Not every superhero story puts a hero in colorful tights or attaches a cape to your favorite adventurer. In fact, there are plenty of great superhero movies out there that don’t follow the usual genre conventions at all. Be they direct comic book adaptations or original creations inspired by the typical Hollywood blockbusters that hit the screens, there’s something about the unconventional superhero movie that just hits right.

This isn’t, of course, to say that just because something doesn’t follow the same formula or thinks a little outside the typical superhero box that it’s automatically a classic — far from it. There are certainly some duds worth marking and avoiding. But if you’re looking for something that still scratches that comic book itch while offering something different, unique, or just plain entertaining, then we’ve got a collection of movies for you. You won’t find Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man here, but you may find something you enjoy just a little bit more.

7

‘Blade’ (1998)

Image via New Line Cinema

For something a bit more tinged with horror, Blade is an action-packed vampire movie where the title protagonist (played by Wesley Snipes) plows his way through hordes of the undead. Before Spider-Man, before X-Men, Marvel first gained notoriety on the big screen with Blade. It changed the way that superhero movies were made, and pushed a lesser-known Marvel hero firmly into the spotlight, eventually spawning a trilogy and a short-lived television series.

Snipes’ Blade is everything you could hope for in a vampire hunter, and though one might argue that his war against the vampires doesn’t make him a superhero, almost everyone who’s seen the picture will beg to differ. With a solid cast, a clever plot, and seriously exciting action sequences, it’s easy to get past some of the dated CGI when enjoying this superhero horror flick. And if you like it, don’t sleep on the next two either.

6

‘Defendor’ (2009)

Image via Alliance Films

A year before James Gunn tried his own hand at superhero satire, director Peter Stebbings teamed up with Woody Harrelson for Defendor. When a mentally underdeveloped (and uber-violent) vigilante begins prowling the streets looking for a villain he calls “Captain Industry,” he finds himself on the trail of an actual criminal conspiracy as his actions are put under the microscope. This one is even better than Gunn’s Super.

Defendor is a complicated take on the superhero genre, but it’s Harrelson’s performance that really seals the deal. His part as Arthur Poppington is exquisite, blending off-beat humor with violent crime-fighting so seamlessly you don’t know whether to laugh or be worried. It’s intense, heartfelt, and certainly more complex than your standard cape-and-cowl material.

5

‘Megamind’ (2010)

Image via DreamWorks Animation

Another comedic take on the genre, Megamind is one for the kids. Centering on the title supervillain (Will Ferrell) after he defeats his longtime nemesis, the bad guy soon becomes the hero when it’s clear that his latest creation is far more evil than he ever could be. In some ways, he’s a Brainiac/Lex Luthor hybrid that has more heart and soul, and it’s due to this goodness within him that he turns to heroism. Essentially a deconstruction of the superhero film, it ends up sticking true to the genre by the end.

Megamind is a classic, and anyone who grew up in the early 2000s likely has fond memories of this DreamWorks animated production. In recent years, it’s spawned a sequel and a television series on Peacock, but the original is still the best of the batch. Ferrell is fabulous as Megamind, but his performance is best emphasized by the comedic talents of co-stars Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, and Jonah Hill.

4

‘The Rocketeer’ (1991)

Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Before buying Marvel, it was rare for Disney to venture into the superhero genre. But when future Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnson decided to tackle a classic ’80s comic character that evoked the 1930s spirit of adventure and heroism, The Rocketeer was born. When pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) discovers a jetpack made by Howard Hughes (Terry O’Quinn), he takes to the skies to use the new technology to save lives, only to stumble upon a Nazi plot at the heart of Los Angeles.

The Rocketeer is very much in the same spirit of pulpy comic book adaptations like Tim Burton‘s Batman, Dick Tracy, and The Phantom, but while it’s quite traditional in its emphasis on ’30s comic book nostalgia, it doesn’t fit many of the dark and gritty tropes that would come to define the superhero genre in the coming years. In many ways, it’s more of a noir-style romance adventure than it is a typical superhero movie, and maybe that’s why it turned out so darn good — it’s almost too bad it never got a sequel.

3

‘Darkman’ (1990)

Image via Universal Pictures

Speaking of unconventional heroes, what happens when a horror director decides to create his own superhero based on the Universal Classic Monsters of the 1930s? You get Sam Raimi‘s Darkman, that’s what. A decade before he would tackle Spider-Man, Raimi turned Liam Neeson into the tortured title hero who seeks vengeance on the man who disfigured him and left him for dead.

Like The Rocketeer, Darkman feels very much like an homage to the ’30s comic books full of pulpy, noir crime drama, but still contains horror elements. Rather than focusing his new abilities (due to an experimental treatment) on saving lives like The Rocketeer, Darkman uses them for personal gain to take down the villains responsible for his plight, killing them if need be. He was an antihero long before it was cool on the big screen.

2

‘Unbreakable’ (2000)

If anyone could take the superhero origin story and turn it completely on its head, it would be M. Night Shyamalan. Following The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan reunited with Bruce Willis for an intimate character drama focused on the sole survivor of a massive train accident who discovers that he has superhuman strength. With the help of a wealthy comic book collector (Samuel L. Jackson), he learns to hone his senses and use them for the good of others, leading to some pretty drastic revelations.

Unbreakable is a phenomenal film. While it’s certainly an origin story, it’s about as unconventional as they come, and told in a way where the audience isn’t even expecting a twist at the end. Willis’ David Dunn is one of the best superheroes of the 21st century, and even though Shyamlan’s sequel, Glass, failed to stick the landing in many respects, it doesn’t taint the genius on display here.

1

‘The Iron Giant’ (1999)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Inspired by the science fiction pictures of the 1950s, director Brad Bird offered us a glimpse into his psyche with a brilliant animated feature that cut to the heart. The Iron Giant may not be your traditional superhero movie, but it certainly qualifies. When young Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) finds a giant robot (Vin Diesel) in the woods behind his home, he teaches the alien machine how to be the type of hero worthy of the Man of Steel himself. If you don’t cry watching this modern classic, then there’s likely something wrong with you.

The Iron Giant uses Silver Age Superman comic books as a springboard for a larger conversation of heroism that culminates in a final act that no doubt inspired The Dark Knight Rises‘ ending. It’s a beautiful picture of sacrifice and what it means to give one’s life for others, that to call the Giant anything but a superhero would be a failure to recognize his life, challenges, and choice to be like, well, Superman.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 19 seconds ago

Previously, we hadn’t had a new Star Wars movie in theaters since 2019, when The Rise of Skywalker redefined just how stupid a galaxy far, far away could really be. Disney wanted The Mandalorian and Grogu to be the big comeback film for the franchise, but that didn’t work. Not only did it earn less money than any live-action Star Wars movie before it, but it has been hailed by some critics as a new low for the Disney era. For both the haters and the fanboys, this leaves one very provocative question: can anything actually save Star Wars?

Amazingly, the answer to that question may involve one of the franchise’s most controversial characters. Rey was the popular protagonist of the Sequel Trilogy, but some fans really hated her because of how she was written (she was basically a Mary Sue from the beginning) and her creepy connection to Emperor Palpatine (who did the monster mash with her grandmother). However, Emmy-winning writer Damon Lindelof was hired to write a new Rey movie that would use the character to do the impossible: bring the fractured fandom back together again. Unfortunately, Disney killed this film, and in doing so, they may have doomed Star Wars altogether.

A Rey Of Hope

Over half a decade ago, Damon Lindelof began working on a solo Rey movie for Disney. This was exciting because Lindelof was famously the co-creator and showrunner of Lost, one of the most engrossing shows from the Golden Age of Television. Later, he became co-creator and showrunner of Watchmen, one of the best superhero shows ever made. After two years of writing for a galaxy far, far away, however, he was fired, and his movie joined the growing pile of canceled Star Wars films. Until recently, fans could only speculate on the deeper details of what his Rey/New Jedi Order movie would have been about. But in a recent interview with the House of R podcast, he spoke candidly about the movie’s plot.

During the interview, Lindelof described the Rey movie in the most fascinating way. “What we were attempting to do was to have this conversation in the movie,” he said, “Which is to say there is a force of nostalgia and there is a force of revision and they are at odds with one another. And let’s do the Protestant Reformation inside ‘Star Wars.’” These statements are both cryptic and compelling, as befits the creator of Lost. But like a bunch of fans seeing the Smoke Monster for the first time, we have to figure out what the heck Damon Lindelof is saying with this mystery box mambo jumbo.

Our Only Hope?

The first part seems clear enough. He wants to take the metatextual discourse over franchise direction and somehow make it textual. What would that look like? We know that Rey was going to rebuild a new Jedi Order. If so, she might be torn between following the traditions of the Prequel Trilogy Jedi Masters and kickstarting her own, brand-new traditions. What’s up with the Protestant Reformation bit? This is likely an indicator that Rey would forge a new path for the Jedi, effectively splintering this ancient religion between the old guard and the new guard. This would presumably sway the fandom to support Rey doing what Star Wars heroes always do: rebel.                            

Why did the project die? After first noting simply that “it didn’t work,” Damon Lindelof later admitted that Disney may have fired him because “the writing was really hard. It was slow. Like the tone, getting it right, where it was inside of the canon, what its relationship was with to episode nine,” he said. “Is it starting a new trilogy? Is it like all of those things? They’re so massive. They’re so big.” He regrets getting fired because “the conversation that the fandom is having without winking and looking at the audience … that didn’t necessarily feel that risky.” 

There Is Another (Skywalker)

In other words, it wouldn’t hurt for Disney to acknowledge (to borrow Lindelof’s adorable phrasing) “the bantha in the room.” The Star Wars fandom is divided, and the franchise is delivering diminishing returns. Lindelof wanted his movie to fix the fan schism, effectively winning over fans who were driven away by The Rise of Skywalker. To counter that film’s simplicity, Lindelof wanted a smart, metatextual film that pushed the boundaries of the franchise, but Disney wanted to play it safe. That’s why The Mandalorian and Grogu (our first Star Wars film since TROS) is just a collection of fight scenes and explosions, with nothing (including character development or coherent plotting) that might offend the audience.

However, it seems that Disney backed the wrong horse. The Mandalorian and Grogu had the weakest opening weekend of any live-action Star Wars film. Furthermore, its middling quality disappointed critics and large swathes of the fandom. Given this film’s failure, it won’t be surprising if the studio later cribs from Damon Lindelof and makes a film intended to unify the fandom. However, that effort may be too little, too late because the last two Star Wars movies have been messy commercial and critical disappointments. When the smoke clears on this latest theatrical disaster, Disney may discover a bitter truth: there’s no fandom left to unify.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner put family first this week after their daughter Violet appeared to suffer a health issue that required urgent medical attention. 

The former Hollywood power couple reunited Tuesday to help their eldest child into an urgent care clinic in Los Angeles, with both parents staying close as Violet later emerged on crutches. 

The emotional outing once again showed the exes’ famously united co-parenting dynamic years after their split, while also shedding light on the challenges they have both openly discussed since ending their marriage.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were seen rushing daughter Violet to an urgent care clinic in Los Angeles on Tuesday after the Yale student appeared to be struggling physically. 

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Photos obtained by the Daily Mail showed Violet hobbling into the medical center while relying heavily on both of her parents for support.

Affleck kept one arm wrapped protectively around the 20-year-old as she leaned against him on the way inside, while Garner hurried beside them to help steady Violet. 

Later, Violet was seen leaving the clinic on crutches, with both parents remaining closely by her side throughout the careful walk out of the building.

Affleck And Garner Remain United As Co-Parents

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner officially split in 2018, but they have continued to maintain one of Hollywood’s most talked-about co-parenting relationships while raising their three kids, Violet, Fin, and Samuel. 

Just weeks before the urgent care visit, Violet made a rare public appearance without her face mask while spending time with Garner and Samuel during a relaxed family outing.

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The trio stopped for ice cream at Sweet Rose Creamery inside the Brentwood Country Mart near the family’s Los Angeles home while Violet was home from Yale.

Violet has previously spoken about dealing with a post-viral condition in 2019 and still wears face masks as a precaution, making the outing especially surprising to some observers.

As The Blast reported, the outing without face mask sparked a lot of backlash from fans, due to Violet’s stance against the calls to ban masks. One fan even revealed that Violet appearing without a face mask was hypocritical.

Ben Affleck And Jennifer Garner Built A Family Before Their Split

Affleck and Garner first met in 2004 while promoting “Pearl Harbor,” though their relationship deepened later while working together on “Daredevil.” 

Their chemistry quickly became a major talking point, and the pair married in 2005 during a private Caribbean ceremony.

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Over the years, they became one of Hollywood’s most photographed couples, regularly appearing together at sporting events, school runs, and red-carpet functions with their children. 

Even after announcing their separation in 2015 and finalizing their divorce in 2018, they continued to prioritize family life together.

Garner recently reflected on what it has been like raising children across two households during an appearance on Bustle’s “One Nightstand” YouTube series. 

Speaking about balancing parenting responsibilities, she explained, “And I think my kids’ dad does too. Especially when your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad and he becomes dad and mom.”

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She added, “You kind of can’t help it, right? Because you don’t have the benefit of both sides of the yin and yang being in the same house.”

Affleck And Garner Reflect On Divorce And Family Changes

Jennifer Garner has also spoken candidly about the emotional toll of the end of her marriage to Ben Affleck. 

In a January 2026 interview with Marie Claire UK, the actress admitted the breakup was deeply painful and difficult to process publicly. 

“You have to be smart about what you can and can’t handle, and I could not handle what was out there,” she said.

Garner explained that the hardest part was not simply ending the relationship itself, but the impact on their family structure. 

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“The fact of it is what was hard. The actual breaking up of a family was what was hard. Losing a true partnership and friendship was what was hard,” the 54-year-old revealed. 

Despite the challenges, she insisted prioritizing her children never felt like a sacrifice and acknowledged that motherhood strongly influenced the jobs she accepted throughout her career.

Ben Affleck Opens Up About Divorce And Lasting Respect For Jennifer Garner

Affleck has also publicly reflected on the pain surrounding their divorce and the reality of co-parenting after separation. 

During a 2020 appearance on “Good Morning America,” the actor admitted he struggled emotionally with the breakdown of his marriage.

“I didn’t want to get divorced, I didn’t want to be a divorced person, I really didn’t want to be a split family with my children,” Affleck said at the time. 

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He explained that the experience forced him to confront difficult feelings about himself and his identity as a husband and father. “It upset me because it meant I wasn’t who I thought I was and that was so painful and so disappointing. In myself,” he continued.

Affleck also emphasized the importance of mutual respect between parents after divorce, saying, “When you have children with somebody, you’re connected to them forever. And I’m very lucky she [Garner] is the mother of my children.”

He added, “I’m very grateful and respectful of her. Our marriage didn’t work, and that’s difficult. Both of us really believe that it’s important for kids to see their parents respect one another and get along, whether they’re together or not.”

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Adam Sandler supported his wife, Jackie, at the premiere of her movie “Office Romance.” While the celebrities arrived red-carpet ready, the comedian chose comfort over style and showed up in an orange hoodie and blue joggers, sparking an online fashion discussion.

Sandler is known for his signature laid-back style, often showing up at events in ultra-casual clothes despite others attending in suits. His fashion choices sparked the term Sandlercore, highlighting the fashion aesthetic that celebrates unapologetic and comfortable dressing.

On May 26, Adam Sandler attended the premiere of the Netflix movie “Office Romance” to support his wife, Jackie, who plays the supporting character Caroline in the Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein-led movie.

Jackie chose an all-black ensemble, wearing a short glittery dress paired with stockings and pumps. Her other half, meanwhile, attended wearing a bright orange Knicks hoodie paired with blue sweatpants and colorful sneakers.

While Sandler’s fashion choice isn’t anything new, online users couldn’t help but comment on his appearance, with some saying that he could have at least dressed better while supporting his wife. “It’s one thing when he’s promoting or doing his own projects but for his wife’s work you think he could throw on some khakis and a golf shirt, at least,” one user noted.

Users on the subreddit r/Fauxmoi shared their opinions on Sandler’s choice of clothing. Some people defended the actor, saying that he has always chosen fashion over comfort, and hoodies and sweatpants or basketball shorts have been his go-to clothing for years. One argued, however, that Sandler “has the money to be comfortable without looking like he’s cosplaying retiree Billy Madison.”

Others noted that while he wore casual clothes, the outfit still looked thought out because his top and bottoms matched. “I mean, for Sandler that’s pretty much formal wear,” one wrote.

One user defended Sandler, saying he has a “solid reputation as a decent, generous person” and showed up for his wife. “We should let everyone wear whatever type of clothing they want at all times,” the user added.

Adam Sandler Has Worn Formalwear On Occasion

In an interview with Blackbird Spyplane in 2024, Sandler was asked about his fashion aesthetic. The comedian explained, “I think it comes from wearing a bar mitzvah suit that was a little itchy. Ever since then, I’ve said, ‘Let me make sure I’m never feeling that again, let me keep it loose.” He added that he always chooses comfort and adds pops of color that “will make someone else happy.”

Despite defaulting to comfort wear, Sandler has worn suits on a few special occasions. While doing a press tour for his movie with George Clooney, “Jay Kelly,” in 2025, Sandler wore various suits and jokingly said Clooney forced him to wear them.

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Sandler also looked dapper at the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” in 2025, wearing a dark tux with a black bow tie. When a reporter pointed out his impeccable clothing choice, he remarked, “It’s a terrible feeling.”

In December 2021, Vogue recognized Sandler as the year’s fashion icon, as evidenced by Google Trends data that showed searches for the comedian’s style surpassed those of Lizzo, Britney Spears, and Harry Styles.

“I’m not completely surprised that Sandler has achieved this accolade. He’s the unofficial ambassador of pandemic style,” Vogue writer Liana Satenstein wrote.

That same year, the term “Sandlercore” emerged on TikTok and Reddit to describe the fashion aesthetic inspired by Sandler’s ultra-casual and baggy clothing, with signature elements such as oversized shirts, extra-large basketball shorts, hoodies, bright colors, and baseball caps.

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Jackie’s Opinion About Adam Sandler’s Wardrobe

In an interview with Complex while promoting his film “Happy Gilmore 2” in 2025, Sandler talked about fashion, saying he thought it was “funny as hell” that he unintentionally became a style icon.

Sandler also revealed Jackie’s honest thoughts about his choice of clothing, sharing how she defends him against people who say he should dress better. “My wife always was nice to me about my clothes,” he noted.

“Even when we were young, others would say, ‘Would you put on something better than that? Your wife’s dressed so beautifully,’ My wife would say, ‘He’s comfortable like that. Let him do that. Leave him alone.’” Sandler said.

These days, when Hollywood wants to find the next big voice in horror, it feels like they turn to people with comedy backgrounds. That’s how the likes of Zach Cregger, Danny and Michael Phillippou, and Curry Barker all got their starts. Before them, though, was a comedian who had success beyond a niche YouTube audience — Comedy Central’s Key & Peele made Jordan Peele a major name. Horror, with the one-two punch of Get Out and Us, made him even bigger by delivering terrifying and eye-opening experiences. Peele’s third firm, Nope, now out on Netflix, is just as good as what came before. But it’s also the movie in his filmography that’s the most misunderstood. The deeper messages behind Get Out and Us are easy to figure out. Nope is different. It’s not the simple alien invasion flick audiences were expecting. Nope has a lot to say, you just have to pay attention.

Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ Is Built on Past Alien Invasion Tropes

If you watch the trailer for Nope or read its synopsis, it seems simple and straightforward. On the surface, it’s another alien invasion movie. And that’s certainly not a bad thing, but the genre has been very well-trodden for good reason. Audiences love them. It’s thrilling to see creatures from another world descend to Earth and attack, forcing humanity to unite, rise, and fight back.

That is how Nope begins. In the small community of Agua Dulce, California, Otis Haywood Sr. (Keith David) runs the Haywood Hollywood Horse Ranch, which trains horses for movies and commercials. Early in the film, Otis is killed by a coin falling from the sky, which begins the setup for an usual UFO descending from the clouds. Otis’ children, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer), are determined to capture the craft on film, leading to a big twist. It’s not a spaceship they’re seeing, the circular shape is the alien itself. What happens next, along with a seemingly odd subplot involving theme park operator Jupe (Steven Yeun) and a killer chimp named Gordy (Terry Notary), sets up Nope‘s overarching main theme.

‘Nope’s Gordy Subplot Is About Animal Exploitation

Like so much horror, Nope has themes about grief and trauma. Throw in the parallels to Jaws, when the Haywoods and cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) work together to capture the creature on camera, and you already have a terrifying movie. But Peele uses his voice to explore difficult-to-confront themes. Nope is, in part, about how Hollywood exploits animals for our entertainment.

The most obvious example is Gordy the chimpanzee, who is exploited for laughs on the sitcom Gordy’s Home until he snaps and goes on a rampage. Even after his death, Gordy is exploited as entertainment in a Saturday Night Live bit. There’s also the victims Gordy affected, such as Mary Jo Elliott (Haley Babula), the actress whose face was ripped off. She is sought out by the camera, as Peele gives the audience a brief glimpse at her scarred features. Meanwhile, Jupe, who was a child actor on the series, still exploits the tragedy for his own personal gain. It’s something he’s excited to talk about and recount to people he just met. Gordy’s dying moments are a source of awe, fear, and fascination. It’s a terrifying subplot, but a confusing one if you don’t understand the themes. What does Gordy have to do with this gigantic alien?

Animals Are Used for Entertainment in ‘Nope’

Image via Universal Pictures

Gordy is the in-your-face example of animal exploitation, but he’s not the only one. OJ and Emerald Haywood keep their father’s showbiz horse training business alive by renting out their stock for various movie productions. OJ is quiet and not as excited to be involved with the family business, but Emerald is the happy and social sibling who uses her position and personality to get their horse Lucky a role, where he will be exploited for audience entertainment.

The alien in Nope, known as Jean Jacket, is treated in similar fashion. It’s a prop exploited for Jupe’s show. It’s not a real animal to him, only a source of money and entertainment which can be tamed, just like the chimp he once grew up with. Because he lived through the exploitation of Gordy, Jupe doesn’t fear Jean Jacket. It results in his death and the deaths and the audience hoping to be entertained by the spectacle. The only true way to survive Jean Jacket, as OJ discovers, is to not look at it. If there is no audience for the grisly entertainment, it can’t be fed, which cuts to the core of what Nope is about — exploitation in its many forms.

Nope is a fun and thrilling movie in its first watch. OJ and Emerald are intriguing characters inside a well-crafted story that becomes more unpredictable with every turn. Every time you think you have it figured out, Nope shifts, making it perfect for repeat viewings. Jordan Peele’s direction and the talent of his actors remains sharp and doesn’t lose its impact as the true message becomes clear. Nope dares you to look into its eyes and take a glimpse at a highly uncomfortable subject. A simple, easy to digest monster movie it is not.

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Nope

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Release Date

July 22, 2022

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Runtime

131 minutes

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By Robert Scucci
| Published 7 seconds ago

Experimenting on human test subjects in an underground bunker doubling as a research facility is never an easy job. You have to ration your food, cope with the fact that you may not see natural light for some time, and, in the case of 1990’s Shadowzone, deal with a disembodied entity calling himself John Doe who starts killing everybody in sight whenever he pleases. He has Freddy Krueger-like powers in the sense that he can turn your biggest fears into reality before he starts lopping off appendages and continuing his rampage.

That’s truly the best way to describe Shadowzone. Its setting is reminiscent of the Nostromo in 1979’s Alien, and its antagonist is some sort of otherworldly demon hellbent on destroying the mortal realm, or at the very least eliminating the present company until he’s strong enough to breach the compound.

It’s one of those low-budget ‘90s sci-fi flicks best watched late at night in a pitch-black room with a solid pair of headphones. The gore borders on schlocky, but it’s impressive for a film with an estimated budget of $1 million. The only warning I have about Shadowzone is that it shows its monster in the third act, which takes away from an otherwise perfect sci-fi thriller rooted in horror. Sometimes what you imagine is more terrifying than what you see on screen, and that’s exactly what happens here.

We’re Trapped In A Plant Down Under

Shadowzone, like Alien and A Nightmare on Elm Street, boasts a shockingly simple premise executed to perfection. The whole thing kicks off under suspicious circumstances when NASA Captain Hickock (David Beecroft) shows up at an underground research facility known as Project Shadowzone to investigate a death that may very well compromise the experiment led by Dr. Van Fleet (James Hong), and facilitated by his assistant Dr. Erhardt (Louise Fletcher), medical examiner Dr. Kidwell (Shawn Weatherly), and computer engineer Wiley (Miguel A. Nunez Jr.). Helping out with non-scientific matters are maintenance man Tommy Shivers (Frederick Flynn) and foul-mouthed, verbally abusive facility cook, Mrs. Cutter (Lu Leonard).

The human experiments conducted in the facility involve a controversial Extended Deep Sleep (EDS) treatment that already claimed one test subject’s life. Captain Hickock is assured by the crew that the death was purely coincidental and happened in spite of the experiments, not because of them. Doing his due diligence, Hickock forces them to recreate the experiment under the same parameters as the previously fatal test so he can leave with a clean conscience, knowing the experiments can continue without outside interference.

As luck would have it, the male test subject’s head explodes and the entire facility blacks out. Wiley is shocked to learn that an entity identifying himself as John Doe is hiding among them, which is especially bad news because the entire facility goes on lockdown whenever traces of radiation are detected, and John Doe is carrying enough to trigger the failsafe.

Slowly but surely, John Doe, who apparently came through some kind of opened dream gateway, begins interacting with the physical world, using everybody’s fears against them while growing stronger by the minute. Trapped inside Project Shadowzone, Captain Hickock has to figure out not only a plan of attack against the entity, but also how to escape the compound in one piece before everybody inside gets ripped to shreds.

Hate To Say I Told You Doe

The name of the game in Shadowzone is hubris in all its forms. The only truly innocent person here is Captain Hickock, whose entire job is shutting down projects deemed harmful, and he has every reason to believe this one is. Dr. Erhardt, fittingly portrayed by Louise Fletcher, channels serious Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) energy, and she’s awful to everybody around her. She also knows how dangerous the situation is, but continues working alongside the equally idiotic Dr. Van Fleet, who understands he’s playing with fire but can’t help himself in pursuit of his sleep experiment. Wiley and Dr. Kidwell occasionally push back, but it’s clear they’re mostly complicit.

What really makes Shadowzone a treat, though, is its willingness to fully embrace the grit. It’s a low-budget movie, but the gore is exactly the kind of gore I look for in movies like this. It’s over the top, but in a way that keeps you from wanting to throw up in your mouth. It gets the point across without making your skin crawl because it’s almost cartoonish in its delivery.

The film’s biggest failing is showing a personified version of John Doe. The creature effects aren’t terrible, but the movie is far more terrifying when we don’t know what the monster looks like. Fortunately, we don’t get too many sequences featuring this version of John Doe, and the scenes where he taunts everybody through the facility’s computers are much more effective.

The film also makes the incredibly smart choice not to show too many on-screen deaths. You get the setup, the looks of terror, the blood splatter, and the body. In most cases, that’s the way to go because your imagination fills in the blanks. Watching a movie with bargain-bin production values try to fully stage elaborate kills usually undermines the fear it’s trying to create. Aside from John Doe himself, there’s not much here that takes you out of the movie, which makes Shadowzone all the more enjoyable.

As of this writing, you can stream the 88-minute theatrical cut of Shadowzone for free on Tubi. The 110-minute director’s cut is also streaming free with ads on Prime Video, though the general consensus is that the theatrical cut is the superior version.

The Broadway revival of Chess will close earlier than scheduled.

According to a report by Variety, published on Tuesday, May 26, the show will see curtains fall for good on June 21 when its star, Lea Michele, was already confirmed to be departing the production.

The news comes after the Cold War musical, which debuted in London’s West End in May 1986, failed to garner a 2026 Tony Award nomination in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role in a Musical despite widespread acclaim directed at Michele, 39.

The snub came amid the production attracting five 2026 Tony Award nominations in other categories: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Michele’s costar Nicholas Christopher’s work, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role for Bryce Pinkham’s work, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role for Hannah Cruz’s work, Best Orchestrations and Best Lighting Design of a Musical.

Related: Lea Michele’s Son Ever, 2, Hospitalized for ‘Scary Health Issue’

Lea Michele is out of Funny Girl’s next performance while handling her son Ever’s “scary” hospitalization. “I am so sorry but unfortunately I will be out of @FunnyGirlBwy today,” the Glee alum, 36, wrote on Wednesday, March 22, via her Instagram Story. She shared a photo of herself holding her son’s hand with a teddy […]

The original plan for Chess was for Michele to be replaced by Joanna “Jojo” Levesque in the role of Florence Vassy as the production ran until “at least September,” per the outlet.

It also noted that Chess has “struggled to maintain momentum, with attendance dropping to roughly 70% capacity in recent weeks.” Michele’s leading costar Aaron Tveit was also snubbed in May when the 2026 Tony Awards nominations were announced.

Chess producers Tom Hulce and Robert Ahrens, as well as The Shubert Organization, Broadway’s oldest professional theatre company, shared a statement on the show’s closing with the outlet. “To see longtime fans and first-time audiences alike embrace this production so wholeheartedly has been incredibly rewarding for everyone involved and a powerful reminder of why Chess has endured for so many years,” the statement read. “Bringing Chess back to Broadway for the first time in nearly 40 years has been an enormous privilege, and we are extremely proud of everything this production accomplished during its historic Broadway run.”

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Michele spoke to Us Weekly in July 2025 about starring in Chess, her sixth Broadway show, while raising a young family. The actress shares two children with husband Zandy Reich: son Ever, 5, and daughter Emery, 21 months.

“I’m constantly learning and growing and asking advice from moms around me, working mothers, like, ‘How do you do this?’ and, ‘How do you balance it all?’” the Glee alum told Us at the time. “[I’m] really trying to prepare my family as best I can for me approaching my work and keep myself as present as possible when I’m home with my family, and then as present as I can be when I’m at work.”

She continued, “It’s not about perfection, it’s about being present. That’s what I just try to remember as much as I can.”

Over the course of the last 40 years, filmmakers from all around the world have delivered several of the greatest romantic movies of modern times. This is a genre that has always evolved with the times, and from 1986 until the present, tracking the different ways in which artists have depicted romance on film results in a fascinating new understanding of what the genre as a whole can achieve.

Whether it’s an international indie masterpiece like Past Lives or a mainstream Hollywood production like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, these films are the best of what modern romance has to offer. They can be poignant or purely romantic, dramatic or more comedic, down-to-Earth or mixed with some other kind of genre. Whatever the case, they should all be considered essential viewing.

10

‘Past Lives’ (2023)

Image via A24

It’s impressive that a film as masterful and truly perfect as the romance drama Past Lives is Celine Song‘s directorial feature debut. It’s one of the most perfect A24 movies ever, with a semi-autobiographical plot inspired by real events from Song’s life. Bolstered by a trifecta of exceptional performances by Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, it’s one of the greatest dramas of the 2020s so far.

There are no cheap clichés here, no villain, no traditional sense of conflict, no riding off into the sunset in a moment of romantic triumph. Song stays admirably true-to-life in this emotionally stirring study of destiny, romance, and the human condition, which ultimately amounts to one of the most beautifully bittersweet outings that the romance genre has ever seen.

9

‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005)

Image via Focus Features

Those who love sad romance dramas ought to check out Brokeback Mountain, which has some of the saddest stuff that the genre has to offer. It’s one of the best R-rated Westerns of the 21st century, anchored by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal‘s powerhouse lead performances. Praised by many as the greatest LGBTQ+ film ever produced by a big Hollywood studio, it’s a must-see for anyone who loves this genre.

Brokeback Mountain essentially functions as a sort of anti-Western, subverting the traditional tropes and imagery of the genre in favor of a delectably progressive study of masculinity and love. Thematically layered, impeccably performed, and gorgeously directed by Ang Lee, it stirred some controversy back in 2005, but has aged as one of the most acclaimed romance films of the 2000s.

8

‘Three Colours: Red’ (1994)

Image via Miramax Films

Krzysztof Kieślowski is perhaps the greatest and most iconic of all of history’s Polish filmmakers, and his filmography contains an admirable number of cinematic masterpieces. One of them is the final installment of his Three Colours trilogy, Three Colours: Red. Starring Irène Jacob at her very best, it’s the perfect way to close off one of the heaviest movie trilogies of all time.

It’s one of the most beautifully complex films ever made about the nature of human connections, a captivating masterpiece with a well-deserved Tomatometer score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s made all the more special by the fact that it almost functions as some kind of anti-romance, diving deeper into the very concept of intimacy and subverting what anyone might expect from a film about romantic love.

7

‘A Brighter Summer Day’ (1991)

Image via Cine Qua Non Films

The four-hour-long coming-of-age epic A Brighter Summer Day is one of the greatest Taiwanese movies ever made, directed by the greatest of all Taiwanese filmmakers, Edward Yang. It’s one of the most important examples of the New Taiwanese Cinema movement, a fascinating period piece whose engrossing narrative spans several years.

This is another instance of a cinematic masterpiece whose 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes is perfectly deserved. A Brighter Summer Day is essentially faultless, a melancholic and politically-charged portrait of Taiwanese identity that can be enjoyed by any cinephile, regardless of their nationality. It’s grand, complex, and beautifully immersive, making each minute of its daunting runtime entirely worth it.

6

‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ (2019)

Image via Pyramide Films

Paris specifically, and France at large, are often considered the home of love and romance. As such, it’s no surprise that France is where Céline Sciamma‘s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the most perfect romance film of the 2010s, comes from. It works both as a richly lavish period piece and a soul-stirring romantic drama, as well as one of the movies with the most groundbreaking female representation.

How could a film with lead performances as perfect as those offered here by Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel not be perfect itself? Add to that the seductive, absolutely eye-popping female gaze with which Sciamma approaches the story, and you get one of the most gorgeous movies the romance genre has ever delivered. Full of yearning and surreal eroticism, this is some of the best filmmaking that the 2010s ever saw.

5

‘Cinema Paradiso’ (1988)

The Italian-French coming-of-age drama Cinema Paradiso is widely recognized for having helped revitalize Italy’s film industry, and that should hardly be a surprise. It is, after all, one of the most perfect films ever made. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and with one of the greatest scores in cinema history by Ennio Morricone and his son Andrea, it’s the peak of what modern Italian cinema has to offer.

Cinema Paradiso covers pretty much the whole spectrum of emotions that a viewer can feel, from the ecstasy of its opening moments, to the poignancy of its sadder bits, to the beauty of its romantic elements, to the life-changing beauty of one of the greatest endings of any movie in history. It’s one of the best crowd-pleasing dramas ever made, and then some.

4

‘Y Tu Mamá También’ (2001)

Image via 20th Century Studios

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Y Tu Mamá También is the kind of erotic drama that could have only been made outside Hollywood. Indeed, Alfonso Cuarón returned to his native Mexico to make one of the best NC-17 movies of all time, a movie that’s about the coming-of-age of its three protagonists as it is about the coming-of-age of its setting, Mexico itself. The way Cuarón intertwines his characters’ stories with those of the unseen people of his country is a spectacle to behold.

But aside from being spectacular, Y Tu Mamá También is also irresistibly steamy, the most flawless erotic drama of the last 40 years. With Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, and Maribel Verdú at their best and Cuarón in full control of his craft, this profoundly thought-provoking and ultimately quite depressing film may not be the happiest of all romantic movies, but it sure is one of the best.

3

‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ (2004)

Image via Focus Features

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Initially developed as a concept in the late ’90s by director Michel Gondry, who then approached Charlie Kaufman to write the script, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind eventually materialized in the form of one of the best soft sci-fi masterpieces ever. Kaufman is perhaps the most talented screenwriting currently working in Hollywood, and there’s no example of his work more perfect than this.

Eternal Sunshine explores the concept of memories and how they relate to romance and human connections in ways too complex and thought-provoking to properly put into words. With Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet both delivering some of the strongest work of their careers, Gondry directing with masterful surrealism and poignancy, and Kaufman’s script being as flawless as it is, there’s no doubt that this is the best sci-fi romance movie ever made.

2

‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000)

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Right as the 20th century was coming to a close, Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai released what most cinephiles still remember as his best work to date: In the Mood for Love, which one may go so far as to call one of the best romantic movies of the last 100 years. Starring the legendary Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, this is no traditional sort of romantic film.

Indeed, this is an anti-romance masterpiece built entirely on restraint and unfulfilled desire, its characters choosing dignity and moral duty over the passion that’s so often front-and-center in most romance dramas. This creates a film that’s undeniably sad, but there’s also an irresistible beauty to the way Wong approaches the story that makes it endlessly rewatchable in spite of the poignancy of watching it.

1

‘Before Sunset’ (2004)

Image via Warner Independent Pictures

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Richard Linklater is a filmmaker unlike any other, and his Before trilogy is perhaps his magnum opus. Before Sunrise is a beautiful coming-of-age romance drama that re-defined ’90s indie romance, and Before Midnight is the most perfect way imaginable to bring this refreshingly mature study of love and romance to a close. But it’s easily Before Sunset, one of the best second chapters of any movie trilogy, that stands the test of time the most.

Playing out in real time with some of the most natural-sounding dialogue that the romance genre has ever seen, this masterpiece is held together by Linklater’s airtight direction just as much as it is by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy‘s perfect performances. Masterfully paced and without a single dead spot in its admirably simple narrative, this is the most perfect romance movie of the last four decades.

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Before Sunset

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Release Date

July 30, 2004

Runtime

80 minutes

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Director

Richard Linklater

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Horror has always been the gateway genre for a large variety of filmmakers, and that’s what has led to the current YouTuber invasion of Hollywood. In recent years, those from the internet space have broken into the mainstream film industry, such as the Philippou Brothers with their wonderful horror hit, Talk To Me, and even video game YouTuber Seán McLoughlin (AKA Jacksepticeye) is producing a new movie at Sony based on PlayStation’s Bloodborne. However, this unique phenomenon has tripled in 2026, with Mark Fishbach‘s depth-defying Iron Lung, Curry Barker‘s recent indie mega-hit Obsession, and now 20-year-old Kane Parsons‘ feature film adaptation of his viral web series, Backrooms.

First released in January 2022, The Backrooms web series became a viral sensation for its found-footage brand of horror and unique world. The original chapter of the series currently has over 72 million views, so the fact that A24 stepped in to produce a full-fledged feature film is no surprise. Kane Parsons, at 20 years of age, managing to make an A24 movie with two renowned Oscar winners as its stars is impressive enough, but the additional note that the film is one of the year’s best horror movies makes an already admirable feat a true triumph.

What Is A24’s ‘Backrooms’ About?

Taking place during the 1990s, Backrooms is primarily the story of two individuals trying to move on from a checkered past. The first is Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — a struggling furniture store owner who finds a portal to a hidden world that almost looks like an unused office space, but with all manner of bizarre sights like chairs melting into the floor and hallways that lead to nowhere. The second is Clark’s therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve), who finds herself in these so-called “Backrooms” when Clark goes missing — but they both soon learn that they may not be the only ones lurking there.

From the get-go, Backrooms gets off to a fantastic start that will please hardcore fans of the original web series as well as horror fanatics itching for a memorable cold open. Director Kane Parsons opted not to make the entirety of the movie in a found footage format like the series that started it all, but the first ten minutes are recorded with a good old-fashioned ’90s-style camcorder. The result is one of the best first few minutes of a horror movie of the year, and a near-flawless tone-setter for the rest of the feature.

A Backrooms movie also certainly wouldn’t be one without top-notch set design, and Longlegs production designer Danny Vermette once again proves why they are such a rising star in the horror world. Backrooms‘ liminal spaces and reliance on the fear of the unknown make for a wholly unique and claustrophobic horror setting, and one that, refreshingly, is lit with bright fluorescent lights rather than consistently shrouded in darkness like most of its peers. There is such an otherworldly feeling to the Backrooms, with everything looking like it comes from the real world, and yet, it has more than a few things that are just a little bit off, creating this almost uncanny valley type of feeling.

Renate Reinsve Is the Next Great Horror Movie Scream Queen

Image via A24

The Worst Person in the World, A Different Man, and Sentimental Value have already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Renate Reinsve is one of the best actors working today, and Backrooms gives the Oscar nominee something quite different with her first proper foray into an adaptation of a major IP. The Armand star steps into the world of sci-fi horror like a true natural, with every single acting choice adding more depth and dimension to the character. Seeing her go from a professional therapist to an unprofessional scream queen almost makes Backrooms feel like a twisted version of Apple TV’s Shrinking (which is fitting given that Shrinking star Lukita Maxwell is also part of the cast).

Doctor Strange franchise alum and 12 Years a Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor also has a sizable role in the film, essentially functioning as the audience’s eyes and ears for this bizarre horror world. While Ejiofor is more used to big-budget epics, seeing him return to something smaller-scale but still very high-concept is a refreshing change of pace. Much like Reinsve, Ejiofor’s performance is one that gets better and better as the movie progresses — even if his character’s motivations are just a hint on the confusing side.

Yes, even a movie as mesmerizing and enchanting can’t escape the ever-ubiquitous horror trope of characters making stupid decisions. Ejiofor’s Clark is the most susceptible to this, as his fascination with the Backrooms is never really fully explained and largely seems to occur off-screen. It’s not that Backrooms needs to explain every minute detail. If anything, the mystery behind the entire movie is exactly what makes it so special. However, it does feel like there are portions between acts that could have been better explored had they taken place on-screen and added a bit more context to the already well-developed characters.

‘Backrooms’ Is a Masterclass in Building Suspense and Tension

Kane Parsons is the youngest director ever to direct an A24 movie, and yet his methodical approach to letting Backrooms breathe and take its time building up its suspense and scares requires the patience of masters in the genre. The slow burn of Alfred Hitchcock, the surreal visuals of David Lynch, and the human stakes of Stanley Kubrick are all on full display here, making for one of the unique and intriguing horror properties of the decade, let alone of the year. The slight stumble of the curious character decisions is comparatively small with the massive accomplishments that Backrooms achieves. Whether you’re a fan of the miniseries or are just discovering Kane Parsons’ wildly successful franchise for the very first time, Backrooms is a door that any horror fan should absolutely walk through.

Backrooms premieres in theaters on Friday, May 29, 2026.

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Release Date

May 27, 2026

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Runtime

110 minutes

Director

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Kane Parsons

Writers

Will Soodik

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Producers

Chris Ferguson, Dan Cohen, Dan Levine, James Wan, Jenno Topping, Kori Adelson, Michael Clear, Osgood Perkins, Peter Chernin, Roberto Patino, Shawn Levy

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Pros & Cons

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• Kane Parsons shows a marvelous sense for suspense and tension.
• Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor are both fantastic.
• Some of the year’s best production design.

• Some of the characters’ choice and decisions are hard to justify.

Science fiction is a genre that’s tricky to get right. When done properly, these stories of space exploration, futuristic societies, and speculative technology can make for some of the most fascinating movies out there. It’s remarkably easy, however, for a sci-fi movie to make no sense. Perhaps its time travel plot is a bit too convoluted, or its world-building involves rules that defy traditional logic, or the director made use of elements of surrealism that are hard to get a grasp on.

Whatever the case, it’s still very much possible for a sci-fi movie to make no sense and still be absolutely phenomenal, and there are eight movies in particular that best demonstrate that. Sure, these films aren’t the kind of puzzle that you can put together in a way that’s fully and appropriately satisfying, but that may just be the whole point. After all, if there’s any genre that can easily earn the right to ask its audience to stretch the limits of their imagination, it’s science fiction.

‘Looper’ (2012)

Image via TriStar Pictures

There’s a certain subgenre of science fiction that tends to have more than a few issues with logic, and that’s the time travel story. Case in point: Rian Johnson‘s Looper, where a hired gun learns that the mob wants to take him out by sending his future self back in time to assassinate him. The mere synopsis already brings up too many paradoxes for any one screenwriter to solve, so Johnson did something that some may consider clever and others may consider a cheap cop-out.

Looper pretty much admits that the rules of time travel make no sense and asks its audience to not think about it too closely. And frankly, one can only be grateful that it does, because that allows Johnson to focus on the nitty-gritty of the action and deliver a character-driven spectacle that shows science fiction at its most entertaining. In other words, enjoy Looper for what it is, and don’t concern yourself with making sense out of it.

‘Tokyo Gore Police’ (2008)

Image via Sony Pictures

Anyone who watches a movie called Tokyo Gore Police expecting anything less than a brutal bloodfest is a fool. One of the most underrated splatter movies of the 21st century, this sci-fi horror film is set in a futuristic Tokyo, where a young policewoman tracks down her father’s killer while battling against mutant rebels. The result of such a wild premise is definitely not for everyone, but for people who love gory and over-the-top sci-fi, it’s a must-see.

As you could imagine, Tokyo Gore Police is a ridiculous film that plays its cards in an entirely tongue-in-cheek way, and it never really takes itself seriously. As a result of its focus on camp and shock value, it doesn’t really spend any time trying to make any element of its narrative make any sort of sense. However, if you went into this movie expecting a serious drama that prioritizes logic over style, then that’s on you, honestly.

‘Southland Tales’ (2006)

Image via Universal Pictures

After he revived the midnight screening circuit of the cult cinema world in 2001, Richard Kelly followed things up with one of the most ambitious and divisive films of the 2000s, Southland Tales. Upon release, it split critics and performed atrociously at the box office, but in the years since, it has grown to become one of the biggest sci-fi cult classics of the era. But if there’s one thing that even the movie’s loyal cult following will admit, it’s that it makes next to no sense.

The narrative is bloated and chaotic, and Kelly develops a ton of ideas that don’t really mesh well together at first glance — or at second or at third. But patient and committed viewers will slowly be taken over by Southland Tales‘ unparalleled charm and fascinating vision of the future, captivated by a movie that often feels like a crazy fever dream you don’t really want to wake up from.

‘Under the Skin’ (2013)

Image via A24

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A24 has distributed some of the best mind-bending movies of the 21st century over its history, but there is arguably no outing in its filmography more masterfully confusing than Jonathan Glazer‘s Under the Skin. And like any surrealist, mind-bending masterpiece, this one has remained highly divisive as the years have passed. Nevertheless, it’s one of the boldest drama movies of the 21st century.

Glazer spent over a decade developing what would end up becoming Under the Skin, turning it from the effects-heavy concept that it was originally devised as into a more minimalistic story about the human condition. But while the film makes sense philosophically, it doesn’t really make all that much sense narratively. There’s nothing here that resembles the traditional understanding of plot or character work; Glazer instead favors an abstract and experimental nature over any sort of logic. This approach has cemented Under the Skin as a true modern classic, but it has also made it unapproachable for most mainstream audiences.

‘Interstellar’ (2014)

Ever since the start of Hollywood’s blockbuster era in the mid-’70s, the film industry has had several different kinds of blockbusters. The one who sits on the throne today is arguably Christopher Nolan. The question of what his best film is will inevitably elicit many different answers, but one is guaranteed to come up more than most: the emotionally stirring space opera Interstellar, which is one of those sci-fi movies that get better with every rewatch.

But though a few of Interstellar‘s mind-bending aspects definitely start making a little more sense as one revisits the story, there are other elements that simply don’t track. From the mechanics of the tesseract to the whole “love transcends time” theme, there are a few elements of Interstellar that demand quite a bit of suspension of disbelief in order for the whole movie to not fall apart. For all its commitment to being accurate to real-life physics, the film remains a piece of art that is, first and foremost, concerned with its narrative rather than with any genuine logic.

‘Brazil’ (1985)

Image via Universal Pictures

Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame has a filmography that proves that the best comedies can often be the ones that make the least sense. Highly surrealist and with a uniquely absurdist sense of humor, Gilliam has made plenty of exceptional films over the course of his career, and Brazil might be the most acclaimed of the bunch. This satire of bureaucracy, capitalism, and technocracy has aged incredibly well, with its over-the-top, satirical tone even more resonant today than it was in 1985.

It’s one of the best sci-fi noir masterpieces ever, a scathing critique of the dehumanizing effects of industrial society and excessive bureaucracy that keeps revealing new angles to itself. But Gilliam intentionally designed Brazil to be a confusing, surreal, almost nightmarish experience, and he most definitely succeeded. It’s an outstanding movie, but not one that cares much about its audience making any sense of it.

‘Donnie Darko’ (2001)

Image via Newmarket Films

Throughout the ’90s, the culture of the midnight movie lay dormant due to the boom of the home video market and cable television. It was a man called Richard Kelly who brought it back with one of the most notorious box office bombs of the 21st century, Donnie Darko. Its highly convoluted plot made it an instant cult classic that lent itself flawlessly to rewatches, and with the rise of DVD home viewing, the writing was on the wall for this becoming the next big thing on the cult film circuit.

With its thought-provoking narrative, Kelly’s enrapturing and deeply atmospheric direction, and one of the best movie soundtracks of all time, Donnie Darko has aged like fine wine through and through. But it’s impossible to deny that the main thing that made it a cult classic back in the 2000s is what still keeps it as a cult classic today: It’s the fact that it doesn’t make sense. Its mind-twisting narrative evades logic in ways that feel entirely intentional and brilliantly handled, making for a movie that makes rewatching and theorizing something that never gets old.

‘Stalker’ (1979)

Image via Goskino

Though his career was cut short by his death from lung cancer at the age of 54, Soviet auteur Andrei Tarkovsky has still managed to remain one of the most acclaimed and beloved European filmmakers in history. It’s a widely held belief that it was Stalker that contributed to his premature death, since it was shot in highly toxic environments that led many members of the cast and crew to contract different kinds of cancer in the years following the shoot. But the legacy that Tarkovsky left behind is an indelible one, and Stalker is one of the best sci-fi movies of the last 75 years.

That said, Stalker doesn’t really make much narrative or logical sense, but neither does the majority of Tarkovsky’s filmography. That’s because he was a filmmaker whose work audiences were meant to feel, not think, their way through, and Stalker is no different. Though its sci-fi elements are hugely creative and deeply powerful, they’re not the core of the story. Instead, it’s Tarkovsky’s potent exploration of faith and how it has evolved and faded in the modern world that serves as the beating heart of Stalker. Any sort of intellectual analysis of its plot is pointless because it is a masterpiece that proves that a sci-fi movie can make no sense and still be great.