I haven't seen or heard half of these movies besides Star Trek, Avatar and District 9.

Men in Black 3 - hardcore sci fi man

District 9 was one of the most boring films I ever saw.

Prometheus has to be on that list.

I thought District 9 sucked. Way overhyped. And **** Avatar.

Mine would be:

Moon
Star Trek
Prometheus
Inception
Can't really think of a fifth

Ditto, i know many like it but it sure didnt do anything for me.

Just make a sci-fi film and leave all of the hidden meanings about aparteid or immigration or whatever for another film.

To the op, its pretty much just Trek and Moon for me, i might be missing one other but cant think of it.

What? That’s what makes great Sci-Fi great. Star Trek wouldn’t be Star Trek without the allegories to real life events.

I liked District 9. I never saw Avatar. I doubt I ever will. Seems like the best thing anyone says about it is, "it looks great." So do fish tanks.

I know it was critically acclaimed and did good box office, i simply didnt like it.

Tried to watch it twice and didnt get through it either time.

was going to say Equilibrium......but that's a bit further than 2002.

SO...

Inception
Prometheus

Not sure if "Priest" qualifies....but it was pretty good.

Add me to the "didn't like District 9" list.

My list:

Avatar
Cloud Atlas
Inception
Looper
Moon
Prometheus
Source Code
Star Trek
Watchmen
X-Men: First Class

Go back a couple of years and add:

Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Sunshine
The Fountain

A little loose in the genre selection, and not all of these are necessarily the best (or even good in a couple of cases) but rather movies I think everyone should see.

I think there's a very real possibility that we'll see as many good to great science fiction movies on the big screen in 2013 as we've seen in the last 5 years combined.

I love Children of Men and Sunshine. Haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth or The Fountain. Might check Netflix today.

Definitely see Pan's Labyrinth. It's one of the best movies of any variety from the last decade.

The Fountain is a bit out there (it's Aronofsky, so that's sort of a given). People seem to either love it or hate it. I think it's sort of like Prometheus or Cloud Atlas in that it maybe misses the mark but there's still some really cool stuff in it.

Pan's Labyrinth is fantastic.. what kind of hipster are you? You should have seen this one long ago.
Guillermo del Toro is the shit. Not sure the movie really fits into sci-fi --- much more fantasy-horror. Either way, watch it.. And then watch The Devils Backbone.

Another strong recommendation for Pan's Labyrinth. Perhaps the most brilliant and original movie I've ever seen.

And I should add Watchmen to my list as well.