Ask HN: Interesting sci-fi movies BY TOPIC?
The main reason I like SF (movies) is they explore intriguing ideas. HN has had a number of threads about favorite SF movies, but they tend to repeat the same movies. And some topics are very repetitive, for instance it's hard to find a time-travel movie which does not show the grandfather paradox.
In this post, we can take advantage of threaded nature of HN and create a list of most interesting SF movies by topic. -----------
Rules:
1. Top-level comments are for topics ONLY. I suggest not to upvote any of them, my intent is not karma fishing.
2. Only mention individual movies in comments of 2nd level and later. (index 1 when starting from index 0)
3. For each movie, try to write a single sentence describing why this movie shows an interesting angle.
EDIT: go ahead and create a category if a movie focuses on a different theme!
https://letterboxd.com/illusorium/list/the-cyborg-is-taking-...
https://letterboxd.com/sofaraway/list/parallel-universes/
You can search for your own topics of interest. If you want movie recommendations, it seems more sensible to browse through the site for movie buffs, not the one for engineers.
I posted here precisely because I wanted /your/ recommedations. There are some super smart people around here, and HN is my main source of thought-provoking articles.
I mostly use a website with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Item-item_collaborative_filter...
A crime thriller, a corporate dystopia, a lot of black humor and some social commentary.
What if you installed software on humans?
Could fall into a few different categories but...
A space ark. A major stylistic influence on ones like Star Wars and Alien.
No guns, teleportation or colorful explosions, but a really in-depth exploration of (disembodied) artificial intelligence.
Partially an action movie, but poses a couple of good questions.
How intelligent ants really are? A trippy slow-burner.
An adventure in the depths
Dinosaurs restored back to life from DNA.
Bizarre little indie film, worth sitting through.
A high-budget, playful action movie exploring the respawn mechanic and video-game logic as a military advantage.
Low budget, with partially improvised dialogs, but pretty creepy and with believable human reactions.
Very good for a shoestring budget movie. One of main influences for Fallout and Wasteland. A bit politically incorrect and you may find it offensive.
Warning: some sadistic gore. The person playing the android had a ton of fun. A classic wasteland affair but with some pacing issues.
May be old-fashioned for some, but it's a captivating, action-packed wasteland vision.
An overlooked, but very enjoyable movie in the style of The Matrix. WARNING! The theater version was shoe-horned into an action movie format, including a very spoiler-heavy narration at the start. Either watch the Director's Cut, or mute sound and fast forward to when the title screen.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Ecological dystopia...on a train.
Has some plot holes, but original story with great action sequences.
What could go wrong over 500 years if you keep making stuff user-friendly? It's an American movie, but Americans may find it insulting. The female half of the protagonists got a very disappointing role.
A police officer and an escaped criminal are unfrozen in a cheerful future dystopia. Mostly a classic action movie but with some interesting future flavor and a few good situational jokes.
Proto-cyberpunk. Future world ruled by corporations. A cerebral slow-burner with no special effects, but some interesting questions. Motorcycle action done the hard way.
An opressive bureaucratic dystopia. 1984 seer through the bottom of a beer bottle. Directed by one of the Monty Pythons.
A slow-paced movie, and pacing is its main flaw, but it's an interesting vision of colonies with a great visual style.
Also called "competency porn", it shows the challenges of building a colony on Mars.
This is what this movie is primarily about, although it has an iconic second act (AI) and a terrible last act. One of most realistic depictions of space travel to date.
A comedy about a medieval knight and his squire traveling into modern times.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Not sure where to put it, so I'll stick it here. Deals with the politics behind alien contact, which seems even more relevant in today's political climate.
Set in South Africa. Aliens come not as invaders or exploitable natives, but as confused refugees. Lots of action and spectacular special effects.
What if an alien life form hunted humans for sport?
An American tugboat crew finds an abandoned Russian research vessel. Very good special effects and overall a pretty unique movie, but poor execution. I guess it doesn't stand the test of time but I liked the oppressive atmosphere when I was young. Watch this if you liked System Shock.