Nothing But Star Wars: Episode Zero

Starting today, I am going to explore the Star Wars films. This will not be strict reviews. Instead, they are more “critical essays”. I will go through each of the films. I already have reviewed The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi. So those won’t focus on the reviews, as opposed to more express my thoughts without fear of spoiling the films. Specifically, my feelings on themes and the like.

So, if you have not scene the Star Wars films and are super concerned about spoilers of the franchise? You will want to avoid the “Nothing But Star Wars” Series. Oh, and I will be going in the release order, so today begins with…

December 19, 2017 0

The Tension Between Things (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2017)

The Last Jedi picks up shortly after the Force Awakens. It begins with a bold battle that has powerful repercussions on the characters.

Rey is trying to get Luke to come back with her to help the rebellion. But Rey finds herself unsure of her true goals.

This new Star Wars film is building off the questions and set up of the Force Awakens, and yet, it addresses them in very unexpected ways.

Characters you know are the heroes find themselves the ones needing to learn the lesson. Others are trying to come to terms with their celebrity status. Others are trying to come to terms with heroes not living up to their expectations, and in some cases, even face betrayal.

I found Mark Hamill’s performance as Luke to be Hamill’s strongest performance in the entire series. He is funny, frustrating, heartbreaking and heroic. And the film does this very well.

The film will likely frustrate people who have heavy theories about just how the new trilogy ought to play out, but I found Rian Johnson’s (Brick, Looper) choices to not satisfy those pet theories kind of…well, satisfying.

I appreciated the visual style, there is some genuinely gorgeous action in the film.

I really enjoyed the film, and feel it is one of the stronger films within the Star Wars story.

December 16, 2017 0

Day the World Ended (Demon With the Atomic Brain, 2017)

Christopher R. Mihm’s latest film presents the possible end of the Mihmiverse. A specially built computer has caused a rift in time and space that is threatening to destroy everything. A team of military and specialists come together to try and stop it.

What happens next is an adventure through alternate futures, each one seeming more dangerous than the last.

The Demon With the Atomic Brain is one of Mihm’s most ambitious films in scope. There are multiple set pieces. It has several creatures and monsters and a decently large cast (which of course gets whittled down). Both the animated monsters and the costume creations (by Mitch Gonzalez, who always makes fun and effective monsters for the Mihmiverse). There are these flying monsters where you can see the strings as they fly around. Again, this is part of the low budget charm of Mihmiverse movies.

As always, the film has an authentic look to the era of the fifties. This one has some splashes of color in each of the alternate futures. It can be subtle, as they are heavily desaturated. But it is very effective in giving a unique personality to each scene.

The actors are all very entertaining in their roles, effectively straddling that fine line of goofy delivery with sincerity. Nobody feels like they are trying to act badly. It is more that the dialog can fall into that sci-fi type of discussion that sounds less natural for most people.

The Demon with the Atomic Brain is a fun science fiction adventure with a unique identity (while paying homage to its inspirations).

October 30, 2017 0

Little Lake of Horrors (The Monster of Phantom Lake, the Musical!, 2016)

You know…if they were truly dedicated to authenticity, they would have painted everything and everyone in black and white.

But still…the story follows closely the film. Scientists and teens encounter an angry swamp monster. A swamp thing, if you will.

With Music and Lyrics by Adam Boll and directed by Mihmiverse Regular Michael Cook, the musical takes a fun and slightly lighter approach. Not that the original film is heavy and dark, but adding songs adjusts the tone a bit.

Taking his queue from Mihm’s films, Boll composed songs specifically to evoke well-known musicals. There is a song in which the character Elizabeth is singing about her fears in which harkens back to the theme song of HBO’s Tales From the Crypt. Another is reminiscent of Grease. The songs are a lot of fun, filled with humor (and fans of the Mihmiverse will likely notice plenty of in jokes).

The performances are quite good and the full orchestra really gives everything a good punch.

October 29, 2017 0

Bucket of Blood (Weresquito: Nazi Hunter, 2016)

During World War II Cpl. John Baker is captured and experimented on by the deviant Nazi scientist Schramm. He was saved by the Allied forces, but he is forever changed. When he sees blood, he is transformed into the human-mosquito, or rather the Weresquito. He is on a mission to find Nazis (and specifically Schramm) who are hiding out in America.

His search has unexpected complications as he starts to fall for Schramm’s niece (who is unaware of her uncle’s dark past).

Weresquito is one of those high-concept ideas that feels like it would have been at home in the late fifties. It is promoted as being in Plaz-Mo-Scope which evokes, of course, the gimmicks of the era. What this means is that anytime we see blood, it is red, and the only color in the entire film. This makes for a neat effect. If you have ever seen the horror film Popcorn, this film feels like it could have been one of the “fake fifties films” they made for that movie.

The performances are good (and James Norgard is clearly having fun going over the top as Schramm). The Weresquito himself is a great monster visually. Listen, if you want to see Nazis get their blood sucked out by a man-sized mosquito (and I think you are lying if you say you do not)? This is your film!

October 28, 2017 0

Galaxy Express (Danny Johnson Saves the World, 2015)

Christopher R. Mihm often has a specific influence for a film. For Danny Johnson Saves the World, he was focused on creating a family adventure. It is the tale of young Danny Johnson (we’ve seen Danny in prior Mihmiverse films) who is playing a game of “hide and seek” with his friends when they run smack dab into an alien invasion of…puppets. Danny has to save his friends and little sister from the diabolical Alien Queen (and her imbecilic King). He is helped by an alien defector named Steve.

Danny Johnson Saves the World has a flashback framing device that is reminiscent of the Princess Bride and a Christmas Story as aged Danny Johnson (played by James Norgard) is telling his grandchildren a story as they wait for the Christmas Meal.

The film is a lot of fun and achieves its goal as a family film. There are action and monsters, but nothing too intense for younger viewers. The effects have that look of a 50’s family sci-fi with a neat looking robot villain and a monster called Meat (it looks like something from Dungeons and Dragons) that features more classic stop-motion animation like we saw in the Late Night Double Feature.

October 27, 2017 0

The Secret Invasion (The Late Night Double Feature, 2014)

Unlike prior features, the Late Night Double Feature is two ideas that Mihm had where he felt they would not necessarily carry an entire film, but he still wanted to tell. Each episode is about modern TV show length, making them very quickly paced.

In X: the Fiend from Beyond Space an intergalactic mission in 2014 is awakens from deep sleep They have brought aboard an alien corpse. Well, they assumed it was a corpse. After the alien disappears, the crew tries to locate it, but do not realize the creature is assimilating the crew one at a time.

This is kind of what you might get if Alien was made in the 50’s (Right down to the female leads taking on the alien fiend for much of the story). The story has some fun dialog (at one point, they determine the alien must be intelligent as it was wearing pants). The alien looks great with a classic sci-fi feel. X hits the ground running very quickly, wasting no time (but still finding moments to make references to classic and modern sci-fi) .

The Wall People is interesting because the idea feels very modern. Scientist Barney Collin’s wife was killed in an accident and then his son disappeared mysteriously. Eight years later Dr. Edwards and Dr. Gabriel pay him a visit. Barney is not quite…right. He has been unable to convince anyone of his theory that there is an evil inter-dimensional being that takes children from their beds through the walls of their rooms.

The film plays with questions of Barney’s sanity and reality. Is he dead? Is he on Pluto? It is very “Twilight Zone” in that nature.

This segment has some really nice stop motion action evocative of the time. Most of this tale rests on the shoulders of Doug Sidney who does a real good job of conveying Collin’s as someone struggling to save his kid but having reached the edge of his sanity.

The double feature format works real well here. Although there is an intermission between the films, it might have been fun to include one or two faux trailers (a la Grindhouse, though Mihm may have avoided this consciously specifically because of such comparisons).

October 26, 2017 0

Not of This Earth (Attack of the Moon Zombies, 2011)

Set in the future of Cave Women on Mars and Destination: Outer Space, Attack of the Moon Zombies takes place in the Jackson Lunar Base. A new scientist arrives and while he is being given a tour, finds a unique item…a plant. After he seems to die from exposure to spores, the inhabitants of the base move on. But while preparing for an autopsy, the young man wakes up…changed. Slowly, scientists are disappearing, being changed into the moon zombies.

It becomes a race against time as the survivors try and find a way to stop the zombies and escape.

All the films, of course, have had ties to each other. But Attack of the Moon Zombies really feels as if it ties the Mihmiverse films together. While Josh Craig appears as neither Jacksons, his Professor Jackson is mentioned (but has been upgraded to President). One character is related to the Deputy from Terror From Beneath The Earth and Dr. Edwards also returns.

The zombies look pretty good (the Mihmiverse films started to show a vast improvement in the makeup and costumes around Destination: Outer Space). One of my favorite in-jokes the film has is its naming conventions. The Captain is named Herman Frehley, but constantly demands to be called Ace. The Administrator’s last name is Ripley. But observant viewers will notice that several characters are named after the characters of the old Buck Rogers TV show.

Attack of the Moon Zombies moves at a decent pace and is a lot of fun to watch.

October 23, 2017 0

Galaxy of Terrors (Destination: Outer Space, 2010)

Captain Jackson is back! Trapped on a mysterious planet, Captain Jackson is trying to get home but gets pulled into an epic adventure. He must fight alien hordes, find a secret base that must be destroyed.

Writer and Director Christopher R. Mihm explained that he went into this film with a “what if”. What if…Ed Wood had made Star Wars?

The spaceships are obvious models and green screen work. But it feels like the limitations are less financial here and more sticking to the premise of being a fifties sci-fi b-movie.

The alien make-ups are actually quite good. Or, rather, entertaining. There are aliens with big eyeballs for heads that shoot laser beams from the eyes. There is a scene paying homage to the Star Wars cantina scene where the filmmakers clearly had a lot of fun populating the bar.

Does Destination: Outer Space answer the What If? Yeah. It feels like it came from the era, and it is a lot of fun. The film is loaded with fun references to sci-fi like Star Wars and Star Trek. The “high-tech” robot A.D.A.M. looks especially like a fifties idea of an advanced robot. The film promises more adventures with Captain Jackson in the end (with a soft cliff-hanger). We shall see if he ever returns.

October 22, 2017 0

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (Cave Women of Mars, 2008)

In the far, far distant future of 1987, Captain Jackson, son of Professor (now Director) Jackson, is on a mission to Mars. He and lieutenant Elliot arrive on Mars and discover a lush jungle…er…midwestern wooded area and Lieutenant Elliot ends up a prisoner of warrior cavewomen.

Elliot is desperate to get back to his spaceship as he finds himself catapulted between rival cave woman clans. While both are really disdainful of men, you can tell the good Cave Women from the Bad Cave Women because the Bad Ones wear leather and have dark hair, while the Good Ones wear cloth outfits and are blonde.

The film uses very simple coding (not uncommon for the era that inspired the film). Part of the amusement in the films of Mihm is the archaic ideas of the sexes. These are not presented as the “Good old days when men were men and women were women”. I have noted that Christopher does not mock the horror and sci-fi of the 50’s and 60’s. But that is not entirely true. He pokes a lot of fun at the silly mentalities (Girl scientists?! Girls with opinions?!) of the time. In this film, the portrayals of independent woman as hating men is the target for mockery. The Cave Women are so over the top in their talk about how inferior men are, the oppressive matriarchy comes off as the fevered nightmare of Rush Limbaugh.

Visually, you start seeing some growth. The monster looks a little better. There is some nicely done green screen that manages to still give that old movie set look. And the portrayal of Mars is a lot like those early films that imagined other planets looking vaguely earth-like…but you know…rockier. Also, the space suits are in that great line between looking cobbled together and being a little futuristic.

There were a few points where the film drags, but at the same time, this is not that out of character for a lot of sci-fi and horror of that era. Setting it in the future of 1987 (so “far” from the 50’s, but well in our “past”) creates it’s own humor with the visuals of how far and advanced we would be. Of the first three films, this one, in some ways, feels the closest to the sci-fi films of the 50’s.

October 20, 2017 0