Underrated Sci-Fi Masterpieces

Boyahh!! You are sooo right. This was a great scifi movie and was truly underrated.

I want to see THAT one !

Oh, yeah. I forgot about "The Cell." That was a weirdly wonderful film. What happened to Jennifer Lopez's film career?

That WAS good. I had forgotten about that one. Hmmmm,....but I don't know how well received it was at the time. Another example of trying to establish an "underrated" category rather that a "top 50" or whatever.
+^d

re- jlo's movie career..
Maybe she had "Enough".....

The Cell is good because it was directed by Tarsem. Check out some more of his movies. I loved "The Fall".

Oh, good one. I love that movie. Pure art.

Get a life. This was just a fun list and someone's opinion. It's fine if you differ. Make up your own list if you don't like it. Geez.

get a life? Could you possibly be more unoriginal? And you know I'm right - where is that someone's opinion which you speak of ie an explanation as to why and how these are underrated masterpieces? There are plenty of people out there that actually take the time to back up their opinions so whether you agree with them or not you can at least understand their opinion. How can I differ with basically nothing since I don't understand the person's reasoning behind their selection. This is just laziness pure and simple.

And please tell me how in the freaking hell Predator and Tron are underrated by any stretch of the imagination? That should have been your first clue before you posted this that the reviewer(?) (can one even call them such since all they did was write down some movie names?) needs to read a dictionary.

What bugs me about this lazy trite making it to the top ten is the recent trend on Current for folks to flock to dreck without substance. An actual article about 15 underrated sci-fi masterpieces would have been fascinating had the person ACTUALLY wrote an article about 15 underrated sci-fi masterpieces instead of just jotting down some movie titles some of which don't belong in the category of underrated.

LOL Your funny :o)

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2008/07/08/most-underrated-s...

here's an example of a guy who at least gave some explanation of the movies such when they were released and a synopsis of the plot

The summer movie season is upon us, and I’m looking forward to watching a bunch of science fiction movies over the next few weeks. Batman, Hellboy, X-Files, Babylon A.D. are all getting the full blockbuster promotional treatment. Chances are though that some of them will be overrated, which got me to thinking about some of the most underrated movies I’ve seen. I love underrated movies: for whatever reason you plop yourself down in front of the screen not expecting much and then: “Hey! This is pretty good!” Here’s my top ten — what are your suggestions?
The Satan Bug (1965): Before The Andromeda Strain and Outbreak, this cloak-and-dagger thriller brought the specter of species-killing disease to the big screen.
Silent Running (1972): Although a little preachy, an uncompromising ending rescued the movie from cheesiness as the spaceborne remnants of Earth’s forests face destruction.
The Quiet Earth (1985): Twenty years after I first saw it, the enigmatic ending of this Last-Man-On-Earth tale still sticks in my mind.
Last Night (1998): Another movie with a haunting ending, it follows the lives of a handful of people in the final hours before the Earth is destroyed.
eXistenZ (1999): Overshadowed by The Matrix when it was released, this virtual reality tale is wickedly imaginative.
Pitch Black (2000): Although it spawned a sprawling sequel, the movie that introduced the character of the lethal Riddick was a tight thriller that relied on psychology more than special effects.
Underworld (2003): I loved the surprisingly rich backstory that gave a war between vampires and werewolves some real weight.
The Fountain (2006): Another movie that, whatever other flaws it may have had, paid off with a great ending.
Stardust (2007): Peppered with wry humor — and with romantic leads that manage not to irritate.
Sunshine (2007): The on-screen physics didn’t make sense, but the psychology of a crew pushed to extremes by their environment worked for me.

And he gives reasons for omissions in the comments such as Primer getting a fair bit of attention and critical praise to be considered underrated.

Good list! I would agree that "Pitch Black" is a good and underrated film. A much older film that I would add to my personal list is "On the Beach" (1959) it was remade in 2000. I heard that it was good, but I haven't seen that one. But the 1959 film was really good.

hey, what can I say, I like movies so I get a bit antsy when someone does as the writer of that list did - offer no background for their decisions and misinterpret underrated which is a very important word among movie buffs, something which that writer is clearly not.

To give an example of a once underrated film that could be considered Sci-Fi in an odd but genuine way is "It's a Wonderful Life!" with Jimmy Stewart. Now I know some people may have spit out their Cafe Latte at the notion that "It's a Wonderful Life" would be in this category as it is hardly underrated being shown ad nauseam every holiday season or that it could be considered a Sci-Fi flick but if you know the history of the film and if you look at it from a slightly different angle, it makes sense.

First you have the angel who has the power to remove someone entirely from their existence and present an alternative timeline. Sounds kind of Sci-Fi to me ala Doctor Who and HG Wells the Time Machine. The angel could be seen as one of those 2001 monolith beings who have evolved beyond bodies - the film starts out with celestial bodies talking about the main character. And some people believe God and Angels are extra-terrestials anyhow.

As for the underrated part, when the film first came out in 1946 it was a flop with both critics and audiences. Reviews were mixed and even though it was nominated for oscars, the studios considered it a failure or at least mediocre. It wasn't until decades later when they started airing it on TV that the movie was recognized for being the masterpiece that it is much to the surprise of those who had been involved in its making.

Incidentally the movie that took the Oscars was "The Best Year of Our Lives" which was a commercial and critical success at the time but has become relatively forgotten unlike "It's a Wonderful Life!"

But that is a classic example of a underrated film which in time got the praise and recognition it deserved.

I'm more curious about your list of underrated sci-fi films than your rant against what, I agree, is a flawed list of films in the original article.

like most people I don't run around with a list of underrated movies of any genre at the top of my head but if I were to make the effort to make a blog about such I would take the time to give my reasons and some information about the flicks themselves. I would be less hostile towards the list had the person actually gave their reason for their selections ... and yes the Predator and Tron additions to the above list gets my proverbial goat if you couldn't tell already.

My rant is mainly at lack of explanation and the person's definition of the word "underrated" as a number of the films don't fall in that category - Primer, Solaris (1972), Time Bandits, Stalker. The first was a Sundance winner and the other three are considered cult classics thus hardly underrated.

"Underrated" is a rather problematic label.

+^d. p.s. The "Its a Wonderful Life" insight is good fun.

Stardust was a good film! dont think its underrated tho
the quiet earth is veryyyyyy good! definatly a classic

also id like to put The Thing out there.
that film was amazing for its time!

I love "It's a wonderful life!" .

THAT is because you are a kewl and likable artist person burning manner!

uhmmmmm,....I guess that was a "High Five".

Back at you , darlin' ! xoxo

because starwars is crap. :) and very overrated

star wars is awesome :D

100% agree about equilibrium

Children of Men was good, but I think not underrated. V for Vendetta was way overrated in my opinion.

V was awesome tho :)
i think its more a british only film tho
since guy fawkes is something we know about as a kid.

children of men is wayyy underrated.
i dont know many people who have seen it! considering how good a film it is

Was District 9 overlooked? Never heard of Star Truck.

Yo, You could talk for days on end about Primer. Amazing movie. Took so long to edit that the director almost scrapped it. I'm so glad he didn't.

I agree with 'Cube', it was a nice combination or horror & sci-fi.

It was also ultimately boring and unoriginal. Fun direction, though.

you're referring to the burn victim bad guy right? I totally agree, it was a great film until the ridiculous way in which they shot and developed that character. Word.

District 9 isn't underrated. Nobody can keep Blomkamp's dong out of their mouths.

Considering they both got Oscar nods, you could hardly consider them underrated.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/underrated

check a dictionary:

underrated - Not given enough recognition for its quality

This can be both in critical reviews or in attention. Apparently whoever wrote the above list doesn't know the word either so well as they put in Tron and Predator both of which had a huge impact on both the box office and pop culture. That's NOT underrated!

You mean "Serenity" ? Loved it .

I thought it was a real disappointment. The books were amazing. Douglas Adams was an incredible writer and the film was just in no way worthy of the material.

Well he wrote quite a bit of the script for the film before he died, so it was mainly of his creation.

It was my impression that it stayed true to the story line, it was just cut all to hell.

Well every adaptation was slightly different, it's what Adams wanted to do. The film is the most different however, as the others normally have the same storyline up to Magrathea, however the film has the Point-of-View gun and more Vogons...though I do like the PoV gun, a concept that must have been Adams' creation.

So the story goes.... it is hard to argue with a corpse.

True, very true...though we can still try! Just need lots of lightning...and some bolts...

I have never seen that. How obscure IS it,can it be found?

I actually rented it years ago, but I think it was originally a made-for-cable movie. You should be able to find it somewhere.

Glad you like. I aim to please :o)