![]() ![]() ![]() Since as far back as the days of George Orwell and Ray Bradbury, science fiction has been an excellent realm to explore the real-life horror of autocracy, oppressive government, and the erosion of civil liberties. Images from this film - running people being vaporized on the street, a burning train roaring down a track and a nightmarish river awash with dead bodies - are among the most frightening Spielberg has ever committed to film.Īnd don’t blame him for the abrupt ending - it’s right out of Wells. Tom Cruise is right on the money as an everyman who deals with forces and circumstances beyond his comprehension, while also taking the familiar Spielberg role of the deadbeat dad. Michel Gondry’s fragmentary direction suits Charlie Kaufman’s reverse-engineered gem of a screenplay, while Kate Winslet and especially Jim Carrey are flawless as the emotionally damaged couple who elect to forget each other - even if their memories linger on like messages from a ghost dimension. In this case, the option to have one’s memories erased via a scientific procedure provides the framework for a story about memory and love that is poignant, heartbreaking and profound in what it says about relationships. This masterpiece is one of many of what I call “hidden” science fiction films - stories in which the sci-fi element, while crucial, is subtly integrated into the contours of what appears to be a non-genre narrative. – John Saavedra Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) But he does provide his characters with some very captivating evidence. It’s through Graham navigating this personal tragedy as well as an unprecedented moment in human history that the film gets into its heavier subject matter: does God exist? And if so, is He actually listening? Shyamalan can’t actually answer those questions for you, of course, he’s not that good. At the center is Mel Gibson’s Graham Hess, a priest who has lost his faith after the death of his wife. Although the film is set in the present, Shyamalan’s intimate tale about an alien invasion wants to take us back to the UFO hysteria of the ’50s - crop circles, tin foil conspiracies, panic spread through news broadcasts and gossip, and one truly terrifying sighting that still gives us the chills to think about.īut like all great Shyamalan films, Signs turns out to be about a lot more than little green men. ![]() Night Shyamalan was at the height of his storytelling powers in the early ’00s after The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but it’s Signs that still stands out as his best entry from that era. The only flaw: a triumphant ending that feels almost physically out of place with the rest of the film. In addition to being a sizzling, highly visceral chase thriller, Minority Report creates a deeply unsettling and immersive near-future world and touches on themes of determinism, government intrusion and media infiltration into our everyday lives - making the movie just as relevant as ever. ![]() But Anderton finds himself accused of a murder he has yet to commit and must go on the run. Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, part of an elite unit tasked with preventing murders before they happen thanks to the abilities of mutants known as PreCogs who can see the future. Dick in one of the director’s most ambitious works to date. ![]()
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