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 there were any justice in the world of Cinema, you’d have heard of Andras Rajnai by now. And maybe even be his biggest fan. He was one of the most remarkable talents in the field of science fiction and fantasy film, and yet very few people have ever heard of him because he made […]
Read more "Gyémántpiramis [Diamond Pyramid] (1985)"The great part about the endless search for new science fiction films is that one day you stumble across a film you’ve never heard of, and the next you’ve suddenly discovered a whole new vein of fascinating films, and perhaps even discovered a pivotal creator who should be hailed as one of the greats. And […]
Read more "Aelita (1980)"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)"(aka, Mr. MacKinley’s Flight) This is a strange, strange film. I mean, really, really strange. And in all the best ways. Poor Mr. MacKinley. He’s about as grey and average a guy as you could hope to find in the advertising industry. Except that he dreams of one day having lots and lots of children […]
Read more "Begstvo mistera Mak-Kinli [Escape of Mr. McKinley] (1975)"Parallel Evolution. That’s the only explanation I can find. Here we have two movies with a remarkably similar story, which came out the same year and only three months apart: the first, Joe Dante’s shaggy dog of a science fiction epic, Explorers, and the other a little-seen Czech children’s film. There’s no way they saw Joe […]
Read more "Tretí sarkan [The Third Dragon] (1985)"I’m not even sure where to begin with this one. I suppose it would help if I pointed out that Professor Kleks first appeared in a classic Polish children’s book back in the Forties. The author, Jan Brzechwa wrote three books about the character, and, in the Eighties, they actually filmed three movies about Professor […]
Read more "Pan Kleks w kosmosie [Mr. Blob in the Universe] (1988)"Mainland China has not produced many horror films. Not that I’m sure Beauty Head of the Haunted House is a horror film. In fact, it is about as unclassifiable as any genre film can be. Certainly there are horror elements, but there are also a lot of other things which do not neatly fit into […]
Read more "Xiong zhai mei ren tou [Beauty Head of the Haunted House] (1989)"Lately, Animation and I have had a very complex relationship. It hasn’t exactly been a good one, not for some time now. I suppose, in a way, you might blame Pixar. Not that it’s exactly their fault, it is more that everyone else had to copy them and all the money went into computer animated […]
Read more "Misiunea spatialã Delta [Delta Space Mission] (1984)"Look, by now you know I love Czech Science Fiction comedies, particularly those made during the Czech New Wave. For that matter, I love even their more serious Science Fiction films from the same era. And yes, I also love just about every Czech comedy I’ve seen from the Sixties on. But for some time […]
Read more "Návstevníci [The Visitors] (1983)"
rivets on the poster 