21st-century science fiction

MaryAnn’s quick take: Immerse yourself in pure unalloyed joy with Robot Dreams, a sweet, deceptively simple carbon-silicon platonic romance. Even the poignant bittersweetness of this emotional roller coaster is affirming and uplifting. Read the review…

Examining what science-fiction film has to say about humanity now that we’re living in a sci-fi world.

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latest reviews

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latest essays

  
to come…


(This project is very much a work in progress — more themes and many more films to be added. Feel free to make recommendations.)
  
ai
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After Yang
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Her
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The Mitchells vs the Machines
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Robot & Frank
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The Wild Robot
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Ron’s Gone Wrong
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Superintelligence
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Renner
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I’m Your Man
Mother/Android

  
alien invasion/first contact
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Annihilation
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Prey
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Jules
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No One Will Save You
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Landscape with Invisible Hand

  
apocalypse
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Biosphere
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Flow
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The Mitchells vs the Machines
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2073
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The Beast
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Breathe
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Moonfall
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The Wandering Earth

  
cloning/in our image
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Dual
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My Zoe
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The Substance
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Foe
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Marjorie Prime

  
corporatocracy/consumerism
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Her
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The Mitchells vs the Machines
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The Fix
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Borderlands
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exploration
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Ad Astra
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Settlers
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Spaceman

  
global warming
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infection
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The Fix
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New Life
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law and order
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The Kitchen
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2073
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monsters
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Birth/Rebirth
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The Gorge
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The Host (2007)
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Nimona
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Poor Things
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The Shape of Water
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
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65
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multiverse/parallel and alternate universes
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
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optimistic
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For All Mankind (serial)
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Station Eleven (serial)
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revolution
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

  
romance/sex/gender
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The Assessment
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Biosphere
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Her
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How I Live Now
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The Lobster
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My Old Ass
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Poor Things
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The Shape of Water
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Fingernails
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The Substance
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The Beast
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Daniela Forever
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Foe
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I’m Your Man
Landscape with Invisible Hand
The Pod Generation
Robots (2023)
Zoe

  
time travel/time loops
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My Old Ass
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Things Will Be Different
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Black Easter
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Speed of Life
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The Tomorrow War
See You Yesterday

  
virtual reality
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The Matrix Resurrections
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Belle
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Bliss
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Space Jam: A New Legacy

  
adjacent (not quite SF but exploring similar themes)
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Apollo 10 1/2
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Asteroid City
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A Different Man
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The End We Start From
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How I Live Now
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Leave the World Behind
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Monolith
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Nimona
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Plan 75
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Right at Your Door
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Sorry to Bother You
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Take Shelter
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Megalopolis
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Lucy in the Sky

  
setting the stage (1990s SF)
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eXistenZ
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Strange Days
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12 Monkeys
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Until the End of the World
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decipher

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worth paying multiplex prices for
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worth a look, but wait for streaming or DVD, unless your favorite actor is in it
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give it a miss
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my reaction under consideration
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my reaction under gag order for now
not yet seen by me OR awaiting rewatch and reconsideration