In its homeland it’s a blockbuster film and one that took years to develop to inevitably become “The Robot” or “Enhiran.” It’s garnered some rave reviews from Bollywood critics and has even scored something of a fanbase. But “The Robot” hasn’t caught on until a few years subsequent its initial release due to the internet’s capability of bringing to attention a movie very few have been aware of. Thanks to one person’s capturing of “Endhiran’s” most dazzling and over the top action sequence, this is a science fiction Bollywood film many have sought after its sensation as a web clip.
Mega Man (2010)
Director Eddie Lebron is essentially the definition of the modern independent filmmaker. He’s a man who is a fanboy at heart who is currently devoting himself to making video game adaptations of his favorite video games that he would want to see. What began as a thirty minute fan film turned in to a ninety minute feature length film and he has devoted most of his time to garnering donations. Not for himself. Not for his merchandise, but for the film’s benefit. And as such he’s screened the film for free on the basis that he could fund his next project and inevitably be discovered. Basically he’s riding on a hope and skill, and he really should be given a fair shot at a Hollywood film.
LEGO Hero Factory: Rise of the Rookies (DVD)
I am quite ignorant when it comes to the latest animated series, since most of them are absolutely terrible. Save for a few gems here and there, the newest animated series on television will turn your kids brains in to pudding. “Lego Hero Factory,” however, isn’t that bad a series. I don’t intend to follow it any further beyond the DVD I was tasked with reviewing, but as a whole I could see collecting the individual characters and really engrossing myself in to the lore when I was nine or ten years of age. And that’s who this series primarily is marketed toward. For a show it’s really just another Transformers wannabe.
The PC Thug: Slamming Sundance
2005’s “Mad Hot Ballroom” was the hit of the year. The Nickelodeon/Paramount owned documentary featured three Public Schools in New York, all of whom were taught the art of ballroom dancing and ultimately experienced a coming of age with their skills that took them in to a major competition by the end of the film. The film grossed a total of over nine million dollars, screening on theaters in the double digits. 2007’s “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” about the inadvertent rivalry between two master gamers competing to obtain the world record Donkey Kong made the top ten lists of over a dozen critics in 2007, and garnered immense buzz over the course of the year from news companies alike. 2009’s “Paranormal Activity” was made on a micro budget and filmed in generally one location.
2069: A Sex Odyssey [Ach jodel mir noch einen – Stosstrupp Venus bläst zum Angriff] (1974)
There is a planet of hot women out there. They want sperm. And they’re coming to Earth for some men who have sperm. Unfortunately where they’re from men are rare, and their race may wither and die without man seed. There’s your plot for “2069” a sex comedy that’s about as stupid but arousing as all of the other porn parodies of the sixties and seventies. True, I refer to it as a porn parody primarily because of its title, but in reality it’s not even a slight spoof on Kubrick’s classic film. It merely borrows the title for the excuse to implement the 69 and is a pretty tame softcore porn and sex comedy that sets down on a group of alien women who happen down on Earth to abduct and sex up a bunch of hapless men to revive their society. What confounds me is how was their planet originally able to reproduce without men around? And are these women hoarding sperm for their planet or are they hoping to become pregnant on their own?
Last Train Home (2009) (DVD)
“You have not tasted the bitterness of life.”
Director Lixin Fang has observed with his deeply moving portrait of a working class family at the brink of destruction that often times life can presents itself a cruel irony that can sting even the kindest and well meaning of individuals, all of whom strive for something that they’ll likely never be able to grasp. Not prone to manipulating his scenery, director Lixin Fang stands back and seemingly lets a story unfold in the midst of chronicling migrant workers in China where he happens upon a small family of workers the Zhangs, all of whom are comprised of five people who struggle to be close to one another, but are hopelessly stuck in a vicious circle that will grant them misery and sadness no matter how much they may reach for a dream.
Hey Vern! It’s Ernest: The Complete Series (DVD)
I’m surprised people are usually stunned when they learn that a commercial spokesman or mascot is being turned in to a potential video game, movie, or television series these days. Upon learning the Cavemen from the popular Geico commercials were being turned in to a television show, people were genuinely shocked. Who can blame them for at least trying for a television show? Sure, it’s a god awful idea (and the show’s oh so brief run on television shows it) but it’s not unlike Hollywood to not pay attention to interesting concepts and aim for some cash flow. Subsequent the success of Pee Wee Herman, the late eighties opened the doors for off the wall and wild entertainment all led by someone completely wacky and not afraid to take risks while entertaining children and adults alike.