Arcade (1993)

“I’m telling you, man, Virtual Reality is the way of the future!” Going further down the wormhole of science-fiction movies, specifically anything related to VR and cyberpunk, and I’m in the direct-to-video land of Full Moon Entertainment once again. Arcade (1993) is based on an original idea by Charles Band, as the opening credits inform […]

Alphaville (1965)

My enduring memory of Alphaville (1965) was the shot near the end of a Parisian freeway at night, the collection of lights in the darkness, a simple and low budget way of implying a future space. To travel to another galaxy as mundane as driving down a highway, yet still otherworldly in the grainy black […]

The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

Movies about virtual reality and the internet envision worlds within worlds – levels, Jerry, levels. So it is with movies about VR: The Matrix is at the top level, being a critical and commercial success that still stands the test of time. Then you have the next level, films like Dark City, which weren’t box […]

Johnny Mnenomic (1995)

I distinctly remember seeing Johnny Mnemonic (1995) at the cinema when I was a teenager and afterwards trying to convince myself it was good. That it was worth the pocket money I spent on the ticket. Like most people, I was hoping for a great Keanu action movie like Speed. It wasn’t that; it was […]

eXistenZ (1999)

Continuing the cyber-punk run I’m on by firing up a rewatch of David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999), which is up there with Dark City with cult movies overshadowed by The Matrix’s box office success. Pre-millennium video-game inspired noirish narratives about the nature of reality and its confusion with fiction; the type with strong fans who will […]