The summer movie blockbuster season has officially begun, thanks to last weekend’s release of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Coming soon, we’ll get more dinosaurs in Jurassic World, a long-awaited Mad Max movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back –yet again – in a new installment of the Terminator franchise. In other words, comic books and geek culture take over theater screens from now through Labor Day. But that doesn't mean your summer science fiction has to involve heroes in tights or stuff blowing up. GPB science and technology reporter Renay San Miguel says the last couple of years have seen some examples of great science fiction in movies and books that rely more on ideas than effects or spectacular action. He talks about his selections for smart summer sci-fi with GPB's Bradley George.

· There’s a difference between having cool tech on display in a movie like the Avengers sequel, and having your movie deal with the impact of technology on our lives and society, right??

There is, and we’ve got perfect examples of both in theaters right now. The new Avengers movie, in its own way, celebrates technology thanks mostly to the character of Tony Stark, whose engineering brilliance helps him become Iron Man. It’s impossibly entertaining, but that movie is, as are all comic book movies, about the struggle between good and evil. There’s a new movie out now called Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, who gave us 28 Days Later and Sunshine. His speciality seems to be putting twist on familiar sci-fi genres, like zombies or end of the world scenarios. Ex Machina is his shiny, smart take on the Frankenstein story involving man creating artificial intelligence – in this case an android named Ava - and the possible ramifications. It’s not nearly as action-packed as Avengersbut that doesn’t make it boring. It’s cool and scary.

Then there’s Unfriended, which involves the internet, social media and teenagers. For 90 minutes, the movie screen is a computer screen with all kinds of windows opening and closing to push the action along. This movie starts off very promising – the plot involves cyberbullying and that certainly remains a hot topic in society. And the filmmakers show the effect of multitasking and real-time technology on how our heroine communicates with her friends.

· You argue that this sci-fi renaissance at the movies started last year with two films that starred the actress currently playing Black Widow in Avengers.

Two filmmakers found different ways last year to use Scarlett Johansson’s considerable talents that didn’t involve kicking butt and taking names. In Her, she played the voice of an intelligent software operating system, and that movie would go on to win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. In Under The Skin, she was an alien who kills humans and takes over their identities, but that description doesn’t do the movie justice. Writer-director Jonathan Glazer channeled Stanley Kubrick for this unusual dark film with little dialogue but lots of big ideas and a very brave performance from Johansson. Both movies deal with what it means to be human in ways that stay with you after you see the films.

· What about summer reading for science fiction fans heading to the beach soon? Any recommendations?

William Gibson’s The Peripheral came out last winter but if anybody missed it, grab a copy and get ready to have your mind blown. Gibson is the author who coined term “cyberpunk”, and his version of time travel and avatars is unlike any you’ve read before. On May 19, Neal Stephenson’s latest novel, Seveneves, comes out, and it’s his take on a global disaster scenario. He is known for complex plots and one-of-a-kind characters who pontificate on big ideas one moment and then in the next, fight for their lives in some great action-packed sequences, so this is one to look forward to.

Renay San Miguel hosts Sci-Tech Now Georgia on GPB-TV

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