Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of All the Time Sci-Fi Movies Have Been Made

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Brief synopsis: A UFO lands by the Washington Monument in DC. Nothing is seen coming or going, and tensions mount as people speculate about the intentions of this strange visitor. The military stand on unease guard, tanks aim their guns at a 10-foot robot that does nothing but stand silent guard. Meanwhile, the alien is walking among humans inconspicuously disguised as, you guessed it, a human. His message? Watch the movie to find out.
Why it's great: A socially responsible message subtly works its way out of a unsettlingly calm plot. The film recalls a day when gore and violence wasn't necessary to captivate an audience. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a timeless movie that keeps viewers riveted with the unsaid. Watch this version before the 2008 version, it does little justice to the original. Klaatu Veraata Nikto!!!
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2. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Brief synopsis: The original trilogy culminates in an epic battle that ends the Galactic Civil War. Han Solo needs saving from his carbonite prison in Jabba's Palace. Luke Skywalker's Jedi training is put to the test in one last confrontation of the Emperor and Darth Vader. A second death star threatens to destroy the last of the Republic fleet as they spring an all-out assault.
Why it's great: The third of the original trilogy gets to build on the wonderful tapestry that the first two established. It sees the culmination of several classic story lines; the training of Luke, Leia and Han's blossoming love, the inner turmoil of Darth Vader, and the insidious plotting of Emperor Palpatine. The storyline draws from classic mythologies most tried and true story elements. This movie continually intrigues young children and is the ultimate nostalgia of many grown-ups.
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3. The Thing(1982)
Brief synopsis: An alien finds its way to an American Antarctic research facility and throws the camp into conflict. The alien, a shape shifter, is indistinguishable from humans if allowed to fully shape-shift. The crew's trust in one another quickly dissolves as the alien hides among them. How will they survive the winter? How can they prevent being killed and replaced by this parasitic alien?
Why it's great: This film contains some of the best special effects even by todays standards. Periodically throughout the film we catch glimpses of the alien during its transformation. These gruesome images lend horror to the film and leave us waiting for me. Additionally, these scenes make the down-times of the movie filled with tension because we know the atrocity that walks among them. The combination of psychological thriller with frightful special effects makes for a movie that delivers on all fronts.
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4. Alien (1979)
Brief synopsis: A cargo ship in deep space finds a distress call coming from a colony on a desolate planet. When the search team comes back from investigating the source, one of them has a sort of parasite latched onto his head. It eventually falls off and dies, and the man is seemingly OK. At dinner he collapses and an alien pops out of his chest. The rest of the movie involves the crew being slowly decimated while they attempt to escape the monster they accidentally brought on board.
Why it's great: Much like The Thing, Alien is a great psychological thriller that combines a fear of the unseen with a fear of what's seen. The alien continues to raise the fear level as the movie progresses; it singlehandedly eliminates most of the crew using superior tactics, acid for blood, and a fierce appetite. This first installment in the Alien series sets itself apart from later films with its emphasis on the psychological aspect.
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5. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Brief synopsis: The rebels hidden base on the ice-planet Hoth is discovered by the Empire, and an evacuation splits Leia and Han off from the Rebel Alliance. While they run from Imperial pursuit, Luke Skywalker begins training from the Jedi Master Yoda. Luke sees premonitions of the suffering of his friends, and goes to Cloud City to save them. What ensues is a dazzling escape from the clutches of the Empire, and a showdown between Darth Vader and Luke.
Why it's great: Many people consider this to be the best of the Star Wars films. While the first film is centered around the evasion of a great disaster that leads to ultimate victory over evil, the second film is a tale of growing despair and a seemingly insurmountable conclusion. Tons of action, lots of drama, and mysteries abound, this film is perfect for children and even adults.
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6. Army of Darkness (1992)
Brief synopsis: Hero Ash finds himself in a mid-evil land plagued by monsters and the black magic that drives them. If Ash wants to return to his own world and time, he must track down the mystical book known as the Necronomicon and chant magical words. When Ash fails to recall the words at the appropriate time, he dooms the village who helps him. He decides to right things and help them in a last ditch defense against the army of darkness.
Why it's great: Bruce Campbell mixes dark action with dark comedy and the result is a movie that constantly totters between scary, funny, and downright crazy. This movie has become a cult classic. Ash is missing a hand and has replaced it with a homemade chainsaw. He imitates the Three Stooges while interacting with skeleton hands rising from the grave. His patience for the archaic inhabitants of the local town is quite evident, and he asserts his authority by showing them his "boom stick". The only comedy of the list, and entirely worthy of the accolades it gets.
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7. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Brief synopsis: Luke Skywalker is a farm boy on the desert planet of Tatooine. After purchasing two new droids for his Uncles moisture farm his world is turned upside down. His Aunt and Uncle are murdered, and he joins a strange hermit on a mission to Alderaan. Upon arriving where Alderaan was they find it destroyed, and soon are caught in the tractor beam of a moon-sized spaceship owned by the evil Empire. A princess is imprisoned inside and he escapes with her and his new companion Han Solo. The first in the infamous Star Wars trilogy.
Why it's great: Skywalker is the quintessential boy with high aspirations and low social mobility. The story of the underdog is one of the most popular in the industry, and the movie is full of a campiness that brings family friendly humor to a plot full of intrigue and peril. This film lands behind the second two because it largely builds the storyline that the latter two take advantage of.
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8. Aliens (1986)
Brief synopsis: Ripley, the sole survivor from the ship featured in the first film, is picked up from her cryogenic freeze over a hundred years from her escape from the alien. Soon after being re-introduced to society she is called upon by her previous employer to escort an investigation team to the same planet where she found the alien. It seems communication has ceased with the colony there, and her expertise is needed in case her alien is the reason. When the team arrives they find no survivors except a little girl who is frightened out of her wits. Soon the alien arrives but in greater numbers, and the team realizes it is under siege by a hive of killer aliens bent solely on murdering them. Ripley and her friends must find a way to escape soon because they, "Mostly come out at night. Mostly".
Why it's great: Where the first movie is a psychological thriller the second takes its stance firmly in the action genre. Even an elite trained strike force crumbles under the intense pressure of an alien onslaught. The aliens often appear out of nowhere and take people by surprise.
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9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Brief synopsis: A mysterious black monument has been discovered on the moon. Who put it there is unknown, but it has apparently been there for hundreds of thousands of years. This sparks an ambitious space mission by a small crew of men aided by a super advanced computer nicknamed H.A.L. The computer malfunctions and eventually kills a few crew members it deems as a threat to the success of the mission. Eventually the crew dwindles down to one, and that man witnesses a trip through time and space that blows apart his preconceptions of reality.
Why it's great: This movie is downright creepy. The last part of the movie, which consists of the lone spaceman's journey through time and space, is beautiful. Classical music, ominous silence, and psychedelic imagery leaves the viewer mystified and awestruck all at once. The conflict with HAL is equally hair-raising, and blurs the line between natural and artificial intelligence. So much is said with so little dialog, and that is both inspiring and unsettling at the same time.
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10. The Matrix (1999)
Brief synopsis: Neo is bored with his life and has too many questions with no answers. He receives a phone call that tells him he is in danger and must follow the callers instructions if he wants to live. After a breathtaking escape Neo wakes up in a horrific mechanical womb attached to what seems like a machine that is keeping thousands if not millions of people in some sort of coma-like state. It turns out his reality was actually a simulation, and that a small band of humans lives outside this virtual reality and has aspirations to free the human race from their robotic enslavement. Neo is the key to this battle, and is viewed by some as a savior.
Why it's great: The Matrix taps into the nagging feeling many of us have that life is more than meets the eye. Bullet-time special effects brings the supernatural nature of the film to life and the fights between Neo and the Matrix's special fleet of agents are some of the best battles that can be found in science fiction.
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