Oh, wow. This is an insanely great little film. Why in the world haven’t I heard of this one before? Somehow it manages to combine the Y2K “virus,” Frankenstein level mad science, brain downloads, and the digital end of the world (in the year 2000) with… Eight bit videogames? It’s also a bit hard to […]
Read more "Midnight Science (2021)"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)"Why do these things keep happening? I was in the mood for a terrible, Grade Z movie — you know, the sort of thing Wild Eye Releasing puts out? — and watched one of their more recent offerings because their product description sounded like it might at least be entertaining: “In a distant future, an […]
Read more "Future Fear (Stellanomicon: Future Fear) (2021)"You know there is something wrong right from the beginning. A raging storm, a row of spikes set out on the road, a tire blows out, and a young man is forced to go to a neighboring house for help. Only the suspiciously helpful man he meets has a very strange request for him. As […]
Read more "Ultrasound (2021)"Recently, I’ve reviewed two movies by one of my favorites of the younger generation of Japanese anime directors, Mamoru Hosada. So it seems inevitable that I would also catch up with a film by yet another talented young Anime director, one of the best of the group often referred to as “the next Miyazaki” — […]
Read more "Ai no utagoe o kikasete [Sing a Bit of Harmony] (2021)"(literal title: The Dragon and the Freckle Princess) Mamoru Hosada is perhaps the best of that generation of young anime directors who have all been called “the next Miyazaki.” Although, to be fair, I still prefer his early films, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars to anything he’s made since. He first started […]
Read more "Ryû to sobakasu no hime [Belle] (2021)"Part of the joy of seeking out new movies is finding the unexpected. Mind you, sometimes it isn’t just the movies which offer unexpected discoveries, but a good film will open up a view on a corner of the world we’ve never noticed before. And that’s certainly true of Paradox Lost, which is more than […]
Read more "Paradox Lost (2021)"(Literal Translation: Cube: Once You Are Done, the Last) I suppose it was inevitable. This is, after all, the age of the remake, of the totally unnecessary sequel, and, dear Lord help us all, the “re-imagining.” Now the original Cube was an absolutely brilliant films, which found a way to take advantage of its minimal […]
Read more "Cube: Ichido haittara, saigo [Cube] (2021)"Honorable Mention (Hey, it’s a giant monster movie. We cover giant monster movies) There is a useful rule of thumb about giant monster movies: Most of the time you are better off ignoring the bits between the giant monster battles. Now I’ll admit this is somewhat unfair: after all, Kong is a great adventure film, […]
Read more "Uktena, the Horned Monstrosity (2021)"Let’s face it: Claw is basically a goofy little comedy, with two friends stranded in the middle of nowhere taking shelter in an old Ghost Town. Where a crazed lone scientist just happens to be raising a prehistoric raptor. It doesn’t aspire (or pretend to aspire) to greater things. It’s just a fun little movie […]
Read more "Claw (2021)"
rivets on the poster 