Five Science-Fiction Movies to Stream Now – The New York Times

Mark Toias film is set during the pivotal moment when the creature escapes its maker in this case, when military robots acquire the ability to think for themselves, go rogue and decide to kill everything in sight.

Three computer nerds run what they think is a navigation test involving four mechanical soldiers being airdropped into a jungle in the Golden Triangle. They dont have a problem with black ops involving secret weapons until things go haywire, and Monsters of Man is quite good at describing the techies hubris and utter lack of morals, as well as their terminal navet: What did they think they were building, exactly? Not that the trios handlers are any better.

The films ruthlessness in killing off almost every character, including women and children, may feel exploitative, but there is honesty in showing the full range of casualties caused by American weaponry. If you thought drone attacks were bad, wait until you see what autonomous robots that were built to kill are capable of.

The film overstays its welcome by a solid half-hour (it is not about a time loop but feels like one because the last third is so repetitive) but its nihilism and violence are unsettling because the action feels as if its set just minutes into the future.

Rent or buy from Amazon and Vudu.

So, what happens after the killer mechs become sentient? Daniel Raboldts debut feature, thats what.

In it, the robots have fully taken over and exterminated as much of humankind as they could details are fuzzy but it looks as if there are few people left. A banged-up survivor, Tomasz (Stefan Ebel), moves around in a foil-lined van and sets up camp in an empty house in the woods, which he protects with a jury-rigged force field. He meets Lilja (Siri Nase), a member of the local resistance with a plan to vanquish the killing machines, and together they take off for a long walk to a mysterious destination.

Much of this, along with flashbacks showing how the world ended up in this mess, is told wordlessly to avoid alerting the new overlords the German A Living Dog is a bit like A Quiet Place with robots instead of aliens. Raboldt shot in a Finnish forest by the Arctic Circle, an inspired location that gives the film a natural grandeur and beauty while suggesting a forlorn emptiness. Another asset is that unlike too many C.G.I. creations, the robots project a real sense of massive weight. Add a steady, deliberate pace that is mostly absorbing, and you have a solid debut that doesnt always match its ambition, but at least puts up a valiant fight.

Stream from Starz or buy from most major platforms.

Do not confuse this movie with the schlocky (in a bad way) Monster Hunters.

This Monster Hunter is the one in which a feline cook, the Meowscular Chef, prepares a meal Benihana-style for a crew of desert pirates led by Ron Perlman, who then asks a flabbergasted Milla Jovovich: Whats the matter? You dont have cats in your world?

If this makes you laugh I did by all means cue up the preposterously entertaining latest by Jovovich and her husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, one of the best action directors around.

Based on a video game, as is so often the case with Anderson, the film is essentially an extended dash-and-fight sequence. Jovovichs Captain Artemis finds herself marooned in a strange landscape packed with bloodthirsty creatures, which she must defeat if she ever wants to go home. Every time a beastie goes down, a bigger one pops up. Good thing a badass warrior played by Tony Jaa (from the Ong-Bak series) is there to lend a hand. The film is big, loud, boisterous and proudly nutty. Naturally for such an unabashed exercise in pulp fiction, the ending invites a sequel. Bring it on.

Has there ever been a movie where hopscotching between dimensions went smoothly? The various strands and timelines tend not to interact in harmonious ways, creating headaches for everybody involved (including screenwriters trying to overcome niggling paradoxes). Those problems are at the core of Gaurav Seths indie film, in which a student experiment exploring the coexistence of multiple planes spins out of control: This is what happens when STEM education spills from physics into metaphysics.

A car accident at the very beginning is just one in a cascade of consequences and choices, many of them deeply personal for the students. In one world, for example, a deaf woman (Sandra Mae Frank) can hear, but is that better? Another character gets so carried away that he forgets all about ethics and basic decency, raising quandaries on how to handle him. The film is at its most interesting when it juggles a series of interlocking tendrils you may feel compelled to rewatch the beginning to search for missed clues about the final plot twist. Seth probably had a fraction of Paul W.S. Andersons catering budget for Monster Hunter, so the Multiverse description of alternate realities relies on dialogue and a goldfish rather than explosions and rampaging Black Diablos. But the issues it raises are almost as infinite as the universes it posits.

Stream it on Hulu.

Some of the best what-if scenarios provoke tangible emotional responses. Such is the case of Chad Hartigans film, which is lovely and heartbreaking without ever feeling manipulative or sappy. The hypothetical here is as simple as it is soul-crushing: What would happen if a virus destroyed the afflicted persons memory? Emma (Olivia Cooke, just as good in a subtly poignant role as she was as a powerful rock frontwoman in Sound of Metal) narrates her experience watching her husband, Jude (Jack OConnell), progressively forget who he is and what they mean to each other. Emma sees some of the practical consequences of the pandemic at the animal shelter where she works people forget to look after their dogs, who are then brought in and euthanized since nobody claims or adopts them. She also watches the couple formed by their friends Ben (Ral Castillo) and Sam (Soko) sink when Bens mind goes. And still, Emma is not prepared when the illness hits home. You, the viewer, can be: make sure to have a box of tissues ready when watching this most romantic, and sad, of love stories.

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Five Science-Fiction Movies to Stream Now - The New York Times