Category: Sci-fi

  • Transformers One

    Transformers One

    4 outta 5 After several “live action” installments of the Transformers franchise, the series returns to its animated roots with Transformers One. However, there was so much CGI animation in the series’ previous films, that it’s hard to make much of a distinction between live action and animation by now. Which isn’t a bad thing.…

  • Uglies

    Uglies

    2 outta 5 Uglies is a YA novel adaptation that really doesn’t offer anything particularly good. It feels cobbled together from other sci-fi dystopian franchises and that bubble burst a few years ago. The central hook, that people in a dystopian future society undergo mandatory, mind-controlling cosmetic surgery, feels basic. Even the action, such as…

  • Alien: Romulus

    Alien: Romulus

    4 outta 5 Alien: Romulus is a crackerjack entry in the Alien franchise that flips between knowing homages, splicing in bits of continuity, flat-out ripping off others and repeating some bits exactly. It can be sort of a “greatest hits” version of a few Alien movies all combined into one, and its willingness to take…

  • Atlas

    Atlas

    3 outta 5 Atlas is a film that owes so much to James Cameron’s sci-fi films of Aliens, Avatar and Terminator that he should have probably gotten a “Based On” credit. Star Jennifer Lopez has a resume that is particularly heavy on romantic films, where the isolated lead has to learn to connect with their…