Science Fiction Films
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (PG-13)
An early scene in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a fitting metaphor for the film as a whole. Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac), fleeing TIE Fighters in the Millennium Falcon, escape their pursuers by “lightspeed skipping” – a dangerous maneuver (or so we’re told, though it goes smoothly enough for our […]
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Ad Astra (PG-13)
Ad Astra is a story of fathers and sons. It is about the way men are out of touch with their feelings because kindness and intimacy were never modeled for them. It is about confronting the emptiness of space and reckoning with our place within the universe. It is exactly the film I feared it […]
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Dark Phoenix (PG-13)
It’s difficult to imagine nowadays, but there was a time when superhero films had to make an effort to sell themselves to an audience. Studios genuinely didn’t know if people would be willing to buy into all the fantastical and often strange inner workings of comic book storytelling. After 1997’s disastrously bad Batman & Robin sank like an anchor […]
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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (PG-13)
In interviews, director/cowriter Michael Dougherty has called his Godzilla: King of the Monsters “the Aliens to [the 2014 Godzilla]’s Alien.” The comparison is an apt one. Alien, directed by Ridley Scott in 1979, was a moody, slow-burning horror film, prizing dread and atmosphere over character or plot. Its 1986 sequel, James Cameron’s Aliens, shifted gears […]
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Godzilla (2014) (PG-13)
When was the last time you saw a big-budget movie that was remarkable for its craftsmanship? The blockbusters that swarm cinemas every summer often invoke the name of Steven Spielberg, but precious few modern summer movies approximate the skill and patience of his original, 1975’s Jaws, the one that (together with Star Wars in 1977) […]
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High Life (R)
Space wasn’t always scary. At first, it was simply the stars and little else. As time went on, humanity began to learn more about the solar system, but I doubt many thought to be afraid of it. In the early 20th century – perhaps even sooner than that – writers began to speculate about the cosmos in a less strictly academic manner. Science-fiction was born. By and large, these writings were optimistic and more than a little naïve.
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Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (PG-13)
I have a strange history with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. When the first film came out in the summer of 2014, I was completely taken in by it and willfully ignored the friends who told me it was bad – until I watched it one time too many and veritable scales fell from my […]
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Iron Man Three (PG-13)
As the fishes above attest, this is not going to be a grand apology for an overlooked masterpiece. I am merely offering a few modest words on a film’s modest merits. In the rush of Marvel movies released since its premiere in 2013, Shane Black’s Iron Man Three has largely been forgotten – a victim […]
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (R)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the sophomore film of director Michel Gondry, has a flawless screenplay. Its tale is one of a shy man named Joel (an inoffensive Jim Carrey) and a girl he falls in love with after meeting her at a train station in Montauk, a girl by the name of Clementine […]
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Captain Marvel (PG-13)
Somewhere in Captain Marvel, the heroine (Brie Larson) sits down to chat with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Earth has been invaded by shapeshifting aliens, and to prove he isn’t one, Fury rattles off a string of backstory details and character quirks. He then asks the good Captain to do the same, but instead of […]
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Alita: Battle Angel (PG-13)
Alita: Battle Angel knows exactly what kind of film it is. At one point during its two hour runtime, surprisingly brisk for a big budget Hollywood blockbuster these days, Alita (Rosa Salazar) straight up offers another person her heart. She goes so far as to remove it from her mechanical chest, holding it in her hand […]
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Aquaman (PG-13)
When FilmFisher’s managing editor Timothy Lawrence asked me to review Aquaman, I groaned. I had only seen one DC film since Man of Steel (which I loathe), and that was the Marvel-esque Wonder Woman. I have heard tales of how Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, and Justice League are incredibly awful. Therefore I was not […]
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Bumblebee (PG-13)
To watch Bumblebee is to be caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between two different movies. One is a forgettable blockbuster and wannabe franchise reboot about toys from the 1980s, and the other is an efficient if not novel throwback to children’s adventure films of that decade like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In the end, […]
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Venom (PG-13)
When I was a very young boy, I thought Venom was pretty cool. I liked Spider-Man, and I liked dinosaurs, and I imagine this is why the idea of a carnivorous Spider-Man held some appeal for me. It is more difficult to pinpoint the source of the morbid curiosity that drove me to the theater this weekend, where I forked over twelve dollars to see Sony Pictures’ Venom under the pretense of “taking one for the FilmFisher team.”
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The Dark Knight (PG-13)
It is easy to write about a bad film, but much harder to write about a good one. Pointing to areas that are lacking is easy, but when you cannot find fault in anything, what do you write about? This is, in part, a consequence of the medium: a good film cannot simply be put into words or else it would not be a good film, only a good story
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Blade Runner 2049 (R)
Though it has now haunted me for nine months, when I first saw Blade Runner 2049, I did not find it very impressive. The Blade Runner of 1982 is a mad miracle of a movie and a hard act to follow. Though it would not likely be considered a very good film by most conventional metrics, it is […]
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (PG-13)
Do not go to see this film. Let me qualify: do not spend money seeing Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom unless your desire is to make two hours and ten minutes of your life feel more like four or five. It is a perfect proving ground for testing the relative perception of the passing of time. […]
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Upgrade (R)
When did we collectively decide that summer moviegoing should be franchise fare only? Aside from the odd comedy or rare sleeper hit, there’s been this horrible recurrent trend that the summer movie session is ripe for every manner of sequel, prequel, remake, reboot, and intellectual property to dominate the box office. The problem is, these films are becoming increasingly unsatisfying and they never quite feel like the kinds of big crowd pleasers that will stand the test of time.
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Solo: A Star Wars Story (PG-13)
By all accounts, Solo: A Star Wars Story is the post-Lucas Star Wars movie that should feel most like a corporate product. In a bizarre paradox, it may actually be the one that feels most human. The other post-Lucas films have been intriguing but haphazard; that Solo possesses a simple sort of dramatic competency should […]
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi – An Explication (PG-13)
Although I have waited till now to publish any written thoughts on the film, it is fairly common knowledge in various circles of the internet that I do not much care for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The number of fishes above might also indicate this, though I have found it difficult to settle on a rating for the film, because my thoughts and feelings on it are mixed – conflicted, one might say.