NYT List of Best Sci-fi of the Century
- Carla Ra
- Aug 1
- 4 min read
Last month, The New York Times released a list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century, curated by 500 influential Hollywood personalities. These people were asked to name their top 10 list of films released in the first quarter of this century.
Well, in the first quarter of the century plus a year, because they considered any movie released since January 1st 2000… Clearly, math was not their strongest. But we’re here for the films, so let’s move on.
Of the 100 movies chosen, 14 are categorized within the science fiction genre. So I thought we could take a look at this particular subset of the list and make a petty judgment of their picks. Are you on board?
Let's put on our top hats and monocles and start our discussion, then.
By all accounts, these are the 14 best sci-fi movies of the century, according to the NYT. From lower ranked to highest, they are:
#97 - Gravity
#96 - Black Panther
#94 - Minority Report
#89 - Interstellar
#77 - Everything, Everywhere, all at Once
#69 - Under the Skin
#55 - Inception
#34 - Wall-E
#29 - Arrival
#28 - The Dark Knight
#24 - Her
#13 - Children of Men
#11 - Mad Max: Fury Road
#7 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
It is quite nice to see this many science fiction movies featured in a best-of-all list. I suspect a fewer amount of sci-fi titles would be featured in a list of the last century’s 100 best films. For us, sci-fi lovers, it’s a fortunate change.
On the other hand, I think a true fan would have built a different list. Let’s talk about it.
Best sci-fi of the 21th Century commented
For starters, I’m happy that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ranked first in the sci-fi subset. It is so underrated in the sci-fi community! Although this fact alone shows a divergence between what fans of the genre would suggest and what we got on the list.
There are a lot of darlings in there, like Arrival, Interstellar, and Mad Max: Fury Road, for example. But there are also some surprises, such as Under the Skin and Gravity. I mean, the first is extremely niche (and, to be honest, I’m not even sure I understand it). The other is not particularly impressive, story-wise.
But, overall, I say it is a solid list.
If I were to reshuffle this listing, this would be:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Arrival
Her
Minority Report
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
Inception
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Dark Knight
Wall-E
Children of Men
Interstellar
Black Panther
Gravity
Under the Skin
Although this could change if I had the option of choosing 14 sci-fi movies without constraints.
Notable Absences
One good way to understand a list is to look at those titles that didn’t make the cut.
There are some notable absences in this list. I missed, in particular, Blade Runner 2049, which has been receiving high praise from critics over time, despite its poor earnings upon release.
We also don’t see in the list another of Villeneuve’s masterpieces: Dune, the movie previously thought to be unfilmable. Given the amount of love the source material receives from the community, I’d say it would definitely rank high on a list made by sci-fi fans.
But also, some movies generated a lot of buzz upon their release and, unsurprisingly, didn’t make the list. James Cameron’s Avatar and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water were received with great enthusiasm, but that enthusiasm faded over time. I mean, there are only 26 movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture since 2000. The Shape of Water was one of them, and it is not on the list of the Best of the Century.
Additionally, the last few decades have seen a surge in the superhero subgenre, and the list features two notable examples: The Dark Knight and Black Panther, which are indeed excellent picks. But, if I had to choose among the several superhero films released in the past few decades, Avengers: Infinity War would undoubtedly be on my list.
What Marvel achieved with this installment of its franchise is quite literally spectacular, not only in terms of casting, production, and special effects, but also in storytelling. They were able to translate the magic of the comic books to the big screens, and the result was fantastic! Although I admit that Marvel pushed too far and created a scenario of superhero fatigue in the industry.
On the animation side, Wall-E is an excellent representation featured on the list. Still, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse would also be a great contender. But it is likely another victim of the fatigue scenario I mentioned earlier.
The NYT list has a limited number of entries, but I think that other sci-fi titles could have made the cut in a ranking done by the sci-fi community. For example, The Martian and Edge of Tomorrow are great movies, and I could see them appearing on a best list compiled by us. Should we make one?
###
That’s it for today, folks. So, how would you reshuffle the NYT list? What are your top 10 sci-fi movies of the century so far? Let me know in the comments.
See you next post,
Ra.
Carla Ra is a scientist by day, sci-fi writer by night.
You can check out her anthology ARTIFICIAL REBELLION here.
