The original Ghost in the Shell (GitS) was a landmark in quality animation and it remains one of the most satisfying post-cyberpunk sf action movies ever made. Mingling philosophy with wild action sequences, GitS was an almost perfect blend of urban grittiness, large weapons, technology fetishism, big ideas and stylish violence.
Equilibrium borrows liberally from great works of science fiction from the past. 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World should all get together and kick the living daylights out of this small-minded piece of rubbish, says Martin McGrath.
Any conspiracy theorists, X-Files fans and any journalist looking for a cheap punchline at the expense of nerds and geeks the world over can tell you taht the humble tin-foil hat has long been the headwear of choice for evading secret transmissions from origins unknown.
Making any film is hard work. Making a film with just £8,000 is very hard work. Making a film with just £8,000 and setting it on an alien world filled with vast and deadly aliens is a labour that would make Hercules think twice. But doing it all in Scotland? Martin McGrath talks to Mark Stirton, creator of The Planet.
Over the weekend of 24-26 June, Philip K Dick held court in San Francisco – and no one seemed to mind that Hollywood’s favourite science fiction author had been dead since 1982.
One of the many surprising things about Alfonso Cuarón’s adaptation of PD James’s novel The Children on Men is the transformation of a dry and highly conservative novel into an exciting and, at least on the surface, quite radical movie.
Princesses, god-like alien boy scouts and billionaires. When I was a child DC superheroes never appealed, and I think the reason lay with their remoteness from the real world. Sure they would occasionally sweep down from their secret bases onto the mean streets of Gotham or Metropolis (even the cities were made up) to beat […]
In 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle delivers a post-apocalyptic vision of London peopled by wild-eyed lunatics infected with pure rage. They chase ordinary folk through the streets howling inpain and anger and are prone to projectile vomiting. It doesn’t sound too different from the West End on a normal Friday night, says Martin McGrath.