A stunning combination of drama and romance, with a touch of sci fi. Both main characters delivered some serious roles where a couple trying to hold their relationship together in an unknown future, where a memory loss virus spreads and threatens to erase mandkind's memories. The non-stop back and forth sequences help the puzzle to connect as the characters develop in the story. With a beautiful score and a great cast, this is a full of heart movie. The dialogue is flawless, the production is amazing, the photography excellent. This is truly art, and cinema, at it's very best. It is such a thematically rich, visually consistent and aurally transfixing package, creating an off-kilter if recognizable world, at the centre of which are two people deep in the throes of love. While the broadstrokes of the story are as expected, the ending especially is brilliant.

The Last Days on Mars (2013)

This was a serious sci fi flick with so many potentials. You can find a cast full of recognized actors serving it well and a scenario giving its best, combing science fiction with horror elements. Only a few hours before the crew departs from Mars, an accident turns out to be disastrous for the whole mission. A great discovery on bacterial life changes to a lethal game for survival between the astronauts. The situation is really tough for everyone and as mission comes to its end, Vince, a brave technician tries to figure out what happened and what will be his next move in order to survive, isolated in an unfriendly planet. You will enjoy every moment of its dramatic sequence as this entertaining film delivers a great story.

The signal (2014)

Signal is a really interesting sci fi movie. Its cinematopraphy and cast make it work and it is something different in a good way. Three friends are trying to track down a mysterious hacker somewhere in the Nevada desert. Their passion lead them in an abandoned place where everything is going to change. The real terror begins after this incident and trough some artistic nostalgic-type flashbacks, the storyline delivers a great plot. The pacing is slow and methodical, doling out information in carefully measured doses before opening the floodgates during the film's climax. For a medium budgeted film, it sure does looks amazing. I can say it is a mindbender for serious sci fi fans.

 

Extinction (2015)

Extinction is not another typical zombie flick but maybe a beautiful exception. Even if you can think of it as a repetition at the beginning, everything is going to change soon at this well written story. Two different neighbors, Patrick and Jack, live peacefully somewhere in an abandoned place in the future. There was a zombie attack, nine years ago, and now Patrick raises up his daughter Lu, as Jack has no friends around, except his dog. There is a secret between these two men and they both have a common enemy that is still kept hidden. Surviving on the cold planet is really difficult and Lu tries to understand the meaning of being a human. Cool acting, nice atmosphere and an interesting horror film as well.

Escape from Tomorrow (2013)

What is actually the definition of cinema? Action, a good script, a better cinematography or a perfect role play? On this experimental as I can say film, maybe you can't find any of these or you may explore some new frontiers. It is all filmed in a Disney entertainment park, where you find Jim and his family try to spend some happy moments together until the father gets a notice that he got fire. After that, he obsesses with two young girls and starts being paranoid. The place seems to be unfriendly for his family and various issues appear in their relationship. The story goes insane more and more, presenting both surreal and horror elements into. A really bizarre film that made my mind move through his stunning black and white video production. So cinema or not, this gem is not for anyone!

Omega (2014)

OMEGA is an ambitious stop motion short movie project produced by Eva Franz and Andy Goralczyk at the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe, Germany. The end of evolution awaits us in a wasteland dominated by bizarre trash formations, dust and rock. From the scattered remains of a long forgotten culture an electric ecosystem rapidly evolves into the ultimate form of existence...The mechanical life form Ohm inhabits a bleak and devastated planet. The thousands of mechanical creatures of this world share a single cycle of energy. In this cycle, Ohm is a rogue element. His nature is to devour and absorb others. When one day a gargantuan foreign object appears in the skies. Drawn in by mysterious creatures of light, the Ohm tracks them across the planet, changing the known order of matter, time and space.

OMEGA - A Stop Motion Animated Short from omegastopmotion on Vimeo.

Gagarin. Pervyy v kosmose (2013)

This magnificent film from Russia delivers the story of the first human ever traveling in space, the legendary Yuri Gagarin. It is a beautiful story that finds a young boy staring at the stars and imagine himself going to space. He will follow his dream and join the air force academy instead of his father refusal. His wife's understanding will help him to reach his target and finally be the first candidate to enter the Vostok rocket. His kind character made him a loveable man who has been trusted by Sergei Pavlovich, the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The actors do a magnificent job of capturing the raw emotion of that day and present us with a story of all the people responsible for the first flight into space. Particular regard is to be had for Yaroslav Zhalnin who does a stellar job portraying the man himself. Recommended for fans of space exploration.

 

O Homem do Futuro aka The Man from the future (2011)

Zero is a genius scientist who tries to find a new power source into the lab of a college university. When he finally finds the solution and the miracle comes, he finds himself back to time and exactly when he was a teenager, full in love with Helena, the most beautiful girl in college. He tries to change the future and avoid public humiliation from her who left him furious for the rest of his life. But he complicates things more than he ever thought and his alter ego alongside with other characters from future built a surreal past where crazy situations come to reality. A great science fiction comedy from Brazil where Wagner Moura delivers an amazing performance and justifies his place as one of the best actors in Latin America.

In-lyu-myeol-mang-bo-go-seo aka Doomsday Book (2012)

This anthology film is a compilation of three individual chapters, each one delivers with the end of the world. At the first one, a mysterious virus takes humanity down as every citizen starts being a zombie and the salvation is not possible. At the second and most interesting part, a robot is believed to be the reincarnation of Buddha. Placed into a monastery, it is trying to reach enlightenment until the technician of its constructing company arrives and seeks for the problem. But there is nothing to fix so the situation becomes more complicated. At the last chapter, a young girl logs into a strange website and puts in an order for a new pool ball for her billiards-obsessed father. Soon an unidentified meteor heads toward Earth and all human beings flee to underground bomb shelters. The reason of this unexpected disaster could be her e-shopping. All the parts are crazy to the bone and give us an extraordinary sample of great Korean fiction cinema.

Los últimos días aka The last days (2013)

Marc works as a programmer at a big company in Barcelona. He realizes day by day that something strange happens around him as people become sick while they come out from buildings. It is only the beginning of a huge epidemic spreading across the planet though. Marc decides to escape from his shelter through the tunnels of the underground and find his wife Julie. He meets Enrique, another decided man who wants to approach his father at the hospital. Together they start a difficult journey to find their beloved ones and they will become best friends even if they don't really trust each other at its beginning. A very interesting idea gave this Spanish film a great opportunity to be a classic sci fi gem that is compromising. When cinematography is combined with an actual script, we can have an extraordinary result.

Catzilla (2013)

Beware of the mighty kitten that destroys a whole town. No one can beat it until a young woman gives him a new trial. To fight against a similar monster cat and tear the place apart. Funny and enjoyable animation, full of action and dedicated to Kaiju mythology where Godzilla and other famous monsters appeared in Japanese cinema around sixties.

CATZILLA from Platige Image on Vimeo.

Oblivion (2013)

Jack works as a drone technician on the abandoned Earth, after the war of humans with the alien Scavs. With his wife Vica at the control station, they complete an effective team. But he dreams of a past life years ago before he even lived. With the arrival of female astronaut's  Julia, Jack is going to reconsider about his life and his purposes. Julia is not the only link to his peaceful past though and soon many secrets are going to be revealed and change everything. This is a stunning science fiction gem from the director who filmed Tron Legacy back in 2010. The specifications are about the same and the complete work is amazing. Cinematography is excellent and the whole cast is performing really well. This is a very interesting amalgam of past sci fi movies as Space Odyssey 2001, I am Legend and so many other to mention.
Another good choice for Tom Cruise's filmography.

The Colony (2013)

In the future, humans have to live underneath the ice due to a climate change that left the planet as a cold desert. One day it started to snow and it never ended. Briggs is the leader of Colony 5, a place where some survivors live and work in an experimental lab in order to find a new place to move and change the temperature of the environment. After a call for help from another colony, he decides to do a rescue mission but what he will find there, it will change the fate of everyone back in his base. Because the real problem out there is not the freeze but the hunger who transform people into beasts. This could be a great film because the intense was real until the first part of it. Dark cinematography and convincing performances from the cast showed that something good could be happened. But after that you will find another cliche end with cannibals running and screaming around. My question is why all the cannibals and the zombies or the mutants have always supernatural powers, who said that if you are a monster you have to be a champ at sprints or can escape from bullets? It's a pity indeed.

Limitless (2011)

This is a kick ass film and maybe one of the best I have seen till now. Imagine a drug that helps you unleash the ultimate powers of your brain including restore all the lost data and the memories you ever had. This happens to hopeless writer Eddie Morra when his ex brother in law gives him a special drug called NZT. Suddenly the looser becomes a hero. The pathetic becomes a successful businessman. The road leads only forward and Eddie becomes enthusiast with the limitless posibilities of his new brain that gives birth to more and more ideas. But after an untrustworthy deal with a gangster and with a hit man on his back, Morra has to define the new horizons that will make his life easier and more secured. Another tycoon, Carl Van Loon, needs Eddie's talent for his own purposes but the last one has to realize the situation first and then escape from the labyrinth of his mind. A crazy sci fi gem with astonishing cinematography, great cast and limitless reasons to watch it. 

After Earth (2013)

Will Smith's last appearance on cinemas deliver a dramatic science fiction gem where a father and a son try to reconnect. The planet Earth has been evacuated one thousand years ago and all mankind has been moved now to Nova Prime planet. But another alien nation is at war with the humans and they send Ursa, hunters to eliminate every human. The only thing that can save someone is to forget fear and be calm, something like an inner power that is not for everyone. Legendary General Cypher Raige takes his 13-year-old son, Kitai, into a routine mission but everything goes wrong when their spaceship crash over planet Earth, an unknown planet and totally different from what we know this era. Cypher gets injured and sends his son into a quest to recover their rescue beacon. This mission will be another way to the transformation of the youngster to an elder character, taking decisions that may cost their lives. So the result is quite good, we have some action but the effects sometimes are not working well. I found the acting of Smith so and so maybe because of his character. Jaden Smith gave a better performance and I think he has it. A good film from director Shyamalan after a long period.

 

Eva (2011)

Alex works as a robot programmer and he is one of the best worldwide. He decides to return to his hometown and take over a new project of a prototype robot. He meets there his old friend Julia that owns the company and delivers him the work. His brother David, an also successful genius at the robotics has started a new life with Alex's ex girlfriend Lana and their daughter Eva, a smart and perceptive young girl. Alex's return will change everything as secrets among the three adults will be revealed. Alex wants to analyze Eva's character and work with her on some experiments but he doesn't really know about her origin. A bold film with accomplishing scenario and cool effects blending science fiction with drama. Daniel Bruhl gives another good performance here though.

Mars Attacks! (1996)

What can be the common between the president of the States, a sweet deaf granny, a retired boxer who works as an animator in a casino, an ambitious hotel owner and a couple working on a tv network? All these will witness the historical moment of the contact with the visitors from planet Mars. But due to a misunderstanding, the fellow guests will turn extremely hostile and start the invasion on Earth taking no prisoners. A cool guy and his granny will take part on humans counterattack and find the solution to win this intergalactic battle. Tim  Barton directs a hilarious comedy about aliens back in 1996 and gives us a great parody of classic b movies of the sixties. Jack Nicholson is really pleasurable playing two individual roles as also De Vito, Brosnan, Parker, Fox, Brown and even famous singer Tom Jones do their best.

 

Dredd (2012)

I can say this is the best adaptation of the legendary comic book 'Judge Dredd' for sure. In a dystopian America after a world war that ruined everything, population has moved into huge Mega City One. Life is extremely difficult as outnumbered gangs rule over the place and the only one force that combines judge, jury and instant executioner are the urban cops, called ''Judges''. Dredd is one of them and he makes himself up a serious impact for the outlaws. Now with rookie Cassandra, a psychic mutant woman with ambition to join the force, they enter into a huge building of two hundred floors in order to find and eliminate drug lord's Ma-Ma clan. The war begins but the enemies are outnumbered. Will Dredd succeed into his mission and stay alive alongside with Cassy? It is a bleak film, a superior action movie with excellent cinematography, dark atmosphere and a faithful attribution to the original story. Actor Karl Urban gives a more convincing performance as Dredd instead of Stalone's attempt through the nineties.

Dark skies (2013)

Barret family is living peacefully at the suburbs when a series of shocking events disturb their routine. The father, Daniel, is unemployed for a long time and his wife, Lacy tries to support him as also grow up their two sons with love and care. An unknown force invades their home night by night and make all suffer from nightmares. They all also start to have memory blackouts and find themselves into a hypnotizing condition that drive them crazy. What is the purpose of this uninvited menace and what will be the consequences of this arrival upon their house? An astonishing sci fi thriller from the producers of Paranormal Activity (I hate this film) but I think this production is levels ahead anyway. Great suspense and powerful performances from the starring duo as also an accomplishing direction of a mysterious case.

Still life (2005)

A young man drives into a desolate town where something strange happens. When he involves into a car accident, he realizes that he is the only human around as the city is a residential for lifeless mannequins. Things get worst when he tries to find shelter into a house. Creepy and with a working scenario this short film really made my day. If the budget was bigger maybe we could have a better result though.