(aka Atomik Circus – Le retour de James Bataille) Luc Besson created a new school of French film when he made The Professional. In fact, there are times when it seems that France no longer makes any films other than extravagant thrillers with more flashy style than substance. Think Diva, The Fifth Element and Crimson […]
Read more "Atomik Circus [The Return of James Battle] (2004)"It’s simple enough: An artist goes out to enjoy a day in the country. Unfortunately, while he’s soaking his feet in a beautiful pond, an alien arrives in his spaceship. Not long ago, I noted my indifference towards Russian animation. Yes, I know it has a fan base, there’s clearly a bit of talent at […]
Read more "Kontakt [Contact] (1978)"“What do you see when you close your eyes?” This is an incredibly beautiful Science Fiction film. It’s too bad you probably won’t get to see it. Alex Garel designs robots. But not in the way you think that means. New advances in technology make it possible to create robots with emotions. And Alex designs […]
Read more "Eva (2011)"The premise here is intriguing. It’s an ordinary day in a small Western town. Everyone’s gathered for the hanging. And that’s when the big bug-like aliens show up and start killing everyone. It should come as no great surprise that this is a SyFy original, although it is better than most of that breed. I’m […]
Read more "High Plains Invaders (2009)"After nearly forty years, from their classic silent horrors of the Twenties through the golden era of the Thirties, the endless sequels of the Forties and the Jack Arnold Fifties, the Universal Horror cycle finally ground to a halt with a film more like what they might have made in the Forties than anything they’d […]
Read more "The Leech Woman (1960)"The 1940s were not a great era for Universal Studios cycle of horror films. To be fair, they did produce a number of quite good films, but they also made several very strange films and quite a few that were basically…there. It was also their era for sequels. Not only did their classic characters like […]
Read more "The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)"I like this one. The aliens came. We couldn’t stop them. Their superior technology forced us to surrender and it is now a decade later: they’ve been running everything ever since, with the human “Unity” government forced to do their will; everyone implanted with an organic ID “chip” and tracker; and human agents carrying out […]
Read more "Captive State (2019)"(Warning: Spoilers ahead!) Some of these are just so frustrating. Now let’s get this straight: this one isn’t exactly bad. It is more that it has a sort of a bland okay-ness about it. But then, that’s true of a lot of SF movies out there. Perhaps more so than it used to be. We […]
Read more "Replicas (2018)"It’s amazing how many films came out on VHS and have never been re-released. Which isn’t to say that many — or even most — of them don’t deserve to languish in obscurity. But thanks to the wonders of Youtube, a lot of films that were just a whisper heard here or there, a comment […]
Read more "Futuropolis (1984)"This one is fun. In fact, it rates right up there with some of my favorite Fifties SF films. At least where the fun is concerned. Curiously, most of the film isn’t even about giant, fifty-foot women. In fact, it is mostly familiar Film Noir territory, with the scorned neurotic wife, the cheating gigolo, his […]
Read more "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)"
rivets on the poster 