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My Top 130 Favorite Sci-Fi Movies... Of Like, Ever
 73  3  0  What happens when the Martians start to get nasty around the holiday season? They end up getting a nice big ol' can of whoop-ass for Christmas from none other than Santa hisself. Oh, & you'll notice that the B-movies and/or guilty pleasures are closer here on the end of the list. The quality of films will get better as we get nearer to number one. I promise. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
297 5.9 5.8  The aliens are through klowning around (torturously kliche bad pun intended). They're hungry for human flesh. Or in this case, human soup(?). And so in order to satiate their appetites, they're taking out the big guns. Or in this case, the big balloon animals. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
965 6.6 6.7  Before there was the Matrix, there was TRON. Okay, so maybe there really isn't all that much as far as compelling storyline goes in this cyber-epic-fantasy. But, boy, those visuals were unlike anything we had seen before. The science of computer graphic effects were fully upon us & in a land not too far away, the force known as CGI was gestating to become the meat that would make the eyes of sci-fan's drool from here to the eternity of this genre's future. Maybe I look upon this film with the nostaglcic affection that held my young visual senses in a unblinking attention at the time, but it also represented of what was possible when man & modem meet. I won't try to convince anyone out there that this is a great film on any level (especially since this was the same year the superior sci-fi world of Blade Runner was also released), but I do feel that it's a step in science fiction that was inevitable. You are now entering the infinite possibilities of cyber-space. Not to mention the matrix of my own personal guilty pleasures. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
360 7.1 7.3  This version of Snatchers might not be able to live up to the prestige of the original (might as well include the 1993 remake Body Snatchers with this entry. Along with 2007's Invasion starring Nicole Kidman. And any other future sub-standard remakes from the idea-deprived Hollywood machine decides to crank out....), but still, that shot of the dog with the human face really creeped me out as a kid. Enough so as to make me cross the street whenever I saw a stray pooch heading in my direction. 
422 4.6 3.8  A camp infested B/W sci-fi flick filled to the brim with a heaping sense of guilty pleasure. To keep this entry short, here's another list that I made which includes Plan 9 & explains why I like it: http://www.listal.com/list/guilty-pleasures-thecelestial The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1119 5.7 6.4  Okay, I'll admit, the story was boring, & the people looked stiff despite the motion capture technology. But still, at the time of it's release, the visuals were really something to behold. For me, this was a major stepping stone that would eventually lead to some of the most high tech images we are seeng the screen today. 
356 6.1 6.3  Elderly owners of a small, crumbling tenant building are threatened with eviction, but are saved by tiny sentient flying saucers. A Mini-Me version of Close Encounters Of The 3rd. Kind, with just a splash of Cocoon, for flavor. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
70 6 5.5  The King of All Monsters takes on a giant shambling mountain of red-eyed sludge that terrorizes the island of Japan by transforming itself into a flying smog-billowing force of pollution incarnate. Kinda makes you want to start recycling, huh? 
175 7.2 7.3  Ants. Atomic radiation. The process of mutation. The desert. You do the math. 
71 5.2 5.3  Anyone else remember this space-faring, ice-stealing, Urich-starring, not-so-classical sci-fi 80's film-fare? Anyone...? Anyone....? ...Bueller...? The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
526 6.4 6.3  Okay, maybe not the most exciting sci-fi film ever, and not even the best of the Trek franchise. But as someone who wasn't a fan of the TV show, for me it was kinda cool to see it updated on the silverscreen with a blockbuster budget. And, for what it was, I did enjoy it. Besides, it did eventually lead up to the Wrath of Khan, Voyage Home &, of course, the awesome 2009 "reboot". The Mighty Celestial's rating:
4750 6.1 6.5  Growing up with the first three Star Wars movies that made up the original Trilogy, I, of course, was not the biggest fan of the later films. But, I was still able to enjoy the visuals of these new millennium flix, particularly, the diversity of kick-ass looking aliens & otherworldy creatures (my favorite aspect of the franchise, actually). 
67 6.5 5.3  Where does one even begin to describe this movie? I guess you could start by saying that if one could imagine the concept of a cyborg geisha that could transform into a wall-clinging half battletank in order to fight a multi-tiered pagoda that transforms into a giant daikaiju-style rubber-suited robot and then if one could imagine fried shrimp being used as a deadly assassin's weapon and then, threw in every kind of Dali-esque type of violent asian outrageousness possible, then you might be able to capture a vague resemblance of a description for this movie. I still have a hard time believing that I actually saw this film & that it wasn't part of some 'shroom-induced nightmare. 
427 6.1 6.4  Another modern take on the idea of aliens walking the Earth. Well...... this is actually more of a love story with a backdrop of giant aliens monsters, of which we probably don't see enough of. But still, I gotta give credit to this movie for trying to do something in it intermingling of genres. For my tastes it wasn't as successful in efforts as I would've like it to be, but I truly admire the quality in which this project was approached by it's creators. 
17 6.4 4  Spoiler alert! In this particular Frankenstein movie, Doc Vic's creation enters the Toho universe & goes from being just a plain ol' human-sized Frankenstein's Monster to becoming a giant several stories tall Frankenstein's Kaiju Monster. Well, at least, in his heart he does. And here's the spoiler alert part; despite what the movie title suggests, Frankenstein doesn't really actually conquer the world. But at the height of 300 feet, he does end up covering alot more landscape than before. And in keeping with the theme of mashing up the madcap with the macabre, Mary Shelley rolls over in her grave. 
233 6.5 6.3  During the height of McCarthyism & the Red Scare, comes yet another sci-fi film taking advantage of the attitude scoring across the country at this time. A big red mass that keeps getting bigger & bigger, terrorizes a small American town, swallowing up innocent denizens of democracy..... get the symbolism? Or is that stretching a metaphor farther than the reach of an extended slimey flesh-distintigrating tentacle? 
65 6.4 6.3  For the first time ever, Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga, Manda, Baragon, and Varan, all together in one movie, kicking all sorts of ass with their big, floppy rubber feet (or any other appendages of like-minded floppy purposes). And it's all because of those stupid aliens! This is the original Monsters Versus Aliens epic, not to mention, the battle royale of all battle royales! With cheese! So, y'know.... RUN!! Run for your lives!!!! The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
1178 6.7 7.2  In K-Pax, Kevin Spacey is "Prot", a "wandering spirit" who is either a mental patient masquerading as an alien or an alien masquerading as a mental patient. As a film, K-PAX weaves through it's various "less epic" identities of E.T., Starman, and even of a fluffier version of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. But, as with most sci-fi movies with the "aliens walking amongst humans to better understan humankind" theme, it tries to end with a life-lesson that teaches us more about us than it does "them". In this case, no matter how crazy our individualized inner-scars can make us, sometimes, all we need is a hopeful hand extended in friendship to help brings us back down to Earth. And if that lesson comes off sounding as a bit too "spacey-headed", please take into account what Hollywood writers of these types of scripts have in common with people from K-Pax: They both tend to be a buncha distant souls that live amongst the stars. 
187 6.9 6.8  A community of pink houses with white picket fences & wives who all "properly" know their roles. A mid 70's tale of the American Dream coming in the form of battery powered domestic bliss. 
6036 6.7 7.2  I was kinda surprised that as a comicbook nerd, I was never even aware of MIB until the movie came out. So afterwards, I decided to look up the printed version & check it out. And no wonder I had never heard about it: it was a piece of crap. Which I guess just made me like the film version even more, for what it was. They say what you don't know can't hurt you. And in this movie, this applies to idea of aliens as well. Extra-terrestials have not only touched down to Earth, they are living amongst us & have been doing so for quite some while. So, how did we get by for so long without knowing? The MIB, a secret organization that makes sure that unidentified flying objects remain unidentified & that extra-terrestrials remain extra (uhmnnn ...does that even make sense?). And it's not a conspiracy, it's for you're own good. These black suited, dark sunglassed agents know that if any of us average joes knew that we had been visited for years now, it'd be too much for us to handle. To save from us being taken away by the men in white, we need the Men In Black. We just don't know it. Heck, a being from another planet could be writing these very words that you are reading right now. 
223 6.4 6.5  A teenage kid discovers that the video game he has mastered is secretly a celestial training simulation program, when he is notified by an alien who reveals to him that he is a gunner/star-soldier in an intergalactic war between good & evil. So, to all you video gamers out there, don't listen to society when it tries to convince you that all those hours spent on your x-box, gameboy or psp will eventually accumulate into a vast amount of wasted life. For all anybody knows, you could very well be the last starfighter. Therefore, feel free to grab your wii & play with yourself as much as you like. The future of the galaxy may depend on it. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
242 6.5 6.7  Enemy Mine is a film that starts out as a "bad alien movie & then evolves into a "good alien" movie by intergalactically pondering the question of "Why can't we all just get along?" 
3666 6.7 7  An uneven film that contains separate moments of good stuff. Enough of 'em, that, despite it's unstitched story flow, hits on a few certain plot points that were interesting enough to keep my attention. Plus, I can't help but look at this movie with the potential that it held if the original director, Stanley Kubrick had lived to make it. 
1047 6.9 7  A tale of romance & time travel that was hopefully successful enough to warrent a whole series of follow-up sequels ( The Time Traveler's Kids, The Time Traveler's In-Laws, The Time Traveler's Mistress, The Time Traveler's Drunk Uncle, The Time-Traveler's Pet Retriever, The Time Traveler's Guy He Knows To Get High End Jewelry Below Manufacturer's Cost, The Time Traveler's Four People Who Lead Him To Kevin Bacon Under Six Degrees...... well....I'm sure you get the picture). 
1911 7.2 7.8  How does one gain the World Championship title belt of Badassery? Come down from another planet, in full tilt battle-gear & kick the the combined asses of "Apollo Creed", "the Terminator", Jesse "The Body" Ventura & that one guy who played one of the corrupt cops in Payback. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1109 6 6.2  A light & airy love tale starring the ever adorable Meg Ryan, & featuring not only the concept of time travel, but also, the two guys who, in a later film, would portray X-Mutants, Wolverine & Sabretooth. ....cool. 
62 7 6.4  One of the things I liked about the Toho daikaiju was their ability to incorporate really cool & creative story-ideas into the middle of the rubbery cheese that was running amok thru the cardboarded streets & buildings of Nippon. Mothra being my favorite example. Two tiny little beauties act almost as their familiars, who communcate telepathically with great godlike beast. Also, Mothra is usually treated as a Phoenix-like enity, in that every time it dies, it is soon ressurected as a giant egg, soon to hatch into it's larvae form (almost as equally formidable as it's adult moth stage). For me, it's the over-all mythological slant that accompanies this particular kaiju that sets it apart from it's floppy-footed counterparts & therefore makes it one of my more favorites of the eastern-themed genre. 
1582 7.1 7.5  Jeff Goldblum metamorphisizes into a large, hairy, decayed-looking housefly, and in the process, still gets to score with super-fly 80's beauty, Geena Davis. *sigh*....only in the movies. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
943 6.7 7  Paul is one of those typical big-eyed, big-headed aliens that we've grown accustomed to believing are hiding in Area 51. Though, he disproves the stereotype that he & his kind are here in order to circle our crops, mutilate our cows & probe our anuses..... Paul just wants to share with us what he knows & to smoke a doobie. The kind of doobie that killed Bob Dylan. 
1095 6.8 7.1  A dark film with a plot that literally isn't all sunshine. Which is why it's called "Pitch Black". A group of space-farers find their intergalactic journey interrupted when they are marooned on a planet of perpetual daylight, with the exception of the periodical cycles of ecliptical darkness. And during these few shifts of nightfall, the major form of alien life are hordes of flying meat-eating whatchamacallits. And to these nocturnal beasties, humans make a pretty tasty midnight snack. 
119 7.1 6.9  An alien that's smart enough to realize that if it wants to infiltrate into the society of this big blue marble that we call Earth, that it must remain hidden. A la the title of this semi-classic 80's sci-fi flick. 
3343 6.2 6.7  How do you get a former priest whose lost his faith to "open his eyes" & believe again? Try sending down an alien or two to start forming big ol' circles in his crops. 
351 6.7 6.8  A scientist finds himself devolving into not just a neanderthal state, but into an actual neanderthal thru the use of shrooms & an isolation tank. Same thing happens to me whenever I take psychedelic drugs locked into my room, all by myself. 
323 6.5 6.5  Y'know, whenever I watch this movie today, and I cannot imagine today's generation being impressed with it's animation style at all. However, when it was first realeased, movies of this kind had never been seen before. At least not by me, that is. This was the first adult animated flick I had ever seen & to my virgin eyes, the movements of the animation came off as very realistic & flowing. Although my tastes have matured along with my ability to recognize more sophisticated techniques of making painted figures move on film, HM was the catalyst that really opened up my eyes to the potential of new horizons that could be (& eventually would be) done not just with animation, but also with it's integration into storylines. With and end result that could engage as well as entertain even those of us who should've grown out of this stuff a long time ago. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
4711 7.7 8.1  The Dali-esque/surreal journey through time travel of a high school teenager turned reluctant "superhero" Donnie Darko & his spiritual sidekick Frank the bunny. Believe me, despite having the ability to perceive warps in the timestream, these two guys ain't no dynamic duo. 
1550 7.6 7.8  In the not too distant future, an entire grade level of high school students are planted on a island & forced to either kill themselves or defend themselves, until there's only one left standing. A system of discipline to show 'em how to respect authority that might prove to be more efficient than staying after school cleaning erasers or detention, but probably won't be as enduring. Cuz, y'know.... the kids would all be dead an' stuff. 
302 6 6.1  A movie about a big giant glob of pink snot that only gets bigger & bigger as the storyline progresses. Could somebody hand me over a city-sized piece of tissue, please? The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1502 6.7 7.2  Once again, science fiction meets horror in this tale of other-worldly bug-eyed beasties & beastly bugs entering our world via a mysterious mist that, as the lead characters soon find out, is probably not the result of any natural weather pattern known on this planet. 
985 5.9 6.2  A cool psychological thriller that takes a journey into the psyche of a mind through the use of really creative, surreal & stunning visuals. And when I say "creative, surreal & stunning visuals", contrary to what all of y'all might be thinkin', I am not referring to Jennifer Lopez's big ol' onion booty. 
124 7.2 7.6  Love knows no bounds. Even in the midst of an intergalactic war with a buncha Martians (in this case, they are particular type of Martian known as "Tarsians"), this movie shows that as long as you've got a cell phone, a good distance carrier & a hell of alot patience, long distance relationships can work. And as most of us who've been stuck in a short distance relationship for awhile know, sometimes, the idea of flyin' around in space in cool manga tech-gear & battling a buncha aliens, light years away from Earth, sounds alot like heaven. 
59 6.5 6.4  With a fighting style that combines epic wuxia-themed battle moves & cheesy yet energetically fun kung-fu camp, these are 3 high-flying colorful female warriors whose chemistry made it impossible for me not to fall in love with each one of them when I first saw this movie. This trio of hot asian super-heroines who fight crime with such cool moves & kick-ass sultry outfits is so sexy, that it makes my hairy pimp-ass want to do sumthin villainous just for the spanking they'd give me. 
3548 6.6 7.1  Take a classic cartoon about a bunch a large robots from outer space that change into a bunch a cool vehicles that raised the testosterone level to the point that little boys became little "guys", mix in a healthy batch of modern day hard driving live action peppered in with a few swear words & gritty gun play, and top it all off with the absolutely & ridiculously hot Megan Fox, and there you have it. A summer super-mega-blockbuster incorporating all the things that can easily make the males of our species grunt with ultimate ball-quivering delight. (However, I will say that, no matter how enjoyable this Transformers movie was, it's no excuse for the horrific monstrosity that is it's sequel.) 
1798 7 7.5  A sci-fi action flick that even though it offers not very much in terms of advancing the genre, has enough quality in it's high-tech art direction & enough ruff & tumble kissassery in it's action sequences to keep it highly entertaining. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
948 6.5 7.2  What if the the first alien life-forms to make contact with us happen to be the kind that watch too much television? Or even worse, what if they're Trekkies? Galaxy-Quest starts out as a parody of the Star Trek franchise, but then, with just the right amount of heart, wry humor & even some satirical intelligence, this movie then evolves into a sci-fi adventure film with a premise that is alot of fun, on point and with a story that ends up standing distinctively on it's own. 
351 6.2 6.3  Okay, while I have a few listed here, the truth is, I don't usually go for campy movies. To me, most of the time, I see films using camp as an excuse to not have to come up with a plot. But, every once in a while, a movie will come along where, despite it's shortcomings in it's plot, the tongue in cheek aesthetics will strike the right camp chords in my heart. Or maybe I just like this movie b'cuz, as a kid, I have fond memories of watching the infamous S&M styled scene of Princess Aura getting whipped. Being that I hadn't yet reached puberty, my mind was filled to capacity with the curiosity of why viewing that scene always seem to make my little peepee get hard. 
1068 6.8 7  9 is a sci-fi movie that takes the high tech of it's visuals & combines them with the kind of original character designs that I always believed could be utilized more often with the whole CGI technology that is currently available at filmmakers' mouse-maneuvering fingertips. However, the story, while not bad, still is not matching with the level of creativity of the look of this movie. While I found this a great sci-fi flick to look at, at the same time, with it's lack of character developement & overblandness of it's plot premise, to some viewers, it can also come off as pretty forgettable. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
420 6.9 7  You know what goes really well with Solyent Green? Fava beans & a nice bottle of chianti. A solemn dystopian story that provides yet another chapter in the science fiction world's most famous and ultimate cookbook, "How To Serve Man". 
649 7.4 7.7  An old Star Trek villain, the genetically engineered Khan, is back. And he now has a wrath to bestow upon our galaxy-galloping heroes. Not only that, he also has both a United Federation starship and the Genesis device at his command. Will the now Admiral James T. Kirk & Crew be able to stop the chesty madman before it's too late? Well, I don't wanna spoil the suspense for any viewers out there who have not yet seen this early 80's sci-fi classic, but since there were a bunch more sequels added to the franchise after this film, I'm sure it's pretty easy to figure out what the outcome was. 
897 6.6 6.7  What can you consider a Vegan to be a vegan and a carnivore at the same time? When it's a giant flesh-craving Venus Flytrap from another planet. A little shop that demonstrates that in order to properly take care of a house plant, one need simply add water & lots of sunshine. Not to mention, a carcass or two. The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1203 6.3 6.5  I'm not usually a fan of Disney movies, particularly their animated stuff. Their stories are usually a bit too saccharine for my tastes, despite the smoothness of their art style. However, Atlantis came along near the end of the their 2-D run, & at a time when the company seemed to decided to add a bit of edge to their house style with some inspiration from comicbook illustrator Mike Mignola. And just when they had me stating to warm to their stuff, they finally pull the plug to the hand-drawn animation. |
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