John Scalzi

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By John Scalzi Directors like Spike Jonze and Quentin Tarantino may have come close to directing scifi, but they rank among people like Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann who should be working in the genre. Last week I was noting the uphill climb scifi will have in winning the "Best Picture" Academy Award,...

By John Scalzi How can science fiction win a Best Picture Oscar? By following in the footsteps of Peter Jackson's fantasy, which benefited from an epic size, financial success and fortuitous timing. Hey! It's Halloween on Saturday! So naturally this is going to be a science fiction-related Halloween...

By John Scalzi A number of scifi movies have beamed from the silver screen to the small screen -- not all of them as successfully as Stargate. Can you separate the stellar adaptations from the stinky ones? I'm going to engage in a bit of shameless self-promotion and tell you that this Friday marks the debut...

By John Scalzi This year the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences announced it was doubling the number of nominees for the Best Picture Oscar. Does this mean a science fiction movie might actually have a chance this year? It's funny; I think one of the reasons that the Academy is doubling up on nomin...

By John Scalzi What did we learn this summer at the movies? That audiences love stupid scifi like Transformers, that critics love smart scifi like District 9, and that everyone wanted to love Star Trek again. This upcoming weekend marks the traditional end of summer, and I ask you: What productive thing...

By John Scalzi Alien probes that throw toddler-like temper tantrums? Warp engines that create wormholes? John Scalzi explains why the Star Trek universe is in deep need of a re-design. So, before I bang on bad design choices in Star Trek, let's recap what happened last week when I discussed bad design ch...

By John Scalzi To become a movie, a script has to go through producers, directors and actors -- all of whom want to make their own changes. Is it any wonder scifi flicks like Push end up making no sense? I was talking movies with a friend recently -- I know, shocker -- and he made an offhand comment which I found...

By John Scalzi Celebrate Independence Day with John Scalzi, who's compiled a list of scifi movies, such as Star Wars and Alien, that contain the Biggest Damn Explosions this side of Alderaan. This Saturday, it's July 4, when America celebrates its independence from Britain by blowing things up real go...

By John Scalzi That said, Ferrell's science fiction belly flop shouldn't come as a huge surprise: History has shown us that when you combine Saturday Night Live alumni with science fiction cinema, what you often -- indeed, usually -- get is a big fat flop. Truly, scifi and SNL are two great tastes that go a...

By John Scalzi Why hasn't steampunk hit it big in movies yet? It seems perfect for the movies, visually. You'd think so, wouldn't you? For those of you not in the know, "steampunk" is a type of science fiction that imagines what the world would be like if we had today's technology, retrofitted for the Victo...

By John Scalzi However, it's not fair to say that Hollywood never saw science fiction as a moneymaker before Star Wars, either -- quite a number of science fiction movies did gangbuster business from the very start of the industry: The highest grossing film of 1916, for example, was a version of 20,000 L...

By John Scalzi John Scalzi hits the mailbag this week, answering your questions about Wolverine's box office potential, George Lucas's contribution to filmmaking and Speed Racer's enduring appeal. This past week my brain has collapsed like the proverbial flan in the cupboard, so rather than think o...

 NY We've all been there: Engrossed in an argument John Scalzi is making against classifying Indiana Jones as science fiction when "real life" gets in the way, and we have to leave SciFi Scanner behind. Well no more: AMC is happy to announce the launch of ...

By John Scalzi A list of reasons why John Scalzi is digging AMC's B-movies site: What more could a scifi fan ask for than Dark Star and Peter Cushing in full-screen HD glory? And now, a list of reasons why I, as a movie fan, am really digging AMCtv.com's new B-movies site, on which you can watch "classic" B-mo...

By John Scalzi To answer the first question: Very little. The box office for 2009 so far has been good -- a bit over where it was this time last year -- and science fiction and fantasy flicks have been a significant part of that. Watchmen has the top opening of 2009 so far with $55 million (although that's likel...

By John Scalzi Crossing the bridge between rock 'n roll and scifi isn't always easy. And some musician-turned-actors (Will Smith in Men in Black) fare better than others (Sting in Dune). A friend of mine and I were talking about science fiction movies -- I know, a shocker -- and he asked me a fairly random qu...

By John Scalzi 1. It's a simple matter of odds: Far more scifi books get published each year than movies are released from all the major Hollywood studios combined. A major studio will release about 20 to 25 pictures of all types and genres per year, of which two or three might be science fiction or fantasy. A s...

By John Scalzi Why does this matter? Because movies -- particularly science fiction and fantasy movies -- are going increasingly 3D. Later this year the animated scifi spoof Monsters Vs Aliens will be screening across the U.S. in three-dimensional glory, and then at the end of the year James Cameron has p...

By John Scalzi Inspired by Facebook, John Scalzi dispenses the top 25 tidbits about his relationship with science fiction movies. Just like every other person in the known world, I have a Facebook account. Right now there's a "25 Things About Me" meme going around there, in which one dispenses personal t...

By John Scalzi A lot of my discussions centered around the argument that a movie's status as scifi is dependent upon the percentage of the movie that's "science fictional" -- that is, if a movie contains enough science fictional gadgets or creatures or concepts, it eventually becomes science fiction....

By John Scalzi Winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, John Scalzi is the author of The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies and the novels Old Man's War and Zoe's Tale. He's also the editor of METAtropolis, an audiobook anthology on Audible.com. His column appears every Thursday.

By John Scalzi Hey, did you know it's Christmas? I know! It's like it happens every year or something. It's also one of the days of Hanukkah as well, so today's schedule is just plain packed. I don't know how many of you will be reading this on December 25th, but if you are, I'm going to share with you my Christma...

By John Scalzi It's almost 2009, folks. And if you've been asking yourself, "Hey, when is Scalzi going to make his end-of-the-year science fiction movie list?" then get ready, because that's what I'm going to do right now. If you weren't asking yourself that question, then, uh, just go with it. Because rea...

By John Scalzi • I'm thankful for Will Smith. He's made sure there's at least one watchable (not necessarily good, but watchable) big-budget science fiction movie a year, for, what, most of a dozen years already? Yes, I know, Wild Wild West. Hey, he was young. He needed the work.

A good date movie shapes your emotional responses. That's why the Princess Bride is a better choice than Pan's Labyrinth. What else works? John Scalzi - Do Science Fiction Movies Still Need Theaters? ...

SciFi Power Ranking - October 27, 2008. Daniel Craig has said no to Thor, Heroes continues its slide and Neil Gaiman has walked away from David Fincher's adaptation of Black Hole. John Scalzi - Are Mad Scientists Unfairly Maligned? ...

John Scalzi - Are Mad Scientists Unfairly Maligned? There have been no positive portrayals of mad scientists in movies. Is Hollywood being too simplistic... or accurate? SciFi Dept - The Toxic Avenger, Reborn as a Rock Musical ...

By Casey Topics: Speedracer, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible, Atlantis, Cloverfield, Fashion On the show: Casey Vince Stephanie Jeromy John Casey: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi Vince: Speedracer Talk Casey: SciFi Finder Application Casey: SFS Beta Dollhouse Trailer Updated Source Whedon’s “D...

By Casey The Council of Great Relevance. Topics this week: Harry Potter Movies, Religion in Speculative Fiction, “Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi, Superman Movies, Farscape Webisodes. This weeks Council Members: Casey, Vince, Jenica, Mark, Randy, Jeromy If you would like participate in the Coun...

By Casey Interview: Christiana Ellis (Space Casey). Topics: Smallville, Supernatural, Star Trek, Jericho, American Film Institute, “Old Man’s War,” John Scalzi Thank you for taking time to listen to us. This is show number 22 and it’s a doosie. We’ve got a special guest today and one of the funnest...

By Casey Interview: Mur Lafferty - Topics: Kristin Kreuk, Saturn Awards, Blu-Ray, Akira, TOR, Old Man’s War, John Scalzi Thank you for joining us for show number 20. We’re going to be talking with New Media pioneer and sci-fi writer, Mur Lafferty. In the news is the Saturn Awards, Blu-Ray, Akira, Kr...