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Best Sci Fi films by year since 2010

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parsonsm

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
Here is my list. Why 2010? Because I have to start somewhere.

Some obvious, some a bit less so. What are your favourites from the period?

2010. Monsters
2011. Source Code
2012. Cloud Atlas
2013. Coherence
2014. Predestination
2015. The Martian
2016. Arrival
2017. Logan
2018. Annihilation
2019. Avengers Endgame
2020. The Midnight Sky
2021. Dune
2022. The first year since 2010 where I haven't seen a film good enough to make the list.

A few others that almost make the list,
2010. Inception - Hard not to include this, but I just love Monsters so much.
2012. Looper
2013. Gravity, Man of Steel, Oblivion
2014. Ex Machina
2018. A Quiet Place

I think this period is hard to beat for quality Sci-Fi films.
 
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I never stick to choices but here are mine circa right now, subject to change.
I'm discounting anything superheroic. Because I can.

2010: Tron Legacy, even though Inception is obviously better.
2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2012: John Carter
2013: Ender's Game. Warts and all.
2014: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2015: Mad Max Fury Road
2016: Star Trek Beyond
2017: Blade Runner 2049. With apologies to War For the Planet of the Apes.
2018: Annihilation.
2019: Alita: Battle Angel. But it's not a strong win.
2020: Color Out of Space
2021: Dune
2022: Prey, but it's another really soft win.
2023: Dune 2, hopefully.
2024: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. FIngers crossed. ;)

Come at me!

There were plenty of close runners-up. But that's a list for another time.
 
Very interesting! I cant say I've see all of them, and 'Color Out of Space' I've never even heard of!

I like the Apes films, though I've never really considered them to be Sci-Fi, which now i think of it, is completely illogical.

Mad Max Fury Road - I simply did not understand the fuss over this film, and it was so highly critically acclaimed as well!

Blade Runner 2049 - Parts of that film were wonderful, but much like the original Blade Runner, whilst I can appreciate it and see it as being good, I just cant persuade myself to love it somehow.
 
This is an interesting idea. I'll leave out superhero films because the list would mostly be superhero films if I didn't.

2010. Tron Legacy
2011. The Thing (This was a terrible year for non-superhero Sci-Fi, which explains this mediocre movie choice)
2012. Men in Black 3 (An ok movie in a year with little going for it)
2013. Pacific Rim
2014. Edge of Tomorrow
2015. Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
2016. Star Trek Beyond
2017. Star Wars Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
2018. Bumblebee
2019. Godzilla - King of the Monsters
2020. Bill & Ted Face the Music (A decent movie, but the year has very few options)
2021. Godzilla vs. Kong
2022. Lightyear
2023. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
 
kirk55555 said:
This is an interesting idea. I'll leave out superhero films because the list would mostly be superhero films if I didn't.

2010. Tron Legacy
2011. The Thing (This was a terrible year for non-superhero Sci-Fi, which explains this mediocre movie choice)
2012. Men in Black 3 (An ok movie in a year with little going for it)
2013. Pacific Rim
2014. Edge of Tomorrow
2015. Star Wars Episode VII - The Force Awakens
2016. Star Trek Beyond
2017. Star Wars Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
2018. Bumblebee
2019. Godzilla - King of the Monsters
2020. Bill & Ted Face the Music (A decent movie, but the year has very few options)
2021. Godzilla vs. Kong
2022. Lightyear
2023. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Click to expand...

A big Star Wars fan clearly!

2014 - Edge of Tomorrow was something i forgot to put on my 'few others' list. Its a great film.
I chose Predestination because, well I just think its an amazing film, but I also found it to be truly thought provoking. But to be fair, its a close call between those two and Ex Machina.
 
Just looking over my list and realised i somehow forgot,

2014 - Interstellar. I would still pick Predestination however! 2013-2014 really was a great couple of years for Sci-Fi films.
 
2010: Inception/Book of Eli
2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes/Wreck it Ralph
2012: John Carter
2013: Pacific Rim/Star Trek Into Darkness
2014: Edge of Tomorrow/Godzilla
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road/Jupiter Ascending/Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016: Star Trek Beyond/Rogue One
2017: Kong: Skull Island/War for the Planet of the Apes/Star Wars: The Last Jedi
2018: Sorry to Bother You/Mortal Engines/Solo
2019: Alita: Battle Angel/Pokemon: Detective Pikachu/Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
2020: Sonic The Hedgehog/Tenet/Love & Monsters
2021: Godzilla vs Kong/Dune/Ghostbusters: Afterlife
2022: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once/Nope/Avatar: The Way of Water
2023: (Haven't seen any non-superhero sci-fi movies yet this year)
 
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These are my favorites of the decade:

Inception
Source Code
Super 8
The Hunger Games
Looper
The Avengers
Cloud Atlas
Man of Steel
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Edge of Tomorrow
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Godzilla
Tomorrowland
Batman v. Superman
Rogue One
The Shape of Water
Wonder Woman
Solo
Zack Snyder's Justice League
Everything All at Once
 
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Ooh fun.

2010: Inception
2011: Super 8
2012: The Hunger Games
2013: Gravity
2014: Edge of Tomorrow
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road
2016: 10 Cloverfield Ln
2017: Blade Runner 2049
2018: Avengers: Infinity War
2019: Ad Astra
2020: The Invisible Man
2021: Dune
2022: EEAAO
2023: Guardians of the Galaxy V3

2013 Runner-Up: Catching Fire
2014 was particularly hard. Interstellar. GOTG V1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
 
2010: Inception
2011: In Time
2012: Prometheus
2013: Oblivion
2014: Interstellar
2015: Max Max Fury Road
2016: Arrival
2017: Blade Runner 2049
2018: A Quiet Place
2019: Ad Astra
2020: Greenland
2021: Dune
2022: Avatar
 
Interesting choices!

Its seems so far I tend to like films a bit more off-field than others, with my choices of monsters, predestination and coherence.

Inception is the obvious choice for 2010 clearly, but I have a real fondness for Monsters.
 
parsonsm said:
Interesting choices!

Its seems so far I tend to like films a bit more off-field than others, with my choices of monsters, predestination and coherence.

Inception is the obvious choice for 2010 clearly, but I have a real fondness for Monsters.
Click to expand...

I thought Coherence was really quite good. I just would never have elevated it above Star Trek Into Darkness or (my pick) Oblivion.
 
Okay, looking at Wikipedia's list of science fiction movies of the 2010s...

2010: Inception, I guess. Beyond the Black Rainbow was an experience, too, and one of these days I'm going to get around to Never Let Me Go.
2011: Attack the Block, followed closely by Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
2012: No award. The big SF movie of the year for me would have been Prometheus, if it had been good.
2013: The World's End. After District 9 my wife and I were looking forward to Elysium, but we were disappointed. I'll have to see Her one of these days.
2014: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Under the Skin was better than I expected and Space Station 76 was interesting enough that I bought the DVD.
2015: Ex Machina. Mad Max: Fury Road was good, but not movie of the year.
2016: Arrival, followed by Star Trek Beyond. Rogue One was pretty good for a modern Star Wars movie.
2017: Blade Runner 2049. The live action Ghost in the Shell was better than some people said, though not a classic, and of course War for the Planet of the Apes was good. Blame! was worth seeing, too.
2018: Annihilation. Solo was pretty good. Mute was the big disappointment of the year, considering it was by Moon's Duncan Jones.
2019: The Vast of Night.
2020: I've only seen one of the movies in the list and it's not a great movie.
2021: No award (yet). I've seen two of the movies, one a superhero film, which was pretty good as those go, and one a fun romp that I wouldn't class as a movie of the year (Space Sweepers). No, I haven't seen Dune yet.
2022: No award (yet). I've only seen one, another superhero movie that was pretty good, but I've got the blu-ray of Crimes of the Future and haven't watched it yet.

To be honest, I didn't see most of the movies in the list.
 
Steve Roby said:
Mute was the big disappointment of the year, considering it was by Moon's Duncan Jones.
Click to expand...
That's too bad. I never saw Mute but I was over the moon for Moon.
The live action Ghost in the Shell was better than some people said
Click to expand...
True. It also made good use of 3D, and I can't say that about a lot of films.
After District 9 my wife and I were looking forward to Elysium, but we were disappointed. I'll have to see Her one of these days.
Click to expand...
Damn, you broke up over it?
 
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2010: The Book of Eli, followed by Monsters
2011: The Adjustment Bureau
2012: Robot & Frank
2013: Her
2014: Interstellar, followed by Edge of Tomorrow
2015: The Martian, followed by Mad Max: Fury Road, then Chappie, then Tomorrowland
2016: Colossal, followed by Star Trek Beyond, then Arrival
2017: The Shape of Water followed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, followed by The Space Between Us
2018: I really can't find one for this year, short of defaulting to superhero movies which really don't feel like sci-fi to me even though I love them. I'll give it to Ready Player One just because I loved the Godzilla sequence, but that movie wasn't that great. Forgot about A Quiet Place.
2019: Godzilla: King of the Monsters, followed by Terminator: Dark Fate
2020: Love and Monsters - In fairness genuinely like this one, but to be totally honest, its the only thing on the list I've actually seen.
2021: Dune, followed by Ghostbusters Afterlife
2022: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once followed by Prey, followed by Strange World
2023: The only new sci-fi movie I've seen this year (other than GotG which was great, but superheroes) is 65 which was fine. I've got high hopes for The Creator and Landscape with Invisible Hand, though. Fingers crossed.
 
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I'm happy to see Strange World get some love, that was great movie and I don't think it's really gotten the attention it deserves.
 
Deliberately avoiding Superhero and SW movies in this list, except in the case of 2014 because I had nothing else here and I didn't care for Interstellar. That said, there were only a couple years where they were candidates to replace the ones listed. Star Wars is a special case for the most part, and space fantasy rather than actual sci-fi.

There were some good movies on some other peoples' lists here, but I limited myself to one per year with a couple honorable mentions. I also limited myself to movies I have seen, not those which I heard were good but have not seen.

2007 Special Mention: Bill Bixby's The Man from Earth.

2010: Inception
2011: Limitless (Honorable mention: Cowboys and Aliens)
2012: Cloud Atlas
2013: Oblivion
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy
2015: The Martian (Honorable mention: Ex Machina)
2016: Arrival (Rogue One if I was including SW movies)
2017: Bladerunner 2049
2018: Upgrade
2019: Replicas
2020: Tenet
2021: Dune Part 1.
2022: Wifelike
2023: Jury is out, but probably The Creator or Rebel Moon Part 1
2024: Jury is out, but almost certainly Dune Part 2.

Now, the order in which I'd rank the above movies:

1 Cloud Atlas
2 The Martian
3 Oblivion
4 Dune Part 1
5 GOTG
6 Inception
7 Arrival
8 Upgrade
9 Tenet
10 Limitless
11 Replicas
12 Wifelike
 
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Interesting idea to rank them as well as list them!

I do feel that Cloud Atlas is under appreciated.
 
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