(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)"“Can you keep a secret?” It starts so well. The director, Les Michaels (who is actually played by, ummm, the real-life director, Eric Lee Huffman, only under the name “Rick Still.” Just go with it), steps in front of the camera to explain that what we are about to see was filmed by hundreds of […]
Read more "UFO Phil: The Movie (2008)"(aka Bigfoot Among Us) This is a remarkable film. And perhaps what is even more remarkable is that it was made by the Polonia Brothers. For those of you who still haven’t encountered them, the Polonia Brothers started out as a pair of teen-aged Pennsylvania twins who became cult heroes with their silly gorefest SOV […]
Read more "Among Us (2004)"(aka Dinosaur Activity) You are cleaning out your storeroom at the University and you find a pile of film cans full of unused 16mm film stock. What do you do? Well, if you are Mark Polonia, you use them to make a movie about a guy who finds a stockpile of 16mm film stock and […]
Read more "Monster Movie (2008)"Honorable Mention This is one of those rare instances when Orson Scott Card’s rivet test fails us. After all, there is no shortage of rivets on display in Zathura and yet it clearly is not science fiction. Instead, it is in many respects a film about SF — or perhaps it would be more correct […]
Read more "Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)"This is a strange one. We start out with grainy and badly-scratched black and white footage of legendary horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft talking into an old-fashioned radio microphone about his work. It seems for a moment that we’re in a documentary about Lovecraft as he talks at length about the type of stories he writes […]
Read more "Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (1998)"This is a strange one. For a brief moment, Carlos Atanes had a certain cult-y sort of reputation, thanks to a series of odd, surreal shorts and his first two films, FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Proxima (2007). Perhaps he still has that reputation in certain quarters: it is hard to be certain when you have a […]
Read more "FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (2004)"Ever wonder how George Lucas dreamed up Star Wars? Well, I’m reasonably sure that this film doesn’t have the answer, but what we have instead is a wonderfully witty little short which dares to present its own warped vision of George’s attempts to write the original Star Wars script back in 1967, mixed with his romance […]
Read more "George Lucas in Love (1999)"The real puzzle about this one is why so many critics seemed to like it. Back in the 80s, Steve Glenn, an annoying slacker, decided to take a trip out West while filming what was meant to be a post-apocalyptic movie in the vein of Mad Max. So he grabbed his unwilling girlfriend, a VHS […]
Read more "Radio Free Steve (2000)"Werner Herzog is one of those intriguing name brand directors whom I suspect is really best known for the sheer outrageousness of his projects – whether it’s hauling a real ship up a real mountain ( Fitzcarraldo. Really) or filming a movie while all the actors are under hypnosis (Heart of Glass). Recently, however, he’s given […]
Read more "The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)"