Category: SCI-FI

– a fully immersive cinematic experience: an onslaught of sound and undeniable spectacle; but visuals aside, I do find myself hung up on the lack of nuance and subtlety of its villains, who not only look grotesque, but snarl, bay for blood, are depicted in 1930s-Nazi-rally black and white, and yell things like, “Kill them all!” Given how brilliant the politics and intrigue of the book, the story here feels disappointingly basic. Overall it’s a thrill though, and I’d happily watch it again.

– rewatched for the third time ahead of the sequel and in some ways I appreciated the style and atmosphere even more. The good-evil dynamic is two dimensional though, with the Harkonnens disappointingly caricatured villains, but man, it looks good.

– while undoubtedly a prodigious spectacle and, on balance, highly recommended, Denis Villeneuve’s stylish introduction to this new epic sci-fi franchise is too sprawling and, despite its runtime, struggles to portray the complexity of the source material. There’s also no getting away from the fact that it feels hugely incomplete, in a way that other trilogies (such as Lord of the Rings, with which it shares more parallels than you might expect) managed to avoid. For the most part, it’s visually awe-inspiring and beautifully desolate, but in places, the costumes veer a little close to Power Rangers, and the characters, both in their appearance and sometimes indecipherable accents, stray into caricature. I’ll be interested to see how it fares on a repeat viewing, as it deserves that at least.

– the thin and unconvincing script distracts from an otherwise intriguing dystopian sci-fi. All in all, it’s a messy endeavour and a disappointment.

– yes it’s on this list twice in the space of a month. It’s that good.

– interesting direction and good performances just about save this baffling time warp sci-fi. As monster movies without monsters go, it’s better than average, but the fun of guessing and speculating runs thin after a few hours, and far from delivering a satisfying conclusion, the ending brings only more questions.

– surprisingly better than expected. It’s kind of like a pilot or concept sci-fi film – and now it’s demonstrated potential for the story and the premise, I’d like to see it made to a higher standard with a bit more depth to it.

– deserving of much more praise, this is a low key scifi neo-noir with excellent acting, an extremely weird and whacky setting and premise, and generally solid direction. I enjoyed it a lot despite the somewhat plodding pace.

– disastrous from start to finish. Its success with viewers suggests it tugs the heart strings of a certain audience, but fans of dystopian sci-fi will be disappointed.

– an impressive and strong performance from Christopher Soren Kelly, but for all the film’s potential, it just isn’t quite engaging or thrilling enough. Good sci-fis are few and far between though, and this one is worth watching for fans of the genre.

– indie sci-fi that intrigues and holds some promise but doesn’t ultimately deliver.

– plays out like more of a high concept pitch than a completed film, but enough of it works that I can recommend it. It’s rough around the edges with some blunt scripting that would be laughable in any other style, but can somehow be overlooked packaged like this. Slipped under the radar like a ninja and deserves more attention.

– Gripping, entertaining, well cast and acted with innovative direction. Yes it had flaws, but lets not write off the whole film because of some scientific inadequacies and rash decision making. I’m amazed this film flew so far under the radar, it’s really way above average for a modern sci-fi.

– incompetence, irrationality and clichés abound in yet another massive budget flop from Ridley Scott. Agonisingly frustrating to watch, so don’t.

– Garland hasn’t repeated the splendour of Ex Machina here, but it’s still an intriguing scifi. Too abstract for my tastes, without enough clues to lead me to a satisfactory conclusion. Polished, but I wouldn’t watch it again.

– stunningly beautiful, masterfully directed, but suffering the same achilles heel as its predecessor: the story takes itself so seriously, is so poe-faced and, at times, dull. A shame, as the dark dystopian world Villeneuve creates is delightfully immersive.

– hugely disappointing final act to the ape apocalypse.

– moderately enjoyable sci fi, but I still fail to see the rationale for the hysteria surrounding this franchise.

– Mostly solid sci fi love story plagued by truly terrible CGI, some really weird direction and peculiar costume choices. Fortunately, the latter criticisms don’t detract much from enjoyment of the movie.

– surprisingly better on a repeat viewing. Excellent sci-fi film.

– the best Star Wars movie to date, originals included. Everything is on point from the cinematography through to the scripting, and it’s so well cast. The only duff note is the cgi reincarnation of Peter Cushing who died in 1994. But Ben Mendelsohn is just made to be a villain – the guy is so ridiculously menacing, and Mads Mikkelson is emotionally powerful even as a hologram. Plus on a smaller note, it was great to see Daniel Mays put in a short appearance – he deserves international recognition and better opportunities. All of that aside though, it was just a genuinely excellent sci-fi film, which I can’t really say about any of the others.

– lighthearted but tedious sci-fi sequel.

– far and away the weakest film in the whole franchise. Boring. Glum. Beyond irritating scripting and delivery. Bad vocal effects, a bad story, unconvincing CGI, agonisingly long, inconsistent rules, scrappy editing. Just all in all infuriatingly terrible. Even the actors seem like they’re embarrassed to be starring in a glorified episode of Power Rangers. Except that that was clearly for kids, whereas this takes itself so dreadfully, sombrely seriously. I think it’s one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, and certainly the worst super villain.

– albeit watchable, and even, at times, entertaining, this sci-fi fantasy is quite astoundingly bad. Impaired by its poor, computer-game visuals and erratic editing. Too much of the film must surely have been edited out, leaving a husk that feels like a tech demo from the early naughties. If this is to continue, I hope the VFX changes hands.

– undeniably compelling and fairly exciting, but whether it’s the limited, confined space or the unlikeable cast, something doesn’t quite square. Worth watching though.

– Dull, overacted and nonsensical sci-fi with such garish SFX, it feels like a billion dollar B movie. Soulless.

– Slower viewing the second time around, but equally satisfying and a continuing source of time travel discussion. Love this film.

– Phenomenal, mind-blowing sci-fi. Simultaneously made me want to give up on life and feel a surge of irrepressible excitement for what we’re a part of. Operates on so many levels. Well acted, beautifully composited. Watch it.

– Mindbending sci-fi time travel noire that falls in to place exactly as it should. Immensely satisfying, thought provoking and compelling. Ethan Hawke is a blast and Sarah Snook is remarkable in what should be her kingmaking role. This is the film that Looper wasn’t.

– Terrific, if emotionally overwrought space age sci-fi from Chris Nolan. An ambitious and exciting spectacle.

– Mindbending and utterly bizarre sci fi exploring the ramifications of virtual reality. A lot of parallels with Inception.

– Certainly mindbending, if stupid, adolescent sci fi pitching a clash of drunk and scantily clad party goers against their dopplegangers. The weakest of this niche time travel sub-genre: too over-sexed and underage for an intelligent audience.

– Very detailed and solid follow up to The Rise (although the naming order is embarrassingly senseless). It’s doubtless good, but sadly much darker than its predecessor, delivering a less enjoyable experience. Despite shortcomings, it remains a must-watch sci fi.

– Continuing the trend of the adultification of children, this is sufficiently intriguing as a high budget sci-fi, even whilst it fails spectacularly as worthwhile cinema. The script is poor and riddled with tropes, the casting generally unconvincing, and the abrupt, heavyhanded direction, amateur. For all its length, the final edit is a hacked up carcass of what could have been a much tighter, more refined film. Sadly, this measly spark is all that remains of the promise of fireworks.

– Technology is the new mumbo jumbo that steps up to fill the vacated shoes of magic in this relatively engrossing sci fi. All of the performances are adequate, albeit too flat, besides Bettany, a massively underrated actor who turns in a good show and raises the bar. The pacing is off and the premise flounders throughout, although these flaws would be easily overlooked if it wasn’t such a tasteless and unlikeable concoction.

– Upbeat, clever and fast paced addition to the X-Men franchise. Vastly better than the last two iterations.

– Far from as terrible as early reviews suggested (it is evidently very popular as a critic to give M Night Shymalan a hard time); this is not a good film – just too serious, and frankly, too unexciting – but it’s an engrossing enough sci-fi and I can think of worse ways to spend a few hours.

– Just astonishingly beautiful. My grievances with the plot didn’t lessen on a second viewing, but the narrative is essentially by the by when you are presented with a feature length set piece that is perhaps the cleanest, best produced and most intensely wondrous vision of space ever to grace the screen.

– Painstakingly po-faced and self-assured remake. Gareth Edwards doing the monster thing in his usual peekaboo style. Not terrible, just massively overhyped and underwhelming.

– Films like this demonstrate how far CGI has come. It’s watchable for sci-fi fans, but not recommended.

– Very disappointing, pseudo sci-fi time travel flick. Intriguing for the first thirty minutes and then rapidly descends in to chaos. Nowhere near as clever or as philosophical as it tries to be.

– Disappointing second outing from Neil Blomkampp. Neither the plot nor the dystopian futuristic settings withstand much scrutiny, as is painfully obvious on a single viewing.

– Original, French, space set sci-fi that explores an interesting subject but pulls its punches. Definitely worth watching for sci-fi fans though.

– Original, slow-burning but thrilling sci fi featuring great performances all round. Highly recommended.

– As cheesy and didactic as we’ve come to expect from Pixar. Not as good as the original, but still fun.

– Massive robots fight massive alien monsters. Exactly how you imagine it. Stupid and heavy handed. Nuff said.

– considerably more enjoyable than you might expect. Act one offers an excellent sci fi premise, it’s a pity acts two and three fall in to the realm of cliche and moralistic Hollywood stereotype. Nonetheless a highly entertaining watch.

– Beautiful visuals and VFX don’t elevate Prometheus beyond an attractive, if fairly lifeless sci-fi actioner. Despite its technical eloquence, the film suffers a bland, meandering Hollywood-fare script and lacks resolution.

– another unexpected treat. I’m still hoping for a sequel. Great sci-fi

– brilliantly effective alien sci fi, unlikely and unnecessary romance plot

– bizarre and oppressive but intriguing sci-fi

– From Duncan Jones of Moon success, crazy shiz on a train. Definitely worth watching

– further fantastic effects from the WETA team, now someone hire them for a solid script

– extreme, sickening, well made