Wired's The Best Sci-fi Movies Everyone Should Watch Once
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Aliens, astronauts, time travel – you name it, there’s a dazzling sci-fi film about it. That makes compiling a list of the best sci-fi nigh on impossible. For one, where do you start?
To understand where sci-fi films came from, you need to head back to the dawn of the cinema age. Right at the start of it all, Metropolis, released in 1927, used groundbreaking visuals to create a reference point for all future urban dystopias – it’s no fluke, for example, that the aesthetic of Blade Runner bares more than a passing resemblance to Fritz Lang’s prophetic urban hell-scape.
Then along came War of the Worlds (1953), a gripping tale of alien invasion adapted from H.G. Wells’ classic novel. In 1964, Dr. Strangelove did more than most films before or since to ossify the fear of a nuclear holocaust. Then, in 1968, perhaps the most influential sci-fi film of them all: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Say no more.
This is Wired's ever evolving selection of the sci-fi movies everyone should watch, starting with something a little obscure but hugely influential.
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1 new
La jetée
1962 — a.k.a. La Jetée, in 19 top lists Check -
2 new
A Clockwork Orange
1971, in 37 top lists Check -
4 new
Solyaris
1972 — a.k.a. Solaris, in 28 top lists Check -
8 new
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977, in 23 top lists Check -
9 new
Stalker
1979, in 22 top lists Check -
11 new
Altered States
1980, in 5 top lists Check -
26 new
GATTACA
1997 — a.k.a. Gattaca, in 5 top lists Check -
27 new
Contact
1997, in 2 top lists Check -
29 new
The Truman Show
1998, in 14 top lists Check -
32 new
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001, in 11 top lists Check -
34 new
Primer
2004, in 6 top lists Check -
35 new
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2004, in 28 top lists Check -
37 new
Children of Men
2006, in 12 top lists Check -
42 new
Moon
2009, in 5 top lists Check -
44 new
Monsters
2010, in 3 top lists Check -
47 new
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
50 new
Her
2013, in 10 top lists Check -
52 new
Under the Skin
2013, in 10 top lists Check -
53 new
Ex Machina
2014, in 5 top lists Check -
55 new
Interstellar
2014, in 13 top lists Check -
56 new
The Martian
2015, in 5 top lists Check -
59 new
Midnight Special
2016, in 0 top lists Check
Last updated on Aug 28, 2020; source