All right, let’s start with the strangest part of this film. This one starts out in space, with the shuttle Nautilus, a private vessel built by genius industrialist Rod Kendrick (played by Martin Sheen’s brother, Joe Estevez, whose voice you’ve probably heard if you think you just heard Martin in a commercial). You are allowed […]
Read more "Dark Universe (1993)"(aka Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers ) This is, without question, the most unique of all the Ultraman movies. Admittedly, that’s a curious thing thing to be saying about a movie franchise which has produced so many surprisingly dissimilar films. But I really think they outdid themselves this time, creating a film which […]
Read more "Daikessen! Chô urutora 8 kyôdai [Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers] (2008)"There is a curious trope which can be found in a lot of movie ads these days, that snarky line comparing a film to two other unrelated films: Bambi meets the Jetsons or whatever. In fact, I suspect that a lot of movies get pitched this way to producers (or actually developed from one, considering […]
Read more "Abominable (2006)"Demolition Man was the last gasp of the Eighties. Yes, I know. It wasn’t made till 1993. Yes, they were still making those Eighties-style action film with the over-developed he-men like Arnie, Sly, and Jesse even after Demolition Man came out. And, yes, Sylvester Stallone would make several more such films in the next few […]
Read more "Demolition Man (1993)"[Spoilers Ahead!] Happy Feet…A science fiction film? Don’t be silly. However, it is an unacknowledged remake of a classic Science Fiction film from the Seventies. Or of one of many other, basically similar science fiction films about alien encounters. Okay, you’ve see animated films before so you know the sort of thing: a kid who […]
Read more "Happy Feet (2006)"There is a basic rule in rip-offs: Say you are making a rip-off of a classic film like Jaws: sure, it makes senses to switch that shark for, say, a crocodile, but that isn’t enough. Your monster has to be bigger, meaner and nastier than the creature in the original. But you are probably going […]
Read more "Crocodile [Chorakhe] (1979)"Jerry Warren directed very few original films during a career mostly spent repackaging foreign films. And if you ever wondered why, you only need to watch Teenage Zombies. I mean, look at what he had to work with: a mysterious island full of zombies; a sinister female mad scientist (I think she’s even supposed to […]
Read more "Teenage Zombies (1959)"There are times when you suddenly realize you’ve seen a film before. I experienced this unexpectedly with Bigfoot: in the film, a group of Bigfoots tie a young woman between two big wooden posts, as an offering to the giant Bigfoot who lives higher up the mountain. And, of course, we’ve all seen that scene […]
Read more "Bigfoot (1970)"These days it seems that every time travel movie has to have one. I’d just seen it in Reset, then saw it once again in See You Yesterday. I guess you could call it the Primer shot: after all, it is the shot that opens that epoch-making Indie film. That’s probably where it first appeared, but by […]
Read more "See You Yesterday (2019)"Sonic the Hedgehog: A Science Fiction film? Yep. That’s pretty much how the new live action movie is framed. Not that I have any idea whether the original game supports this version of Sonic’s origins as an alien being from an advanced — if technologically minimalist — civilization which can be found on a great many worlds […]
Read more "Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)"
rivets on the poster 