Category: sci-fi
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Her [2013] ★★★½
Yes, this is the movie where Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with a machine. No, this is not a movie you should rush to avoid. Screenwriting this smart, inventive and passionate is a rare species these days. So all praise to Spike Jonze, who wrote and directed his most original film since 1999’s “Being John…
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Gravity [2013] ★★★½
Question: How do you transform a simple story about survival into one of the most dazzling movies you’ll see this year? You call Alfonso Cuaron, the director of “Children of Men”, who turns it into a magnificent and moving experience. Cuaron’s use of 3D to tell the story is absolutely thrilling. Like “Life of Pi”, from…
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Pacific Rim [2013] ★★★
Granted, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is not a work of art like his Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth. But his latest Hollywood blockbuster sure is a surprise package of fun, fright and stunning visuals. For starters, it pays homage to such classic era monsters movies as “Godzilla” (1954). The director may be working off a borrowed…
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World War Z [2013] ★★★
I’m a bit late coming to this movie (blame it on surgery), but having heard good buzz I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it. I can’t call “World War Z” a feel good movie. In fact, you won’t want to be feeling anything after seeing this Zombie apocalypse. But you won’t be able…
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After Earth [2013] ★★
90 minutes may feel like 90 days in this slow and sometimes painfully boring post-apocalyptic movie from director M. Night Shyamalan, the perpetrator of such terrible films as “Lady in the Water”, “The Happening” and (oh dear Lord) “The Last Airbender”. In “After Earth”, Will Smith plays Cypher, the leader of Nova Prime, the planet…
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Star Trek: Into Darkness [2013] ★★★½
Summer season is officially on with “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, a spectacular follow up to the 2009 movie starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and directed by J.J Abrams. I couldn’t be more surprised. After six TV series and 10 movies, the franchise has been milked so hard, it’s a wonder the idea hasn’t dried out and disintegrated. The…
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The Host [2013] ★½
“The Host” is another soulless movie based on Stephenie Meyer’s book. I’ve never read it which means I can’t compare the details and nuances of that book and the film. But I can still review it. The needlessly long story involves Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement”, “The Lovely Bones”) as Melanie Stryder, one of the last humans alive until aliens insert…
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Oblivion [2013] ★★
Here’s a hit and miss sci-fi film that leaves you wishing it was better than it is. Why? Because director Joseph Kosinsky (“Tron: Legacy”) wussies out on a sharp premise. Because he wastes a killer cast that’s ready to rock the shit out of it. Never happens. This is not to say that “Oblivion” doesn’t…
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Looper [2012] ★★★
The mind-blowing science fiction event of the year arrives just in time to hold back the flow of Hollywood crap that’s been infesting the multiplex. “Looper”, written and directed by Rian Johnson, will be called many things, starting with Minority Report meets Terminator. But “Looper” glows with a blue-flame intensity all its own. This mesmerizing…
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Resident Evil: Retribution [2012]
No tension, excitement, or interest, amateurish action, and lousy CGI’s.That’s “Resident Evil Retribution” in a nutshell. Even die hard fans of the series will agree with me this time around. The 5th installment is the worst one so far and I demand an explanation. I never expected Shakespeare but I guess I never expected it to…
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Total Recall [2012] ★★
Cool cast. Potent premise. Piss-poor execution. And so dies “Total Recall”, a wannabe sci-fi movie set in the future, also a remake of a 1990 film of the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone (not yet a major star). Of the movie, at least it can be said that no one was tampering with a…
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Prometheus [2012] ★★★
Prometheus is at once a fascinating and a frustrating movie. I found much of it captivating, and while I resist the hype-driven phrase “visual experience,” I did find myself drawn into its 3-D world, an extraordinarily rich cinematic environment created, in breathtaking detail, by artists and computers. I didn’t think I could care about another “Alien” movie,…
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Men In Black 3 [2012] ★★½
Says it isn’t so. Are they actually releasing a third Men In Black movie even though part two was a total disaster? Seems like it. But here’s the good news: the sequel nobody asked for is actually pretty enjoyable. Why? It’s not that the characters got more interesting; Will Smith is still Will Smith, while…
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Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back [1980] ★★★★
Also known as the best sequel of all time, this chapter has more excitement and more dazzling special effects than any other “Star Wars” movie. The rebels are still pursued by Darth Vader, but the story focuses more on Luke Skywalker, who receives a posthumous command from Obi Wan Kenobi, ordering him to travel to the…
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Moon [2009]
I guess I’ll never quite understand why I loved this movie so much, but I really did. It’s one of my favorite films of the year and it makes me sad that it didn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s a superior science fiction movie that ranks among the best of its genre. Sam Rockwell…
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