In the style of shaxper's great lamented list of 50 films from the first 50 years of cinema horror, I present my list of 100 greatest thought-provoking science fiction films.

I will be counting backwards from #100 at whatever pace I see fit. Some days you may get several entries. Sometimes weeks may pass between entries. We shall see. Each entry will come with a brief description, but I don't intend long essays.

I am happy to answer questions, justify choices better or debate as necessary. So please challenge me on the choices on the list. I am aiming for something somewhat objective. But I am also aware of my own limitations of experience.

This list is only sort of done. I can easily imagine that suggestions and discussion emerging from this thread will make me consider things, and I can easily imagine the list being updated with new sci/fi movies I see. If I feel the need to update it midway through, I just will. I decided to publish it as it is now, because I've worked on it long enough and would like some feedback.

I am also curious what movies you feel are missing. But I would hold off on yelling at me about what I skipped until you are reasonably certain that the movie isn't still coming.

100. Iron Man (Favreau, 2008)

This movie brought Tony Stark to life far better than the comic ever did. Iron Man has a great origin, on display here. In the best tradition of science fiction, a prisoner builds his means of escape in the form of a suit of armor.

Inspired, he uses his wealth and computer assistant to rebuild the suit and build it better and cooler. To quote an older superhero film, you will believe a man can fly.

At its heart is his weak heart. The armor that makes him powerful is really his life support. Without it, his injured heart will give out. Invincible indeed.

A smart comic book concept, brought to life.

99. Escape from New York (Carpenter, 1981)

In the future, Manhattan Island is a giant prison. Convicted criminals can choose between life in Manhattan or suicide. (Even today a hard choice for some). Except Snake Plissken. He gets a way out. All he has to do is rescue the president.

In general, this is more of an action movie and not quite what I'm looking for in this list. I let it sneak in partly because it's John Carpenter and partly because the setup is interesting and compelling. Something I love in post-apocalyptic fiction is seeing what it's like to reform society from scratch. And here we see a new society built in Manhattan, a new order form. Except that this society is built entirely out of criminals.

Sort of like Australia.


98. Spider-Man (Raimi, 2002)

This is one where we let plausibility go. Getting bitten by a radioactive spider won't give you spider powers. But what the comic did, and what Raimi captures, both here and in the superior sequel, is question what happens next.

Well, after a few bumps, he becomes a superhero. Because he learned that with great power comes great responsibility. But we learn that is not so much a lesson as a question. How do you balance conflicting responsibilities? He's a superhero, a nephew, a student, a friend, a boyfriend. How do you do it all? What do you let slip?

What is the limit of responsibility? What is your responsibility to yourself? A brilliant comic book series brought to life in two excellent films.

97. V for Vendetta (McTeigue, 2005)

This list is not entirely comic book adaptations, I swear. The rebellion against totalitarian future regimes is always interesting, and this will not be the last such film on the list.

A flawed adaptation of Moore and Lloyd's masterpiece. Much of what is great is kept, including the idea that V never takes off his mask, allowing him to be a symbol. A smart idea about superhero stories, one also explored in Batman Begins, that ideas are bulletproof.

The film added some contrivance and silliness, and also changed the fundamental themes of the work, but sometimes in interesting ways.
Moore and Lloyd wrote an anarchist parable, focusing above all on human freedom.

The movie focuses on the freedom to have a say in government, with its triumphant finale a coming together of all the people to express their voice and will. The movie is not about anarchy vs. fascism, but rather about democracy vs. fascism. Not what Moore was going for, but still interesting.

96. Safety Not Guaranteed (Trevarrow, 2012)

More a hipster romance than a science fiction film. Two characters not understood by the world, connecting over being different.

Based on an actual personal ad in the papers advertizing a chance to travel through time, the movie does enough to get into why the characters want to travel through time, exploring the personal and metaphorical effects of the concept of time travel to earn the movie a spot on the list.

So far I've seen them all, and I didn't think I watched a lot of Sci-fi. I'll have to see how many make the list I've never seen, or never heard of.

I just watched Born in Flames, which I hadn't realized was available on DVD until it popped up on someone's best-sf-flicks-by-year picks in, I guess, the random lists thread a few days ago. (I'd heard about it  since Day One, more or less, thanks to the No Wave aspect of some of the casting, not to mention the soundtrack.) Pretty interesting, though more as a political work (it came out in '83, & various facets of the film are clearly influenced by the Patty Hearst case, the demise of the Red Army Faction in Germany, etc.) than as sf, since the only difference between the U.S. depicted therein & the actual nation in existence at that time was the type of government in place & the brand of lies it was selling.

The only film I haven't seen is Safety not Guaranteed which I've never even heard of. Really looking forward to the next 95 films!

No idea if it'll show up on the list or not, of course, but I've just started watching a rather high-profile sf flick from 30 years ago that I caught only bits & pieces of on cable back in the late '80s -- the Richard Burton/John Hurt Nineteen Eighty-Four. It's been unavailable on DVD for quite awhile, or at least that seemed to be the case during a fairly long interval during which I was periodically checking Netflix for it, but obviously that was remedied at some point.


Really looking forward to this, given my high regard for the novel (one of the few non-PKD works I've read more than once, & certainly one of the first sf volumes I ever read, back in the summer after 8th grade).

Oddly enough, I have seen the original British flick from the mid-'50s, courtesy of a "gray-market" DVD-R VHS acquisition from a few years ago. (Not sure if it's since come out legitimately or not, or for that matter if the BBC original, with Peter Cushing, is out there to be had somewhere.) 

According to Amazon,the only versions of 1984 currently available are burned-on-demand DVD-R or Korean imports.I have the older 1984 OOP Dvd with Richard Burton.I watched that movie when it was released 30 years ago and watched the DVD about 10 years ago.Each time I was underwhelmed.I guess since the story is supposed to be cold and stark it dosn't make a captivating film.Its just better to experience as a book.Also I kept thinking how old and tired Richard Burton looked and sure enough he died right after finishing the movie.I think I saw the original movie version years ago on TV but have no memory of it
Does it belong on a list of 100 intelligent SF films? I'm sure it does but you'd be much better off reading the novel