Top 45 films in Sci-Fi
2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated G | 149 min | 1968
Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest.
A Clockwork Orange
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated X | 136 min | 1971
In future Britain, charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge is jailed and volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem - but not all goes according to plan.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 115 min | 1982
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home-world.
Blade Runner
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 117 min | 1982
A blade runner must pursue and try to terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 137 min | 1977
After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Frankenstein
Directed by James Whale | 70 min | 1931
An obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.
Metropolis
Directed by Fritz Lang | 153 min | 1927
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Back to the Future
Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Rated PG | 116 min | 1985
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Brazil
Directed by Terry Gilliam | Rated R | 132 min | 1985
A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.
Alien
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 117 min | 1979
After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as distress call, their landing on the source moon finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious lifeform. Continuing their journey back to Earth with the attacked crew having recovered and the critter deceased, they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
The Bride of Frankenstein
Directed by James Whale | 75 min | 1935
Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
The Matrix
Directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Rated R | 136 min | 1999
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Directed by George Miller | Rated R | 120 min | 2015
A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in postapocalyptic Australia in search for her home-land with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshipper, and a drifter named Max.
Inception
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated PG-13 | 148 min | 2010
A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
Aliens
Directed by James Cameron | Rated R | 137 min | 1986
The planet from Alien (1979) has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Directed by George Miller | Rated R | 94 min | 1981
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline rich, community escape a band of bandits.
Her
Directed by Spike Jonze | Rated R | 126 min | 2013
A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly-purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need.
Jurassic Park
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG-13 | 127 min | 1993
During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.
Stalker
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky | 163 min | 1979
A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.
The Terminator
Directed by James Cameron | Rated R | 107 min | 1984
A human-looking indestructible cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Directed by Don Siegel | 80 min | 1956
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Melancholia
Directed by Lars von Trier | Rated R | 130 min | 2011
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Directed by James Cameron | Rated R | 137 min | 1991
A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her young son, John Connor, from a more advanced cyborg, made out of liquid metal.
Interstellar
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated PG-13 | 169 min | 2014
A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.
The Prestige
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated PG-13 | 130 min | 2006
Two stage magicians engage in competitive one-upmanship in an attempt to create the ultimate stage illusion.
District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp | Rated R | 112 min | 2009
An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.
Gravity
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón | Rated PG-13 | 91 min | 2013
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.
Mad Max
Directed by George Miller | Rated R | 88 min | 1979
In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
Children of Men
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón | Rated R | 109 min | 2006
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somehow infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Edge of Tomorrow
Directed by Doug Liman | Rated PG-13 | 113 min | 2014
A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.
Contact
Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Rated PG | 150 min | 1997
Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, who send plans for a mysterious machine.
Snowpiercer
Directed by Joon-ho Bong | Rated R | 126 min | 2013
Set in a future where a failed climate-change experiment kills all life on the planet except for a lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system emerges.
Moon
Directed by Duncan Jones | Rated R | 97 min | 2009
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
The World's End
Directed by Edgar Wright | Rated R | 109 min | 2013
Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from twenty years earlier unwittingly become humanity's only hope for survival.
Attack the Block
Directed by Joe Cornish | Rated R | 88 min | 2011
A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Directed by James Gunn | Rated PG-13 | 121 min | 2014
A group of intergalactic criminals are forced to work together to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control of the universe.
Minority Report
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG-13 | 145 min | 2002
In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.
Sunshine
Directed by Danny Boyle | Rated R | 107 min | 2007
A team of international astronauts are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Galaxy Quest
Directed by Dean Parisot | Rated PG | 102 min | 1999
The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG-13 | 146 min | 2001
A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Primer
Directed by Shane Carruth | Rated PG-13 | 77 min | 2004
Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
Gattaca
Directed by Andrew Niccol | Rated PG-13 | 106 min | 1997
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
The Martian
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated PG-13 | 144 min | 2015
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Under the Skin
Directed by Jonathan Glazer | Rated R | 108 min | 2013
A mysterious woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. Events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Arrival
Directed by Denis Villeneuve | Rated PG-13 | 116 min | 2016
When 12 mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors.
Latest News
2021 Award Winners :) May 3, 2022
Per usual, we've added the award winners from last year (2021), and updated our rankings!
2020 Award Winners! May 9, 2021
As always, we've added the award winners from last year (2020), and updated our rankings!
All the 2019 Award Winners and Updated Rankings February 22, 2020
We've added all the award winners from 2019, and updated our rankings!
Film lists
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1. Top 100 Movies of All Time by Rotten Tomatoes
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2. 100 All-Time Greatest Movies by Entertainment Weekly
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3. The 50 Greatest Films of All Time by Sight & Sound
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4. The 50 Greatest Movies by Black Directors by Slate
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5. The 80 Best-Directed Films by Directors Guild of America (DGA)
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6. Directors’ 10 Greatest Films of All Time by Sight and Sound
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7. Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films by The Hollywood Reporter
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8. The 100 best movies of all time by Time Out
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9. The 100 greatest American films by BBC
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10. Best Picture by New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC)
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11. Best Film by National Board of Review of Motion Pictures
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12. The 50 Greatest Films by The One-Line Review
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13. BAFTA Award for Best Film by British Academy of Film and Television Arts
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14. Top 100 British films by British Film Institute
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15. Best Picture by National Society of Film Critics
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16. AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time by American Film Institute
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17. Top Rated Movies by IMDb
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18. 102 Greatest Films by filmsite
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19. John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Movies by John Kobal
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20. Ten Greatest Films of All Time by Roger Ebert
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21. The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far by The New York Times
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22. 12 Greatest Films of All Time by Quentin Tarantino
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23. Academy Award for Best Picture by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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24. Essential List of Films for Filmmakers by Spike Lee
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25. 12 Greatest Films of All Time by Martin Scorsese
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26. Best Picture by Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
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27. Best European Film of the Year by European Film Awards
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28. Best Film by Independent Spirit Awards
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29. Best Picture by Los Angeles Film Critics Association
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30. Best Picture by Chicago Film Critics Association
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31. Best Picture by Boston Society of Film Critics
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32. The 25 "Greatest" Documentaries of All Time by POV
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33. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe)
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34. Best Film by Austin Film Critics Association
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35. Best Picture by The San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle
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36. Best Film by Village Voice Film Poll
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37. Best Motion Picture - Drama by Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe)
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38. The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the Last 25 Years by ScreenCrush
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39. Best Picture by Florida Film Critics Circle
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40. Best Theatrical Motion Picture by Producers Guild of America