MEME: Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time
By John DeNardo |
Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at
12:55 am
Below is Snarkerati’s list of Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time. A great topic for a meme!
You know the drill…copy the list and BOLD the movies you have seen. Post yours in the comments, or on your own blog (a link back here would be appreciated!)
- Metropolis (1927)
- A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Brazil (1985)
- Wings of Desire (1987)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Children of Men (2006)
- The Matrix (1999)
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
- Minority Report (2002)
- Delicatessen (1991)
- Sleeper (1973)
- The Trial (1962)
- Alphaville (1965)
- Twelve Monkeys (1995)
- Serenity (2005)
- Pleasantville (1998)
- Ghost in the Shell (1995)
- Battle Royale (2000)
- RoboCop (1987)
- Akira (1988)
- The City of Lost Children (1995)
- Planet of the Apes (1968)
- V for Vendetta (2005)
- Metropolis (2001)
- Gattaca (1997)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
- On The Beach (1959)
- Mad Max (1979)
- Total Recall (1990)
- Dark City (1998)
- War Of the Worlds (1953)
- District 13 (2004)
- They Live (1988)
- THX 1138 (1971)
- Escape from New York (1981)
- A Scanner Darkly (2006)
- Silent Running (1972)
- Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
- A Boy and His Dog (1975)
- Soylent Green (1973)
- I Robot (2004)
- Logan’s Run (1976)
- Strange Days (1995)
- Idiocracy (2006)
- Death Race 2000 (1975)
- Rollerball (1975)
- Starship Troopers (1997)
- One Point O (2004)
- Equilibrium (2002)
Related posts:
- EWs’ Top 20 Dystopian Movies
- Top 12 Movies That Were Ahead of Their Time
- Premiere’s 20 Big-Time Plot Twists
- Top 10 Science Fiction Movies with the Highest Body Count
- Trailers of Historically Significant Films – The SF/F/H Movies
Filed under: Movies
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Funny, I just saw Equilibrium tonight for the first time. I thought it was flawed but brilliant. I would switch it with Children of Men, order-wise.
I’ve seen fewer than half of these.
I’ve seen 30 out of these 50 films. Wings of Desire is SF? Coulda fooled me.
Where’s The Day the Earth Caught Fire? La Jetee? Planet of the Apes III? The President’s Analyst? Seconds? Etc., etc.?
Why does this list have boring crapola like Logan’s Run and I, Robot? And a pretentious snoozefest like Alphaville?
Ack, I meant Planet of the Apes II (Beneath the Planet of the Apes). Wait, let me check out the IMDB reviews… hmm, maybe just the second half of the film. Okay, maybe not. I haven’t seen it in years, maybe what seemed powerful at the time is now silly.
john you should see Delicatessen (1991)
Yes it is french and yes it is subtitled….it is still a great movie.
I don’t see how War of the Worlds fits in there.
Doing well, seen 41 of them. Not sure they all fit under the dystopian tag though.
Other people playing: Jeff @ From the Mind of Manxom Vroom, Gerry Canavan and Intergalactic Robot (in Spanish!)
More entries by Rob’s Blog o’ Stuff and Cephyn…
Okay, I’ve seen 41 out of these 50:
1. Metropolis (1927)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. Wings of Desire (1987)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
9. Minority Report (2002)
10. Delicatessen (1991)
11. Sleeper (1973)
12. The Trial (1962)
13. Alphaville (1965)
14. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
15. Serenity (2005)
16. Pleasantville (1998)
17. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
18. Battle Royale (2000)
19. RoboCop (1987)
20. Akira (1988)
21. The City of Lost Children (1995)
22. Planet of the Apes (1968)
23. V for Vendetta (2005)
24. Metropolis (2001)
25. Gattaca (1997)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
27. On The Beach (1959)
28. Mad Max (1979)
29. Total Recall (1990)
30. Dark City (1998)
31. War Of the Worlds (1953)
32. District B13 (2004)
33. They Live (1988)
34. THX 1138 (1971)
35. Escape from New York (1981)
36. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
37. Silent Running (1972)
38. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
41. Soylent Green (1973)
42. I Robot (2004)
43. Logan’s Run (1976)
44. Strange Days (1995)
45. Idiocracy (2006)
46. Death Race 2000 (1975)
47. Rollerball (1975)
48. Starship Troopers (1997)
49. One Point O (2004)
50. Equilibrium (2002)
And there’s two movie’s that are NOT on my list to see (great 372 movies now).
I agree with questioning the inclusion of “War of the Worlds,” “I, Robot,” “Blade Runner,” and “Minority Report” as distopian. in IR, BR and MR the societies are normal, healthy and functioning. Okay, there is that segment that has problems (replicants in BR, those abotu to commit a crime in MR and robots in IR), but isn’t htat true of all that choose (or are forced) to live outside of any particular society.
If “War of the Worlds” qualifies then shoudln’t “Independence Day” be on this list as well?
Rich
1. Metropolis (1927)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. Wings of Desire (1987)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
9. Minority Report (2002)
10. Delicatessen (1991)
11. Sleeper (1973)
12. The Trial (1962)
13. Alphaville (1965)
14. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
15. Serenity (2005)
16. Pleasantville (1998)
17. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
18. Battle Royale (2000)
19. RoboCop (1987)
20. Akira (1988)
21. The City of Lost Children (1995)
22. Planet of the Apes (1968)
23. V for Vendetta (2005)
24. Metropolis (2001)
25. Gattaca (1997)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
27. On The Beach (1959)
28. Mad Max (1979)
29. Total Recall (1990)
30. Dark City (1998)
31. War Of the Worlds (1953)
32. District 13 (2004)
33. They Live (1988)
34. THX 1138 (1971)
35. Escape from New York (1981)
36. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
37. Silent Running (1972)
38. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
41. Soylent Green (1973)
42. I Robot (2004)
43. Logan’s Run (1976)
44. Strange Days (1995)
45. Idiocracy (2006)
46. Death Race 2000 (1975)
47. Rollerball (1975)
48. Starship Troopers (1997)
49. One Point O (2004)
50. Equilibrium (2002)
I’ve seen less than I thought. Of course, I’ve seen bits and pieces of a lot of these, but I don’t feel they count if I haven’t seen the whole film.
Blade Runner is an all time favorite, but Strange Days had an affect on me that few films have had. For the first act I was sure I wasn’t going to like it, it was too overpowering and dark and then I didn’t want to like it. But soon it sucked me in completely. It inspired an honest to goodness physical reaction in me, I was shaking with rage and fear and sadness when the cops were beating Angela Bassett. The film was so dark, I was convinced the credits would roll right then and there. Incredible.
I don’t know if my viewing of Metropolis counts. I saw the eighties color-tinted version with music by Freddie Mercury, Pat Benatar, etc. and enjoyed it.
Lots of good stuff still to be seen.
I’ve seen all but 11 (or 12, since I couldn’t get through Alphaville). My list is here:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel/2007/10/meme-the-top-50.html
I’ve joined this meme party late, but posted here. Mind you, I’d certainly rate Blade Runner, Serenity and Starship Troopers higher on the list than they appear here
31/50 – listed here.
Seen 33 of these. ‘Soylent Green’ looks a bit out of place amongst most of its close company on this list. My wildcard entries would be ‘Gummo’ and as an emotional favourite I would also include ‘Children of the Corn’. Does ‘Animal Farm’ qualify for this category? what a great film.
1. Metropolis (1927)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. Wings of Desire (1987)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
9. Minority Report (2002)
10. Delicatessen (1991)
11. Sleeper (1973)
12. The Trial (1962)
13. Alphaville (1965)
14. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
15. Serenity (2005)
16. Pleasantville (1998)
17. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
18. Battle Royale (2000)
19. RoboCop (1987)
20. Akira (1988)
21. The City of Lost Children (1995)
22. Planet of the Apes (1968)
23. V for Vendetta (2005)
24. Metropolis (2001)
25. Gattaca (1997)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
27. On The Beach (1959)
28. Mad Max (1979)
29. Total Recall (1990)
30. Dark City (1998)
31. War Of the Worlds (1953)
32. District 13 (2004)
33. They Live (1988)
34. THX 1138 (1971)
35. Escape from New York (1981)
36. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
37. Silent Running (1972)
38. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
41. Soylent Green (1973)
42. I Robot (2004)
43. Logan’s Run (1976)
44. Strange Days (1995)
45. Idiocracy (2006)
46. Death Race 2000 (1975)
47. Rollerball (1975)
48. Starship Troopers (1997)
49. One Point O (2004)
50. Equilibrium (2002)
Dude…you didn’t see District 13?
Had fun watching these.
Some where better than others, but won’t be long and I will have seen the lot.
Check out my list at gadget17.co.uk/films/. Off to watch Rollerball now.
I posted my version of the list on my blog:
Gregarious Monk
I’ve only seen 17 from this list, but these are some of my very favorite films for sure. Would Truman Show count?
42 out of 50… I’ve been trying to find a stream of Brazil for a couple years, Veoh finally put one up but I cant get their fuckin software to install so I haven’t seen it yet. Also I haven’t seen “The Trial” however I have read the book so that has to count half at least…
Also I noted that out of 50 4 of the movies are French (Delicatessen, Alphaville, District 13 and The City of Lost Children) and Fahrenheit 451 was Directed by François Truffaut. Maybe more that I dont know of as well.
A few really great movies didn’t make it to the list and are definately honorable mentions such as Johnny Mnemonic, Koyanisqatsi, Brave New World, 2001, THX 1138, I am Legend, Red Dawn and Postman just to name a few.
“Damn! I’ve seen a lot of movies (and some really bad ones at that).
What’s even funnier is A Boy and His Dog, Silent Running, and They Live, are all in my Netflix queue.
I was really happy to see On the Beach here. It’s easily forgotten and a wonderful movie.
How Minority Report got on the list, let alone that high after slaughtering the source material is nothing but an insult to Phillip K Dick.
Ok where the hell is Threads…. I know this is a British movie – WW3 nuke drops on Northern town (Shefield) and this deals with the aftermath. This was shown in British schools in the 80s to kids… seriously I saw it when I was 13 or so, it has to be one of the most devestating bleak movies ever made. I urge you to hunt down a copy of this and watch it if you have any love of the post apocalyptic genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUXwVrwrXNg&feature=related
I would also urge you to watch When the Wind Blows, another nuclear dystopia based on a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs. This is done in a kiddie friendly animiation style (the Snowman christmas novel / song was done by the same guy and in the same style), but When the Wind Blows is another bleak tale just beautifully told.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntI-7vR2zRs&feature=related