Megalopolis (2024)

Direction: Francis Ford Coppola
Country: USA 

After more than 40 years in development, Francis Ford Coppola finally unveils Megalopolis, an ambitious sci-fi epic he largely financed himself. The idea for this eccentric, dense film came to Coppola during the making of Apocalypse Now, raising high expectations. However, despite its long gestation, Megalopolis unfolds as a bloated soap-opera-like spectacle that struggles under the weight of its convoluted themes and sprawling subjects.

The story follows Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a brilliant yet enigmatic visionary with a controversial past and the ability to stop time. His grand ambition is to construct a utopian “city of the future” in New Rome. However, his dream faces fierce opposition from the city’s conservative mayor, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), while he finds both love and support in Cicero’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), a medical school dropout.

Though the film nods to cinematic classics like Brazil (1985), Metropolis (1927), and Dark City (1998), it feels soulless. Despite the weighty themes of political struggle, futuristic utopia, and satirical pop culture, the film feels surprisingly naive, a grab bag of ancient sci-fi ideas and plastic performances that fail to provoke. Copolla dedicated the film to his late wife but Megalopolis is already seen as the greatest disappointment of the year.

Alien: Romulus (2024)

Direction: Fede Alvarez
Country: USA 

Set chronologically between the first two films of the saga, Alien: Romulus marks a return to the basics, reviving the franchise with a blend of old and new elements. Without Sigourney Weaver, this visually captivating, energetic, and intense science-fiction horror flick is enhanced by magnificent sets and thrilling action sequences. It relies on a rejuvenated cast that delivers, even if most of the characters lack full definition. The standout exception is Rain (Cailee Spaeny), a young space colonizer who, along with her friends and humanoid brother, explores an abandoned space station named Romulus, only to face the most terrifying life forms in the universe.

Directed by Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, 2013; Don’t Breathe, 2016), who co-wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues, the film is invested with awe-inspiring ingenuity in some sequences and details for the sake of a deliriously entertaining experience. While it borrows elements from its predecessors, it still manages to find originality in its design and tone, delivering impactful moments. The beast’s drool still causes some frisson; the velocious, creepy Facehuggers inject new excitement; and the humanoids makes us feel the coldness and indifference of machines. 

Alvarez directs with a blend of technique and artistry, crafting a visually arresting experience. He knows how to create suspense in confined, claustrophobic places and pumps this new chapter with nauseating fluids and relentless adrenaline. Alien: Romulus never reaches the potential of Ridley Scott’s original or James Cameron’s sequel, but it’s terrifically executed and, just the same, viscerally monstrous.

Problemista (2024)

Direction: Julio Torres
Country: USA

Problemista is the directorial feature debut by Salvadoran-American Julio Torres, who embraces fantasy to tell the story of Alejandro, an aspiring toy maker from El Salvador who struggles to keep working and living in New York. Torres himself portrays the main character.

After losing his job as an archivist for FreezeCorp - a company specialized in freezing terminally ill humans to be awakened at some point in the future - Alejandro desperately finds a new sponsor for his work Visa and easy gigs on Craigslist to stay afloat. The solution is Elizabeth (a red-haired Tilda Swinton in top form), a neurotic, washed-up art critic whose painter husband (the rapper RZA) has been frozen.

The film flows stonily, with an offbeat vibe that often seduces, yet the wittiness is not a constant, working intermittently. The film is stronger on the dramatic side, with its best moments tapping into a sadness and disappointment with the world that most people will relate to. Swinton’s unbeatable delirium is a perfect foil for Torres’ apathetic confidence in a well-acted surrealist comedy whose main strength is the mood. 

Problemista is only partially satisfying and easy to overlook, but hope is its last word - even if it means achieving things forcibly - and some aspects addressed are so true that they stay with you. It surely could have been better, but this is still a positive debut for Torres, who hired Isabella Rossellini as the film’s narrator.

The Beast (2024)

Direction: Bertrand Bonello
Country: France 

Bertrand Bonnello’s intelligent time-spanning love story, The Beast, is his best film to date and my favorite of 2024 so far. Blending sci-fi, romance, drama, and dystopian thriller elements with enigmatic tones, the film, based on Henry James’ short novel The Beast in the Jungle, results in an original and purely cinematic work. 

The non-linear narrative centers on the doomed love between Gabrielle Monnier (Léa Seydoux) and Louis Lewanski (George MacKay) across three different eras. In 1910, she’s a married pianist frequenting the refined Parisian artistic circles, and he’s an attentive, if cold, British admirer. in 2014, she’s a model living alone in L.A., while he’s an unstable 30-year-old American virgin tortured by rejection and frustration. The future, in 2044, is marked by absolute AI control and the availability of DNA cleanings to erase sorrows of past romances, though at the cost of possible loss of feelings. Each fragment is imbued with a tightly coiled sense of tension and repeated patterns: odd therapy sessions, consultations with clairvoyants, persistent anxieties, premonitions, and fears. An unbearable sense of loneliness also pervades. 

Structured with deliberate bewilderment, the film is a gallantly romantic and dangerously obsessive journey into past lives. It can fascinate us as much as get us lost. Cast and crew make the dramatic events believable, with Seydoux and MacKay delivering extraordinary performances, contributing heavily to 145 minutes of poignant, almost delirious complexity. 

With shades of David Cronenberg and David Lynch, the director of Nocturama (2016) and Coma (2022) gives us something special in a ferociously pleasurable film that deserves respect for its ambition. The Beast is what it wants to be: a slice of thought-provoking, nightmarish science fiction that rewards the viewer emotionally and visually.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Direction: Wes Ball
Country: USA

This obscenely produced 10th installment in The Planet of the Apes franchise introduces a new hero having to endure trials to grow. Wes Ball, known for The Maze Runner trilogy, directed from a screenplay by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds, 2005), and counted on Owen Teague, Kevin Durand, and Freya Allan in central roles.

While visually splendorous, showcasing grandiose empires built on ruins and impressive CGI scenes of attack and destruction, the film fails to deliver an inventive narrative and staging. This type of lavish fantasy is no more a cinematic provocation, generally falling short of excitement and occasionally resorting to sentimental bait. 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes loses substance, relying on reheated formulas disguised as modernistic ideas throughout its quicksilver flow. With so many issues permeating the story, the kingdom of the apes sinks like the Titanic. Our response to the apes’ sad fate, once touched by authentic tragedy, is now marked by relief that this chapter is over.

Spaceman (2024)

Direction: Johan Renck
Country: USA

Adam Sandler takes on the role of a solitary Czech astronaut in Spaceman, tasked with a research mission to the edge of the solar system to investigate a mysterious interstellar cloud. As he spends six months isolated in his ship, he becomes increasingly anxious about the possibility of his pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), leaving him. Amidst this emotional turmoil, he encounters an intelligent ancestral creature—a giant space spider—that helps him confront his selfishness and grapple with feelings of loneliness, guilt, and regret. 

Based on Jaroslav Kalfar's novel Spaceman of Bohemia, the film adaptation, helmed by Chernobyl’s director Johan Renck and written by Colby Day, fails to delve beyond the obvious, offering a forgettable space journey masquerading as a couple’s therapy. Despite attempting to create impact with an ambiguous open ending, the film ultimately falls short, missing the mark on its potential for depth and exploration.

One of the film’s most dispiriting aspects is the mediocre character development and absence of tension. Neither shaping as a real sci-fi adventure nor grounding itself in a compelling romantic drama, Spaceman falls into a middling territory, promising more than it deliveries. Its slow narrative pace, coupled with verbose sequences that prioritize cerebral musings over genuine insight, results in a film that struggles to maintain logical coherence and foster empathy. It’s a half-interesting, half-baked illustration weighed down by a listless melancholy that sedates more than inspires.

Dune: Part 2 (2024)

Direction: Denis Villeneuve
Country: USA

Clocking in at a substantial two hours and 46 minutes, the highly anticipated sequel to Dune proves to be a captivating and daring work that surpasses its predecessor. It stands as a pure marvel, leaving audiences speechless with cinematic qualities bound to linger long after the credits roll. 

Directed with ferocity by Denis Villeneuve, the film pushes the envelope with its gripping dark atmosphere, suspenseful hunts and ambushes, intricate rituals and prophecies, psychedelic imagery, and exhilarating fights set against magnificent backdrops. 

In this grandiose adaptation of Frank Herbert’s adventurous saga, Paul Atreides, portrayed with compelling depth by Timothée Chalamet, joins forces with the Fremen tribe, confirming his role as the prophesied leader they have been awaiting. His journey includes daunting challenges such as riding a giant sandworm - a scene described by the director as the most complex he has ever filmed - and facing off against the sadistic Baron Vladimir Hakkonen (Stellan Skarsgard) and his ambitious and ruthless nephew, Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler). Amidst these trials, Paul also finds love with the rebellious Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya), but their relationship is threatened by the uncertain fate of the universe.

While the film boasts elaborate storytelling, it never veers into indulgence. The incorporation of abstraction amidst its dense layers adds depth, while still delivering all the impact one would expect from a breathtaking sci-fi adventure. Hans Zimmer’s ominous gothic score further heightens the intensity of each scene, contributing to the film’s overall strength.

Dune: Part 2 stands as the apotheosis of Villeneuve's directorial signature within the sci-fi genre - a tremendous display of full-throttle filmmaking that mesmerizes with its clever stylization, unwavering attention to detail, and grandiose visuals. Sit back, relax, and immerse yourself in this unmissable epic space opera.

The Animal Kingdom (2023)

Direction: Thomas Cailley
Country: France

French director Thomas Cailley, known for Love at First Fight (2014), directs and co-writes his sophomore feature, The Animal Kingdom, a hybrid sci-fi drama that balances pitch-perfect detail with a poignant sense of loss and restlessness. This Kafkaesque fable delves into themes of human-animal mutations, exclusion, and father-son relationships with tremendous ambition, resulting in a film that may strike some viewers as poetic while others may find it irrational and far-fetched.

The story follows François (Romain Duris) and his 16-year-old son, Emile (Paul Kircher), who have recently lost their wife and mother, respectively, due to an inexplicable phenomenon that gradually transforms humans into animals. Matters escalate when Emile begins to undergo the same transformation. The premise is imaginative and intriguingly uncanny, yet the execution maintains a palpable connection to reality. 

Cailley demonstrates audacity in both style and form, crafting a controlled staging that delves into themes of unethical discrimination and the mysterious ties between humanity and nature. The film serves as a metaphorically adjusted reflection of contemporary society, presenting a vital and sometimes violent friction between reality and fiction. The Oscar-caliber makeup used to portray the transformed characters, along with the spellbinding forests and landscapes of the Landes de Gascogne, contribute to a visually stunning experience.
While The Animal Kingdom may not achieve perfection in all its aspects, it carries feverish delicacy and magnetic charisma.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Direction: Takashi Yamazaki
Country: Japan

If you enjoy adventure films with a combination of intense action and dramatic flair, Godzilla Minus One might be the movie for you. Directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, the film offers a visceral and fast-paced fantasy with striking visuals and a strong sense of conviction. Yamazaki employs blockbuster tactics to depict multiple dangerous situations with a radioactive Godzilla wreaking havoc on a postwar Japan. 

The story revolves around Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a former kamikaze pilot turned deserter and sea-mine extractor. His lack of courage brings shame to many of his fellow countrymen. However, when he encounters Noriko Oishi and her rescued orphan baby, he discovers a new purpose in life. As Godzilla heads to Tokyo, Koichi sees an opportunity to redeem himself and prove his bravery and piloting skills.

The film explores strong anti-patriotic sentiments associated with the loss of war, mixed with a sense of unity among a group of civilians led by former naval weapons engineer and strategist Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka). Despite some plot holes and sentimental moments, Yamazaki enhances the film with stylized visuals, well-composed frames, and knockout sequences that blend ferocity with desolation. The director bends the rules of the genre by providing reinforced visual effects and relying on an intense musical score. While Godzilla's new roar is a result of a simple amplification of the original, the overall experience feels fresh and new.

Fingernails (2023)

Direction: Christos Nikou
Country: USA

Christos Nikou, known for his impactful directorial debut in Apples (2020) after working as an assistant director on notable films like Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth (2009) and Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight (2013), falls short with Fingernails. This low-stakes fiction attempts to blend sci-fi, romance, and drama but doesn't quite hit the mark. The central concept revolves around a machine determining one's true feelings for a partner, an idea that, while initially intriguing, comes off as rather silly. The film ends up breaking its own spell with repetition, totally missing the pounding pulse of truth.

The script centers on Anna (Jessie Buckley) and her husband, Ryan (Jeremy Allen White), who score a perfect 100% in their love test, yet their relationship appears to be dwindling. Doubt creeps in when Anna meets Amir (Riz Ahmed) at the love testing institute that she secretly started working for. Fingernails becomes a slow descent into torpor with not enough style or swagger to make it big. It feels like the work of a young director trying to impress without having fully formed ideas. 

Despite potential in the machine-versus-heart dynamic, the film falters, and even Jessie Buckley's charm can't salvage an underwritten story that yearns for more depth. Regrettably, the execution feels too slick and fabricated to convey authenticity, the romance comes across as feeble, and the emotions fail to reach the heart. Alas, I didn't buy a word of it.

Landscape With Invisible Hand (2023)

Direction: Cory Finley
Country: USA 

From Cory Finley - the director of Bad Education (2019) and Thoroughbreds (2017) - comes Landscape With Invisible Hand, an offbeat sci-fi romantic comedy drama with fitting social commentary but grappling with an uneven narrative pulse. The film, an adaptation of M.T. Anderson's novel of the same name, ventures down devious pathways, losing track of a potential cinematic provocation due to storytelling veering into self-indulgence and characters who often feel emotionally distant. It’s also visually restrained for a futuristic tale.

While the film doesn't falter on every level, boasting occasional successful black humor and delightful tensions between families, it generally lacks soul and struggles to connect with the theme of an alien seeking entertainment through teenage love. 

The director, concerned with charting trajectories of human subjugation and alien ascendancy, remains on the surface, weaving a crass hodgepodge of elements that don’t fully coalesce. However, respectable performances by Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, and Tiffany Haddish were a positive surprise, and that paid off in places.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Direction: James Cameron
Country: USA

Avatar: the Way of Water, the sequel to Avatar (2009) and the second installment of a series of five, was again co-written and directed by James Cameron (The Terminator, 1984; Titanic, 1997). The events in this episode occur more than a decade after the first story, and tells how Jake Sulli (Sam Worthington) and his united family work collectively to beat an eternal human rival, the recombinant Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). 

The film goes for a broader canvas - with a lot of technology - and adopts a Star Wars side that isn’t always favorable. Even with a strong dramatic center rooted in family, survival and environment, this is a blatant example where the visual spectacle (it can dazzle but also fatigue) swallows up an unexceptional story.

The sequel starts awfully, charged with artificial visuals and heavy content, but gains some tract along the way, becoming slightly more compelling when the action moves to the sea. This particularity offers Cameron a new playground and visual exploration from the point of view of colors, textures and fluidity of the scenes. The beautiful friendship between Jake’s younger son, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and Payakan, an outcast Tulkun, brings the best moments to the screen. All the rest of it is more of the same in a tiresome film that suffers from an extended duration, repetitive messages, and clichéd dialogues.