My Top 10 Favorite Sci-Fi Movies.... Of Like, Ever

702   7.1   7.8 

Seriously,
do I really need to explain this one?
Steven Speilberg's best film, as far as I'm concerned (yep, I like it even better that Jaws, as perfect as that film is).
The aliens have made contact.
And at first, that makes us humans afraid.
But when we finally come face to face with 'em, we realize that the fear we felt was based more on own insecurites than it was on these bug-eyed long-fingered lil' grey angels from space (though, you have to admit, the fact that they have a knack of kidnapping a few of our jet-fighters, not to mention a kid or two, & then instill mental images of their landing site in own minds, urging us to ruin a plateful of perfectly good mash potatoes, doesn't help much to quell our apprehension of the little buggers).
To this day, even with jaded eyes overwhelmed with modern CGI gimmicktry , the special effects in Close Encounters, combined with their elegant integration to the story's premise,
this film still leaves me with a sense of awe after each viewing.
The kind of awe that I used to feel as kid whenever I would look up all the stars in the sky on clear summer night, & wonder at all of the possibilities that must've been up there.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1010   7.8   8.5 

Ripley is back. And this time, she arms herself with some big guns & with an even bigger attitude, taking on an army-sized family of xenomorphs, a hive-race of double-mouthed acid-blooded slick black visitors who take the role of their hosts quite literally.
For me, this sequel to the non-plural installment of the series is the high point of a franchise that features what is, IMO, one of the most unique & simply bad-ass alien life-forms ever produced for film.

Mannnn....I wish I had acid for blood.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

2003   8   8.8 

Sure, there are sci-fi films better written, or with, now much more grander & updated special effects. But other than Star Trek, none have the expansive imagination or have been able to touch the heart of an entire generation of nerds, particularly with such a long lasting impact, as the original Star Wars trilogy.
And while I know that Star Trek has affected more numbers of sci-fi geeks, but, for me, as "big" as their stories & concepts were, they never seemed to go all out with their depictions of aliens races as much as Wars. And as integalactic as they tried to make their stories, I never felt that they were as epic.

For the movie of Empire itself, again, what can I say that hasn't already been said?
I agree with the rest of the world that this is the pinnacle of the entire Star Wars franchise, with it's darker tone within it's still fairytale-like structure, but that's been written about hundreds of times, in a much better manner than I could.
So, instead, I'll just relay my own personal experience of this film.
This was back when movies would stay in wide release, not for weeks at a time, but for months.



I think that, on the majority, audiences today have been so desensitized from so-so blockbusters being released every other week-end, that they will never get 2 experience the feeling a big movie-event like Star Wars. The year of Empire was one of my fave summers ever as a kid. It was really cool knowing that I could hop on the city bus at any point during the season & go watch TESB. And every time that I did, the other audience members were just as excited 2 be seeing this film at the end of the summer as they were at the beginning. Every year that one of the 3 original films was released, you could not only feel the power of the "Force" within the air, but also, you could feel it in the air all season long.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

2277   7.1   7.9 

An extra-terrestial becomes trapped on our planet & befriends an Earthling boy who shares a it's love for Reese's Pieces. From there, these two beings "from different worlds" (one of the rare times that this phrase is meant literally), began to share each other experiences in a bond that can only result from unconditional acceptance.
A moving picture which teaches that when it come to a deep longing for love in the form of kindness & friendship we humans are not alone.
And all we have to do to get it, even on a universally galactic level, is to just "be.... good".



This movie has gotten such a stigma attached to it, that I tend to easily forget how much I enjoy watching it. After several years of this movie collecting dust on my video collection, I watched it with my 6 yr. old niece a couple of months ago, & I'll be honest with you: I don't know which one of us was left sitting there with more childlike awe & wonder on our faces.
She, b'cuz she thought that E.T., was one amazing tale.
Or me, b'cuz I thought that Elliot's mom was one amazing tail.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

511   6.8   7.5 

Or "Close Encounters Of The Under-Water Kind".
Or maybe "The Day The Ocean Stood Still".
We humans are a species capable of our own destruction. Or of our own salvation.
And though sometimes, it's can seem like we're going down the road of total annihilation, there's still enough within us to choose otherwise.
At least, that's the kind of hope the water-breathing life-forms from outer space in this film seem to hold about us.
Personally, I think this is James Cameron's masterpiece. It's actually two stories in one. The alien storyline that provides the twist for the film, crossed over with the tension building plot involving the scientific crew & the naval SEAL team. And both plots, while differently paced, are still very excellently executed. Now, while the edited version that was originally released into theatres is a fine film, for my money, the uncut version is what truly reveals just how great this movie really is.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1142   7.9   8.4 

The very 1st. incredibly realistic portrayal of a sci-fi story. Great visuals back when this stuff was incredible difficult to create (without the help of computers). Also, a suspense thriller plotline that is masterfully & almost quietly delivered.
Plus, if you're not on drugs whilst viewing this film, by the time you get to the ending, you will you feel as though you are.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1651   7.6   8.5 

One of those rare exceptions when a sequel is better than the original, which was already bad-ass.
James Cameron, you are a god.
What does pure badassery from the future look like?
A big, muscular humanoid who likes to steal biker clothes, swing his shotgun on a high speed motorcycle, wear his sunglasses even at night, and is programmed to speak with a heavy-@ss Austrian accent.
This is the series in which Ahnold solidified the catch-phrase ""Ah'll be bock."
And he didn't stop coming bock until we finally elected his blockbuster @ss into office.
Well,
I guess that's one way to stop an unstoppable killing machine.

Mannn.....
I wish I was made outta liquid metal.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1050   8.3   8.6 

It seems like these days, every season, an animated movie comes out displaying the next level of computer-generated visuals. For the year of 2008, it was this film & Kung Fu Panda. While not so surprising in that I (we?) expected the details in the graphics to be as detail & realistic as they were, it's still quite stunning to behold.
And even though Wall-E contains the basic formula elements one would expect from such a family film, it's still quite surprising how often & consistantly filmmakers are able to intergrate the amazing graphics into the quality of the storytelling in a manner that seems fresh & keeps the messages from feeling too cliche. At the rate that these types of highly sophisticated computer animated flicks are being released, it's remarkble that the ratio has been so much more good than bad.
A futuristic story that despite it's epic themes of environmentalism, technological over-dependence & the effects of idleness on the soul of humanity when it is stripped away from the natural strife of life, at it's heart, it's also an effective story of loneliness & longing between two computer-animated robots that despite their mechanical make-up, offer up enough heartfelt human emotion that is depicted with just a simple vocabulary that consists of nothing more than their names & a directive.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

1263   8   8.3 

Almost a decade & a half earlier before Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey was one the first films to successfully marry the big budget sci-fi with a genre of a different theme (that of psychological thriller) so that all the high tech flashiness of science fiction acted as a contrasting backdrop to a darker side that resided underneath all the complicated buttons & wires of futuristic technology.
Then came Ridley Scott's Alien, which did the same for the darkside of sci-film, but now more in the method of the straight-up horror genre.
He followed that up with another marriage to sci-fi, but this time in the cinematic category of film noir. Now, with this story of replicant-hunter Rick Deckard, Scott depicts what lays beneath all the flashy neon lights that decorately symbolize the endless possiblities of the future, to tell a tale of the grit & grime layers of lost & forgotten cyber-souls that could only act as a foundation of those towering spires of technological brilliance that would allow the mortal men living in 'em to percieve themselves as gods.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

591   7.2   7.8 

This is kind of like a "The Matrix Unloaded".
A very stunningly stylish movie that features action sequences that any martial arts or straight-up action flick would be proud to call it's own. And even tho the story, like The Matrix, can lose it's audience every couple of turns and again, it does have a more solid & linear structure, making it is possible for the viewer to get back onto understanding it's premise.
Equilibrium did not have the big budget that it's computer themed bigger succeeding cousin had, therefore it came up with a concept called "Gun Kata", to allow for the insane bullet hails that make these types of gun-toting movies the kind that could cause even the hardiest NRA member to bust his own cap.

The Mighty Celestial's rating: