3. ‘Alien’ (1979, R)
Ridley Scott and James Cameron are very different sorts of directors. The former, in his prime, was a master of haunted atmospherics; the latter likes to blow things up. So it should have been concerning when Cameron took the reins from Scott to direct a sequel to “Alien.” Fortunately, he didn’t try to replicate the first film’s accomplishments, playing instead to his own strengths and turning Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) into a bona fide action hero. Space is no longer a terrifying void where no one can hear you scream, but a staging ground for space marines with flamethrowers.
6. ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ (1982, PG)
Easily the best of the “Star Trek” movies and one of the best sci-fi films of the ‘80s (and that was a great decade
As superheroes go, only Captain America bleeds the same hue of red, white and blue as this spandex-wearing orphan from the planet Krypton. Richard Donner set the template for every superhero film that followed with this big-hearted slice of can-do Americana, selling the unflappable goodness of Superman thanks to Christopher Reeve, who remains the best big-screen superhero casting decision. Just as perfectly cast? The composer. The score is as much the iconic superhero as Reeve is. Even after 30-plus years of radical special-effects evolution, when Reeves soars through the air to John Williams’ music, you still believe he can fly.
“In space no one can hear you scream” was the world’s most ominous tagline even before we got a glimpse of what, exactly, would be eliciting such terror.
This is the alpha and omega of science-fiction films. Its technical wizardry, narrative boldness and philosophical depth remain unmatched in the genre, which would be surprising were the genius behind the camera anyone but Stanley Kubrick, who teamed with sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke to turn a junkyard genre into high art. The brilliantly shot, slowly paced, largely silent film is impossible to summarize — it’s more experience than story in its ice-cold musings on mankind’s evolution from ape to starchild. The result is a film as thunderous as Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra” and with a scope as profound as the universe itself.