Our Top 15: Greatest Science-Fiction Films Ever!

[Bartwald]

So, the votes have been counted and we shall start revealing the winners one by one. If you want to comment on the choices, please do it in the connected thread below as this one will be closed to include nothing but the Top 15 (plus this short introduction).

The members who sent me the votes are: HeinekenSkywalker, nemecheck, Sabbath, spacer, IamTheSmitty, eldude, konnazhorror, livingdeadgirl, clifford43, Ark, dwpollar, Fenril, Unbend5440 & frankenjohn; thanks a lot once again, folks! Together with me it makes fifteen people who voted for as many as 75 different titles! The final Top 15 list shows what movies are perceived as sci-fi icons (some very good movies only got single votes as they didn't belong to the genre 100% and not many members thought of including them) - at least here among our group. Let's take a look at the winners, then!




# 1



STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977)

The reviews once called it "A hodge-podge of low cultural dross, moribund genres, pretentious movie allusions, cartoon characters, ingenuous platitudes, thudding clichés, lousy dialogue and worse acting" or were claiming that "...this form of entertainment can only be called lite--constructed out of ersatz familiar materials meant to be admired for their momentary cuteness or for details of their design"; obviously, they were damn wrong, daring to decribe our Favourite Sci-Fi Flick Ever in such harsh words!

[Bartwald]

And now...

#2



THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)

One unsatiable critic complained about it in the following way: "I found myself glancing at my watch almost as often as I did when I was sitting through a truly terrible movie called The Island." But the more fair dudes usually wrote stuff like this: "It balances bloodshed with charm, spectacle with childlike glee. It's a near flawless movie of its kind" - and amen to that.

[Bartwald]

#3



ALIEN (1979)

"Turns out not to be one of those movies that improves in the memory, but actually is better than you remember, mostly because it puts its multitude of imitators to shame."

[Bartwald]

# 4



ALIENS (1986)

"A movie experience that sticks with you and begs for numerous revisits . . . the kind of film that marks career milestones and re-defines genres."

"The most instense and satisfying piece of science fiction ever made."

"Other than being overlong, this film is damn near perfect."

[Bartwald]

#5



BLADE RUNNER (1982)

"A very dark and far too long thriller with many dull moments that would serve the film better by moving along a bit faster."

"A dark masterpiece exploring android slavery and the decay of the human condition. Its visceral imagery of a futuristic and dystopian Los Angeles sticks with you for life."

[Bartwald]

#5



TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)

"Brutally beautiful, darkly comic sci-fi"

"It's the equivalent of making a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs in which Hannibal the Cannibal becomes a vegetarian."

[Bartwald]

#5



THE MATRIX (1999)

"A more technically dazzling synthesis of action choreography and cutting-edge computer graphics has not been seen since James Cameron's T2."

"Hardcore sci-fi folks probably won't take it under their wing, but the movie has a little something for everyone else to enjoy..."

"Silly and dense!"

[Bartwald]

#8



MINORITY REPORT (2002)

"What a concept, what an idea, what a thrill ride. This is a more fascinating look at the future than "Blade Runner" and one of the most high-concept sci fi adventures attempted for the screen."

"A classy, chilly quasi-Hitchcockian affair."

"Although...visually striking and slickly staged, it's also cold,grey, antiseptic and emotionally desiccated."

[Bartwald]

#9



THE THING (1982)

"Genuinely scary and full of tension, and populated by one bad-ass monster."

"Wild, gruesome and outrageous"

"Very slow, dated special effects, and obvious exploration of the paranoia theme."

[Bartwald]

#10



EQUILIBRIUM (2002)

"First, for a movie that tries to be smart, it’s kinda dumb. And second, what’s with all the shooting?"

"A science-fiction pastiche so lacking in originality that if you stripped away its inspirations there would be precious little left."

"What it lacks in originality it makes up for in intelligence and B-grade stylishness."

[Bartwald]

#11



ALIEN 3 (1992)


"Reeks with despair and hopelessness."

"Barely watchable and not especially enjoyable."

"Beautifully shot and utterly uninteresting."

[Bartwald]

#12



THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)

"A visual feast combining ancient mysticism, cyberpunk sensibilities, flamboyant entertainment personalities, and gun-toting alien mercenaries."

"Everything from the visual effects to the costume design seems to shout out like a precocious child: "Look at me!""

"An overblown cosmic comic book."

[Bartwald]

#13



THE TERMINATOR (1984)

"If you’re building a sci-fi collection, this one should be on your Top Ten list."

"Seamlessly melds the best narrative mind tricks of science fiction literature with the visceral violence of the best action movies"

"A blazing, cinematic comic book, full of virtuoso moviemaking, terrific momentum, solid performances and a compelling story."

[Bartwald]

#14



2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

"This was what all movies ought to be: treasures for moral and aesthetic contemplation that did not provide all their answers on first contact."

"It's less a visionary masterpiece than a crackpot Looney Tune, pretentious, abysmally slow, amateurishly acted and, above all, wrong."

"Somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring."

[Bartwald]

#15



SOLARIS (2002)

"It's a lovely, eerie film that casts an odd, rapt spell."

"A mind-bender in the best sense of the word: The spell it casts follows you all the way home."

"A shapeless inconsequential movie relying on the viewer to do most of the work."