Gallery: Brain-Blasting Cerebral Sci-Fi Cinema, Chosen by You
0113-bradbury-2
The Film Spawn of Ray Bradbury ------------------------------ "Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man were major mind-benders in my youth. Still have to stop down and watch them whenever they pop up while channel surfing." *—fartblossom*
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Being John Malkovich -------------------- "For straight-up, unapologetically weird surreal: Being John Malkovich." *—Vandenbroek*
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Until the End of the World -------------------------- "¿ʇsı1 sıɥʇ uo "p1ɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ɟo puǝ ǝɥʇ 1ıʇun" ʇ,usı ʎɥʍ." *—Vandenbroek*
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The Quiet Earth --------------- "The Quiet Earth, from New Zealand. Great story, acting, music and imagery. Classic tale told before (The World, the Flesh and the Devil, I Am Legend), but more personal. On the Beach (the original) would fit in this vein, too." *—warpig*
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Total Recall ------------ "What about Total Recall? What a mind f\*ck!." *—carl9732* "Wait, what about Total Recall? In addition to it being a real mind fvck, it has some great one-liners in it." *—samagon*
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Existenz — and Pretty Much Anything by David Cronenberg ------------------------------------------------------- "Great list, but I'm missing some really great ones here. Videodrome, Naked Lunch, Existenz. Yeah, I know. Bit of a Cronenberg fan." *—GiantKillerTentacles* "Existenz?" *—Ratdog*
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Cube ---- "Cube. Check it out." *—Colorado\_Al*
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12 Monkeys ---------- "Another Gilliam: 12 Monkeys." *—Carlo\_Graziani* "12 Monkeys is 'almost awesome'? Really? I can't count how many deep conversations I've had as a result of that movie, talking about what everything means and how it all fits together. 12 Monkeys is perhaps the best time-travel movie ever, at the very least in terms of dealing with causality and the can't-change-the-past theory of time travel. It all fits together so wonderfully as multiple time periods come together to form a cohesive story. While it may technically have a sad ending (at least for the main character), it always gives me great satisfaction." *—animatorgeek*
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Equilibrium ----------- "Ah, too late to mention Equilibrium! Massively underrated release. I bet the producers are kicking themselves for the crap job of marketing, given Christian Bale's subsequent rise in value. Note to Michael Bay: Most of the films on this list owe more to tight writing than special effects. Spend money on your talent accordingly." *—mikeymike* "Equilibrium should definitely be on this list." *—jaysun*
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Dreamscape ---------- "What about Dreamscape? Yes, it's cheesy by today's standards, but it lays the groundwork for many films of the last decade that are already on this list." *—purvisa*
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Dark Star --------- They mention Dark Star, but don't list it!? Come on. Any movie where a character has to have an existential conversation with a bomb in order to prevent it from exploding prematurely is worthy of this list." *—EmpireMonkey* "Dark Star was entertaining." *—Lurkfish*
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Contact ------- "Contact definitely has a place on this list." *—wideliner* "Contact was one of those rare sci-fi movies that takes its science seriously, rather than treating it as a might-as-well-be-magic prop to advance plot requirements." *—Carlo\_Graziani* "No Contact? It's about the only sci-fi movie whose protagonist scientist actually acts, discourses and has the dilemmas of an actual scientist." *—shiajun*
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Primer ------ Primer, Primer, Primer. That is all." *—stan9fos* "Yes, Primer! Made my head spin, and I loved every minute of it." *—papatom* "Primer has to be on the list. Another favorite of mine is Logan's Run." *—kaus02* "What? No Primer?" *—BurningMonk* "Where is Primer? Now *that* movie is cerebral to the nth degree." *—bioman123* "Add Primer (2004). Independent time-travel movie. Trippy." *—HarryTuttle* "Primer. Great film on a low budget." *—Brizben* "What about Primer? Possibly one of the greatest sci-fi mind melters ... ever!" *—lavaery* "Just one omission from that list, the low-budget but serious mind-melting movie Primer." *—joeythefish*
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Dark City --------- "1998's Dark City. That's my first introduction to dreamscapes-format sci-fi. Hehe you guys forgot about that." *—nighttrain* "For a mind bender, watch Dark City, 13th Floor and The Matrix in one afternoon. You'll come out of that session wondering what is real." *—stasinos* "I agree with the list mostly, but Dark City should definitely be there. As should be Strange Days. Both completely different approaches on the subject of memories and how they can be transferred among people." *—shiajun* "Damn it, where in the fuck is Blade Runner and Dark City? The list is awesome, but ignoring those titles is incomplete." *—lecerclerouge* "Dark City needs to be added. Great film, plus a very sexy Jennifer Connelly." *—zollars* "Alex Proyas' Dark City was a better Matrix in the mind-bending sense. Plus Jennifer Connelly was mega hot in that movie." *—RamoneC*
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Silent Running -------------- What about Silent Running? Another great space movie." *—TDiddy*
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A Boy and His Dog ----------------- "A Boy and His Dog. Tulsa in the movie is much like Tulsa in real life." *—DTVUser* "@DTVUser - Um, don't you mean Wichita?" *—nasty*
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Brainstorm ---------- "Brainstorm with Natalie Wood fits the category. I'm an advocate for adding it to the list. Imagine experiencing the thoughts, feelings and every single sensation of someone else's experience of something!" *—cdashnaw* "Brainstorm seems to have been neglected here." *—rphunt2002*
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Tron ---- "Ummm. Hello? Tron. Seriously." *—Notquitedrunk*
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The Thirteenth Floor -------------------- "While it certainly pales in comparison to heavyweights on this list, I found 1999's The Thirteenth Floor (and it's decades-old source material) had an interesting premise — quickly eclipsed by The Matrix. Still, I found the notion of layers of simulations an intriguing concept that the Matrix films barely touched." *—punterjoe*
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Soylent Green ------------- "Soylent Green. That movie has stayed with me since I saw it probably 30 years ago." *—cdashnaw* "Soylent Green. It's made from what????" *—Brizben*
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A Clockwork Orange ------------------ "Speaking of Kubrick, how can you miss A Clockwork Orange, maybe the best of all, at least when it comes to messing with your mind." *—dwbrannon*
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Avalon ------ "Probably this is not for something like the top 10, but I would like to add Mamoru Oshii's *Avalon*." *—rogercut*
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Face of Another --------------- "I love the films of Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara. While Woman in the Dunes and Pitfall are awesome, I think that Face of Another ties in really well with this sci-fi list. I highly recommend getting the Criterion set of all three films. Great commentary as well." *—Dieselette*
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Lathe of Heaven --------------- "\[Ursula\] Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven. Long unavailable, deep as you take it." *—eliatic*
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Forbidden Planet ---------------- "All too often dismissed as The Tempest in space, because Alta is Morbius' daughter, and too many critics focus on the sexual relationships while pretty much ignoring everything else the film has to say (and, I suspect, all too many critics simply can't resist posing as deep-thinking intellectuals that know their Shakespeare). But IMO the film is more about the limits of flawed mortal creatures' ability to handle nearly limitless power. This film I think is the true grandfather of brainy sci-fi, and undeniably the very first truly blockbuster-budget SF film to be made. It also has to get kudos for Robbie the Robot, and how that film creation still holds up as memorable more than a half-century after first hitting the big screen. (Note to Star Trek fans: This film's an absolute must see for anyone interested in where Gene Roddenberry acquired many of his inspirations)." *—MikkiT* Forbidden Planet. The power of the human mind creates our demons and our fantasies." *—Brizben* "For oldskool fix, try Forbidden Planet." *—weaksauce*
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Waking Life ----------- "Add Waking Life (2001). First fully rotoscoped movie with the trippiest dialogue about the meaning of the universe." *—HarryTuttle*
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Gattaca ------- "Gattaca!" *—nonlinearmind* "This sci-fi film has sparked waaaay to many thoughty conversations for me with non-sci-fi fans." *—Brizben* "Where's Gattaca! How could you?" *—rajpatil78*
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Metropolis ---------- The silent epic Metropolis, which I saw when I was a kid in the pre-VCR days rather late at night when our local PBS station aired it. I have a VHS copy with a rather bizarre jazz soundtrack (!!??). I read that they recently found some lost footage in storage somewhere and have added it to the film — might be time for a DVD upgrade." *—kltron*
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Slaughterhouse-Five ------------------- "Slaughterhouse-Five would fit with this category as well. Looks like I have a few movies to check out." *—mwoolums*
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As we learned when we assembled a gallery of [cerebral sci-fi classics](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/07/gallery-cerebral-sci-fi-films) in honor of *Inception*, plenty of other films fire on all neurons. In fact, the topic seems to have gotten Wired.com readers pretty fired up indeed. "Do you guys purposely commit sins on these lists, like leaving off Blade Runner, just to piss us off?" asked Wired.com commenter JudasPato. "One of the best sci-fi flicks of all time? Check. Cerebral? Double-check." Well, no, we don't. But we love giving our readers a platform for sharing their exquisitely geeky picks. Here, then, are your favorite mind-bending flicks, extracted from Wired.com readers' plentiful and enlightening comments, then displayed here for our collective consideration. __Above:__ Blade Runner ------------ "Dude, really. Blade Runner." *—pabrou* "Without Blade Runner, this list is beyond worthless." *—samagon* "Blade Runner? I must have seen it 30 times during the '80s. These days I can't help but feel anything Ridley Scott did got a little more credit than it was due. What would it be like if Rusty Crowe was around in 1982?" *—janwenner*
