Movie Reviews' top 5 sci-fi movie picks for 2012
Got a sci-fi itch you need to scratch in 2012? Why not see if these top 5 sci-fi picks can do the trick...
The coming year promises more than a few sci-fi treats, and these are the five which have got our sci-fi senses tingling...
There wasn’t even a discussion for first entry on this list from our quarters: Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, out on June 1st, looks the absolute ticket.
Judging by the manpower spent dissecting the trailer post-release, we’re not alone in feverishly anticipating the arrival of the not-an-Alien-prequel-but-really-yes-it-is film. The internet echoed with joyful cries of ‘A space jockey! He’s got android hair! It’s the same ship!’ when the first trailer went online, providing two minutes and thirty seconds of pure sci-fi delight.
Starring Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Rafe Spall and Guy Pearce, the cast is pretty exciting to boot. Frankly, if it’s not top of your sci-fi list, you need to sort your priorities out.
Writer/director Rian Johnson isn’t one to spread himself too thinly,
choosing instead to concentrate on passion projects with recurring cast
members than leap from franchise to remake like others in his line of
work. 2005 saw the release of Johnson’s impressive feature debut, high
school detective noir Brick, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 2012
sees him reunited with Gordon-Levitt for the genuinely exciting prospect
of original sci-fi, Looper.
Yes, by the time we’ve seen marketing execs pummel The Hunger Games trilogy beyond recognition to fill a Twilight-shaped
hole, we’ll very likely tire at the mere sound of its title. Right now
though, just months before the release of the first film on March 23rd, we’re quietly thrilled about it.
Not that our other choices don’t have brains, but we like to think Cloud Atlas brings
a something a little more cerebral to this selection. David Mitchell’s
original novel made its readers pay attention with its wide-ranging
plots and intricate connections between stories set in different times
and places, and we hope that’s just what the film adaptation will do.
With the visual talents of the Wachowski brothers on board and Run Lola Run’sTom Twyker in the directing chairs, we’re hopeful that this will be one of the more satisfying sci-fi dramas of 2012. The film’s cast is eclectic to say the least, including the likes of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon and Skyfall’s Ben Whishaw amongst many, many others. That’s not your usual sci-fi cast, and this promises not to be your usual sci-fi film. See if you agree when Cloud Atlas comes out next October.
Prometheus
Judging by the manpower spent dissecting the trailer post-release, we’re not alone in feverishly anticipating the arrival of the not-an-Alien-prequel-but-really-yes-it-is film. The internet echoed with joyful cries of ‘A space jockey! He’s got android hair! It’s the same ship!’ when the first trailer went online, providing two minutes and thirty seconds of pure sci-fi delight.
Starring Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Rafe Spall and Guy Pearce, the cast is pretty exciting to boot. Frankly, if it’s not top of your sci-fi list, you need to sort your priorities out.
Looper
Also starring Bruce Willis as the older version of Gordon-Levitt’s character, Looper
is another take on a mob story, but instead of transporting the action
to an American high school, Johnson has set things in a future world
where time travel is possible. Looper comes to UK cinemas on September 28th and Johnson can consider our ticket already bought.
The Hunger Games
Adapted from Suzanne Collins’ set of dystopian teen novels, The Hunger Games
are part-kickass action, part-romance and part-satire, with something
important to say on the nature of governments, propaganda and reality
TV. Imagine 1984, but with Winston as a tough-nuts teenage girl who’s handy with a bow and who has to fight her way through Battle Royale. Intrigued? We certainly are.
John Carter
Say the words Disney, big-budget and sci-fi, and it’s hard not to think of Tron: Legacy, a film which got lost somewhere under all the digital jazz, man. John Carter though, an adaptation of the works of Tarzan-creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, could be the film to change that reputation.
Our reasoning is mostly down to the involvement of one man: Pixar writer and director Andrew Stanton. The release of Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol proved that miracles can happen when a talented animation director takes a shot at live-action, and it’s got us thinking that Stanton may be able to pull off the same trick.
With Wall-E, Finding Nemo and A Bug’s Life under his creative belt, Stanton has much to bring to John Carter, and the glimpses we’ve seen thus far have been encouraging in an original Star Wars trilogy kind of way. Let’s stand back and see what he comes up with on the 9th of March.
Our reasoning is mostly down to the involvement of one man: Pixar writer and director Andrew Stanton. The release of Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol proved that miracles can happen when a talented animation director takes a shot at live-action, and it’s got us thinking that Stanton may be able to pull off the same trick.
With Wall-E, Finding Nemo and A Bug’s Life under his creative belt, Stanton has much to bring to John Carter, and the glimpses we’ve seen thus far have been encouraging in an original Star Wars trilogy kind of way. Let’s stand back and see what he comes up with on the 9th of March.
Cloud Atlas
With the visual talents of the Wachowski brothers on board and Run Lola Run’sTom Twyker in the directing chairs, we’re hopeful that this will be one of the more satisfying sci-fi dramas of 2012. The film’s cast is eclectic to say the least, including the likes of Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon and Skyfall’s Ben Whishaw amongst many, many others. That’s not your usual sci-fi cast, and this promises not to be your usual sci-fi film. See if you agree when Cloud Atlas comes out next October.
Comments
Post a Comment