Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Pure escapism saturates every frame of this exhilarating throwback to 1930s matinee serials. Newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) investigates the fate of several missing famous scientists and joins forces with ace aviator and former flame Sky Captain to stop an evil mastermind and his army of mechanical robots from destroying Earth. The sepia-toned characters were filmed against a blue screen with the entire background digitally added after primary photography was complete. This intoxicating cocktail of comic-book adventure, old-school science fiction and references to The Wizard of Oz also features Angelina Jolie as the commander of an all-female amphibious squadron and Giovanni Ribisi as a technical genius and Sky Captain’s sidekick. Written and directed by Kerry Conran.