The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century

Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian thriller imagines a world where no child has been born in years. Its long, immersive single takes and grimy realism make it feel frighteningly plausible. Every engine had it as its #1.

Denis Villeneuve's alien-contact drama trades explosions for language, memory and grief. Amy Adams anchors a story that rewards a second viewing, and its emotional twist lands harder than any spectacle could.

A sequel nobody asked for became a stunner. Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins build a hushed, gorgeous world, and Ryan Gosling's search for meaning honors the original while carving out its own identity.

Alex Garland's tight three-hander about a Turing test gone wrong is cold, sleek and quietly menacing. Alicia Vikander's Ava is among cinema's most unsettling AIs, and the final minutes still linger.

Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry turn a memory-erasing procedure into a heartbreaking, inventive love story. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are superb. Gemini ranked it near the top, while ChatGPT mostly left it out.

Spike Jonze's tender tale of a lonely man falling for his operating system feels more relevant every year. Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson's voice make a strange romance feel achingly real.

Christopher Nolan sends astronauts through a wormhole to save humanity, with a father-daughter bond at the center. Big ideas, a thundering Hans Zimmer organ score and real emotional heft make it a crowd-pleasing epic.

Nolan's heist inside dreams is a puzzle box with blockbuster muscle. Its folding Paris, spinning hallway fights and ambiguous final shot made it a cultural touchstone and endless debate-starter.

Pixar's near-wordless story of a trash-compacting robot is both a love story and an environmental warning. Its first act is some of the finest visual storytelling in modern animation. Gemini barely noticed it.

George Miller's relentless desert chase is practically one long action sequence, yet it's packed with world-building and fierce characters. Charlize Theron's Furiosa steals the show. Claude kept it in its top half.