20. “Beyond The Black Rainbow” (2010)
An instant trippy midnight movie favorite, and constructed entirely with the intention of being exactly that, “Beyond The Black Rainbow” does for mind-bending ‘70s sci-fi what “Berberian Sound Studio” or “Amer” did for giallo, paying homage and bringing it crashing into the 21st century. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, the son of “Rambo: First Blood Part II” and “Tombstone” director George, the plot, which loosely sees a new age scientist interrogating a young girl with telepathic powers who he’s kidnapped, is essentially beyond the point: this is a film of mood, atmosphere, and imagery, its meditative pace and hypnotic visuals making you feel like you’re on something strong even if you went in sober. It’s certainly style over substance, and you could argue that it wears its influences a little too strongly on its sleeve, but in our opinion, in drawing on everything from Jodorowsky and “2001” to Michael Mann and George Lucas, it adds up to something beautiful, fascinating, and a damn sight more interesting than 95% of genre fare out there.
19. “Sunshine” (2007)
After the success of “28 Days Later,” and before he became an Oscar-winner, Danny Boyle went into space for a bold vision that, while it isn’t entirely successful, is so transcendent when it hits that it more than deserves a place on this list. Following an international crew on a desperate expedition to try and reignite the sun, it has one of the best ensembles in the genre in recent years (Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mark Strong, et al), and then surrounds with arguably the most stunning, eye-searing imagery that Boyle’s ever produced. On first viewing, the film’s mix of more familiar genre tropes with more psychedelic, mind-bending, “2001”-ish elements doesn’t quite gel, but it’s a movie that grows deeper and richer on every viewing, especially when you turn up John Murphy and Underworld’s seminal score. The superficially similar “Interstellar” was arguably more polished and satisfying, but the fiery passion of “Sunshine” was too great for it not to show up here.
18. “A.I: Artificial Intelligence” (2001)
Given that it saw beloved director Steven Spielberg taking over a project from one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the history of the medium, the late Stanley Kubrick, it was inevitable that some would be disappointed by “A.I,” and it took a relatively long time for the film to be greeted as anything other than a missed opportunity. Fortunately, it’s now won a fair chunk of cinephiles over, and is certainly seen as, if not Spielberg’s most lovable work, then certainly one of his most interesting. Riffing loosely on “Pinocchio,” the film (which features Spielberg’s first sole screenplay credit since “Close Encounters”) follows Haley Joel Osment’s child ‘mecha,’ rejected by his real parents and heading out in search of a way to become a real boy. Misread and misinterpreted by critics on release, it now stands as a perfect meld of the two visionaries behind it and one of Spielberg’s most meticulous, complex, and haunting works, and one well worth revisiting if you rejected it first time around.
17. “Ex Machina” (2015)
Having had his hand in some of the most distinctive genre movies of the last couple of decades, writer Alex Garland (“Sunshine,” “28 Days Later,” “Dredd,” “Never Let Me Go”) exceded himself with this, his directorial debut and the most recent movie on our list (it’s still in theaters — go see it!). A wire-taut, ever-shifting three-hander about a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) who’s invited down to the remote Alaskan hideaway of his genius boss (Oscar Isaac), only to discover he’s there to administer the Turing Test to an AI. It’s a tricksy little picture, starting off as an examination of the creation of sentient life and ending up as a parable of the terrible ways that men treat women, but that shouldn’t suggest that Garland ever lets the film out of his control. Neither his script or his direction stray off the path he intends, and he plays the audience like a fiddle as a result. Complete with three stellar performances and an unforgettable dance scene, if there’s a better sci-fi film this year, we’ll have to rearrange our list.
16. “A Scanner Darkly” (2006)
A higher-than-usual number of great sci-fi movies have been made from the work of legendary author Philip K. Dick, but few have been as faithful, or as weird, as Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly.” Set in a near-future where an undercover cop (a rarely-better Keanu Reeves) has infiltrated a group of junkies addicted to the hallucinatory Substance D, only to end up with a very Dick-ian identity crisis when he’s asked to spy on himself. Linklater reuses the rotoscoped-animation style he’d employed in ‘Waking Life,” enabling his wonderfully freaky visuals to melt and meld into each other, while his trademark looseness makes the film into a wonderful blend of stoner freak-out comedy and existential thriller. Featuring a killer supporting cast of Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder (the former in one of his last memorable pre-Tony Stark performances), it might not pack the emotional punch of the ‘Before’ trilogy or “Boyhood,” but it’s nevertheless one of the very best of the director’s career.