Here are EW’s picks for a supple genres greatest, grossest, and most provocative films.
This list compiles some of cinema’s scariest, funniest, and most provocative stabs at those deeper questions.
It has shape, weight, and a clear sense of itself.
Rutger Hauer in ‘Blade Runner’; David Prowse in ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’; Sigourney Weaver in ‘Alien’.Credit: Everett Collection (3)
One of a kind in any genre.
There’s no dialogue for the first six minutes ofAlien, nor is there music.
“It’s not an easy thing to meet your maker,” for instance.
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.Warner Bros. Pictures
Where to watchBlade Runner: The Final Cut: Netflix through Apr.
What a s—ty dad!
Zemeckis, meanwhile, balances the script’s bigger questions with white-knuckle awe.
Yaphet Kotto, Sigourney Weaver, and Ian Holm in ‘Alien’.Everett Collection
That means injecting their subjects with new memories and rebuilding the city to explore new possibilities.
Nearly 75 years later, the thought of a unified front and nuclear disarmament remains as elusive as ever.
Klaatu would stand even less of a chance.
Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future’.Ralph Nelson/Universal
Where to watchDune: Max
E.T.
Because a leathery little scamp like E.T.
Why help a creature phone home when there’s use for him here?
Rutger Hauer in ‘Blade Runner: The Final Cut’.Everett Collection
- Kids don’t think that way.E.T.doesn’t, either.
Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
The Fly(1986)
The Flyis disgusting.
It’s also beautiful?
‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.Everett Collection
What happens when technology overwhelms humanity?
Is it to be feared or embraced?
A blessing, perhaps?
Jodie Foster in ‘Contact’.Everett Collection
Also, what’s the deal with thatRobert Duvallcameo?
It’s classic, Spanky.
the planet is a future version of the Earth he’s always known.
Kiefer Sutherland (center) in ‘Dark City’.New Line Cinema/Everett Collection
Yeah, it’s funny “Stick around” and “Get to da choppa!”
Grisly, relentless, and dripping with machismo.
It’s thin gruel, but Cameron’s eye for carnage is as poetic as his humor is wry.
Harry Lauter and Michael Rennie in ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’.Everett Collection
It’s chaos that winks, a blueprint for many a cinephile’s favorite era of action filmmaking.
Where to watchThe Terminator: MGM+
Them!
Mica Levi’s violent, viola-forward score will give you nightmares.
Timothée Chalamet in ‘Dune’.Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures
A touch rich coming from aDisney-owned company?
Where to watchWALL-E: Disney+
Henry Thomas as Elliott in ‘E.T.'.Universal/Everett Collection
Jeff Goldblum in ‘The Fly’.Everett Collection
Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sigourney Weaver in ‘Galaxy Quest’.Everett Collection
‘Ghost in the Shell’.Everett Collection
Donald Sutherland in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’.United Artists/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Rudolf Klein-Rogge in ‘Metropolis’.Everett Collection
‘The Night of the Creeps’.Everett Collection
Daniel Kaluuya in ‘Nope’.Universal Pictures
‘Planet of the Apes’.20th Century Fox Film Corp.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Predator’.Everett Collection
David Sullivan in ‘Primer’.Everett Collection
Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, and Octavia Spencer in ‘Snowpiercer’.Radius/The Weinstein Company
Natalya Bondarchuk and Donatas Banionis in ‘Solaris’.Everett Collection
‘Stalker’.Everett Collection
Casper Van Dien (right) in ‘Starship Troopers’.Everett Collection
David Prowse in ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’.Lucasfilm Ltd.
Cillian Murphy in ‘Sunshine’.Everett Collection
Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘The Terminator’.Orion Pictures Corporation/Courtesy Everett Collection
James Whitmore in ‘Them!'.Everett Collection
Kurt Russell (left) in ‘The Thing’.Universal/Everett Collection
Scarlett Johansson in ‘Under the Skin’.A24
WALL-E in ‘WALL-E’.Disney/Pixar
