90. “The Man In The White Suit” (1951)
One of the least genre-y of this list, “The Man In The High Suit” makes it in nevertheless, partly because of its high-concept premise, and partly because it’s bloody delightful. The great Alexander Mackendrick’s film stars Alec Guinness as a young scientist who has invented an unstainable fabric, only to be pursued by trade unions and mill-owners as a result. It’s utterly charming and yet, like most of the Ealing comedies, deeply charged and political as well.
89. “The War Of The Worlds” (1953)
Orson Welles’ put-the-shits-up-the-nation radio drama might be the best ever adaptation of H.G. Wells’ alien invasion tale, but with apologies to Steven Spielberg, the 1953 film is the best ever put on film. Updating the story of the Martian invasion to then-contemporary California without losing the horror or the thoughtfulness, it’s a big step up from most other flying-saucer B-movies of the time.
88. “Ghost In The Shell” (1995)
Don’t let your viewing of this year’s pretty-but-dumb-as-a-hammer Scarlett Johansson-starring remake affect your view of the original: Mamoru Oshii’s anime masterpiece “Ghost In The Shell” remains a belter. Both thoughtful and action-packed, and full of stunning, haunting visuals, it’s much tougher and smarter than the re-do, and more fun in the process too.
87. “Destination Moon” (1950)
Few had a greater impact on science-fiction cinema in the 1950s than George Pal, the producer behind “War Of The Worlds” (see above), “When Worlds Collide,” “The Time Machine” and more, a man who managed to elevate the sci-fi B-movie into an art form. Perhaps his finest hour was “Destination Moon,” based on the book by Robert Heinlein, a gripping yet, in its colorful way, curiously prophetic take on the first United States lunar expedition, a movie that paves the way for “The Martian,” “Interstellar” and many more besides.
86. “The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension” (1984)
Virtually genetically-engineered to be a midnight-movie cult classic, W.D. Richter’s drily hilarious time-travel, dimension-hopping favorite, about the titular scientist/adventurer and his rock band the Hong Kong Cavaliers (including Jeff Goldblum in a natty cowboy outfit) comes across like classic pulp sci-fi by way of a Talking Heads song, and could feel overly precious if it wasn’t so much damn fun. Brace yourself for the upcoming Kevin Smith TV series, though.
85. “Things To Come” (1936)
A feast of visual invention, ambition and scope (if rather wooden characters — which may be part of the point) this technophilic 1936 classic of British cinema was directed by ex-production designer William Cameron Menzies and lavishly produced by Alexander Korda. But it’s best known now for being one of the few screenplays written by HG Wells, based on his own stories and predicting certain future happenings, such as the Blitz, with astonishing accuracy.
84. “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan” (1982)
There’s some stiff competition for the title of the best official “Star Trek” movie — “The Voyage Home,” “First Contact” or the first J.J. Abrams movie could all make a good case — but almost universally, “The Wrath Of Khan” takes the title. Seeing the Enterprise crew take on old super-soldier adversary Khan (Ricardo Montalban), it has everything you could want from a “Star Trek” film: moral quandaries, space battles, terrifying creatures, and a tear-jerking ending.
83. “Abre Los Ojos” (1997)
Later turned semi-effectively into Cameron Crowe’s “Vanilla Sky,” Alejandro Amenabar’s “Open Your Eyes” came early to the end-of-millennium “life-is-a-simulation” trend that we’ll see more than once on this list. Following the twisty, dream-like tale of Cesar (Eduardo Noriega), whose dangerous love-quadrangle leads to his disfigurement, loss of sanity and… something else, we won’t give too much away, but Amenabar’s film is a heady and very effective mix of romance, sci-fi and thriller.
82. “Galaxy Quest” (1999)
Of course, when we said that “Wrath Of Khan” was the best OFFICIAL “Star Trek” movie, we were obviously paving the way for “Galaxy Quest” to come in above it. Dean Parisot’s film, a rare near-perfect studio comedy, both parodies and celebrates Gene Roddenberry’s creation, but it also works beautifully as a straight-faced sci-fi adventure even without the AAA comic performances from Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell and, yeah, even Tim Allen.
81. “Looper” (2012)
Before he headed to a galaxy far, far away, Rian Johnson dipped his toe into sci-fi waters with the fascinating “Looper.” Beginning as a near-future tale about a low-level mobster (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who’s tasked with killing his older self (Bruce Willis), sent back from the future, it transforms into something quite different and disarmingly moving, in its second half. It’s a film so good that Gordon-Levitt’s eerie make-up somehow doesn’t prove distracting.