Welcome back to my count up list of SciFi movies. I left off with some massive ties at #18. I’ve realized my rounding to a single decimal space is problematic and causing many ties. SOooooo, I’m going to make some minor tweaks to the numbers to put one over the other in the ties.
# 28 – Young Frankenstein – Rating 7.8
What can I say about this classic laughfest? It is a riot. “Walk this way.” “What nice knockers.” “You made a yummy sound.” “Be careful of the taffeta, darling.” The entire movie is a comedy gem!
#29 – 2001 & 2010 – Rating 7.8
I probably will be abused for this but I preferred 2010 to the original Stanley Kubrick film. The original seemed too psychedelic and pointless. The second one actually went somewhere while keeping the cannons of the first movie. Standing ovation.
#30 – Omega Man – Rating 7.8
An old movie that most reading this have not seen. It is the movie that “I am Legend” is remade from. If you watch this movie, remember its timeframe. Yes, the special effects aren’t great, but the inner turmoil of the man is much clearer in this movie than its remake.
#31 – I am Legend – Rating 7.8
OK, the difference between them is small. I loved both movies.
#32 – 28 Days Later – Rating 7.8
Looks like I’ve lumped a bucketload of zombie movies (and I HATE zombie movies) in among the better movies I have. In fact the other one on my list isn’t that far down. I don’t know why this one seems better than others, but it felt more real to me.
#33 – Outland – Rating 7.8
Sean Connery as a cop in space. What more do you need to say? The setting was incredible and I loved how he used it to his advantage. Wonderful watch.
#34 – Super 8 – Rating 7.8
I’m normally not a kid movie kind of person. They are always doing stupid stuff and somehow saving the day from their own idiocy. This one felt different as they didn’t spawn the problem but they helped solve it with empathy.
#35 – Robocop – Rating 7.7
Badass cyberpunk from the word go. Police departments being purchased like commodities. <cough> Not at all like us buying jail space from private contractors, is it? Ok, the acting is cartoonish but really speaks to me on an instinctual level.
#36 – I, Robot – Rating 7.6
Asimov translated to modern era. I had problems with some of the science and the drama wasn’t quite there. The movie really wasn’t sure if it wanted to be a comedy or a drama. If they had taken out Will Smith (don’t get me wrong, I like him) but put in a more serious actor in his place then I think it would have been a better movie.
#37 – Apollo 13 – Rating 7.6
OK, the ONLY place this movie falls down is that you know the ending before you even see the movie. Every other category is spot on! Honestly, I didn’t know my history well enough to know the ending, so when I watched this for the first time I was glued to my seat.
#38 – Ready Player One – Rating 7.5
This movie gets and exceptional rating even after I read the book (which was fabulous)! It brought the visuals that the book lacked. It brought humanization (even in VR) to the main character that the book lacked. OK, the movie took some serious liberties with the book, but kept its essence.
#39 – Warm Bodies – Rating 7.5
Wow, a romantic comedy zombie movie. Who’da thunk it? Loved it. While it falls down as horror, it certainly holds up everywhere else.
#40 – The Truman Show – Rating 7.5
I will say, despite Jim Carrey, I wasn’t expecting much of this movie when I saw it the first time. But it sucked me in like a vacuum cleaner on high. Couldn’t turn away. A single person as the focus of a 24/7 show just is brilliant. Reality TV at its finest.
#41 – Ender’s Game – Rating 7.5
A journeyman’s attempt at capturing the book.
#42 – John Wick – Rating 7.5
Loved the dark action scenes. Humor fell flat.
#43 – Altered States – Rating 7.5
A psychedelic attempt to find the meaning of life, and no, it’s not 42.
#44 – District 9 – Rating 7.5
Wanted to love this one more. I think the humor in it fell a bit flat.
#45 – Pixels – Rating 7.5
Again, loved the concept. Felt the execution didn’t quite make it.
#46 – War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise version) – Rating 7.5
#47 – Ex Machina – Rating 7.4
This movie tried to do too much and the horror portion of it fell flat.
#48 – Minority Report – Rating 7.4
Enjoy it as a fast action romp. Ignore anything that resembles science. Interesting twist on time travel.
#49 – Ghostbusters – Rating 7.3
Laugh your ass off with this mindless comedy!
#50 – Escape from New York (first movie only) – Rating 7.3
“Aren’t you dead?” First movie is this rating. The others all fell WAY down the board and.. frankly OFF the board.
#51 – Oblivion – Rating 7.3
Too many inconsistencies to make this a truly great movie.
#52 – Star Wars – Rating 7.2
Finally we reach one of the iconic movie franchises in the history of film making. If I rated ONLY the first movie (episode IV), it would be up around a 9, maybe even as high as a perfect 10 for its era. If I rated the first three movies (Episodes IV-VI) It would be maybe 8.5ish. But as a franchise it probably doesn’t even deserve 7.2. Consistency is a problem, as is reusing plots and plot devices. I stopped caring what happened to any of the characters.
#53 – Andromeda Strain – Rating 7.2
Bet you didn’t know there were three versions of this movie. The book is by far better than any of the three movies and they all had their good and bad points. Each of them hovered near this rating. Each different, not just a complete rehash.
#54 – Jericho – Rating 7.0
I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction/movies that are done right. I found this series really close. If they had left out the g’damned government conspiracy/spy crap it would have zoomed up the charts. Which reminds me, if you are a reader and like post-nuclear war stuff, try Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. You have to deal with the outdatedness of it, but it really works well.
#55 – Death Race and Death Race 2000 – Rating 7.0
I think I liked DR2000 a bit more for its camp value. Acting sucked, but I loved the dark humor.
#56 – Judge Dredd – Rating 7.0
#57 – Flash Gordon – Rating 7.0
Campfest!
#58 – Heavy Metal– Rating 7.0
#59 – The Last Starfighter– Rating 7.0
Everyone as a kid dreamed of this.
#60 – The Matrix– Rating 7.0
#61 – Total Recall– Rating 7.0
Still haven’t gotten to Star Trek or Dr. Who and we are down to #61. How disappointing, but I’ll describe details in a later version.
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