Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a film before its time, costing an estimated $125-150 million to produce, but only earning about a third of its revenue back theatrically. That’s not to say it...
Category: Science Fiction
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
As one of the few critics who does not malign Episode I and Episode II, and in fact, one who enjoys them very much, it should come as no surprise that Episode III, the best of the Anakin...
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
After lackluster box office returns for Star Trek V, questions abounded whether Paramount finished the film series for good. Retaining the core cast proved so expensive that continuing might be unsustainable if they couldn’t...
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Star Trek V marks Shatner’s debut as a feature film director, with his prior directorial experience, like Leonard Nimoy, coming from stage productions and TV episodes. Due to the “favored-nations” contract that stipulated that...
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home starts with our heroes on planet Vulcan, loading up to go home and face punishment from the Federation for their hijacking of the Enterprise and its subsequent destruction,...
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
The third entry in the Star Trek film series was announced shortly before the release of the Wrath of Khan, mostly to stave off blowback the makers were receiving for killing off Spock. At that...
Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Future is pure entertainment, and very successful at that. Wholly inspired and brilliantly executed, this brainchild of co-screenwriter Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis is chock-full of in-jokes and sight gags...
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
1984 is based on the classic science fiction novel by George Orwell, which offered a bleak vision of a future dystopia where one’s thoughts and actions were controlled by a totalitarian government ruled by...
Innerspace (1987)
Another screwball genre flick from director Joe Dante, and like most of his films, the set-up is solid, but the climax makes the plot come unhinged with non-stop madness and mayhem. Luckily, by the...
Flash Gordon (1980)
Flash Gordon is another glitzy, bloated Dino de Laurentiis big-budget production that emphasizes eye-candy first, story elements last. It’s based on the popular 1930s comic strip of the same name, which itself has been adapted...