There's a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to science fiction movies these days. Director upstarts like Duncan Jones ("Moon") and Neill Blomkamp ("District 9") show A LOT of promise. "Tron Legacy" and Robert Rodriguez's "Predators" reboot both look to be big, fun, and full of action. Christopher Nolan is about to drop "Inception" on our heads. And Jones is following up "Moon" with the already-highly-buzzed "Source Code." That being said, sci-fi still does, and will always account for some of the biggest stinkbombs to hit the big screen. As of late, (small) audiences have suffered through "Surrogates," "Gamer," "Pandorum,"The Book of Eli," "Daybreakers," and "The Box"...Ouch.

Where will "Repo Men" fall on the spectrum? The above video takes a look at the creative precursors behind this weekend's sci-fi release.

The character carousel continues on "Lost," with this week's episode focusing on Sawyer, who has been absent from the storyline since scrambling into the oceanfront cave with Other Locke four weeks ago. Presumably, Sawyer has been lying low in the jungle, waiting for guidance; why he wasn't part of the Temple siege, and where he was when all that violence was going down, are both unclear. But while Sawyer is on Team Other Locke (for the moment), he hasn't been bewitched/brainwashed/possessed like Claire and Sayid have. It's a little surprising to see Kate still in the fold with Other Locke: She witnessed his deadly warpath at the Temple and hasn't been actively indoctrinated to the dark side. Seems she's sticking around for Claire, even if her commitment and understanding of the situation are clumsily muted. In an ever-emerging "Survivor"-like structure, we're getting a whole lot of bouncing between the sides, an approach that worked out well last week with Ben Linus. This week...not as much. The full recap is after the jump.

The age-old war between Jacob and The Man in Black ratcheted up in last week's ultraviolent episode of "Lost," with our castaways and candidates further aligning themselves around the conflict. On Team Jacob, we have Jack, Hurley, Jin, Sun, Lapidas, Miles, and Ilana. Other Locke leads a semi-possessed and/or otherwise helpless army featuring Claire, Sayid, probably Sawyer, and (for the time being) a caught-up-in-the-madness Kate. Things are bound to shift and change within the allegiances; I imagine that the struggle for control of the candidates will make up the bulk of the drama down the stretch in an increasingly tribe vs. tribe kind of way, with characters flipping between the sides. There will be battles, for sure. But in these kinds of conflicts of nature, it's the mischievous hiding-in-plain sight bad guys that typically reap the most damage. It's happened before...

Perpetually working from a position of disadvantage (either by his own design or by estrangement resulting from harmful actions), Benjamin Linus is arguably the richest character on the show. We've seen him grow up in "Lost"-land, his evolution and contortions a personal parallel to the island's inherent struggles. The fact that he's still a somewhat sympathetic character, given all that he's done, is as much a credit to the way that Linus has been narratively constructed, as it is to Michael Emerson's portrayal. You never know what you're going to get from Ben, but it's bound to be impactful. Reeling in the wake of murdering Jacob, Ben has been laying low so far this season. And while it seems that he's "learned his lesson" (an idea that's further reinforced in this episode), I'm not buying it. The full recap is after the jump.

Coming off three weeks of semi-filler, "Lost" fired things back up with a violent and menacing episode that raises more questions about the rules here. I'm a sucker for stories that drive the action through character, and on that level, this one rocked; it was Dogen vs. Man-in-Black Locke, struggling for control with Sayid as the operative pawn. Highly charged conflict, a gripping cinematic climax, and an eerie as hell cliffhanger for Kate (poor Kate) left in the midst of the crazies. All that said, I still stand by last week's gripes: The rules in Reality B need to be defined before we can invest ourselves in their significance -- right now they're playing too device-y. The mystery (and in the case of this episode, the mysterious rules) is distracting from the conflict. And the plot is getting mired in new characters...or is it? The full recap is after the jump.

Jack has a kid?! For better and worse, producers have stuck by Jack Shephard as the hero on "Lost." And while his leader mantle has sort of come and gone (and come back again), he's mostly directionless, if he isn't telling someone else what that person can or can't do. Faced with personal turmoil back in civilization, he managed to be the least interesting bearded lunatic in television history. This season the series has reverted to the Jack of old: not buying what anyone else is selling, and all fired up with nowhere to go. To some degree, the success of "Lost" rests in how well series producers can pull off Jack's character arc. He is, after all, the hero. And when your hero has nothing to fight for, this late in the game, your show is in a heap of trouble. The full recap is after the jump.

It's been three weeks of solidly-tuned plotting on "Lost," and while I don't expect any of this season's early episodes to match the gravity or reveals of the premiere, it is the final season, and we shouldn 't be detoured too regularly. I know a lot of you were down on last week's Kate-centric episode, smearing it as filler (to Damon Lindelof 's delight), but I actually think we got some nice insight into the others at The Temple, advancement on the mythology surrounding the Jacob/Man in Black conflict, and the establishment of real-world connections between our non-castaways in Reality B. Filler is inevitable, to a degree, and we get a heavier dose of it this week. I went into this one with very high expectations: I love Locke, and in my mind, Terry O'Quinn is the bee's knees, so a Locke-centered episode, charting his parallels between Reality A (as Other Locke) and Reality B (wheelchair-bound and returning from his failed walkabout) was bound to be amazing. And then it wasn 't. The full recap is after the jump.

Still reeling in the wake of the mind-blowing developments from last week's premiere doubleheader, this latest episode settles into a calmer pace with an island/real world structure similar to the first two season's episodes on "Lost"; this time, the new, alternate reality (Reality B) takes the place of the flashbacks (sideflashes?). We can't expect a high level of revelation every week, and the return to a more character-centric pacing feels like going home. Yes, it's easy to get swept up in the race to ultimate definition, but I imagine this season will be as much an examination of the choice and how it effects the cast in both Realities, as it is about spelling out the mystery. Again, it worked -- but will it work out?

This week we get a Kate-centric episode, and see her on the run from the law and palling around with a very pregnant Claire. I won't get hung up in why Kate decides to stay in the hospital with a stranger (or why she refuses to ditch the stolen cab, despite the inherent risk); it seems that our Reality B non-castaways are still being drawn together. There are a few allusions to this in the episode: Kate seemingly recognizes Jack when she's fleeing the airport. Ethan is the attending doctor when they check Claire into the hospital. Claire blurts out the baby's name (Aaron), but can't pin down why she chose it. The connection hasn't been defined, but it's there. The full recap is after the jump.

The worlds have collided! I wasn't expecting the inter-dimensional storm to get cooking again so quickly on "Fringe," but here we are on the precipice. As great as this episode was, part of me wishes that they didn't crack open The War until after their late-season hiatus, the next episode not airing until April. The two month layoff is going to be extra agonizing because WHAT JUST WENT DOWN WAS AMAZING. There have been a few significant highlights this second season -- the premiere, "Momentum Deferred," "Grey Matters" -- but this episode takes the cake, priming things for what's sure to be a fantastic final three episodes. The full recap is after the jump.

Talk about starting things with a bang! It's been nine painful months since the last episode of "Lost," and things pick up exactly where they left off: Attempting to reset time by detonating a nuclear bomb at The Swan site, the castaways stuck in 1977 are swept up in a sea of magnetic force as Juliet is ripped into the belly of the hatch. Faced with explosion failure as monster metal draws dangerously closer, a severely wounded Juliet bangs on the bomb with a rock until it goes kablooey . In the "present" (let's call it Present A), Ben murders Jacob, playing into the plans of a seemingly possessed John Locke and his so-called loophole. So we start with two major events: The bomb has gone off, but the verdict is still out as to whether Jack's plan (which caused Juliet's death) worked. And Jacob is dead, his mortal enemy, the Man in Black, now taking the form of Locke in Present A. The parade of reveals in this premier doubleheader was remarkably gripping stuff, but, in proper "Lost" fashion, each new piece defined raised more questions than answers. The fully deconstructed take on the premiere is after the jump. Beware of shapeshifting smoke monsters!

"Dollhouse" has come to the end, capping an ambitious and fractured post-cancellation stretch with a finale that brings a fittingly bizarre closure to the series. The show painted itself into a corner early on, mismanaging a tricky concept with thin characters and frenetic plotting. The first season was a dud, highlighted by a strong season capper ("Epitaph One") that suggested bigger things to come; the late momentum was enough for Fox executives to greenlight a second season. But rather than learn from the mistakes of his first, Joss Whedon and his team dragged out of the gate with poor one-offs that alienated audiences and killed the ratings. They needed something to jump-start the series, and they got it: When the end was announced, I was excited to see how the "Dollhouse" team would wind the show down. Nine episodes later, it's over, which is about the best thing I can say. The full recap is after the jump.