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Movie Review: ‘Civil War’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 16:40:28 +0000

What if. It’s a question that has intrigued storytellers and audiences alike for generations. The desire to take something known and twist it ever so slightly, to the point where elements and pieces are not immediately recognizable – or worse, things are chillingly recognizable and seemingly appropriate in their darker state. The thought of “yes, I could see something like this happening” is perhaps one of the scariest story premises out there – especially when what we’re being presented with is dark and dangerous. Such is the case with ‘Civil War,’ the new film from director Alex Garland and production studio A24. Taking place in the indeterminately-near future, the political and socio-economical divide in the United States of America has grown to the point where the country has fractured, with several states deciding to try their own hand at self-governance. A few maps shown early in the film indicate that close to 20 states may be trying to secede in various ways. Factions such as the “Florida Alliance” and the “New People’s Army” have arisen, but the two largest proponents have joined forces to create the “Western Forces,” and in a large-yet-subtle twist, it’s California and Texas, of all the […]

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Prepare Yourself For The Next Great Spy Thriller Movie: ‘Tetris?’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:00:27 +0000

There are certain video games that have a natural path that can be traced in terms of what a move about that game would be about. Assassin’s Creed and time-travel undercover ops. Uncharted and a treasure-hunting mystery. Sonic the Hedgehog and a fast blue animal with rings. Super Mario Bros and plumbing. And the like. So, when the news came down about an upcoming film called ‘Tetris,’ it makes one’s brain start to think of the possibilities: will this be a movie along the same lines as Hasbro’s now-scuttled plans for turning its games into film properties? Will it be a tale about giant blocky alien ships invading Earth, and the only way for us to defeat them is to get them lined up next to each other so our missiles can make them “disappear?” (I’d watch that, probably.) Could it be a horror movie based on an ancient puzzle, and when the pieces align just so, it sends the user into a shadowy nether-realm? (I’d definitely watch that.) Well, no, that’s all wrong – and probably the furthest thing from our mind is actually the correct answer: ‘Tetris’ will be an espionage-style thriller, telling the true(ish) story of how the game […]

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Movie Review: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 21:30:18 +0000

New beginnings bring new excitement, but also new challenges. Such is the takeaway vibe I got from our advance screening of ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ the kickoff for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Let’s be clear from the get-go: Marvel has been giving us entertaining, high-quality films for a long time now. Almost 25 years, across dozens of television series, along with short films and literature tie-ins… this juggernaut is no slouch. Unfortunately, every entry into the series can’t be a home run – and that’s where we need to have some “real talk” about ‘Quantumania.’ The story itself is right in line with what viewers have been given across the over-arching MCU narrative to date: things on Earth appear to be “settling in” a bit post-Blip (although, frustratingly, ‘Quantumania’ still does not reference anything to do with the giant stone Eternal that is now sticking out of the Earth, half-stuck, as shown in the climax of ‘The Eternals,’ with this new film believed to be the 11th property to take place in the MCU timeline set after those events with absolutely zero remarks or tie-ins to it). The story does reference The Blip, of course, as […]

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Feast on the New ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Trailer

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 16:58:17 +0000

Feast on the New ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Trailer After having to briefly pause shooting for two weeks in October 2021 due to a mild COVID outbreak on set, ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ is ready to be released upon the world, drawing what many hope will be a fitting conclusion to the ‘Jurassic World’ trilogy of films and likely, if the marketing is to be believed, putting a cap on the “Jurassic Era” of films altogether. From the descriptions to the teaser trailers to the full-blown trailer we’ve been given today, it has felt like the inevitable conclusion to this saga is upon us. After 5 films of keeping the genetically-recreated dinos (mostly) confined to an island or two, it’s clear that time may very well be up for humans as the dominant species on our planet – but only seeing the film will give us the answers for sure! Check out the new trailer, which is chock-full of excitement and nostalgia from newer and classic franchise characters alike: From the ridiculously in-depth description over at Universal Pictures UK: Genre: Epic Action-Adventure Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Planet of the Vampires’ (1965)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 17:30:56 +0000

At first glance, ‘Planet of the Vampires’ could easily be mistaken for just another kitschy ‘60s sci-fi B-movie. But those “in the know” revere this movie as one of the very first crossover horror/sci-fi films, a front-runner for great movies like ‘Alien’ and ‘Event Horizon’ and that’s why it’s this week’s Thowback Thursday, ScienceFiction.com’s ongoing column to great science fiction of the past. Filmed at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, the movie features an international cast and was shot by director Mario Bava on a shoestring budget – but Bava did such a great job of making the film look like a big production that you definitely wouldn’t think otherwise while watching it. In the film, two large interplanetary exploration ships, the Argos and the Galliott, respond to a distress signal originating from the unexplored planet Aura. Upon their attempts to land, both crews become possessed by an unknown force and violently try to kill each other; only through the willpower and efforts of Captain Mark Markary (Barry Sullivan) commander of the Argos, is the Argos’ crew prevented from seriously injuring each other. Upon traversing the treacherous molten terrain of the planet to reach the now-unresponsive Galliott, Argos’ crew discovers that their comrades […]

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Things Get Dark In The New Trailer For Horror Film ‘The Power’

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 16:20:44 +0000

Here at ScienceFiction.com, we love a good horror movie, especially one that can make us jump and scream out loud. Coming next month from streaming service Shudder, ‘The Dark’ certainly looks like it could fit that bill. Most people are afraid of the dark to some degree; whether it makes you feel slightly uncomfortable or it’s a full-on phobia, it’s a near-universal phenomenon. Taking place in England almost 50 years ago, ‘The Dark’ aims to take that fear and ratchet things up by infusing some classic horror elements: prolonged darkness, a creepy hospital with eerie patients, and of course, a hefty dose of the supernatural. Here’s the official synopsis of the film, provided by our friends at Shudder: London, 1974. As Britain prepares for electrical blackouts to sweep across the country, trainee nurse Val (Rose Williams) arrives for her first day at the crumbling East London Royal Infirmary. With most of the patients and staff evacuated to another hospital, Val is forced to work the night shift, finding herself in a dark, near empty building. Within these walls lies a deadly secret, forcing Val to face both her own traumatic past and deepest fears in order to confront the malevolent […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 16:46:45 +0000

Every so often, a company makes a bold, daring, unorthodox, out-of-the-normal-comfort-zone type of move, and it usually either pays off big for them or sends things crashing down in flames. In the 1960s, Disney was flying high, enjoying a run of success with their animated films that stretched, at that time, three decades long; hits like ‘The Jungle Book,’ ‘101 Dalmatians,’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ had the company feeling they could do no wrong. Then the 1970s came around, and the House of Mouse started to falter with their cartooned family-friendly films: ‘The Aristocats,’ ‘Robin Hood,’ and ‘The Rescuers’ were all successive films that were enjoyable enough, but mostly didn’t land anywhere near the financial and critical successes that their predecessors had. Execs started to panic a bit, and the decision to try something new and different was officially made: Disney’s first-ever not-totally-family-friendly animated film, their first cartoon movie to ever earn a PG rating (and might have even been PG-13 if not for last-minute edits), ‘The Black Cauldron,’ got the green-light. Loosely based on the first two books in the ‘Chronicles of Prydain’ series by author Lloyd Alexander, ‘The Black Cauldron’ tells the tale of Taran, a young pig-keeper from […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra’ (2001)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 18:13:46 +0000

It’s no secret that I, like many sci-fi and horror fans, have a special place in my heart for the old, ultra-cheesy, often uber-chintzy “B-Movies” of the 1950s and 1960s. With so many fans of this genre out there, odds are good that at least a few are movie directors, right? And possibly among those few directors, it’s even possible that a couple of them actually make movies that don’t suck, yeah? And of those select individuals, is it feasible that one of them may actually have excellent writing and acting skills as well so that he could fully utilize these skills in tandem with his love of B-Movies to create a brilliant and loving homage to the genre? While The Rolling Stones often remind us that “you can’t always get what you want,” fortunately sometimes you can: writer-director-actor Larry Blamire struck gold with his 2001 release of ‘The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra,’ an amazingly-detailed and lovingly-satiric take on the old B-Movie. I proudly own a copy and have seen the movie many times over; I’m excited to now bring the film to ScienceFiction.com for our Throwback Thursday action! ‘Lost Skeleton’ blends so many “fantastical” elements soften utilized in the […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Cherry 2000’ (1987)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 16:04:25 +0000

It’s strange, trying to play the “numbers game.” Here we are, on the final day of the year 2020, talking about a movie that was released in 1987, that featured a plot that was set in 2017, but referenced the number 2000 in it’s title… it’s enough to make even a mathematician’s head swim! The pursuit for the perfect woman has scattered many men to the ends of the Earth trying to find her. The 1980s were no different, of course – and the sci-fi adventures of the era had a great time trying to envision what the future might be like – even trying to predict the faraway time of 2017… In 1988’s ‘Cherry 2000,’ Sam Treadwell found his “perfect girl” and made her his wife. She tells him everything that he wants to hear, is supportive no matter what he does, is ready for sex in a hot minute, and absolutely adores everything about him. Every man’s dream girl, right? One minor catch about all her perfection: she is literally programmed that way. Unfortunately, when his decades-old sexy love-robot blows a fuse that is darn near impossible to replace in the modern circles of 2017, Sam must hire […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 19:25:11 +0000

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Movie Review: Don’t Look Back

Dave Taylor — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 14:33:01 +0000

You can be excused if you’re confused about the title of this film; there are over 100 movies on IMDb with the name Don’t Look Back! Apparently it’s a very popular name for a movie. Who knew? This 2020 film is a very contemporary horror tapped into the “Karen”-in-the-park bystander zeitgeist. It revolves around a group of people who witness an assault in New York City’s Central Park but don’t do anything about it, just look away, walk away, stand and watch or even record it with their smartphones. Not a good samaritan in the bunch. When some of these witnesses start to die, young mom Caitlin Kramer (Kourtney Bell) tries to discover the truth behind the dangerous situation before she too ends up a casualty of her ostensibly poor life decision. If you’re thinking this sounds like a variation on the sly and witty Final Destination horror film series, there’s a reason for that: those films were all written by Jeffrey Reddick, who also wrote and directed Don’t Look Back. Based on a 2014 short film called Good Samaritan the film has a solid premise: What if you stood by while someone was beaten or murdered instead of intervening […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Alien 3’ (1992)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:11:40 +0000

When ‘Alien’ was released in 1979, it changed the landscape for both science fiction and horror. ‘Alien’ combined the two genres so well, people wept and fainted from fear in the theater; that’s always a sign of success. A sequel was bound to happen, and when James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’ came out in 1986, it upped the ante for action films and made the fictional Colonial Marines seem as real as the US Army. Both of those movies introduced unforgettable characters, particularly the seemingly undefeatable heroine, Ellen Ripley, played to damn near cinematic perfection by Sigourney Weaver. What happened to the series after that is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. ‘Alien3 ‘ was almost universally reviled by both fans and critics while the fourth film, ‘Alien: Resurrection,’ well… nobody talks about that. Fans sweep ‘Resurrection’ under the rug because of its overwhelming French-ness and the unfortunate casting of Winona Rider as a robot. As modern audiences know, the franchise has been revived recently by stabs at world-building like ‘Prometheus‘ and ‘Alien: Covenant.’ For many fans, that all leaves ‘Alien3 ‘ as arguably the last “true” Alien film – the end of the “classic trilogy,” if you will – yet it is the one […]

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Here’s To The New Year! Our Most Anticipated Sci-Fi And Fantasy Films Of 2020

Steven Murphy — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 23:29:31 +0000

With ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ and ‘Endgame’ in our past, what do we have to look forward to in 2020? A series of promising women-led adventures and a return to classic ghostbusting, to say the least. Let’s take a look at the most anticipated movies the coming year has to offer! ‘Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn’ I like Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn as much as the next guy, but she didn’t save ‘Suicide Squad.’ Quinn is like Captain Jack Sparrow, a little bit goes a long way, and from the film’s subtitle, I fear they are relying on her too much. I’m also going to be bumped seeing Zsasz not played by ‘Gotham’’s Anthony Carrigan. ‘Eternals’ This is probably going to be the movie that sets up the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s perfect. It’s cosmic in scale, yet, still involves Earth, and probably spans thousands of years of history. We say we don’t want to watch movies that set up other movies, but when it comes to Marvel’s big stories, I think we are all kinda on board. Besides, it should be good…right? ‘A Quiet Place 2’ The […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Santa’s Slay’ (2005)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 26 Dec 2019 18:50:56 +0000

The winter holidays are hard enough for horror fans, with all that peace and joy floating around like so much sugar plum fairy dust. It is the time for pretentious award-winning films, usually heartwarming dramas about dysfunctional families or extraordinary animals. Ugh. Surely there must be some movie that the fear-loving family can watch together and still have some semblance of Christmas spirit? And while my first thought is ‘The Polar Express,’ that’s just because I’m terrified of Tom Hanks. Seeing thousands of animated Tom Hankses prancing about a golden train serving hot chocolate to creepy, chubby, motion-captured children is enough to set me to shivering. Let me gently direct you, then, to the slick piece of weirdness known as ‘Santa’s Slay,’ a wonderfully off-kilter look at Father Christmas. There’s enough feel-good sentimentality to keep the Christmas lovers happy while the gore-hounds can delight to the sight of Fran Drescher with her hair on fire. Actually, there are probably lots of seemingly normal people who would like to see Fran Drescher with her hair on fire. About 1,000 years ago, Christmas was much different than it is now. It used to be known as “The Day of Slaying,” and […]

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Planet Terror’ (2007)

Tony Schaab - Senior Editor — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 22:06:40 +0000

I think I was born in the wrong decade. Although I grew up watching the great horror movies of the 1980s, I seem to have a special affinity for the “groovy,” rough-and-gritty feel of the 1970s horror films. Maybe I just enjoy cinematic experiences from the times when the writing and characters had to drive a story and the special effects were a supporting player; nowadays it seems to be the exact opposite, with each new CGI-tacular movie trying to outdo the last. But every so often, a film will come along that breaks the trend and gives its viewers both a good-looking film and a great story to boot. Throw in a healthy dose of retro feel with an homage to a bygone era of cinema, and you’ve got the makings of one amazing movie-watching experience, specifically known as ‘Planet Terror.’ Half of the ambitious two-movie “Grindhouse” project put together by directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (Tarantino’s B-movie/exploitation homage ‘Death Proof’ being the other half), ‘Planet Terror’ is simply a good old-fashioned zombie movie made by people who know how to entertain. Rodriguez has actually said in multiple interviews that he came up for the idea of this […]

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