Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) — watch online on iFILM: a retro-futurist action-adventure directed by Kerry Conran, famous as the first feature film of its scale shot entirely against a blue screen — every building, skyline, and landscape was built in post-production while only the actors were real.

New York, 1939. Giant robots march through Manhattan. Reporter Polly Perkins, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, has been tracking the disappearance of scientists across the globe. Her ex-boyfriend, air-fleet commander Joe "Sky Captain" Sullivan — Jude Law — arrives just as the attack begins. The trail takes them from the rooftops of Midtown to the Himalayas, chasing a villain named Dr. Totenkopf. Angelina Jolie appears as the commander of a British airborne squadron in several pivotal sequences.

Released in 2004, the film was a technical landmark that pointed the way toward the all-digital sets that became standard in the following decade. Watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow online on iFILM.