Solaris

Pros: A slow ride down beyond depth. Psychology. Ontology. Love.
Cons: Not for the faint of heart: watching Tarkovsky films is hard work.

With a George Clooney/Steven Soderbergh Solaris set to open this Thanksgiving, let’s take a look back at the first version, with special attention to the book behind them both. It’ll be interesting to see which the new version will ...

Pros: A seminal sci-fi work (especially for outside of America), ambitious themes, good performances
Cons: VERY s . l . o . w paced, weak science, implausible behavior, anti-science themes

There’s a question posed naively by the simple-minded postman, Mario, in 1994’s I l Postino to a famous poet and deep thinker, Neruda: “Then the entire world might be a metaphor for something else?” The ...

Pros: Philosophical and emotional depth, some beautiful visuals.
Cons: Brutally long and slow-developing.

What is the relationship between technology and the soul? Tarkovsky's Solaris, based on Stanislaw Lem's novel by the same name, seems to offer an answer, though after viewing the movie several times, I am still struggling to define what it is. ...

Pros: Tarkovsky's Direction, Story, Cinematography, Music, Sound, Special Effects, & Cast.
Cons: None But Audiences Will Be Turned Off by its Slow Pacing.

Throughout the history of science-fiction in cinema, stories were often told about the wanders of outer space sometimes through humor or in propaganda. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick changed the perception of what sci-fi could be with his adaptation of ...

Pros: direction, visuals, some interesting ideas
Cons: slow-paced, limited special effects, no action

When I was young, as in very young, I suppose you could say I was interested in science-fiction/fantasy type of stuff. Although in hindsight, it probably wasn’t high-quality material, since it was mostly of the Saturday morning crassly commercial ...

Pros: Excellent character driven story, splendid acting, not a special effects movie (for a change)
Cons: Some will definitely find the pace, er, ponderous

After just having finished reading the novel, I decided to plunk down my hard-earned money (at a suggested retail of $39.99!) and purchase Andrei Tarkovsky's film, Solaris in the Criterion Collection DVD edition. With such a steep asking price...

Pros: You can recover with therapy.
Cons: Is longer than the Triassic Era.

Solaris is the longest movie ever made. I believe that it is in fact eternally long, that it never, ever stops. I . . . fear Solaris.

When I rented this movie, it was under the presumption that this was a foreign sci-fi classic....

Pros: A thoughtful psychological study, a unique meditation on the preciousness of our humanity.
Cons: None. I'm thoroughly enthralled by the film.

About the film

A frequent theme in science fiction is that humans have become so dehumanized in their devotion to technology that they have lost touch of their emotional capacities. In SOLARIS, the 1972 film by the great Russian...

Pros: This movie shines on it's new DVD release.
Cons: Film can be slow for those expecting ID4 type Science Fiction

Well, seeing as how there isn't a review of the new DVD set of Solaris, I decided to put one up. I am purposefully not going into too much detail on the film or going into spoilers which can be read in other reviews. I mainly want to talk about the...

Pros: It's Tarkovsky...
Cons: ...in one of his weakest performances.

I felt somewhat reluctant to write a bad review about the movie from the author I otherwise like so much, but since I have already written about the book "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem, I decided it would be an injustice to the potential readers of...

Pros: One of the most beautiful films ever made ...
Cons: Not for the impatient, and not transferred well to video ...

The fundamental questions asked by Stanislaw Lem's Solaris are these: if we were to encounter alien intelligence--here, an entire ocean of seeming sentience--if we were to encounter the absolutely Other, how would we communicate with it? Would we even be...

Pros: An interesting curiosity
Cons: Oh mama! Don't get me started!

This is one of those films that makes it into the vocabulary of every film critic for no clear reasons. I believe Roger Ebert called it "eerie," and I think I've heard "important" come from lesser critics.

Truth is, this...