Ming's Interface to the Internet Movie Database

The ratings here follow the 10-point rating system of the The Internet Movie Database. But of course these are my own ratings, which doesn't always coincide with the averaged ratings in the database. At some point I'll actually vote for the movies listed here, and you can too!

Sci-Fi Movies

  • 10-point Scfi-Fi movies
  • 9-point Sci-Fi movies
  • 8-point Sci-Fi movies
  • 7-point Sci-Fi movies
  • 6-point Sci-Fi movies

    • Non Sci-Fi Movies

  • 10-point Non-scifi movies
  • 9-point Non-scifi movies
  • 8-point Non-scifi movies
  • 7-point Non-scifi movies
  • 6-point Non-scifi movies

    • 10-point Sci-Fi movies
  • Blade Runner - profound and with style. [links]
  • 2001 - timeless classic, still can't find anything outdated in the movie. [Homepage1] [Homepage2] [Homepage3] [A.C.Clarke Homepage] [Kubrick Homepage]
  • 2010 - underated for making the mistake of having too much correct science. (except the roaring spaceships =)
  • Dune - authentic representation of novel, stunning! [links]
  • Aliens - total excitement, pure adrenaline, breathtaking! [Homepage]
  • Alien - almost believable. [Homepage]
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind - still the best first-contact movie.
  • The Empire Strikes Back - a work of art. [links]
  • Independence Day - yeah, story's a bit silly, but who has time to care about the story with all those dazzling special effects? [Homepage]

    • 9-point Sci-Fi movies
  • Star Wars: Episode I - The Phatntom Menace - WOW!
  • Matrix - best VR movie, with cool digital martial arts fight scenes. Not sure why human beings should be considered as good energy source though, and the ending was a bit disappointing...
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture - V'ger is one of the best sci-fi ideas in movies. [links]
  • Star Wars - need I say more? [links]
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day - total excitement! [homepage]
  • Star Trek: First Contact - Love the opening Borg war sequence. The rest of the movie is also very well-done. Way to go Riker! =) Wish they'd make a movie entirely about war with the Borg...
  • Contact - Excellent movie that has depth, something not commonly seen in the sci-fi genre. Jodie Foster is very effective as the very human SETI scientist Arroway. Has one of the best depiction in movies of the actual scientific process. This and the pretty amazing special effects make this a fitting tribute to Carl Sagan. [just in case you want to read reviews of this movie from movie critics, DON'T. This movie's science is definitely beyond any movie critic's comprehension, and since they don't understand it, they hate it. Here's one particularly silly quote from a review that shows how little these critics know about this movie: "With expensive satellite equipment at her disposal, Ellie spends her days in the desert..." big radio telescope = big dish = big satellite dish, get it? ^_^]
  • Armageddon - yeah, the story's as silly as that of Independence Day, but it's also every bit as entertaining. And Michael Bay's direction is top-notch. Only flaw being too loud and chaotic sometimes. Regardless of what movie critics may say, I love it! [Homepage]

    • 8-point Sci-Fi movies
  • Lost In Space - Quite a special effects joy ride! Cool!
  • Back to the Future - See, Steven Spielberg can be witty and fun too, when money still meant something to him.
  • Back to the Future Part II
  • Back to the Future Part III
  • Return of the Jedi - Hate those Teddy Bears =)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - Has a special seriousness and professional feel to it...
  • The Terminator - Great idea.
  • THX 1138 - Great early George Lucas movie about a bizzare and surrealistic future.
  • Total Recall - Anything with pyramids on Mars has my vote =)
  • Time Bandits - Part I of the excellent Terry Gilliam fantasy trilogy, followed by Brazil and Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
  • 12 Monkeys - Another visionary film by Terry Gilliam. A much darker and more brooding film than Gilliam's other works.
  • Starship Troopers - Excellent special effects, very violent and gory, but done in good juvenile Heinlein kinda fun =)

    • 7-point Sci-Fi movies
  • Alien: Resurrection - it's slightly better than Alien3, but still no surprises.
  • The Black Hole - Could have been a greater movie.
  • The Abyss - Beautiful aliens, silly ending.
  • The Andromeda Strain - One of the better Michael Crichton story to have made it to the screen.
  • A Clockwork Orange - Another surreal and bizzare future. I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain...
  • Planet of the Apes - The first few movies are real fun looks at humanity from a non-human perspective.
  • The Quiet Earth - Something I always wondered about: What if I wake up one day and all the people have vanished from the face of the Earth? Great artwork in the closing scene.
  • Star Trek: Generations - Data's new emotion was fun for a while, but then gets real annoying.
  • Stargate - Anything with non-Egyptian origin of the great pyramids have my vote =)
  • The Thing - Real horrifying alien, wish the movie's a bit longer though.
  • The Time Machine - A classic. Isn't Weena just so innocently adorable? =)
  • Tron - Sort of a breakthrough at the time in the extensive use of computer graphics, very silly story though.
  • The Fifth Element - French, definitely French ^_^ Cool special effects and outrageous outfits. Too comic-book-like though.
  • Men in Black - got to love Will Smith's attitude towards aliens ^_^
  • Event Horizon - cool special effects and pretty scary, but it's horror without reason, and isn't it boring that they can never come up with anything more horrible than just the generically-defined "hell"? How unimaginative! ^_^

    • 6-point Sci-Fi movies
  • Alien 3 - Sci-fi and rock-music director just don't mix I guess.
  • Altered States - Genotype or Phenotype?
  • Beneath the Planet of the Apes
  • Escape from the Planet of the Apes
  • Dreamscape - Another interesting idea I wondered about: Can you control your dreams?
  • Earth Girls Are Easy - silly silly silly, but doesn't Gina Davis look great? :)
  • E.T. The Extraterrestrial - This movie just can't excite me the way it seems to have excited others...
  • Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth - Low-budget but well-done movie which is deliciously eerie and suspenseful in the first half, very much in the vein of Twilight Zone.
  • Fantastic Voyage - Whatever happened to conservation of mass?? =)
  • Flash Gordon - silly, but visually stunning. Hail Ming! =)
  • The Fly - One of the few movies that mix successfully sci-fi, horror and comedy all in one.
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Scary isn't it?
  • Jurassic Park - nice dinosaurs, nothing more.
  • The Philadelphia Experiment
  • Runaway - Rather refreshing plot, nice Kirstie Alley =)
  • Spaceballs - hilarious Mel Brook space-spoof. Move over warp speed! Ludicrous Speed is here!
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - who cares?
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - nice interior view of space dock.
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - whales, wouldn't you guess?
  • Virus - Japanese attempt at serious live-action sci-fi. Pretty well-done overall, but try to watch the western release. The Japanese original has too much national pride in it =)

    • 10-point Non-Sci-Fi movies
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark - perfect story, perfect music, perfect Ford, perfect Spielberg, perfect entertainment! [Homepage1][Homepage2][Homepage3]
  • Chariots of Fire - Rule Brittania! Smashing debut one after another. Inspiring!
  • The Race for the Double Helix - a witty, intelligent but little-known first-rate British science movie.
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - another timeless Kubrick classic. Unforgettable Peter Sellers.
  • Titanic - Stunning! Amazing special effects, great cast and excellent Enyaish score make up yet another James Cameron classic!

    • 9-point Non-Sci-Fi movies
  • Educating Rita - Most charming! Superb Michael Caine and Julie Walters.
  • Schindler's List - a very decent movie.
  • The Godfather - beautiful BGM, nice Brando.
  • Amadeus - A great example that musical biographies don't have to be boring.
  • Brazil - Lots of original ideas and stunning imagery, and fun too!
  • Once Upon a Time in America - Superb drama that captures the spirit and feel of New York during the prohibition period. Fine casts which include kids that actually resemble their grown-up counterparts!
  • The Spy Who Loved Me - The perfect Bond movie [homepage1] [homepage2]
  • Caravans - Romantic fairy-tale-like desert adventure with a memorable cast and great music.
  • The Day of the Jackal - Wonderful Fox and Lonsdale in this fast-paced super-intelligent and stylish movie about an attempt to assasinate Charles de Gaulle.
  • The Hunt for Red October - Best submarine action movie. Donno how correct Sean Connery's Russian is, but both he and Baldwin delivered real fine perfomances.
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips - a lovable oldie.
  • Papillon - Makes one wonder constantly while watching: How much more torture can this guy take? =) Poignant story of human endurance and perseverance.
  • March or Die - best foreign-legion movie, beats Beau Geste (the last remake)
  • Out of Africa - "I had a farm in Africa" sets the beginning of this lovely dreamy saga, one of those few movies that leave a sweet after-taste in one's mind long after watching. And of course the music is exquisite. (it's a pity that the CD wasn't mastered better...)
  • Dances with Wolves - Now here's a perfect role for Costner =) It's also nice to see American Indians speak their own language in movies for once =)
  • Doctor Zhivago

    • 8-point Non-Sci-Fi movies
  • Face/Off - Wow!
  • Casablanca
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Lawrence After Arabia
  • Apocalypse Now
  • The Godfather, Part II
  • Somewhere in Time
  • Adventures of Baron Munchausen
  • Die Hard
  • The French Connection
  • Rocky
  • Scent of a Woman
  • The Untouchables
  • Aladdin
  • Beauty and the Beast [Lyrics]
  • Fiddler on the Roof
  • Little Shop of Horrors
  • My Fair Lady
  • The Sound of Music
  • La Femme Nikita
  • When Harry Met Sally...
  • Clash of the Titans
  • The Elephant Man
  • Reds
  • Gandhi
  • The Right Stuff
  • A Room with a View
  • The Last Emperor
  • The Graduate
  • The Exorcist
  • The Towering Inferno
  • The Ten Commandments
  • Ben-Hur
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's
  • Waterloo
  • Inherit the Wind
  • Bananas
  • Gettysburg

    • 7-point Non-Sci-Fi movies
  • Kundun
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • Citizen Kane
  • The Silence of the Lambs
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Cliffhanger
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  • From Russia with Love
  • Living Daylights, The
  • Moonraker
  • The Blues Brothers
  • National Lampoon's Animal House
  • Die Hard 2
  • Excalibur
  • Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
  • Ladyhawke
  • Mountains of the Moon
  • The Man from Snowy River
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel
  • Thelma & Louise
  • The Jerk
  • Midnight Express
  • Gone with the Wind
  • War and Peace
  • A Man Called Horse

    • 6-point Non-Sci-Fi movies
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
  • A Fistful of Dollars
  • Highlander
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - better leave wife and kids at home.
  • True Lies
  • Young Sherlock Holmes
  • Die Hard: With a Vengeance
  • First Blood
  • Rambo: First Blood Part II
  • Jaws
  • The Valley of Gwangi



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