Because the core question of all good science fiction is "What If...", almost all of my favorites have some social or cultural commentary built into it. For example, smuggling cautionary tales about war and racism and love and politics onto America's teevee screens by dressing them up as aliens or time travelers is what made "The Twilight Zone" great.

However, if science fiction is nothing but a lecture, it fails in the first duty of any story: to hold the audience's attention. And without Joe Morton's deft performance, The Brother From Another Planet might well have tipped over -- under the weight of the heavy messages it to loads onto the back of what is essentially a science fiction comedy.

But Morton makes it work. And this movie, about an escaped slave from a distant planet who lands in Harlem, gives director John Sayles' his first real box-office success.

Enjoy! And it's an open thread...