2010 / Nineteen Eighty Four

2010, 1984, Warner Bros. 116 min. Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, and Helen Mirren are among the members of a joint Soviet-American crew that goes into space to find out what went wrong on the original Discovery mission. Director Peter Hyams' ambitious sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is the best kind of sequel, a film that strikes out in its own original directions rather than repeat the innovations of the original. With spectacular visual effects by Richard Edlund.

NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR, 1984, MGM Repertory, 113 min. John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton are lovers trapped in an oppressive police state who heroically fight against the all-powerful "Big Brother." Director Michael Radford's (IL POSTINO) adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel perfectly captures the book's deep sense of unease, and Richard Burton gives a great late career performance as an evil but human government official.