Science Fiction

[7] Writer/director Neil Burger (Divergent, The Illusionist) presents a futuristic story about children genetically engineered and sent into space on an 86-year mission to colonize a distant planet. Once they’re teenagers, however, the kids become too smart for their own good. When they realize their impulse control and libidos have been held at bay through medicated meals, they quit cold turkey. The once docile crew …

[8] Director James Whale (Waterloo Bridge) was given free reign by Universal Pictures to craft a sequel to his highly successful Frankenstein. The result is a more daring and stylized film considered by many to be the most remarkable in all the studio’s legacy of classic monster movies. In The Bride of Frankenstein, both Frankenstein and his monster survive their apparent deaths at the end …

[6] Elisabeth Shue (Adventures in Babysitting) stars as a scientist working on an invisibility experiment for the U.S. military in this thriller from director Paul Verhoeven (Spetters, RoboCop). Things are looking good until her brilliant cohort and ex-boyfriend, played by Kevin Bacon, decides to be the first human subject. He successfully becomes invisible, but the transformation also weakens his state of mind and moral grounding. …

[6] [SPOILER WARNING] Part-way through production on 2017’s theatrical version of Justice League, director Zack Snyder suffered a tragic loss in his family and had to step away from the production. Joss Whedon (The Avengers) was then called in to finish the film and oversee re-shoots (Snyder retained sole directing credit). I suspect the studio also wanted Whedon to tighten up the pacing and bring …

[6] Sigourney Weaver returns in this fourth chapter of the Alien franchise, this time as an alien/human hybrid clone of her iconic Ripley character. It’s a refreshing change of pace for the character, invigorated by a curious connection to her former foes and a new devil-may-care attitude toward living or dying. In the script credited to Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), Ripley …

[6] After surviving two rounds with the xenomorphs, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) crash-lands on a planet where a few dozen convicts have found God in an abandoned mining facility. But God can’t save them from the alien that stowed away with Ripley, especially after Ripley learns she herself is impregnated with the next alien queen. Alien 3 was doomed to become the cautionary example of how …

[7] Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen star in this glossy MGM production about a starship crew investigating a planet where a colony of humans has gone mysteriously quiet. Once there, they discover most of the colonists were killed by a mysterious force. But a scientist (Pidgeon) and his daughter (Anne Francis) appear to be immune to the dangerous entity. Pidgeon shares with the team’s captain …

[8] Writer/director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One) serves up an authentic-feeling monster movie that takes place in the near-future, after NASA accidentally releases an alien life form in the sky over Mexico. The enormous tentacled creatures begin destroying cities and towns, causing mass casualties — but after a few years, the country (and the world) adapt to this new reality. Monster sightings become like tornado …

[6] Lily Tomlin stars in this gender-bent retelling of Richard Matheson’s short story. Tomlin plays Pat Kramer, who after being exposed to a combination of myriad household chemicals, begins to physically shrink. As she becomes a reluctant worldwide celebrity and her family tries to adjust to her ever-changing size, an evil corporation plans to kidnap her and use her ailment as a weapon of warfare. …

[7] Steven Spielberg passes the directorial reigns of the Jurassic Park franchise to the superbly capable Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Captain America: The First Avenger) for this second dino sequel. Sam Neill returns as Dr. Alan Grant, coerced by a wealthy couple (Téa Leoni and William H. Macy) to return to the prehistoric island for a personal guided airplane tour. But the wealthy couple turn …

1 2 3 4 5 20