Total Recall (1990)

This movie is so classic that I actually debated about writing about it. But Arnold's supremely shiny chest and abs won out in the end. Seriously though, if you haven't seen it, you certainly shouldn't be calling yourself any kind of sci-fi buff. This is the sci-fi to define all sci-fi. And now I will proceed to name just some of the many things that make this movie miraculously awesome: Arnold Schwarzenegger! Gorgeous Martian landscapes based on real photos! Exploding heads! A three-tittied hooker! It represents some of the earliest mainstream digital rendering from real objects! A body count of 77! Animatronic aliens! Clairvoyant mutants! A dwarf hooker with a machine gun! An ugly lady robot head! A still sultry Sharon Stone! Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct)! The fact that is was successful at the box office and at award ceremonies (for you stoogies out there!)! Futuristic automobiles! "You ever fuck a mutant?"! We're rooting for the underdogs! All of the sets look totally outrageously awesome! And the effects are sureally superb! Subtle satire! A sexy slew of one-liners! Virtual reality and mysterious mind games! The fact that there is the always unnerving possibility that it was all a figment of post-lobotomic stress! And it's based on a Philip K. Dick novel (Minority Report represents Part II)! If that's not enough to convince you, I don't know what possibly could.

I deem it: "The science fiction standard that most others bow down to!/Verhoeven strikes again!/Seriously solidifying Arnold's place as a sci-fi god!