1001 SFF movies you must see before you die

Having just watched Soylent Green, I agree with thepaladin and i'd have to add that classic movie to this list. A great film. I thoroughly recommend it.
 
Just re-watched Slaughterhouse 5. It has been a while since I read the book, but the opening lines of the film where Billy Pilgrim stated that he had become "unstuck in time" instantly told me he was the model for Henry Detamble in The Time Traveller's Wife. No romantic musings in this film though as Billy travels back and forth in his own timeline and we witness the horrors of WWII and the Dresden bombings through his eyes and see the impact it had on his life. The book was biographical in that Vonnegut was a PoW in Dresden during the firebombing.

The random timeline was a popular plot device in novels and films of the time (think Catch 22, the best war movie ever), so this film has a similar feel. Definitely worth a look.
 
gully_foyle said:
Soylent Green is an excellent movie. I haven't seen it for a while but I don't remember any particular cornyness to it. It is also notable as a film adaptation of Harry Harrison's Make Room, Make Room although I understand (having not read the book) that there are some pretty significant plot differences.
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The real differences between the book and the film was the fact there wasn't any "twist". In the book, Soylent products were out of the reach of the general population, because it was actually quite expensive.

The novel was essentially a crime story set in a future world where 95% of the population was starving.
 
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Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky is definitely worth a mention. Other notable films would have to be Mad Max and The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). Though I'd say these have been mentioned already?
 
Has anyone mentioned The 6th Day, yet? Or Timecop?

I watched Timecop a while back and The 6th Day last night. They're both daft but they're still enjoyable and in their own ways they're actually quite good, kinda like The Fifth Element - daft but incredibly enjoyable.

It seems to me that Arnie really enjoys his SF films (I don't think I've seen a film with him in that isn't SF in some way or other).

EDIT: Oooh, I've watched a lot of films over the past few months which I think deserve mentions (don't think they've been posted yet). I know a number of them are quite recent, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be watched:

9 - talking puppets in a post-apocalyptic world. Some nice ideas.
1408 - contains best Samuel L. Jackson live ever, "It's an evil -ing room". King adaptation.
Akira - some nice Japanese post-apocalyptic stuffs.
Back to the Future Trilogy - I may be wrong, but I didn't see this mentioned as I scanned back through the thread.
Blade Trilogy - same goes for this. It lost direction by the third, but the first is brilliant.
Cronos - in this world of Twilight, a totally different view of Vampires is nice to see. One of Del Toro's earliest films.
Equilibrium - haters be haters. A dystopian society with some superb action sequences.
Gamer - playing FPS with criminals. A very interesting idea.
Jumper - nothing spectacular, but seeing someone jumping around the world at whim is amusing. Plus it has Samuel L. Jackson in it!
Pandorum - space horror with Dennis Quaid. I can't find enough things set on abandoned spaceships. Wonderful twist.
Silent Running - classic, slow SF. Biodomes, insanity, and poker with three robots.
Stargate - the film that started the series. Quite fun.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - someone must have mentioned this! Sure, it's not as great as the books, but it's a good attempt.
Unbreakable - Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in a non-comformist superhero film.

And then there are things like Primer, Riddick, Terminator and various roboty things which have already been mentioned but I'd like to add my backing to.

EDIT2: OK, more.

David Lynch's Dune, whilst strange, was a nice step in the right direction.

2010, the sequel to 2001 is good fun. Not entirely necessary, but still worth a watch.

The 1995 film of Casper still gets me and I recommend watching it if only for the beautiful piano theme, One Last Wish (Horner at his best).

Coraline is a surprisingly creepy adaptation of the Gaiman novel, but holds wonderful rewatchability (yeah, it's a word now).

Daybreakers is a look at a future ruled by vampires whose supply of blood is running out - a nice concept that I've not seen before.

I'm going to throw out Independence Day for it's sheer bad-assery.

The Mummy is a film I've re-watched many times, yet it still makes me jump. The sequel, The Mummy Returns, was alright, but the third one was dire... I'm not even going to name it.

Sleepy Hollow is always good fun, as is another film with Christopher Walken, The Stepford Wives.

And a zombie film that doesn't really take itself seriously, but it fantastically brilliant nonetheless - Zombieland!
 
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It seems to me that Arnie really enjoys his SF films (I don't think I've seen a film with him in that isn't SF in some way or other).
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Commando, no SF in that. Just one mean MF trying to get his daughter back :)

some great films in your list lenny, I particularly like
9 and Equilibrium, but only a recent views.
I (tried to) watch Push yesterday, but fell asleep, I never sleep through films, so it must have been pretty awful. I thought it started as a nice idea, but went a bit pants.
Pandorum was good, Soylent Green was ok, but silent running was terrible IMHO.
 
Blade Runner....(Director's Cut for me)

A Clockwork Orange.....

The Terminator....(plot holds up much better than the sequels)

Alien/Aliens....(If I'm in the mood for Hitchcockian style of mystery, I'll watch the first...if I'm in the mood for slam bang action, I'll watch the second)
 
Screamers (1995). Some loves it, some hates it. Personally I love it, regardless it's far away from Philip K. Dick's original novel, Second Variety.

Starship Troopers (1997). Another adaptation, which is a distant relative to the original novel, Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

Time Masters (1982). An oldie and forgotten French-Hungarian animated movie with a clever science fiction plot.
 
Star Trek (2009). Whilst I sympathise with the concerns that it messes with the canon, it did boldly breathe new life into the franchise. As Abrams said, it was Star Trek with a Star Wars pace. Pine as Kirk was okay, but I thought Zachary Quinto made an excellent Spock. Also it didn't feel too heavy handed with the CGI. Makes me want to go back and check out the classic movies, especially The Wrath of Khan.
 
Logan's Run (1976). Why I am including this film is a mystery to me, it appears so B grade when you watch it now. The terrible sets, the appalling acting and the dire special effects don't really recommend it. But it was a product of its time, a scifi thriller and cautionary tale of the type that were staple fodder (Westworld, Z.P.G., Planet of the Apes, etc) until George Lucas catapulted us into the universe. So it was kind of enjoyable. And it had Jenny Agutter in it.
 
I'm surprised I haven't seen K-PAX mentioned. Spacey on top form. Is he crazy?...or is he light years ahead of us? Though is it actually SciFi or Mystery?
 
I liked K-Pax... but then I used to have a weird thing for Kevin Spacey.

Nobody's mentioned Stardust either! Madness.
 
Ok. Stardust. :D

How about I Sell the Dead, does that count as SFF? There's an alien in it. And zombie things.
 
All the talk of Arnold and nobody's mentioned Predator? I mainly watched it to see Carl Weathers after there was a gag reference to his role in it during the tv show Arrested Development... and it's a sci-fi/action blast!

Good to see Fifth Element and Galaxy Quest get mentioned... those movies are both a riot.
 
Justin_B said:
Agree with 'The Last Starfigther' and 'Quiet Earth'.

They Live - low budget take on 'aliens among us / body snatchers' theme. Too short, poor script, but I love it anyway

Brain Dead - a Peter Jackson classic.
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They Live has one of the best movie lines ever, and if the story is true, Rowdy Roddy improvised it. 100 Nothings if you can guess it!
 
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