In the last four decades (leaving everything before the ‘60s out of the equation for the moment) there have only been eight serious sci-fi triumphs—movies that readily define what one means’s by a thought provoking, inventive approach to speculative subject matter. In conjunction with the equally important TV triumphs of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and The Star Trek Saga (including all recent TV incarnations), this influential octet—Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Soylent Green, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Brazil, Dark City, The Matrix, and most recently, Children of Men—represent real attempts to address the category’s myriad of issues and possibilities. Scattered among this collective are intriguing also-rans like Silent Running, Solaris, Blade Runner, Gattaca and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. While some may argue for a missing favorite—Alien, The Fifth Element, I, Robot—there is a significant reasons why these movies fall outside this discussion, primary among them, their lack of an inherent allegorical nature.

The trouble with this list is that even a lot of his "good" science fiction is quite bad, most obviously Star Trek, but also (for example) The Matrix, which if we're being honest with ourselves is no genuine classic. (When was the last time you watched it?)

Via Gravity Lens.