Future Imperfect: Our Favorite Dystopian Films

VOTE: Deadly roller derby, sad clones, and a Road Warrior duke it out

"...dystopia genre: Set a story 200 years in the future and suddenly our anxieties become entertainment – a space..."

Sept. 28, 2017 Screens Post by Kimberley Jones

The Future Is Transhuman

Inside GenEnCo’s new production The Future of Ismael

"...Science fiction often asks its audience to imagine a future where people augment themselves with increasingly progressive technology –..."

Nov. 13, 2019 Qmmunity Post by Charlie Mangan

Fantastic Fest 2014: Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD

Marvel? DC? Pshaw! 2000AD is the law

"...2000AD remains subversive and vital decades after its inception. Future Shock! is the unexpurgated story of one of the..."

Sept. 22, 2014 Screens Post by Marc Savlov

Hideout Theatre's Dystopian Teen Future

In this take on Hunger Games and Divergent-style tales, the improvisers struggle to find a plot or laughs

"...in stitches and on its toes. In Hideout Theatre's Dystopian Teen Future, improv was, unfortunately, none of those things..."

June 14, 2019 Arts Review by Laura Jones

Generic Ensemble Company's The Future of Ismael

This stage adaptation of Siri Gurudev's novel creates a striking sci-fi society but never finds its beating heart

"...For The Future of Ismael, a stage adaptation of the 2017 novel,..."

Nov. 22, 2019 Arts Review by Trey Gutierrez

Future Gladiators and Fantastical Stories Mark the Literary Year in Review

Pulled from the shelves

"...With dystopian novels being so in vogue of late, here's one..."

Dec. 29, 2023 Arts Feature by Jay Trachtenberg

Atlas Shrugged: Part II

Atlas isn't the only one to shrug off this tiresome load of Ayn Rand – but with poor production values.

"...novel to screen: The film takes place in a dystopian future America instead of the mid-20th century of Rand’s..."

Oct. 19, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen wins the Hunger Wars and our hearts.

"...books have been so wildly successful. Set in a dystopian future in which the wealthy, decadent elites of the..."

March 23, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth

A dystopian future meets a pop-culture obsessed past in Ready Player One

"...a mint-condition DeLorean straight out of Back to the Future. When the upward-swinging doors on that retro mobile lift,..."

Aug. 19, 2011 Books Feature by James Renovitch

Other Worlds Review: The Honeymoon Phase

Social experiment becomes sci-fi horror about abusive relationships

"...month will go a long way to building a future together...."

Dec. 11, 2019 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

A Case of Synchronicity

Director Jacob Gentry and star AJ Bowen reunite to rewrite history

"...in 1982 that was looking at what a potentially dystopian future to the year 1982 would be." He laughs...."

Jan. 21, 2016 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Cortex and 'Spark'

John Twelve Hawks' dystopian thriller reviewed

"...In a dark future that may be too close for comfort, John Twelve..."

Jan. 7, 2015 Books Post by Wayne Alan Brenner

Cosmopolis

Even though it stars Robert Pattinson, we doubt his Twilight fans will fully appreciate this sleek, dystopian story that David Cronenberg adapted from Don DeLillo's 2003 novel.

"...easily surpasses that chilly performance here as the 28-year-old, near-future, Wall Street asset manager, Eric Packer, whose vast fortunes,..."

Aug. 24, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

In Time

Andrew Niccol writes and directs this science fiction thriller that stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried.

"...Andrew Niccol's first time dabbling in a seemingly refined future that's dystopian for the have-nots; his 1997 debut, Gattaca,..."

Nov. 4, 2011 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Gamer

Gerard Butler stars in this futuristic thriller set in a multiplayer online gaming universe.

"...agony – whatsoever – strewn throughout Gamer, but this dystopian take on an American near-future where first- (or is..."

Sept. 11, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The 5th Wave

Chloë Grace Moretz battles Earth's fifth wave of alien attacks

"...best, it’s a lukewarm experience. Based on yet another dystopian young adult novel featuring a teenage female protagonist out..."

Jan. 29, 2016 Movie Review by Steve Davis

2016 Oscar-Nominated Short Films: Animation

Watch and prepare for your Oscar pool

"...the animator’s favored theme of despair, Philip K. Dick-influenced dystopian paranoia, and Hertzfeldt’s then-4-year-old niece’s coos and babblings. Backgrounded..."

Jan. 29, 2016 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Dev Patel Swings Into South by Southwest With Monkey Man World Premiere

Fest gets new docs on Stormy Daniels, Alex Jones, and Jon Bon Jovi

"...a father and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge..."

Feb. 7, 2024 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Fantastic Fest Snags Arrival

The Handmaiden, Sadako vs. Kayako in wave two

"...Walks Home Alone at Night with her highly anticipated dystopian cannibal desert trip. Dog Eat Dog United States, 2016,..."

Aug. 25, 2016 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Repo Men

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker play repo men in this future world where body parts can be bought and sold but also repossessed.

"...has morphed into "WTF?" and now all of our futures, most of them already closely enough wound, are dystopian..."

March 26, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Future’s So Dark I Gotta Wear Mirror-Shades

On cyberpunk

"..."The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and..."

July 25, 2008 Books Feature by Marc Savlov

The Maze Runner

Of all the dystopian teen fables, this one based on James Dashner’s popular novel is one of the best.

"...characters’ immediate need for survival over establishing a tired dystopian future or embracing the monomythic routine of making Thomas’..."

Sept. 19, 2014 Movie Review by William Goss

Watchmen

Although this hotly anticipated film has ideas galore, it remains bizarrely cold and uninvolving.

"...genre). The alarms sounding the potential of a seriously dystopian future have become, in the time since Watchmen's initial..."

March 6, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

American War by Omar El Akkad

This dystopian novel of a late 21st century America split by civil war shows how vengeance survives down the generations

"...aware by now that since the election last November, dystopian novels have become all the rage. From George Orwell's..."

April 21, 2017 Arts Review by Jay Trachtenberg

The Stuff That Cubicles Are Made Of

Visioneers

"...Zach Galifianakis) struggling to find meaning in a hypercorporate, dystopian future where dreams are deadly and mindless productivity is..."

Oct. 10, 2008 Screens Feature by Josh Rosenblatt

Burn, Baby, Burn

On Fahrenheit 451 and why good democracy should make you feel bad

"...Ray Bradbury's 1953 sci-fi classic, Fahrenheit 451, about a dystopian future society where reading has been outlawed and books..."

Sept. 26, 2008 Screens Feature by Josh Rosenblatt

Do Shepherds Dream of Digital Sheep?

2178: A digital-music dystopia

"...of time before the Internet's intellectual utopia becomes a dystopian nightmare under the pabulum-slinging regime of the megacorporations. It..."

Aug. 8, 2003 Music Feature by Michael Chamy

Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow

Norman Bel Geddes didn't – and we're still dreaming about his future

"...Now that we've reached the future – at least as it was measured by the..."

Nov. 2, 2012 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Wes Anderson Brings Isle of Dogs to SXSW

Plus Midnighters bring the gore, and Alita party

"...Ono, and dozens more) in this tale of a near-future Japan where all the dogs have been exiled (and..."

Feb. 7, 2018 SXSW Post by Richard Whittaker

Terry Crews Launches Mock Idiocracy Presidential Campaign with a Thundercat Concert

Back from the future, President Camacho hosted a dystopian SXSW rally

"...The future is fucked. At least, that's what Terry Crews says..."

March 14, 2023 SXSW Post by Kriss Conklin

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