Movies lately have become far too reliant on special effects. If they are special effects movies (i.e. the whole point of the movie is to showcase the CGI) like Transformers, then it can be successful.
However, movies that are story-driven, rather than effects-driven have come to rely on the effects as a crutch to cover the bad writing or bad acting (or both). The newer Star Wars movies are a great example of this. So is the new Terminator movie.
Some movies are story-driven and use impressive special effects to enhance or punctuate an already powerful story. These are some of the best sci fi movies ever made. The story is gripping and powerful and the special effects barrages come all at once at the culmination and climax of growing plot events. The best recent example of this is the new Star Trek movie. The writing and acting are phenomenal and true to the original while the amazing new things we can do with special effects just build and multiply the emotions and excitement of the story.
Some of the best things done in the sci fi genre have been done on television (although one was made into a movie). Two groundbreaking television series' redefined the genre and set the bar to a new level.
The first was Firefly, which had some of the best plot and character development of any sci fi show ever written, even though it lasted only part of 1 season. If you're a sci fi fan and somehow missed this one, buy the series on DVD. Its easily worth it.
The second was Battlestar Galactica. Like Firefly, it had impressive special effects at times, yet it was anything but reliant on them. Some of the best episodes featured no shooting or explosions whatsoever (and some of the best episodes had tons of both).
If you've seen these series' then you can't help but compare other scifi features to them, and not many compare favorably. The new Star Wars movies far fall short of the bar.



. lol and the pyro in me takes insult at the remark by Anonymous
I love all the fire and explosions in all of the newer movies. I especially liked in Star Trek how the sound went away in space. It was awesome 
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