Museum Finds Missing Reels of Sci-Fi Classic

Alcon Entertainment slated to produce upcoming sequel or prequel

(NEWSER) - "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..." But would the infamous replicant leader in Blade Runner believe that director Ridley Scott is making a new version of the 1982 sci-fi classic? Sequel or prequel, nobody seems to know—and Harrison Ford's participation is a question mark (he reportedly hated Scott)—but The Blind Side producer Alcon Entertainment will begin development, Deadline.com reports. This on the heels of Scott's Prometheus, an upcoming 3D pic that loosely revisits the Alien franchise. More»

JJ Abrams directs Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning in sci-fi flick

(NEWSER) - Super 8 is a fun summer blockbuster about kids, monsters, and filmmaking—but don’t expect a classic.

• Director JJ Abrams is “clever and sincere,” notes AO Scott in the New York Times , “but still, at least on the big screen, more student than master. Like his previous features, Super 8 is an enticing package without much inside.”
• Claudia Puig applauds the film in USA Today . “Super 8 packs the emotional punch of vintage Steven Spielberg with the spectacular effects and sense of mystery at which writer/director J.J. Abrams excels.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan star in Duncan Jones' sci-fi film

(NEWSER) - Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a military pilot placed into another man’s life using a secret program called Source Code—where he's forced to repeat the same eight minutes perpetually in order to catch a bomber. It’s pulse-pounding but deeply human:

• It’s “the first film in a while to have a decent heart while quickening your pulse,” writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News , calling it a "top-shelf B-movie." Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan “pull off the human moments within this intricate mousetrap—and never get lost in the puzzle.”

Pioneering Frenchman directed 50+ films

(NEWSER) - Eric Rohmer, a leading light of the French New Wave and a prolific filmmaker for over 4 decades, died today in Paris. He was 89. Overshadowed early in his career by Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, Rohmer made his mark with his "Six Moral Tales," released from 1963 through 1972. They include My Night at Maud's, for which he received an Oscar nomination, and Claire's Knee. More»

Wired picks the year's best

(NEWSER) - This has been a vintage year for pop culture, say Wired writers listing their year's best in fields from film to video games to microsculpture.

• Stephen Colbert's "hyper-real genius" made the year for Scott Thill, who believes "Earth’s most relevant living cultural critic" is long overdue for an Emmy for The Colbert Report.