The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) – Chris Carter

The last episode of season 9, and the presumed end of the series before its relaunch in 2016 aired on 19 May, 2002,  six years later Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are put into action again, and so am I as I investigate the cinematic entries for the Sci-Fi Chronicles book….

Ghosts of Mars (2001) – John Carpenter

Natasha Henstridge leads a bit of a cult cast in the next John Carpenter film up for a look-see in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. In a bit of an iffy film, and one that saw Carpenter at his most burnt out on the Hollywood scene, Henstridge stars as Lt. Melanie Ballard, a Mars police officer…

Escape From L.A. (1996) – John Carpenter

I love me some John Carpenter, and his work with Kurt Russell is always enjoyable, but this next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book isn’t as good as it could have been, but I still enjoy parts of it, I mean there’s Kurt as Snake Plissken, again. This time the year is 2013, L.A. has…

Black Moon Rising (1986) – Harley Cokeliss

My time with John Carpenter continues as I delve further into the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. This time around it’s an action thriller that Carpenter penned and sees Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn caught up in the action. Jones is Quint, a professional thief, who is hired by the FBI to gather evidence…

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) -Stewart Raffill

  The Sci-Fi Chronicles continues to bring me a lot of fun films, and flashbacks to my youth. And now, I get to dive into some John Carpenter films, that’s the good news. The bad news is I’ve previously covered almost all the ones the book lists, so I had to leap forward to 1984, when…

Futureworld (1976) – Richard T. Heffron

  This sequel to Westworld is the next stop on the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. It sees Yul Brynner returning, ever so briefly, and in the oddest way possible, as the Gunslinger, while two reporters, Chuck (Peter Fonda) and Tracy (Blythe Danner)investigate the strange theme park, Futureworld, after another reporter is killed while trying to get…

The Stepford Wives (2004) – Frank Oz

  Sigh. You’d think that a film boasting the likes of Frank Oz behind the camera, and Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Jon Lovitz, Glenn Close and Matthew Broderick in front would constitute a better film. But you can tell just by the casting that the film is slipping away from the dark conformist…

The Stepford Wives (1975) – Bryan Forbes

  Katharine Ross headlines in William Goldman’s adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel, which is the next stop on the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. Ross is Joanna Eberhart, a smart, beautiful woman, who is much put-upon by her husband, Walter (Peter Masterson), who wants his wife to be more ‘ahem’ traditional. Packing up the family, they leave…

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005) – George Lucas

  The Sci-Fi Chronicles brings me to the final entry in the Prequel Trilogy, and arguably the strongest despite some troubling moments. While still suffering from the too clean, too digital, green-screen EVERYTHING, this one feels the closest to a Star Wars movie, and that opening sequence through the space battle over Coruscant is highly…

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002) – George Lucas

  The Star Wars films continue as I delve further into George Lucas’ films thanks to the Sci-Fi Chronicles. This time it is the second instalment in the Prequel Trilogy. And while a considerable step-up from The Phantom Menace, this one is still too clunky and too digital. Jonathan Hale helps Lucas out on the…