Category Archives: Sci-fi

6,0-6,9, action, male director, Sci-fi

“Edge Of Tomorrow” by Doug Liman (USA, 2014)

Edge of Tomorrow

A movie that has an interesting time-loop story and nice humor during the first half, but lacks of brains and humor in the end  / Obvious gender roles for Tom Cruise

Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Tony Way, Kick Gurry, Dragomir Mrsic, Charlotte Riley, Noah Taylor
Director: Doug Liman
Novel: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Music: Christophe Beck
Cinematography: Dion Beebe
Editing: James Herbert

3,0-5,9, action, female director, male director, romance,, Sci-fi

“Project Eden vol.1” by Ashlee Jensen & Terrance Young (USA, 2017)

Project Eden I

Very foreseeable developments, many cliches (the mafia speaks Russian, to make sure we know it is the mafia), enormous mistakes in the continuity (after she has been running hard for a few hundred meters, he asks her if she can walk), and a dystopian setting that is not even necessary to the plot… The few twists after an hour or so don’t make it better. One of the worse movies I’ve ever seen!

Actors: Erick Avari, Mike Dopud, Anna McGahan
Directors: Ashlee Jensen, Terrance M. Young
Writers: Ashlee Jensen, Terrance M. Young | 1 more credit »
Music by Jamie Murgatroyd
Cinematography by Christopher Lange
Film Editing by Terrance M. Young

7,0-7,9, drama,, female director, Sci-fi

“Into The Forest” by Patricia Rozema (Canada, 2015)

A few recent movies on fatherhood

Into The Forest

Good story and realization, average content
Three men: the father, the lover, the raper / Three women: ywo sisters + deceased mother
The “scifi” setting that was perhaps justified when the story was written in 1996 doesn’t convey anything to the plot today.

Cast: Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Keith Rennie, Max Minghella
Director: Patricia Rozema
Based on the novel by Jean Hegland
Writer: Patricia Rozema
Cinematographer: Daniel Grant
Editor: Matthew Hannam
Composer: Max Richter

8,0-8,9, action, drama,, Sci-fi

“The Matrix” by Lana & Lilly Wachowski (USA, 1999)

The Art of the Wachowski (sisters)

The Matrix

Nice wink to the music of Bernard Hermann during the pursuit on the roof / fantastic visual effects
But why on earth would the Wachowsky sisters call the last human city ‘Zion’? It wouldn’t have anything to do with Hollywood, would it, Zion being a synonym of Jerusalem?
It’s a pity the movie ends up in a gun battle in which the “Bad guys fire thousands of rounds, but are unable to hit the good guy,” followed by a “final showdown between good and evil, a martial arts battle in which the good guy gets pounded until he’s almost dead, before he finds the inner will to fight back.” [Roger Ebert]

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Gloria Foster
Written and Directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Music by Don Davis
Cinematography by Bill Pope
Film Editing by Zach Staenberg

8,0-8,9, action, drama,, female director, Sci-fi

“The Matrix Reloaded” by Lana & Lilly Wachowski (USA, 2003)

The Art of the Wachowski (sisters)

The Matrix Reloaded

The people of Zion are in the future what the people of Zion were in the past.
Excellent love scene mixed with voluptuous dancing
The love relationships that were completely absent in the first Matrix now play a central role. The fight sequences are a bit too long!

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Carrie-Anne Moss, Gloria Foster, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona Gaye, Harry Lennix, Harold Perrineau, Monica Bellucci
Written and Directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Music by Don Davis
Cinematography by Bill Pope
Film Editing by Zach Staenberg

8,0-8,9, action, drama,, female director, romance,, Sci-fi

“The Matrix Revolutions” by Lana & Lilly Wachowski (Australia, 2003)

The Art of the Wachowski (sisters)

The Matrix Revolutions

Now that the philosophical hype has faded into oblivion, let’s enjoy the amazing visual effects and the good action in which most key roles are attributed to women, especially in this last pane of the trilogy.
An all-powerful Deus Ex Machina saves the show!

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Helmut Bakaitis, Hugo Weaving, Mary Alice, Monica Bellucci, Harry J. Lennix, Ian Bliss
Written and directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Music by Don Davis
Cinematography by Bill Pope
Film Editing by Zach Staenberg

8,0-8,9, action, crime, female director, male director, Sci-fi

“Cloud Atlas” by Tom Tykwer, Lana & Lilly Wachowski (USA, 2012)

The Art of the Wachowski (sisters)

Cloud Atlas

So many layers, so rich in visual surprises! As Roger Ebert put it, citing Churchill: “it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Cast: Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Tom Hanks
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Writers: David Mitchell (novel); Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Lilly Wachowski
Music by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer
Cinematography by Frank Griebe, John Toll
Film Editing by Alexander Berner, Claus Wehlisch

3,0-5,9, action, drama,, female director, romance,, Sci-fi

“Jupiter Ascending” by Lana & Andy Wachowski (USA, 2015)

The Art of the Wachowski (sisters)

Jupiter Ascending

Excellent special effects but repetitive situations, long action sequences that do not bring anything forward, and weak gender representation

Cast: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Douglas Booth, Jo Osmond, Terry Gilliam, DooNa Bae, Vanessa Kirby, James D’Arcy
Director: Lana Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Screenplay: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Original Music Composer: Michael Giacchino

7,0-7,9, action, male director, Sci-fi

“Blade Runner 2049” by Denis Villeneuve (USA, 2017)

Blade Runner 2049

Stylish, clever, at times poetic, at times too contemplative / Some of the secondary personages are not really correlated to the core of the story

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Jared Leto, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi, Carla Juri, Robin Wright
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writer: Philip K. Dick, Hampton Fancher, Michael Green
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Editor: Joe Walker
Composer: Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer