14. Sunshine
Despite an ending that doesn't really fit with the rest of the movie, Sunshine is a super-ambitious, refreshingly well-detailed piece of hard science fiction that has gorgeous visuals, stylish direction, and a great cast that deliver solid performances across the board. In the near future, the sun is prematurely dying and a last ditch attempt to reignite it is in transit. Onboard, a team of scientists carry a bomb that theoretically will spark the sun back to life, and their secondary objective is to discover the fate of a previous expedition that has mysteriously disappeared. Director Danny Boyle, influenced by past sci-fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Alien creates half of a great movie with Sunshine, with the other not being a bad movie but rather a disappointing one given what preceded it. While the first half of the film is an examination of the philosophical and scientific ramifications of the journey, the second half turns into a routine slasher film which, while not awful, is unnecessary and probably not the most interesting ending the filmmakers could have come up with. Another well intentioned failure, Sunshine is still worth watching for its impeccable production values as well as the strong performances of its cast.