Make a list and explain your choices.

SCIFI
1-2001 Unbelievably creative, was not and is not conventional. The concepts and ideas behind this movie are prevalent in our society today (insane robots, travels to the other end of the universe, mysterious alien artifacts) because of Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Both men are collossii in their fields, Clarke in scifi writing and Kubrick in movie making.

2-Star Trek: Generations This opinion of mine may be unique, I encourage you to contest it, but this has always been my favorite star trek movie because of the concepts and ideas introduced (obviously a must for a good s/f movie). The idea of a destructive heaven, of star-destroying, of a giant spaceship crashing on a planet, not to mention the inner conflicts of Data and Picard, are just wonderful pieces of imagination and creativity. I've gotta say, though, Kirk didn't quite need to be in the script, it could have been anyone that helped Picard out...

3-Frank Herbert's Dune: The Miniseries While it has its share of faults, this movie is a joy to watch, for its acting, its scriptwriting, its independence from its awful predecessor, and for its depth. Except for when they're running around in the desert (which looks so fake it's not even funny) this movie looks near perfect. For the most part it stayed true to Herbert's vision and did a great job in the process.

FANTASY

1-Star Wars: A New Hope While it isn't academy-award material (was it nominated for one? Didn't Anne Hall beat it?) Star Wars is not a scifi movie, it presents no facts or scientific fact to support any of its romping through its universe. All in all this movie is really fun to watch and was very well done in many if not all respects. It's too bad Lucas lost his magic after he finished the first trilogy:(

2-Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring I want to say the whole trilogy, but I'm going to make it a rule that only individual movies and not trilogies can be submitted. Again, my opinion may not be shared here, but there is just so much in this film, the cinematography, the music, the acting, the directing, the writing, everything is just so perfect. I doubt I'll ever stop watching this movie at least every few months.
(although, admittedly some of the stuff on the extras dvd was deleted for a reason)

3-Princess Mononoke It's an anime, and it is easily the best one that I've ever seen, with a wonderful script and real voice acting. From its beginning I was intrigued all the way to the very end, and I loved every second.

So, contest my points, add in some of your own, and let's get this party started!

Alrighty:

SciFi

1. The Original Solaris - Nobody can rip this movie off. Dune just stole ideas from it, so did startrek, and SG1. This is the greatest scifi movie of all time.

2. StarGate - Just an awesome movie.

3. StarTrek: Khan - Come on! It can't get much better then this! A great plot, lots of action, better then the first ST movie!

Fantasy

1. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings - Nuff said. Thor, I hate you.:)

2. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets - Im not a big Potter fan, but I did like this movie.

3. Princess Mononoke - I cant believe what talent they had in this. Gillian Anderson, Clair Danes... An awesome cast. Great animation, wonderful story. Two thumbs up.

StarWars never won any academy awards. It was nominated for one, it lost to something else though. It is #37 of the top 100 greatest films of all time... At least I think its number 37.

Oh and an Honorable mention: Signs. The movie scared the living hell out of me.

SiFi
1.2001 - hardly a contest, this is classic. untouchable by all else.

2. The Matrix - because of walking up walls, dodging bullets, taking the red pill, and the oracle's fresh baked cookies (yumyum)

3.Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn -another classic indicative (I think that's the right word, I've had a long day.) of the star trek lineage

(honorable mention: Dune, not as good as the books but still a excellent movie)

Fantasy
1.LOTR Two towers - because I’ve read the book 4 times and the battle of Helm’s Deep

2LOTR Fellowship
Sam: “What‘s that?”
Merry: “It‘s a pint.”
Sam: “It comes in pints?!”
Merry: *Grins*
Sam: “I‘m getting one!”

3. Princess Mononoke - the best anime I’ve seen, top-notch voice-acting , brilliant plot, smashing art.

The Fifth Element for Sci-Fi!!!!

This is my first post here on sciforums and so I thought I'd enter with a bang (so to speak)...

Top Sci Fi Movies

Number 5 - "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers"(1956) - None of the many redos and remakes can hold a candle to the original movie with Kevin McCarthy as a small town doctor who discovers something is "going on" in his small town. Even the "not so subtile" parallels to the "Commie Menace" seem to make this work better.

Number 4 - "Twelve Monkeys" - Terry Gilliam does the short film "La Jette" proud. Updating (and adding sound) to bring this fantastic story of time travel to the screen in a version as good as, if not better than the orginal French (almost) silent film.

Number 3 - "The Day the Earth Stood Still" - "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto"... how can anyone not recognise this as a seminal Sci-Fi work. Director Robert Wise shows us all how it should be done. Based on the equally fine short story "Farewell To The Master" by Harry Bates. Surprisingly... film and story had two totally different messages to get across and both do it excellently.

Number 2 - "The Planet of the Apes" (1968) - Everthing works in this movie made from classic themes of Sci-Fi literature. As a young boy I sat, stunned in the front row of the theatre as Heston (on his kness in the sand) cried out, "God damn them! God damn, them, all, to Hell!"

Number 1 - "2001: A Space Odyssey" - It's long and boring (after the 20th or 30th viewing) and encompasses the whole universe as well as the entire history of man.. what more can you ask for? The high point of this film is it's stunningly realistic approach to space travel. To quote Kubrick himself, "A more realistic film about space would have to be filmed on location."

Special Mention - "Akira" - Nobody can do a list of top Sci-Fi films without at least mentioning the Japanese Anime films and of the many that have made it to N. America, "Akira" is a stand out example. What gems still lie, untranslated, across the Pacific, that we have yet to exprience?

Special Mention - "The Day of the Triffids" (BBC Mini-Series)
Though not technically a "film", this was an awesome series and well deserves better exposure than it recieved.

Now, here is my list for Fantasy Movies;

Note: I took fantasy to mean those movies not dealing with strict factual basis. For example, anything that starts, "... a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." is taken as Fantasy and not Sci Fi.

Number 5 - "Wizards" - this is a widely overlooked gem from animator Ralph Bakshi. It chronicles the future war between technology and magic and draws parallels with WWII and the Nazi Menance. Good humour and an excellent ending that you just do not see coming.

Number 4 - "The Princess Bride" - What's not to like about this movie? To paraphrase Peter Falk's character from the intro, "... Giants... Pirates...Duels to the Death and True Love, what more can you ask for?" Rob Reiner proves once again that he is the master of the "human feelings" story.

Number 3 - "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" - After the
sucess of "A New Hope", George Lucas had the money to do it right. Even aside from the personal reasons (my wife and I saw this movie on our first date), this movie holds up so well it's scary. The drop in quality of the subsequent films in this series, just goes to show you that too much money can also be a bad thing.

Number 2 - "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend" - This is in my mind also one of the scariest movies ever made. A dark fantasy from the totally twisted minds of Japanese Manga artists, brought to the screen as an amazing anime. Be sure you watch the uncut "perfect" edition as much of the story is edited out in the "PG" version. There are three sequels of gradually diminishing quality, but the original stands as a classic. (BTW, stay away from the dubbed version on VHS and Laser. I'm told that the dubbing on the "Perfect" Edition DVD is good though I haven't checked this out myself).

Number 1 - "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" - I'm going to say this is my favourite only until I've seen "The Return of the King". If Peter Jackson can pull off the battles in the final movie as well as he did the fights in the second, then my choice is bound to change.

Special Mention - "Metropolis" - While technically a Sci-Fi film, I classify this Fritz Lange masterpiece as a Fantasy because of its plot which is so deeply rooted in western mythos. Pandora, Prometheus and even a touch of Faust. Check out the new Kino release on DVD for 25 minutes of previously lost footage, lovingly restored.

Special Note: The Animated Film lends itself particularly well to the Fantasy genre. Up until "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, to bring fantastic creatures (that inhabit most serious fantasy literature) to the screen was impossible. The Japanese animators (and to a lesser extent N. American ones) have been pumping out, for a long time, truely excellent fantasy.

However this has been all but ignored by the N. American audience. "Cartoons are for kids!" is still the cry in recent DVD imports. Warner chose to release full screen only copies of all the Pokemon movies and an excellent N. American effort, "The Secret of NIMH" is also only available in full screen (this is the only reason it didn't make my list surplanting "Wizards" as Number 5). An excellent French effort, "Voyage dans la Lune" is seen only by those who stay up late watching the Sci-Fi Channel ("Space" channel in Canada). "The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen" was a visionary German effort that was re-made as a likable, but not too memorable, live-action movie by Terry Gilliam.

Until the bias against Anime in N. America is lifted, we will certainly suffer for missing the latest in superb Fantasy films from around the globe. The most recent Oscar for Foreign Language Film, went to Hayao Miyazaki for his excellent "Spirited Away", a very well done Fantasy along the lines of his previous"Princess Mononoke".

Wish List Movies Movies that people should be running out and making immediately with no expense spared;

"Ringworld" - ooooh, can't you just feel the goose bumps. After the success of "Lord of the Rings" this can't be that unrealistic a hope.

"The Mote in God's Eye" - I'd buy my ticket tomorrow. This movie cries out for Robert Wise or Bryan Singer to direct.

"All You Zombies" - This would require a lot of careful planning and rewriting to get the sense of the story to the screen. My vote would be for Terry Gilliam to write and Christopher Nolan or Darren Aronofsky to direct.

Last but certainly not least... "A Princess of Mars" - with a nic like "barsoom", I have to mention this one. Peter Jackson or James Cameron to direct.

Well... I hope you all enjoy my picks and thanks to pollux V for such an excellent topic for me to use as an introduction.

Sci-fi

Ghost in the Shell
- Amazing movie with amazing art and just some beautiful subtle movements coupled with groundbreaking animation that puts Disney to shame.

Fifth Element

- Just a fun movie to watch every now and then....amazing action scenes, hillarious characters...(give it up for Ruby) and Milla Jovowhich naked....that's always a plus.

The Matrix

- Don't really ned to say anything that hasn't been said already.

Akira

- Good lord this movie was violent and just amazing....a little on the long side and infinetly confusing...(after three viewings i still have yet to grasp the plot)....but amazing nonetheless and a time tested masterpiece of Hand drawn animation as opposed to CG animation in 2d animation movies today

Fantasy


The lord of the rings: Fellowship of the ring

- Everything about this movie was top notch - from some of the most beautiful cinematography i have ever seen to amazing directing and the epic scale of it all was breathtaking.....now if i could just afford the extended edition dvd it would be sweet.

The Lord of the rings: The two towers

- Read above

Monthy Python and the holy grail

- Ok i have no idea if this counts here but hands down the funniest movie ever made.....bar none

Sci-Fi

1. 2001, A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s short story, The Sentinel. Although made in 1968, the special effects still stand up well today and the visuals are unforgettable.
2. Blade Runner – Ridley Scott’s visionary adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Make sure you see Scott’s 1992 director’s cut which drops Harrison Ford’s dull narration and restores the movie’s original, darker, “non-Hollywood” ending.
3. Minority Report – Based on another Phillip K. Dick novel. One of Stephen Spielberg’s best movies ever, IMHO. He consulted with futurists to assemble this compelling vision of the future 50 years from now.
4. Vanilla Sky – Great visuals despite the lack of special effects. This movie keeps you thinking all the way through. In fact you don’t even realize it’s a science fiction movie until the surprise ending.
5. The Matrix – The ground breaking special effects and action sequences that this movie introduced have been copied in a lot of silly martial arts flicks where they don’t make sense but here they work well within an intriguing storyline.
6. Dark City – This sci-fi film noir didn’t get the attention it deserved when it was released in 1998. Its been compared to The Matrix, only its story is not quite as accessible to the general moviegoer.
7. Alien – Another excellent effort by Ridley Scott with a unique visual style and atmosphere.
8. Aliens – In this sequel, James Cameron wisely avoided the horror angle of the original, since the suspense would already be gone, and instead turned it into a well-crafted action flick.
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Probably the best UFO film ever. Spielberg portrays the aliens as benevolent explorers rather than the bloodthirsty monsters depicted in so many movies.
10. Planet of the Apes (1968) – By far the best of a series of movies with a terrific ending. The sequels suffered from the time travel story line, always a tricky thing to introduce in a movie.

Fantasy – This list is considerably shorter as there are not many good fantasy movies made. I’m glad to see that others have correctly classified Star Wars as fantasy.

1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers – Clearly the best fantasy movies ever made, special effects, acting the whole works.
2. Star Wars Trilogy (That is the original three: Episodes IV, V and VI) – Unforgettable characters and great special effects. The movie can be judged in part by the countless imitators it spawned.
3. Heavy Metal – Partly sci-fi, but largely fantasy, animated six-episode anthology. Harry Canyon and Den are the best of the six stories.

Anyone here know that there were two "Gone in Sixty Seconds?"

What a Great topic!

We learn here, some films forgotten or never seen.

I was pleased and agreed with many of the choices; especially "The Matrix" (looking forward to the prequels) "Planet of The Apes" And, most Definitely `Kahn' with the terrific performance by Ricardo Montalban.

I am only disappointed by the omission of two films I consider `tops'; "Silent Running" in SciFi and "The Red Balloon" ("Le Ballon rouge") Although the latter may not be thought of by many as Fantasy.

Promise I'll make a list, but it will probably duplicate many already well defined and described.

Thanks all, HBH

Not gonna do Fantasy, not a fan of that genre

SciFi

- The Fifth Element

Already mentioned here quite a lot which is very pleasing. I love this film purely because I think it may very well be the most accurate vision of our future world anyone has ever gotten. Not the story but the universe. The acting is very good and the soundtrack is nothing short of amazing.

- Aliens

I love this film. Pollux hates it for some reason. I love the theme of it. The way they made a Vietnam film set in the future. How technology doesn't always win. Plus the action, acting and special effects are awesome. Yet to hear the soundtrack, might download it in a minute.

- Akira

Again one that has recieved a lot of attention here. And rightly so, regarded by many as the best anime of all time. Not one of my personal favourites but it is groundbreaking for it's time (1985 if I'm correct, probably not tho). The story is entertaining, the voice acting in my opinion was so well matched with the characters and well synched. Hell I just loved it for what it is, a great movie.

- Frank Herbert's Dune

Yes, yes. It's a mini-series but it was supposed to be a film at first. It has it's faults, many faults. But it does tell one of the most amazing scifi stories ever devised extremely well! And it brought us an extremely talented actor, Alec Newman, who will be appearing in more stuff in the future I can tell. And the action sequences were cool too! Oh yeah, and the breasts!

Nobody mentioned "Final Fantasy' movie?! Best fantasy and one of the best sci-fi movies ever. The animation was incredible. I have never seen anything like it. Too bad it bombed at the box office. They probably won't do anything like that again for a while.

I personally think "Blade Runner" was the best, hands down. Very deep with plot and good acting.

Originally posted by Clockwood
I personally think "Blade Runner" was the best, hands down. Very deep with plot and good acting.

"Blade Runner" WAS a good movie. I totally enjoyed it when I saw it in the theatre. I am not as big a fan of the "director's cut" which is currently the only version availible on DVD. I perfer an ending where the viewer has to think, not where everything is all laid out for you.

The voice syncing for Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was totally out and bugged me throughout the whole movie.

And the Directors Cut of Blade Runner was too quiet

I like this kind of movies and I saw lots of (good ones and bad ones), so it's hard to make a choice :)

Sci-Fi

The Matrix : of course !
The 5th element : Luc Besson is a really good realisator... (You should watch his other movies : Nikita, Leon, Jeanne d'Arc, Taxi,...)
Dark City : at first it's strange, then it's interesting and finally you like it. It's a mix between "Matrix" and "Trueman Show".

Fantasy

LOTR (both) : that's really well done and the story is not so far from the book
Titan AE : a great animated movie... and I love the soundtrack !

MATRIX IS THE BEST!!IT OWNZ STARWARS, TREK, LOTR!!!!!

you know i never really liked blade runner. I don't know what's wrong with me. anyway

Willow: Remember Willow! I haven't seen it in ages but I remember I liked it at the time.

LOTR: yeah that was an excellent movie. I can't say anything that hasn't already been said.

Dark City: good dark scifi. The atmosphere is great.

Princess Mononoke: very good anime movie.

2010: so 2001 has already been said, but what about the 2nd one.I thought it was pretty good.

Empire Strikes Back: my favorite of the Star Wars saga.

Aliens: game over man, game over! best of the aliens series.

The NeverEnding Story: ok I don't think it's that great a movie. but i was a little kid when it came out and I was just sooo excited about it. just a little nostalgia for you.

I seriously do not believe that the Martix "ownz". I think it's good, but it's mainly an over hyped, manufactured novelty of a film. Not saying it's bad, just saying it's not as good as it's made out to be.

best of the aliens series


I TOTALLY agree. Aliens and the Matrix are good scifi flicks but how can you people like The Fifth Element? I hate that movie! (along with Star Wars: Episode 1) LOTR is a cool fantasy...but that's all I can think of, it's too late....

I hate 2001.....its the most BORING movie i have ever seen......so nerdish..

GREATEST SCI-FI MOVIE EVER!!!!!!

I'm more a fan of the classic Horror genre, but for SciFi:
01. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
02. Dark City
03. The Thirteenth Floor: In my opinion, closer in relation to the Matrix than some said about Dark City.
04. The Matrix
05. Planet of the Apes (original)
06. The Day the Earth Stood Still
07. Logan's Run

Fantasy:
01. The Princess Bride
02. Edward Scissorhands (a modern fantasy, or is it a hybrid?)
03. Labyrinth
04. Legend
05. The Dark Crystal
06. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
07. LOTR: The Two Towers

I don't know about the actual order, but for me it goes:

Sci-fi

Alien and
Aliens-One of the only artistically successful sequels ever made. Multi-layered, thoroughly gripping the first time you see it and as far as I know the first time a woman was given an action role which existed entirely on its own without the need for tits. Frankly I don't wanna see Sigourney's tits.
Matrix-Regardless of its holes and countless borrowed concepts (which happens all the time if you know where to look) it's the only film of the last decade (with the exception of Reservoir Dogs/Pulp fiction) that has actually influenced virtually EVERY film made after it regardless of genre, be it stylistically, technically or to a lesser degree, conceptually. (Again it includes a rare, important female action character that only very gently implies sexuality, without exploiting it--okay, I know, Reloaded-horrifyingly cringe-worthy shagging scene, but I'm not listing that)
Fifth Element- Not clever, not deep, ludicrous visual designs, but what good fun. I didn't like it the first time but I watched it expecting to see serious speculative fiction.. but it's since grown on me and when I'm feeling down it always cheers me up.
Final Fantasy- The lip sync on my copy seems to be fine. Not an Earth shattering story or clever exploitation of full CG (the action sequences are very basic and predictable, probably done in order not to alienate the audience and to convince them what they were seeing was plausible) But it is an important milestone and features some brilliant design work.
Blade Runner- we all know why. Has a few problems and a few hands on shoulders that shouldn't be there, but it was 1982, so shut the fuck up.
Okay, one no one's mentioned...maybe because it's total rubbish, I don't know but: Total Recall. This is the first time I remember being mind fucked. I was only about 14 and I enjoyed the experience.

Akira- why? Because in 1987 no one had ever seen anything like it.

Ghost In The Shell- it doesn't even beat the shadow of the actual comic; nevertheless it's still up there.

Not a movie, Red Dwarf, the BBC comedy series. Pick any episode and you'll find more fascinating concepts and mind- benders than all the Matrixes put together.

Brazil and Twelve Monkeys-Terry Gilliam's two Masterpieces.

I like Star Trek, but I preferred the first two series, rather than any of the films. The silly walnut-headed aliens, crap guns and badly designed ships don’t detract from the story/performance-based series, but look ridiculous for two hours in 72mm.

Terminator..why? Because it's good, it's seminal....honest it is, mister.

Worth a mention-The Abyss, Pitch Black, 1984, Dune, T-II, Mad Max, Patlabor, Dark Cirty, Starship Troopers ( which is silly but compelling in the same way as a road accident)

That's all I can think of right now.

Fantasy-
Lord Of The Rings I and II (obviously I don't know about the Return of the King, but you can probably make a safe bet that it's going to maintain its level-which is impressive)

Is The Crow, Fantasy? Take The Crow, mix it with Leon, add a large tablespoon of Philip K Dick, stir in some Drunken Master then add a generous portion of Masamune Shirow, bring to boil, allow to simmer and oh look..it's the Matrix.

Harry Potter is weird. I'm really enjoying it so far, but on the other hand the two films appear to have no levels other than the surface one. Something many other kid's films (Star Wars/Princess Bride/Shrek/ etc.) seem to have managed. It also seems to largely be a humour-free zone, with the only mildly amusing comments coming from Hagrid. It’s also little more than a poor man’s Discworld, so why do I like it? Why am I looking forward to the next one?Why?

Star Wars...yes, even the bad ones. Why? Because they inspired us and the new ones are probably inspiring little kids today even though they're making the people who remember the originals, pool their money in order to take out a hit on Lucas) Empire is probably the better one technically, but that's hardly surprising considering what an appalling director of actors George Lucas is. I think Star Wars did win the Oscar for best film and a further six.

I have a suggestion: Since Lucas loves tinkering with, and messing up his old films, how about a positive tinker? Use current CG techniques to remove the horrible Anakin-child from Phantom and replace him with someone who can actually act….he doesn’t have to act WELL, any ability whatsoever will be preferable to NONE. That wouldn’t solve all the film’s problems, but it would remove a great big chunk of them.

As for Mononoke Hime, I agree it is fantastic, but I wouldn't watch the English version if you strapped me to a table, put my nuts in a vice, taped my eyelids to my forehead and threatened to play Celene Dion to me for up to ten minutes straight if I didn’t look. I'm sure the people in India heard the Donkey in Shrek talking in fucking Gujurati, but I don't want to be treated that way. I don't care if Al Pacino, Meryl Streep or Orson Wells voiced them.

The Mummy films, they are fantasy, yes? Controversial choice, I’m sure. Deeply silly, plot holes you could send the Enterprise through, but I find them great fun and stick them on in the background while I’m working, quite often.

How about a few bad films that don't magically redeem themselves with a feel good factor or a '10-points for effort' like The Fifth Elephant does?

I'm thinking Battlefield: Earth, Independence Day, Red Planet, Lost in Space, Planet Of the Apes (the new one) the New Time Machine, Titan AE, Sphere, A.I.
and Minority Report (which does have some redeeming features and design elemts, but overall is a shallow and utterly blatant attempt to emulate the success of the Matrix. An attempt that horribly and predictably failed) Spielberg needs to die, the man is an anus.

Does Batman count as fantasy? If it does I want to nominate Batman and Robin as one of the worst films ever committed to celluloid and its director, Joel Schumacher for a prime piece of wall in front of a firing squad, which I will happily command. Achtuuung!

Isn't Jurassic Park science fiction? The first film was bad enough; the second film is so bad that the only film I've ever seen that's worse was, Speed II. Who wrote and directed Speed II, they need to die. Maybe they’re already dead. Good.

You probably haven't noticed at all, but if I were an American Indian, my name would probably be Dances With Issues.

Originally posted by fahq (about Matrix Reloaded)
GREATEST SCI-FI MOVIE EVER!!!!!! The greatest kung fu movie, maybe. Personally I thought the new matrix movie was just a shallow and pretentious excuse to show off what you can do with modern special effects.

Originally posted by Nasor
The greatest kung fu movie, maybe. Personally I thought the new matrix movie was just a shallow and pretentious excuse to show off what you can do with modern special effects.


I thought it was great, and hilarious!

Fantasy

Lord of the Rings 1 --- wow! when i watch it (once a month) it actually feels as deep as the book, quite a feat. The dvd (4 disk set) is also beautifully made.

Lord of the Rings 2 --- Golum and Treebeard, incredible! before LOTR i'd never seen a movie really do a book justice, in my opinion this is the closest ive seen anyone come ... Peter Jackson is the man.

Princess Mononoke --- I'm embarrassed to admit it but I thought it was terrible, ESPECIALLY the voice acting. Its hard to take a character seriously when physically he's short, chubby and asian (for example) but has billy bob thorton's southern drawl coming out of him, I can't think of a worse match. Perhaps I'll try watching with the original voices and subtitles.

Harry Potter 1 & 2 --- I'm really suprised how much I liked these. I'm 32 and I actually went back and read the books after watching, they're fun, like desert that isn't bad for you.

Sci-fi

The Fifth Element --- Im suprised and happy there are fellow element lovers out there. Most sci-fi takes itself so seriously, its very rare a comedy/sci-fi gets a proper budget. Aside from its unusualness in the genre it was just (in my opinion) really well cast and made.

Matrix --- I saw it before I'd heard any hype and loved it, I think it gets under rated often because the hype was/is so omnipresent. It seems that the more hype (valid or not) there is for a movie the less critical acclaim its allowed.

Aliens --- Did its job perfectly and became the benchmark, great flick.

Red Dwarf BBC --- tv show but worth noting as others have. Terrible effects, hilarious, odd (yet somehow compelling) cast and on occasion even thought provoking, i can't get enough.

Honorable mention - Final Fantasy, not the best movie all around but considering the technical hurdles to realistically animating 3-D humans I thought it was as good as was possible at the time and deserved more acclaim. It'll be a while before ne1 tries that again and not because it flopped but because it's soooo damn hard to do.

I'd better stop here, as I write this I realize how many great movies have been made in these genres and I could keep listing all night.

Wish List Movies

"Ringworld" - I agree, all i could think while reading it was how great a movie this could be.

"Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars" - by Kim Stanley Robinson. Before LOTR I would have thought these books to be too complex and epic to make a movie(s) about but now, with the right director and a fat wad of cash, I think its possible.

"Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy" - by Douglas Adams (of course) I'd love to see Fifth Element kind of money and quality spent on this little gem. BBC Tried a TV serise in the 70's but it didn't quite cut it.

Any of you seen invasion?