scientific sci-fi movie

[Iliena]

A lot of good recommendations so far, Solaris is a really interesting Sci-fi movie, I didn't get it the first time I saw it (I was young).

I watched it again a 3 or 4 years ago and a couple more times since, it is one of the most thought provoking movies I've ever seen.

[BloodyAngel12]

If what you want is really cerebral sci-fi then I recommend The Man From Earth. There is almost no action whatsoever, the entire film takes place at a cabin in the woods. It's about academic colleagues saying goodbye to one of their friends who then postulates the idea that a Cro-Magnon man could have lived beyond a normal lifetime and then heavily implies that he is said man. His friends discuss the implications of such a possibility in a very realistic way. Great film if you can handle talking and highbrow concepts.

I 2nd this film, i was engrossed through out the whole of it.

[paranoid084]

Interstellar is my favorite if you can call that movie a scientific sci-fi movie. Had to watch that shit a couple times to understand it. A amazing movie.

[Endus]

If what you want is really cerebral sci-fi then I recommend The Man From Earth. There is almost no action whatsoever, the entire film takes place at a cabin in the woods. It's about academic colleagues saying goodbye to one of their friends who then postulates the idea that a Cro-Magnon man could have lived beyond a normal lifetime and then heavily implies that he is said man. His friends discuss the implications of such a possibility in a very realistic way. Great film if you can handle talking and highbrow concepts.

I love Man From Earth, too. I only didn't cite it (or a ton of others) because I was trying to stick to the OP's "space-oriented, not aliens-trying-to-kill-us-all" restrictions. There's a TON of great sci-fi that's either entirely based on Earth (Blade Runner, for instance) or most space-based involves aliens at some level, and the overwhelming majority is violently.

[draynay]

Silent Running

Seconded. I liked Moon because it reminded me of Silent Running.

[Shadowferal]

Silent Running was depressing as hell though. I saw it when it first came out...I was all of 6 turning 7. I remember going to the park and wanting to stay because of it.

[IIamaKing]

Interstellar and Contact are less sci-fi, in tems of plot, and more using sci-fi as a thin cover for "love is magic" storylines. I love everything about both movies up to the end, which retroactively makes the rest of the plot pretty stupid. Seriously frustrating.

Thats a really good way to sum those 2 up.

[Djdizzy]

The Martian

[Witchblade77]

I wasn't saying it's "bad", it's a taste thing. The political framework is important, my issue is how much of the story revolves around the high politics, directly, with world leaders and diplomats and admirals. I prefer more human-scale stories, where those political moves may help shape the story, but they're the background worldbuilding, not the driving plot and characters.

Stuff more like Firefly, to pick another TV show with similar tech levels and focused on Sol system without FTL. The politics there "matter", but more in explaining backstory than driving the plot of each episode.

The stuff with Holden and his crew in The Expanse is what keeps me coming back. Less so the political chicanery between Earth and Mars and the Belt. The Expanse is less "the story of James Holden" and more "the story of humanity touching the beyond" (to be as spoiler-free as I can make it), where Holden is just a guy who happened to end up in the middle of it all. They could, theoretically, kill off Holden and the entire crew of the Rocinante, and The Expanse could keep going without them; you couldn't have done that with Firefly.

I would highly reccomend that you read the books. the show is good, but books are so much better. and sure, they still deal with a lot of politics there as well, but there is also a lot of human element. also upcoming season is based on Cibola burn and the book at least is almost entirely based around people who are at the actual frontier with politics having very little say as its all too far away to have enough effect soon enough.

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Moon and the Expanse are both damn solid. The latter is more of a political drama, but it's still very engrossing.

I know it's not what you are looking for, but Killjoys is a fun sci-fi show to pass the time.

Killjoys is one of my faves, but its pretty much exactly what Op is NOT looking for, since its in a nutshell about aliens trying to kill us :P so to speak.

[Machismo]

I would highly reccomend that you read the books. the show is good, but books are so much better. and sure, they still deal with a lot of politics there as well, but there is also a lot of human element. also upcoming season is based on Cibola burn and the book at least is almost entirely based around people who are at the actual frontier with politics having very little say as its all too far away to have enough effect soon enough.

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Killjoys is one of my faves, but its pretty much exactly what Op is NOT looking for, since its in a nutshell about aliens trying to kill us :P so to speak.

I agree, it's the opposite of what was requested, but I will always recommend it as a great sci-fi show. It's got great comic relief, and very good casting.

[Witchblade77]

I agree, it's the opposite of what was requested, but I will always recommend it as a great sci-fi show. It's got great comic relief, and very good casting.

won't argue there - agreed on all counts I'm sad its ending, but glad they got enough warning and room to give it a proper conclusion. /not so secretly hoping that

Aneela and Kendry will get to have their happy ending. Kendry especially is such an awful, AWFUL human most of the time, but the actress who plays her is so good and has such fantastic chemistry with everyone on the cast, I can't help but love her.

[Machismo]

won't argue there - agreed on all counts I'm sad its ending, but glad they got enough warning and room to give it a proper conclusion. /not so secretly hoping that

Aneela and Kendry will get to have their happy ending. Kendry especially is such an awful, AWFUL human most of the time, but the actress who plays her is so good and has such fantastic chemistry with everyone on the cast, I can't help but love her.

She is a great actress, and is really good at playing a bad guy. Yes, it's a good thing that they know when things are going to end, unlike so many other shows on that network.

[Endus]

I would highly reccomend that you read the books. the show is good, but books are so much better. and sure, they still deal with a lot of politics there as well, but there is also a lot of human element.

I've read the first three or four, pretty much up to where the show ended (I read them a while back, read everything that was out to that point, before the show came out). Haven't gone back, mostly because they're still being written, and I've had plenty of other stuff to read, but it's on my reading list.

[Lanrefni]

The Martian,Moon,2001 & 2010,Alien Hunter(almost entirely set on Earth but still good), Altered Carbon, lots of sciency sci-fi out there.

[Witchblade77]

I've read the first three or four, pretty much up to where the show ended (I read them a while back, read everything that was out to that point, before the show came out). Haven't gone back, mostly because they're still being written, and I've had plenty of other stuff to read, but it's on my reading list.

ah, gotcha. the bad news Tiamat's wrath ends on a very "oh shit" note. the good news is - after Tiamat's wrath there's only one book left in planned series, and unlike J.R. Martin, James S. A. Corey team up don't seem to be into severe procrastination, so we should be getting last novel in 2020.

[Milchshake]

Sunshine by Danny Boyle was fairly cerebral and thought provoking.

Event Horizon basicly had "first post" in explaining black holes and FTL with a pen/paper.

[schwank05]

Annihilation was good.

[Kokolums]

While some people may not realize it, The Expanse is actually very hard sci-fi. Strongly recommend it.

The Expanse sucks. I would not recommend the Expanse unless you are a BIG fan of noir. All the characters are vile which means you will quickly wish to see all of them die horribly. There are no characters to root for. I could at LEAST respect that if they were consistent with it and stuck to the noir style, but they are inconsistent are inevitably fall into the trap of attempting to write some characters as heroes to advance the plot, which utterly fails because everyone is evil.

Its a show where you root for the asteroid to wipe everyone out.

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Try these:

District 9 (2012)
Evolution (2015)
12 Monkeys (1995)
Also try the 12 Monkeys TV series (they wrap up the plots in 4 seasons)
The 5th Element (1997)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Total Recall (1990)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

[Fantomen]

Watch MOON

Its a nice movie, but total collapse then you start to think about it The mining of the moon must be very profitable becuse it covers the energy needs of the Earth, so far so good, way the need of the clone deception? Pay a royal salary and explaine the risk, and only use willing workers. Why would a company risk their super profitable Moon mining operation by lower themself to illegal cloning, "slavery" and murder??? only to save one royal salary, the risk is not in propotion to the reward

[bloodwulf]

Its a nice movie, but total collapse then you start to think about it The mining of the moon must be very profitable becuse it covers the energy needs of the Earth, so far so good, way the need of the clone deception? Pay a royal salary and explaine the risk, and only use willing workers. Why would a company risk their super profitable Moon mining operation by lower themself to illegal cloning, "slavery" and murder??? only to save one royal salary, the risk is not in propotion to the reward

Agreed, but if you just watch it in the context of a movie, it stands up well. Almost every movie will collapse if you apply to much critical thinking. Now that said, in Duncan's more recent movie you actually see the Moon issue mentioned in a few news bits, but i would never recommend watching his other movies.....