Essential Viewing

The defining visionary epics of 2015-2025

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Blade Runner 2049

2017 88% RT Dir. Denis Villeneuve

A sequel nobody asked for that turned out to be a masterpiece. Roger Deakins' cinematography paints every frame like a dystopian oil painting. Ryan Gosling's lonely replicant searching for meaning is the decade's most melancholic sci-fi performance. It bombed at the box office but time has been extraordinarily kind.

Neo-Noir Cyberpunk AI Sequel
🛸

Arrival

2016 94% RT Dir. Denis Villeneuve

First contact through the lens of a linguist. Amy Adams delivers a career-best performance decoding an alien language -- and in doing so, unlocks the nature of time itself. Based on Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life," this is the rare film where the twist doesn't just surprise you, it emotionally devastates you.

First Contact Linguistics Time Drama
☀️

Dune

2021 83% RT Dir. Denis Villeneuve

The first half of a story that had defeated every filmmaker who tried. Villeneuve's patience is the secret weapon -- this Dune breathes, letting Arrakis feel like a real world with real weight. Hans Zimmer's score is less music than seismic event. The ornithopter assault on the Atreides is peak blockbuster filmmaking.

Adaptation Epic Desert Politics

Honorable Mentions

1 Interstellar 2014
2 The Creator 2023
3 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 2017
4 Avatar: The Way of Water 2022