Search for Cien

We don't get many idea-based science fiction films these days so, when one comes along, it represents a welcome change of pace from the fantasy space opera that has co-opted the genre. Despite being tarted up with enough action to stave off boredom...

Occupation accomplishes the previously unthinkable: an alien invasion film that makes Independence Day look smart. A so-bad-it-has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed motion picture (not that I recommend subjecting oneself to the experience), Occupation...

Warning: This review contains general spoilers. Although these have been revealed in the film’s trailer, they may provide more information than some readers prefer.Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a filmmaker is to have an unexpe...

There’s something eerie about the way The Omega Man opens: Charlton Heston driving around a seemingly deserted Los Angeles (the empty streets are shown via helicopter shots as well as on the ground) while the theme from A Summer Place plays ...

Of all the films that emerged from the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, none caused me to ponder, wonder, and puzzle more than Alejandro Amenabar's sophomore feature, Open Your Eyes. Film of this intelligence, audacity, and complexity come along s...

The full title of this movie is the wordy and confusing Science Fiction Volume 1: The Osiris Child. (Is that intended to mean that the series is called “Science Fiction”?) The “Volume 1” should have given me a clue not to expect a compl...

One of the age-old questions about movies is whether a terrible ending can ruin an otherwise solid motion picture. In the case of Oxygen, the bad aftertaste from the contrived and unconvincing conclusion diminishes the experience but doesn’t...

Call it Godzilla (Toho version) on steroids. Or perhaps Transformers with a heart. Either way, there's no mystery what Pacific Rim is and, more importantly, what it delivers. It's the perfect summer spectacle, with giant robots pounding on monsters...

Is this the future of blockbuster movies? Films made with more concern for the international box office than the domestic one, where the universal language is the clash of pixels? It’s no secret that, based exclusively on its U.S. receipts, ...

Passengers is an art-house science fiction movie that somehow got made by a major studio with A-list stars. The film owes more to castaway stories than traditional spacefaring tales and, at least during the first half, it’s ripe with existentia...