Which sci-fi is right for you?
Every sci-fi title here says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight.
Not sure yet? Start with these.
Interstellar 2014
Film
On a dying Earth, a former NASA pilot leaves his two children behind to travel through a wormhole and look for a planet humans can live on.
The sides of Interstellar
- The father and the daughter
- The science you can believe
- The organ and the silence
- The loneliness out there
Good for you if
- goodbyes hit you harder than explosions.
- you like wormholes, black holes and a planet where one hour costs years.
- you want to feel very small in your seat.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather not think about relativity and time stretching to follow a plot.
- big speeches about love make you roll your eyes.
- nearly three hours is too much for one evening.
About: time · sacrifice · home · the people left behind
Avatar 2009
Film
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
The sides of Avatar
- A whole alien world to explore
- A soldier who changes sides
- Nature against machines
Good for you if
- you want to be swallowed by the screen, especially in 3D.
- you love getting lost in a world with its own plants, animals and rules.
- you like forests that glow and mountains that float.
Bad for you if
- you want sharp dialogue more than images.
- nearly three hours is too much for one evening.
About: colonisation · nature · belonging
The Matrix 1999
Film
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
The sides of The Matrix
- Reality isn't what it seems
- Slow-motion bullets and kung fu
- The red pill or the blue pill
Good for you if
- you like fights that feel new: bullets in slow motion, kung fu on walls.
- you like a film with its own look, all green and black.
- you like questioning whether the world around you is real.
Bad for you if
- long gunfights in a lobby are too much for you.
- you need the science to hold up. Here you learn kung fu in seconds through a plug in your neck.
About: freedom · control · choice
Star Wars 1977
Film
Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
The sides of Star Wars
- A farm boy dreaming of the stars
- A princess, a smuggler and a wookiee
- A space station to destroy
Good for you if
- you want the feeling of a whole galaxy opening up.
- you like a universe full of creatures, droids and planets.
- you like a farm boy, a smuggler and a wookiee becoming a crew.
Bad for you if
- effects and pacing from 1977 feel dated to you.
- you need the science to hold up. Here spaceships roar in the vacuum of space.
About: hope · rebellion · destiny
Arrival 2016
Film
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
The sides of Arrival
- The grief underneath the sci-fi
- Aliens that are truly alien
- Understanding as the plot
- Time that doesn't run straight
Good for you if
- you like a film that quietly breaks you at the end.
- you like patient scenes where people try to understand each other.
- you like aliens treated as a real problem of language and science.
Bad for you if
- you want an alien invasion with battles. There are none.
- you'd rather not work to follow a story. Louise's memories only fall into place in the last act.
About: language · grief · time · choice
Alien 1979
Film
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.
The sides of Alien
- A crew answering a distress call
- Something on board
- A heroine who keeps her head
Good for you if
- you want a creature you barely see and never forget.
- you like a long, quiet build before the horror starts.
- you like dark corridors and a motion tracker beeping.
Bad for you if
- you can't stand body horror. The creature uses human bodies, and the film shows it.
- you want science fiction with guns and battles. The Nostromo is a cargo ship and its crew has no real weapons.
About: survival · the unknown · greed
Blade Runner 2049 2017
Film
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
The sides of Blade Runner 2049
- What makes someone human
- Slow, vast, overwhelming
- A love that might not be real
- A decaying, lived-in future
Good for you if
- you want every shot to look like a painting of the future.
- you like long, silent scenes that let you look.
- you like a score that rumbles in your chest.
Bad for you if
- nearly three hours at this pace is too much for you.
- you want a fast science-fiction action film.
About: humanity · memory · loneliness
Dune 2021
Film
Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence - a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential - only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The sides of Dune
- A noble son on a desert planet
- Giant worms under the sand
- Empires fighting over spice
Good for you if
- you want huge ships, huge worms and a huge sound.
- you like a world with its own politics, religions and ecology.
- you like a story that sets things up patiently.
Bad for you if
- two and a half hours for the first half of a story is too much.
- you lose track of names. Great houses, guilds and the Bene Gesserit pile up in the first hour.
About: power · destiny · colonisation
Edge of Tomorrow 2014
Film
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
The sides of Edge of Tomorrow
- A coward who relives the same day
- A war hero who trains him
- Dying again and again
Good for you if
- you like a war film that keeps restarting.
- you like the dark comedy of dying over and over.
- you like figuring out the loop with the hero.
Bad for you if
- constant deaths, even quick ones, ruin it for you.
- you need time travel explained by real science. Here an alien's blood resets the day.
About: courage · repetition · growth
Blade Runner 1982
Film
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
The sides of Blade Runner
- A hunter of artificial humans
- Rain, neon and smoke
- Tears in rain
Good for you if
- you like a Los Angeles of rain, neon and smoke, every frame composed.
- you like a slow, moody film you sink into.
- you like wondering who's human and who isn't.
Bad for you if
- you want action. It's slow and quiet.
- films from 1982 feel dated to you.
About: humanity · memory · mortality
Ex Machina 2015
Film
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.
The sides of Ex Machina
- A programmer invited to test a robot
- A house in the middle of nowhere
- Who is testing whom
Good for you if
- you like quiet unease between three people in a house.
- you like science fiction that feels like next year.
- you like conversations that are really tests.
Bad for you if
- you want action. It's mostly talking.
- nudity isn't for you tonight.
About: control · consciousness · manipulation
Prometheus 2012
Film
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
The sides of Prometheus
- Scientists looking for our creators
- An android with his own plans
- A surgery you won't forget
Good for you if
- you like huge alien ruins and cold, beautiful images.
- you want grand questions on a grand scale.
- you like body horror and unsettling ideas.
Bad for you if
- characters making bad choices drive you mad.
- you scare easily. Dark alien tunnels and a desperate surgery scene will stay with you.
About: creation · faith · hubris
I, Robot 2004
Film
In 2035, where robots are commonplace and abide by the three laws of robotics, a technophobic cop investigates an apparent suicide. Suspecting that a robot may be responsible for the death, his investigation leads him to believe that humanity may be in danger.
The sides of I, Robot
- A detective who distrusts robots
- A murder only a robot could have done
- Three laws that bend
Good for you if
- you like robots swarming a city.
- you like a whodunit in a world of machines.
Bad for you if
- you want a character study. This one turns a murder case into a fight for the city.
- you prefer a slow, quiet film. This one sends hundreds of robots after a car in a tunnel.
About: trust · freedom · technology
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
Film
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.
The sides of 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Apes discovering tools
- A computer that won't open the doors
- A journey beyond the infinite
Good for you if
- you like spaceships waltzing to the Blue Danube in perfectly composed frames.
- you like a film that moves like a symphony.
- you want to feel small before the universe.
Bad for you if
- you need characters to warm to. Dave and Frank stay cool and calm, and the computer HAL shows the most feeling.
- you want something to happen. Long stretches are silent.
- you want a clear explanation of the ending.
About: evolution · technology · the unknown
The Matrix Reloaded 2003
Film
The Resistance builds in numbers as humans are freed from the Matrix and brought to the city of Zion. Neo discovers his superpowers, including the ability to see the code inside the Matrix. With machine sentinels digging to Zion in 72 hours, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must find the Keymaker to ultimately reach the Source.
The sides of The Matrix Reloaded
- A fight against a hundred Agents
- A highway chase
- A man who built the Matrix
Good for you if
- you like a highway chase that never seems to end.
- you like slow-motion fights with endless copies of one man.
Bad for you if
- long philosophical speeches lose you.
- you want clear answers. It ends on a cliffhanger.
About: choice · control · faith
The Fifth Element 1997
Film
In 2257, a taxi driver is unintentionally given the task of saving a young girl who is part of the key that will ensure the survival of humanity.
The sides of The Fifth Element
- A cab driver in a flying taxi
- A perfect being who falls into his cab
- An alien opera singer
Good for you if
- you like a colourful, crazy future.
- you like a flying taxi chase through the traffic of a future New York.
- you like a blue alien diva singing opera on a space liner.
Bad for you if
- you want slow, quiet science fiction. This one races from a taxi chase to a cruise in space.
- you need the science to hold up. A perfect being is rebuilt here from a single hand.
About: love · saving the world · humanity
Oblivion 2013
Film
Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
The sides of Oblivion
- A technician on an empty Earth
- A sleek white tower in the sky
- Memories he shouldn't have
Good for you if
- you like clean, beautiful images of a ruined world.
- you like questions about what really happened to Earth.
- you like a reveal that changes everything.
Bad for you if
- you want lots of talk. Jack mostly flies and repairs drones in silence over an empty Earth.
- you'd rather not piece a story together. Dreams, drones and a crashed ship only fit together late on.
About: memory · identity · truth
Aliens 1986
Film
Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.
The sides of Aliens
- Ripley goes back with the marines
- A colony gone silent
- A queen and a mother
Good for you if
- you like the scary original turned into a war film.
- you like marines counting their ammo in a corridor.
- you like creatures coming from the walls.
Bad for you if
- films from 1986 feel dated to you.
- you can't take gore. Marines are torn apart and acid blood eats through armour.
About: motherhood · survival · courage
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 2019
Film
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.
The sides of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- An old enemy returns
- A quest across the galaxy
- The final battle of the saga
Good for you if
- you like nonstop adventure from planet to planet.
- you want a huge final battle.
Bad for you if
- you lose track with a dozen heroes, old and new, sharing the screen.
- you need the logic to hold up. Here the Force heals wounds and an old enemy returns.
About: legacy · family · hope
District 9 2009
Film
Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth. Not to conquer or give aid, but to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are managed by Multi-National United, which is unconcerned with the aliens' welfare but will do anything to master their advanced technology. When a company field agent contracts a mysterious virus that begins to alter his DNA, there is only one place he can hide: District 9.
The sides of District 9
- Aliens stranded in a slum
- A bureaucrat who starts to change
- A documentary style
Good for you if
- you like a chase through a slum filmed like the news.
- you like aliens treated as refugees.
- you like a coward for a hero. Wikus evicts aliens with a smile and a clipboard.
Bad for you if
- bodies exploding and gore ruin it for you.
- you need an ending that settles everything. This one keeps its biggest question for later.
About: racism · bureaucracy · transformation