Looking for more 'intelligent' scifi movies? They're such a treat.

[Zeze]

Looking for movie recommendations:

I'm a big fan of 'intelligent' scifi that thoroughly paints the near-future world and aptly tackles new social or political issues. This genre is a rarity today compared to 80's & 90's. I just discovered and enjoyed Sunshine (2007). Any other similar movies I may have missed? (in the same vein of Children of Men, Moon, Source Code, Gattaca, etc.)

I'm not looking for campy or fantasy scifi (Avatar, Judge Dred, etc..)

 

[desura]

This is tough, b/c lots of sci-fi devolves into fantasy crap.

Or cheap horror. Why does sci-fi always have something about technology being evil?

5th element was sci-fi'ey and notable.

 

[brianmanahan]

CONTACT

/thread

ps. 3-2-1 contact

 

[TecHNooB]

Moon was a fun movie. seemed very familiar, but I liked it nevertheless.

 

[Agent11]

Anything written by Arther C. Clarke is good, 2001, 2010 space odysseys. Ender's Game is getting released soon.

 

[Kaido]

Not quite sci-fi, but BBC's Sherlock is amazingly brainy & good.

Also Dr. Who if you like more intellectual but still fun shows.

 

[Ken g6]

District 9 was good, though maybe not as good as some of the other movies listed here.

Ever tried Primer? I only made it halfway through, but it sounds like you might like it.

 

[techs]

Continuum. Its a tv show but it fits the bill.

 

[ImpulsE69]

You mentioned most the ones I could think of.

There is a Russian sci fi film called Cargo that is interesting if you don't mind foreign/subs.

"9" is a Tim Burton animated scifi movie that wasn't too bad. (may be a bit too fantasy)

The Divide (futuristic post nuclear movie, not about mutants) more of a personality piece.

If you haven't, try watching Farscape (the series). Great space show, some might seem a bit campy though..

A movie that is more mystery/thriller than sci-fi is Triangle. About the Bermuda triangle, but very well done.

I have to be the only person that can't stand Children of Men or Book of Eli....they both bore me to tears.

(assuming you've already seen Firefly, etc.)

 

[desura]

oh yeah, babylon 5 was pretty smart, and it is plausibly scientific also.

 

[postmortemIA]

Here's list I've seen that I believe is related to what you are looking for:
Dark City
Surrogates
THX 1138
Idiocracy
Equilibrium
Brazil
and more known
District 9

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Ever tried Primer? I only made it halfway through, but it sounds like you might like it.

Primer is so indecipherable and so convoluted that I'm not sure if it's the smartest sci-fi movie ever or the dumbest trying to pretend it's smart. It's cool though, and well worth watching.


Maybe try Solaris or anything based on a Philip K. Dick story. The smartest sci-fi is older stuff like Forbidden Planet or the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. When Star Wars and that class of special effects came along it all but killed intelligent science fiction. Like in gaming, when eye candy takes over brains go out the window.

 

[Triumph]

Prometheus. Really makes you think. Everything isn't spoon fed to you. The storyline has a lot of interweaving components and incorporates a lot of themes from theology and philosophy that you really have to pay attention to see, and have some working knowledge of the subjects in order to....

Ok I can't keep up that lie any longer. Prometheus sucked. Try Solaris.

 

[Mermaidman]

Event Horizon isn't exactly brainy, but it does leave much unexplained, so you have to fill in the holes. Very thrilling movie.

 

[mmntech]

I have to be the only person that can't stand Children of Men or Book of Eli....they both bore me to tears.

A lot of people don't care for Book of Eli. I liked it when it came out, but I was big into Fallout 3 at the time.

Pretty much anything I could recommend has already been mentioned. Brazil tops a lot of must see lists from critics. Too bad more of these films aren't on Netflix.

Ah, I forgot about Blade Runner.

 

[OlafSicky]

Sunshine

 

[angminas]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096584/ First Born (British miniseries, have not seen in decades)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087452/ Iceman

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086429/ Testament

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/ Donnie Darko (did not like)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/ Dark City

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/ The Truman Show

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/ Ghost In The Shell

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/ Jacob's Ladder (psychological, not sci-fi)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080360/ Altered States (have not seen)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/ THX-1138

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092218/ Windaria (fantasy and campy, but intensely powerful and deals with social issues)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071360/ The Conversation (psychological, not sci-fi)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/ A Scanner Darkly

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/ The Andromeda Strain (have not seen)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/ Fail-Safe (not quite sci-fi)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100339/ Patlabor (don't be fooled by the box art, this isn't Robotech)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407362/ Battlestar Galactica (2004 series)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117965/ The Trigger Effect (not quite sci-fi)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089092/ Enemy Mine

 

[ImpulsE69]

Event Horizon isn't exactly brainy, but it does leave much unexplained, so you have to fill in the holes. Very thrilling movie.

I love this movie, but didn't suggest it since I kind of thought it went against what he was asking for.

 

[desura]

I really can't recommend Babylon 5 enough. It and Farscape are my favorite sci-fi series of all time.

 

[WiseUp216]

Event Horizon isn't exactly brainy, but it does leave much unexplained, so you have to fill in the holes. Very thrilling movie.

Very underrated space horror flick.

I think there is a director's cut that adds a bunch to the film but isn't likely to ever be released. What a shame.


Edit:
From IMDB --

On its release, Event Horizon met with mostly negative reviews and a disappointing box office result. It was still a few years before the rise of the dvd market, when deleted scenes and alternate versions would become commonplace, so as a consequence of all this, not much care was taken with unused footage from the movie. Some years later, when the movie started to gain a cult status, a team started to compile material for the special edition dvd release, and they literally had to fly all over the world for it. Some (parts of) deleted scenes were retrieved, but they were so few and in such bad condition, that restoring them into the movie was out of the question (according to Anderson, some footage had been stored in an abandonned Transsylvanian salt mine). As such, much of the movie as intended by the director is now considered lost, so unless more material turns up in better condition, an extended edition is most unlikely to be released.

 

[BladeVenom]

Event Horizon sucks. It's like a bad episode of Star Trek turned into an R rated horror movie.

I don't get why anyone recommends that movie. It's the exact opposite of what the OP is asking for.

 

[Agent11]

Yea no hard science in event horizon.

 

[Paratus]

Event Horizon sucks. It's like a bad episode of Star Trek turned into an R rated horror movie.

I don't get why anyone recommends that movie. It's the exact opposite of what the OP is asking for.

Interestingly if you are into Warhammer 40k you can consider Event Horizon as kind of a prequel.

If you aren't familiar with 40k the same thing happens to any ship going warp without appropriate protection as happened to the Event Horizon.

 

[Schmide]

Have you done your animation tour of Sci-fi?

Battle for Terra

Titan A.E.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Gandahar

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

and so on...

They often deal with these ethical questions better than live action.

 

[BladeVenom]

Interestingly if you are into Warhammer 40k you can consider Event Horizon as kind of a prequel.

If you aren't familiar with 40k the same thing happens to any ship going warp without appropriate protection as happened to the Event Horizon.

And Warhammer 40k is more fantasy than serious sci-fi.