(aka, The Star Diaries) This is frustrating. Here we have a brilliant and extremely funny Science Fiction television series, one which ranks right up there with the best science fiction comedy series ever made, like the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Red Dwarf, and yet… No one knows about it. Not in the […]
Read more "Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot [Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot] (2007)"Not long ago, I reviewed Specimens (1982), one of the best of the films made by Irish amateur filmmaker, Roy Spence, who works out of the cinema he owns in Comer, County Down. He’s made over forty films over his fifty year career, and you can find all of them in The Irish Film Archive. You […]
Read more "The Attack of the Saucer People (1981)"I am posting this one as more of a curiosity than something I would recommend. I’ve posted several Soviet era and post-Soviet animated films on the blog side of my efforts lately, with more to follow whenever I get around to it. In fact, the Soviet Bloc produced vast quantities of animation, most of it […]
Read more "Mezhplanetnaya revolyutsiya [Interplanetary Revolution] (1924)"If you had to slap a convenient label on this film, you might call it the Destination Moon of the Soviet Union. Like any other hasty label, that really doesn’t sum this film up: after all, it didn’t inspire a long string of other films and usher in a wave of new Soviet Science Fiction […]
Read more "Polyot na Lunu [Flight to the Moon] (1953)"Some short films are like an entire feature film packed into a small package. And that is perhaps the best description of Specimens: it may only be fifteen minutes long, but it feels like some lost Sci Fi feature film you know you’ve seen but can’t quite remember. Mind you, you probably haven’t ever heard […]
Read more "Specimens (1982)"‘”Sinister Flesh” was the final motion picture supervised by the legendary showman and impresario Maxwell DeMille. Although photographed in 1974, it was released as a silent film. DeMille maintained the belief that motion pictures should not talk… Unfortunately the movie going public did not share his views and the film was soon forgotten. Only recently […]
Read more "Sinister Flesh (1976)"It’s amazing what you can do with very little. Consider Loop, an amazing eight-minute short film from Argentina which has been shown at an incredible number of film festivals and is now available on YouTube. Pablo Polledri, a prolific Argentinian filmmaker, wrote and directed this stunning exercise in limited animation: Loop uses a driving score […]
Read more "Loop (2021)"(aka, 360 Google Doodles/Spotlight Stories: Back to the Moon) Honorable Mention George Melies holds a special place in the history of Science Fiction film, as his legendary short film, A Trip to the Moon is generally held to be the first Space flight movie. It is often called the oldest science fiction film as well, […]
Read more "Back to the Moon (2018)"As I continue my searches through the world of science fiction film, I find myself more and more impressed by the work of people with minimal resources who used their creativity, skill and sheer determination to put their vision on the screen. These days, our technology put almost anything on the screen, and yet we […]
Read more "The Shadow Out of Time (2012)"Sometimes you have to relax for a few minutes and just have fun. Consider today’s film, an animated short film by Walerian Borowczyk. Yes, it was made in France, and has been labeled “experimental” or “arty.” But that doesn’t change the fact that it is an amusing little bit of comic storytelling with no greater […]
Read more "Les astronautes (1959)"
rivets on the poster 