Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) – Ishiro Honda

Godzilla is back! But he almost takes a backseat to the rest of the story, which sees an expansion of the Godzilla universe by bringing in aliens, flying saucers, and seeing the return of Rodan and King Ghidorah. When a new planet, Planet X, is discovered in orbit around Jupiter, a joint Japanese/American mission is…

The Wandering Earth (2019) – Frant Gwo

Liu Cixin who penned The Three Body Problem series of novels, also wrote the book that is the basis of The Wandering Earth, a massive cinematic undertaking from China. An epic tale that easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the epic end of the world films like Armageddon. In this film, the world is in…

Outland (1981) – Peter Hyams

Peter Hyams writes and directs this galactic update of the classic western, High Noon, that sees Sean Connery stepping into the Gary Cooper role of a lone marshall awaiting the arrival of men who are coming to kill him. With a visual look that seems to marry it with the universe of Alien (aided by…

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) – Peter Hyams

  We dive into the cinematic universe of Arthur C. Clarke with this next film. I’d previously written about 2001: A Space Odyssey here, so I could jump right ahead to its sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. This was my first introduction, film-wise into the worlds Arthur C. Clarke had created. I’d previously…

2061: Odyssey Three (1987) – Arthur C. Clarke

  The third novel in the Odyssey series sees mankind continuing exploration of the solar system, with the return of Halley’s comet, and a scientific expedition/cruise ship heading to the infrequent solar visitor to attempt an historic landing. There are other parties at work though, eager eyes are turning to the clouded atmosphere of Europa,…

2010: Odyssey Two (1982) – Arthur C. Clarke

  The mystery of the monolith in orbit around Jupiter grows as a new mission is launched from Earth to hopefully discover what happened on that fateful mission in 2001. Taking its cue more from Kubrick’s film version than his own novel, though parts of that have been incorporated, the setting for mankind’s next encounter…

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Arthur C. Clarke

  Before I dived back into the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, I had an undeniable urge to revisit Arthur C. Clarke’s Odyssey series. I’d recently visited a planetarium, and seeing Europa up there on the screen, in orbit around the giant Jupiter just fired that urge again, so I settled in to the journey again (one…

Tim’s Thirteen of 2013

So ends 2013, just like that! What a year! We have continued to grow and do so much here at The Mind Reels, and we’re hoping for an even bigger year next year! So I decided to throw together a list of the movies I most enjoyed this year, the ones that got to me,…

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick

  As we stand on the cusp of a New Year (2013! Wow, does that sound futuristic!) I thought I would end the year with this classic from the 101 Sci-Fi Movies list. Made in 1968, this stunning visual achievement, which took home the Academy Award that year for Best Effects, it still stands a…