40. The Iron Giant
In 2024 we’re getting a fourth Despicable Me movie. Four movies of those stupid, mindless little yellow bastards. In 1999 we got The Iron Giant. You think anyone is going to remember part 4 of the Minions? I seriously doubt it. Here we are, twenty-five years later and one of the greatest animated features ever made is as relevant, beautifully animated and powerful as the day it was released. It is about friendship, family and identity at its core. But it’s also an allegory of paranoia that dominated the world during the Cold War. Set in 1957, The Iron Giant represents something no one fully understands. In this time, uncertainty was as good as a threat. The relationship between Hogarth and the Iron Giant is the virtue that what often seems inevitable can be avoided simply by choosing another path. Remember, you are who you choose to be. “SUPERMAN.”
39. Tron
From a technical standpoint, Tron is one of the earliest features to use extensive CGI for its world building. It brought to life vibrant, endlessly colorful imagery assisting in exhilarating, futuristic action sequences. A young Jeff Bridges plays Flynn who becomes trapped in his own creation and must defeat Master Control in hopes of escaping his digital prison. This is a movie that found itself in a unique time where the present and future were beginning to collide in real life. Imagining what tomorrow would look like was getting clearer and clearer every year. Tron saw the exciting possibilities of video games and what they could turn into someday in the future. It was a representation of what could be and how both exciting that was but also equally as terrifying. It was an early example of what visual splendor cinema could provide. It is a modern day Frankenstein, a monster that destroys its creator.
38. Independence Day
Roland Emmerich has been repeatedly destroying our planet since the 90s. And as mixed as his movies tend to be, it was his first disaster movie that still stands as his best. The lines are cheesy and the CGI is dated. The characters are as implausible as the situations they find themselves in. It’s unabashedly shameless and it’s all the more fantastic because of it. It’s unapologetic, cinematic junk food with the oldest theme of all, good vs evil. Will Smith is the heroic fighter pilot trying to save his makeshift family while trying to prove he is the man he knows himself to be. Jeff Goldblum is Jeff Goldblum, just as a computer genius this time. Together as brawn and brains they will battle against an advanced alien species hellbent on destroying our world. Also, if you need a hype-up, look no further than Bill Pullman’s ultimate Presidential speech. It’s glorious.
This is when Steven Spielberg put aside the touchy-feely side of alien inhabitancy for a more sinister, unforgiving kind of alien invasion. These aliens aren’t like E.T. They are world dominators and Earth is next. Told from the vantage point of a tattered family, Tom Cruise leads his kids to a place of safety that likely isn’t there. This is Spielberg at his least sentimental. War of the Worlds is the dark side of Spielberg and it’s a damn fun, gorgeously shot disaster movie with some heady themes in a way only Spielberg can deliver. The aliens feel impersonal, making them all the more terrifying. They are an organic militia of other worldly beings with a singular, machine-like motivation and mankind is standing in the way.
36. Contact
So often sci-fi gets intertwined with negative outcomes. Often sci-fi and horror are adjacent, usually making for disastrous scenarios for its characters. But as demonstrated so perfectly by E.T. or Arrival for example, sometimes the aliens actually do come in peace. I think Contact is space and life beyond our atmosphere at its most romanticized. It takes the unknowable expanse of death and builds a bridge between what we understand and what we would otherwise never begin to imagine. Jodie Foster’s character is motivated by a desire to find life from other worlds, a fascination fostered by her late father who died when she was a young girl. Despite the ramifications of a machine blueprint sent by aliens, Contact is a very personal story and her journey is a beautiful culmination of determination and passion resulting in a literal voyage across the cosmos where she will learn what her true purpose is and what the future holds for mankind and our relationship with ethereal beings. “They should have sent a poet.”
35. Under the Skin
I try to keep my decisions on these lists based in part on their influence on cinema and pop culture beyond simply just my personal opinion on them. And while this particular film is highly regarded by many I admit more than most on this list, Under the Skin is here because of its profound impact on my life. A bit dramatic I admit but I stand by it. Around the time of its release I had hit a bit of a wall when it came to the movies I enjoyed. It was this and Enemy that gave me a sort of awakening to all kinds of films I wasn’t giving a chance. I believe that because of this movie and others like it my taste in movies has been greatly expanded.
As for the film itself, it is an ethereal nightmare with the best performance of Scarlett Johansson’s career. It feels predatorial and foreign, as if we are the patient and an emotionless physician watches from behind one-way glass. It’s a study on human behavior from the point of view of beings who simply don’t understand why humans act the way we do. The Female’s journey from cold, disconnected alien being to humanistic sympathizer is harrowing and morose. In her change of pursuit from devourer to student she begins a countdown to her own personal demise. She starts her own human downfall which is simultaneously poetic, extremely unfortunate and depressing. It relies heavily on symbolic imagery to convey its messages of detachment and human connection and loneliness. The greatest misfortune of all is that it offers no solutions even as it puts on full display the tragedy of the human experience.
In the midst of the glory days of the MCU we got the first of what would become the best trilogy of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, it’s the best. Yeah I said it. It was considered at the time, the biggest risk Marvel had taken yet. It was a feature of characters unfamiliar to anyone that doesn’t read comics. Luckily James Gunn stuck to what he knew, that these characters were destined to become as popular and as well-known as Iron Man and Captain America. It embraces the funnier side of space and acknowledges the absurdity of a talking, wise-cracking anthropomorphized trash panda and his tree branch of a sidekick. It shines in its unique take on space adventure and the beauty of eclectic characters clashing and uniting in hilarious and epic ways. It’s flashy, colorful, massive, poignant and in many ways it’s relatable. It celebrates individualism as well as how amazing it is finding your people. Oh and the soundtrack? A classic in its own right.
33. Ex Machina
Alex Garland’s science fiction character study on humanity and the dangers of unchecked technological advancement. In particular, Ex Machina takes the concept of artificial intelligence and puts it into a physical body and uses it for a new form of the Turing test. The implications of which could be world altering. But what happens when the creator of such technology is also a megalomaniac? The ramifications of something like this becoming commonplace feels exciting but dangerous. The manipulative tendencies of Ava make the idea of A.I. feel like a plague contained within a lab, safe from the world. Her efforts however make it seem as if there’s a leak slowly emitting its uncertainty into a world wholly unprepared for what her existence will mean for all of us. It’s a beautifully shot paranoia trip that is both scarily intimate and equally massive for all that could become of it. The themes of humanity and A.I., identity and consciousness all steer the focus of this masterfully executed science fiction horror story.
32. District 9
I think it’s safe to say that when a movie is made and it’s immediately demanded that a sequel be made, it’s something special. District 9 was the premiere of Neill Blomkamp and his ability to not only create thematically fascinating stories but to bring them to life through brilliantly generated imagery that from what I understand he does so on the cheap. Now take the imagery and add to it an allegory about severe class inequality. The prawns represent the impoverished and displaced and humans, the greed centric wealthy who see the very district they built as an eye sore and in need of demolition. It is about uprising in the face of injustices including xenophobia of an extraterrestrial origin. It also has amazing action sequences, a fascinating kind of anti-hero, heroic, downtrodden protagonists and a villainous military unit, completely cold-blooded in their execution. It’s a thrilling, breathtaking invasion film that ponders who the real invaders are. It also features elements of horror, as the characters encounter extreme violence, unethical experimentation and an ambiguous ending left with discomforting implications.
31. Galaxy Quest
Whether you consider it an homage to Star Trek or not, it certainly stands on its own. Deciding to make it a comedy could have gone poorly had they not included the characters in on the joke. By making them aware how absurd this whole thing is, it allows for the audience to laugh without feeling like something as beloved as Star Trek is being mocked. But more than this, Galaxy Quest works because it is taken seriously as an adventure and as a sci-fi. The funnier side of their journey comes about naturally as opposed to a concentrated effort to force moments for the sake of laughter. It would have felt disingenuous and left a mess of a movie behind long forgotten by now. Tim Allen as the self-centered commander leaves the confidence of his crew waning as he fumbles his way through what he thinks a television space crew might do only this particular episode was never written. The crew is brilliantly cast with Sigourney Weaver as a redundant communications officer, Alan Rickman as the most hilariously pessimistic science officer, Tony Shalhoub as the go-with-the-flow tech sergeant and Sam Rockwell as the destined-to-die crewman #6.
So that's Part 2. Thoughts? Hatred? Let me know! If you like my list, my name is Chase. If you hate it, my name is Jimmy Palmquist.
Comments