6. Spaceballs (1987)
You wouldn’t be wrong to point out that this irreverent Star Wars spoof directed by Mel Brooks sticks out as a “one of these things is not like the other” entry on this list. Indeed, it might not quite have the dramatic heft of a “Blade Runner” or a “Stalker”, nor a single iota of the white-knuckle thrills of a “Jurassic Park”, but as far as sci-fi comedies go, one couldn’t ask for a finer tonic for the soul to lift your spirits and put a smile on your face after a long week than “Spaceballs”.
A cult classic in every sense of the world, from the comedy maestro behind “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” came this loopy, fourth-wall-breaking skewering of George Lucas’ lucrative pet property, starring the likes of Yogurt (Yoda), Dark Helmet (Darth Vader), Lone Starr (Han Solo) and Barf (Chewbacca) among other hilarious franchise stand-ins.
Maybe not quite prophetic, as Hollywood’s knack for milking the hell out of its lucrative IPs through merch and disposable spin-offs had already become commonplace by 1987, but the film’s snarky sendup of Hollywood’s profit-driven M.O. scans as significantly less overblown now 10-plus years into the superhero movie craze than it did thirty-odd years ago. Just don’t forget to buy the Spaceballs’ licensed t-shirt, coloring book, lunchback, and flamethrower, stay tuned for Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money, and may the Schwartz be with you.
7. The Fifth Element (1997)
Let’s get it out of the way straight off the runway: Luc Besson’s name these days is sadly associated with off-screen controversy and harsh allegations leveled against him, but the French director/producer blew through the 1990s decade in an absolute creative high and put himself on the map with about a handful of idiosyncratic genre classics that have stood the test of time.
Off the heels of his big international breakthrough (“Léon: The Professional”), Besson decided to cash in all his chips and let all his quirks run wild in this big-budget, star-studded sci-fi extravaganza based on an original story he wrote back as a teenager. Bruce Willis plays a jaded everyman cabbie in 2257 New York who’s thrown for a loop when he (literally) bumps into Leloo (Mila Jovovich), a young lady who turns out to be an alien sent to Earth in disguise to protect humanity from an ancient force that threatens the planet every 5,000 years. Also, Gary Oldman dials it up to 11 in every scene as an evil industrialist with a Southern accent and ridiculous hairdo named Zorg, and Chris Tucker pops up at some point to play a bizarre, 23-century version of himself.
“The Fifth Element” clearly has a lot going for it, perhaps a bit too much for the uninitiated to fully take in on first viewing. Sure it’s wacky, off-kilter, and unabashedly ’90s in a way that might not appeal to every taste. But it’s honestly impressive how much world-building the film manages to squeeze into a lean 126-minute runtime, so don’t feel guilty if you need a second (or third) try until it finally clicks for you.
8. eXistenZ (1999)
It flew completely under the radar at the 1999 box office after playing second fiddle to that year’s monolith pop-cultural juggernaut (the Wachowskis “The Matrix”, listed above), and even today gets unfairly tossed aside as a minor work compared to other well-known heavy-hitters in body-horror maestro David Cronenberg’s personal catalog. Upon close inspection, however, this gloriously gooey Y2K-era technothriller, a cracked-up Neuromancer, “Total Recall”, and “Strange Days” hybrid, endures today as a potent tissue sample of turn-of-the-century biopunk sci-fi that retools classic B-movie genre tropes to ask provocative questions about the impact of immersive technology in the internet-age.
The eponymous video-game uses cutting-edge tech to link the user’s nervous system with fleshy organic pods via a plug at the base of their spinal cord (yikes!). After a failed assassination attempt at the game’s launch, the controversial visionary game designer behind it (Jennifer Jason Leigh) decides to put her mind-bending creation to test first-hand, plunging into an adrenaline-fuelled virtual dimension that feels strikingly analogous to our own, and feels all the more dangerous for it.
With a doozy of a narrative that only gets a little clearer with each viewing and a runtime that barely stretches past the 90-minute mark, don’t be too surprised if you feel the urge to hit the replay button as soon as the credits start rolling.
9. Paprika (2006)
Though frequently brought up within cinephile circles on the grounds that it served as a major inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s 2010 mind-melter “Inception”, sci-fi movie geeks owe it to themselves to give this surreal Japanese animated film by Satoshi Kon a try strictly based on its own merits, as it is frankly one of the most vibrant, freewheeling and purely enjoyable 21st-century offerings in the genre by a wide margin.
Adapted from the 1993 novel of the same name, “Paprika” follows Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a pioneer in the field of psychotherapy who comes up with a revolutionary device that enables its users to record and infiltrate other’s dreams as if they were their own. All hell breaks loose one of these little tech gadgets is wrongfully stolen and winds up in the wrong hands, laying the groundwork for a delirious game of cat and mouse through the wildest recesses of the subconscious with Dr. Chiba and crew try to save the day before the boundaries between reality and dream world completely dissolve.
Like most great sci-fi movies, “Paprika” is imbued with a keen sense of awe, wonder, and sheer inventiveness you could seldom find in any other genre. And like so many of the best entries on this list, it only gets better with each subsequent viewing.
10. Repo Man (1984)
The antithesis to all the kid-friendly, four-quadrant sci-fi programming (“E.T.”, “Back to the Future” et al.) that would become endemic at the multiplex throughout the 1980s decade, director Alex Cox’s underground cult favorite instead drops viewers right into the Los Angeles hardcore punk scene and in the shoes of disaffected young layabout Otto Maddox (Emilio Estévez), who reluctantly takes up a gig repossessing vehicles while shuffling between dead-end jobs in the thick of the Reagan years.
Things take a wild turn as Otto starts to learn the ropes of the biz from his seasoned partner (Harry Dean Stanton) while patrolling the streets of L.A. on the lookout for a radioactive 1964 Chevy Malibu that for some reason is also being trailed by the CIA. As it turns out, the odd pair end up getting roped into a bizarre and eerily Thomas Pynchon-esque conspiracy involving aliens, government agents, mad scientists, televangelists, UFO enthusiasts… the whole enchilada.
It’s hard to make heads or tails of it all, but that’s an inherent part of the movie’s enduring charm and only makes the prospect of future re-watches all the more enticing, like visiting and hanging out with a crazy, old friend after a long time. Come for the sci-fi elements, stay for the curated L.A. punk soundtrack including Iggy Pop’s iconic title song.