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Take Me Down to Asteroid City, Where the Grass is Gone, But the….

Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, is a film that’s best to enjoy like fine wine.

Asteroid City Bluray Cover In order to truly appreciate one of Wes Anderson‘s films, I feel that I have to mentally prepare myself f. In Asteroid City, this whimsical journey to a town with folks living their life from Leave it to Beaver won’t be for everyone. When there’s some added conspiracy elements added on top, I had to make sure I was truly following along instead of watching it while doing a few other things.

There’s a lot of story going on, and I wasn’t sure where to focus my attention.

Although the concept of a theatre presentation of a story within a story is nothing new, the way this film flips back and forth between subplots was jarring. The story would’ve been better without the added framing devices. And as for when the UFOs will appear and how this township deals with alien visitation, that depends on when it’ll happen. Not even by this film’s midway point is this goal made clear, and by the climax, I’m wondering what this director was going for since the quest for a close encounter of the 5th kind wasn’t made all that clear.

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Unboxing the Huge Star Trek: Picard Legacy Collection, The Video and Expanded Review

We expand on what’s said in our unboxing video on YouTube and offer some more thoughts after giving Star Trek: The Picard Legacy Collection a proper view.

Available to purchase on Amazon USA

The Star Trek: Picard Legacy Collection is huge, and for anyone new to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and wants to follow everything this captain (wonderfully played by Sir Patrick Stewart) has done, it’s the perfect jumping in point! Not everyone will have grown up watching this franchise’s best comeback. Without it, the subsequent series would not have been created. We have Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy and so on. Although not every series was made avaiilable on Blu-ray, that’s the hope most long time fans crave.

In this release, all the episodes are identified on the sleeve that makes up each case. Each plastic enclosure is sturdy, and although I’d be tempted to put the series into a binder, I don’t need to rush to do that. The discs aren’t that hard to remove, and instead of forcing, I gently tugged.

And as my unboxing video shows (featured below), there’s lots of design and packaging aesthetics to like. After sitting down to view the remasters, the details are far better than what I recall from my television viewing days. Although Blu-ray isn’t as forgiving with the bits of blue screening used, some suspension of belief is required.

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Wanting to Roar, Even Though Much of Lion-Girl is Simply a Mew

Westernized live-action takes on the sentai genre can be a mixed bag, and Lion-Girl needs to distinguish herself if she’s to be wild and be that avenger if she’s to succeed!

Cleopatra Entertainment
VOD/Home Release Date: Nov 7, 2023

Kurando Mitsutake is no stranger to budget cinema. He’s carved himself a niche that’s more or less has the look of films made in the past century. While a lot of marketing says Lion-Girl is inspired by Go Nagai’s manga styling, I’m seeing more than just one creator’s influence and they forgot to say it’s inspired by many a sentai series.

Also, what this filmmaker made isn’t 100% Japanese. This talent set up shop in Los Angeles and I found the setting of Neo Japan very tough to believe–especially when I recognise the Sierra Nevada in the background. The use of American actors isn’t too much of distraction when considering the information prefaced in the movie trailer. However, what’s presented feels more like a cowboy sentai style western than anything else.

Also, I wondered which heroine led manga from this artist was the primary influence. The protagonist here isn’t like Cutie Honey or Kekko Kamen. The closest parallel might be with Cinderella Kishi, but I’d have to read this series to say for certain. While this film honours Nagai’s works, like Devilman with its nudity and Violence Jack for the off the wall blood, at least the full-frontal bits of genitalia does not differ from what’s depicted on paper. They tend to appear as though they are victims after being kidnapped by aliens rather than put into sexual situations.

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On Breathing New Life to Vampires and Other Stereotypes, An Interview

Visual Vengeance release of the cult film Vampires and Other Stereotypes shouldn’t be missed for fans of indie budget horror! And we got to talk to the filmmaker!

Kevin Lindenmuth Closeup Picture Kevin J. Lindenmuth is the type of filmmaker who loves his horror. One look at his filmography shows he’s covered the gamut, and instead of relying on producers from Hollywood, he’s all independent! The fact he published many books (Amazon link) about his process says it all. And along with the Special Edition release of Vampires and Other Stereotypes (Amazon link), he’s a talent worth following.

His career started much like a few other well-known names, like Sam Raimi, and as for who else he may have crossed paths with, I’m sure the list is long! Although I’m curious if he’d work with Troma Pictures since he’s based in the same State as this studio, it’s still possible for that to happen. He’s continuing to make movies and teach too! And yes, I got to correspond with him in this interview:

What made you decide to become a filmmaker, and why go indie instead of heading to Los Angeles?

I watched horror movies from a very young age, from the original Dark Shadows to whatever horror movie was on Saturday afternoons, so that was always an interest. They were these worlds that were totally separate from my current reality. So they were subjectively much better! And then I started making Super 8 mm film shorts when I was in elementary school through high school, then went to University of Michigan and went through their fledgling Film/Video program. And during all this time I was a writer, submitting short stories to small press zines.

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Zom 100: Is That Bucket List of the Dead Half Empty or Half Full

Just how many things Akira managed get done in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is a game in itself, as we couintdown this infinite progression!

Netflix

Sometimes it is tough to find a unique zombie film that can take this genre to the next level. Whether that’s with blending it with some other style or just coming up with a unique story idea. I waited for October to roll around before watching Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. And what it delivers is perfect for those wanting another reason to avoid swimming in the sea. Although that season is over, what’s revealed here is a compressed version of the manga (and perhaps the television show too).

Now that some appetites have been whetted, I doubt anyone wants fish sashimi that’s way past their date of expiry. Instead, what’s presented here isn’t quite like Zombieland. What I find is a hodge-podge mix of George Romero style commentary, an attempt to compress the manga/anime into a singular film and a protagonist who isn’t alwaya 100% there.

Here, Akira Tendo (Eiji Akaso) is pretty much a slave. Although he has a good job at a corporation, life isn’t sweet as his boss pushes him around, and he’s asked to burn the midnight oil. Pretty soon, he just wants to quit. But before he can do that, a pandemic has wiped out most of Japan and those who haven’t been infected by this mysterious virus have to fend for themselves. His skills as a football star don’t really amount to anything in this film.

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Jackie Chan’s Ride On, Back in the Saddle Again

For anyone who missed this gem in the theatres, Jackie Chan’s Ride On is now available on home video!

Well GO USA
Available to order on Amazon

Out of all the films Jackie Chan has appeared in this decade, Ride On is simply the best! It’s a very heartwarming family style film that will certainly tug at the heartstrings, and for horse lovers, to learn about everything that went on during production to keep Red Hare safe will have many smiling.

Usually those disclaimers regarding animal handling are added at the end credits without some added thought. And to observe what was done to ensure safety will have some admire this film even more. Some of that discourse from this movie regarding safety versus getting in harm’s way is discussed, and to see how it’s handled is simply amazing. The credit really goes to the CGI experts who remove the trainers in green screen tights during filming. Sometimes, the cinematic background gets very busy, so to find the balance between editing and digitally removing requires careful syncing so nothing is hidden with motion blur.

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