It’s that time of year again to choose the best, and the worst of the year. I’m starting with the worst. Why 7? Because the year isn’t over yet, and there are a few films I haven’t seen yet (though I doubt The Hunger Games 4 will make either my top or bottom list if the past episodes are anything to go by). I’m using “science fiction” in a very broad sense. If the film pretends to be SF, it is. I’d planned to make a “genre” list as I have in the past, but there’s a good number of fantasy films I haven’t seen yet, and the ones I have didn’t make either my top or bottom list. Fantasy is very middle of the road this year. So, counting down the worst of the worst, starting with #7:
#7 Self/less
A stereotypically nasty businessman is given a chance to extend his life by transferring his consciousness to a lab grown body. When he discovers the body wasnât grown, but has a past which includes a wife and child, he becomes guilty, and the secret company decides he needs to die.
This action film, that could have been rewritten without the science fiction elements, plays like a first draft spec script. Guns get fired. Cars crash. Itâs not horrible. It is simply completely forgettable. Nothing about this film will be remembered in a year. It isnât worth the effort to avoid. Ben Kingsley, who’s demonstrated he’ll be in anything if paid is again there for the paycheck, while Ryan Reynalds demonstrates, again, that he ought to be good in genre films, but somehow isn’t.
 #6 Tomorrowland
A teen genius, a robot girl, and a cynical ex-inventor travel to a parallel universe to save ours.
A corporate created kidsâ film that should have been a family film, Tomorrowland has some interesting ideas but they were wasted. The main character is irrelevant. The movie could have been about the robot and older man, but then it should have been rewritten before even getting to that point. This is a movie that needed magic and adventure and it came up empty. Miscasting of Clooney didnât help matters.
 #5 Jupiter Ascending
A maid learns sheâs the genetic duplicate of the dead matriarch of a powerful galactic family (sureâŠ) that owns the Earth. Their wealth is build on harvesting humans for a youth tonic and every member has a scheme for using the maid. But she has a protector in the form of a wingless, man-wolf, soldier, hoverboard pro (OKâŠ). Do man-wolfs usually have wings? Seems so.
How far the The Wachowskis have fallen: Channing Tatum in wolf ears on a hover board; Mila Kunis spending two hours playing damsel in distress and being more worried about her outfit than the fate of the world; Eddit Redmayne overacting such that any proper society would repossess his Academy Award. Donât worry about the story; they didnât. Itâs very pretty. The pretty doesnât make up for the poor acting, nonsensical plot, or annoying characters, but its enough to put it a few notches away from worst of the year.
 #4 Infini
A rescue team teleports to a deep space outpost to stop a deadly cargo aimed at Earth and to rescue the lone survivor. They just have to avoid dying from the cold and from whatever pathogen drove the last rescue team insane.
Remember Event Horizon? Remember how it was pretty good, but copied too much from Alien? If not, watch Event Horizon. Or better, watch Alien. Infini is what you get if you set out to make a copy of a copy, and run out of script and money halfway through. It looks good, and the acting is passable, but all we end up with is crazy people who like to talk and walk down mysterious corridors. It had potential, and I still had hopeâthough fading hopeâan hour in, and then they just give up. Suspense, mystery, and action fades away, replaced by crazy people chatting. I doubt if you could save this, but cutting twenty minutes would be a step in the right direction.
 #3 Insurgent
In an post-apocalyptic dystopian city, citizens are split into five rigid sects. A divergent girl (doesnât fit into a single group) and her combat-trainer boyfriend are on the run after the first film. The evil, nasty, bad, naughty smart people want to capture her for a secret weapon.
Insurgent, the sequel to the clichĂ©-ridden, anti-intellectual, but well-structured young adult film, Divergent, drops the âwell-structuredâ part, and gives us dreams and tantrums. Lots of dreams. If you like your films filled with events that turn out neither to be real nor matter, this is the film for you. Thereâs ten minutes of story, pointless grousing, and dreams. If youâve seen the first film, and want to see the upcoming third one, have someone spend a few minutes explaining the very little you need to know from this one. Then go watch something else.
#2 Fantastic Four
A soft spoken young genius with no charisma is brought onto a dimension jumping project. He, Doctor Doom, his abused buddy, and the son of the project leader experiment withâŠÂ Wait. Isnât Sue Storm one of the fantastic four? But she isnât part of the 4 that try out the experiment? Huh. OK. So, the experiment goes wrong and gives them super powers, which they donât do much with.
On the bright side, the pre-release word on this film was so bad that I was not disappointed. Itâs as bad as youâve heard, but no worse. The characters have no chemistry, no interesting dialog, and I wouldnât have cared if that experiment had killed them all. The superhero part of the film doesnât start for an hour and doesnât go anywhere. And to strip away an possible enjoyment, the movie is tinted an ugly green.  The best thing I can say about this film is that the actors would be goodâŠin something else.
#1 Pixels
Aliens attack using weapons that look and act like old arcade games. Adam Sandler, playing the same guy he always does, must save the day with his old time video game skills, because that isnât stupid in any way.
Could a good movie have made from this premise? No, but a better one. If theyâd let the not-very-funny moments come from the weak story, it could have been watchable. Instead itâs filled with horrible jokes that could have been extracted from ten other Adam Sandler films. Sandler spits out his low level quips, and they are never funny and usually unpleasant. When Kevin James is the sophisticated one in your film, youâre in trouble. Peter Dinklage deserves better, although youâd never know from his performance.