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"Never send a human to do a machine's job."
When Star Wars (now titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) debuted in May of 1977, it forever changed sci-fi — and Hollywood’s perception of the genre — with its epic fantasy story and groundbreaking technology. It quickly became the highest grossing movie of all time and garnered numerous accolades, winning six of the ten Academy Awards categories for which it was nominated. Star Wars continually ranks near the top of just about every movie list category out there, including our own recent Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1970’s and ‘80s, as voted by you, the Reelz.com readers.
The long-awaited prequel trilogy that was launched in May of 1999 with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a huge success for Lucasfilm, but, even though it boasted far superior special effects, it failed to make the same sort of impact on moviegoers as the original. Was Jar Jar Binks really the source of the ambivalence that many fans felt toward The Phantom Menace or was it that they had already had their minds blown by The Matrix, which opened two months prior? And how do the Star Wars prequels and The Matrix trilogy stack up against other sci-fi movies with next-level special effects like Avatar or more cerebral movies like Donnie Darko? Sit down, jack in and upload your choices of the best sci-fi movies from 1990 to today.
Rate the Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies (1990s - 2010s) >>
Posted 03.14.13 by BrentJS -
"Negotiation's over. Sentence is death."
Journey to a post-apocalyptic world in which the cities are the size of countries, criminals can slow time, and the last thing you want to do is get on the bad side of the law.
Fight for what's right! >> Posted 01.08.13 by BrentJS -
Everything old is new again
Reboot. To many self-styled movie aficionados, the word has come to represent everything they perceive to be wrong with Hollywood. They complain that the increasing number of reboots — six already this year, with many, many more on the way — is a sign that movie studios have simply run out of ideas. But, though the word describing them may be relatively new, Hollywood has been rebooting franchises for a very long time. Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Tarzan, James Bond, Batman — the longevity of these characters as cinematic icons has depended upon periodic reinventions to keep them fresh (we're still waiting for Tarzan's). Obviously, some reboots are better than others, which is why we want you to help us rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots.
Rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots >>
Posted 10.02.12 by BrentJS -
It's the scowl-off to end all scowl-offs! The battle to determine which Judge Dredd deserves the right to declare, "I am the law!" Will it be the original square-jawed dispenser of justice from the 1995 Judge Dredd movie, Sylvester Stallone, or the upstart Kiwi actor Karl Urban, who debuts today as the toughest Judge in a crime-ridden future megalopolis in the appellation-less Dredd 3D? Hit the link below for our analysis of these two Character Cage Match combatants hailing from Mega-City One and then vote for the the best Judge Dredd.
cast your vote for dredd >> Posted 09.21.12 by BrentJS -
Come Friday, the future of law enforcement will have a new face, er, chin, as Kiwi actor Karl Urban (Star Trek) brings Britain's greatest comic book character to life on the big screen in director Pete Travis' (Vantage Point, Endgame) Dredd. Empowered to enforce the laws of the sprawling city-state Mega-City One as judge, jury and executioner, Judge Dredd will face his greatest challenge when he and his rookie partner, psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), wage war against Ma-Ma (Lena Heady) and her clan of ruthless drug dealers who push a reality-altering drug called SLO-MO.
With Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle's (Slumdog Millionaire) DNA Films behind the production and a screenplay by Alex Garland (28 Days Later) that received a glowing endorsement from Judge Dredd creator John Wagner — "[It's] high-octane, edge-of-the-seat stuff, and...a far truer representation of Dredd than the first movie." — Dredd promises to make us finally forget Sylvester Stallone's farsical take on the character. But, will Urban's Dredd be able to stand up to the bravest, smartest, toughest sci-fi cops in movie history? Hit the link below to see who Urban is competing with and to rate the Top 10 Sci-Fi Cops.
click to rate sci-fi's top cops >>
Posted 09.19.12 by BrentJS -
Fixing Sly Stallone's infamous 1995 outing.
Hollywood and Entertainment news weekdays 5:30p ET / 2:30p PT
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Every time new footage from director Pete Travis' (Vantage Point) Dredd adaptation is released, we get more and more excited to see Karl Urban (Stark Trek) embody Britain's greatest comic book creation. Granted, the new 60-second trailer that was just released only contains a few scant seconds of new footage, but almost all of it features Urban's scowling mug and we even get to hear him growl Judge Dredd's signature phrase, "I am the law." And, so far, Urban has been true to his word, not appearing in even a single frame of the movie sans Judge Dredd's iconic helmet, unlike Sylvester Stallone, who went through most of the Dredd-ful 1995 movie without his helmet.
All trailers, every show Saturdays 10:00a ET / 7:00a PT
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In director Pete Travis' (Endgame) new movie, Dredd, Karl Urban lays down the law in a dystopian future megalopolis in the grips of a drug war as Joseph Dredd, the most widely known and feared "Judge" in Mega City One, empowered to clean up the violent streets as judge, jury and executioner. In director John Hillcoat's (The Road) new movie, Lawless, Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy play Jack and Forrest Bondurant, two of a trio of bootlegging brothers who run afoul of the law during the Great Depression. So, what do the two movies have in common? New movie posters!
check out the new posters >> Posted 08.03.12 by BrentJS -
Judge Dredd is a hugely important comic book character in Great Britain, where his exploits as judge, jury and executioner of the futuristic megalopolis Mega City One have been in print since March of 1977, but to most Americans he is the dim-witted, somewhat sappy future cop played by Sylvester Stallone in the wish-we-could-forget-it 1995 Judge Dredd movie. Kiwi actor Karl Urban (Star Trek) is aware of the stigma attached to the character in America, which is why he's been taking every opportunity to distance the Judge Dredd he plays in director Pete Travis' (Vantage Point, Endgame) Dredd, with Stallone's version. In an interview with MTV conducted during the recent San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), Urban pulled no punches about the differences between the movies, adding that he doesn't "give a damn" what Stallone thinks.
I think it's a difference of if you like your heroes wearing lycra and gold cod pieces, then his film's the one for you. If you like a badass movie where your heroes are real and wearing leather motorbike suits and body armor and hard-core, gritty, pull-no-punches, this is the movie for you.
Dredd made its worldwide debut at SDCC last week and it was received with thunderous applause. Check out the gritty new still images from the movie and see for yourself why Urban isn't too worried about people confusing his take on the character with Stallone's
CHECK OUT THE NEW IMAGES >> Posted 07.20.12 by BrentJS -
The first trailer for the upcoming comic book adaptation of Dredd arrived online, and, as far we were concerned, exceeded expectations. Perhaps that's because the British comic book character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra is most often associated with the unfortunate 1995 adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone, unlike in the U.K., where the character has more reverence. So far, it looks like director Pete Travis (Vantage Point, Endgame) plans to be more faithful to the comic book version of the character with title star Karl Urban already admitting that Dredd will "keep [the] helmet on." That had to please many a Judge Dredd fan, but for many moviegoers in the U.S. ignorant of the significance of that remark, more will have to be done to sell audiences on the movie to engender curiosity after the bad taste collectively left over from Stallone's version. To that end, Dredd screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) revealed at the London Film and Comic-Con that the movie will have to do significant business at the U.S. box office for Dredd to get a sequel.
"We’ll see a sequel if the gross is above $50 million in the US," said Garland during a panel over the weekend attended by Bleeding Cool. "It’s a simple financial equation. We’re an independent movie."
what is garland planning for sequels? >> Posted 07.09.12 by Ryan