I was reading this list of the 50 greatest sci-fi movies of the last 50 years, and it was all fairly predictable. There’s only a couple that I’d disagree with, but there were a few that would have made the list in place of them if I were compiling it myself, and I realised my additions were less mainstream or less critically acclaimed than were on there.
What guilty-pleasure sci-fi movies would you recommend?
For starters, ones I’ve watched a bunch of times would be:
Dredd (2012)
Pandorum (2009)
Lockout (2012)
Monsters (2010)
Guilty:
- Ready Player One
- Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
- Godzilla vs Kong
- Resident Evil
- Transformers (first Michael Bay one)
- Ghostbusters Afterlife
- Dune 1984
- Armageddon
- The Day After Tomorrow
- Johnny Mnemonic
- Equilibrium
Not That Guilty:
- Ghostbusters 2016
- Pacific Rim
- Bumblebee
- Tron: Legacy
- Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
- Bill & Ted Face the Music
- Robocop
- Alien Romulus
- The Terminator
- Terminator Dark Fate
- Star Trek 2009
- Star Wars Rogue One
- Solo: a Star Wars Story
- Minority Report
- Upgrade
- Short Circuit
- V for Vendetta
- Dredd
- Hot Tub Time Machine
I Will Defend These To My Grave As Masterpieces
- Interstellar
- Independence Day
- Tron
- Back to the Future trilogy
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- The Matrix
- The Fifth Element
- Terminator 2
- The Abyss
- Arrival
- Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049
- Ghostbusters OG
- Inception
- The Martian
- Mad Max Fury Road
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Dune 2021
- Alien and Aliens
- Star Wars original trilogy
- Total Recall
- Event Horizon
- Wall-E
- The Rocketeer
Great list, for Equilibrium alone, which I loved. Event Horizon also, that’s an unquestionable masterpiece.
The extreme horror of Event Horizon limits its appeal but I think it’s brilliant.
I read a while back that there was a much longer, far more gruesome version of the blood orgy scene that had to be cut because of how disturbing it was. I hate that sort of thing generally - I usually can’t watch horror without shitting myself - but the fact that it’s part of a film I loved makes me disappointed I won’t see it.
I’ve heard of that too, that the original film decayed in a vault or something. Pity. I’m not a torture porn fan or total gorehound myself, but I’d pay to see that footage just out of curiosity.
Rocketeer was so good. I’m amazed Disney hasn’t rebooted it as a TV series.
It’s one of the most underrated movies of all time in my opinion. It’s just a gem and it’s incredible fun for all ages.
Where would the movie The Cell end up on this list?
Honestly I only saw it once. Might watch it again as a guilty pleasure though.
I never understood guilt pleasures. If you enjoy something why are you feeling guilty?
It’s just a phrase, you don’t literally have to feel guilty.
watch Crippled Masters. then you’ll understand
For me would have to be:
Johnny Mnemonic
District 9
Mars Attacks
Natural City
Pacific Rim
*Edit to add 12 Monkeys
+1 for Johnny Mnemonic
Not familiar with natural city.
District 9, Mars Attacks, and Pacific Rim are masterpieces and I will hear no criticisms.
I was running a video rental store at the time and discovered it as one of our new release foreign titles.
This is the first time hearing of Natural City. Seeing it with all those other movies, though, makes me wanna find it because it has to be good to fit with the others.
(Btw, you need to hit two line breaks to get new lines)
Thanks for the reminder, the markdown on mobile caches me sideways if I’m not paying attention (which is more often than not)
Another one for the list: Cube (1997). Low budget sci-fi horror-ish movie that I remember being pretty polarising.
I love Cube! But don’t forget about Cube 2: Hypercube, or the (admittedly weaker) prequel, Cube: Zero. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_(film_series)
I keep reading that Event Horizon is supposed to be a flawed movie. I disagree, and quite like it. “Go in blind”, as in don’t read up on the plot, if you plan on seeing it, though.
It’s great, and Sam Neill is a superb antagonist. It ruined every other film of his I’ve watched since though, because all I can picture is him as a manifestation of insanity.
He’s surprisingly adept at that.
The last quarter of the movie has a weird tone shift that I don’t want to get too deep into here.
No spoilers ;)
The Arrival with Charlie Sheen. I do enjoy watching my DVD copy of this one.
The Iron Giant are War games are also a popular one for me.
R.O.T.O.R. is my ultimate guilty pleasure.
Oh and there is this movie Pulse (1988) OMG that movie is amazing lol
Ok I’ll stop.
I’d never heard of The Arrival. I’ve just read that Sheen’s character is called Zane Zaminsky which immediately gives me an idea of the quality of the movie, and guarantees I’ll watch it.
Pulse was an odd one. The only thing I remember about it is the shower scene, for reasons other than I would typically remember a shower scene.
The Arrival is really pretty good popcorn flick. There is a sequel, but eh not worth it.
In no particular order…
-
Hulk (2003)
-
Dark City (1998) (Pro tip: Start the movie, but mute it until Kiefer Sutherland comes in and looks at his watch, just a minute or so into the film).
-
Armitage III: Poly-Matrix (1995)
-
Virtuosity (1995)
-
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
-
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
-
Super Mario Bros. (1993)
These are ones that I have true fondness for, but if I had to really get down to it, I would have to admit are kind of terrible.
I could list a handful of others like Transformers: The Movie, Heavy Metal, Willow, or Highlander that I would mark down as “Pulpy, arguably even a bit trashy, but absolutely fantastic and not at all guilty pleasures.”
Excellent mention of the og Mario brothers. Dark city too. Well done!
Dark City is a great shout. The director’s cut loses the voiceover at the start, and is definitely the version to watch.
-
I’m with you on TLJ vs. Rogue One.
TLJ was trying to accomplish something really interesting with the Saga. The scene where Luke explains the nature of the Force is top-tier Star Wars, possibly the best discussion of the subject in the entire series with the exception of Yoda in Empire. The interplay between Rey and Kylo is fascinating, and the “You’re no one, but not to me. Come with me. Please.” scene is also one of my favorites in the entire series. It’s got pacing issues, and Canto Bight is deeply annoying, but almost every other criticism is fairly superficial and could have been fixed by another script revision and more judicious editing.
Rogue One is… fine, I guess. It exists to plug a plot hole that didn’t need plugging. It’s got 7/5 too many characters; none of them are terrible, in fact they’re all fairly interesting, but we spend so much time juggling them all that I’d have been happier if they’d cut a couple. They bring in heavy fucking hitter actors like Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker, and Ben Mendelsohn, give them interesting characters to play, criminally underuse them, and then summarily kill them all off without further comment. There’s basically nothing in Rogue One that isn’t done better in Saving Private Ryan
The dog fight in orbit was dope, the Death Star partial fire sequences were cool, Vader killing a bunch of guys was… kinda cool I guess but you shouldn’t really hang an entire movie on one sequence.
It did give us Andor, though, and for that it deserves some credit.
Starship Troopers??
I’d say that’s universally loved tbh, plus it also makes the top 50 in the Kotaku link above, but otherwise, yes!
Yeah, I didn’t even read what you were saying…just saw Sci-Fi and blurted it out. Lol
Roland Emmerich’s movies are more disaster than sci-fi predominantly, but I enjoy them even though they are of very questionable quality, especially 2012.
I liked Shin Kamen Rider even though the acting leaves something to be desired and the plot is kind of obtuse, plus the CGI is kind of cheesy.
The American Digimon movie (2000) is kind of a mess in terms of editing and the third part sucks, but I really enjoy the voice acting and the first two parts are solid if a bit rushed. Also the Barenaked Ladies needle drop is iconic.
Why are these guilty pleasures? I unironically LOVE all the movies I recognize and can’t wait to check out the one I don’t recognize. These movies are fucking tits. Fight me.
Edit: except for the guy that said the 2016 version of Ghostbusters. No. Just no.
I’m gonna add Riddick (2013) to my list too. Pitch Black is obviously better and more well regarded so not really a guilty pleasure, but Riddick is another great underdog imo.
Elysium was great. I think I spent most of my time watching Ready Player One the same way I did with Deadpool & Wolverine - pointing at the screen going “Look, that’s x from y!”
Spectral! Unique plot, as far as I know. Never seen anything quite like it, probably watched it 10-times by now.
I really enjoyed Total Recall, but I expect 99% of that was down to my obsession with Beckinsale.
Agreed, the Rebel Moon movies were beyond awful. I have no clue how they got greenlit. There’s no guilty pleasure there, they’re just objectively bad.
My list would be way too long to type on my phone, but I’m glad no one said Chappie.
Strange Days
Dark City
13th Floor
Moon
Cube
Animatrix
Heavy Metal
Dude Where’s My Car
Cowboys Vs Aliens
Paprika
Patlabor II
Strange Days is like an alternate universe where the miniDisc became the dominant format.
Excellent mention of 13th floor and moon. Patlabor too. Nice!
thanks. would you count City of Lost Children as sci-fi?
I’ve personally never seen it. It looks pretty interesting from the overview. At first glance, it seems there is a very plausible argument for it being considered sci-fi. I feel like there might be a 12 Monkeys sort of vibe to it. Nice suggestion, thanks!
Just rewatched the 13th floor this week, it’s SO close to being excellent, but doesn’t quite reach what it could be capable of.
Fun flick, main actor is better than I remembered.
