The term 'golden age of movie sci-fi' has been bandied about a little, and while that might be a little breathless, there's no denying that the last few years have seen more than a few smart, independent-minded films in the genre that have proven truly impressive, from micro-budget films like "Primer" and "Monsters" to bigger budget fare like "District 9." And next month certainly seems to back up the thesis, with two new films hoping to make their mark and win over sci-fi fans within a few weeks of each other.
Probably the most anticipated of the pair is Rian Johnson's "Looper." The director's marked himself as one of the most promising young filmmakers out there with "Brick" and "The Brothers Bloom," and his third film sees him head into futuristic territory for the tale of a hitman (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) tasked with rubbing out his future self (Bruce Willis). The script is terrific, the trailers have been hugely exciting, and the film is opening the Toronto International Film Festival next month, suggesting that it's a cut above the usual fare. A new international poster for Johnson's picture has arrived over at Yahoo, and it highlights the two sides of central character Joe, as well as some very big guns. "Looper" opens September 28th, and we can't goddamn wait.
It won't have the market to itself though,as the week before sees comic-book adaptation "Dredd" open. Hoping to wipe away memories of the earlier, Sylvester Stallone-starring adaptation of the 2000AD comic book, this sees Karl Urban put on the helmet of fascist, futuristic super-cop Judge Dredd, with Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris and Domnhal Gleeson in support. Written by "Sunshine" scribe Alex Garland, and directed by Pete Travis, we weren't won over by trailer, but word out of Comic-Con, even those like our correspondent's review that had more reservations, means that we'll reserve judgement (see what we did there?) until we see the film for ourselves on September 21st. Check both posters out below.
