The Fountain

Aronofsky attempts to remind us of the fundamental questions of science fiction, arguing that we've lost sight of the philosophical and humanistic efforts of the ABC's (Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke) in an era of cheap CGI when all is spectacle. He's partly right — plenty of good science fiction still exists but is overshadowed by popular entertainments mass produced under the banner of sci-fi. A handy rule of thumb is that if afterward you're mostly thinking about the babe in the bodysuit it wasn't real science fiction. Nevertheless The Fountain doesn't work as anything more than an extended tone poem, but I salute the ambition and daring. WALL-E is more successful.