10 Best Science Fiction Movies (Not Set In Space)

10. Her (2013)

Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin, Joaquin! I'm begging of you, please don't take my artificially intelligent virtual assistant.

Or do, because she's Scarlett Johansson, and this is probably the best sci-fi romance ever made (Time Traveller's Wife, eat your heart out).

Theodore Twombly is essentially in love with his adaptable operating system (think Windows 20 or Alexa with a husky, twenty-something voice) and seeking further isolation from a world he has little connection to, suffering continually from an intense prior love and heartbreak.

Spike Jonze, in his solo screenwriting debut, places Her in a recognisable near-future, and Joaquin Phoenix fills the brogues of the tragic, instantly relatable and painfully human protagonist. The sci-fi aspect is simple but present throughout, leading the central characters (Phoenix and Amy Adams' creatively-named Amy) into each other's orbit, and ultimately delivering a bittersweet payoff.

As most of the best science fiction pictures do, Her has something bigger than itself in mind, and more than a touch of commentary on today's over-reliance on technology, the distance it can put us from the world, and the roadblocks it creates for human connection.