Film and Literature Studies

Showing all posts tagged "Science Fiction"

With and Against

April 12th, 2024

By James Rushing Daniel. Dominique Routhier, With and Against: The Situationist International and the Age of Automation (Verso, 2023) In the contemporary art world dominated by glitzy international fairs and heavily licensed celebrity artists, it’s sometimes hard to fathom that art once held more serious political ambitions. Throughout the history of the avant-garde, from Dada to Fluxus, artists, in vastly different national contexts and through a variety of media, sought to cr...

I Robot did not begin as an Isaac Asimov Adaptation

February 20th, 2024

Skip to main content Sign Up / Log In SYFY WIRE Features Did You Know? I, Robot Didn’t Actually Start Off as an Isaac Asimov Adaptation Screenwriter Jeff Vintar shares how his 1990s sci-fi script transformed into a Will Smith blockbuster. By Benjamin Bullard & Josh Weiss |Updated Feb 20, 2024, 11:19 AM ET Will Smith in I, Robot (2004) Photo: I, Robot (4/5) Movie CLIP - Part Robot (2004) HD/Movieclips YouTube When I, Robot (streaming at Peacock) finally arrived af...

Outer Limits - IFFR 2024

February 16th, 2024

This article appeared in the February 9, 2024 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here. Under a Blue Sun (Daniel Mann, 2024)Now four years into its run under the leadership of director Vanja Kaludjercic, the International Film Festival Rotterdam has firmly established its new MO. Following a pair of quietly inspired online iterations during the pandemic and last year’s somewhat scattershot return ...

Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Franchise to Subvert Its Own Canon again

February 16th, 2024

— 20th Century Fox The biggest twist of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes was actually very different from the Pierre Boulle novel, and that twist has since determined the direction of every single Apes adaptation, reboot, and sequel. But as the latest trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes suggests, the best bet for this high-concept planet might be to undo the oldest twist of all time with... the original twist.During the 2024 Super Bowl, Fox dropped a new trailer for the latest i...

Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Franchise to Subvert Its Own Canon again

February 16th, 2024

Robot Dreams

February 13th, 2024

Pablo Berger’s "Robot Dreams" might be created via simple animation in terms of the details of the anthropomorphic characters, but it doesn’t lack detail within the environment the film is set in. The opening scene alone showcases Dog’s loneliness as he heats up Mac and Cheese for dinner and sits down on his sofa. Meanwhile, in the background, we see a couple (a giraffe and a hippo) sitting down in their apartment opposite to watch a sitcom to finish their dinner. This occurs before Dog notic...

Blade Runner - meaning of the unicorn

February 8th, 2024

(Credits: Far Out / Warner Bros.)‘Blade Runner’ explained: What is the meaning of the unicorn? Thu 8 February 2024 9:00, UKLike most of the best science fiction movies, Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner is littered with hidden meanings and profound symbolism. In Blade Runner, Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, slowly retires the rogue replicants as per his orders and descends into a state of existential anxiety while encountering a series of symbols which point to his potential bio...

Lazarus Long

January 23rd, 2024

Near Matches Ignore ExactFull Text Everything2 Lazarus Long (person) See all of Lazarus Long, no other writeups in this node. (person) by Alixtii Wed Jan 22 2003 at 1:36:09 A fictional character by Robert A. Heinlein. Lazarus Long was born Woodrow Wilson Smith (after American President Woodrow Wilson) in 1912 to Maureen Johnson (then Maureen Smith) and Brian Smith. He was the fifth of many Smith children. "Woodie," as he was then affectionately called, was Maureen’s favorite, ...

Bizarrely Specific Things Every Sci-Fi Movie Does

January 22nd, 2024

5 Bizarrely Specific Things Every Sci-Fi Movie Does By: Nathan Kamal Andrea Meno February 14, 2018 Anything is possible in science fiction! You can explore the future, delve into the past, chronicle alien civilizations, and probe the endless possibilities of time and space. The genre is limited by nothing but human imagination. Unfortunately, human imagination seems like it was depleted sometime in the 1970s, because no matter what obscure corner of the galaxy you warp to...

VISITORS FROM THE ARKANA GALAXY (1981)

December 15th, 2023

Gosti iz galaksije; AKA Visitors from the Galaxy366 Weird Movies may earn commissions from purchases made through product links.DIRECTED BY: Dusan VukoticFEATURING: Zarko Potocnjak, Ksenia Prohaska, Lucie ZulováPLOT: An aspiring science fiction writer finds he has materialized the aliens from his long-gestating novel, including a space monster.[link ]COMMENTS: Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy is a curious artifact from nowhere. Or at least, from nowhere that exists anymore: a co-production bet...

Thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind (idea) by apathy42 - Everything2.com

October 19th, 2023

Near Matches Ignore ExactFull Text Everything2 Thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind (idea) See all of Thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind, there are 2 more in this node. (idea) by apathy42 Fri Aug 29 2003 at 4:01:27 This statement is the primary commandment of the Great Convention in the universe of Dune (written by Frank Herbert). It is not only a civil law, but also a religious commandment, featured in the Orange Catholic Bi...

Black Mirror Review - Sixth Season

June 20th, 2023

The sixth season of "Black Mirror," Charlie Brooker’s award-winning anthology series that Netflix turned into an original in 2016, might be the most inconsistent in the show’s history. At first, it’s tempting to dismiss it entirely as a production that’s past its sell-by date, especially given how much the world has changed in the four years since the last installment. Those feelings surface most of all when the season feels like something put together after Brooker put some hot-button topics...

You Need to Watch the Most Ambitious Sci-Fi Flop on Netflix ASAP

May 7th, 2023

In space, no one can smell your fear. Except in the 2013 film After Earth, where the entire premise rests on the idea that a specific race of aliens can sense human fear, and thus dominate us unless we suppress our emotions. In 2013, the Will Smith-led sci-fi movie, which was directed by M. Night Shyamalan and just hit Netflix, opened to reviews that threw "worst sci-fi movie" ever made around a lot. With a meager 12 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is After Earth worth your time? Yes! 10 y...

Science Fiction Noir - Mystery and Suspense Magazine

April 18th, 2023

a April 12, 2023 Feature Science Fiction Noir How Sci-fi Noir Reflects Current Events Science fiction noir is a sub-genre of science fiction that mixes element...

Every Single Person Matters

April 10th, 2023

Eva (Tiana Upcheva) and Alicia (Stacey Read) work with Trust (Paul Murray) in "Every Single Person Matters." William Trust’s awakening causes more problems for the Ark’s crew in "Every Single Person Matters." Though Spencer (Reece Ritchie) saves the day by waking up William Trust (Paul Murray) and his wife Helena (Mercedes De La Cruz) from cryosleep in "A Slow Death Is Worse," his inability to return to the bridge causes worry in "Every Single Person Matters." U...

SF - Not SF

January 15th, 2023

This is science fiction. This is science fiction. This is not science fiction. Andrei Tarkovsky, of course. I’ve been putting the finishing touches to my list of offbeat science-fiction films, and in doing so remembered that I’d posted these shots on Twitter some time ago. The annotated list is one of the longest things I’ve written for this site which I’ll be posting next week. Tarkovsky isn’t on it even though Stalker has long been a favourite film of mine. With a couple of...

An Alien War Nightmare

November 27th, 2022

Grabby aliens are advanced civs who change the stuff they touch in big visible ways, and who keep expanding fast until they meet each other. Our recent analysis suggests that they appear at random stars roughly once per million galaxies, and then expand at roughly half the speed of light. Right now, they have filled roughly half of the universe, and if we join them we’ll meet them in roughly a billion years. There may be far more quiet than grabby alien civs out there, but those usually don’t...

Grandpa Tibbles

November 19th, 2022

Lovecraft derived his pseudonym ‘Lewis Theobald Jr.’, later ‘Grandpa Theobald’ and variants, from the pioneering but much put-upon Shakespeare scholar Lewis Theobald (1688-1744). I’ve now discovered a curious thing relating to this choice. The discovery occurred this way. I was looking at the early medieval talking-fox cycle Reynard the Fox as a source for Tolkien. Part of the evidence is found in one early version of Tolkien’s "The Tale of Tinuviel", in which the hero is enslaved by th...

Netflix’s 1899 fails where Dark succeeded - Polygon

November 18th, 2022

1899 fails where Dark succeeded We wanted to love it, we really did [Ed. note: The following contains spoilers for the entirety of 1899 season 1 and Dark.] I love Dark, the German sci-fi show that nearly broke my brain as I worked overtime (literally) keeping track of its multiple timelines and complicated family tree. While many puzzle-box series lose their luster once everything’s been uncovered, after repeated viewings of the ...

WIZ-DOS (thing) by erbo - Everything2.com

September 10th, 2022

WIZ-DOS (thing) See all of WIZ-DOS, no other writeups in this node. (thing) by erbo (21.6 y) Rep: 10 ( +12 / -2 ) (Rep Graph) (+) Mon Oct 23 2000 at 3:19:02 In the fantasy novels of Rick Cook, a development and runtime system for creating magic spells in a manner similar to computer programs. The name is an acronym for "Wiz Zumwalt Demon Operating System," and is based on the early work of Wiz Zumwalt in the magical World, as modified by a programming team led by Jerry Andrew...

A Neon-Soaked City

August 15th, 2022

Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of Blade Runner came out in 1982. It’s since become the blueprint for high-tech, neon-soaked dystopia and cyberpunk aesthetics: cities emblazoned with colourful billboards and 24-hour artificial light. Six years prior to its release, Canadian photographer Greg Girard (b. 1955) arrived in Tokyo. "Blade Runner-esque" had yet to enter the lexicon, and he was soon entranced by this modern, futuristic city. Girard quickly turned his lens on the city’s people and glow...

Contact: The Sci-Fi Movie About Finding Faith - Collider

June 24th, 2022

The Pentagon is finally acknowledging the existence of "unidentified aerial phenomena," and China recently reported one of its radio telescopes may have picked up signals from a galaxy far, far away. In 1987, astronomer Carl Sagan wrote Contact, a novel about how the world might react to a similar situation, and in July 1997, Robert Zemeckis' adaption of Sagan's novel hit the big screen. While not an atheist, Sagan repeatedly stressed that he saw no evidence for the existence of God...

Cheesy But Endearing Sci-Fi Movies From The 1960s

April 16th, 2022

Home Lists 7 Cheesy But Endearing Sci-Fi Movies From The 1960s 7 Cheesy But Endearing Sci-Fi Movies From The 1960s By Kristy Ambrose Published 1 day ago     Good practical effects tend to age much better than bad CGI, as evidenced by these cheesy yet endearing sci-fi movies from the swinging sixties. The 1960s was an interesting time in the world of movies. Special effects were starting to advance, with creative ...

The Soviet Sci-Fi Classic That Inspired Annihilation

April 2nd, 2022

The Soviet Sci-Fi Classic That Inspired Annihilation Paramount By Witney Seibold/March 31, 2022 10:15 am EDT Based on the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Alex Garland's 2018 film "Annihilation" is a contemplative and trippy sci-fi fable about a team of scientists who infiltrate an area — nickn...

20 Must-Read Genre-Bending Sci-Fi Books | Book Riot

March 27th, 2022

 Science Fiction/Fantasy 20 Must-Read Genre-Bending Sci-Fi Books Alex Acks | 2 weeks ago This content contains affil...