Science Fiction

In the night skies near his Muncie, Indiana, home, power repairman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) experiences something out of this world. His close encounter sets into action an amazing chain of events that leads to contact with benevolent aliens and their Mothership. Spectacular special effects, John Williams' outstanding score and winning performances from Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillion and legendary director Francois Truffaut in the role of Lacombe make Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" movie magic of the best kind.

Cornelius and Zira's son Caesar leads apes to revolution in this installment of the apes saga. Dogs and cats have been wiped out by a plague and now apes are household pets that are treated like slaves. Caesar has the intelligence to fight this oppression.

In this charming, funny and very moving sequel to the hit film Cocoon, the adventurous old-timers who left Earth for the alien utopia Antarea, return on a rescue mission. Although accustomed to their new peaceful, problem-free planet, they realize the joys they left behind after they are reunited with their stunned families. Yet for all their happiness, they must once again confront the human frailties of their past. Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and Jack Gilford once again head the sensational all-star cast.

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) prowls the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles. He's a Blade Runner stalking genetically made criminal replicants. His assignment: kill them. Their crime: wanting to be human. The story of Blade Runner is familiar to countless fans, but few have seen it like this. Because this is director Ridley Scott's own vision of his sci-fi classic. This new version omits Deckard's voiceover narration, develops in slightly greater detail the romance between Deckard and Rachael (Sean Young) and removes the "uplifting" finale.

The bizarre world you met in 'Planet of the Apes' was only the beginning... What lies beneath may be the end! In an effort to find the missing astronaut Taylor (Charlton Heston), James Fransiscus goes on a rescue mission to the planet of the apes. Using the information he receives from the ape village that Taylor escaped from, Brent locates him in an underground fortress in the forbidden zone guarded by telepathic humans.

ane Fonda's memorable, zero-gravity striptease during the opening credits of this 1968 Roger Vadim movie is the closest the film comes to a liberated marriage of wit and sex. Based on a French comic strip, the story concerns the adventures of a 41st-century woman, who pretty much gets it on with whomever asks. The sci-fi sets were pretty interesting at the time, though they look rather anachronistic now. Appreciated today mostly as a camp classic.

The best-selling novel by Michael Crichton was faithfully adapted for this taut 1971 thriller, about a team of scientists racing against time to destroy a deadly alien virus that threatens to wipe out life on Earth. As usual with any Crichton-based movie, the emphasis is on an exciting clash between nature and science, beginning when virologists discover the outer-space virus in a tiny town full of corpses.

Series finale chronicles final battle between, apes, humans, and mutants for control of Earth. Superior to Conquest, its plentiful action provides a sturdy ending to followers of saga. After conquering the oppressive humans in "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes", Caeser(Roddy McDowal) must now keep the peace amongst the humans and apes. Gorilla General Aldo(Claude Akins) views things differently, and tries to cause an ape civil war.

When Stanley Kubrick recruited Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on "the proverbial intelligent science fiction film," it's a safe bet neither the maverick auteur nor the great science fiction writer knew they would virtually redefine the parameters of the cinema experience. A daring experiment in unconventional narrative inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel," 2001: A Space Odyssey is a visual tone poem (barely 40 minutes of dialogue in a 139-minute film) that charts a phenomenal history of human evolution.

Michael Radford's adaption of George Orwell's foreboding literary premonition casts John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton as lovers who must keep their courtship secret. Aside from criminalizing sex and interpersonal relationships, the ruling party in their country Oceania both fabricates reality and reconstructs history for the sake of oppressing the masses. They brainwash their citizens via large, propaganda-spewing TV monitors installed in their living rooms, which also inspect everyone's activities.