Oblivion

Top 10 Movies for Sci-Fi Fans and Techies in 2013

Oblivion Movie

If you’re a sci-fi geek or techie who likes a movie with lots of moving parts (and if you’re not yet a techie, check out the Ascet Institute of Technology), 2013 will be a good year for you. From a Superman reboot to a new Star Trek movie, we’ve listed some of our favorites below. Let’s take a look.

1. Oblivion (April 19, 2013). Based on a graphic novel director Joseph Kosinski wrote back in 2005, features both cool sci-fi effects, but also what Universal helmer Adam Folgeson calls “one of the most beautiful scripts we’ve ever come across.”

Tom Cruise stars as a drone repairman whose longstanding battle with alien invaders is drawing to an end. But when his aircraft lands on a barren Earth, he encounters a mysterious woman named Julia (Olga Kurylenko) who throws everything he thinks he knows about the war into doubt.

2. Man of Steel (June 14, 2013). Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman franchise stars Henry Cavill as the guy in the blue tights, doing battle with villain Michael Shannon. We know the story: An alien infant is raised on Earth, grows up with superhuman abilities, and sets out to use these abilities to guard his adopted world.

The amazing ensemble cast includes ‬Russell Crowe,‭ ‬Amy Adams,‭ ‬Kevin Costner,‭ ‬Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane. Christopher Nolan is on as a producer.

Man of Steel
Henry Cavill plays the Man of Steel

3. Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17, 2013) Already elevated in our mind because of J.J. Abrams generosity towards a dying fan, this movie will appeal not only to Star Trek fans, but also sci-fi fans, in general.

The plot is a heavily guarded secret, but we know it revolves around the crew of the Enterprise coming up against an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

Benedict Cumberbatch, (Sherlock),  ‬Alice Eve and Noel Clarke are among the cast that also includes Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto.

Star Trek Into Darkness
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in Star Trek Into Darkness

4. Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013). Robert Downey, Jr. returns as the billionaire playboy philanthropist, and this time he’s facing his toughest challenge yet as he finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands.

Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes) and Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan) return, while Ben Kingsley plays the menacing Mandarin. A great way to kick off the summer movie season.

Iron Man 3

5. Gravity (Oct. 18, 2013). George Clooney and Sandra Bullock star as a pair of astronauts who survive the destruction of an orbiting space station and struggle to survive in a debris-strewn vacuum.

Folks who’ve seen early test screenings are calling it visually astonishing, with Bullock’s performance possibly one of the best of her career so far. And fans of director/writer Alfonso Cuarón have been waiting for this movie since his 2006 adaptation of PD James’ novel Children Of Men.

gravity movie

6. Pacific Rim (July 12, 2013). When gigantic monsters emerge from the ocean, brave warriors strap into equally large robot suits to fight them. Don’t worry about it being another Battleship-like flop. We think Guillermo del Toro will prevail, with help from a massive $200 million budget.

With a cast that includes Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi and Ron Perlman, look for Pacific Rim to be a summer blockbuster.

Pacific Rim

7. Elysium (Aug. 9, 2013). From writer/director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) comes this sci-fi flick bathed in political and social themes. The story is set in 2159, when Earth has become so hopelessly overcrowded that the richest members of society live on a luxurious orbiting space station known as Elysium.

Matt Damon plays Max, an ex-convict living among the ordinary classes on Earth who embarks on a mission that could bring down the divide between rich and poor. It’s wealth redistribution with a $120 million budget.

Jodie Foster plays an anti-immigration officer (and possibly villain) named Secretary Rhodes. Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner and Alice Braga round out the cast.

Elysium
Matt Damon in Elysium

8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov. 22, 2013). Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine) directs this second movie in the Hunger Games franchise, based on the book by Suzanne Collins about a dystopian society where kids are thrown into a massive landscape arena and fight to survive.

Jennifer Lawrence returns as the fierce archer Katniss Everdeen, torn between her longtime friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) and the baker boy Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who tossed loaves of bread to help feed her family. ‬Sam Claflin joins the cast as Finnick Odair; and ‬Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the pivotal role of Plutarch Heavensbee.

Catching Fire

9. Ender’s Game (Nov. 1, 2013). Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Ben Kingsley star in this movie that takes place 70 years after a horrific alien war, when an unusually gifted child is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future invasion.

Ender’s Game is directed by Gavin Hood and based on a novel by Orson Scott Card, who gave his blessing on the script.

Enders Game

10. The Prototype (TBA, 2013). Written and directed by Andrew Will (Act Of Valor), this movie is about an experimental military android that escapes from a ‘Nevada storage facility’ and is hunted down by soldiers, including Neal McDonough, who you might recognized from Captain America and Minority Report. Very cool robot designs with a story that’s part Bourne and part RoboCop.

 

Comments

4 responses to “Top 10 Movies for Sci-Fi Fans and Techies in 2013”

  1. Melanie Ray McMinn Avatar
    Melanie Ray McMinn

    A bit nervous about Ender’s Game, given it is a classic Sci-Fi tale that could be badly handled. Glad OSC gave his blessing.

  2. […] Top 10 Movies for Sci-Fi Fans and Techies in 2013 … down the divide between rich and poor. It's wealth redistribution with a $ 120 million budget. Jodie Foster plays an anti-immigration officer (and possibly villain) named Secretary Rhodes. Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner and Alice Braga round out … Read more on Reel Life With Jane […]

  3. […] Top 10 Movies for Sci-Fi Fans and Techies in 2013 5. Gravity (Oct. 18, 2013). George Clooney and Sandra Bullock star as a pair of astronauts who survive the destruction of an orbiting space station and struggle to survive in a debris-strewn vacuum. Folks who've seen early test screenings are calling … Read more on Reel Life With Jane […]

  4. josh Avatar
    josh

    Im looking forward to Ender’s Game. I hope they can “deliver”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *