5 science fiction movies to stream right now
“River”:
In this Junta Yamaguchi film, the staff and clients of a quaint Japanese inn find themselves stuck in a short time loop: Every 120 seconds, they all rewind. This premise makes it sound as if Yamaguchi himself is stuck on repeat since his previous feature, “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes” (2022), was about a loop of the same length. But “River” — once again made in collaboration with Kyoto theater company Europe Kikaku and writer Makoto Ueda — feels very different. The often broad humor is still present, but the new movie also effectively creates a wistful mood that can make it feel as if you’re watching a liveaction Studio Ghibli feature. Dominating the ensemble is Riko Fujitani’s Mikoto, a young employee who eventually convinces herself that she may have caused the temporal disturbance. (Rent or buy it on most major platforms.)
“Sight: Extended”:
The agoraphobic Patrick (Andrew Riddell) hasn’t left his apartment in over a month, working remotely and ordering delivery food. Stepping outside to pick up a prescription sets off a nearmeltdown; an invitation to a high school reunion triggers feelings of inadequacy. So when Patrick is offered a miracle new app called Refresh, he jumps on the opportunity. He finds himself immersed in an enhanced reality in which his field of vision essentially becomes a screen on which prompts are overlaid. Overnight, his life becomes a video game in which he is a triumphant He-man instead of a loser. He even wins over his old crush, Emily (Nova Gaver). (Stream it on Tubi.)
“What if dreams are rehearsals?” Jeff (Ferdy Roberts) ponders. “Rehearsals for experiences that are too strange for us to accept.”
“Ozma”:
You can see why Jeff is questioning the fabric of reality, because he is in a film named after a “hyperevolved, shape-shifting jellyfish” that talks in unmistakably feminine tones (voice by Eva Magyar).
Writer and director Keith John Adams’ “Ozma,” is a sci-fi noir oddity set in London that glances toward Luis Buñuel and early David Lynch, albeit with a looser attitude, a generally more benevolent disposition and a jazzbo score performed by an array of British alt veterans that includes saxophonist Terry Edwards. I can’t pretend that I entirely followed the plot, but it’s hard not to be at least intrigued by a story in which a man deals with absence by accepting those strange experiences. (Rent or buy it on most major platforms.)
It’s been at least (checks watch) a minute since we’ve seen an action movie or series in which a solitary hero must protect
“The Creator”:
the precious cargo upon which hangs the fate of humanity. In the case of “The Creator,” that loner is Joshua (John David Washington) and his charge is Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), a simulant, or android, who looks like a little girl and holds the key to the peace between humans and artificial intelligence. With the United States hellbent on eradicating AI after robots took it upon themselves to nuke Los Angeles, most of the action takes place in New Asia, where men and machines live in harmony, and where Joshua tries to evade pursuers led by a relentless commander played by Allison Janney. It’s tempting to underline connections to the “Star Wars” universe but a more useful reference is the Vietnam War-movie genre, with a troubled American hero unable to tell friends and foes apart. (Stream it on Hulu.)
“The Moon”:
How to put this delicately? For a movie that has been described as patriotic, Kim Yong-hwa’s “The Moon” sure makes the staff of the Korean space program look completely inept. After a space shuttle explodes mid-flight in its initial attempt to reach the moon, the country takes a whopping five years to try again, only to almost immediately lose two of the new shuttle’s three crew members after solar winds wreak havoc on the mission. The last one standing, Seon-woo (Do Kyung-soo), appears woefully unprepared to survive in space on his own. Do is in the K-pop group Exo in his other life as a singer, and so it’s hard not to think of “The Moon” as a parable in which a handsome young man must do some growing up. By the end, I, too, believed in him. (Rent or buy it on most major platforms.)