Alex Garland’s Annihilation is a complex puzzle, mixing the extraterrestrial with the most microbial elements of humanity. Its characterization is strong throughout — as its themes are mirrored in its leading lady — but its most promising components come in the form of visual metaphors. They’re scattered strategically throughout the 115-minute science fiction thinker. Where…
Science fiction has long explored the question of what it is to be human. This philosophical topic has involved different non-human figures, such as extra-terrestrials in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Avatar,” clones in “Never Let Me Go” and “The Island” and perhaps most frequently, artificial intelligence. Films such as “Metropolis,” “2001: A Space…
Mind games are afoot in Alex Garland’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Ex Machina. And Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) finds himself in the middle of them as he gets much more than he bargained for when he is selected to evaluate how well a newly developed artificial intelligence represents human intellect and behavior. In the form of a…
Created in 1977 by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, Brit cult comic book character Judge Dredd was last seen on the big screen in 1995 for the Disney-produced, campy Sylvester Stallone vehicle simply titled “Judge Dredd.” Although the Stallone picture is fun in a “so bad it’s good” way, it was a total misfire, flopping…
I’m no fan of the abundance of remakes, reboots or re-imaginings plaguing Hollywood these days. That is until word that “Judge Dredd” was finally getting the makeover it deserved with Dredd. For those not familiar with the setup or character, nuclear war has laid waste to the world and Dredd is an elite police officer…
After all the critical acclaim heaved upon Danny Boyle and Alex Garland for helping to redefine the zombie flick with “28 Days Later…,” I was definitely excited to see if something similar could be done with science fiction genre. Granted, there are plenty of recent space movies but they’ve all focused on action and big…
