You can now catch your favourite sci-fi flicks at the Natural History Museum with a festival of films being shown including two Star Wars films.
See your science fiction favourites on the big screen with Movie Nights at the Natural History Musuem. Prepare to be thrilled with heart-warming classics, dystopian adventures, terrifying alien encounters and a journey through the vastness of space. Take a seat in the glorious Hintze Hall under Hope the blue whale, grab a drink or snack at the bar and get cosy for some proper sci-fi action.
What’s on the programme?
‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’
Friday February 9 2018Steven Spielberg’s tale of the bond between a young boy and a bug-eyed, glowy-fingered alien marooned on Earth isn’t just one of the high points of his spectacular career, but surely one of the greatest films in the history of, well, film. There’ll be few dry eyes in the audience by the time the credits roll.
‘Alien’
Friday February 9 2018Okay, the chest-bursting alien that rampages through the spaceship in this faultless piece of horror isn’t quite so cute. Ridley Scott’s dark, stylish, thoroughly malignant masterpiece completely reinvented the genre of sci-fi, and still reigns supreme over its numerous sequels.
‘District 9’
Saturday February 10 2018Seemingly out of nowhere in 2009 came this South African gem, which imagines that a group of crustacean-like alien refugees live in a slum in present-day Johannesburg. The apartheid allegories are obvious, while the sinister experiments of a covert government unit tap into our paranoiac zeitgeist.
‘Gravity’
Saturday February 10 2018Short of shelling out for one of Richard Branson’s planned expeditions, Alfonso Cuaron’s dizzying thriller is the closest most of us will feel to being in the inky void of space. And, after watching Sandra Bullock’s astronaut struggles to make her way through hurtling wreckage and burning spacecraft back to terra firma, you’ll probably be quite happy that it stays that way.
‘Star Trek’ (2009)
Friday March 2 2018Slick, sexy and with enough lens flares to make you put on a pair of sunglasses, JJ Abrams’ reboot not only resuscitated the ailing ‘Star Trek’ saga but set the bar for all future franchise overhauls. It’s a fresh-faced Kirk, Spock, Bones and co who are barely out of Starfleet Academy before they find themselves clashing with Eric Bana’s dastardly Romulan Nero.
Starring Chris Pine, Zacahry Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch, directed by J.J. Abrams.
‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ (2013)
Friday March 2 2018As per the title, the follow-up to the 2009 reboot takes the crew of the Enterprise into darker territory, as they race to outsmart the schemes of Benedict Cumberbatch’s renegade terrorist and venture into enemy Klingon space. Ol’ Cumbo is a revelation here, charismatic, ruthless and menacing. Casting agents: make him the bad guy more often, please!
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch, directed by J.J. Abrams.
‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ (2016)
Saturday March 3 2018Wait: a ‘Star Wars’ film without a single lightsaber or Skywalker in sight? The first of the franchise’s new standalone tales could have gone either way; luckily Gareth Edward’s tale of a ragtag group of rebels- lead by Felicty Jones’ Jyn Erso- hunting for the plans to that pesky Death Star smashed all expectation. This is a ‘Star Wars’ for our jittery times, fraught with moral grey zones and brooding anti-heroes. Let’s just hope that next year’s Han Solo movie matches this.
Starring: Felicty Jones and Diego Luna, directed by Gareth Edwards.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015)
Saturday March 3 2018With baited breath, the world waited to see if the first instalment in the new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy wasn’t another ‘Phantom Menace’. Thankfully, it wasn’t. JJ. Abrams proves he’s still Hollywood’s rebooter-in-chief with this delightful old-school romp, which pairs the old gang with a roster of young characters: Jedi-in-the-making Rey (Daisy Ridley), storm-trooper-with-a-conscience Finn (John Boyega) and Sith-lord-with-daddy-issues Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Oh, and BB-8, the cutest little droid you’ve ever clapped eyes on.
Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford and Oscar Isaac, directed by J.J. Abrams.
