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Culture

How Do I Choose the Best Sci-Fi Movies?

By D. Nelson
Updated May 17, 2024
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To choose the best sci-fi movies, it might first be a good idea to find a film review resource. Professional film reviewers often publish books in which they provide lists of movies, including plot summaries and the details of the casts and production crews. Many of these books also contain ratings based on reviewers' opinions of each film. It is also common for newspapers, websites, and magazines to feature reviews and descriptions of sci-fi movies that are currently showing in theaters. Many filmgoers also prefer to get recommendations from friends whose tastes might be similar to their own.

Sci-fi is short for science fiction. A sci-fi movie is any feature length film that focuses on speculations about the future or unreal advancements in technology. Some subjects common in sci-fi movies include aliens from outer space, drastic changes in the earth's environment, and technology that is far more advanced than that which is familiar to us.

One method for choosing the best sci-fi movies is to seek themes or subject matter in which you are interested. For example, if you are interested in space travel, you may want to search books and websites for films that focus on this concept. Many of these resources provide users with valuable recommendations. If you read the entry for a film that you have already seen and greatly enjoyed, for instance, you might find a list of films similar in subject matter and tone.

Some people find that they prefer certain film critics to others. If you have found that you do not enjoy many of the sci-fi films recommended by one reviewer or resource, you may want to try the recommendations of others. Reading why certain critics do or do not like a film might help you to decide if a critic's tastes are similar to your own.

Many directors of sci-fi films are attracted to certain themes or stories. In other words, one director might work most often on films that include much action and futuristic technology. If you enjoyed one or two sci-fi movies that he or she directed, then there is a good chance that you might prefer others that he or she has made as well.

Certain themes and styles of film making often can be associated with an era or region. Many film goers seek out sci-fi movies that were made at a certain time or in a certain country because they have seen films from similar time periods or regions and have enjoyed them. Texts written by film historians can help you to choose the most important films from an epoch or area of the world.

WiseGEEK is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
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Discussion Comments

By cardsfan27 — On Jul 01, 2012
@stl156 - You are absolutely correct, and to be honest I really feel that free movie watching sites need to have search engines in them that allow to look at films, not just from the genre, but from the years one wants to watch.

I like to watch cheesy science fiction films, which are usually from the 1950's and 1960's, but these are always hard to find on a site, like Netflix, because it will sometimes list these movies as "classics" and these are only considered classics because of their age.

I really think that in order to choose science fiction movies, one needs to think what type of movie or movies they want to watch and do research on science fiction movie fan sites.

These types of sites are a lot better as far as trying to find films to watch, as opposed to sites that do not specifically categorize films like they should.

By stl156 — On Jul 01, 2012
There are so many different types of science fiction related movies and people that choose to watch these have a very wide variety from which to choose from.

In the 1960's to 1970's the science fiction genre went through an era of having an epic nature to the films. They were longer and slower paced films that may appeal to critics and people that like really good, artsy, types of films, but not enjoyable to those who want action.

If someone wants to watch a good action related science fiction film, I would say it is best to look at the films from the 1980's, that usually involved a lot of fighting involving humans versus aliens.

These types of patterns exist all throughout this particular corner of the movie industry as one can usually tell when the film was made, production quality aside, from the plot of the film and what type of sub genre it is.

By titans62 — On Jun 30, 2012

@kentuckycat - I absolutely agree. I really think that as far as science fiction films are concerned it is very easy to find a very disappointing film along with several fantastic ones.

One sub-genre of the science fiction film revolves around the cheesiness of the premise of the films as well as the poor production quality.

A lot of people like to watch these types of films, most of which are science fiction related, just for the fact they are bad and that they are very easy to make fun of.

However, if one is not too careful they could easily watch one of these movies with the belief it may be a good movie to watch. That is why it is important that one do research on the film before watching it.

By kentuckycat — On Jun 30, 2012
I have to say when I want to watch a science fiction film I have to decide exactly what type of sub-genre in the science fiction realm of films I want to watch.

Even though science fiction is its own genre, there are4 plenty of types of science fiction films in which to choose from to enjoy.

I strongly suggest that when one wants to watch a science fiction film that they do not just pick a random film, but instead look into the film's background and what type of film they will expect it to be.

I only say this because I find from experience that science fiction films can bring the highest frequencies of disappointment as far as movies go, simply because someone did not do research into the film at all and the title or premise may sound better than it actually is.

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