Back in my early days of reviewing films when my kids were growing up and still at home I created a special category called “Young People” where I placed movies that didn’t treat cinema kids like idiots or totally obsessed with sex and fart jokes.
All in Science Fiction
Henry Levin's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
This thoroughly enjoyable 1959 classic is a childhood favorite. Viewed again recently I was pleasantly surprised to see how enjoyable it remains.
Paul W.S. Anderson's “RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE”
Basically, if you’re into really well-made sci-fi-action-zombie-post-acopalyptic-action-gorefests, this one’s for you.
Mario Bava's PLANET OF VAMPIRES
This bare-bones DVD contains a gorgeous color wide screen version of a 1965 Italian science fiction movie directed by Mario Bava that boasts many scenes eerily reminiscent of images and situations in the later ALIEN movies.
Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Seeing this movie again after a delay of several years I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it holds up.
Ernie Barbarash's “CUBE ZERO”
I rather enjoyed this direct-to-video Canadian horror film.
Je-gyun Yun's TIDAL WAVE (HAEUNDAE)
As disaster movies go this one is pretty good. We get to know an odd group of people and wonder, of course, which will survive When The Big One Hits.
Val Guest's DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE
Val Guest’s businesslike direction and matter-of-fact approach to depicting extraordinary circumstances in a near-documentary style here yield a still-watchable and very entertaining thriller that takes place in London in the early 1960’s.
Robert Brousseau's “RACE”
This is the “intergalactic pod race” story you get from people who don’t read enough good science fiction.
Val Guest's QUATERMASS 2 (ENEMY FROM SPACE)
This mixture of British horror and sci-fi from 1957 is thoughtful and at the same time scary.
Christian Alvart's PANDORUM
Plot summary:
Outer Space Zombies.
Jack Arnold's IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
Back in 1976 I was taking a driving tour of California, my first.
Fumihiko Sori's VEXILLE
This movie has plot holes galore, the graphic concepts and technologies are derivative, and the characters are oddly un-engaging. Still, it moves along at a very fast clip, the story itself is unusual, and some of the action sequences are spectacular.
Duncan Jones' MOON
I like movies that start out with a fake documentary describing the imaginary culture underlying the film — two good examples are Monsters Inc. and Starship Troopers.
Add Moon to the list.
Enki Bilal's IMMORTAL
Next time someone says, “Yeah, Avatar was great, but the story sucked,” suggest this film instead. The story doesn’t suck.
Joss Whedon's “SERENITY”
The elements are familiar: Han Solo-style wisecracking captain-with-a-heart-of-gold, rag-tag crew, gorgeous babe good at swordplay and kick-boxing, evil empire, space armadas battling at close quarters, and — I kid you not — flesh-eating outer space zombies.
First Spaceship on Venus
This 1964 European-produced, English-dubbed movie was cutting edge when released and even now contains elements that entertain.
Fritz Lang's “WOMAN IN THE MOON”
This 1929 silent film by Metropolis director Fitz Lang is quite amazing.
Timur Bekmambetov's DAY WATCH
I see elements from The Matrix, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Resident Evil. And vampires, of course.
Mamoru Hosoda's “THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME”
At first I thought, “Uh-oh, this is another one of those interminable animes about Japanese high school kids dealing with adolescent angst.” Boy, was I wrong.