Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
-
Synchronic
“The present is a miracle.” Synchronic (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2019) Entertaining enough. The movie’s biggest shortcoming is that it goes out of its way to explain the rules of its sci-fi element but not in a way that makes any real sense. Like I said before, I’ll watch anything these directors make because…
-
Blade Runner 2049
“In the face of the fabulous new, your only thought is to kill it.” Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017) This movie is visually stunning, wildly inventive, and undoubtedly great. But it’s also a really bizarre sequel to a genre classic that binds itself to every element of storytelling that the original masterfully ignores. Villeneuve…
-
Donnie Darko
“Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.” Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) Kelly’s auteur debut is one of the best trojan horse films ever. Moody and brooding and strange. The plot is convoluted, but watching the story unfold is always an enjoyable experience. There are small and delicate touches throughout the film that reflect…
-
Gattaca
“They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness…they don’t say that anymore.” Gattaca (Andrew Niccol, 1997) A gorgeous cinematic achievement in retro-futurism and an evocative commentary on the evolution of self-imposed societal constraints. This is a classic case of how to tell a complicated story simply and…
-
Blade Runner (Final Cut)
“The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over…but it can’t.” Blade Runner (Final Cut) (Ridley Scott, 1982) This movie looks incredible. The Sino-Anglo cyberpunk dystopia of tomorrow is filthy and fascinating. I love how the exterior scenes are always crowded and chaotic,…
-
Possessor
“It makes her do things…predator things.” Possessor (Brandon Cronenberg, 2020) A great idea for a near-futuristic, corpo-crime story. Cronenberg shares his father’s penchant for world-building and technological speculation. I first saw Andrea Riseborough in Mandy but have now seen her in several films, and I’m convinced that she is the next Tilda Swinton. Christopher Abbott…
-
Spring
“I understand about half of myself.” Spring (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2014) I don’t always love Benson and Moorhead’s films, but I’m glad that they keep getting made. They play around with the horror and sci-fi genres in a constructive way, and pretty much always produce a technically well-crafted product. The problem with this…
-
Color Out of Space
“What touched this place cannot be quantified or understood by human science.” Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019) A classic example of a poorly executed great idea. This movie was either butchered by the studio or incompetently edited or both. This could have been something special in someone else’s hands.
-
The Fountain
“Death is the road to awe.” The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006) I understand that it’s impolite to consider anything but Black Swan to be Aronofsky’s masterpiece, but I really think this might be it. His use of microscopic images of photochemical reactions as representations of interstellar gas is stunning. The narrative structure of the love…
-
Solaris
“We don’t want other worlds; we want mirrors.” Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002) Dreamboat Space Clooney a full eleven years before Cuarón cast him in Gravity. This film has no reason being as beautiful and compelling as it is, but that’s what makes Soderbergh such a master. He builds, unravels, and reconciles mysteries within the tight…
-
The Endless
“Dying just takes a second, but a shitty life is long.” The Endless (Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2017) This is the kind of movie I like in the paranormal genre. Fewer poltergeists and more aberrations in the natural order. At a certain point in the movie, in quite a flamboyant fashion, I came to…
-
The Vast of Night
“You are entering a realm between clandestine and forgotten, a slipstream caught between channels, the secret museum of mankind, the private library of shadows.” The Vast of Night (Andrew Patterson, 2019) Atmospheric and wondrous. Simple but elegant. A remarkable debut film from Patterson, who remediates mistakes made from inexperience with some of the the most…
olde zoetrope 