It’s the end of the year. There’s pretty much zero tech news to discuss (CES is right around the corner, so companies are holding out), and all we want to do is play in the snow. So let’s mix it up, list style! Over the next few days we’ll be doing a few “best of the decade” lists primarily for our own entertainment. You’re encouraged to call us know-nothing fools. The first list is “Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the Decade.”
Sci-Fi is weird because it’s so broad. Do comic book or superhero movies count? What about fantasy? You can see we wrestled with this.
So, presenting the “Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of the Decade,” as determined by your friends at CrunchGear.
10. X-Men (2000)
This was the first superhero movie done right in a long, long time. If it weren’t for X-Men, there’d be no Batman reboot, no Spider-Man, and no Watchmen. In many ways, the 2000s was the decade of the superhero movie, for better or worse.
9. 28 Days Later (2002)
Amazing, a “zombie movie” that doesn’t make you feel like an idiot for enjoying it. And to show our indie cred, it was directed by the guy who directed Shallow Grave.
8. Donnie Darko (2001)
Want to feel depressed? Listen to “Mad World” while walking around your city and observe the people doting about, doing nothing in particular.
7. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
If only because it finally put an end to all of our suffering. “Battle of the Heroes” was fun.
6. District 9 (2009)
What is sci-fi if not a vehicle for societal critique? This movie gets extra points for being made outside of the whole Hollywood rigamarole.
5. Moon (2009)
The beauty of Moon is that it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of your friendly CrunchGear writers’ actual lives, locked away in an attic or home office for hours on end, only sporadically interacting with actual human beings, and freaking out in between posts.
4. Children of Men (2006)
It doesn’t let up. It portrays a sort of end-of-the-world scenario, which is a favorite of ours if only because we’d love to live through such a scenario.
3. V for Vendetta (2006)
Yes, it’s a little bit “you can’t tell me what to do, Mr. Authority Figure,” but that never hurt anybody. It also manages to make England seem even more bleak and authoritarian than it actually is, which is astounding.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
“I liked you immediately. You didn’t come on to me at all. I liked that. I was so tongue-tied around you at first. I wanted you to think I was smart. I couldn’t wait to come to work. I had these fantasies of us being married… and having kids and… just… Oh, Howie, I can’t do this.”
1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Of course, right? I was torn between this one and the first Lord of the Rings, which I thought gave more of feeling of, “Oh boy, we’re having an adventure.” (I like adventures.) The Return of the King wins out because, well, we’re suckers for big battle sequences.
Again, feel free to call us fools, but you’d be wrong. Fact.