Top 10 Science Fiction / Fantasy Films

What's in a List?

As a general rule, I don't like to list anything as my favorite or rank them from one to ten. I prefer to have tiers (levels) that I would include as my best. This system allows me to consider several films that are very different on equal footing. Each of them has left an impression on the genre that has made them unforgettable. Considering they span eight decades of film-making, they are quite remarkable. I also included some TV Science Fiction. I felt that although this list is about movies, it's also about the genre of science fiction /fantasy. Everything in this top level is to me the best. Every one of them has a reason and a meaning for being on this list.

They are in no particular order:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS

THE LORD OF THE RINGS (all 3 films, as one) - Peter Jackson's brilliant homage to Tolkien's fantasy. It wasn't just the screen adaptation that was brilliant, but it showed his deep respect, passion and reverence for the original book. An unforgettable score, set and costume designs that literally brought the feel of the book directly to the screen. Only a devoted fan could have accomplished such a huge undertaking. Jackson found the balance between those who never read the books, with those who had. He identified specific memorable scenes from the original material (book), then accurately reconstructed them onto the screen, connecting them like pearls on a string, while adapting the story to fit the medium. My only regret was it didn't win the twelfth Oscar to make it the most oscared film in motion picture history, and yet all three films did win a total of 17 Oscars which puts it in a category all its own.

KING KONG

KING KONG (1933) - It's the original Kong. It's the one film that most science fiction directors, special effects and visual artists consider the seminal film, the template for all epic films of its kind that were to come. It defined the genre of what was to become the fantasy film. It's the great Kong, the eight wonder of the world. It put the newly built Empire State building onto the cinematic map as one of the most important structures ever built. It's also the retelling of the Beauty and the Beast legend that has captivated audiences and readers since it was written.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) - The only science fiction film that I know that featured no alien technology. It could be classified as a mystery, a social satire on a communist takeover of a free society in the mid-fifties. But it's that look of horror and that drop of dirty cave water dripping from the tip of Kevin McCarthy's nose as he looks into Becky's (Dana Winters) eyes in the cave scene as he realizes that she has become a pod person that sealed that picture as one of my top ten favorites. It also made me look twice at Brussel Sprouts before I would eat it. Filmed in just 2 weeks in stark black and white, with memorable performances by Carolyn Jones (Morticia Adams from the TV show, The Addams Family). If anyone hasn't seen that film, they should go out and rent it or buy it. It's a true classic.

FORBIDDEN PLANET

FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) - A solid piece of outstanding science fiction, as a loose reinterpretation of Shakespeare's Tempest. Walter Pigeon as a philologist studying an ancient, extinct society; Leslie Nielsen as the Captain of the space craft, with a backdrop of cheesy set and costume designs which often reminds me that it's the progenitor of Classic Star Trek that would come ten years later. And of course, Robbie the Robot, a miniature of which has sat on my desk for years. The eerie sound effects are astounding and worthy of a classic that has stood for five decades as one of the greatest science fiction classics of all time. No film is more deserving of being considered on any top ten list as this one. Its message is timeless, and its psychological implications of "monsters from the Id" still relevant to contemporary human evolution.

ALIENS

ALIENS - This is the movie that redefined the meaning of hero, and expanded it to include women. Segourney Weaver shines in this "thumpa-thumpa" heart pounding thriller that was also the first performance by any actor to receive an academy award nomination, as best actress, for a science fiction role. Although Aliens is the film to be on this list, Alien deserves a place as part of the film's back-story. Every sequence of events lead the audience down a path of adrenaline-filled danger as Weaver is continually faced with confrontation that at the very end defines the meaning of what heroism is: heroism isn't overcoming one's fear to act, but acting in spite of one's fear. This is the reason it's on my list.

Next 5 on My List

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