Best science fiction film of the 21st century (so far)

[label]

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

You're like the third person who's listed this.....other than the small one plot device where someone can be made to forget a relationship, how exactly does anyone consider this a "Sci-Fi" movie?

Or, has someone changed the definition of the word Sci-Fi and has forgotten to send me the memo?? Perhaps someone could help me out here and help me understand what's Sci-Fi about that movie because I'll admit, it has been quite a few years since I've seen it now.

 

[Harvey]

It's not my favorite film of the past ten years--I think it's a little overrated. But to call the forgetting technology a small plot device is selling the film a little short, isn't it? The whole movie hinges on the conceit.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

You're like the third person who's listed this.....other than the small one plot device where someone can be made to forget a relationship, how exactly does anyone consider this a "Sci-Fi" movie?

Or, has someone changed the definition of the word Sci-Fi and has forgotten to send me the memo?? Perhaps someone could help me out here and help me understand what's Sci-Fi about that movie because I'll admit, it has been quite a few years since I've seen it now.

But where exactly is the difference between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception in that regard? In any case, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 2004.

 

[Switch]

Just because it features characters having feelings, talking to one another, and generally behaving vaguely like human beings doesn't mean it isn't sci-fi. Although you could be forgiven for thinking so.

 

[SG-17]

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I voted District 9, but I haven't seen Moon or Children of Men, which I am told are both excellent.

Indeed they are. I'm looking forward to Duncan Jones' next film.

I voted Star Trek. The fanboy in me won out over the serious movie critic.

Hehehe ... I almost picked Star Trek, but ended up picking Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless. I know it's not the traditional science fiction film, but a rom-comedy with scifi elements. Could have been a number of films. I've found there is a number of films that I could have voted for.

 

[stj]

It was tough to make the call between AI, The Man From Earth and Avatar. But in the end, the movies are about delivering an experience you can't get from the stage, which gave Avatar the edge over The Man From Earth. And good as AI was, Avatar was more adventurous in its themes as well as more coherent in its science fiction.

Avatar.

 

[Kelso]

I decided to give some love to The Man From Earth.

Okay, maybe it wasn't the best one on the list... but I love me some Bixby.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm a little surprised that there's no Serenity love so far.

I'm not. I love "Firefly" and I love the movie, but I can recognize that there are much better science fiction films out there.

 

[label]

Just because it features characters having feelings, talking to one another, and generally behaving vaguely like human beings doesn't mean it isn't sci-fi. Although you could be forgiven for thinking so.

lol

Sure, but there's been great Sci-Fi where the characters talk to each other and act like human beings. Take Farscape.....the relationship between John and Aeryn is a very good example of how a romance with all it's ups and downs can be portrayed in a Sci-Fi story/setting.

With Eternal Mind (which I really enjoyed, by the way) was set in our current time and place with our current level of technology with the one exception being the "forgetting machine". The only reason they even had any sci-fi elements at all in the first place was because they wanted to tell a romantic story about what it would be like if you could voluntarily forget the person you used to love so much. Solution: Invent dues ex machine to enable the actual story to be told, none of which is really concerned with the technology or setting they're in. It's a great idea for a story, but it could have just as easily been a pill, hypnosis or eve amnesia or something. While the machine did play an important part in allowing the story to be told, it was not central to the story by any means.

I think most good Sci-Fi requires the technology and setting to be significantly different than our own and I just never felt like the world they were living in was really any different than the one I'm living in.

Someone else mentioned how inception was different......for me it was hugely different in that the technology used played such a central part in the actual story itself and was so far removed from anything that we currently have that it clearly belongs in the Sci-Fi genre.

I dunno......could just be me, but if I were online renting the movie I sure wouldn't think to look under "Sci-Fi" for Eternal Mind......Drama....sure........romance or even comedy.....sure, in a million years I wouldn't think to look under "Sci-Fi" for it.

 

[OsmiumJohnnycake]

voted other for Primer (2004)

 

[Ruaidhri]

Children of Men.

 

[Hyperspace05]

I think most good Sci-Fi requires the technology and setting to be significantly different than our own and I just never felt like the world they were living in was really any different than the one I'm living in.

That may be *your* definition of Sci-Fi, but it certainly is not everyone's. And as someone else mentioned, "Eternal..." won Sci-Fi awards.

To me, "Sci-Fi" is most easily boiled down to "What-if?" technological scenarios - and how they would affect us:
- What if time travel was possible.
- What if we had warp drive.
- What if we were able to travel between parallel realities.
- What if we had technology to control our dreams.
- What if we had the technology to alter memories.
- What if... Well, you get the idea.

Many Sci-Fi films or series combine several of those. Some do not. But to narrow yourself to films set in the future or films that have aliens (or whatever your definition might be) is selling the concept short, I think.

Sci-Fi, like any other story telling category, is are ultimately about characters. (good stories, anyway) Good Sci-Fi tries to examine how these technological changes/abilities affect the characters. Which is something "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" does in a great way.

 

[6079SmithW]

The trekkie in me wants to vote Star Trek but the browncoat in me wants to vote Serenity. Hmm. A dilemma.

 

[PsychoPere]

Other: The Fountain (2006)

I voted Children of Men, but had "The Fountain" been on the list that might have been my vote.

I also voted "Other" for The Fountain, and Children of Men would be my second choice.

 

[Jetfire]

Iron Man & Spider-Man...no The Dark Knight!? What is separating TDK from Spidey, IM & The Incredibles???

 

[Xavier_Storma]

Gimme a break... someone actually voted for TREK (2009) as the best Sci-Fi film of the last decade?



I mean, come on... one can like that movie, granted. But INCEPTION, D9, CHILDREN OF MEN and so many other were so much better.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Avatar. There's not a close second, really.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Iron Man & Spider-Man...no The Dark Knight!? What is separating TDK from Spidey, IM & The Incredibles???

Iron Man uses a powered armor (in fact, much of the first movie deals with how this suit was conceived and built). Spider-Man is a guy who gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider and then mutates. Batman is a billionaire who goes into the Himalaya to learn how to fight criminals. Not much Sci-fi here. At least not as central plot device like in the other two movies. The most scifi-ish element of The Dark Knight is probably the "cellphone sonar network".

Gimme a break... someone actually voted for TREK (2009) as the best Sci-Fi film of the last decade?

It's a Trek board after all. But, yeah, I'm suprised that it is currently tied for second place with District 9. I'm also astonished that Moon does not better.

Therefore, I decided to vote for Moon. Runner-up: Children of Men.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I'm shocked to discover I've only seen four of these (Donnie Darko, Revenge of the Sith, Serenity and Star Trek).

Out of those, I'll give Donnie Darko the nod. Star Trek was a lot of fun and the other two were pretty enjoyable, but that's the best film, I think.