Just For Dad: Must See Robot Movies

On those rare nights without the family you might grab a few movies, a pizza and improve your manly cultural literacy. What genre is more manly than robot movies? They don't necessarily have to be full on about the bots. There are a number of films that feature a great supporting cast of mechanical friends and foes. Here are some suggestions that might do the trick. You've surely seen some but even those might warrant another viewing.

Metropolis. The grandaddy of modern sci-fi films featuring robots as a main element. Even as a silent film it hits home as an icon of past greatness. Might be best for when your in a quirky mood or as a way to kick off that robot movie night you and the gents have been planning.

West World. This has to be one of the best robot films of all time. Yul Brynner as a six gun toting bad guy gunslinger bot? Yeah, beat that one. A must see if you haven't yet.

Silent Running. An under appreciated all time favorite. Surprisingly relevant with it's ecological theme... and cool robots.

Saturn 3. Probably not the best acting we'll ever see but probably one of the best murdering robot rampages.

Virus. This one is a bit unusual and probably billed as a B movie but within the robot world it' s red carpet all the way. As cool as Water World wasn't. Not as big budget and explosive as Transformers but much more creepy.

Terminator. Kind of obvious but the first one was awesome.

Star Wars gets a mention for the entire series but it's even more obvious and a little pedestrian... maybe save it for a Star Wars film fest if you're into them.

The Alien series on the other hand feature some of the craftiest robots ever. Way more manly and far more cool... but they prefer the term "synthetic human".

Iron Man. Certainly more current but I'll take Tony Stark's workshop bots over R2 and day.

I, Robot. Another obvious one but worth mentioning just in case you missed it. Probably worth a lot of the hype it got.

That should keep you entertained for at least a few evenings and you'll get a great overview of movie robots through time. There are admittedly a number of good ones absent from the list. Feel free to comment a nominate your favorites as well as suggest additions too great to leave out.