[guimarin]

OP is not alone. I saw the trailer for elysium and immediately thought, Rendezvous with Rama ( 50 yrs old ). For me, part of the problem with envisioning a future that is so much 'more' than what we have today, on the order of how Star Trek was in the 60s, is a consequence of how much our scientists understand 'limits' today than they did then. Elevated freeways, and floating cars, simply aren't practical given our understanding of physics and energy. The most practical 'sf' that we've seen lately is about human simulation, and as far as the big screen goes, that's pretty boring. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but since the transistor, we've seen three waves of digitization, digitization of tools ( calculator ), digitization of human society/social interaction ( message-boards -> facebook ), and finally we are beginning the third and final stage, digitization of ourselves ( quantified self, implantable bio-tech ). This 'second renaissance' if you will seems to end with human virtualization ( after which no reasonable extrapolation seems plausible ).

From a SF big-picture sort of movie archetype, this stuff seems pretty tired, thin and boring. I think we are only beginning to understand the societal implications of the first two waves of digitization, and even the most hardcore dystopia hasn't yet captured all the avenues of the third. Seems to me, Hollywood can only make blockbusters profitable, and the type of SF that we are envisioning now is a lot more subtle.