1. Ex-Machina
Source: IMDB
Ex Machina is a science fiction film where the story follows a programmer (Caleb Smith) who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot. The visual effects around Ava (the human robot) are seamless, and the human characters are believable and fascinating, with strong performances by everyone involved. Ex Machina achieves that rare combination of eliciting both strong thoughts and feelings, and it deserves to be known as a sci-fi classic.
2. I Am Mother
Source: Netflix
After humanity's extinction, a robot raises a human girl and loves her like a daughter. However, their bond is threatened when a stranger enters their lives and divulges disturbing information. Suspenseful, well-acted, and intelligent, I Am Mother is an ambitious sci-fi story that largely achieves its impressive aims
3. Solaris
Source: Indie Wire
Solaris is a Soviet science fiction art film based on Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel of the same name. A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.
The film was Tarkovsky's attempt to bring a new emotional depth to science fiction films; he viewed most western works in the genre as shallow due to their focus on technological invention.
4. Primer
Source: IMDB
Primer is a psychological science fiction film about the accidental discovery of time travel. Two entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.
5. Moon
Source: The Guardian
Moon is a science fiction film that follows an astronaut Sam Bell's (Sam Rockwell) three-year shift at a lunar mine is finally coming to an end, and he's looking forward to his reunion with his wife (Dominique McElligott) and young daughter. Suddenly, Sam's health takes a drastic turn for the worse. He suffers painful headaches and hallucinations, and almost has a fatal accident.
He meets what appears to be a younger version of himself, possibly a clone. With time running out, Sam must solve the mystery before the company crew arrives.
6. The Matrix
Source: The Wrap
The Matrix is a science fiction action film starring Keanu Reeves. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, which intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.
Special-effects were the drawing card when this came out at the end of the 20th century, and those effects were spectacular for it's time!
7. Arrival
Source: IMDB
Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics expert, along with her team, must interpret the language of aliens who have come to Earth in a mysterious spaceship.
Banks leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations are on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly of all mankind.
8. Contact
Source: IMDB
Contact is an American science fiction drama film starring Jodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, a SETI scientist who finds evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen to make first contact. Dr Ellie, a radio astronomer, discovers the existence of intelligent aliens through radio signals. She and a group of fellow scientists decipher the instructions that they send to build a machine.
The film is a bold and engaging tale of interstellar messaging with its protagonist, Dr Ellie Arroway giving one of filmdom's great speeches in her passionate plea for "just the slightest bit of vision".
9. Annihilation
Source: Esquire
Annihilation is a science fiction psychological horror film. The story follows a group of explorers who enter "The Shimmer", a mysterious quarantined zone of mutating plants and animals caused by an alien presence. Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist and former soldier, joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband inside Area X -a sinister and mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline.
Once inside, the expedition discovers a world of mutated landscapes and creatures, as dangerous as it is beautiful, that threatens both their lives and their sanity.
