Genre: Science Fiction
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Akira
Not every action movie needs to reinvent the wheel, but Akira manages to feel fresh anyway, thanks largely to Katsuhiro Otomo’s confident direction. Even the marketing knew what it had: the tagline “Neo-Tokyo is about to E.X.P.L.O.D.E.” sets the mood before a single frame plays. Here’s the hook, in brief: A secret military project endangers…
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The Prestige
Not every drama movie needs to reinvent the wheel, but The Prestige manages to feel fresh anyway, thanks largely to Christopher Nolan’s confident direction. Even the marketing knew what it had: the tagline “Are you watching closely?” sets the mood before a single frame plays. Strip away the craft and the premise is simple —…
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District 9
There are films you watch once and forget, and then there’s District 9 — a 2009 science fiction from director Neill Blomkamp that has kept audiences talking long after the credits roll. The film’s own tagline — “You are not welcome here.” — tells you almost everything about the tone it’s going for. The setup…
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The Martian
Not every adventure movie needs to reinvent the wheel, but The Martian manages to feel fresh anyway, thanks largely to Ridley Scott’s confident direction. “Bring him home.” That’s the line the studio chose to sell the film, and it doesn’t oversell it by much. The story kicks off from a clean, almost deceptively simple place:…
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Mad Max: Fury Road
If you have been putting off “Mad Max: Fury Road” since 2015, this is your sign to finally move it to the top of the queue. It does not take long to understand why people keep bringing it up. Everything the film wants you to feel is right there in its tagline: “The future belongs…
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Blade Runner 2049
Few things separate a forgettable night of scrolling from a night you actually remember, and “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) lands firmly in the second camp for a specific kind of viewer. That reputation, as it turns out, is well earned. The marketing leaned on the line “The key to the future is finally unearthed.” —…
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A Quiet Place
If you have been putting off “A Quiet Place” since 2018, this is your sign to finally move it to the top of the queue. That reputation, as it turns out, is well earned. “If they hear you, they hunt you.” That is the tagline, and it does a surprisingly honest job of setting the…
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
Every so often a film shows up that seems built for exactly one mood, and “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, released in 2022, is one of those titles. It is the kind of film that tends to outlast whatever else came out the same year. The marketing leaned on the line “The universe is so…
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Dune
When Denis Villeneuve sat down to make “Dune”, the goal was clearly to deliver something that sticks with an audience long after the credits roll. That reputation, as it turns out, is well earned. The marketing leaned on the line “It begins.” — and once you are a few scenes in, it is clear that…
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Star Wars
Not every film needs to reinvent its genre to be worth your time, and “Star Wars”, an action and adventure and science fiction entry, proves the point. It is the kind of film that tends to outlast whatever else came out the same year. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” That…