Counting down my Top 10 Seriously Underrated SF Movies:
10. The Host. Not the adaptation of the Stephanie Meyer novel, but the 2006 S. Korean creature feature that it seems to me MOST PEOPLE HAVE STILL NOT SEEN. WHY NOT?? It is so good. Smart, scary, funny, JUST SEE IT ALREADY.
10. The Host. Not the adaptation of the Stephanie Meyer novel, but the 2006 S. Korean creature feature that it seems to me MOST PEOPLE HAVE STILL NOT SEEN. WHY NOT?? It is so good. Smart, scary, funny, JUST SEE IT ALREADY.
9. Predestination. I'm not a fan of time travel stories. A clever chicken-egg puzzle does not a story make. I didn't like this movie much after I watched it. But the human story stuck with me strongly afterward, enough so that I'd watch it again. That lands it on this list.
8. Snowpiercer. Another Boon Joon Ho movie (see: The Host; damn the man is good, am ashamed I haven't seen Okja yet). Crazy premise brought to life as a grim and violent social parable, with scenes that are going to stick with me forever.
7. Oblivion. Hate on Tom Cruise all you want, he's a great action star, and yes, the premise of this movie is dumb (aliens mining Earth for water) but this movie was twisty and fun and also I love Morgan Freeman. DAMMIT I ENJOYED IT SO SUE ME.
6. Contact. Not sure this belongs on the list since I think people know about it? CLEARLY NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE THO, B/C WHY DON'T WE TALK ABOUT THIS MOVIE ALL THE TIME? Jodie Foster in an intelligent, realistic, thought-provoking first contact story. This movie and Arrival are 🤩
5. Sunshine. Watched this last night and am still kinda mad that all my SFF friends didn't tell me about it earlier b/c sure, I had to work hard to suspend disbelief at some pts, but the acting and the execution were 💯. I CARED SO MUCH. Also I'll watch Michelle Yeoh in anything.
4. Europa Report. Is it b/c this movie has been called that most damning word, "slow," that it seems ALMOST NO ONE HAS SEEN IT? Hi, it relies on ACTUAL SCIENCE w/ BELIEVABLE SCIENTIST CHARACTERS working at a steady tension-filled burn instead of wham-bam Hollywood histrionics??
3. Moon. Smart and moving at the same time, the whole thing relies on psychological tension and mystery and the acting chops of Sam Rockwell. Gahh it's so good. When someone says they haven't seen Moon, I want to grab and shake them.
2. Annihilation. It came out this year w/ no marketing or fanfare and disappeared from theaters. The injustice angers me deeply and lands the movie on my #2 spot. This SF horror flick w/ a killer female cast incl. Natalie Portman deserved so much more viewership and still does.
1. Edge of Tomorrow. No contest. Badly marketed, it did so poorly at the box office it was re-titled Live. Die. Repeat. for DVD. It seems to have found more of an audience now, but THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE SLEEPING ON ONE OF MY FAVORITE ACTION SCI-FI MOVIES, WHAT IS WITH THAT??
What are your personal picks? I know there are other gems out there. Still on my TBW list: Cargo, Mr. Nobody, 2046, Paul, and Equilibrium. (I didn't include some of my all time faves like Dark City and Gattaca b/c they have enough of a following that ppl KNOW they're underrated.)
