movie review

Reviewing the best science fiction movies from the past, present, and future.

Rat Fink is Going to Breed Batgirls with Mole Men!
"He knew that he would do the honorable thing and set that girl free. This boy has fallen in love!" The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)
By Tom Bakerabout a month ago in Futurism
Flash Gordon . Top Story - August 2026.
Director Mike Hodges’ Flash Gordon (written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.) is a straight cult, camp romp through the four-color, cliffhanger world created by Alex Raymond in the "Flash Gordon" newspaper strips so many decades ago, in a completely different world. Buster Crabbe brought the comic-book hero—a football hero turned swashbuckling pulp outer-space warrior—to serialized life in old 1940s chapter plays, wielding a sword and a two-fisted, can-do, all-American fighting spirit alongside Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov, and against giant reptiles bluescreened against desert backgrounds, where shoebox rocket ships on fishing line with sparklers in their tails set down to do battle with the forces of the Mephistophelian menace Ming the Merciless, who vaguely resembles Anton LaVey. Which, on the whole, makes perfect sense.
By Tom Baker2 months ago in Futurism
The Tarot of Dune
Lynch establishes his voyage into the mystical, into the expansion of a growing consciousness, with his third film, Dune , a sprawling adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic, a tale of the young Paul Atreides, a.k.a. “Muad'Dib,” a galactic religious messiah born from the dark, troubled waters of the dreams of a young Duke, whose rulership of the planet Arrakis, a vast, inhospitable desert world, is usurped in an act of treachery by the grotesque, floating Baron Harkonnen, and the Emperor himself.
By Tom Baker2 months ago in Futurism
Crimes of the Future
I never quite understood what I was supposed to be getting from this movie, except that in the future, mutants wander around, cutting off their own newly evolved organs for paying audiences, eating plastic, mumbling softly and gravelly-throated, and looking as if they smell strangely and draw flies.
By Tom Baker3 months ago in Futurism
Claude Fable 5 and the New AI Cold War
A few nights ago, I found myself staring at my laptop long after I should have gone to bed. The room was quiet. The kind of quiet where you can hear your refrigerator humming from another room.
By John Smith3 months ago in Futurism
Rock & Rule
Let me preface this review by saying: This film, despite rumors to the contrary, was NOT made by Ralph Bakshi. His name would, logically, have appeared in the titles if it had been.
By Tom Baker4 months ago in Futurism
Logopolis
Logopolis is the final jaunt of Tom Baker as the TARDIS-occupying Time Lord before death and regeneration turn him into Peter Davison. It's hard to quantify, insomuch as it has a somewhat cluttered plotline that renders it a Big Think for even the most stalwart Whovian. (Doctorian? Certainly not!)
By Tom Baker4 months ago in Futurism
Inframan
When I was a kid, the cable television show that fascinated me the most was "Night Flight." "Night Flight" was a couple of HOURS of music videos, rare movies (condensed), interviews, short films, animation, oddities, and what-have-yous that detailed the best and worst of 1987 or thereabouts. (It actually ran from the early Eighties to the early Nineties in various forms, and is still streaming.)
By Tom Baker4 months ago in Futurism
Cipher News Burst in Pakistan
Cipher News Burst in Pakistan Pakistan has once again entered a period of intense political discussion after the sudden return of the “cipher controversy” in national and international media. The issue, often called the “Cypher Case” or “Cyphergate,” has created strong reactions among political parties, journalists, analysts, and ordinary citizens. The controversy is connected to a diplomatic cable that former Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed contained evidence of foreign pressure and political interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
By Wings of Time 4 months ago in Futurism
Authorship vs Refinement
Much of the confusion surrounding artificial intelligence and writing comes from a failure to distinguish between two fundamentally different acts: originating ideas and refining their expression. These acts are often treated as interchangeable, as though whoever touches the final form must also be the source of the thought itself. That assumption does not reflect how writing has ever worked, nor does it reflect how human thinking actually unfolds.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Futurism
Tools That Empower and Tools That Numb
A tool is never neutral in its effect, even when it may be neutral in its design. What a tool does to a person depends not only on what it enables, but also on what it quietly replaces. A hammer extends the hand. A calculator extends memory. A map extends orientation. Each tool amplifies a capacity, but each one also changes the relationship between effort and outcome.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast5 months ago in Futurism
The A.I. Doc Review: “Down the Stack” Optimism and the Illusion of a Tech-Saved Future
The modern narrative surrounding artificial intelligence is saturated with optimism. From tech conferences to startup pitches, A.I. is often portrayed as a transformative force that will eliminate mundane work, unlock human creativity, and ultimately reshape society for the better. Central to this belief is the idea of “down the stack” optimism—the assumption that as machines take over lower-level tasks, humans will naturally move into more meaningful, higher-value roles. It is an appealing story, but one that may rest more on hope than reality.
By Muhammad Shahbaz Akram6 months ago in Futurism