I don’t know how someone can find The Fifth Element better than Blade Runner. They’re not even remotely in the same league.
It does have a better sense of humor… despite that horrendous performance. However, it isn’t in the same class as Blade Runner in any real fashion.
Technically Jurassic Park is science fiction. Glorious science fiction. Too bad it’s ruined by poor effects. That Matrix movie, too.
Me too. I find The Fifth Element retarded.
I know, right? Oh, wait . . .
The question was about sci-fi, not cinema verite or chronologically contextual achievements, that’s why I said what I said. Blade Runner is definitely a better movie than 5th, but not a better sci-fi movie.
Everyone get off your lynching horse FFS.
I don’t think that distinction is valid. The perceived quality of a sci-fi movie shouldn’t be dependant on the believability of its special effects anymore than a movie belonging to another genre should.
I’m not about to start lynching anyone, but Bladerunner was a far, far superior sci fi film than Fifth Element. From the exploration of the true meaning of humanity in a world in which the biblical definition was becoming outmoded, to the view of a world in which national borders had become blurred, it exemplified Science Fiction’s role in literature.
Fifth Element taught me that fur may eventually come back into fashion for men.
I liked the Fifth Element, at least until we found out that the fifth element is love.
My notable omissions in view of what’s already been posted:
Flash Gordon
Alien Nation
Tron (more for the concept than the movie)
Last Starighter (nostalgia)
Dune (for the crazy)
I agree with this list, though I just don’t find Carpenter’s films great. I’ve enjoyed most of them but they’re always flawed though in some MINOR way that still annoys the hell out of me.
Anyway, I would add to this list:
A.I. (thought this was underrated)
Akira
The Iron Giant
When you start defining how others should consume things you automatically lose. Multipass.
No love for Tank Girl? What about Titan AE?
I tried to watch Titan AE a week or so ago for the first time. Couldn’t do it.
What about Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn? Huh? HUH!?
On a serious note: The Black Hole. Talk about religious imagery and kick-ass effects for the time.
I don’t think I saw these mentioned yet:
Idiocracy
Cloud Atlas
Galaxy Quest
the Star Trek reboot
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Strange Days
Probably need to rewatch:
Contact
Cube
Starman
Pitch Black
Frequency
Spaceballs
Anime not yet mentioned:
Ghost in the Shell
Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (Like The Right Stuff if there was no nuclear MAD to keep world wars Cold. It’s my third all-time favorite movie behind Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove.)
Project A-Ko
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Castle in the Sky
More Science Fact than Science Fiction if it wasn’t for all the scenes invented for dramatic convenience:
The Right Stuff
Apollo 13
You Know, For Kids!:
Explorers (my wife and I saw it a few weeks ago after a long time and for a kid’s movie it’s still a lot of fun, even though IMDB says that it was released long before director Joe Dante was ready.)
D.A.R.Y.L. (I should probably rewatch it to see if a jaded thirty-something can still enjoy it.)
Super 8
Shut Up, I Like Them:
The Star Wars prequels
The Matrix sequels
Carpenter’s are kind of borderline (I also thought a while before adding Minority Report). As an old line B Sci-Fi adventure with a better than B budget, Escape From New York is kind of what you hope for in that type of movie. The Thing took an older movie and updated it nicely - these things often fail. So I certainly won’t argue with anyone leaving these off their list, but they are ones that I’d watch in front of a lot of others, so I included them on mine.
The three you add are ones I’d leave off. They had their moments, but they are not high on my list of needing to watch them again. But I do like that other people add a different mix - these kind of lists sometimes convince me to go back and re-watch things that sometimes I wouldn’t have and find new value in them.
Wait, what?!
Although it’s a true story, Apollo 13 absolutely nails that SF “sense of wonder.”
I’m gonna revisit “The Black Hole,” which I haven’t seen since it came out (when I was a lad). I remember those two robots and the over-under blasters they had.
I really like The 5th Element. It’s a very entertaining popcorn sci-fi action flick.
Not mentioned so far:
The Flight of the Navigator
That’s a harmless kiddie sci-fi film from the mid 80s. From the time when kids’ movies still had substance. Good film, still holds up well.