News

Atonement director Joe Wright is said to have signed up for Alignment, an AI thriller whose script was purchased for $3m last year.

Writers and filmmakers often talk about the death of the spec script market. But last year, first-time screenwriter Natan Dolan, despite limited Hollywood connections, managed to sell his AI thriller script, Alignment, for a reported $3m.

Months after that acquisition, production company Fifth Season – also behind Film Stories TV favourite, Severance – has found a director. According to Deadline, Joe Wright, perhaps best known for such movies as Atonement and Pride And Prejudice, has taken on the job, which has attracted a great deal of interest from some major names, including Damien Chazelle and Matt Damon.

Fifth Season is evidently keen to get the project going thanks to its topical subject matter. It follows Peter, 29 year-old engineer at an OpenAI-like tech company whose latest product, Lambda-4, has quietly...

In the promotional tour for the UK release of “Ex-Machina” in January of 2015, writer-director Alex Garland lamented the relative failure of “Sunshine,” “Never Let Me Go” and “Dredd” by commenting that his films miss some mainstream sensibility’ and ‘… just don’t break out’. It’s interesting to look back on that statement now following the recent box office success of “Civil War.” Has Garland’s sensibility changed? Or has the cinematic dial shifted to a place in which his films have now become more conscionable to the masses? To answer this question, we must go back to Garland’s childhood…

Obsessed with the sci-fi fables of J.G. Ballard and Ray Bradbury, as well as old episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” Garland channeled his interest in artificial intelligence into his screenplay for his directorial debut “Ex-Machina.” What started as an “epiphany” based on Murray Shanahan’s ‘The Technological Singularity’ evolved into...

Denis Villeneuve already has several sci-fi projects under his belt, and all of them were highly critically acclaimed. His most recent ‘Dune: Part Two’ earned 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture nomination, ‘Dune’ released in 2021 earned won 6 Oscars.

Villeneuve is currently in the early stages of development of the second book in the ‘Dune’ series – ‘Dune Messiah’ and it will serve as the sequel to the previous two films.

Now in his most recent interview, Villeneuve admitted that he is eyeing one more sci-fi project, a notable sci-fi epic ‘Rendezvous with Rama.’

Villeneuve said ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ is similar to ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ as it involves astronauts encountering another civilization. Unlike ‘Dune,’ it focuses on realistic, future technology, making it “hard science fiction,” which he’s excited to explore for the first time in his career. He hopes to take on such a project at least once in his life.

Bill Burr and Shane Gillis are teaming up for a one-night comedy event to benefit those affected by the L.A wildfires.

The Live Nation-produced comedy show will take place at Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theater on Monday, Jan. 27, with all proceeds going towards the Wildfire Relief Fund. Tickets will go on sale today at 1 p.m. Pt on the Live Nation website.

The Wildfire Relief Fund is managed by GoFundMe.org, which accepts and disperses tax-deductible donations directly to people in need following the wildfires.

Buy Now: bill burr and shane gillis

The joint comedy show follows a string of benefit concerts and events to fundraise money for the L.A wildfire over the past two weeks, in addition to hefty donations across Hollywood. This weekend, the Tcl Chinese Theatre will host benefit showings of two films: “Superman” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” with 100% of the ticket sales...

The Tcl Chinese Theatre will host benefit showings of two films: “Superman” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” with 100% of the ticket sales and concession sales to be donated to L.A. wildfire victim relief. Both featured films will play in the Tcl Theatre’s main auditorium.

Richard Donner’s “Superman,” which originally premiered at the Chinese Theatre in 1978, will screen Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3:30 pm, presented in 4k. Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” will screen Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7pm, presented in IMAX.

Proceeds from both screenings will benefit the American Red Cross, Los Angeles Fire Foundation, Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers foundation. Tickets run $25 and available for pre-booking via the Tcl Chinese Theatre website.

Friday, Jan. 17 Lost Charles Burnett Film, ‘The Annihilation of Fish,’ To Release in Theaters for First Time

“The Annihilation of Fish,” directed by Charles Burnett, has...

Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ (1979) became a game-changer in the sci-fi horror genre, blending terrifying elements with a strong, heroic female lead, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. Its eerie atmosphere, innovative creature design by H.R. Giger, and intense tension left a lasting impact on filmmaking and inspired countless movies and TV shows.

The film also created a powerful franchise, with sequels, comics, and video games, solidifying its place in pop culture history. Of course, at the time, there was no way of knowing that the movie would turn into such an iconic and massive franchise, and as it turns out Scott himself was worried that he wouldn’t get everything right.

Ridley Scott recently reflected on his career and the making of ‘Alien,’ mentioning his initial fear that the film wouldn’t have enough scares. To address this, he added the element of betrayal from the android Ash.

He also explained how,...

"Oppenheimer" may have become the highest-grossing biopic of all time, and the Dark Knight trilogy may have made Christopher Nolan into a household name, but "Interstellar" is a strong contender for the director's best film simply because it has more of an emotional core than any of his other projects. By now, it's fairly well documented that "Interstellar" is somewhat of an outlier among the Nolan filmography in that regard. But the more you think about it, the more impressive it becomes.

A huge, galaxy-spanning space epic that actually sends a man into the singularity of a black hole during its climax also manages to be the most heartfelt and intimate portrait of human connection Nolan has ever wrought. That oddly complimentary dichotomy extends to other areas of the film, too. Just consider how committed to scientific realism Nolan was and how fantastical the events in the movie are. This...

Christopher Nolan's movies have a very particular aesthetic. Though he works in genres where loads of computer-generated imagery are the norm, he values location shooting, practically staged action, and, of course, the kind of rich, tactile visuals that only film — not digital — can give you (at a reel length of 11 miles). There's a reason many cinephiles travel great distances to see his movies projected on 70mm IMAX, and never walk away disappointed.

Nolan's aesthetic preferences were challenged like never before when he took on "Interstellar." The deep space exploration film, based on the brilliant work of astrophysicist Kip Thorne, promised to be a brainy piece of science fiction in the vein of classics like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Solaris" (Tarkovsky's or Soderbergh's). "Interstellar" wound up calling those films to mind here and there, but, really, it was singularly Nolan in its attempt to realistically depict what getting stuck...

With a 200-minute running time, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” (A24) isn’t unique among wide-release English-language films. In fact, it’s somewhat shorter than some major releases in recent decades.

There’s no standard for intermissions, which can vary between presentations, technical issues, or even elevating a film’s prestige. “The Brutalist” qualifies on all counts, but its intermission could herald a comeback: Audience habits have changed, and directors would love to use them to defend longer movies.

“The Brutalist” becomes 215 minutes start to finish with its precisely timed 15-minute break. Without it, it would be nine minutes shorter than “The Irishman”; about the same as “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” “The Godfather Part II,” and George Stevens’ 1956 “Giant”; and about five minutes longer than “Schindler’s List” and “Titanic.” All were released without intermissions. Among major titles, “Gone with the Wind” is still the longest...

This is our final round-up before the end of 2024, and it’s a good one. There are plenty of gift ideas lurking here––some choices to enjoy during time off, too. Note also that The Film Stage Holiday Gift Guide includes a list of my favorite cinema books from the last 12 months. One of those picks kicks off this column, and it is written by none other than the great Al Pacino.

Sonny Boy by Al Pacino (Penguin Press)

Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, is easily one of the most eagerly awaited books of 2024. And for me, this look at the actor’s life and career more than lives up to the hype. Many highlights have already earned some social-media chatter––most notably young Al’s penis trauma (!), a near-death experience after a recent bout with Covid, and the reasons behind his decision to do Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.

In 2003 came out what can only be described as an unidentifiable grooving object from another music galaxy, the fascinating outcome of the collaboration between French electro duo Daft Punk and manga and anime master Leiji Matsumoto. The resulting musical science fiction anime, “Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem”, is now primed for rediscovery by a new generation of electro and anime fans in a new 4K remastering.

Buy This Title

by clicking on the image below

The film, directed mainly by Kazuhisa Takenouchi for Toei Animation but supervised by Matsumoto, is essentially a visual companion piece to Daft Punk’s 2001 album, “Discovery”, with no dialogues and few sound effects. For many years since its release. the movie was mainly available as a series of music video clips set to such world-famous tracks as “One More Time” (the opening act in the film) or “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger...

At the risk of sounding like Nicole Kidman: We all know the feelings that unite an audience in a movie theater. Yet when I went to see the rereleased “Interstellar,” I was struck by a new feeling. Taking my seat in front of the IMAX screen at the AMC Lincoln Square, I was honestly shocked to see that at a 2:45 p.m. Friday showing of a 10-year-old movie, an incredibly large theater, with dramatic banked seating — the only true IMAX theater in Manhattan — was totally packed.

This was the kickoff of the film’s second weekend. (Last weekend it took in a neat $4.6 million on 165 screens.) And before the movie had even started, it struck me that those of us in the audience were already profoundly united in wanting to reexperience “Interstellar.” There were some, of course, who had never seen it. Yet this was basically a revival...

Hal 9000, the primary antagonist of the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, is reimagined as a glitchy artificial intelligence in a video that serves as a commentary on modern-day society. 2001: A Space Odyssey was a revolutionary science fiction film released in 1968, and is one of the best movies directed by Stanley Kubrick. 2001: A Space Odyssey follows David Bowman and a crew of astronauts who are sent on a mission through space. However, while on their mission, their spacecraft's computer system, Hal 9000, turns evil and orchestrates the deaths of several characters.

Instagram user Paul Morrison posted a video inspired by Hal 9000's behavior in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the video, the eerie voice of Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey is replaced by the voice of Siri that many Apple product users are so accustomed to. David Bowman is asking Hal to perform tasks, such as opening the pod bay doors,...

Nowadays, comic book movies are arguably the favorite punching bag of the wider moviegoing community. These $200 million behemoths are fairly easy to criticize through out-of-context lines of pulpy dialogue and frames of questionable visual effects posted online, all while the films themselves continue to dominate studio budgets and box office sales alike. But whether you see superhero movies as the gaudy barrier to other types of films being successful or the summer blockbuster events that make movie theaters worth visiting, it's safe to say that, to some degree, we've all forgotten what really makes for a bad superhero movie.

The answer has evolved in recent years -- surely, after nearly two decades of uniform Marvel movies, some of us would welcome the late Joel Schumacher back into this genre with open, excited arms. While there are certain duds that defy the passing of time through their misguided attempts at appealing to comic book fans,...

Mad Max is one of the most influential action movies of all time, and in the years that followed its release, the series has only continued to grow in importance and popularity. George Miller’s cinematic dystopia is still thriving today, and while Furiosa struggled at the box office, there’s still plenty of room in today’s climate for blood-soaked, high-octane thrillers that take place in futures quite unlike our present.

Made on a low budget, Mad Max was a huge success because it was totally unlike anything that audiences had been exposed to before: it was dystopia, but not in the technological, sci-fi ways that films like Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey offered. Instead, the series presents the idea that our twisted future will be a return to the industrial revolution of the past, fixated on machines and automobiles that help us survive. It was a...

Denis Villeneuve has a very storied filmography, and it shows that the director takes his inspirations and favorites very seriously. Villeneuve, over the years, has listed some very popular films as among his favorites, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Empire Strikes Back.

Luke battles Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back || Credit: Lucasfilm

Villeneuve has gone on record to say that both the aforementioned films had given the director some sort of trauma or the other. While the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey had a deep impression on the director, Villeneuve has also revealed that he was very excited as a child for Empire Strikes Back, which left a very deep impression on him as well.

Denis Villeneuve was very enamored by The Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader in Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Credits: Lucasfilm Ltd.

The Empire Strikes Back was a film that had...

Be it Dune or Arrival, Denis Villeneuve has been very sophisticated when he presents stories about space and aliens. So it makes sense that a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey left a big and lasting impression on the director. An interview during the BAFTA Awards revealed what exactly about the film got to him, and how it has influenced him when it comes to films in general.

2001: A Space Odyssey || Credit: MGM

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the few films that have come to define an era in science fiction cinema, like some other offerings from Hollywood like Alien and Predator. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that has been infinitely praised for the work that Stanley Kubrick did on it, often ending up on lists of some of the most influential directors of our time.

Denis Villeneuve remembers the ‘trauma’ of the opening sequence...

Brady Corbet took the 2024 Venice Film Festival — and the nascent Oscar season — by storm with his three-and-a-half hour epic “The Brutalist,” starring Adrien Brody. With the exception of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” it’s one of the longer films to be in serious Academy Awards contention in recent memory.

But unlike “Flower Moon,” which clocks in just shy of the Corbet film’s 3:35 runtime, “The Brutalist” at least comes with an intermission. And while Scorsese didn’t want one in his film, Corbet clarified the intermission was an intentional choice on his part along with co-writer Mona Fastvold — and not the result of any outside pressure.

“It was always scripted, the intermission,” Corbet told IndieWire on the red carpet of the 2024 Gotham Awards on December 2. “It’s funny, it’s gotten more attention in a way than we expected it to. I personally have a...

Editor’s Note: The following story contains major spoilers for the movie “Queer,” now in theaters.

“Queer,” a new Luca Guadagnino romance so wounding and hypnotic in only the way he can do, ends the way it begins: with William Lee (Daniel Craig) alone again after another fascinating, devastating love affair.

After picking him up in Mexico City, expat, self-loathing, sweating decadent Lee entreats the lithe and elusive former Navyman Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) to join him in the Ecuadorian jungles on the hunt for the ultimate trip — and the source of yagé, better known as the psychotropic beverage ayahuasca. Once deranged, off-the-grid healer Dr. Cotter (Lesley Manville) sets them up with the tea, Lee and Allerton go on a strange mind-bend of an inward journey, fusing their bodies in a hallucinatory dance until they’re spent.

Lee believes the drug may be the only way to reach his out-of-sync lover,...

Luca Guadagnino was a lonely boy living in Palermo when he first read William S. Burroughs’ novella “Queer.” He would’ve been 14 when the book first came out in 1985, when gay liberation was already on its cultural downward slope because of AIDS, and the book was written in the early 1950s. But Burroughs’ story of American-expat-in-Mexico Lee and his obsessive romance with a lithe expat American soldier, Allerton, still emerged as an influential text for the queer literary canon but especially for Guadagnino’s imagination education.

Now, nearly four decades after first reading the book at 17, Guadagnino, one of the hottest filmmakers currently working — especially because of his other film this year “Challengers” — has finally realized the dream of bringing Burroughs’ world to the screen. Those men, Lee and Allerton, are played by Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in respectively career-reinventing and career-inventing performances. And the film, as Guadagnino said...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally posted during the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A24 opens “Queer” in select theaters on November 27.

As an adaptation of “Junkie” author William S. Burroughs’ second novel, “Queer” is about chemical addictions, yes. But it’s even more about being so addicted to a person that, no matter how much you turn yourself inside out trying to get them to love you — charming them with your literary voice, lathering yourself into a stupor on drugs, or even going to the far reaches of a jungle — they will never love you the way you want them to, and even telepathy couldn’t help explain to you why.

Luca Guadagnino’s profound and kaleidoscopic new film begins in a post-World War II Mexico City of the mind and ends in the Ecuadorian rainforest on an ayahuasca trip that’s part Apichatpong Weerasethakul, part “2001: A Space Odyssey,...

If you’re looking for some moody introspection to start your Monday — and who isn’t? — look no further than the new trailer for the William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Daniel Craig as an expatriate in postwar Mexico City exploring his homosexuality. Take a look at the new trailer for “Queer” below.

Just watching this thing is a haunting reverie set to some of Trent Reznor and Atticus’s lush score.

“Queer” has been some new cinematic ground for Craig as an actor. Look at how he awkwardly gives a tongue-in-cheek courtly bow to introduce himself in a bar to Drew Starkey’s much younger man. Clearly he’s infatuated with Starkey’s character from the start. And what follows is a torrid love affair, featuring some of the more graphic gay sex scenes you’d see this side of Pedro Almodóvar.

It’s...

Colin Chilvers, a pioneering, Oscar-winning Hollywood visual effects artist who created movie magic for Superman, apocalyptic scenarios and even The Who’s Tommy, died November 19 in Fort Erie, Ontario, where he lived. He was 79.

His death was first reported Wednesday by the news station 101.1 FM in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Among Chilvers’ more memorable feats were the effects that gave Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder the illusion of flying in Richard Donner’s 1978 classic Superman, work that had him share in a team Oscar for Visual Effects.

In 1986, Chilvers created the dazzling trickery that allowed Michael Jackson to defy gravity by leaning forward 45 degrees with no visible means of support in the music video for “Smooth Criminal.” Chilvers directed the video, along with various other Jackson video collections.

Chilvers’ post-Superman credits from the ’80s through the 2000s also included Superman 2 and Superman 3, Bride of Chucky, X-Men and K-19: The Widowmaker.

In 2024, there is no shortage of possible imagined dystopian futures. Not just because there’s an ever-growing canon of films that dream up humanity’s worst-case scenarios but because news about climate disasters, headlines about dwindling natural resources and well-founded fears about the encroaching power of AI dominate our day-to-day lives. That’s perhaps what makes Leticia Tonos’s “Aire, Just Breathe” both incredibly timely and decidedly familiar. The Dominican sci-fi film is an austere vision of a ravaged future that, while visually striking, remains much too hollow, cerebral, even, to fully pack an emotional punch.

The year is 2147 and Tania (Sophie Gaëlle) has learned to live on her own. Every day she wakes and cares for what scant plants she can nurture in the underground bunker she’s come to call home. Despite not having had contact with any other humans in quite some time (she may be the...

In 1984, no one could have guessed that an independently made movie about an unstoppable cyborg assassin would become a hit, launch a still-growing franchise and, arguably, predict the future of artificial intelligence.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd and co-writer/director James Cameron realized they had a hit on their hands when it topped the box office the first weekend, because as Hurd recalled, “Orion told us it was a down-and-dirty exploitation film, that word of mouth would be so bad that we wouldn’t be in theaters after the second weekend.” How wrong they were.

Looking back 40 years later on “The Terminator,” Hurd marveled how the discussion around AI has moved from being considered “science fiction and fantasy,” to front page news and how the movie helped usher in the age of female action stars.

“The Terminator” is about the dangers of AI dominance at a time when it wasn’t very high-tech,...

Gaspar Noé, the director of controversial “Irréversible” and “Vortex,” wants to venture into uncharted career territory: Making a children’s film.

While Noé is known for rape-revenge stories and psychedelic sagas such as “Enter the Void” and “Climax,” the filmmaker told Variety that he is looking to make something a little more unexpected next.

“The main film genres that really would interest me for a future project are documentary, war film, and horror. Probably I should even try to mix those three genres,” Noé said. “I also would like to do a movie with young children, or a movie for children.”

He added of his career, “Luckily, I have no regrets about my past movies. But I had some projects in mind years ago that excite me less nowadays. It’s better to start a film production while the subject excites you. Some movie ideas can stop interesting you as...

When people think of Tom Hanks, they tend to call to mind a decent, stalwart American whose against-all-odds heroics inspire them to persevere when facing their own travails. They think of "Saving Private Ryan," "Apollo 13," even "Toy Story" -- some of Hanks' best films, and ones that could've easily starred classic Hollywood actor James Stewart had he been thriving during Hanks' heyday.

There is, of course, more to Tom Hanks than this. Indeed, it often seems like people have memory-holed the star's zany, adult-skewing comedies like "Bachelor Party," "The Man with One Red Shoe," and "Volunteers." And what of the noble box-office misfires "Punchline," "Joe Versus the Volcano," and "Charlie Wilson's War?" Hanks can play a loser or a cad when called upon, which, if you've a firm grasp of film history, is as Jimmy Stewart as it gets.

Hanks contains multitudes, but if I were to pick one...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

At the dawn of the 1980s, Warner Bros. had two major in-house artists who could do just about anything they wanted. One was a movie star, the other a filmmaking genius, and they couldn't have been more different in aesthetic or temperament.

Clint Eastwood was a television star who found big-screen success by making Spaghetti Westerns in Europe with an upstart named Sergio Leone before becoming the avatar of the angry, Miranda rights-burdened American police officer as "Dirty Harry." Stanley Kubrick was a Bronx born-and-bred autodidact who found his love for filmmaking via photography; after a string of critical successes with "Paths of Glory," "Loilita" and "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," he was hailed as a visionary for the groundbreaking "2001: A Space Odyssey," upon which he became renowned for his perfectionism and technical boundary pushing.

Image Source: Warner Bros Have you ever discovered a long-lost treasure, a forgotten movie? Brainstorm, a science fiction film from 1983, is perfect for that. Often disregarded, it is full of inspiring concepts and eye-catching imagery. The movie follows a research team’s efforts to develop a novel technology—a system that records and replays an individual’s whole emotional and sensory experiences. Imagine using this gadget to relive the excitement of skydiving, the delight of a first love, or even a person’s last moments. However, as the group tests the limits, they find that it may be abused, especially for military objectives. With a cast boasting talents like Academy Award winners Cliff Robertson, Louise Fletcher, and Christopher Walken, Brainstorm also features the legendary Natalie Wood in her final role. Wood’s untimely death during filming necessitated changes to the ending. Douglas Trumbull, a master of visual effects renowned for...

10 years ago on November 7, 2014, Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" was released in theaters. The film was ambitious in technological scale and big in heart, but it had a somewhat divisive reception and currently holds a modest 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is just 15% away from being classified as "Rotten." It has taken a decade for audiences to find a new appreciation for the film, with a 70mm re-release scheduled for December 6, 2024. Hollywood is now riding the wave of Nolan's Oscar win for "Oppenheimer," looking back on his previous work as a director and seeing his evolution in creating astonishing vistas, temporal labyrinths, and pulse-quickening spectacles.

Nolan's visionary and emotionally charged sci-fi film initially alienated many viewers and critics, but in hindsight, "Interstellar" stands as one of his best movies — dare I say, even better than "Oppenheimer," which often lingers on dry, bureaucratic drama. Furthermore, many of the more common critiques misunderstand...

The worlds of Futurama and 2001: A Space Odyssey collide as Bender voice actor John Dimaggio recreates an iconic Hal 9000 scene. First airing in 1999, Futurama episodes chronicle the misadventures of pizza delivery driver Philip J. Fry (Billy West) after he is accidentally frozen in 1999 before then reawakening in the year 2999. Bender, a hard-drinking robot, has been a prominent character in the show since its premiere. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), on the other hand, hails from director Stanley Kubrick and is widely considered one of the most important sci-fi movies ever made.

Voice actor Rob Paulsen now takes to Instagram to share a recent recording session with Dimaggio in which the pair reenact a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The scene in question from the 1968 classic features the Hal 9000 computer system refusing to open the pod bay doors for Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea). Dimaggio speaks the same Hal 9000 lines but...

Mike Flanagan's "Doctor Sleep" is a miracle of a movie. It's a faithful adaptation of author Stephen King's 2013 novel of the same name, which itself is a follow-up to King's novel version of "The Shining" from 1977. It's also, however, a sequel (and a bit of a legacy sequel at that) to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 cinematic adaptation of "The Shining," and it's this latter aspect which still seems staggeringly impossible to do on paper, even as Flanagan ended up deftly proving that it was very possible. After all, upon taking on "Doctor Sleep," Flanagan was facing numerous obstacles: first and foremost, a sequel to a Kubrick movie is a daunting prospect all by itself. The second, even tougher issue involves King's infamous distaste for Kubrick's film; given the disparities between Kubrick's movie and King's novel, and the fact that those differences make up the bulk of contention between author and filmmaker,...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It's possible that the best "Star Trek" movie of all time could be the one that never existed. Before Gene Roddenberry's hokey but heartfelt '60s sci-fi series made the leap to the big screen with a series of wildly inconsistent movies beginning in 1979, the franchise nearly went in an entirely different direction. If not for a studio exec who hated science fiction, and creative differences in the writers' room, the first "Star Trek" film would have been "Planet of the Titans," an incredibly ambitious project that was developed over 7 months before being shelved for good, according to the book "The Fifty-Year Mission."

The first "Star Trek" oral history book from Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, subtitled "The First 25 Years," sets the record straight on many moments from "Trek" history that have become the stuff of legends, but...

What would you consider the best film franchise of all time? Despite the objective metrics for success -– box office, critical consensus, awards and quantifiable impact -– this is a surprisingly subjective question, and the answer you give may say more about yourself than anything else. You might go to bat for genre-defining classics like the "Alien" franchise or "Scream" movies, or highlight childhood favorites for your generation, like "Harry Potter" or "Indiana Jones." Franchises surrounded by big mythology (on screen and off), like "Star Wars," often earn greatest-of-all-time status for fans, while arthouse lovers may pick something less familiar to American audiences, like Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy.

It's a question with either no right answers or many, depending on how you look at it, but the folks at aggregate site Metacritic recently decided to answer it for themselves once and for all by using their well-established system...

Some movies are tailor-made for the big screen, especially sci-fi movies. While streaming has changed the landscape of cinema, there are still some movies which deserve to be watched on the biggest screen possible. Movie theaters offer an immersive experience that very few people are able to replicate at home. Streaming robs some movies of their scale and spectacle.

Sci-fi movies often rely on eye-popping visuals, which makes them uniquely suited to a big screen experience. Action and horror movies also tend to benefit from being watched in theaters, while some other genres aren't impacted as severely. Although streaming is more convenient and often much cheaper, it hasn't been able to replace the feeling of watching a sci-fi masterpiece unfolding in a theater.

Related 10 Best Epic Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time, Ranked

Sci-fi is already one of the most intriguing genres in cinema, but when a sci-fi epic creates a vast world,...

Is it possible to steal a movie out from under George Clooney and Brad Pitt, two of the matinee idols of our time? With “Wolfs,” Austin Abrams makes the case that you can.

The 28-year-old star, perhaps best known up to this point for dancing shirtless onstage to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” in a flamboyant musical sequence in HBO’s “Euphoria,” again finds himself in a manner of undress in Jon Watts’ Apple TV+ comedy film. Here, he’s down to only his briefs and a pair of crew socks, running around Lower Manhattan trying to evade two fixers (Clooney and Pitt) toiling until twilight to clean up his mess.

In the big-budget but minor-key comedy written and directed by Watts — in a return to movies-for-adults form after his duties on the Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films — the charismatic Abrams is simply known in the script as “Kid.

“AfrAId” is a Blumhouse horror movie starring John Cho and Katherine Waterston.

Blumhouse Productions leads us once more through the familiar corridors that have solidified its status as a powerhouse in the industry: films that often feature straightforward narratives, which may occasionally border on the predictable, yet consistently achieve commercial success. “AfrAId” doesn’t aspire to revolutionize the genre of science fiction, nor does it aim to astonish us with groundbreaking originality or innovative concepts. Picture a cross between Stanley Kubrick’s Hal and Amazon’s Alexa, and you have a fairly accurate idea of what to expect.

Predictable, perhaps, but undeniably engaging and backed by quality production.

Plot Summary

The story revolves around an employee at a prominent advertising agency who is tasked with testing a cutting-edge device at home: an AI reminiscent of Alexa, but significantly more advanced. This AI learns at an alarming rate, and it isn...

Nicholas Meyer's 1982 film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is generally regarded as the best of the 13 extant "Star Trek" movies, at least according to any Trekkies you may ask. At the very least, "The Wrath of Khan" became the popular model on which multiple other "Star Trek" movies would be based; several "Star Trek" films feature a charismatic, revenge-bent "villain" character at its center.

At least one person, however, really hated "The Wrath of Khan" -- "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry.

Roddenberry had spent the bulk of the 1970s attending "Star Trek" conventions and refining his thoughts on his creation. He and Trekkies, during the conventions, began to zero in on the pacifist, diplomatic nature of the show, coming to the conclusion that "Star Trek" isn't about dominance or military power. Instead, it redefines power as being connected to intelligence, professionalism, and one's ability to solve problems in a group.

This summer we’ve celebrated the 45th anniversary of “Alien” and the 15th anniversary of “Moon,” two of the greatest stuck-in-space films ever made. We’ve also been watching a related plot play out in reality, as Boeing’s ill-fated Starliner has left astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore idling at the International Space Station.

So perhaps at another time, Mikael Håfström’s “Slingshot” would get a pass for effort, if nothing else.

This is, admittedly, a challenging genre. But given its provocative potential, a halfhearted take feels particularly disappointing.

The film’s listless energy begins with John (Casey Affleck), an astronaut years into his mission to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. For someone trapped in a metal capsule, John initially appears to be doing ok. But when his ground commander (David Morrissey) checks in “to stress the importance of your psych evaluation,” we’ve got a pretty clear idea where things are headed.

Somehow, ‘Lil Cinephile has returned.

The book series, a spin-off of the wildly successful Cinephile: A Card Game, returns with a new volume of books designed to make your baby the coolest kid at day care. “My Fist Sci-Fi Movie,” “My First Kung Fu Movie” and “My First Midnight Movie,” represents the next chapter of the book series, with installments that “take readers on a cinematic journey of filmmaking styles from around the world,” according to the official synopsis.

These new books were written by Cory Everett and illustrated by Julie Olivi and cover everything from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “Enter the Dragon” to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” This might be the greatest set of ‘Lil Cinephile books yet. Expect your budding to cineaste to have some new favorites.

Independently made and produced, “My First Sci-Fi Movie,” “My First Kung Fu Movie,” and “My First Midnight Movie,” will be available from lilcinephile.

Kubrick directed only 13 feature films from 1952 to 1999, showcasing his meticulous dedication to each project. Kubrick initially faced challenges, but demonstrated extraordinary talent in filmmaking, eventually creating iconic cinema. Key films like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Shining" cemented Kubrick's legacy as a visionary director ahead of his time.

Stanley Kubrick is one of the most iconic and legendary directors of all time, but from 1952 to 1999, he only directed 13 feature films, which speaks to the time and care he placed in each project. Stanley Kubrick was born in 1928 in New York City. He had a keen interest in film and photography from a young age, and began working as a professional photographer before moving on to start making short films of his own in the early 1950s. It was also at this point that Kubrick began to make connections in the film industry that helped him get started and begin making feature films.

Star Wars and Jaws defined the 1970s so much they directly paved the way for Alien. Alien was even pitched as a knock-off of one of those movies. Interestingly, Alien‘s impact on cinema was comparable to that of Star Wars.

‘Star Wars’ caused the director of ‘Alien’ to completely rethink his creative direction

It might be difficult for modern viewers to understand the impact of the original Star Wars. Prior to George Lucas’ magnum opus, big-budget Hollywood science fiction films like The War of the Worlds and 2001: A Space Odyssey were rare. Once Star Wars premiered in 1977, Hollywood became much more comfortable with science fiction. By 1979, several expensive space movies were blasting off into theaters including Alien.

During a 2024 interview with Wired, director Ridley Scott revealed what he thought when he saw Star Wars. “I was stunned,” he recalled. “Star Wars just turned my head about completely. So...

Star Wars paved the way for many subsequent science fiction films, including the original Alien. During an interview director Ridley Scott revealed he wanted Alien to be the “antithesis” of Star Wars. He also said that he had 2001: A Space Odyssey in mind when he directed Alien.

The original ‘Alien’ was the most beloved of the ‘Star Wars’ cash-ins

George Lucas’ Star Wars came out in 1977 and changed cinema forever. In 1978 and 1979, many film studios released Star Wars cash-ins. We got Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Disney’s The Black Hole, the sci-fi James Bond romp Moonraker, and the bold Japanese Star Wars rip-off Message from Space. The most beloved of the bunch is Alien. Part of the reason why fans remember Alien a lot more than Message from Space is that Alien told a story that wasn’t derived from Star Wars in any meaningful way.

During a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter,...

Ridley Scott's favorite movies are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Quest for Fire, and Blade Runner. Blade Runner holds a special place for Scott as it "set the pace for many things." Scott notes that 2001: A Space Odyssey influenced Alien.

Director Ridley Scott reveals his four favorite movies of all time. Scott has directed many films throughout his career, including the iconic Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator, and more recently, Napoleon and the upcoming Gladiator II.

When asked by Letterboxd about his four favorite movies, Scott shared that his all-time favorites are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Quest for Fire, and one of his own films, Blade Runner, with Scott explaining that it "just set the pace for many things." Check out the video below:

Four Favorites with Alien director Ridley Scott and Alien: Romulus director @fedalvar @AlienAnthology #AlienRomulus pic.twitter.com/4Vthm4VUS0 Letterboxd (@letterboxd) August 15, 2024

More to come.

Attention, directors: If Alan Cumming has been in your movie at any time in the 21st century, you can thank Stanley Kubrick. And if at any point Cumming seemed annoyed at you, you can blame Kubrick.

At least that’s what Cumming said. In an interview with TheWrap about “The Traitors,” the Peacock reality show for which he’s been nominated for an Emmy for hosting, Cumming enthusiastically detoured into a discussion about his appearance in “Eyes Wide Shut,” Kubrick’s final film, which was released in July 1999, 25 years ago this summer.

“It was very memorable,” Cumming said of the experience, which both restored his interest in acting in films at a time when he was losing it and made him question the way other filmmakers have directed him since.

Mind you, Cumming didn’t have much of a role in the film, a dreamy and kinky reverie in which...

Many iconic sci-fi movies, like Star Wars, Interstellar, and Contact, have been heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The themes and visuals of 2001, such as the monoliths and Hal's red light, have shaped the way sci-fi movies explore humanity's place in the universe. Kubrick's film has set a lasting standard for abstract storytelling in the genre, pushing filmmakers to create thought-provoking narratives.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most influential sci-fi movies ever made, so it's no surprise that many other classics of the genre have taken inspiration from it. Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece represented a massive leap forward in terms of the technical side of sci-fi filmmaking, but it has also influenced the kinds of themes and stories that sci-fi movies attempt to tackle.

So many images from 2001: A Space Odyssey are now iconic - the towering monoliths, Hal's intense red light,...

Following last year’s very successful “Big & Loud! 70mm, Atmos, and Audio-Obsessive Cinema” screening series, Netflix is launching its latest edition of what is becoming a signature late summer and early fall event at its Paris Theater in New York City. This year’s series will again boast, per the streamer, “eye-popping 70mm prints, thunderous Dolby Atmos, and cinema worth celebrating.”

The series kicks off on Friday, August 23 and will run through Thursday, October 31. Special presentations will include a new 70mm print of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” (screening for the first time in New York), plus new 70mm prints of “North by Northwest” and “The Searchers,” as well as 70mm screenings of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Boogie Nights,” “Hamlet” (1996), “The Hateful Eight,” “Inception,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Malcolm X,” “Nope,” “Phantom Thread,” “Spartacus,” and “The Untouchables.”

Other highlights (and there are many) include “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Days of Heaven,...

Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” is a movie that lives in its own special sphere. Simply put, I think it may be the most fascinating horror film ever made…that’s not scary. The most fascinating horror film ever made that is scary is “Psycho”; that’s because it’s the ultimate film to watch yourself watching. And let’s be clear: I realize that “The Shining” is widely considered to be a terrifying movie. But I saw it the night it opened — on May 23, 1980 — and have seen it a dozen times since, and while the film’s mood and mysteries have deepened for me, to the point that I find it a uniquely seductive piece of cinema, I have always had the same problem with it, going back to that very first viewing.

In “The Shining,” we watch an enormous metaphysical puzzle from the dark side, a ghost story...

After "Star Trek" was canceled in 1969, show creator Gene Roddenberry was dismayed. The series was hard-fought, but the ratings were never stellar during its initial run. Indeed, CBS was going to cancel the show at the end of its second season, but a massive letter-writing campaign kept it going for another year. "Star Trek," as most Trekkies know, didn't really its massive audience for a few years, after the series had been put into eternal syndication. Only then did fans start flocking to the show in earnest. It wouldn't be until 1972 that the first "Star Trek" convention would be held.

Roddenberry wasn't content to rest on his growing laurels, however, and tried out a few projects in the early 1970s, hoping to further explore his sci-fi interests. He loved to preach a philosophy of pacifism, as well as larger sci-fi themes about humanity's place in the cosmos. In 1973, he created "Genesis II,...

The Event Horizon episode of Revisited was Written and Narrated by Vannah Taylor, Edited by Juan Jimenez, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

We all know the term “Hell on Earth,” but what about “Hell in Space”? That might be the most succinct way of describing the 1997 film, Event Horizon (watch it Here), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and written by Philip Eisner. The film’s title is borrowed from an astrophysics term, and although there are various theories surrounding this term, it can best be summed up by someone such as myself who does not have an astrophysics degree as the idea that once a particle is inside the horizon, moving into the hole is inevitable—which leads us to the colloquial understanding of an “event horizon” as “a point of no return” and that is exactly where the characters of this film will find themselves.