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AstroNots is Ready to Launch at Fantasia Film Festival 2024! An Interview with Andrew Seaton and Matthew Samperi.

Presented with Pendant ce temps sur Terre
July 22, 2024 6:35 PM Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall)

Not to be confused with other movies bearing the same name, AstroNots is a hilarious Australian short film set to screen at Fantasia Film Festival 2024! Not only has it been screened at the Hollywood Comedy Shorts and Durban International Film Festival earlier this year, but also it got honourable mention at Inner West Film Fest. With this impressive list, director Andrew Seaton and cinematographer Matthew Samperi believe they got a hit.

What I enjoyed from this work is that it pays tribute to many fond sci-fi classics in subtle ways. And to learn more about what they have planned, I got to communicate with them:

For our readers unfamiliar with your work, can I please get an introduction?

MS: Andrew and I grew up together—our parents were friends before we were born. As teenagers, we loved making short films together as a creative pursuit and a way of gathering our school friends together for some fun. This fuelled our combined passion for filmmaking which lasted throughout high school and into our university years. Eventually, when our hobby started to become our profession, we started the company Mint Films together and have since grown it into one of Australia’s top commercial production companies. We produce both commercial and creative work, and over the coming years plan to push into the long form and narrative space.

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[Fantasia 2024] In Ant Simpson’s Bookworm, It’s A Big, Big World

In this family film about bonds lost, it eventually get stitched back together. Bookworm is a fantastic Kiwi film about why “Fellowship” matters.

Bookworm Movie Poster — **Coming to theatres Fall/Winter 2024**

World Debut at
Fantasia Film Festival 2024
Thu July 18, 2024 6:30 PM
Auditorium des diplômés
de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall)

Elijah Wood must have enjoyed playing Strawn Wise, a has-been stage magician, in Bookworm. This hilarious family film by Ant Simpson sees him doing what I feel is his best Johnny Depp impression as a misfit father from America trying to do what’s right. Technically, Mildred (Nell Fisher is perfect in this role) takes the lead in this New Zealand adventure comedy, as she has a know-it-all attitude despite having lived a rather sheltered life. True to this film’s namesake, she’s a nerd.

And that’s not the reason Wise abandoned her. Although the backstory felt very compressed, I’ll be watching this film again as soon as it hits theatres later this year. That’s because I want to know how he heard about his wife getting ill. As for showing up out of the blue, he’ll have to convince more than one guardian that he’ll do what’s right.

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In Time Patrol Bon The Future Isn’t Written Back to the Future Style

Although Ream Stream is a hokey name for the heroine in Time Patrol Bon, she’s a better “Doctor Who” type of character than the current one on Disney Plus/BBC.

Part Two Will Be Available on July 17, 2024 on Netflix

Time Patrol Bon is a fairly faithful look at various legends and unsolved mysteries from around the world. Whether that is concerning a moment of history, part of mythology or a missing person, just how Bon Namihira (Akihisa Wakayama and Griffin Burns in the dub) gets involved is because he’s seen things which can put his timeline in peril.

As a result, a young time lord is watching him and has recruited him into the agency she works for. They monitor anomalies that can disrupt history. In some ways, what’s presented is like early episodes of the Irwin Allen series, Time Tunnel. And for spicing it up for fans of Marvel’s Loki to enjoy, there are some shared aspects I liked.

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Although Lassie A New Adventure isn’t Set in America, The Love Continues through European Markets

Thankfully, this canine isn’t completely forgotten in the cinematic lexicon. We just have to search for Lassie A New Adventure as they continue in foreign markets.

Lassie A New Adventure Movie Poster

Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment
VOD Release Date: July 15, 2024 (UK), TBA (USA)

I’m not sure if this is a fair assessment, but it seems the entertainment industry in Germany is more open to continue certain iconic properties which lost their stride after the 70s. Whether that’s with The Three Investigators or Lassie, what I’m enjoying from Lassie: A New Adventure is that it does something new I’m fairly sure I haven’t seen before. I have some recall about those classics that played on television a long time ago, and to mix it up with a heist makes for some good action.

Back then, those classics simply concerned a boy and his best friend getting separated. Whether that’s by design or some other circumstance, they’d find each other, hug and we have that happy ending. Although the writing was quite formulaic, most kids didn’t care and just enjoyed the wholesome fun that these works represented.

Lassie and Flo

In this latest outing, all of that charm is well-preserved. Life goes on. The family is visiting Gran Canaria and everything seems fine. Flo (Nico Marischka) makes new friends, Kleo (Anna Lucia Gualano) and Henri (Pelle Staacken), and all is good until various pets disappear. Pretty soon, this trio go poking their nose around, and when Lassie and Pippa get taken, they’re on the case! I’m rather glad this film is not dependent on the familiar. To get them involved in a case like sleuths makes for a better sequel.

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In Zach Green’s Foil, Where’s The Little Green Men?

Finding success isn’t easy, but when you’re Zach Green, perhaps making a film aptly named Foil is like therapy to show he’s got what it takes to be a success.

Available on Amazon Prime

Zach Green could’ve easily made a film about two hasbeens getting abducted by aliens and through that experience, maybe get a second chance at life. Instead, what’s presented in Foil deals with how these two realise that they don’t have to live up to what others expect of them. When they go looking for the meaning of life in the middle of the desert, what they discover is a bit like Monty Python.

Usually, movie titles offer a hint at what to expect, and this work is a strange beast because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Here, most of the story is fixated on Rex (Devin O’Rourke) and Dexter (Green) as they hope to experience some 70s magic; that is, they hope to get some “Kum ba yah” going in the most hilarious way possible. When the former is a UFO nut who wants to be taken away and the latter, a failed filmmaker with no Hollywood cred to his name, both are ready to leave it all behind so they can start anew.

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When Despicable Me 4 Attempts to Be Fantastic By Making It Marvel, There’s Something Missing

When Pierre Coffin is not co-directing, some of that early film charm is missing in Despicable Me 4.

Despicable Me 4 Movie Poster Minions Even after five films, I am still asking where all the heroes have gone in Despicable Me 4? In this latest, Gru (Steve Carell) is an agent for the Anti-Villain League (AVL) and will go undercover to undo the criminal element. Whether his motive is to right all his past wrongs, this franchise rarely goes deep into his mind to understand why he is now what he is instead of the rascal from times gone by.

That also includes dealing with threats like Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrel), whom he was once buddies with. This new character’s plan for world domination isn’t as crazy as what past films imagine. I wish they had dedicated more attention to Poppy Prescott’s (Joey King) attempts to convince Felonious to engage in criminal activities, instead of focusing on the other aspects.

Elsewhere, five Minions undergo mutation to become superheroes as part of the AVL’s attempt to give this world some heroes. Just like the previous films, their antics are fillers, and while they learn how to use their newfound powers, what’s presented is more slapstick moments than anything good. When these simple organisms have little purpose in life other than to serve Gru, well, all I have to ask is what happened to the prior team of Kevin, Stuart and Bob? Continue reading “When Despicable Me 4 Attempts to Be Fantastic By Making It Marvel, There’s Something Missing”