IBJoel

Sphere is pretty fun garbage, as is TimeCop. And I'm a fan of Deep Impact over Armageddon.

And man, The Guyver freaked me out as a kid, especially the scene when they rip out the ball. Still gives me the heeby-jeebies.

PatD

Here's a few more, um, entries. Stinky cheese:

Nick Danger

It's free with commercials on Youtube right now. It's one of my favorite franchises, and the first movie is a good entry point. Make sure you see the original version, not the one that was jazzed up with scattered CGI shots.

Nick Danger

Am I the only person who thinks The Arrival was a pretty good movie?

PatD

I liked it to. The ending stuck with me.

OldBoy

Someone should do a poll: Which do you like better 80’s sci-fi movies or 90’s? I think 80’s had more classics. BR, Aliens, T1, RoboCop, ESB, RotJ, etc. But 90’s has the more junkie but highly rewatchable movies like many already mentioned. None, really classics cept maybe The Matrix and couple others, but 80’s better sci-fi, 90’s popcorn sci-fi.

Nick Danger

The version on YouTube is in Japanese with subtitles. There is a lot of spoken exposition, so I think the English dub is better.

MR Round

Iv'e always been a fan of it, the sequel.....not so much. Always liked the design of the aliens and the mini room sucking blackhole device

BobO'Link

The 90s were full of half baked SF movies, SF movies that showed promise in the fist half but blew it with the ending, and lack luster sequels. Overall, it was not a good decade for SF.

IMHO, these are the only 90s movies worthy of being watched more than once:

The Matrix (barely qualifies)
Waterworld
The Fifth Element
Galaxy Quest
Total Recall
12 Monkeys
Blade
Men in Black
Mars Attacks
Stargate
Gattaca
The Island of Dr. Moreau (although the 1932 "Island of Lost Souls" is the superior version)
Tank Girl
Mystery Men
Body Snatchers (the original 1956 movie is still the best)
The Puppet Masters
Dark City

tanman

Even if that's your opinion you still listed 17 movies. That's almost 2 movies each year. I dunno but that's seems really good to me. I don't know if I could come up with 1.7 movies a year of good scifi in the past 20 years.

BobO'Link

FWIW - I listed 37 of what I consider to be truly good movies from the 50s in that thread. Movies I rewatch regularly. I've not done a search of what's come out in the past 20 years but doubt I could come up with 20 worthy of a rewatch for that time period.

PatD

^^ Agreed. What's up with 21st century sci fi movies? Why are they so bland and generic in both style and substance? Where is the 21st century equivalent of 2001: A Space Odyssey or Star Wars (1977) or Alien or Blade Runner or even The Matrix? Where has the imagination and vision gone? The closest we've come is Avatar--and that's pretty fucking sad.

GoldenJCJ

I’d say the Marvel movies have pretty much taken over anything sci-fi. Guardians of the Galaxy is a prime example but they could all me listed under Sci-fi.

I could list a handful of quality sci-fi films of the last 20 years but I don’t think it would be terribly extensive.

IBJoel

AI
ArrivalAnnihilation
Blade Runner 2049
Tron: Legacy
Ex Machina
Avatar
Fury Road
Ad Astra
Minority Report
Sunshine
Primer
Children of Men
Wall-E
District 9
Gamer
Moon
Inception
Interstellar
Cloverfield (and Lane)
The Matrix Sequels (controversial, I know)
Attack the Block
Her
Gravity
Snowpiercer
Upgrade
The Purge series
The new Apes series
The Girl with All the Gifts
Probably a bunch of foreign films I don't know

A few points on these: obviously, YMMV on a lot of these. The younger you are, the more impact a movie is likely to have as well as your particular tastes. I personally like the Matrix Sequels because I know what they're going for. Tron: Legacy works as an extended music video and pioneered de-aging technology (along with Benjamin Button).

Also, a lot of talent/focus has gone to television. Then there's the fact that the sci-fi genre has been blended with a lot of other genres more recently. Her is a romance, Iron Man is a sci-fi superhero. The Purge is social science fiction (although I guess it's essentially the same as The Running Man).

But there's been a lot of great sci-fi in the 21st Century.

L Everett Scott

Those are solid points about sci-fi being blended in with other genres and more ambitious stuff coming to TV. The fact is, themes like defining humanity are better served by long-form narrative that TV offers.

In terms of the imagination in movies that PatD is looking for, I’d argue that Annihilation, Ex Machina, Inception, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 all have some pretty creative ideas at work. These movies get pretty close to hard sci-fi (some more than others) and make for great discussions when you look at the themes and concepts they explore.

To add to the ones already mentioned by IBJoel, here’s a bunch of post-90s sf movies on various ‘best of’ lists:

• Coherence (2013)
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
• Timecrimes (2007)
• Looper (2012)
• Pacific Rim (2013)
• Frequency (2000)
• Elysium (2013)
• The Prestige (2006)
• 28 Days Later (2002)
• Star Trek (2009)
• A Quiet Place (2018)
• Colossal (2016)
• War of the Worlds (2005)
• I Am Legend (2007)
• Oblivion (2013)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• The Martian (2015)
• Dredd (2012)
• Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• The Host (2006)
• Predestination (2014)
• Source Code (2011)
• Upstream Color (2013)
• Equilibrium (2002)
• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010)
• Pitch Black (2000)
• Under the Skin (2013)
• The Man From Earth (2007)
• Another Earth (2011)
• Serenity (2005)
• Europa Report (2013)
• Paprika (2006)

Ash Ketchum

My favorite sci-fi movies of the 21st century are anime features like GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE, STEAMBOY, SUMMER WARS, THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME, and KIMI NO NA WA (YOUR NAME).

IBJoel

I was going to mention Your Name and Weathering with You, but was unsure if they were sci-fi or fantasy, since I haven't seen them.

So many great ones I missed haha.

printerati

I preferred this film to The Matrix back then, and still do now. I also preferred Gretchen Mol to Carrie-Anne Moss back then, and most definitely still do now.

morriscroy

Back in the day circa 1999, I actually went to see this film several times in its theatrical run. This was also one of the few dvds I ever purchased at "list price" in the early 2000s. (I rarely ever saw The Thirteen Floor dvd in local dump bins in those days).

This is the only 1990s scifi movie which had any significant replay value for me, in spite of low ratings by film critics and the movie being largely forgotten nowadays.

kd5

The DVD I had of The Thirteenth Floor only came with a FS option so when I found it on BD for a decent price I went for the upgrade because I really like that movie.

morriscroy

Was your dvd copy a single-sided or double-sided disc?

(My copy was a double-sided flipper disc).

PatD

The Thirteenth Floor seemed more human than The Matrix. Granted, it's been decades since I've seen it, but it's what stood out between the two films.

TheBang

Here are a few additional movies that haven't been mentioned yet:

Predator 2
Fire in the Sky
The Rocketeer
Battlefield Earth
The Astronaut's Wife
Virus

I enjoyed Stargate and thought it had a good adventure premise. And that premise went on to spawn the most successful sci-fi television franchise (17 seasons, 1 animated season, and 3 movies) outside of Star Trek and Doctor Who.

PatD

Battlefield Earth came out in 2000.

morriscroy

Stargate is the one movie that I wanted to like in those days. Though for whatever reasons, I found it was difficult to watch. Even today I still find it difficult to watch.

In contrast, the Stargate SG1 and Atlantis shows were much easier to watch and kept my attention.