Gattaca

Jude Law’s first big Hollywood film is also one of the best sci-fi movies you may have never seen. Ethan Hawke stars as Vincent Freeman, a man deemed as genetically inferior to fly to outer space. To achieve his dream, he buys the genes of a man named Jerome Morrow (Law), who is deemed as genetically “valid.” Vincent must train himself mentally and physically to pass as Morrow, contend with new love interest Irene (Uma Thurman) and skirt a growing murder investigation that may thwart his outer-space plans.

Spaceballs

Mel Brooks took on Star Wars with 1987’s Spaceballs, a silly parody of George Lucas’s iconic space saga. It has the basic story beats of the sci-fi classic: a princess (Daphne Zuniga) is kidnapped by an evil dude in a black helmet (Rick Moranis) in an effort to gain power — or oxygen, which is a rare commodity in this story — only to face opposition by a Han Solo-style antihero (Bill Pullman) and his big furry sidekick (John Candy). It sounds ridiculous because it is. And that’s what makes it so fun.

Her

Spike Jonze can see the future. At least, that’s what I think after looking back on his 2013 movie Her. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, a man who writes heartfelt letters for other people who is left emotionally shattered when his marriage ends. He ends up finding a new lease on life when he develops a deep emotional connection to a program named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). It’s a thought-provoking, beautiful story. In the age of AI, though, it feels like a baffling prediction.

Molli and Max in the Future

Molli and Max in the Future is a delightfully fresh sci-fi mashup. It stars Zozia Mamet as Molli and Aristotle Athari as Max, two characters who, over the course of many years, dimensions and planets, continue running into each other. I suppose you can say it’s like if When Harry Met Sally and Bladerunner had a baby. And that’s meant as a compliment.

Pacific Rim

Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 action film Pacific Rim is essentially his homage to Godzilla, albeit without featuring the iconic beast. In the future, Kaiju — giant monstrous creatures — rose from the ocean to destroy humanity. Humans fought back with humongous robots called Jaegers. That wasn’t enough, though. Can a defamed pilot and an underdog newbie bring an out-of-commission Jaeger to the battleground and win the fight? I won’t answer that question but I will tell you this is one heck of a fun ride.

Poor Things

Emma Stone won the Academy Award for her groundbreaking performance as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. Bella is a woman brought back from the dead by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) — he’s not Dr. Frankenstein but he’s close — who experiences life without the interference of society’s guardrails. This feminist masterpiece features terrific performances by Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef. This is one of those visionary works of art that must be seen to be truly appreciated. So, I don’t know, go watch it.

John Dies at the End

Jason Pargin released John Dies at the End, under the pseudonym David Wong, as a collection of stories he put online for fun — and then they gained popularity, leading to a fruitful career for the author. It probably helps that horror icon Don Coscarelli chose to adapt the first book in the series into a movie. Chase Williamson plays Dave, the guy plagued with supernatural visions, who teams up with his slacker buddy John (Rob Mayes) to investigate all sorts of weird phenomena. And boy, does this movie get weird. It’s bolstered by a superb cameo by Paul Giamatti, and it solidified itself as a cult fave. Too bad it never got a sequel.

Super 8

J.J. Abrams stepped behind the camera and tapped into some hefty Steven Spielberg-flavored nostalgia with Super 8. Spielberg is a producer on the flick. The movie takes place in 1979 and follows a group of friends in an Ohio town shooting a zombie movie on a spiffy Super 8 camera. They witness a train crash, and soon after, strange things begin happening. Soon, the kids discover they may have filmed the answer to the supernatural mystery unfolding in town.

Trollhunter

Trollhunter is a mockumentary in the vein of The Blair Witch Project, except audiences knew this monster movie was all fiction when it premiered in 2011. The gist is simple enough: A group of Norwegian film students investigate a string of illegal poaching. What they discover is way worse than they could have imagined: giant, hideous, blood-thirsty trolls. 

A Quiet Place: Day One

A Quiet Place: Day One takes audiences back to the very beginning of the alien invasion. While it may not be a necessary entry in the franchise — like, say, 10 Cloverfield Lane — the movie digs its heels into the human experience amid an otherworldly cataclysmic disaster. Come for the disaster, stay for the cute cat.

Escape From New York

In John Carpenter’s postapocalyptic cult classic, it’s 1997 in New York and the city has been ravaged by war. Manhattan has been turned into a giant walled-in prison. After the president is taken hostage, former Special Forces officer (and current prisoner) Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is recruited to save the day in return for his own freedom.

Donnie Darko

This mind-bending cult classic stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a misunderstood high schooler who, after seemingly surviving a horrific accident, begins traveling through time. In the process, he discovers the joy of being alive and in love. Themes of depression, repression and alternative universes fill this delightfully bizarre film. Also, let’s not forget that giant demon bunny named Frank.