If you love film, you likely have been to a repertory screening at some point in your life. The chance to watch an older movie, on the big screen, with a crowd as in love with the opportunity to watch a movie in theatres, maybe for the first time, or maybe to recapture that sense of wonder of when you first saw it. The idea of repertory showings of movies still exists, but it’s also become corporatized through Fathom Events and their annual TCM series. That’s not inherently a bad thing (it’s how I finally watched “Vertigo” and “Jaws” on the big screen), but it also takes away some of the pleasure of going to an art house theatre like Atlanta’s The Plaza, which constantly has older films on tap, as well as special showings; my experiences with “The Crow” and “The Shining” there are unmatched.<\/p>\n
This year, I’m going to lean a lot into my favorite genre of all-time, science fiction, for this year’s entries in this series. Films I haven’t seen. Films that are overdue for review. And I’m even going to try to watch some classic TV series I haven’t before. Our bookend filmmaker had to be a fitting one, and though he’s most known for horror, John Carpenter has done plenty in this genre, starting with our first film for 2026, his 1988 satire, “They Live”.<\/p>\n
Next up, I did a first time watch of the 1993 abduction drama, “Fire in the Sky”<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Viva La Resistance!<\/p>\n
Brian Skutle “Fire in the Sky”<\/i><\/b> (1993)- A- The notion of contact with aliens is built around several different notions. Meeting them in space reflects our ambitions to explore and discover new civilizations. Visitation on Earth is built out of dual ideas of not just something extraordinary happening to us, but also a fear of the unknown. “Fire in the Sky” begins with fear before leaving Travis in a place of peace with what happened to him, seeing the alleged events as traumatic, but also as something extraordinary, that left a mark on him forever. That sense of emotional truth for the character is what makes the film memorable. It is worth mentioning that, in 1993, Travis and two others resubmitted lie detector tests; all three passed.<\/p>\n “Fire in the Sky’s” subject is what happened to Travis Walton (played by D.B. Sweeney in a performance that really connects during a harrowing flashback sequence), but the main character is arguably his best friend, Mike Rogers (Robert Patrick). Travis’s wife is Mike’s sister, and- after Travis disappears- Mike must balance his own anxieties about his best friend with his sister’s anxiety, as well as the skepticism not just among their fellow logging team (including Allan Dallis (Craig Sheffer), David Whitlock (Peter Berg), Greg Hayes (Henry Thomas) and Bobby Cogdill (Bradley Gregg)) but also the town, and authorities like Lt. Frank Watters, an investigator from out of town played by the always affable James Garner. Lieberman and screenwriter Tracy Torm\u00e9 (adapting from Walton’s book) walk a fine line between empathy and caricature when it comes to how they present the characters, and their small town. These could have been stereotypical “small town bumpkins,” but they are real people, and Patrick does the best work in the film at bringing Rogers to life.<\/p>\n In Act III of “Fire in the Sky,” Walton has returned, and everyone is grateful to see him. But he’s different since seeing that fire in the sky- the orange light that he got out of the truck Mike was driving to go towards- and vanishing. At a welcome home party, he has a breakdown, goes under the kitchen table, and- when a drop of syrup hits his face- we are thrown into a flashback of when he is abducted, and what his experience is like. In this sequence, “Fire in the Sky” becomes a horror film, with a production design, creature effects and cinematography (by Bill Pope) that rivals any sequence in the genre’s history. When we get out of the sequence, it is harrowing, and it feels like Walton is being examined all over again. It’s interesting that Lieberman says he does believe that Walton’s story is a hoax, because he allows him empathy in this third act that a lot of filmmakers wouldn’t. I don’t think I believe Walton’s story, either, but I appreciate this film as a reflection of his emotional truth.<\/p>\n Previous “Repertory Revue” Films<\/b> See Brian’s list of 2009 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>. If you love film, you likely have been to a repertory screening at some point in your life. The chance to watch an older movie, on the big screen, with a crowd as in love with the opportunity to watch a movie in theatres, maybe for the first time, or maybe to recapture that sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-repertory-revues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MV5BYzdhNzkyZWItYWJhNi00YmNhLWFiZGMtNGRkNmYwYWYwYmQyXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19388,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10702\/revisions\/19388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonic-cinema.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nwww.sonic-cinema.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIs it possible to appreciate Robert Lieberman’s “Fire in the Sky” while also being skeptical of the veracity of Travis Walton’s story? In 1975, while on a logging job in Arizona, Walton disappeared. Five days later, he reappeared, and his story was that he was abducted by aliens. One of the strongest aspects of “Fire in the Sky” is how it leaves room for skepticism in what happened to Walton, while also respecting the truths of the characters. Not all of the performances are strong in it, but the vision Lieberman brings to it makes for a compelling story.<\/p>\n
\n“They Live”<\/i><\/a> (1988)
\n“Starship Troopers”<\/i><\/a> (1997)
\n“Welcome II the Terrordome”<\/i><\/a> (1995)
\n“Battledream Chronicle”<\/i><\/a> (2015)
\n“Born in Flames”<\/i><\/a> (1983)
\n“Testament”<\/i><\/a> (1983)
\n“Things to Come”<\/i><\/a> (1936)
\n“When Worlds Collide”<\/i><\/a> (1951)
\n“Metropolis”<\/i><\/a> (2001)
\n“Soylent Green”<\/i><\/a> (1973)
\n“Fire in the Sky”<\/i><\/a> (1993)<\/p>\n
\nSee Brian’s list of 2010 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2011 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2012 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2013 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2014 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2015 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2016 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2017 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2018 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2019 “Movies a Week” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2020 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2021 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2022 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2023 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2024 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.
\nSee Brian’s list of 2025 “Repertory Revues” here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"