The second greatest sci-fi movie of the twenties is Metropolis by Fritz Lang. It is the archetype of the social sci-fi film. The budget was around 7.000.000 mark (The sum was so high that, although the film itself was a success, the production company went bankrupt). The shooting lasted from the 22nd of May 1925… Continue reading METROPOLIS
Genre: Science-Fiction
ZARDOZ
In 2293, the world is divided between the immortal ‘Eternals’ and the mortal ‘Brutes’. The Brutes serve the Eternals. Cracks are appearing in the system when Zed, a brute, turns against his masters. Zardoz, a film from 1973 by John Boorman, is considered one of the strangest of the genre. We are far away from… Continue reading ZARDOZ
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
One night, aliens abduct a four year old child. The mother witnesses the phenomenon. Not far away, a man encounters aliens. Meeting indifference or secrecy, the man and the mother forge a bond to search for an answer to this alien mysterie. Their research leads them to a special place where an extraordinary meeting will… Continue reading CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
WESTWORLD
Westworld is a film that takes place in an artificial world, where rich customers can go on a vacation ‘like everybody else’ and live in locations of the past. Westworld, Romanworld, Medievalworld….all these places are populated by smart robots, programmed to carry out a specific role (gangsters who fight out duels, bartenders, hookers, etc…). The… Continue reading WESTWORLD
PLANET OF THE APES
Writers often enjoy worldwide fame because of the movie adaptations of their work. Authors such as Boileau- Narcejac, Manchette, Shelley, Stoker, Leroux and even E.A. Poe are good examples. Even if Planet of the Apes isn’t as strong as the novel by Pierre Boule, the result made a huge impact on the scifi movie scene.… Continue reading PLANET OF THE APES
HECTOR SERVADAC’S ARK
You could say that Karel Zeman was able to accomplish what Méliès couldn’t realise. On the Comet is an intricate little juwel of animation, a wonderful movie adventure. The director is only interested in fiction, in the fantastical. Characters escape from their painted sets. The frame goes from black to white and then to color.… Continue reading HECTOR SERVADAC’S ARK
ROLLERBALL
Rollerball by Norman Jewison shows us a futuristic society without nations and without war where a new game is popular, Rollerball: a mixture of skating, American football and hockey. The game has a real cultstatus in a society where three days of work is enough and where everybody can enjoy his passions. Opposite this symbolic… Continue reading ROLLERBALL
2001 : A SPACE ODYSSEY
During the communist witch hunts in Hollywood, there is a young, hotheaded director who openly pleads for antimilitarism and dismisses American fascism with an irony that’s much sharper than the majority of films that were censored at the time. The name of that director is Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick quickly feels the need to express himself… Continue reading 2001 : A SPACE ODYSSEY
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT
London, after the war. One day, a group of labourers find a skeleton in the metro. Immediately Dr. Roney and his assistant Barbara are called to the scene. They find a new skeleton, this time dating from prehistoric times. Further research discovers that it is actually from Mars. Based on an extraordinary screenplay by R.W.… Continue reading QUATERMASS AND THE PIT
