Sometimes, life in 2023 feels like sci-fi**, but luckily, movies are keeping pace
Science fiction stories have always fascinated filmmakers. Ever since Georges Méliès gave the audience a "trip to the moon", we have used the big screen to explore the most distant fantasies of space, time, technology and scientific possibilities.
Getting through 2023 can sometimes feel like sci-fi**. The advent of large language model AI has disrupted the business practices of art, filmmaking, and, of course, almost every industry. At the same time, social and search giants are redefining the news landscape, with a false billionaire tearing down the internet's "town squares" and politicians arguing about the role foreign-owned social apps play in shaping public sentiment in one of the most terrifying international conflicts of our time.
Of course, this year is also an incredible year for science fiction movies. From the horror reality drama film produced by the previous **, to James Gunn's "Goodbye", to the Marvel Universe, and the triumphant return of "The Hunger Games", "Godzilla" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".Here are the best sci-fi movies of 2023.
Asteroid City
Asteroid City was Wes Anderson's first foray into the realm of science fiction, and of course, it was done in a way that best suited Wes Anderson's style.
The film continues the matryoshka doll structure used by Anderson in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and tells the story of a group of actors acting out a story about a group of people who are isolated in a desert after being visited by aliens.
The film is full of emotional impact, as Anderson was clearly inspired by the pandemic, and with limited sci-fi elements, Jeff Goldblum has a huge cameo as "The Alien." ”
Like most of Anderson's films, this movie has an incredible cast, including:Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Edward Norton, Brian Cranston and Steve Carell.
Blue beetle
In a year full of lackluster sci-fi films, "Blue Beetle" came out on top in the competition.
This uplifting superhero origin story introduces viewers to Mexican-American teenager Jamie Reyes, who is endowed with powerful alien armor. Thanks to Xolomaridua's magnetic performance, Jaime immediately jumped off the screen and became an amiable, root-worthy hero.
The "Blue Beetle" doesn't skimp on dazzling action scenes, and Jaime masters his new skills in exciting battles. But the film also maintains a down-to-earth theme, with Jamie dealing with a very human struggle about duty, family, and resistance to oppression.
With its vivid world-building, funny humor, and full of emotion, Blue Beetle has become a breath of fresh air among this year's sci-fi movies and one of the biggest movie feasts of 2023.
Godzilla Minus One
One of the most surprising success stories of the year, "Godzilla Minus One", written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki (who also oversaw the visual effects), brought the iconic cinematic monster back to its elemental powers.
Set a few years before the original feature in 1954 (hence the minus one), it focuses on characters who have already survived the ruins of war-torn Japan. Adding Godzilla (Godzilla), a creature born of atomic indifference, makes the bad situation even worse.
Godzilla Minus One "spent so much time getting to know the characters that the horror was exponentially amplified." Godzilla himself, completely in computer animation, maintains the iconic elements of the character, while also breathing new life into him. (It's also a very unique design, enough to set him apart from his Western rivals currently seen in the "Monarch" series on Apple TV+*.) Terrifying, thoughtful and with strange emotions, "Godzilla Minus One" is one of the best Godzilla movies and one of the best movies of the year.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn completed his "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy in 2023, after which he began revamping the DCU again. He left a touching and heartbreaking quote at the end, and this time he puts the spotlight on Rocketraccoon.
The Guardians of the Galaxy series of films is always full of sci-fi fantasy, but Volume III is the most sci-fi of them all, filling in the tragic origin story of Rocket, introducing the "mad scientist" who created him (and the entire world), and contemplating the cruelty of a perfectionist creator. For a Marvel movie, Gunn leans more towards his horror roots, which can be a surprisingly painful movie to watch if you're an animal lover, but it's grotesque and cute, with a lot of care behind the horror.
The Hunger Games: Song of the Birds and Snakes
Yes, The Hunger Games is sci-fi**, and yes, The Hunger Games prequels are actually pretty good too. The story of Songbird Snake Song takes place 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games and tells the story of the young Coriolanus **Coriolanus Snow), a poor young man disguised as an elite at the Capitol and trying to shoot as he is tasked with directing a new twist on The Hunger Games, paying homage to the 12th arrondissement (played by Rachel Ziegler). This time, the game's producers (played by Viola Davis) want spectacle rather than pure punishment. What follows is a surprisingly thoughtful and nuanced reflection on the essence of **.
Infinity pool
If you are rich enough, you can get away with it. Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool takes this bitter fact and transforms it into a mind melter on a sci-fi premise.
Super-rich tourists flock to the idyllic beaches of a poor country, where they learn about the harsh local legal system: the punishment for crime is the death penalty, unless you are very rich, in which case you can pay to see a clone die of yourself. Existential crises and excessive violence ensued.
Cronenberg is an over-the-top filmmaker whose creative instincts threaten to subvert the second half of Infinity Pool, but he also communicates his ideas through a unique visual language that burrows into your brain and tickles your brain.
So, if you want to watch a sci-fi movie, discover new horrors in the concept of clone – and expose the ** and of fortune – Infinity Pool is a frenetic, boldly toned nightmare that will hover in your mind for a while.
Leave the world behind
What if you think the end of the world has arrived, but you're not sure? What if you figured it all out while living in a stranger's house? This is the premise of "Leaving the World Behind", written and directed by "Mister".
Sam Esmael, founder of Robots. Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke play a wealthy New York couple who rent an Airbnb vacation home on Long Island for a weekend. But when some inexplicable event causes internet and cell phone services to be disrupted, they are visited by a man and his daughter (played by Mahershala Ali and Mihra Herold), who say that it is their house and that they need to find a place to stay considering what happened. At.
This Netflix original is harrowing, twisty, and full of dark humor, and it's a journey with a haunting ending. — alternating current.
m3gan
Blumhouse's "m3gan" coincides with the Year of Artificial Intelligence. At.
In the movie trailer, the killer robot goes viral the moment it spins, struts, and flips sideways, but it turns out that M3gan is even rarer than memes – she might just be a new horror icon.
It's the best take on a murder doll since Chucky, a Frankenstein-esque approach to artificial intelligence and "Get Out" star Alison Williams as a brilliant scientist who watches her most ambitious invention turn into a monster.
There may not be anything particularly timely to say about AI, but given the recent news, it seems that one can always be reminded of the potential dangers of unfettered ambition, playing God, and putting profit above safety. The sequel is coming soon, and I can't wait to see what the filmmakers have to say because we've entered the age of artificial intelligence.
No one will save you
Considering their impact on the American psyche, Roswell's Frisbee and UFO don't actually have much screen time these days.
Brian Duffield's Nobody Can Save You shows us why this was a mistake. Starring Caitlin Dever, the film translates the way of the home invasion into an alien invasion in a performance with little to no dialogue, pit Dever's lonely wanderer against the invading Greyman fleet.
The film is thrilling and action-packed, and Dever's performance is another hellish one, but the best part for this sci-fi nerd is how Daffield gracefully constructs a sense of social structure in the aliens without saying a word.
Then there's the completely unexpected ending, which cements Nobody Can Save You as a captivating film about self-redemption with a "twilight" twist. High frequency.
Poor thing
Poor Stuff is currently the darling of critics and movie lovers everywhere. And for good reason – it's undoubtedly one of the best and most amazing films released this year.
But it's also an incredible sci-fi** that combines Frankenstein-esque tales of human arrogance and insistence on playing God with the exuberance of traditional sci-fi** – most notably a vaguely steampunk aesthetic. In Poor Things, Emma Stone plays a woman who commits suicide but is resurrected thanks to the help of a strange scientist (Willem Dafoe).
Here's the thing: the young woman was pregnant when she committed suicide, and scientists put the baby's brain into the woman's body. Not only does this lead to some deft physical comedy when Stone's Bella Baxter goes from a baby to a mature person, and in the course of the film, she plays an overly sexualized woman, but the film investigates class, gender, and identity through her. Everything in a world full of airships and cruise ships that spew colorful smoke. Bella's awakening – a world with so much to love – reflects the viewer's own awakening as it absorbs the bizarre and fascinating world of Poor Things.
New Kamen Rider
Shin Kamen Rider is a film directed and written by Hideaki Anno. This work will be released in Japan on March 17, 2023.
The plot of the film revolves around the main character. In the story, he is a young genius physicist and a protagonist with a relatively high IQ of Heisei Knight. His transformation prop is a "laboratory reagent bottle" commonly used by scientific researchers, and the battle is like a scientific experiment. And from the protagonist's mantra "So, let's start experimenting" and "The law of victory has been decided!" It can be seen that physical experiments and laws are a major clue in this work.
In addition, the director also claimed that the scale of the worldview of this work is the largest in history - involving the entire Japanese archipelago.
Spider-Man: Travel through the Spider-Man universe
Spider-Man: Through the Spider-Man Universe is the sequel to the Oscar-winning film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and it is the long-awaited sequel that shines even brighter than the original.
We're not just talking visually, and of course, that's the way it is, because Spider-Man will travel to worlds like Bombbattan, the mash-up of Mumbai and Manhattan, and the world of Gwen Stacy, which is a living emotional ring with inky paint flecks everywhere. But emotionally, the follow-up plot is much richer and more complex, as Miles Morales (Shamaker Moore) has a hard time understanding his place in the world, and if becoming Spider-Man requires you to go through such a tragedy (and over again).
That's the mood The melancholy tone of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Man Universe is attributed to both John Hughes and Steve Ditko, which sets it apart from the ruthless and happy heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the gloomy inhabitants. DC Universe.
It's a film meticulously directed by Joaquim dos Santos, Camp Bowles, and Justin K. Thompson (co-produced and written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller) where emotions are just as important as scenes. In a world full of bombast, this is what sets Across the Spider-Man Universe apart. Now start waiting for the third part.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mutant Chaos
From the 1984 manga series to the 1987 animated TV show, so many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles products have been released over the past few decades, whether animated or live-action, and the idea of a real reinvention seems to be there.
It's elusive, if not completely impossible. Then there's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which makes the characters exciting and endearing for the first time in years. (Imagine if Michael Bay's approach was "cute" rather than "scary.") Under the direction of Jeff Rowe and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film tilts part of the title toward teens and has real teens play the title roles (Mika Abiy, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Nunn), while also employing an art style ripped from teen notebooks.
Trent Rezno and Atticus Ross even invited the Cheap Garage Band to play their piercing soundtracks. In the final movie, the turtles fight a group of striking mutant villains, warm and intimate, fun and exciting. Perhaps the best of this film since the first live-action film in 1990 is this one. Kova Banga!
They cloned Tyrone
What happens when pimps, sex workers and ** come together? They encounter a series of strange events and embark on a journey to unravel the insidious plan of hypnosis and control over the people of the community.
They Clone Tyrone welcomes viewers to Glenn, a normal, everyday neighborhood populated by predominantly black residents who spend their lives shopping, going to church, and enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Yet beneath the surface, but right before their eyes, a conspiracy is being carried out with a mission to keep communities trapped in an endless cycle of unhealthy behaviors that ultimately hinder their mental and financial well-being. "They Clone Tyrone" is co-written by Juel Taylor and his screenwriting partner Tony Reitenmeier, with Taylor as the director, which is also his directorial work.