One of the advantages of boutique physical releases is that American audiences are able to check out films that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to before. This year, the never before officially released in the U.S. “The Son of the Stars” makes its way to American shores. The animated adventure described as a “wild mid-80s mash-up of The Empire Strikes Back, Alien and Tarzan” was directed by the creative team of Călin Cazan and Mircea Toia, and features a pretty trippy original score by synth-rock pioneer Stefan Elefteriu. I can safely say while you can see the “Star Wars” influences dripping all over it, it’s a wild experience for any animation buff.
Tag Archives: Adaptation
Five More Great Minority Movie Heroes (to Root For)
It’s Black History Month once again, and in celebration of the month, I thought it’d be a great time to continue our saga of Great Minority Movie Heroes. With diversity becoming more prominent in modern pop culture, we’re witnessing an influx of people of color leading epic sagas, and fighting evil. I, for one, am enjoying it. Here are five more Great Minority Movie Heroes you can root for.
Old (2021)
One thing that I had a problem with “Old” on is that M. Night Shyamalan sets up a lot of plot elements to his mystery that he doesn’t seem prepared to answer. Deep down, “Old” is a great concept and amounts to a pretty eerie movie. But the end result of “Old” is a great idea on paper that results in a clunky and occasionally silly movie that never quite knows how to close its narrative competently. “Old” seems to aspire toward cosmic horror, though it can never quite stick the landing when it comes to the Lovecraftian themes.
Ranking The Films of M. Night Shyamalan from Worst to Best
February 3rd, M. Night Shyamalan offers up another potentially great genre film with “Knock at the Cabin.” The film, based on the novel by Paul G. Tremblay, is a thriller that’s been kept mostly a mystery by its studio. There’s not a lot that’s known about it, but with the cast and dire tone, I’m optimistic Shyamalan will deliver. Being a long time Shyamalan fan, I thought I’d rank the list of films that he’s directed, from worst to best. These are, of course, only films he’s directed.
Do you have a favorite M. Night Shyamalan film? Let us know!
Miles Behind: A Spider-Man Fan Film (2022)
Director and Writer Tito Guillen’s short fan film for Miles Morales has a lot of feature film potential. It’s sad that it took so long for Miles Morales to garner his own animated film, but when it comes to feature films I think he could be an icon. That’s proven in “Miles Behind,” Tito Guillen’s tribute to Spider-Man that touches upon very socially relevant topics.
Kids vs. Aliens (2023)
I’m a big fan of the “V/H/S/” movie series and one of my all time favorite segments is Jason Eisener’s “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” from “V/H/S/ 2.” It’s a chaotic, and creepy segment about aliens literally crashing a slumber party. So I was elated to see that director Jason Eisener of “Hobo with a Shotgun” was adapting that segment in to a virtual loose remake called “Kids vs. Aliens.” Suffice to say he and co-writer John Davies not only does justice to the previous short form segment, but might have just built an epic series.
DC League of Super-Pets (2022)
I’m surprised it took this long for a super pets movie to be conceived by Warner Bros. It’s always been a recurring theme in DC Comics with superheroes having their own super pets. Hell, even Superman had a Super Horse at one time or another. In either case, “League of Super-Pets” feels like a next interesting step in the DC animated universe that I hope can continue in one way or another. While the movie isn’t perfect, it sure is a fun diversion with a neat narrative.