2023 Archives | Otaku No Culture

When Life Dishes out Lemons, What Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Souls Does Is….

It’s nothing but Scooby Doo style fun for the comedian and YouTuber making his own film, titled Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Soul!

Screening at the Fantasia Film Festival August 05, 2023
Please click here to purchase tickets

Real life YouTube occult celebrity Onyx the Fortuitous has a movie, and the brilliant mind behind this horror comedy is Andrew Bowser. After a successful crowdfunding campaign to get this film made, he’s ecstatic to play an evolution of what Marcus J. Trilbury should become. At the start of the film, he’s basically a nobody. In the eyes of his mean step-father, he’s insignificant. That also includes how he’s treated at a burger joint.

Technically, he’s a diamond in the rough and he wishes to do better. To see this character involved in a plot which includes the title “And The Talisman of Souls” suggests he’ll be going far should he make this item his own.

Here, what’s presented isn’t an evolution of his internet show. Instead, it’s a story that takes the character out of the world of YouTube and into a hyper reality where magik exists. And he’ll have to confronting his demons if he’s to become the fortunate one.

Continue reading “When Life Dishes out Lemons, What Onyx the Fortuitous And The Talisman of Souls Does Is….”

Mother Land is More Than Just A Simple Siberian Fairy Tale

What makes this stop-motion animatedmovie magical is in how Mother Land connects us to what’s truly important, the love one has with nature and to not dextoxify it!

July 30 2:00 PM at the Salle J.A. De Sève
Please click here to buy tickets

Siberia is a world few people have visited, and to visit it in Mother Land (Eommaui Ttang) is more than a peek into the mystic. This gorgeous stop-motion animated film directed by Park Jae-beom looks at the life of one nomadic tribe as they face common dangers. I’m left wondering if it’s worth moving to live in a modern city. Although the reindeer they heard help sustain them, is that enough?

In this movie, Krisha (Lee Yun-ji) and her younger brother Ggolrya (Kim Seo-yeong) must look out for each other. That’s the advice their mother gave. They are precious to the tribe, and when mama rushed to protect her child from a falling piece of lumber, the injury did more than knock the wind out of her. Something else has taken her spirit too, and the illness is not as simple as the local healer thinks.

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Time Travel and Aporia. How Much Worse Can It Get?

What Jared Moshé delivers in Aporia s more of a thoughtful narrative concerning how not to alter the past for the sake of having a better future.

Well GO USA
Playing July 27 & 28th at Fantasia Film Festival and select theatres starting Aug 11.

Nearly everyone knows that travelling into the past is dangerous. When that person changes one tiny, insignificant thing, like in Sophie does in Aporia, everything else becomes altered in ways that can’t be predicted. That butterfly effect is effectively explored in Jared Moshé’s film.

Instead of weighing viewers with science, everything waxed here is more existential than philosophical jabber. For better or worse, the device Jabir (Payman Maadi) made is an oversized gun that can fire bullets through the fabric of time and space. It should be confiscated by the FBI, since it can kill anyone this physicist wants. The only person he chooses to reveal this weapon to is the wife of his best friend, Sophie (Judy Greer). Ever since Mal (Edi Gathegi) was struck by a drunk driver and put six feet under, life has never been the same. But now that she has an opportunity to alter the past, will she do it?

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Shin Kamen Rider or Masked, He’s still A Ronin At Heart

Instead of turning the franchise into a cinematic blockbuster Shin Kamen Rider is still very much a 70s superhero film about a lonely soldier boy.

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 and Available to Stream on Amazon Prime as Shin Masked Rider
Spoiler Alert

Hidiki Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider is his latest entry to a self-contained universe, and it doesn’t change the story of Takeshi Hongo (Sôsuke Ikematsu) becoming the bug-like superhero by much. Although he isn’t ready to identify himself as Kamen, what he discloses is that he’s a Masked Rider.

By tacking the word “Shin” on front, this filmmaker isn’t making this film to bring in new fans. Instead, what he adds is a Frankenstein element to appease those in the know. The internal conflict this hero must be feeling has been explored before, and when Anno is involved, it’s sure to be good! This change to an kids television show to an adult one is a tonal shift I’m liking. Continue reading “Shin Kamen Rider or Masked, He’s still A Ronin At Heart”

Just How Hard Can Catching Hundreds of Beavers Be at Fantasia 2023?

When it comes to crazy narratives about man versus nature, or even man versus beast, Hundreds of Beavers is off the top!

Screening on July 28, 2023 9:20 PM
and July 31, 2023 11:45 AM at the Salle J.A. De Sève
Please click here to buy tickets.

Ryland B. Cole Tews and Mike Cheslik certainly made a name for themselves with the craziness that is Lake Michigan Monster (2018). It’s known amongst B-movie aficionados as Cthulhu meets Monty Python, and their latest, Hundreds of Beavers, is slightly different. This time, this duo brings the love for Silent Films (especially Mack Sennett’s work), early Looney Tunes, Benny Hill and Tex Avery to the fore. However, the list doesn’t end there. I’m sure this duo wanted to toss in everything including the kitchen sink to this madcap romp.

Now to keep that going in a full length 108-min film is tough. I was left wondering when it’ll end and fortunately there are moments to take breathers to process all that’s gone on before the next set piece goes all out bonkers.

In this tale, a drunk applejack salesman Jean Kayak (played by Tews) finds his home and business destroyed. I guess it’s because of those darn beavers, but to deal with them is the least of his worries. There’s also a rascally rabbit that torments this hunter. Although he doesn’t have a shotgun, what he does to deal with this threat is classic.

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Fantasia’s All Abuzz with David Allen’s The Primevals, A Love Letter to More Than The Land of the Lost

The love for all those classic adventure films and the passion put behind bringing The Primevals to life is the only reason why you should go see this film!

The Primevals is more than a love letter to the pulps of yesteryears. Here, the long production history must be noted before I can go into the review. Back in the late 60s, David Allen (who did the animation in Young Sherlock Holmes and Ghostbusters II) came up with the idea, and this stop-motion animator turned filmmaker had a lot of wonderful ideas which were ahead of its time. It’s tough to say if he knew of Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods and the theories he posed as it was published in 68, with translations not necessarily emerging until a year or two later.

It probably doesn’t matter. Sadly, to get this movie made back then was tough. That was partially due to how the studio system worked and other politics that held this project back.

While much of this story was filmed back in the late 80s, the project was shelved and this individual’s untimely passing meant it’d never get finished. Thankfully, his work with Chris Endicott, Charles Band and Full Moon Studios meant that everything that was done got carefully warehoused. It wasn’t until 2018 that the team sought crowdfunding in order to finish this project. Other talents volunteered their time as this idea shouldn’t be lost to history too.

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