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)"(aka, Meatball: A Spaced Out Odyssey) Who knows what the final outcome will be? It’s too big. It’s Kosmic –– R. Crumb You never know what you’ll find on YouTube. This time around it was a clever little short student film, which won the East Carolina Student Film Festival in 1969. I hate to think […]
Read more "Meatball (1969)"This is a singularly dark and disturbing film, one which may haunt you long after you think you’ve forgotten it. It is also an animated film, a type of film we tend to associate with Children. Which may be why it is so disturbing. And, if you haven’t guessed yet, it is one of the […]
Read more "Labirynt [Labyrinth] (1963)"‘”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)"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)"I am a big fan of Ray Bradbury. Although I will admit that at times he does get a bit too poetic for my tastes. Yes, I love the wondrous flood of words he produces in some of his best stories, but the sheer rush of verbiage seemed to end up outweighing everything else as […]
Read more "Icarus Montgolfier Wright (1962)"I know, I know, we’ve all said it: Why can’t we have nice things anymore? But I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t reminded what we are missing every once in a while. Take Godzilla, for example. It has been six years since Toho released Shin Godzilla, and we haven’t seen a live […]
Read more "Gojira buiesu Gaigan Rekusu [Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex] (2022)"I just cannot believe this was a student film. Or, for that matter, a short film. The visuals are stunning. Sure, some of it was finding good locations, or redecorating them in surprisingly effective ways. But even big budget films struggle to look this good. It was made by a German film student named Michael […]
Read more "Ausgestorben [Extinct] (1995)"
rivets on the poster 