Krull (1983)
A world light-years beyond your imagination.
Filmmaker(s): Peter Yates
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
The final frontier...and beyond.
Filmmaker(s): Justin Lin
The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
25 Feb Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Rubber Bands Break Star Trek in any incarnation confounds me; I cannot understand the appeal without getting depressed about the low level of cinematic and narrative challenge some audiences require. But these days I am interested in smoke, water and the special effects that have...
Z is for Zachariah (2015)
After the end of the world she thought she was alone. She was wrong.
Filmmaker(s): Craig Zobel
In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.
22 Feb Z is for Zachariah (2015)
M is for… Any film is a matter of how life is abstracted and that is especially so in science fiction. In this film, we have three primary abstractions. The world. As with many science fiction movies, they simply make the world go away, except...
Under the Skin (2013)
Filmmaker(s): Jonathan Glazer
A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.
22 Feb Under the Skin (2013)
Seduction A fair enough way to divide filmviewers is between those that come for a coherent sequence of facts (to call a story) and those that come for an experience induced by any means. Most films address both communities, but grand experiments in contrasting the...
The Invisible Monster (1950)
Filmmaker(s): Fred C. Brannon
Man-woman team of investigators uncover a gang whose mad scientist leader has developed an invisibility chemical and plans to build a mercenary army of invisible men.
18 Feb The Invisible Monster (1950)
Commies! The actual story of this as it develops is so ordinary that it is a waste of time: one fist fight after another. The situations are indefensibly unimaginative. It is the premise of the thing that’s interesting. I’ll give it to you here so...
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
Every generation has a story.
Filmmaker(s): J.J. Abrams
Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and his army of Stormtroopers.
16 Feb Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
Han Shoots Last Movies can do a lot of different things for us, from giving us 90 minutes away from stress to providing a skeleton on which we build lives. The films that matter to me are these latter ones. Much of what we think...
Alien Versus Predator (2004)
Whoever wins...we lose.
Filmmaker(s): Paul W. S. Anderson
When scientists discover something in the Arctic that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
14 Feb Alien Versus Predator (2004)
Pyramidal I’ve made a study of what differentiates the main Alien films, constituting a concise film school. Now this here is a different beast. It is a simple essay, not an ordinary long form film. You might like it because of the very idea, or...
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Debonair. Defiant. Defrosted.
Filmmaker(s): Jay Roach
As a swinging fashion photographer by day and a groovy British superagent by night, Austin Powers is the '60s' most shagadelic spy. But can he stop megalomaniac Dr. Evil after the bald villain freezes himself and unthaws in the '90s? With the help of sexy sidekick Vanessa Kensington, he just might.
12 Feb Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
The Pamela Urge I saw this with ‘Borat’. It didn’t work for me. Neither comedy did; the reasons seem related. If you put distance between something and it’s source, then you have opportunity for low humour. The closer you get to the original or the...
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
The future belongs to the mad.
Filmmaker(s): George Miller
An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.
18 Jan Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Some Dusty Pig The first Mad Max had a few strong attractions. It was overtly Australian in a few dimensions which hit a niche of the familiar exotic. It was pure science fiction in that it abstracted our world into a future where only the...
Strange World (2022)
Journey to a place where nothing is as it appears!
Filmmaker(s): Don Hall
A journey deep into an uncharted and treacherous land, where fantastical creatures await the legendary Clades—a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest, and by far most crucial, mission.
