Microbuget alert – Stop-motion magic in Galactic Raiders!

That’s right, some of you older readers may have heard about this thing used before CGI where one actually took small models and painstakingly filmed them one frame at a time while moving them slightly. This was called “stop-motion animation” and was used on such films as King Kong, 1 Million Years BC, and The California Raisins. And now independent filmmaker Larry Arpin has decided to buck the system of computers and continue the trend! Take that, terrible Mac vs. PC commercials!

The Official Website

The plot:

GALACTIC RAIDERS is an independently produced motion picture on 35mm film with Ray Harryhausen style of special effects.The story centers around Rymir (Danny Fehsenfeld), who’s girlfriend, Laura (Erica Howard), is kidnapped by Acastus (Elliot Eddie) and transported to another planet. On this ‘other planet’ is a powerful crystal, sought after by all peoples of the universe, including the Pharilleans, Acastus’ people. Also, on this planet is Rosanna (Moksha McPherrin), wife of…well, I won’t spoil it for you. Following Rymir to the ‘other planet’ are Cyrus (Joseph Arpin) and Bellus (Lloyd Lee Barnett), Acastus’ accomplices.

A sample clip is here and on the official site.

Watching the characters shoot laser guns at the dinosaurs reminds one of Planet of the Dinosaurs, except no one is wearing horrible 1970’s fashion and I doubt this film will have the 1970’s slowness that movies from that era possessed. Because everyone was on drugs then.

Hopefully the film will be done soon (so far the production notes show it has being in development for three years) and will do stop-motion effects proud!

Thanks to Avery for the head’s up!

Update on the Edison Chen crisis

The Edison Chen porn pictures scandal is in crisis! We’ve mentioned the beginning of the scandal here, and gave another update here. Now new developments have forced this scandal into crisis mode! You see, nothing new has been released! That’s wholly unacceptable! I demand these blackmailers release the rest of the photos immediately, or else I will blackmail them! Not to nice when the shoe is on the other foot, now is it?

Anyway, Edison Chen dropped out of the Hong Kong Entertainment Industry. But that doesn’t mean he can’t make movies in Singapore!!! Yes, Edison dove for this loophole like it was a Hong Kong starlet holding a camera, and will soon be filming an art-house love story co-starring Hsu Chi (aka Shu Qi) who’s mention in this post alone will get me far too many hits.

But what about the female talent on display? Well, as far as Bobo Chan Man-Woon is concerned, she’s not getting married. And no once cares about her, so moving on…

Gillian Chung Yan-Tung is reportedly meeting with a Hollywood producer to map out a career in America. The small catch is the producer is Elliott J. Brown (who??) best known as a star on Saved by the Bell: The New Class (WTF??) But he produced the short film Superhero Divorce so of course he’s the biggest name in US production. She’s being rightfully mocked for that, and is also mysteriously missing in the latest ad campaign featuring the non-nude Twin Charlene Choi. I would have predicted Gillian resurrect her career with soft-core schlock from Wong Jing, and that may happen if Screech is unavailable to be her manager, as he also has sex-tape experience. Maybe Mr. Belding is free.

Cecilia Cheung is still married, and as she was somewhat wild before settling down for marriage and babies, she’s probably okay for now. She’s married into a powerful entertainment family, so expect her to show up again.

One good thing about this scandal is it showed that giant mega-stars are people too. Sure, everyone in China can act all shocked, but there isn’t 1.3 billion Chinese because they all play the abstinence card.

Still, we remain in crisis mode until the remaining pictures are liberated. Only YOU can save us now, by posting everything you have! Post away, blackmailers! You got paid anyway so it’s all good.

Godzilla Island Story Arc 3

Godzilla Island – Story Arc 3

Godzilla Island – Story Arc 3


1997

Directed by Shun Mizutani

Godzilla has several TV shows throughout his history. In this year’s March of Godzilla, we will be cataloging one such show, Godzilla Island. Godzilla Island was a series of three minute episodes that ran from October 6, 1997, until September 30, 1998. 256 episodes were created, using a combination of toys and stock footage to bring the characters to life. Throw in some characters acting in front of a blue screen and a basketball-shaped annoying robot, and you got Godzilla Island in a nutshell. One advantage to the toymation approach of monster effects is it allows the appearance of all sorts of kaiju from all over G-history. Multiple Jet Jaguars! All sorts of one-shot characters pop up over the course of the series. But as this was created around 1997, no one from the Millennium series of films is present.

Set in the year 2097, where most kaiju live on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Godzilla Island. I guess, I’m not sure if they give it an actual name, since they speak this Japanese language all the time. Anyway, Godzilla Island soon becomes a center of activity for alien invasions left and right. Aliens being the evil Xilien aliens, as seen in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. The one individual seen even dresses like them, although she doesn’t follow the contention that all females of the species look identical to Kumi Mizuno. Godzilla Island is governed by the Godzilla-Guard, aka G-Guard, which is staffed by one guy and a robot. The G-Guard Commander is less than capable in dealing with invading monsters and aliens, but luckily he is joined by mysterious young girl Torema, who has a powerful space ship and psychic powers.

According to the credits, the series was directed by Shun Mizutani and written by Takahiko Masuda. With music by The Edge. I guess U2’s The Edge, unless there is another The Edge running around, in which case I must bang my head on the desk. We’ll run through the episodes in order broken up by story arcs. Some stories are only a few episodes long, and some last close to twenty. Each episode ends with “tsuzuku” which basically means “to be continued.” So tsuzuku will be our catchphrase of the series. If you missed this paragraph you’ll probably be very confused, as we will probably type tsuzuku more than Godzilla in these articles.

Microbudget film alert – Monster From Bikini Beach

Sacramento film eventers Trash Film Orgy decided to just make their own damn movie, and fill it with bikini babes and a monster. Sounds like something I would make, except I’d throw in a few midgets. It’s like Humanoids from the Deep, Beach Girls and the Monster, Horror of Party Beach, and Frog-g-g were all thrown in a blender and poured on a gaggle of bikini-clad hotties.

bikini
The plot:

MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH is the story of a primordial fiend who rises from the murky depths to quench its insatiable lust for Bikini-Clad Beauties. One man dares suspect a truth too terrifying to believe, while a crooked cop tries to cash in on the score of a lifetime! Thrown together by destiny, the two find themselves locked in the final bloody battle to defend Bikini Beach. Will they be in time to save the Lovely Ladies of Camaroville from the Beast’s Wanton Rampage of Total Terror or will they die trying?!

You can experience in the theater:

Trash Film Orgy’s Awesome New Movie
MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH
premiered Friday, January 11th 2008 at the Historic and Haunted Crest Theatre in Sacramento.

Because of the overwhelming response,
MONSTER FROM BIKINI BEACH returns to the Crest for four exciting additional shows!
FRIDAY, MAY 2nd-10:30pm
Special Raffle Night! Win Big Awesome Prizes!
SATURDAY, MAY 3rd-10:30pm
Q & A with Filmmakers following the Screening!
FRIDAY, MAY 9th-10:30pm
Bonus Short! “CHEERLEADERS FROM HELL”
SATURDAY, MAY 10th-10:30pm
Cast and Crew Appreciation Night!

All Tickets are $8.50; Discount Tickets for Cast, Seniors and Students are $5.50

(That’s the Crest Theater in Sacramento)
If you are in the area it will probably be a very fun show!

The teaser trailer:

No word of DVDs yet, so many of us will have to wait.

The crew also have a list of microbudget films in the Microbudget Massacre section, which is a treasure trove of new delights, indy style.

Thanks to Avery once again for the info!

Remake of the now – Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

They are remaking Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Sigh.

Yahoo sez:

Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, creators of the hit Web series “Ask a Ninja,” are writing an adaptation of the 1978 opus, with Nichols set to make his directorial debut.

“‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!’ is the masterwork of a generation,” Nichols said. “We can only aspire to recapture that magic.”

No changes to the original plot have been revealed, but it still is expected to revolve around genetically altered tomatoes on the warpath.

Maybe they can get former Congressman Gary Condit to cameo in this one as well (he was in Return of the Killer Tomatoes), he’s not doing anything right now which gives interns around the world a sigh of relief.

As Hollywood is remaking everything expect them to remake this blog post by next summer!