Invaders From Mars (1950s) ET Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both versions but I like the 50s version better) Snowpiercer (not everyone's favorite but I thought it was great) Spirited Away (animated) District 9 The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element fails utterly because it has Chris Tucker in it. Not even Milla Jovovich can save it. Bruce Willis just gives up. Gary Oldman is just slumming for a paycheck. Chris Tucker's sheer awfulness swamps over everything.
Or the ever loving role of William Hurt in Lost In Space. You can believe the passion the married couple has...
But Milla Jovovich! And I say that in a non-sexual way, she's pretty goddamn amazing on a number of levels that have nothing to do with [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [OH HOLY SHIT THAT'S REALLY REDACTED], like her linguistic ability (the language she spoke in The Fifth Element wasn't gibberish, but a conlang she made up for the film), her athleticism, and her [JEEBUS WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, WE HAD TO MINDWIPE THE REDACTOR YOU SICK FUCK!]. I guess you could say I'm a fan.
Recommendations that haven't been offered so far: Arrival & Blade Runner 2049. I'm a big fan of both of those, especially BR 2049. Another film that, imo, isn't quite as good as the previously mentioned movies, but that has its moments and is worth a watch, is Oblivion. That's a movie whose soundtrack is criminally undervalued. Do yourself a favor and listen to M83's Starwaves from Oblivion; I consider that track a masterpiece. Another sci-fi movie that continues to influence me is Sphere. I love its plot, suspense, pacing, and tone.
I'm with you on Oblivion, despite the presence of Tom Cruise. At least it's fun to watch him beat himself up in that movie. I can't agree on Sphere, though. It strikes me as one of those mind-fuck movies that's too full of itself to be really interesting. I don't like movies that are calculated to work only if they lose their audience somewhere along the way.
Arrival, loved it. Mostly because I work as an interpreter and translator. The rest because Amy Adams is sublime.
What? Oh, we can't be friends now. The Fifth Element is monumental, it's huge, garish, over the top in every way, and I'm not eyeballing anyone in a sexy way in this film, except maybe the film itself as sex-object. Lush, fecund, heavy with fruit.
Personally speaking, the film had so many wonderfully chilling scenes (jellyfish swarm being one) that it kept me on the edge of my seat. And I thought the casting and performances were all on the money as well. But, that's all subjective.
The Fifth Element is why I hated Valerian and the Movie of a Thousand Pointless Scenes Where People Stand in front of Transparent Screens and Just Talk. The latter sold itself hard as "from the makers of The Fifth Element" and I thought it would be at least a similar fun ride and it was about as flat as an open Coke left out in the sun, and for all the skin the second film showed, it had ZERO clue about actual cinematic sexiness, which isn't about skin. And these two had about as much chemistry as two noble gases trying to form a covalent bond.
