There’s a moment early on that really defines this film. And, no, I don’t mean the fact that it starts with a woman screaming. Liz and her controlling boyfriend Jackson are planning a big party in which he will “spontaneously” ask her to marry him. They want everything to be perfect (and even rehearse that […]
Read more "An Ideal Host (2020)"Sometimes I wish I knew what a movie was trying to say. This is particularly true of Shifter. Here we have a young and awkward woman with almost non-existent social skills, who is very sensitive and easily hurt. But, in our age of movie revenge, how much sympathy are we supped to feel for her when she […]
Read more "Shifter (2020)"There is nothing I can think of which more clearly shows just how widely accepted flying saucers had become by the 1970s than this film: a children’s film featuring benevolent aliens. Of course it is a very Disney-fied take on UFOs, one which has a lot in common with the sort of films Disney was […]
Read more "Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)"There’s a basic truth no filmmaker can afford to ignore: It doesn’t matter how much you blow it up, or how tiny the buildings in your miniatures are. A fluffy bunny looks like a fluffy bunny and will always look like a fluffy bunny no matter how big you make it. The seems a singularly […]
Read more "Night of the Lepus (1972)"This one came with a thoroughly icky sort of reputation. Parasite was one of the films from that brief revival of 3-D in the early Eighties, using a new polarized projection system. This all too short craze produced such classics as, well…Jaws 3-D, Friday the Thirteenth part Three, Nightmare on Elm Street part 3… Well, […]
Read more "Parasite (1982)"Yes, we’ve seen this one before. At least, pieces of it. Little pieces of it. Lots of little pieces of it. Lots and lots of very familiar bits and pieces. Not that they were ever quite in this order before. But what the heck, it’s fun anyway. Now, before you risk watching this one, you […]
Read more "Star Runners (2009)"Ever wonder what it would be like to live in a videogame? Obviously, the people who made Press Start have. In fact, they seems to have spent a lot of time thinking about it. Like everyday. Several hours a day. Probably every minute that they weren’t actually playing videogames. It would be a mistake, though, […]
Read more "Press Start (2007)"Somehow it is very hard to classify this one. I don’t just mean because of the rather serious tone which suggests a drama rather than a horror film — although that certainly is a factor. It is the curious nature of the story itself: a young woman biologist is assigned to do some research aboard […]
Read more "Sea Fever (2019)"I’m not entirely certain why, but I seem to have seen quite a few Bigfoot movies lately. I suppose that’s really not that surprising as the search for interesting science fiction movies often leads me to strange and quirky corners of the world of film. It’s actually far stranger to see Zach Galligan in this […]
Read more "Nightbeasts (2010)"(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)"