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Interstellar
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10 Time-Bending Sci-Fi Movies To Watch If You Loved Looper
15 Best Sci-Fi Movies Like Blade Runner 2049
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Movies like Interstellar gain a reputation as mind-bending and strange because they combine elements of science fiction, fantasy, and surrealism to deliver an off-kilter cinematic experience. Christopher Nolan is known for his ability to mess with the mind of the viewer thanks to an impressive dedication to both meticulous plotting and classical filmmaking techniques mixed with new-school effects. Interstellar is one of his greatest works and one of the best mind-bending movies ever because it isn't just one thing.
Nolan's 2014 opus was met with praise from critics (via Rotten Tomatoes) and was yet another smash success for the director, earning an impressive $700 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). However, while it's often considered one of Christopher Nolan's best films, Interstellar is far from the first movie to mess with audiences by subverting expectations in interesting ways. Movies like Interstellar have always been on the tip of the cinematic spear as they continue to push the envelope on what is possible.
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The Interstellar ending, and how space travel works as a whole, are big questions in the Christopher Nolan film. But we've got the answers.
30 Sunshine (2007)
A Doomed Mission To Save A Freezing Earth
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Sunshine
R
Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle, follows a team of astronauts on a mission to reignite a dying sun with a massive nuclear bomb. Set in 2057, the film stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, and Michelle Yeoh, encapsulating their struggle against both physical and psychological challenges. As the crew ventures deeper into space, they confront unexpected dangers that threaten the mission and their survival.
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- Director
- Danny Boyle
- Release Date
- July 27, 2007
- Cast
- Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis
- Runtime
- 107 minutes
Many movies like Interstellar focus on the intricacies of time travel, time dilation, and the nature of how humanity perceives the universe around them. However, there are also many that don't contain these themes and instead mirror Christopher Nolan's epic sci-fi because they feature a team of astronauts or scientists setting out on a deadly mission to save the rest of humanity. When it comes to the former category, director Danny Boyle's 2007 movie Sunshine is one of the best.
Set in 2057, Sunshine finds a world on the brink of freezing due to the sun dying. A team of eight astronauts are tasked with heading to the center of the solar system to detonate a bomb at the center of our star, reigniting it and bringing warmth to Earth once again. The cast of Sunshine is star-studded, with the likes of Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, and Chris Evans all appearing. It's tinged with more horror than Insterstellar, and trades jaw-dropping scale and spectacle for a more claustrophobic and intimate atmosphere, but is worth a watch for fans of Nolan's epic sci-fi.
29 The Core (2003)
There's Just As Much Adventure Within The Earth As Beyond It
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The Core
PG-13
The Core is a 2003 science fiction disaster film directed by Jon Amiel. The story follows a team of scientists led by Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) who must embark on a dangerous journey to the Earth's core to restart its rotation and save the planet. The ensemble cast also includes Hilary Swank and Stanley Tucci, as they confront unprecedented challenges deep beneath the Earth's surface.
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- Director
- Jon Amiel
- Release Date
- March 28, 2003
- Cast
- Aaron Eckhart, Christopher Shyer, Ray Galletti, Hilary Swank, Delroy Lindo, Eileen Pedde
- Runtime
- 135 minutes
Interstellar has a similar set-up to many sci-fi movies in that it features a team of astronauts traveling off-world to save humanity. This is where 2003's The Core, from director Jon Amiel, puts a spin on things. Rather than travelling off-world like the various plucky teams in Interstellar and many other movies like it do, the team of scientists in The Core instead have to burrow down to the center of the earth to prevent the planet's magnetic field from collapsing.
The Core has many moments that are visually similar to Interstellar in a surprising way. For example, there's a moment when the team finds themselves in a giant quartz geode that feels like it would fit right in with Christopher Nolan's 2014 epic. While it's definitely not as acclaimed as Interstellar, and doesn't have anywhere near as much thematic ambition, it still hits many of the same notes. The performances of cast memberts like Arraon Eckhart, Hilary Swank, and Stanley Tucci also make The Core worth watching too.
28 Don't Look Up (2021)
What Happens When Humanity Can't Unite To Stop An Existential Threat?
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5/10
7/10
Don't Look Up
R
Don't Look Up follows two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) desperately trying to warn humanity about an approaching comet that they believe could wipe out all life on Earth. When the President (Meryl Streep) and her son (Jonah Hill) ignore their warnings, they embark on a media tour to enlighten the public, earning the ire of the global populace who refuse to believe in the danger. Meanwhile, an eccentric billionaire (Mark Rylance) begins to fund an emergency colonization mission to take humanity out among the stars.
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- Director
- Adam McKay
- Release Date
- December 10, 2021
- Cast
- Meryl Streep, Tyler Perry, Himesh Patel, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Tomer Sisley, Jonah Hill, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scott Mescudi, Jennifer Lawrence, Mark Rylance, Rob Morgan, Melanie Lynskey, Ron Perlman, Michael Chiklis, Ariana Grande
- Runtime
- 145 minutes
In many ways, Don't Look Up should be considered a must-watch for fans of movies like Interstellar, as it's a hilarious and poignant satire of the premise of humanity uniting to face a common existential threat. In 2021's Don't Look Up, from director Adam McKay, the world is shocked to learn it's directly in the path of an asteroid whose size would wipe out all life on the surface. However, rather than finding common ground and working together to save life as we know it, the people of Earth become distracted by conspiracy until it's too late.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Ron Perlman, Timothee Chalamet, and a host of other A-Listers, the cast of Don't Look Up alone is enough to garner attention. However, it also contains plenty of similarities to Interstellar too, even beyond its satirical elements. Like Interstellar, Don't Look Up also contains many moments that deal with the impact of climate change (which the meteorite is an allegory for). There's even an attempt to colonize another planet to find humanity a second home - though this endeavour ends in a far more disasterous (and hilarious) fashion in Don't Look Up.
27 The Martian (2015)
A Similar Tale Of Survival Far From Home
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9/10
9/10
The Martian
PG-13
Adapted by Ridley Scott from Andy Weir's novel of the same name, The Martian follows the plight of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) after he finds himself stranded alone on Mars after he is falsely presumed dead during a mission. Unable to communicate with Earth and armed with little more than his scientific expertise as a botanist, Watney must find a way to survive on the barren planet until the next scheduled mission arrives.
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- Director
- Ridley Scott
- Release Date
- October 2, 2015
- Cast
- Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara
- Runtime
- 2h 24m
One of the key themes of Interstellar is the attempts of individual astronauts attempting to survive impossible odds while light years away from Earth. For a more grounded and intimate exploration of this specific idea, 2015's The Martian is one of the best movies like Interstellar out there. From director Ridley Scott, The Martian is based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weird. The film stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on the surface of Mars with no apparent hope of survival.
Much like the crew of the Lazarus expedition, Watney is left with limited resources, having to rely on his initiative and ability to innovate to ensure he makes it home.
However, Watney defies the odds, and uses the limited resources around him to survive for months on the surface of the Red Planet. While far less grand in scope than Interstellar, it resonates with Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi in many ways. Much like the crew of the Lazarus expedition, Watney is left with limited resources, having to rely on his initiative and ability to innovate to ensure he makes it home. If these moments in Interstellar are waht drew viewers to Nolan's movie, then The Martian is definitely a more than worthwhile watch.
26 Passengers (2016)
Recolonization Sets The Stage For An Intriguing Love Story
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4/10
7.4/10
Passengers
PG-13
Set on a colony ship carrying hibernating human passengers to a distant alien world, Passengers stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as Aurora and Jim, two passengers on the ship who are awakened from their induced sleep almost a century too early. As the two begin to come to terms with their isolation and start to form a bond, Aurora begins to suspect that Jim is not as innocent in the accident as he claims to be.
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- Director
- Morten Tyldum
- Release Date
- December 21, 2016
- Cast
- Laurence Fishburne, Aurora Perrineau, Chris Pratt2, Jamie Soricelli, Jennifer Lawrence, Kimberly Battista, Andy Garcia, Michael Sheen
- Runtime
- 116minuntes
The purpose of the Lazarus expedition in Interstellar is to discover new habitable planets outside of Earth. In some ways, the plot of director Morten Tyldum's sci-fi romance Passengers follows on from this. It focuses on a ship of colonists, the Avalon, on its 120-year voyage from Earth to a new world dubbed Homestead II. Much like Interstellar, the purpose of this voyage is directly rooted in climate change, as Earth has experienced a complete collapse of the biosphere making the planet unable to sustain life.
However, while the premise has many similarities to Interstellar, it should be noted that Passengers isn't a grand sci-fi epic. Rather, it's a surprisingly grounded, complex, and heartfelt love story. The plot focuses on Jim (Chris Pratt) and Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), two colonists awakened years before the 120-year journey is set to end. This meshing of genres makes for an intriguing watch, making passengers one of the more unique examples of movies like Interstellar out there.
25 Dark Star (1974)
A Surprisingly Satirical Sci-Fi Flick From John Carpenter
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Dark Star
G
Dark Star follows a group of scientists tasked with destroying unstable planets. Two decades into their mission, they face challenges from an alien mascot and a sentient bombing device that begins to question its existence.
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- Director
- John Carpenter
- Release Date
- April 1, 1974
- Cast
- Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Adam Beckenbaugh, Nick Castle, Joe Saunders, Cookie Knapp, Alan Sheretz, John Carpenter, Miles Watkins
- Runtime
- 83 Minutes
Horror auteur John Carpenter’s feature film debut was actually a clever sci-fi satire in the form of 1974’s Dark Star. The film follows a crew of incompetent astronauts as they are sent on a mission across space to destroy a rogue planet. Unlike most movies like Interstellar, which take their sci-fi elements very seriously, Dark Star makes salient points about society through humor.
Made on a shoestring budget, the movie's visuals pale in comparison to blockbusters, but the real mind-warp comes from the commentary about society. Co-written by Dan O'Bannon (Total Recall), the movie follows the crew's main directive is to destroy unstable planets that threaten future colonization, and while it was not a box office success, it had a huge influence on movies and other fictional works that came later, including sci-fi movies like Danny Boyle's Sunshine.
24 The Fountain (2006)
A Melodrama That Bends Space & Time
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6/10
The Fountain
PG-13
The Fountain is a 2006 film directed by Darren Aronofsky that interweaves three parallel stories about love, mortality, and the quest for eternal life. Hugh Jackman stars as a man endeavoring to save the woman he loves, played by Rachel Weisz, across different temporal settings: the past as a conquistador, the present as a medical researcher, and the future as a space traveler. The film explores themes of life, death, and rebirth.
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- Director
- Darren Aronofsky
- Release Date
- November 22, 2006
- Cast
- Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, Stephen McHattie, Fernando Hernandez
- Runtime
- 97 minutes
Writer/director Darren Aronofsky blended multiple distinct genres together in this thrilling and emotional romantic drama that follows the lives of Hugh Jackman's protagonist through space, time, and stories within stories. Partly the adventure of a conquistador searching for the tree of life, partly a contemporary weepy about marriage and illness, and partly an arthouse science fiction movie about a haunted monk delivering a tree through the universe in a bubble to reach the heart of a dying star.
The Fountain is a lot for the audience to wrap their heads around, but it all fits together remarkably well. Much like Interstellar, both movies play around with time and fate, and both have characters interact in different timelines in unexpected ways. They are also both highly intelligent movies and expect a lot from the audience when it comes to following along and buying into the story the directors are telling.
23 Source Code (2011)
One Of The Most Underrated Time-Loop Movies
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9/10
Source Code
PG-13
Source Code is a sci-fi thriller that stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an Army Captain named Colter Stevens who finds himself stuck in an eight-minute simulated time loop where a train explodes at the end of the timer. Disoriented and waking up in a capsule every time the simulation resets, Colter learns that the explosion was real. He is sent into the scenario repeatedly to discover the truth behind the bombing - but the truth behind the experiment may be even darker than he was prepared for.
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- Director
- Duncan Jones
- Release Date
- April 1, 2011
- Cast
- Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Michael Arden, Cas Anvar, Russell Peters, Brent Skagford
- Runtime
- 93 Minutes
Through a strange technology that creates a kind of simulated reality, Army Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) is forced to relive the final moments of a terrorist bombing on a train over and over again in order to try and find clues as to who the bomber is and where they will strike next. Through his different runthroughs of the incident, Gyllenhaal's main character begins to believe that he can alter the course of events with plenty of mind-bending concepts coming into play.
Both Interstellar and Source Code are movies where time travel is used to solve a problem and save lives, but they are done on completely different scales. Duncan Jones' sci-fi movie is about finding out who bombed a train and using time travel to send a man back to find clues so the terrorist can be identified and ensure it doesn't happen again. In Interstellar, it is about finding a way to save the entire Earth, but both movies play with time in interesting ways.
22 Looper (2012)
Unlike Any Other Time Travel Movie Ever Made
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8/10
Looper
R
In the sci-fi action thriller Looper, time travel is possible, but illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper," a hired gun, is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich as a Looper and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
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- Director
- Rian Johnson
- Release Date
- September 28, 2012
- Cast
- Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo
- Runtime
- 118 minutes
Rian Johnson dipped his toe into the world of sci-fi years before taking on the Star Wars universe with The Last Jedi, and his time travel thriller, Looper, is often considered the superior film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis star as the same hitman named Joe in the not-too-distant future as they fight the mob and each other when Willis' older version is sent back in time to be killed by his younger self.
Filled with all the twists that writer/director Rian Johnson's movies would become famous for, Looper is an action-packed, mind-bending ride. Looper is a very different movie than Insterstellar, as it is more of a science fiction film noir compared to the epic sci-fi that Christopher Nolan created. However, when it comes to time travel and the ability to manipulate time to ensure one's goals, they both play in the same sandbox and are very similar in terms of science fiction storytelling.
Related
10 Time-Bending Sci-Fi Movies To Watch If You Loved Looper
If you like Rian Johnson's time-bending thriller Looper, then make sure to watch these similar sci-fi movies for more of the same action and ideas.
21 Moon (2009)
A Cult-Classic Isolated Sci-Fi Movie
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8/10
Moon
R
Duncan Jones presents Moon, a sci-fi mystery drama that follows Astronaut Sam Bell, who has spent the last three years working at a lunar mine in isolation and is coming up at the end of his shift. However, as Sam prepares to return home to his family and meet his daughter for the first time, he begins to experience vivid hallucinations of a younger version of himself and begins to experience hazardous events. Before Lunar Industries arrives to relieve him of duty, he must uncover the reason for his recent psychosis and free himself of his mental prison.
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- Director
- Duncan Jones
- Release Date
- July 10, 2009
- Cast
- Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong, Dominique McElligott
- Runtime
- 97 minutes
Before he went on to make the time travel movie Source Code, Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son) directed the low-budget sci-fi movie Moon. In the film, astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is about to end his three-year tour of duty alone on a lunar mining facility when he is suddenly plagued by visions of a doppelgänger of himself. The only thing that he had to keep him company over the years was the AI computer system, reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
By limiting the story's scope, Jones finds the true heart of the themes by allowing the singular character in the story to carry the load. The movie was also a very personal affair for Jones, who did most of the effects himself and limited a lot of the overuse of CGI that many sci-fi movies are guilty of. Like Interstellar, the movie focuses more heavily on the personal story of the astronaut and his place in the world while tackling much deeper themes than its contemporary movies.
20 Solaris (1972)
The '70s Movie Was A Trailblazing Classic
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Solaris
PG
Solaris, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and based on the novel by Stanisław Lem, follows psychologist Kris Kelvin as he is sent to a space station orbiting the enigmatic planet Solaris. Confronted with mysterious phenomena affecting the crew, Kelvin must grapple with complex themes of memory, humanity, and loss. The film is a contemplative exploration of human consciousness and the unknown.
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- Director
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Release Date
- September 26, 1972
- Writers
- Stanislaw Lem, Fridrikh Gorenshteyn, Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast
- Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
If movies like Interstellar are modern examples of sci-fi that push boundaries, Solaris was a trailblazing classic that opened doors for future exploration. The Russian sci-fi epic follows psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis), who is sent to investigate the mysterious death of astronauts near the planet Solaris. Through its nearly three-hour running time, Solaris allows the viewer to sink further into the depths of madness as science fiction becomes surreal fantasy.
Also, much like Interstellar, it is often a difficult and thought-provoking movie to get through. It is a lot more meditative than Interstellar and is very slow-moving at times. While the film is not the best-known science fiction movie, it has its fans, including George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, who remade the movie in 2002. However, the original was a masterpiece by Andrei Tarkovsky, and his win of the Grand Prix Special de Jury at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival was well worth it.
19 Cloud Atlas (2012)
An Ambitious Sci-Fi Epic That Spans Centuries
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6/10
Cloud Atlas
r
David Mitchell's novel gets the big screen treatment with Cloud Atlas, a sci-fi action adventure epic that stars several actors as protagonists across multiple storylines. Six tales in all are told as actors play different characters in each one; from a dystopian Korea to a space-faring adventure, one soul is tossed between bodies as they experience several different lives.
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- Director
- Tom Tykwer, Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
- Release Date
- October 26, 2012
- Cast
- Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae
- Runtime
- 172minutes
Bigger than most movies like Interstellar, Cloud Atlas is a gargantuan adaptation of David Mitchell's time-bending novel from the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, and is a hugely ambitious science-fiction film that takes on even more distinct time periods and genres than The Fountain. The reincarnated lives of the impressive ensemble cast play out across a timeline spanning from the intimate drama of the 19th century to the post-apocalyptic adventure of the 24th century, and the themes are just as big as the effects and casting.
The biggest thing about Cloud Atlas that separates it from Interstellar is that it never received the same praise as Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. Critics were mixed on the movie, which was ambitious but was also often confusing in its changes of time and place. It also took actors and had them play different roles in different periods, making things even more confusing. However, as a movie about time influencing fate, the two movies share similar themes.
18 Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Ryan Gosling Stars As The New Blade Runner Tracking Down Deckard
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Blade Runner 2049
R
Set thirty years after the original film, Blade Runner 2049 is a sci-fi neo-noir film by the director of Dune, Denis Villeneuve. The film follows LAPD replicant officer K, who discovers a devastating secret that could throw society into total chaos. To stop a potential war between replicants and humans, he'll need to locate missing former blade runner Rick Deckard and uncover the truth.
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- Director
- Denis Villeneuve
- Release Date
- October 6, 2017
- Cast
- Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Ana De Armas, Robin Wright, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Carla Juri, Hiam Abbass, Barkhad Abdi, David Dastmalchian, Mackenzie Davis, Sylvia Hoeks
Denis Villeneuve's very belated sequel to Ridley Scott's iconic science-fiction film, Blade Runner, proved its worth very quickly to critics and fans alike, becoming a rare latter-day sequel to a cult classic that's as well-regarded as the original. Ryan Gosling stars as Officer K, a dystopian detective and synthetic executioner tracking down a synthetic-human hybrid who threatens the world order of the future's hierarchy.
Blade Runner 2049's Oscar-winning visual effects and cinematography are enough to captivate an Interstellar fan, but its emotional intensity and spiritual meditations make it an unmissable experience for any lover of sci-fi. This movie doesn't have the time travel or the world-saving storyline as Interstellar, but does have a smart sci-fi tale that makes viewers think almost more than it has them blindly following action beats.
Related
15 Best Sci-Fi Movies Like Blade Runner 2049
Fans who found themselves swept up by the dystopian look of Blade Runner 2049 should check out these 15 similarly gorgeous sci-fi movies too.
17 Stalker (1979)
One Of The Most Challenging But Rewarding Sci-Fi Movies
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Stalker
Stalker is a 1979 Soviet science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The film follows a guide known as the Stalker, who leads a writer and a professor through a hazardous area called the Zone to find a mythical room that grants one’s deepest desires. This contemplative and visually arresting film explores themes of faith, desire, and the human condition.
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- Director
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Release Date
- May 25, 1979
- Cast
- Alexander Kaidanovsky, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Alisa Freindlich, Nikolai Grinko
- Runtime
- 161 Minutes
After revolutionizing sci-fi with his film Solaris, director Andrei Tarkovsky returned to the genre with the infinitely bleaker Stalker. In a post-apocalyptic world, a writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn) ventures into the dangerous wasteland known as The Zone to find a mythical place known only as The Room. Many movies like Interstellar are mind-bending but find some basis in reality, Stalker leaves reality at the door and becomes increasingly surreal throughout.
Stalker isn’t just a cinematic experience, but a challenge as well. This movie is nowhere as well known as even Solaris, although for Soviet movie fans, it remains a masterpiece of the country's cinema. It has been listed as one of the Greatest Films of All Time by the British Film Institute (via BFI). With the focus on breaking the laws of physics and traveling through space and time, it shares a strong similarity with Interstellar when it comes to its themes.
16 Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan's Breakthrough Mystery Classic
Success!
10/10
Memento
R
Christopher Nolan's Memento is a psychological thriller that tells the story of Leonard, a former insurance investigator who suffers from a disease that prevents his brain from storing short-term memories. The one thing he can remember is murder of his wife, for which he wishes to exact revenge. Starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss, the movie was released in 2000 to widespread acclaim, launching the director's successful Hollywood career.
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- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Release Date
- May 25, 2001
- Cast
- Joe Pantoliano, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Stephen Tobolowsky, Mark Boone Junior
- Runtime
- 113 minutes
Memento is another Christopher Nolan classic, released before he had access to some of the biggest budgets in Hollywood. This thriller follows Leonard (Guy Pierce), a man who is unable to form new memories as he works to find his wife’s killer. It’s the way Nolan presents the story that keeps viewers thinking for hours: scenes alternate between color and black and white, with the color scenes depicting the story chronologically from the start, and the black and white scenes working backward.
It’s complex, but the final payoff is immense. Just like Interstellar, and most of Nolan's other movies, he plays with time throughout the stories. In this case, Nolan does things in a unique manner, by showing the last scene first and then moving back through time to show the start, which explains what really happened to start Leonard's story. Anyone who loves Nolan's way of playing with time will love both Interstellar and Memento.
15 12 Monkeys (1995)
Terry Gilliam's Complex Masterpiece
Success!
8/10
12 Monkeys
r
In 12 Monkeys, convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) travels back in time to learn the origin of a man-made virus that has unleashed worldwide chaos in the future. Terry Gilliam's 1995 sci-fi movie, which boasts a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, Madeleine Stowe, and David Morse, is based on Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetée and originated a 2013 TV series adaptation.
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- Director
- Terry Gilliam
- Release Date
- January 5, 1996
- Cast
- Joseph Melito, Bruce Willis, Jon Seda, Michael Chance, Vernon Campbell, H. Michael Walls
- Runtime
- 129minutes
Many movie fans might not expect a Monty Python cast member to end up directing some incredibly complex cinematic classics, but Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys is one of the most famous entries into the sci-fi time travel genre. Convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to learn how a massive plague started in the 1990s.
The shifts between a variety of time periods are confusing enough, but when the viewer starts to realize that the main character's memories don’t exactly remain consistent, trying to place everyone in the right place at the right time gets complex. Gilliam has made some masterful sci-fi and fantasy movies over his career, from 12 Monkeys to Time Bandits and Brazil, and he was truly the Christopher Nolan of his time when it comes to highly original fantastical movies.
14 The Cell (2000)
Explores The Weird & Wild World Of The Subconscious
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2/10
The Cell
R
Psychologist Catherine Deane uses experimental technology to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer to find his latest victim. Inside his twisted subconscious, she faces horrifying visions and his darkest secrets. As time runs out, Catherine must navigate his nightmarish psyche to save the girl and herself.
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- Director
- Tarsem Singh
- Release Date
- August 18, 2000
- Cast
- Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jake Weber, Dylan Baker
- Runtime
- 107 Minutes
The serial killer mystery thriller The Cell is injected with a dazzling degree of stylistic flair by director Tarsem Singh. A psychologist named Catherine (Jennifer Lopez) must travel into the subconscious of a sadistic murderer to find out where he's hidden his latest victim. Once inside the man's subconscious, the colorful and dynamic world is unlike almost anything ever put to film. This is a visual style unique to director Tarsem, who also directed the brilliant fantasy film, The Fall.
The weird and wild imagery depicted in the world of the subconscious should be more than enough to engage the brains of even Interstellar's most discerning genre fans. The central concept should feel very reminiscent for those who love Christopher Nolan's sci-fi movies. The idea of taking a character and transporting them into a visually dynamic and abstract world — the black hole in Interstellar and a person's subconscious in The Cell — make these two movies with similar themes.
13 Shutter Island (2010)
Martin Scorsese's Only Mystery Movie
Success!
7/10
Shutter Island
R
Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley. Set in 1959, Shutter Island follows two U.S. Marshalls - Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) as they are sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital specializing in psychiatric care.
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- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Release Date
- February 19, 2010
- Cast
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley
- Runtime
- 138 minutes
Shutter Island saw Martin Scorsese return to the thriller genre with arguably his most complex endeavor yet. Leonardo DiCaprio plays detective Teddy Daniels, who is investigating a disappearance on the titular island. While not considered one of Martin Scorsese's best movies, Shutter Island saw the director play around with surrealism for the first time. It is also a movie where Scorsese was able to play with his idea of cops and villains, but done in a more film noir manner.
Keep an eye out for the clever moments of foreshadowing that lead viewers into an unforgettable plot twist. Fans of movies like Interstellar will not be let down by the dramatic pedigree on display in this mind-bending mystery. The movie did receive mostly positive reviews for Scorsese's adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel. Of course, a big difference is that Nolan prefers to make original movies from his own imagination, while Scorsese has no problem adapting from others.
12 Tenet (2020)
A Christopher Nolan Project Even More Complex Than Interstellar
Success!
8/10
Tenet
PG-13
Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a nameless Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
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- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Release Date
- September 3, 2020
- Cast
- Kenneth Branagh, John David Washington, Michael Caine, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clemence Poesy
- Runtime
- 150 minutes
Christopher Nolan's return to the sci-fi genre was just as ambitious and mind-bending a project as Interstellar, with the story revolving around a more grounded world of spies and supervillains but with a time travel twist. A secret agent (John David Washington) is sent through time and space to prevent WWIII. With certain objects and characters in the movie running in opposite directions of time, the huge scale setpieces can become pretty overwhelming at times.
But, if the audience just surrenders and trusts in Nolan's strengths as a storyteller, it's as fun a ride as Interstellar. When it comes to Nolan and his love of playing with time, Tenet took the idea of time travel in Interstellar and turned those moments into something that was completely unique to the genre. In this movie, it wasn't just about moving forward in time, but it was about moving backward and changing what happens in the future by moving in reverse. It's all a very complex concept.
11 Annihilation (2018)
A Terrifying Exploration Of A Quarantined Area Known As The Shimmer
Success!
7/10
Annihilation
R
Alex Garland's Annihilation is based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. It follows a group of explorers - comprised of biology professor Lena (Natalie Portman), psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh),physicist Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson), geomorphologist Cassie Sheppard (Tuva Nvotny), and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez) - as they enter "the Shimmer", a quarantined zone of mutated plants and animals caused by an unknown extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Lena agrees to enter the Shimmer in search of her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), who was sent in as part of a special forces operation.
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- Director
- Alex Garland
- Release Date
- February 23, 2018
- Cast
- Sonoya Mizuno, Kola Bokinni, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Cosmo Jarvis, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Natalie Portman, David Gyasi
- Runtime
- 115 Minutes
While many modern sci-fi films feel like copies of copies, Alex Garland’s Annihilation arrived to prove the doubters wrong. Biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) travels into the quarantined region known as The Shimmer which has been infected by a strange alien presence. Much like in Interstellar, the mission is challenging for both physical and mental reasons for the characters, but Annihilation uses the horrors of mutation to great effect.
Also like in Interstellar, this movie relies on scientific teams to figure out what is causing the problems in the movie's universe. While Interstellar deals with black holes and space travel, Annihilation focuses on aliens coming to Earth and causing problems with the atmosphere and living conditions. Annihilation puts a team of all women together to travel into a domed area to find out the source, and just like in the black hole in Interstellar, time doesn't work the same in this landscape.
- Movies
- Interstellar
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