This list is all about films that changed or elevated the genre from B-movie trash into peak viewing entertainment, well-made films with a deeper message.
Kubrick made SF worth watching. He took a B-movie genre and elevated it and made a generation of teens dream of making killer SF movies: George Lucas, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Denis Villeneuve.
2001: A Space Odyssey
In space no one can hear you scream… a feminist landmark of SF. Ridley Scott's masterpiece made on a shoestring, Alien launched a franchise before that was a thing.
Alien
How will we talk to the aliens? Will we devolve into our base fears or rise above them and connect with beings from distant stars? That's what Denis Villeneuve's 21st century SF masterpiece ponders.
Arrival
It starts with a simple premise: what if you could control your dreams… and it spirals, and oh, how beautifuly it spirals.
Inception (Blu-ray)
The world of District 9 isn't pretty. It's not a Star Trek utopia. It's dirty, depressing, filled with racism and violence, but when the deeper truths start hitting… boy, do they hit. A powerful film made on a veritable “shoestring” $30 million budget.
District 9
A satire that went over so many heads… Robocop skewers consumerism, corporatism, crime, violence, technology… and still as timely as ever.
RoboCop
If ever there was a cyberpunk film at the dawn of cyberpunk… that rose above the easy cliches, that confused viewers, and ultimately was hacked to bits by the studio… Blade Runner benefits from this the director's “Final Cut.”
