Best Ever Science Fiction and Fantasy Films [Lists]

[CA Dreamin]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Alien (1979)
3. Blade Runner (1982)
4. Metropolis (1927)
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
6. Arrival (2016)
7. Back to the Future (1985)
8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
9. Stalker (1979)
10. Solaris (1972)
11. Inception (2010)
12. The Terminator (1984)
13. Minority Report (2002)
14. Ex Machina (2015)
15. Aliens (1986)
16. Brazil (1985)
17. Interstellar (2014)
18. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
19. Moon (2009)
20. Her (2013)
21. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
22. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
23. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
24. Jurassic Park (1993)
25. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
26. WALL·E (2008)
27. The Thing (1982)
28t. The Matrix (1999)
28t. Planet of the Apes (1968)
30. Gattaca (1997)
31. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
32. Alphaville (1965)
33. Children of Men (2006)
34. Melancholia (2011)
35t. Dark City (1998)
35t. They Live (1988)
37. Robocop (1987)
38. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
39. The Fly (1986)
40. The Lobster (2015)
41t. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
41t. Donnie Darko (2001)
43. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
44. Soylent Green (1973)
45. Upstream Color (2013)
46. Contact (1997)
47. The Truman Show (1998)
48. Videodrome (1983)
49. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
50t. The Martian (2015)
50t. Westworld (1973)

[CA Dreamin]

And now for the Fantasy List...

Just give me the time to type it up, then comment away.

[CA Dreamin]

1. The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
4. The Princess Bride (1987)
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
6. Groundhog Day (1993)
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
9. Big Fish (2003)
10. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
11. Being John Malkovich (1999)
12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
13. Aladdin (1992)
14. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
15. Spirited Away (2001)
16. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
17. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
18. Ugetsu (1953)
19. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
20. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
21. Wings of Desire (1987)
22. Beauty and the Beast (1946)
23. Beetlejuice (1988)
24. The Exterminating Angel (1962)
25. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
26. Midnight in Paris (2011)
27. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
28. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
29. Big (1988)
30t. Faust (1926)
30t. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
32t. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
32t. After Life (1998)
34. Alice (1987)
35. Pinocchio (1940)
36. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
37. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
39t. Harvey (1950)
39t. 8 1/2 (1963)
39t. The Green Mile (1999)
42. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
43. The Fall (2006)
44. Field of Dreams (1989)
45. Elf (2003)
46. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
47. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
48. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
49t. Army of Darkness (1992)
49t. Dreams (1990)

[CA Dreamin]

The following films received votes on individual lists in both genres:

Angel's Egg
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Black Moon
The City of Lost Children (If these lists continued, City of Lost Children would place #62 Science Fiction, #56 Fantasy.)
Delicatessen
Eraserhead (Eraserhead was so close to making the Fantasy List, would be #52 if continued.)
Fantastic Planet
Frankenstein (1931)
King Kong (1933)
The Lobster (still placed #40 for Science Fiction)
The Prestige
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars: A New Hope (one of two films to make the Top 50 in both genres, #38 Sci-Fi, #28 Fantasy)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (the other film to make the Top 50 in both genres, #23 Sci-Fi, #16 Fantasy)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Return of the Jedi just missed the Fantasy List, would be #51 if continued.)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (still placed #47 for Fantasy)
Thor: Ragnarok
Time Bandits (Time Bandits was close to making the Fantasy List, would be #57 if continued.)
Vanilla Sky
Wizards
Zardoz

[CA Dreamin]

As you can see, I made a collages of every film that made the final lists. Right-click and open them in a new tab to enlarge them.

[AfterHours]

Not bad. Many of the top choices are as expected but pretty cool lists overall. I would say Arrival, though quite good, has become kind of overrated (IMO). I'm also a little surprised Wizard of Oz wasn't a bit higher. Also, I expected the original Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back to make the top 5.
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[theblueboy]

Yeah I was surprised to see Arrival so high amongst accepted classics, but I guess it's a recent film that a lot of people like a lot (including me- I put it in my top 10) Time will tell if it holds up as one of the best films in the genre in years to come.

I think the lists are really good. A nice mix of classics, blockbusters and more off-beat things. The only real downside is the hampering of films appearing on both lists (particularly Star Wars), but this couldn't be avoided.

My only gripe is with Mad Max: Fury Road. Tried watching it for the second time yesterday but I was bored out of my mind with the non-stop action and didn't even get to the end of the film

[badseed]

Solid. I like the sci-fi list way more than the fantasy and one although when compiling my lists I assumed just as much. Great number and one though. Never really got into the Harry Potter films that much. I read and loved the books in middle school (well, the first four at least, as those were the only ones at the time). As for the movies I liked Prisoner of Azkaban and the Deathly Hollows films alright but after the lackluster first movie they were never highly anticipated by me so I ignored them for years.

And yeah, Arrival was great and all, but if there should be a film from this decade that high I'd rather it be Ex Machina.

Kind of wild to see Terminator 1 so high with T2 nowhere in site. I would imagine on an action movies list the positions would be reversed. There's not really much scientific going on in T2 so I get it.

[mickilennial]

Not sure what kind of impact my input had, but well, it's a list.

[Hayden]

They're aight lists, but even for BEA they seem a bit conservative. The Seventh Seal at #1 is pretty cool though.

And yeah, BEA loves Arrival apparently (which is cool, I dig it too). I was shocked at how much love it got for our 2016 poll (tied #1 w/ Moonlight). I've only actually seen it once, never got back around to it, but I do plan on reading the short story it's based on at some point.

Anyway, a couple of selections on these that I've never seen, the highest on each list being The Empire Strikes Back (followed by A New Hope) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Might give the later a watch sometime soon.

Honestly, I'm slightly more excited to go through user's individual lists and see what gems they came up with. Should be a bit of fun.
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