(aka, Russian Road to the Stars) Great accomplishments in film never stand on their own. Take for example Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey: It stunned audiences of its day, giving them an incredible glimpse of our solar system and the future of space travel, with a level of detail, scientific accuracy and believability never […]
Read more "Doroga k zvezdam [Road to the Stars] (1957)"I’m not sure what to make of this one. Partly this is because it starts in one place, turns into something else and goes off the deep end at the finish. We have a group of children chosen to go into space, an assassination attempt that leaves them stranded on an alien planet, a bit […]
Read more "Assassinaut (2019)"(aka Space Men Appear in Tokyo, The Mysterious Satellite) I finally saw the original Japanese version of this film. It is amazing what a difference that can make. Frankly, I didn’t think much of this one when I saw the American dubbed version of this film, bundled in a set with several other public domain […]
Read more "Uchûjin Tôkyô ni arawaru [Warning from Space] (1956)"I’ll admit it. I like this one. I don’t care how many people call The Green Slime one of the worst films ever made. Okay, we’re talking about an Italian/Japanese/American co-production, so we know we’re already in trouble. And, if that isn’t enough, it’s actually a sequel — the fifth in a series. Well, more […]
Read more "The Green Slime (1968)"Okay, let’s see if we can make some sense of this: A-Ko and C-Ko are best buds, while their fellow student B-Ko lusts after C-Ko. This naturally takes us into the familiar territory of all those little school girl triangle animes out there. I have to confess that I’ve never really appreciated the Japanese sense […]
Read more "Project A-Ko [Purojekuto A-ko ] (1986)"It’s like this: There’s this alien overlord, with the massively original name “Lord Doom.” Things haven’t gone so well for him lately, so he’s trapped deep beneath some dark world. But that’s okay, he’ll just take over the Earth. He sends the mercenary Kraa to destroy our opposition and pave the way for his invasion. […]
Read more "Kraa! The Sea Monster (1998)"It starts in darkness with a quiet surge of music that reminds me so much of Vangelis’ somber and dreamy score for Blade Runner… Lights, like stars, appear in the darkness. Then, as the music surges… Something happens that changes what we think we are seeing. As Indie filmmakers go, Marcel Barion is somewhat unusual: […]
Read more "Das letzte Land [The Final Land] (2019)"And here we have yet another Alien copy put out by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. I think he might merely have distributed this one as it doesn’t have as much recognizable stock footage. Certainly it doesn’t look much cheaper than most of his cheap copies, even if the space ships and space stations do […]
Read more "Star Crystal (1986)"What happens when a horror franchise dies? Well, it ain’t pretty. Of course, we know that any horror franchise is like the legendary Jason Vorhees himself and will continue to rise again from the dead no matter how many times he’s been chopped, diced, mashed, pureed or flambeed. It just goes with the territory. And […]
Read more "Jason X (2001)"This is an absolutely preposterous movie. I enjoyed it. This is sort of the Indian version of Armageddon, mixed with a heist film, complete with a James Bond-ish villain, enough plot twists and turns for three movies, some thoroughly impossible cartoon physics, a touch of stage magic, a father’s love for his son and anything […]
Read more "Tik Tik Tik (2018)"
rivets on the poster 