Welcome To 1984: Seven dystopian fiction films to help grasp our political climate

The Running Man (Hulu/Amazon Prime)

Yeah, this is our pick for the best adaptation of a Stephen King novel (suck it, Kubrick!). We’re kidding, of course, but The Running Man, a 1987 Schwarzenegger vehicle, is full of delights. A helicopter pilot is framed for a crime, and when he tries to escape from prison, he’s recaptured and forced to compete on the nation’s favorite game show, The Running Man, where he’ll have to avoid being killed by a number of gladiators if he wants to win his freedom back. It’s campy as all hell, and if you’re looking for a serious version of this film — well, you’ve already probably seen The Hunger Games so why would you? — you’d probably be super disappointed to find out how gloriously ’80s this cheese-fest is. It’s got some great action, one of the best Arnold one-liners in his entire career, absolutely ridiculous costuming, and a John Parr credits song so badass you’ll flex all the way out of the theater. Sure, there’s some interesting thematic stuff to bite on about the nature of television and state-sanctioned violence, but you’d probably have to make it way less entertaining to have it work well, and that’d be terrible.