AirLockAlpha.com

Until now, this column has focused on television series. Since we are now into the summer movie season, which is tends to be heavy with science-fiction and fantasy movies, and my week has been filled with exciting movie experiences (like having some of "Transformers 2" filming right outside the building at my day job), I thought I would take a look at the 10 best science-fiction movies in the past 10 years.

That, as it turns out, is not easy undertaking! There were some years where there were a half-dozen really great movies, and some where we were lucky if there was even one passable flick. So I scrapped the idea of trying to list what I thought was the best for each year for the past 10 years.

Instead, I chose movies based on how many times I watched a movie. The more I watched it, the more likely it was something I liked. So the following is a list of 10 movies I watched anywhere between three and 30 times.

Note that this is not a list taken from the SyFy Genre Awards, but my careful assessment of recent science-fiction movies. I also left out fantasy, horror, and comic book-based movies. I think I?ll save those for future columns.

So here we go ?

1. "Serenity" -- You know I?m a diehard fan of anything by Joss Whedon. I saw this movie twice before it premiered, saw it three more times once it was released in theaters, and countless times on DVD. I know every word by heart. I still laugh at the funny parts and cry at that part. Anyone who has seen it knows what I mean. I also get all choked up every time River says ?My turn!?

2. "Galaxy Quest" ? Yes, I know it?s a spoof of "Star Trek" and the whole Trek fandom, complete with conventions and geeks obsessed with the blueprints of a fictitious starship, but it?s also a love letter to all of us. On top of that, it?s actually a sci-fi story that?s on a par with many of the great Star Trek episodes. I?ve watched this movie at least a dozen times, and every couple of years, bring it out again to watch several more times. Some trivia: David Newman wrote the score for both "Galaxy Quest" and "Serenity."

3. "V For Vendetta" ? This is a movie that portrays an almost Orwellian view of the future, but with pointed criticism of fascism, and the forces behind a repressive political regime in the United Kingdom (and the United States) in the near future. I?ve seen this one more than five times. (That?s more than V times in Roman numerals.)

4. "The Day After Tomorrow" ? I just watched this one again today. There are more gloom-and-doom movies than Tribbles in a Klingon engine room, but this one stands out, because it?s based on a body of scientific evidence and theory about global warming that 98 percent of the scientific community agrees upon. With its shiny cast, and a tidal wave that waits long enough for our heroes to make it into the library, it?s fun watching the end of the world, while I secretly hope it never really happens like that. The sad irony is that, to a lesser extent, in some parts of the world, it has happened.

5. "Signs" -- Despite my loathing of Mel Gibson, and the saccharine message about faith, this was both a scary and hilarious movie. I may have a soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan?s movies because they are all filmed around where I live, or because of his dig at critics in ?Lady in the Water,? but it?s mostly his mastery of suspense woven with humor, and definitely the tin-foil hats, that keep me coming back to see his movies.

6. "The Matrix" ? Far better than its sequels, and possibly one of the best sci-fi movies ever, this movie blurs the lines between the virtual world and the real world. Humans are lulled into a well-controlled, subdued existence within the virtual world of the matrix, so their energy can be used by sentient machines. When programmer Neo realizes this, he leads a rebellion against the machines. While I haven?t seen this one nearly as much as the others, this movie even lured my husband in, and he avoids watching movies as if they had cooties or were carriers of syphilis.

7. "Vanilla Sky" ? This was a complete surprise to me. Tom Cruise is someone I never think about ? ever ? outside of his movies. I haven?t seen too much attention paid to this movie as a sci-fi movie, even though it clearly is one. The careful unfolding of the mystery of the surreal life of David Aames is worth watching a few times, if only to go back and find all the clues to what was really happening to the character.

8. "Minority Report" ? This is only a Cruise movie by coincidence, as far as I?m concerned. The movie has the trademark panache of Steven Spielberg, complete with removable eyeballs. It is an engrossing murder mystery, and considers the ethics behind an anti-crime program that apprehends and convicts supposed criminals before they commit a crime.

9. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" ? As an homage to the late Stanley Kubrick, who had wanted to make this story of a futuristic Pinnochio into a movie, Stephen Spielberg directed this movie in Kubrick?s style. To me that means the first two-thirds of the movie are awesome, and the last third of the movie results in my saying ?What the f----?? So it was with this movie. (To be fair to Kubrick, ?Spartacus? is one of my favorite movies of all time.) Mostly moving and enjoyable, even with it?s strange and somewhat bittersweet ending, this is a movie that fell to the wayside a bit too quickly.

10. "Children of Men" ? Set in the near future, this movie envisions a dystopian world where humans can no longer reproduce, and face extinction. With the death of an 18-year-old, who was the youngest person on Earth, warfare between different nationalistic groups escalates. With this as a backdrop, a former peace activist is given the job of protecting the first pregnant woman humans have seen in nearly two decades.

In most of these movies, the future is bleak, and the end of the world is upon us. That they are all on this list probably makes me a very disturbing person, but please be kind and pretend I?m not.

Instead, tell me, within the confines of the past 10 years, what were your favorite science-fiction movies?

Ten Forward is a monthly column leading up to Airlock Alpha's 10th anniversary on Aug. 13. It is written by Robin Brownfield, a staff writer with Airlock Alpha, who lives in New Jersey. She can be reached at rbrownfield@airlockalpha.com.