Science fiction (or sci-fi ) is a film genre that uses speculative , fictional science -based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms , spacecraft , robots , cyborgs , mutants , interstellar travel , time travel , or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues , and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition .
115-396: Infini is a 2015 Australian science fiction film directed by Shane Abbess and starring Daniel MacPherson , Grace Huang , and Luke Hemsworth . In the early 23rd century, an emergency is declared on a mining station O.I. Infini and a search and rescue (SAR) team is sent in using Slipstream , a form of teleportation that allows near instantaneous travel. The location of O.I. Infini
230-547: A Backpage sex trafficking exposé, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders in September 2012, and formed the Denver-based Voice Media Group . In May 2013, The Village Voice editor Will Bourne and deputy editor Jessica Lustig told The New York Times that they were quitting
345-491: A review aggregator , reports that 31% of 16 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.73/10. Dov Kornits of the Australian magazine Filmink wrote, " Infini is leading the charge in genre filmmaking in this country, proving that we have the chops to compete on the world stage." Commenting on the film's similarity to Aliens , David Stratton of The Australian wrote, "Resourcefulness
460-512: A British cinema and media theorist and cultural critic: Science fiction film is a film genre which emphasizes actual, extrapolative, or 2.0 speculative science and the empirical method , interacting in a social context with the lesser emphasized, but still present, transcendentalism of magic and religion , in an attempt to reconcile man with the unknown. This definition suggests a continuum between (real-world) empiricism and ( supernatural ) transcendentalism , with science fiction films on
575-524: A Friend for the End of the World ( 2012 ), Safety Not Guaranteed ( 2013 ), and Pixels (2015), romance films such as Her (2013), Monsters (2010), and Ex Machina (2015), heist films including Inception (2010) and action films including Real Steel (2011), Total Recall (2012), Edge of Tomorrow ( 2014 ), Pacific Rim (2013), Chappie (2015), Tomorrowland (2015), and Ghost in
690-474: A civilization's level of technological advancement into types. Due to its exponential nature, sci-fi civilizations usually only attain Type I (harnessing all the energy attainable from a single planet), and strictly speaking often not even that. The concept of life, particularly intelligent life, having an extraterrestrial origin is a popular staple of science fiction films. Early films often used alien life forms as
805-418: A fully digital venture, on a date to be announced. The final printed edition, featuring a 1965 photo of Bob Dylan on the cover, was distributed on September 21, 2017. After halting print publication in 2017, The Voice provided daily coverage through its website until August 31, 2018, when it announced it was ceasing production of new editorial content. On December 23, 2020, editor R. C. Baker announced that
920-426: A host to underground cartoonists. In addition to mainstay Jules Feiffer , whose cartoon ran for decades in the paper until its cancellation in 1996, well-known cartoonists featured in the paper have included R. Crumb , Matt Groening , Lynda Barry , Stan Mack , Mark Alan Stamaty , Ted Rall , Tom Tomorrow , Ward Sutton , Ruben Bolling and M. Wartella . Backpage was a classified advertisement website owned by
1035-401: A long tradition of movies featuring monster attacks. These differ from similar films in the horror or fantasy genres because science fiction films typically rely on a scientific (or at least pseudo-scientific) rationale for the monster's existence, rather than a supernatural or magical reason. Often, the science fiction film monster is created, awakened, or "evolves" because of the machinations of
1150-533: A mad scientist, a nuclear accident, or a scientific experiment gone awry. Typical examples include The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Jurassic Park films, Cloverfield , Pacific Rim , the King Kong films, and the Godzilla franchise or the many films involving Frankenstein's monster . The core mental aspects of what makes us human has been a staple of science fiction films, particularly since
1265-462: A moderate success. The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the 1980s were James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven with The Terminator and RoboCop entries. Robert Zemeckis ' film Back to the Future ( 1985 ) and its sequels were critically praised and became box office successes, not to mention international phenomena. James Cameron's sequel to Alien , Aliens ( 1986 ),
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#17327880197391380-530: A number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials , notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers , both starring Buster Crabbe . These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, were very popular with the general public. Other notable science fiction films of the 1930s include Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Doctor X (1932), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), F.P.1 (1932), Island of Lost Souls (1932), Deluge (1933), The Invisible Man (1933), Master of
1495-463: A particular area or time period. This is not true of the science fiction film. However, there are several common visual elements that are evocative of the genre. These include the spacecraft or space station, alien worlds or creatures, robots, and futuristic gadgets. Examples include movies like Lost in Space , Serenity , Avatar , Prometheus , Tomorrowland , Passengers , and Valerian and
1610-500: A particular concern of the writer by serving as a vehicle of warning against a type of activity, including technological research. In the case of alien invasion films, the creatures can provide as a stand-in for a feared foreign power. Films that fit into the Disaster film typically also fall into the following general categories: While monster films do not usually depict danger on a global or epic scale, science fiction film also has
1725-565: A popular staple of science fiction film and science fiction television series. Time travel usually involves the use of some type of advanced technology, such as H. G. Wells' classic The Time Machine , the commercially successful 1980s-era Back to the Future trilogy, the Bill & Ted trilogy, the Terminator series, Déjà Vu (2006), Source Code (2011), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Predestination (2014). Other movies, such as
1840-528: A relative hour later, East Coast SAR is informed about the outbreak and the destruction of the West Coast SAR. They are informed a payload of something from the station has been programmed by a deranged survivor to teleport soon to Earth, which will destroy the planet. The SAR is ordered to halt the payload and recover the one surviving member of the West Coast SAR, Whit. Arriving, they find a frozen slaughterhouse, eventually reuniting with Whit, who has had
1955-657: A special metal called unobtainium. That same year, Terminator Salvation was released and garnered only moderate success. The 2010s saw new entries in several classic science fiction franchises, including Predators ( 2010 ), Tron: Legacy (2010), a resurgence of the Star Wars series, and entries into the Planet of the Apes and Godzilla franchises. Several more cross-genre films have also been produced, including comedies such as Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Seeking
2070-473: A split-second before their demise, and then use their bodies for spare parts. The Village Voice The Village Voice is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village , New York City , known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly . Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf , Ed Fancher , John Wilcock , and Norman Mailer , The Voice began as a platform for
2185-533: A threat or peril to the human race, where the invaders were frequently fictional representations of actual military or political threats on Earth as observed in films such as Mars Attacks! , Starship Troopers , the Alien series, the Predator series, and The Chronicles of Riddick series. Some aliens were represented as benign and even beneficial in nature in such films as Escape to Witch Mountain , E.T.
2300-522: A two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village ; that was its initial coverage area, which expanded to other parts of the city by the 1960s. In 1960, it moved from 22 Greenwich Avenue to 61 Christopher Street in a landmark triangular corner building adjoining Sheridan Square, and a few feet west of the Stonewall Inn ; then, from the 1970s through 1980, at 11th Street and University Place; and then Broadway and 13th Street. It moved to Cooper Square in
2415-775: A valuable resource for reporters covering the Trump presidency. The Voice has published investigations of New York City politics, as well as reporting on national politics, with arts, culture, music, dance, film, and theater reviews. Writers and cartoonists for The Voice have received three Pulitzer Prizes : in 1981 ( Teresa Carpenter , for feature writing), 1986 ( Jules Feiffer , for editorial cartooning) and 2000 ( Mark Schoofs , for international reporting). The paper has, almost since its inception, recognized alternative theater in New York through its Obie Awards . The paper's " Pazz & Jop " music poll, started by Robert Christgau in
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#17327880197392530-449: A week to figure out how the station operates. Whit explains that the mining staff slaughtered each other, tearing off their skin and killing one another. Whit is able to shut down the payload, but the deranged survivor suddenly attacks. Everyone is sprayed with the survivor's blood after he is shot and they become violently enraged. Whit hides from the others, then searches the station for remaining SAR personnel and anything he can learn about
2645-435: A while, it's exciting enough to feel brand-new." Oliver Pfeiffer of SciFiNow rated it 4/5 stars and called it "bold, gut-wrenching" with the "real masterstroke at play...the menacingly immersive production design and deeply atmospheric soundtrack". Christopher Webster of Quiet Earth wrote that it "feels like an R-rated Twilight Zone episode more than a feature film". Science fiction film The genre has existed since
2760-595: Is a popular scientific element in films as depicted in Jurassic Park (cloning of extinct species), The Island (cloning of humans), and ( genetic modification ) in some superhero movies and in the Alien series. Cybernetics and holographic projections as depicted in RoboCop and I, Robot are also popularized. Interstellar travel and teleportation is a popular theme in the Star Trek series that
2875-700: Is a popular theme in Independence Day while invisibility is also popular in Star Trek . Arc reactor technology, featured in Iron Man , is similar to a cold fusion device. Miniaturization technology where people are shrunk to microscopic sizes is featured in films like Fantastic Voyage (1966), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), and Marvel's Ant-Man (2015). The late Arthur C. Clarke 's third law states that "any sufficiently advanced technology
2990-564: Is achieved through warp drives and transporters while intergalactic travel is popular in films such as Stargate and Star Wars that is achieved through hyperspace or wormholes . Nanotechnology is also featured in the Star Trek series in the form of replicators (utopia), in The Day the Earth Stood Still in the form of grey goo (dystopia), and in Iron Man 3 in the form of extremis (nanotubes) . Force fields
3105-510: Is all very well, but a fresh approach to the familiar cliches would also be appreciated." Harry Windsor of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a genre retread in search of a plot". Andrew Marshall of Starburst rated it 6/10 stars and wrote that the film "lacks the follow through to capitalise on its ideas or required sense of humanity to make you actually care". Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote, " Infini doesn't go anywhere that superior science fiction films haven't already, but for
3220-813: Is an exception. The first depiction of a sophisticated robot in a United States film was Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still . Robots in films are often sentient and sometimes sentimental, and they have filled a range of roles in science fiction films. Robots have been supporting characters, such as Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet , Huey, Dewey and Louie in Silent Running , Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation , sidekicks (e.g., C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars , JARVIS from Iron Man ), and extras, visible in
3335-699: Is featured in Minority Report as well as in The Matrix saga (in which precognition is achieved by knowing the artificial world). Robots have been a part of science fiction since the Czech playwright Karel Čapek coined the word in 1921. In early films, robots were usually played by a human actor in a boxy metal suit, as in The Phantom Empire , although the female robot in Metropolis
3450-506: Is indistinguishable from magic". Past science fiction films have depicted "fictional" ("magical") technologies that became present reality. For example, the Personal Access Display Device from Star Trek was a precursor of smartphones and tablet computers . Gesture recognition in the movie Minority Report is part of current game consoles . Human-level artificial intelligence is also fast approaching with
3565-468: Is proximal to a number of black holes meaning the mission operatives will experience severe time dilation. A team sent returns 30 seconds later in a berserk rage. Whit Carmichael, a new member of West Coast SAR, on his first day, teleports to Infini using an illegal teleporter after West Coast HQ activates a lethal lock down to contain the crisis. Before leaving for work that day, his pregnant wife tells him to do whatever it takes to return safely. Less than
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3680-439: Is regarded as one of the best movies of the period, Planet of the Apes (1968) and Fahrenheit 451 ( 1966 ), which provided social commentary, and the campy Barbarella (1968), which explored the comical side of earlier science fiction. Jean-Luc Godard 's French "new wave" film Alphaville (1965) posited a futuristic Paris commanded by an artificial intelligence which has outlawed all emotion. The era of crewed trips to
3795-539: Is remote telepresence via androids as depicted in Surrogates and Iron Man 3 . As artificial intelligence becomes smarter due to increasing computer power , some sci-fi dreams have already been realized. For example, the computer Deep Blue beat the world chess champion in 1997 and a documentary film, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine , was released in 2003. Another famous computer called Watson defeated
3910-525: Is whether robots will someday replace humans, a question raised in the film adaptation of Isaac Asimov 's I, Robot (in jobs) and in the film Real Steel (in sports), or whether intelligent robots could develop a conscience and a motivation to protect, take over, or destroy the human race (as depicted in The Terminator , Transformers , and in Avengers: Age of Ultron ). Another theme
4025-749: The Editor & Publisher EPpy Award for Best Overall U.S. Newspaper Online Service – Weekly, Community, Alternative & Free in 2003. In 2005, the Phoenix alternative weekly chain New Times Media purchased the company and took the Village Voice Media name. Previous owners of The Village Voice or of Village Voice Media have included co-founders Fancher and Wolf, New York City Councilman Carter Burden , New York magazine founder Clay Felker , Rupert Murdoch , and Leonard Stern of
4140-442: The Planet of the Apes series, Timeline (2003) and The Last Mimzy (2007), explained their depictions of time travel by drawing on physics concepts such as the special relativity phenomenon of time dilation (which could occur if a spaceship was travelling near the speed of light) and wormholes . Some films show time travel not being attained from advanced technology, but rather from an inner source or personal power, such as
4255-565: The Power Rangers (2017) reboot was greatly improved as compared to the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). While "size does matter", a famous tagline of the movie Godzilla , incredibly small robots, called nanobots , do matter as well (e.g. Borg nanoprobes in Star Trek and nanites in I, Robot ). The concept of time travel —travelling backwards and forwards through time—has always been
4370-457: The Star Wars prequel trilogy , or the huge robot probes seen in Monsters vs. Aliens ). In some cases, robots have even been the leading characters in science fiction films; in the film Blade Runner (1982), many of the characters are bioengineered android " replicants ". This is also present in the animated films WALL-E (2008), Astro Boy (2009), Big Hero 6 (2014), Ghost in
4485-589: The East Village in 1991, and in 2013, to the Financial District . Early columnists of the 1950s and 1960s included Jonas Mekas , who explored the underground film movement in his "Film Journal" column; Linda Solomon , who reviewed the Village club scene in the "Riffs" column; and Sam Julty , who wrote a popular column on car ownership and maintenance. John Wilcock wrote a column every week for
4600-840: The Hartz Mountain empire. After The Village Voice was acquired by New Times Media in 2005, the publication's key personnel changed. The Voice was then managed by two journalists from Phoenix, Arizona . In April 2006, The Voice dismissed music editor Chuck Eddy . Four months later, the newspaper sacked longtime music critic Robert Christgau . In January 2007, the newspaper fired sex columnist and erotica author Rachel Kramer Bussel ; long-term creative director Ted Keller , art director Minh Oung, fashion columnist Lynn Yaeger and Deputy Art Director LD Beghtol were laid off or fired soon afterward. Editor in chief Donald Forst resigned in December 2005. Doug Simmons, his replacement,
4715-466: The Star Wars prequel trilogy began with the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace , which eventually grossed over one billion dollars. As the decade progressed, computers played an increasingly important role in both the addition of special effects (thanks to Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park ) and the production of films. As software developed in sophistication it
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4830-616: The Washington Monument . Cultural theorist Scott Bukatman has proposed that science fiction film allows contemporary culture to witness an expression of the sublime , be it through exaggerated scale, apocalypse or transcendence. Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902 , Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune , generally considered
4945-469: The cyberpunk genre spawned several movies on the theme of the computer-human interface, such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day ( 1991 ), Total Recall ( 1990 ), The Lawnmower Man ( 1992 ), and The Matrix ( 1999 ). Other themes included disaster films (e.g., Armageddon and Deep Impact , both 1998 ), alien invasion (e.g., Independence Day ( 1996 )) and genetic experimentation (e.g., Jurassic Park ( 1993 ) and Gattaca ( 1997 )). Also,
5060-452: The virtual reality world became a real-world prison for humanity, managed by intelligent machines. In movies such as eXistenZ , The Thirteenth Floor , and Inception , the nature of reality and virtual reality become intermixed with no clear distinguishing boundary. Telekinesis and telepathy are featured in movies like Star Wars , The Last Mimzy , Race to Witch Mountain , Chronicle , and Lucy while precognition
5175-827: The young adult dystopian fiction subgenre, popular in the early part of the decade. These include the Hunger Games film series , based on the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins , The Divergent Series based on Veronica Roth 's Divergent trilogy , and the Maze Runner series , based on James Dashner 's The Maze Runner novels . Several adult adaptations have also been produced, including The Martian (2015), based on Andy Weir 's 2011 novel , Cloud Atlas (2012), based on David Mitchell 's 2004 novel , World War Z , based on Max Brooks ' 2006 novel , and Ready Player One (2018), based on Ernest Cline 's 2011 novel . Independent productions also increased in
5290-412: The " mad scientist " transferring the human mind to another body is as old as Frankenstein while the idea of corporations behind mind transfer technologies is observed in later films such as Gamer , Avatar , and Surrogates . Films such as Total Recall have popularized a thread of films that explore the concept of reprogramming the human mind. The theme of brainwashing in several films of
5405-623: The 1950s, Ray Harryhausen , protege of master King Kong animator Willis O'Brien, used stop-motion animation to create special effects for the following notable science fiction films: It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957). The most successful monster movies were Japanese film studio Toho 's kaiju films directed by Ishirō Honda and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya . The 1954 film Godzilla , with
5520-476: The 1960s, but some of the films transformed science fiction cinema. Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey ( 1968 ) brought new realism to the genre, with its groundbreaking visual effects and realistic portrayal of space travel and influenced the genre with its epic story and transcendent philosophical scope. Other 1960s films included Planet of the Vampires (1965) by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava , that
5635-482: The 1970s included Woody Allen 's Sleeper ( 1973 ), and John Carpenter 's Dark Star ( 1974 ). The sports science fiction genre can be seen in films such as Rollerball (1975). Star Wars ( 1977 ) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind ( 1977 ) were box-office hits that brought about a huge increase in science fiction films. In 1979 , Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the television series to
5750-408: The 1980s. Ridley Scott 's Blade Runner (1982), an adaptation of Philip K. Dick 's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , examined what made an organic-creation a human, while the RoboCop series saw an android mechanism fitted with the brain and reprogrammed mind of a human to create a cyborg . The idea of brain transfer was not entirely new to science fiction film, as the concept of
5865-443: The 2000s-era films Donnie Darko , Mr. Nobody , The Butterfly Effect , and X-Men: Days of Future Past . More conventional time travel movies use technology to bring the past to life in the present, or in a present that lies in our future. The film Iceman (1984) told the story of the reanimation of a frozen Neanderthal . The film Freejack (1992) shows time travel used to pull victims of horrible deaths forward in time
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#17327880197395980-579: The 2010s, with the rise of digital filmmaking making it easier for filmmakers to produce movies on a smaller budget. These films include Attack the Block (2011), Source Code (2011), Looper (2012), Upstream Color (2013), Ex Machina (2015), and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017). In 2016, Ex Machina won the Academy Award for Visual Effects in a surprising upset over
6095-515: The City of a Thousand Planets . More subtle visual clues can appear with changes of the human form through modifications in appearance, size, or behavior, or by means a known environment turned eerily alien, such as an empty city The Omega Man (1971). While science is a major element of this genre, many movie studios take significant liberties with scientific knowledge. Such liberties can be most readily observed in films that show spacecraft maneuvering in outer space . The vacuum should preclude
6210-568: The Earth Stood Still , and The Watch , the aliens were nearly human in physical appearance, and communicated in a common earth language. However, the aliens in Stargate and Prometheus were human in physical appearance but communicated in an alien language. A few films have tried to represent intelligent aliens as something utterly different from the usual humanoid shape (e.g. An intelligent life form surrounding an entire planet in Solaris ,
6325-772: The Extra-Terrestrial , Close Encounters of the Third Kind , The Fifth Element , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Avatar , Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets , and the Men in Black series. In order to provide subject matter to which audiences can relate, the large majority of intelligent alien races presented in films have an anthropomorphic nature, possessing human emotions and motivations. In films like Cocoon , My Stepmother Is an Alien , Species , Contact , The Box , Knowing , The Day
6440-755: The GLF petitioned it to do so. Over time, The Voice changed its stance, and, in 1982, became the second organization in the US known to have extended domestic partner benefits. Jeff Weinstein, an employee of the paper and shop steward for the publishing local of District 65 UAW, negotiated and won agreement in the union contract to extend health, life insurance, and disability benefits to the "spouse equivalents" of its union members. The Voice ' s competitors in New York City include The New York Observer and Time Out New York . Seventeen alternative weeklies around
6555-790: The Moon in 1969 and the 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film. Andrei Tarkovsky 's Solaris ( 1972 ) and Stalker ( 1979 ) are two widely acclaimed examples of the renewed interest of film auteurs in science fiction. Science fiction films from the early 1970s explored the theme of paranoia, in which humanity is depicted as under threat from sociological, ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation, such as George Lucas 's directional debut THX 1138 ( 1971 ), The Andromeda Strain ( 1971 ), Silent Running ( 1972 ), Soylent Green ( 1973 ), Westworld ( 1973 ) and its sequel Futureworld ( 1976 ), and Logan's Run ( 1976 ). The science fiction comedies of
6670-584: The Pole (1912), Himmelskibet (1918; which with its runtime of 97 minutes generally is considered the first feature-length science fiction film in history), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Mechanical Man (1921), Paris Qui Dort (1923), Aelita (1924), Luch Smerti (1925), and The Lost World (1925). In the 1930s, there were several big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine (1930), King Kong (1933), Things to Come (1936), and Lost Horizon (1937). Starting in 1936,
6785-544: The Reading Eagle Company, and holds the same roles at The Village Voice . After taking over ownership of The Voice , Barbey named Joe Levy, formerly of Rolling Stone , as interim editor in chief, and Suzan Gursoy, formerly of Ad Week , as publisher. In December 2016, Barbey named Stephen Mooallem, formerly of Harper's Bazaar , as editor in chief. Mooallem resigned in May 2018, and was not replaced before
6900-502: The Sea ( 1916 ) is a film based on Jules Verne ’s famous novel of a wondrous submarine and its vengeful captain. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis ( 1927 ) and Frau im Mond ( 1929 ). Other notable science fiction films of the silent era include The Impossible Voyage (1904), The Motorist (1906), The Conquest of
7015-530: The Shell (2017) and in Next Gen (2018). Films like Bicentennial Man , A.I. Artificial Intelligence , Chappie , and Ex Machina depicted the emotional fallouts of robots that are self-aware. Other films like The Animatrix (The Second Renaissance) present the consequences of mass-producing self-aware androids as humanity succumbs to their robot overlords. One popular theme in science fiction film
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#17327880197397130-1076: The Shell (2017). The superhero film boom has also continued, into films such as Iron Man 2 (2010) and Iron Man 3 (2013), several entries into the X-Men film series , and The Avengers (2012), which became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. New franchises such as Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy also began in this decade. Further into the decade, more realistic science fiction epic films also become prevalent, including Battleship (2012), Gravity (2013), Elysium (2013), Interstellar ( 2014 ), Mad Max: Fury Road ( 2015 ), The Martian ( 2015 ), Arrival ( 2016 ), Passengers (2016), and Blade Runner 2049 ( 2017 ). Many of these films have gained widespread accolades, including several Academy Award wins and nominations. These films have addressed recent matters of scientific interest, including space travel, climate change, and artificial intelligence. Alongside these original films, many adaptations were produced, especially within
7245-553: The United States are owned by The Voice's former parent company Village Voice Media . The film section writers and editors also produced a weekly Voice Film Club podcast. In 1996, after decades of carrying a cover price, The Voice switched from a paid weekly to a free, alternative weekly. The Voice website was a recipient of the National Press Foundation 's Online Journalism Award in 2001 and
7360-697: The World (1934), Mad Love (1935), Trans-Atlantic Tunnel (1935), The Devil-Doll (1936), The Invisible Ray (1936), The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936), The Walking Dead (1936), Non-Stop New York (1937), and The Return of Doctor X (1939). The 1940s brought us Before I Hang (1940), Black Friday (1940), Dr. Cyclops (1940), The Devil Commands (1941), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Man Made Monster (1941), It Happened Tomorrow (1944), It Happens Every Spring (1949), and The Perfect Woman (1949). The release of Destination Moon (1950) and Rocketship X-M (1950) brought us to what many people consider "the golden age of
7475-776: The Worlds (1953), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), This Island Earth (1955), Forbidden Planet (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and On the Beach (1959). There is often a close connection between films in the science fiction genre and the so-called " monster movie ". Examples of this are Them! (1954), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and The Blob (1958). During
7590-534: The advent of smartphone A.I. while a working cloaking device / material is the main goal of stealth technology . Autonomous cars (e.g. KITT from the Knight Rider series) and quantum computers , like in the movie Stealth and Transcendence , also will be available eventually. Furthermore, although Clarke's laws do not classify "sufficiently advanced" technologies , the Kardashev scale measures
7705-707: The affirmative, and the scan clears them all. Whit returns home to his wife, who had been told he was not coming back. Shooting began in Sydney in October 2013. Infini had its international premiere on 11 April 2015 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival . It was released simultaneously in the US and Australia. The film was not released theatrically in Australia, due to fears of piracy. Rotten Tomatoes ,
7820-576: The background to create a futuristic setting (e.g., Back to the Future Part II (1989), Total Recall (2012), RoboCop (2014)). As well, robots have been formidable movie villains or monsters (e.g., the robot Box in the film Logan's Run (1976), HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey , ARIIA in Eagle Eye , robot Sentinels in X-Men: Days of Future Past , the battle droids in
7935-474: The ball shaped creature in Dark Star , microbial-like creatures in The Invasion , shape-shifting creatures in Evolution ). Recent trends in films involve building-size alien creatures like in the movie Pacific Rim where the CGI has tremendously improved over the previous decades as compared in previous films such as Godzilla . A frequent theme among science fiction films is that of impending or actual disaster on an epic scale. These often address
8050-529: The big screen for the first time. It was also in this period that the Walt Disney Company released many science fiction films for family audiences such as The Black Hole , Flight of the Navigator , and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids . The sequels to Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back ( 1980 ) and Return of the Jedi ( 1983 ), also saw worldwide box office success. Ridley Scott 's films, such as Alien ( 1979 ) and Blade Runner ( 1982 ), along with James Cameron 's The Terminator ( 1984 ), presented
8165-442: The bodies, and they awaken unharmed and no longer crazed, but clearly disturbed by what has happened. They agree to teleport back and keep their story simple. As they begin to teleport, Whit sees several humanoid forms made of ooze, silently watching them go. One of them holds the picture of Whit's wife he carried with him. Returning to Earth, the team is scanned and asked if they are free from biological contaminants. They answer in
8280-1026: The creative community of New York City. It ceased publication in 2017, although its online archives remained accessible. After an ownership change, The Voice reappeared in print as a quarterly in April 2021. The Village Voice has received three Pulitzer Prizes , the National Press Foundation Award, and the George Polk Award . The Village Voice hosted a variety of writers and artists, including writer Ezra Pound , cartoonist Lynda Barry , artist Greg Tate , music critic Robert Christgau , and film critics Andrew Sarris , Jonas Mekas , and J. Hoberman . In October 2015, The Village Voice changed ownership and severed all ties with former parent company Voice Media Group (VMG). The Voice announced on August 22, 2017, that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to
8395-425: The early 1970s, is released annually and remains an influential survey of the nation's music critics. In 1999, film critic J. Hoberman and film section editor Dennis Lim began a similar Village Voice Film Poll for the year in film. In 2001, The Voice sponsored its first music festival, Siren Festival, a free annual event every summer held at Coney Island . The event moved to the lower tip of Manhattan in 2011, and
8510-406: The early years of silent cinema , when Georges Méliès ' A Trip to the Moon (1902) employed trick photography effects. The next major example (first in feature-length in the genre) was the film Metropolis (1927). From the 1930s to the 1950s, the genre consisted mainly of low-budget B movies . After Stanley Kubrick 's landmark 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the science fiction film genre
8625-463: The film carries a profound message - that the evolution of a species toward technological perfection (in this case exemplified by the disappeared alien civilization called the "Krell") does not ensure the loss of primitive and dangerous urges. In the film, this part of the primitive mind manifests itself as monstrous destructive force emanating from the Freudian subconscious, or "Id". Some films blur
8740-564: The films were often well-photographed in colour ... and their dismal dialogue was delivered in well-designed and well-lit sets." With the Space Race between the USSR and the US going on, documentaries and illustrations of actual events, pioneers and technology were plenty. Any movie featuring realistic space travel was at risk of being obsolete at its time of release, rather fossil than fiction. There were relatively few science fiction films in
8855-440: The first science fiction film, and a film that used early trick photography to depict a spacecraft's journey to the Moon. Several early films merged the science fiction and horror genres. Examples of this are Frankenstein ( 1910 ), a film adaptation of Mary Shelley 's novel, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), based on the psychological tale by Robert Louis Stevenson . Taking a more adventurous tack, 20,000 Leagues Under
8970-516: The first time since 2018. At the time, The Village Voice was a quarterly publication. The Voice has published columns and works by writers such as Ezra Pound , Henry Miller , Barbara Garson , Katherine Anne Porter , James Baldwin , E.E. Cummings , Nat Hentoff , staff writer and author Ted Hoagland , Colson Whitehead , Tom Stoppard , Paul Lukas , Lorraine Hansberry , Lester Bangs , Allen Ginsberg and Joshua Clover . Former editors have included Clay Felker . The newspaper has also been
9085-885: The future as dark, dirty and chaotic, and depicted aliens and androids as hostile and dangerous. In contrast, Steven Spielberg 's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ( 1982 ), one of the most successful films of the 1980s, presented aliens as benign and friendly, a theme already present in Spielberg's own Close Encounters of the Third Kind . James Bond also entered the science fiction genre in 1979 with Moonraker . The big budget adaptations of Frank Herbert 's Dune and Alex Raymond 's Flash Gordon , as well as Peter Hyams 's sequel to 2001 , 2010: The Year We Make Contact (based on 2001 author Arthur C. Clarke 's sequel novel 2010: Odyssey Two ), were box office failures that dissuaded producers from investing in science fiction literary properties. Disney's Tron ( 1982 ) turned out to be
9200-421: The genre. In the monster films of the 1950s, the scientist often played a heroic role as the only person who could provide a technological fix for some impending doom. Reflecting the distrust of government that began in the 1960s in the United States, the brilliant but rebellious scientist became a common theme, often serving a Cassandra -like role during an impending disaster. Biotechnology (e.g., cloning )
9315-464: The idea of reprogrammable reality and memory. The idea that a human could be entirely represented as a program in a computer was a core element of the film Tron . This would be further explored in the film version of The Lawnmower Man , Transcendence , and Ready Player One and the idea reversed in Virtuosity as computer programs sought to become real persons. In The Matrix series,
9430-437: The infection. Finding a lab, he discovers a medical log that reveals the planet is entirely composed of alien organic material that when thawed forms a so-called "primordial ooze". It is capable of infecting, mimicking, and finally dominating any biological tissue. He further discovers the ooze is aggressive, predatory in nature, and driven by self-preservation. Suffering mentally from infection, Whit attempts to solicit help from
9545-600: The last article to be published on the website. Two weeks after the Village Voice ceased operations on September 13, co-founder John Wilcock died in California at the age of 91. In January 2021, a new original story — the first one in two-and-a-half years — was published on the website of The Village Voice . On April 17, 2021, the Spring 2021 issue of The Village Voice appeared in news boxes and on newsstands for
9660-399: The line between the genres, such as films where the protagonist gains the extraordinary powers of the superhero . These films usually employ quasi-plausible reason for the hero gaining these powers. Not all science fiction themes are equally suitable for movies. Science fiction horror is most common. Often enough, these films could just as well pass as Westerns or World War II films if
9775-429: The management by some of its current writers, Hentoff himself, and by The Voice ' s ideological rival paper National Review , which referred to Hentoff as a "treasure". At the end of 2011, Wayne Barrett, who had written for the paper since 1973, was laid off. Fellow muckraking investigative reporter Tom Robbins then resigned in solidarity. Following a scandal concerning The Village Voice 's editorial attack on
9890-458: The much higher-budget Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Science fiction films are often speculative in nature, and often include key supporting elements of science and technology. However, as often as not the "science" in a Hollywood science fiction movie can be considered pseudo-science, relying primarily on atmosphere and quasi-scientific artistic fancy than facts and conventional scientific theory. The definition can also vary depending on
10005-401: The newspaper referred to the riots as "The Great Faggot Rebellion". Two reporters, Howard Smith and Lucian Truscott IV, both used the words " faggot " and " dyke " in their articles about the riots. (These words were not commonly used by homosexuals to refer to each other at this time.) Smith and Truscott retrieved their press cards from The Voice offices, which were very close to the bar, as
10120-466: The paper for decades. Feingold was rehired as a writer for The Village Voice in January 2016. Michael Musto was also rehired in 2016 and wrote cover stories regarding subjects like Oscar scandals and Madonna's body of work. Musto returned again to write features in 2021 under new publisher Brian Calle. In July 2013, Voice Media Group executives named Tom Finkel as editor. Peter Barbey , through
10235-445: The paper rather than executing further staff layoffs. Both had been recent appointments. By then, The Voice had employed five editors since 2005. Following Bourne's and Lustig's departure, Village Media Group management fired three of The Voice ' s longest-serving contributors: gossip and nightlife columnist Michael Musto , restaurant critic Robert Sietsema , and theater critic Michael Feingold , all of whom had been writing for
10350-431: The paper would resume publishing new articles both online and in a quarterly print edition. In January 2021, new original stories began being published again on the website. A spring print edition was released in April 2021. The Voice 's website continues to feature archival material related to current events. The Village Voice was launched by Ed Fancher , Dan Wolf, and Norman Mailer on October 26, 1955, from
10465-660: The paper's first ten years. Another regular from that period was the cartoonist Kin Platt , who did weekly theatrical caricatures. Other prominent regulars have included Peter Schjeldahl , Ellen Willis , Jill Johnston , Tom Carson, and Richard Goldstein . Staff of The Voice joined a union, the Distributive Workers of America , in 1977. For more than 40 years, Wayne Barrett was the newspaper's muckraker , covering New York real estate developers and politicians, including Donald Trump . The material continued to be
10580-464: The privately owned investment company Black Walnut Holdings LLC, purchased The Village Voice from Voice Media Group in October 2015. Barbey is a member of one of America's wealthiest families. The family has had ownership interest in the Reading Eagle , a daily newspaper serving the city of Reading, Pennsylvania and the surrounding region, for many years. Barbey serves as president and CEO of
10695-454: The publication's shutdown. Under the Barbey ownership, advertisements for escort agencies and phone sex services came to an end. On August 31, 2018, it was announced that the Village Voice would cease production and lay off half of its staff. The remaining staff would be kept on for a limited period for archival projects. An August 31 piece by freelancer Steven Wishnia was hailed as
10810-473: The release of Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), both of which resulted in worldwide box office success. In 2009, James Cameron 's Avatar garnered worldwide box office success, and would later become the highest-grossing movie of all time. This movie was also an example of political commentary. It depicted humans destroying the environment on another planet by mining for
10925-499: The remaining members of the team, but they are suffering through advanced stages of the infection, which he is resisting better. They either attack each other, kill themselves, or attack Whit. This leaves Whit the last surviving human on the station. He records a message to the ooze which plays on a loop over the loudspeakers, criticizing it for harnessing only the violent instincts of humanity, instead of working with humans. He tells it that it failed and commits suicide. The ooze moves onto
11040-586: The repetitions of the Korova Milkbar make the alien decor seem more familiar. As well, familiar images become alien, as in the films Repo Man and Liquid Sky . For example, in Dr. Strangelove , the distortion of the humans make the familiar images seem more alien. Finally, alien images are juxtaposed with the familiar, as in The Deadly Mantis , when a giant praying mantis is shown climbing
11155-505: The same parent company as The Village Voice. In 2012, Nicholas Kristof wrote an article in The New York Times detailing a young woman's account of being sold on Backpage. The Village Voice released an article entitled "What Nick Kristof Got Wrong" accusing Kristof of fabricating the story and ignoring journalistic standards. Kristof responded, noting that The Voice did not dispute the column, but rather tried to show how
11270-403: The science fiction film". In the 1950s, public interest in space travel and new technologies was great. While many 1950s science fiction films were low-budget B movies , there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects. These include The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), When Worlds Collide (1951), The War of
11385-429: The science fiction props were removed. Common motifs also include voyages and expeditions to other planets, and dystopias , while utopias are rare. Film theorist Vivian Sobchack argues that science fiction films differ from fantasy films in that while science fiction film seeks to achieve our belief in the images we are viewing, fantasy film instead attempts to suspend our disbelief. The science fiction film displays
11500-463: The scientist has varied considerably in the science fiction film genre, depending on the public perception of science and advanced technology. Starting with Dr. Frankenstein , the mad scientist became a stock character who posed a dire threat to society and perhaps even civilization. Certain portrayals of the "mad scientist", such as Peter Sellers 's performance in Dr. Strangelove , have become iconic to
11615-437: The side of empiricism, and happy films and sad films on the side of transcendentalism. However, there are numerous well-known examples of science fiction horror films, epitomized by such pictures as Frankenstein and Alien . The visual style of science fiction film is characterized by a clash between alien and familiar images. This clash is implemented when alien images become familiar, as in A Clockwork Orange , when
11730-500: The sixties and seventies including A Clockwork Orange and The Manchurian Candidate coincided with secret real-life government experimentation during Project MKULTRA . Voluntary erasure of memory is further explored as themes of the films Paycheck and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . Some films like Limitless explore the concept of mind enhancement. The anime series Serial Experiments Lain also explores
11845-510: The timeline in Kristof's original piece was inaccurate. In this rebuttal, he not only justified his original timeline, but expressed sadness "to see Village Voice Media become a major player in sex trafficking, and to see it use its journalists as attack dogs for those who threaten its corporate interests", noting another instance of The Village Voice attacking journalists reporting on Backpage's role in sex trafficking. After repeated calls for
11960-640: The title monster attacking Tokyo, gained immense popularity, spawned multiple sequels, led to other kaiju films like Rodan , and created one of the most recognizable monsters in cinema history. Japanese science fiction films, particularly the tokusatsu and kaiju genres, were known for their extensive use of special effects , and gained worldwide popularity in the 1950s. Kaiju and tokusatsu films, notably Warning from Space (1956), sparked Stanley Kubrick 's interest in science fiction films and influenced 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). According to his biographer John Baxter , despite their "clumsy model sequences,
12075-649: The transmission of sound or maneuvers employing wings, yet the soundtrack is filled with inappropriate flying noises and changes in flight path resembling an aircraft banking. The filmmakers, unfamiliar with the specifics of space travel , focus instead on providing acoustical atmosphere and the more familiar maneuvers of the aircraft. Similar instances of ignoring science in favor of art can be seen when movies present environmental effects as portrayed in Star Wars and Star Trek . Entire planets are destroyed in titanic explosions requiring mere seconds, whereas an actual event of this nature takes many hours. The role of
12190-555: The trouble began; they were among the first journalists to record the event, Smith being trapped inside the bar with the police, and Truscott reporting from the street. After the riot, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) attempted to promote dances for gays and lesbians in The Voice , but were not allowed to use the words "gay" or "homosexual", which the newspaper considered derogatory. The newspaper changed its policy after
12305-460: The two best human Jeopardy (game show) players in 2011 and a NOVA documentary film, Smartest Machine on Earth , was released in the same year. Building-size robots are also becoming a popular theme in movies as featured in Pacific Rim . Future live action films may include an adaptation of popular television series like Voltron and Robotech . The CGI robots of Pacific Rim and
12420-535: The unfamiliar and alien in the context of the familiar. Despite the alien nature of the scenes and science fictional elements of the setting, the imagery of the film is related back to humankind and how we relate to our surroundings. While the science fiction film strives to push the boundaries of the human experience, they remain bound to the conditions and understanding of the audience and thereby contain prosaic aspects, rather than being completely alien or abstract. Genre films such as westerns or war movies are bound to
12535-444: The viewpoint of the observer. Many science fiction films include elements of mysticism, occult , magic, or the supernatural , considered by some to be more properly elements of fantasy or the occult (or religious) film. This transforms the movie genre into a science fantasy with a religious or quasi-religious philosophy serving as the driving motivation. The movie Forbidden Planet employs many common science fiction elements, but
12650-471: Was completed (although it was later continued, but at the time it was not intended to be) with the darkly themed Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith . Science-fiction also returned as a tool for political commentary in films such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence , Minority Report , Sunshine , District 9 , Children of Men , Serenity , Sleep Dealer , and Pandorum . The 2000s also saw
12765-514: Was re-christened the " 4knots Music Festival", a reference to the speed of the East River's current. During the 1980s and onward, The Voice was known for its staunch support for gay rights , and it published an annual Gay Pride issue every June. However, early in its history, the newspaper had a reputation as having a homophobic slant. While reporting on the Stonewall riots of 1969,
12880-451: Was sacked in March 2006 after it was discovered that a reporter had fabricated portions of an article. Simmons' successor, Erik Wemple , resigned after two weeks. His replacement, David Blum , was fired in March 2007. Tony Ortega then held the position of editor in chief from 2007 to 2012. The sacking of Nat Hentoff , who worked for the paper from 1958 to 2008, led to further criticism of
12995-663: Was taken more seriously. In the late 1970s, big-budget science fiction films filled with special effects became popular with audiences after the success of Star Wars (1977) and paved the way for the blockbuster hits of subsequent decades. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies science fiction films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters’ taxonomy , stating that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action , crime , fantasy , horror , romance , slice of life , sports , thriller , war , and western . According to Vivian Sobchack ,
13110-455: Was used to produce more complicated effects. It also enabled filmmakers to enhance the visual quality of animation, resulting in films such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) from Japan, and The Iron Giant (1999) from the United States. During the first decade of the 2000s, superhero films abounded, as did earthbound science fiction such as the Matrix trilogy. In 2005 , the Star Wars saga
13225-534: Was very different from the original film, falling more into the action/science fiction genre, it was both a critical and commercial success and Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards . The Japanese cyberpunk anime film Akira ( 1988 ) also had a big influence outside Japan when released. In the 1990s, the emergence of the World Wide Web and
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