We can argue if this is a good movie or not, but I have to give it credit for being original as hell. I am always looking for new weird sci-fi concepts. Are there others besides:
1. Tenet / Inception
2. Annihilation
3. The Matrix
Hmm. All those are pretty big budget blockbusters. And "original and weird" are pretty subjective concepts. As a huge sci-fi fan, I'll offer a couple suggestions to hopefully tide you over, but I'd be happy to get deep with more specific lesser-known gems if you wouldn't mind clarifying what specifically appealed to you about these films. Any other criteria, like more action-heavy, after a certain year, or English language only, etc...?
Brazil (1985)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Videodrome (1983)
Time Bandits (1981)
Altered States (1980)
eXistenZ (1999)
The Lost Room (2006) mini-series
I am a huge fan of action however what fascinates me most in these types of movies is more so an original premise. Preferably something somewhat twisted - almost bordering on horror though not gore (EXistenZ pushed it for me). Something more cerebral that makes you think, with action just being a supporting factor. For example they way they demonstrated relative time in Interstellar, or some of the explorations of human consciousness in the Black Mirror episodes, have been really fascinating to me. I agree that Eternal Sunshine was amazing in this respect.
Anything executed well (following its own rules) that has either a wholly original idea, creature design, or even never seen-before visuals ( Abyss, Stargate, Edge of Tomorrow are a few examples) . The recent Dune probably also fits the bill (the world building I thought was amazing). Don't mind smaller movies either like "The Man from Earth" which was essentially just exposition.
Thanks for the list... will check out the ones I haven't seen.
Well, since you mention The Man from Earth, I'll have to lead with a semi-recent favorite I plug every chance I get: UFO (2018). It's short on action, but I like to describe it as "a thinking sci-fi fan's film" like TMfE with a slightly higher location budget. Have seen it at least once a year since release, and it keeps delivering.
Thanks for the rest of your reply, here are a few more many you may have seen, but hopefully scratch that itch:
FLCL (2000) - I'm not an "anime guy," but this six episode mini-series is one of my favorite viewing experiences. Disregard the later "sequels," as I would assume most would do with The Matrix.
Dark City (1998)
Contact (1997)
Dredd (2012)
Firefly (2002 tv series) & Serenity (2005) its theatrical "sequel")
Cube (1997)
Frequency (2000)
The Hidden (1987)
Sommarens tolv månader [The Twelve Month Summer] 1988 - a Swedish TV movie worth tracking down
Upgrade (2018)
The Endless (2017) - although I recommend watching the writer/director duo's prior film Resolution (2012) for full effect
More where those came from... Enjoy! :D
You could look at episodes from "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits" for some pretty original stuff.
shareDefinitely: Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, X-Files and most recently Black Mirror all have some amazing episodes that would really make you think. You just have to dig through them to find the gems.
That banned x-files episode, "Home" really did a number on me, just like the mutated bear in Annihilation. I still think about both of these a lot.
Oh yeah! Amazing Stories had some pretty original stuff in it too! In fact, at least one inspired a Stephen King novel.
shareI think Annihilation took most of its ideas from Stalker
Another sci-fi movie you might enjoy is “Primer” (2004)