and 10 Cloverfield Lane are probably more worthy than (of the ones I’ve seen) Pacific Rim, Rogue One, and Guardians of the Galaxy, much as I enjoyed the latter two. Dredd, the 2011 prequel to The Thing, and at least one of the Planet of the Apes movies are reasonable contenders too. I liked Pandorum as well.

My top five from this list evaluated as sci-fi films are probably Her, Ex Machina, The Martian, Annihilation, and Fury Road. Just as movies the order probably more like Her, Fury Road, Inception, Wall-E, Ex Machina.

Notes-
When I saw Primer, it was so amazingly good. Still hard to believe how good it was. Upstream Color was ... quite good, but never captured the magic of Primer.*

I thought about including Monsters. A great undiscovered gem. I didn't hear about it when it was released, stumbled across it on streaming, and was transfixed.

Haven't seen, or, I think, heard of Pandorum. I'll check it out!

As an aside, I quite liked Attack the Block, but I never loved it like other people did. I always viewed it more as a "fun" movie than an important one, if that makes sense? Not that there's anything wrong with fun!

*Speaking of time travel, I am putting something in spoilers. It's on Youtube, but please be aware that
IT IS NSFW IN TERMS OF LANGUAGE/CONCEPT - VISUALS ARE G. Incredibly funny, but don't play with volume at work.

Spoiler: One Minute Time Machine (Five Minute Film)

 

[Thomas Shey]

"The Best" tend to have real staying power, as opposed to being box office hits. How many science fiction movies to you remember form the 1950s, for example? My mind immediately jumps to 2, then another 2 sort of sneak in the back door when I'm not looking:

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" - Arguably the first anti-nuke movie made in the US. Sure, it has a beautiful girl and a big shiny robot, along with a little action, but it's more about taking a good, long, dispassionate look at ourselves.

"Forbidden Planet" - Another one with action and a big robot, but it's based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest." It covers the nature of man, good and evil, etc..

The others...

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - A movie with multiple remakes. Thinly veiled allusions to communism and the Cold War, the nature of being, etc..

"The Thing From Another World" - aka "Invasion of the Carrot Man from Outer Space." A good enough shoot-'em-up SF that it has been remade, twice. More thinly veiled allusion to communism and McCarthyism.

Unless you're doing the "They're monster movies, not SF movies" I can think of at least 2-4 others without pause. "Them!" for example casts a long shadow. I also think ignoring "They Came from Outer Space" would be, kind of a take.

 

[GreyLord]

But are you putting "Avatar" on your list because it was an exceptional story, or because it had exceptional tech used to make it? I don't see it as making this sort of list.

Part of it is the Tech (though it is Traceable directly back to the tech used), but most of it is IMPACT.

What impact did the movie have on movies in general and on science fiction movies.

Half the movies on the list wouldn't exist in the state they are without Avatar and the influence it had on the movie industry. They LITERALLY WOULD NOT EXIST in the state they were made.

In that aspect, it's like the original Star Wars of the 21st century. Most of the REASONS came from the tech that was used to make it, and the ensuing use of that tech afterwards, which is the same reason Star Wars has been considered rather important on the scheme of movies as well in many ways.

I a similar vein, going further back would be Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind and their promotion of certain film making techniques, camera work, set design, and usage of color.

Including any list of the "best" movies or the ones that are the greatest movies of all time without any of those calls any list that excludes them...into question.

Of course, it may be a different parameter of what people are using to define best (and what IS best defined as?), but Many of the movies we have today would basically not exist in the form they exist in (if they existed at all) without the aforementioned movies.

Ceasing to exist at all, kind of shows just how much the movies on that list depend on the ones that influenced them previously, even if that movie was in the past 15 years.

But, as I mentioned in my first post, it really comes down to opinion...what is the definition of "best?"

Is it the story? Is it the idea? Is it the set design? Is it the camera work? Is it the influence? Is it the impact? What exactly defines...BEST.