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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3 new
The Andromeda Strain
1971, in 3 top lists Check -
5 new
Westworld
1973, in 4 top lists Check -
13 new
Blade Runner
1982, in 36 top lists Check -
23 new
Twelve Monkeys
1995 — a.k.a. 12 Monkeys, in 14 top lists Check -
34 new
Primer
2004, in 6 top lists Check -
37 new
Children of Men
2006, in 12 top lists Check -
38 new
A Scanner Darkly
2006, in 3 top lists Check -
39 new
Sunshine
2007, in 1 top list Check -
40 new
Cloverfield
2008, in 3 top lists Check -
43 new
District 9
2009, in 10 top lists Check -
44 new
Monsters
2010, in 3 top lists Check -
46 new
Source Code
2011, in 0 top lists Check -
49 new
Snowpiercer
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
51 new
Gravity
2013, in 12 top lists Check -
53 new
Ex Machina
2014, in 5 top lists Check -
61 new
Annihilation
2018, in 3 top lists Check
Last updated on Aug 28, 2020; source