Humanity's home planet hardly merits the name-check in "After Earth," M. Night Shyamalan's sci-fi survival tale whose shipwreck action could (with the exception of a scene where our hero scrawls a crude map over Lascaux-like cave paintings) take place on any old life-supporting globe in the cosmos. The disappointingly generic film, which strands a father and son (Will and Jaden Smith) on Earth a thousand years after a planet-wide evacuation, will leave genre audiences pining for the more Terra-centric conceits of "Oblivion," not to mention countless other future-set films that find novelty in making familiar surroundings threatening. Will Smith's presence, not just as co-star but as originator of the story, seems likely to carry box office receipts beyond the benchmark of Shyamalan's previous picture, the wretched "The Last Airbender," but those hoping for a franchise should navigate elsewhere.

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is like fan-boy fiction on a $185 million budget. It's reverential, it's faithful, it's steeped in "Trek" mythology.

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

There's a siege mentality about Michael Bay's movies, as though viewers are the enemy holed up in a bunker and he's the guy ordering heavy-metal music around-the-clock to wear down our morale and force us to surrender.

Early in the sleek sci-fi thriller "Oblivion," Tom Cruise, as a flyboy repairman living a removed, Jetsons-like existence above an invaded and deserted Earth, intones his home sickness.

It's not really news that Arnold Schwarzenegger is back this year. Everybody else in Hollywood is, too, so why not the former California governor?

Monsterland, one of downtown Mesa’s newest and hottest haunts, is closing later this month. The business posted on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon:

A TV show DVD set represents more than a holiday gift that’s easy to wrap. It also demonstrates respect: you know the recipient is mentally fit and couch-ready for a viewing marathon of “Dr. Who” or “House.”

A TV show DVD set represents more than a holiday gift that's easy to wrap. It also demonstrates respect: you know the recipient is mentally fit and couch-ready for a viewing marathon of "Dr. Who" or "House."

Tom Kenny is a man of a thousand voices -- or so it seems.

A movie about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis probably doesn't sound like it would be a laugh riot — or should be — but that's just one of the many ways in which "Argo" is a glorious, gripping surprise.

"There is an inherent evil to the wondrous technology that we embrace blindly," says J.J. Abrams. It's a loaded observation that seems simultaneously quizzical, thrilled and circumspect. And it hints at the world view of Abrams, the alliteratively initialed writer-director-producer whose latest series, "Revolution," airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT on NBC.

For me, the only thing better than a good time-travel movie would be an actual time machine (Come on scientists – get with it!), so I was very excited when I saw the trailer for the new time-tweaking action flick, Looper. But nothing could have prepared me for how incredibly amazing this film turned out. This movie is so much more than it appears on the surface and an instant sci-fi classic has been born.

It's distracting at first: the fact that you're looking at Joseph Gordon-Levitt but he doesn't look exactly like the Joseph Gordon-Levitt you've come to know and love. Aren't his eyes brown? Isn't his nose longer and thinner? Even the blasé smirk on his face seems like an unfamiliar expression given his usual likable, boyish cool.

Beverly Hills, Calif. - As “Survivor: Philippines” — the competition show’s 25th edition — begins, Jeff Probst is envisioning a time when the franchise will have its own torch snuffed out.

When considering iconic fictional couples, there are only a few who immediately come to mind whose relationship has stood the test of time. Romeo & Juliet, Lois & Clark, Rhett & Scarlett, Fred & Wilma, Homer & Marge and even Peter & Mary Jane are all partners who, when matched together by just their first names, embody a picture of romantic affinity in our collective pop cultural consciousness.

If living well is truly the best revenge, Susan Lucci is getting hers in spades.

For nearly 40 years, Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe has helped people open pages to new chapters and new books by often allowing them to meet the authors and get their books signed.

With his remarkable feature directorial debut, “Robot and Frank”, Jake Schreier joins Benh Zeitlin and Craig Zobel as one of Hollywood’s most promising directors to break out this year.

Cuteness will carry an actor or actress a long way in Hollywood, usually right into those awkward teen years.

On Friday, five live bands and more than 70 booths will line Main Street in Mesa to celebrate the best of sci-fi geekdom. There will be costume contests, panel discussions, concept art and comic drawing workshops, strategy gaming contests, science and technology demonstrations by HeatSync Labs, a screening of “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” and a ticket giveaway for William Shatner’s upcoming appearance at the Mesa Arts Center.