This list isn’t about the Alien franchise specifically, but rather a collection of films that feature aliens in some form: philosophical, monstrous, comedic, heroic, or absurd. These are my personal recommendations - the films that have stuck with me, made an impact, and continue to shape the way I think about alien stories in cinema.

These films offer a spectrum of imagined futures and histories, from the optimistic (robots as helpers and companions) to the catastrophic (AI as overlords or rebels). Together, they form a kind of cinematic map of our hopes and fears about technology. Whether warning us of dystopian outcomes or inviting us to imagine harmonious coexistence, these stories reveal our collective anxieties and aspirations at different cultural moments. They are not merely tales about machines; t

If our lives are governed by deterministic chains of cause and effect, then moral responsibility, personal identity, and notions of fate versus agency become deeply complex. Art and cinema have long provided a powerful space to explore these questions, often through narrative structures involving time, memory, prophecy, artificial intelligence, or cosmic design.

No Country for Old Men is not just a crime thriller or neo-Western; it’s a sparse, haunting meditation on determinism, morality, and the fragility of human order. Its themes have deepened in resonance as I’ve aged and witnessed increasing moral erosion and systemic absurdities.

Although Indigenous Australian and Japanese spiritual traditions arise from vastly different geographies and histories, both share a profound reverence for land, ancestors, and the unseen presence of spirits.

Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away, in which Shinto beliefs and Japanese imagination animate a story of spirits, purification, and balance.

Cry-Baby and The Breakfast Club represent two ends of the spectrum in cinematic portrayals of youth. Waters’ film thrives in camp excess, parodying rebellion as style, while Hughes pursues authenticity through dialogue and emotional revelation.

John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1990) and Tim Burton’s Wednesday (2022) present two very different examples of how subculture is portrayed and received. While Cry-Baby remained a niche cult parody of 1950s delinquent culture, Wednesday became one of Netflix’s biggest hits, mainstreaming gothic and outsider aesthetics for a global audience.

Toy Story is a heartbreaking experience. At its core, it is about the death of a parent, attachment, acceptance, and letting go - but told through the eyes of a child, with imagination, fun, and humour.

In both Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Hot Fuzz (2007), belief is not simply an internal idea held by characters - it is a force that shapes identity, controls communities, and drives narrative change.