READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF HOLLYWOOD'S HYPE
You can almost hear the basso profundo voice-over: �In a world without war or crime, a faceless dictator placates the masses with mind-numbing drugs. But one renegade federal enforcer discovers his humanity and �� December�s Equilibrium is just one of five new sci-fi flicks offering glib peeks at the future. Of course, they all have that one twist to drive the plot � and, Hollywood hopes, to fuel watercooler buzz, press coverage, and out-of-this-world box office sales. Here�s the high-concept lowdown.
| SCI-FI MOVIE | JUST LIKE REALITY EXCEPT � | WHAT�S MISSING | NEWSWEEK�S TREND STORY | WILL IT GENERATE BUZZ?
| solaris | Alien intelligence manipulates thoughts and emotions. | The future. Technology seems to have stopped evolving somewhere between 2001 and Mir. | �What is truly real? And how does it affect our kids?� | Highbrows will hate it for not living up to the original; mainstream critics will hate it for downplaying Clooney�s smirk.
| Treasure Planet | Robotics and interstellar travel exist in Disneyfied 18th-century milieu. | Gilbert & Sullivan, scurvy, keelhauling. | �Chips ahoy, matey. Here come cyborg pirates!� | Despite attacks against �high tech piracy� from the Senate floor, virtually no bootleg copies found on KaZaA.
| Equilibrium | Mood-altering drugs are legal and government-mandated. | Footnotes denoting brazen indebtedness to Brave New World, 1984, and almost every sci-fi film of the past 50 years. | �Are we overmedicating?� | Sure � of the prescription antidepressant variety. Look for very sedate talk-show segments on pharma product placements.
| Star Trek: Nemesis | The old TV stars encouraged to return belt out �Blue Skies.� | Holodeck excursions to exotic locales that look suspiciously like Southern California. | �It�s 2002 � why aren�t we all shooting phasers yet?� | Tenth trip for the Enterprise may make fans abandon the �even/ odd� rule that even-numbered Trek sequels are good.
| THE CORE | The center of the Earth stops rotating. | Big ideas. Science aside, this seems like another Armageddon-sized action thriller. | �Hilary Swank makes spelunking sexy.� | It�ll take a major earthquake to get people interested in geology.
| PLAY
| �It�s The Abyss Meets Armageddon!�
| Some Healthy-Looking Numbers
| reviews
