Science fiction, as vast as it is wonderful, boasts some of the greatest stories ever told on celluloid. What are the characteristics of the best science fiction? Everyone sees it the way they want to, but let’s venture a guess: the element that distinguishes the best work from the less successful is nothing complicated: it is a boundless imagination, able to look at the stars or at monsters, aliens. and various parallel universes to get some truth about what it means to be human here on Earth.
We haven’t told you the best yet, which is that these portals can be traversed when you want to have an entire superb sci-fi universe at your disposal to discover or rediscover on Netflix AND Amazon Prime.
That’s why we bring you our list of ten films in this genre that have eschewed mediocrity for greatness better than the rest, and are currently available at broadcast.
Arrival
Interpreted Amy Adams in what many consider the most successful performance of his career, Arrival From Denis Villeneuve follows the adventures of a linguist Louise Banks after the US military contacted them to help them build a link to twelve extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth for some strange reason. Born as a screen adaptation of a story The story of your life From Ted Chan, Arrival is a Platonic vision of what a science fiction film should be, a magnificent and deeply moving reflection on time, language, and everything that we can be taught about our condition by those who are not like us.
matrix
What to say about matrix brothers, now sisters, the Wachowskis, if not “thank you for changing the game”? We have to thank them for rethinking Plato’s Cave on celluloid in a completely revolutionary way? To find out what happens if we all plug into the simulation? For describing how our bodies are being used as batteries for machines that have taken over the Earth? matrix it has entered our collective consciousness more than any other work. Think about bullet time Keanu Reeves, on latex and leather, while not forgetting the famous phrase “I know kung fu”. In fact, it would be nice to consider three more sequels. Let’s talk about masterpieces in the plural! This is a series of works that combines the perfection of a thrilling film that can break the box office, a story, also beautiful in its allegory, about the liberation of transsexuals and, simply put, one of the sexiest sagas of all time. .
Annihilation
Annihilation From Alex Garland presents one of the most visually remarkable sci-fi works of recent years: it is a disturbing and lysergic journey inside Zone X, quarantined and surrounded by a mysterious barrier that glows in the air as if it were an oil spill. Here, plants and animals undergo mutations, any connection with the outside world is impossible, time flows in a strange way and until then no one has survived. Kane, who has the features of Oscar Isaac, will succeed. WITH Natalie Portman as a military biologist Lenawife Kane, the film chronicles her frightening journey through Area X with a group of explorers. Soon his pilgrimage turns into a journey into the trauma of his marriage. This is the kind of film that gets under the skin.
Guest
We just want to say: Guest for direction Bong Joon Ho, is one of the best monster movies of all time. This is a brilliant example of the director’s penchant for combining genre elements and caustic comments on the society around us. In fact, the journey bongs offers us for the slums of Seoul, where a huge amphibious and bloodthirsty creature was born after the US military dumped formaldehyde into the Han River, never ceases to delight viewers. This is a story full of love and always interpreted by excellent Song Kang-hoalso admired in parasiteswhich is also very complex i blame against neo-colonialism, and is also the most elegant and entertaining creature-on-celluloid movie you could wish for. Take it and you won’t regret it.
Brazil
A satirical and delightfully absurd film about bureaucracy and corporatism in the days when capital rules. Brazil From Terry Gilliam it is a cult film, a dystopia as memorable as it is extravagant. Jonathan Pryce plays a passerby Sam Lowry, Orwellian-style civil servant under a totalitarian regime. Such premises do not create bleak prospects; to be honest, Brazil it’s the exact opposite. This is the kind of film where every frame is a real feast for the eyes and is able to vibrate to the sounds of endless and beautiful imagination. All this allows you to transform a series of events, starting, so to speak, from the mail lost in the epic mission to the delirium of mail. There is even a samurai made from parts of a switchboard. Okay, what more could you want?
District No. 9
Who doesn’t love a good action movie full of alien bugs? District No. 9 From Neil Blomkamp, a rather dark film actually set in South Africa, captures your imagination without forgoing its excellent use of science fiction allegories to scathingly criticize apartheid and racial segregation. Essentially, District 9 in the name is a ghetto where millions of foreigners, disparagingly referred to as “prawns”, are treated as inferior and remain essentially isolated in Johannesburg. However, the boundaries between humans and aliens begin to crumble as Wikiinterpreted Sharlto Copley, begins to slowly transform into an alien. Here the allegorical messages typical of science fiction are presented at their best, in heavy and effective form.
Savor
Here is a film about a space prison, shot Claire Denis with excellent Robert Pattisonby the way, in the role of a sexy sad father, (we expect this from the fans of the actor!), from the horror queen my goth and the legendary transalpine actress Juliette Binoche. The narrative follows a group of convicts who have been exiled into space and are subjected to scientific experiments, including sexual experimentation. Incredibly exciting and as beautiful as it is drenched in despair, Savor it has everything you could put into a space movie that you didn’t even know existed. Including the fact that Binoche literally says “what a great ass” in the movie.
Akira
A peerless cyberpunk masterpiece par excellence, Akira undoubtedly represents one of the greatest animated films of all time. The plot follows a gang of bikers armed with buckshot as they raid Neo-Tokyo 2019, a massive dystopian city. Things get complicated after a motorcycle accident gives an unsuspecting boy mental powers.
Enormous skill Katsuhiro Otomo will give us a fantastic ride without brakes, under the neon lights of the city at night. An exciting feast for the senses, spiced with horror.
the keeper
If you enjoy being busy even when you are having fun, then the keeper, a great film that will confuse you, although it will make you think, this is for you. It’s one of those movies that gives you the pleasure of understanding them, like puzzles that give you great pleasure to put together. Besides being the first to break the bank while movie theaters were still in check from the pandemic, the keeper turned out to be an exciting and ambitious mystery even for the director’s most staunch fans. However, a movie about a robbery set in the past and perfectly executed, is not afraid of the passage of time. Or times? However, this is related to time.
2001: Space Odyssey
We couldn’t consider a list of the greatest sci-fi movies complete without mentioning 2001: Space Odyssey From Stanley Kubrickawe-inspiring work and also known as a movie prequel Barbie From Greta Gerwig. Anyone who has seen the opening scene of the fairy tale movie about Mattel’s famous doll will know what I mean.
Blessed with immense scope, capable of spanning the entire history of mankind with its dark and elegant exploration of the attraction that makes us look into space for answers, it’s safe to say that this movie remains today one of the scariest stories ever told about artificial intelligence. Now it almost becomes a warning that the barriers between human and technological consciousness continue to break down dangerously too fast.
Article originally published in GQ UK.