2021 Archives | Otaku No Culture

[Fantasia 2021] Who’s the Master with Mad Dreams and Monsters? A Mad God?

Tippett’s love for bringing still life to animated form all began when he saw The 7th Voyage of Sinbad when it released to theatres in 1958 according to Mad Dreams and Monsters.

Available to Stream on Aug 22 & 24
Tickets purchases available here.

Mad Dreams and Monsters is available in The Monster Collection (Amazon USA Link)

Anyone who saw Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters before going to see Mad God at Fantasia Film Festival is ahead of the game when getting to know how this film came to be. No prior knowledge is necessary, but this documentary by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Ponce will help. It’s a love letter to the man, and every film he made movie magic in. It includes his contributions to television (The Pillsbury Dough Boy) too.

The transition to filmmaking took place when he met Dennis Muren who was looking for talents to staff Industrial Light & Magic. He is the creative mind behind realizing Dejarik, a weird chess-like game that Chewie and R2D2 played in episode IV and since then, his cinematic legacy was set in stone. The fact he had to recreate it for the new trilogy meant looking for those original molds and casts.

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[Fantasia 2021] Are You Lonesome Tonight? All the Moons, A Movie Review

If there’s ever a vampire movie to breathe new life to a subgenre that’s struggling to bring fresh ideas to the fore, I’d have to say All the Moons is it!

Playing at Cinéma Impérial
Aug 19th, 2021
Montreal, Quebec

Available Aug 21, 2021
to Stream On Demand
Tickets can be purchased here

Spoiler Warning

If there’s ever a vampire movie to breathe new life to a subgenre that’s struggling to bring fresh ideas to the fore, I’d have to say All the Moons is it. Not only do we have a charm in the style of an early del Toro film (Pan’s Labyrinth) but also it takes an idea from Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. The latter goes in a completely different direction with it; we see Claudia’s story unfold too quickly and for this film, it has to be told in 100 mins. The tale that’s presented here is a game changer, as it never once identifies the vampire as pop culture defines it.

The girl we meet here (skillfully played by Haizea Carneros) doesn’t even know what this undead bloodsucker is. She’s rescued. Much of the movie plays out like a dream as she tries to understand her condition.

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[Fantasia 2021] When the Future is in the Hands of “Yakuza Princess”

Although Yakuza Princess didn’t have the budget to be like Blade Runner, I can only imagine what a blockbuster version would look like.

Available Aug 18 & 20

There is no honour amongst thieves in the families vying for absolute leadership in Yakuza Princess. This stylish neo-noir revenge thriller establishes that a very young girl, Akemi, will inherit a regime. But after a huge assassination attempt to which many members of the Takikawa clan get slain, she’s taken into hiding.

Instead of a feudal setting, this story by Vicente Amorim (director), Kimi Lee, Tubaldini Shelling and Fernando Toste (writers) sets the tale in modern times and in a world not everyone is familiar with. Akemi (MASUMI) is all grown up now and is being hunted in São Paulo, Brazil. She doesn’t know why until she questions a few people and learns about her heritage. Those that are after her knows she’s the true heir of the Yakuza crime syndicate. They won’t settle for controlling half of the organization and need to dispose of her.

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[Fantasia 2021] On A 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died In 8…

When is a kaijū movie not a kaijū movie in The Monster That Died?

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died in 8 (2020) - IMDb Streaming online at
Fantasia Film Fest 2021
Tickets can be bought here.

When is a kaijū movie not a kaijū movie? It’s when we’ll never get to see those giant monsters. We’re dealing with a new genre of films because a certain pandemic is changing the rules. The 12 Day Tale of the Monster that Died In 8 is one of many from filmmakers creating something while under lockdown.

In this story’s case, the fictional version of the filmmakers Iwai Shunji (co-director of Shin Godzilla) and Saitō Takumi believe they can make a monster out of capsule toys he bought online.

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[Fantasia 2021] Is It Just Rock n’ Roll in Hellbender?

The world that’s constructed is fascinating as it may be drawn from hedge witch traditions.

Encore Performance Aug 16th
Coming Soon to Shudder Network

The best part of Hellbender are the punk rock performances which acts like intermissions this film’s story beats. This mother-daughter grassroots act is fantastic (we need a soundtrack release) and one detail I’m fairly certain this film is making is in how the matriarch is slowly controlling how her teen can express herself. From changes in makeup to full on goth (complete with a prerequisite black crown stolen from Mordor), Izzy (Zelda Adams) seems comfortable. When the outback of the New England world is her playground and there’s a babbling brook and a tiny waterfall in their private property, I’m jealous.

It’s civilization that this teen is told to afraid of. Her mother (Toby Poser) and grandmother experienced it, if the introduction is any indication, and they hate it.

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Victoria, BC’s Fringe Festival is Back! Journey with Alice as …

Anyone who knows that movie will realize that Alice is struggling in this Fringe Festival performance, but eventually she perseveres.

Aug 13th to 18th
Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

The Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival is back, and it’s adapted to allow enthusiasts of the dramatic arts to attend shows in person and online. That is, for the live stage shows, instead of rows of seats, we have tables. This change makes sense as we are still in a pandemic, and it allows for some distancing between social bubbles so that small groups of friends can stick together when going to a performance.

Kicking off the 2021 edition, the shows are spread throughout four weeks at The Metro theatre venue. All the in-person events will take place here, and for once, we’re not running around town to get to another show. One year, the Fringe will return to that format, but until the health officers say we’re past the health scare, I believe Intrepid Theatre will stick to this new format.

To read a list of my picks of the Fringe, I’ve published a guide on my food & theatre site, Twohungryblokes.com

In the show to kick off the Fringe, Alice explores Wonderland, not in the Lewis Carrol sense but ala Carl Jung. This young girl is losing her mom. In the opening act, she’s asked to see the doctor. Afraid, instead of wanting to face the inevitable, she steps into a void and hits a barrier.