Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

[7] J.J. Abrams (Lost, Super 8) takes the directing reigns from creator George Lucas and delivers a better film than any of the prequels. Original core cast members join new players in a script co-written by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan,…
Quintet (1979)

Quintet (1979)

[2] Glaciers move faster than Robert Altman's bleak post-apocalyptic drama. The ice-age backdrop is the only interesting thing about Quintet, but it's completely irrelevant to the story line. Paul Newman plays one of the last survivors of the human race,…
Battle Royale (2000)

Battle Royale (2000)

[8] In a not-too-distant future Japan, the government cracks down on adolescent shenanigans by randomly selecting one 9th grade class per year to duke it out on a remote island until only one student is standing. Battle Royale starts off…
The Giant Behemoth (1959)

The Giant Behemoth (1959)

[4] Just six years after directing The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, director Eugene Lourie goes back to the well for another giant lizard movie, only this time the monster is radioactive. While production values are high for a low-budget British…
Mission to Mars (2000)

Mission to Mars (2000)

[5] Brian DePalma (curiously) directs this wonky sci-fi action flick about a team of astronauts sent to Mars to look for survivors after the first manned mission to the Red Planet encounters a mysterious storm. There's also something about the…
The Martian (2015)

The Martian (2015)

[8] Matt Damon carries this Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator) film based on the book by Andy Weir. Half the film is practically a one-man show, with Damon playing a NASA astronaut feared dead and accidentally abandoned on Mars for…
Scanners (1981)

Scanners (1981)

[6] A scientist sends a man with dangerous telepathic powers on a mission to destroy a renegade adversary with similar powers. David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Dead Zone) wrote and directed Scanners, so you know it's sure to be a bit…
Evolution (2001)

Evolution (2001)

[5] Three scientists and a guy from off the street discover a crashed meteor that is begetting alien life forms that are evolving into monsters at a dangerous rate in this fantasy comedy from Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Stripes). On one…
Jurassic World (2015)

Jurassic World (2015)

[9] I enjoyed the hell out of Jurassic World and I don't care who knows it. I don't know who the director is (Colin Trevorrow, anyone?), but I thought this was easily the scariest and most entertaining Jurassic Park flick…
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

[9] George Miller has stopped making talking pig and dancing penguin movies (Babe, Happy Feet) long enough to give us another installment in his seminal apocalyptic Mad Max series. The result is probably one of the greatest non-stop action movies…