SCIENCE FICTION / DYSTOPIAN FUTURE. “Project Hail Mary.” / “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die.” / “Red Plague.” / “Ghost in the Shell.”

“Project Hail Mary” (2026, Amazon Prime) Science-fiction. A middle school teacher awakens aboard an interstellar spacecraft with no memory of how he got there. 

       This critically-exalted feature is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and written by Drew Goddard, based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir. It stars Ryan Gosling, as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist on a mission to save humanity, and respected European luminary Sandra Hüller as Eva Stratt, the head of the international task force behind “Project Hail Mary.”

       The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has glowing superlatives: "A visually dazzling space odyssey that's carried along effortlessly by the gravitational pull of Ryan Gosling at his most winning, ‘Project Hail Mary’ is a near-miraculous fusion of smarts and heart." I can't say this sci-fi isn't a fine movie but having watched so many exemplary movies of the genre, I don’t think I feel comfy with “over-appreciation.” 

      But my unfeigned thumbs-up to the ferociously involved performance of Mr Gosling and Ms Huller's restrained dramatic flair. 🎥💻📽

“Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die” (2025, Hulu) science fiction comedy. A man from the future who travels to the past recruits patrons of a Los Angeles diner to help combat a rogue artificial intelligence. 

       The director, Gore Verbinski, is more known as the dude who helmed the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, which I enjoyed. For this movie, he gathered a fine cast: Sam Rockwell as the Man From the Future, Juno Temple as Susan, plus the usually fine Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, and Zazie Beetz. 

       Rotten Tomatoes praised this movie: "A gleeful high-concept comedy with a serious message at its core.” Another critic writes that it is "an unapologetically irreverent, wildly inventive” movie that channels the Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which is the reason why I am not pleased with this high-energy silliness. Plus 2 hrs and 20+ minutes of immersion in a supposedly anti-AI whackedness is just too juvenile to me. 🎥💻📽

“Red Plague” (2025, Amazon Prime) post-apocalyptic thriller. Set in a world ruined by a virulent plague, a broken man retreats into total isolation in the desert after the tragic loss of his wife and their newborn daughter. 

       Maybe this is the 7th “post-apocalyptic” thriller that I saw this month alone. “End of days” dystopian wasteland is a favorite genre of mine, admittedly. So I am always looking for new anglings amidst the predictability. None on this one though. The 1 hour and 38 minutes of expecting a twist? Didn't come. 

       Things actually started quite strong and sent a message a-la “The Last of Us” dramatic tension but things simply went dull after the opening scenes. Plus the guitar-playing and singing is a bit sappy and out of context. Where did that come from? But I give three stars to the performance of the youngster Gaia Brooks as Daisy. 🎥💻📽

“Ghost in the Shell” (2017, Paramount+) cyberpunk action. Set in a near future when the line between humans and robots is blurring, the story follows a cyborg supersoldier who investigates her past. This is the first live-action film adaptation based on the Japanese “Ghost in the Shell” franchise envisioned by Masamune Shirow.

       Kickass visuals, slick computer-generated action effects, and overall production design. Yet although Scarlett Johansson gave a fine performance it seems, the overall feel of the movie is all about holographic bravado and android-inhabited sci-fi bombast so it'd be hard to credit dramatic aesthetics here. 

       Still, this movie is a minor commercial success. For a production budget of $110 million, the box-office take is $169.8 million. 🎥💻📽