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Adult animation isn’t something that gets talked about enough. Paving the way for today’s movie were things like Fritz the Cat, Lord of the Rings which is not expressly adult of course, and Wizards. Let us know if we should talk about Wizards in some form by the way. Other movies that firmly tie into a similar vein of Heavy Metal are American Pop from the same year and Fire and Ice from a couple years later. While a bunch of the animated movies listed or even not listed fall under the sex comedy, fantasy, or recreation of modern life, Heavy Metal is something else entirely. It’s an anthology sci-fi, horror, comedy, action, fantasy that has a rocking soundtrack and earns its hard R rating. It was held back from being on video for a while due to licensing issues but has become an endearing cult classic 44 years later.

Scream Factory‘s July home video line-up includes 4K editions of Abigail, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Fade to Black.

Abigail sinks its fangs into 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on July 8. The 2024 vampire film is presented in 4K from the original elements with Dolby Vision.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett directs from a script by Guy Busick and Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground). Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, and Giancarlo Esposito star.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K Presentation From The Original Elements (new) Presented In Dolby Vision (Hdr-10 Compatible) Audio: Dolby Atmos, DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett And Editor Michael P. Shawver Audio Commentary With Film Critic Drew McWeeny (new)

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

4K Presentation From The Original Elements (new) Audio: Dolby Atmos, DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett And Editor Michael P.

The Fallout series has delighted gaming fans for decades and, thanks to Amazon's streaming series, it has found an even larger audience. The series' mix of dark humor, 1950s aesthetics, and fun action is a combination that has proved enduring and successful for nearly a generation. Of course, with the Fallout show currently between seasons and a new game likely a long way off, many fans are looking for something else to tide them over. These fans will likely enjoy the underrated cult classic, Six-String Samurai.

Released in 1998, this martial arts film didn't feature big starts and ultimately did poorly at the box office. Despite these challenges, however, Six-String Samurai still managed to earn a small but loyal following thanks to its action, music, and style. All of these elements echo aspects of the venerable video game and TV series. While it may not be as well known as Fallout,...

YouTube sensation MrBeast has broken a record with his new show, Beast Games. Per The Wrap, Beast Games is now Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted TV show of all time, garnering 50 million worldwide viewers.

The competition reality show by MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, hit the 50 million viewer mark in the first 25 days it was available on Prime Video. The show was the No. 2 most-watched series premiere of 2024 behind Fallout, starring Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell. Additionally, Beast Games brought in new subscribers to Prime Video - the most since Fallout’s premiere.

Beast Games hit the No. 1 spot on Prime Video in over 80 countries, and more than 50% of its viewers were from outside of the United States and had an “outsized performance” in India, the U.K., and Mexico, per Prime Video.

Related This 39-Year-Old Animated War Drama Is Perfect for Fallout Fans

Despite its cheerful style,...

Today, most audiences know Fallout thanks to its recent Prime Video series or modern Bethesda-backed games. However, the series’ lineage spans all the way back to 1997, when Interplay Productions released its critically acclaimed Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game. That game’s sequel, aptly titled Fallout 2, would hit store shelves a year later. These initial titles followed a grimmer storyline akin to Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, although the later iterations — including Bethesda’s critically acclaimed Fallout 3 — maintained many of the same themes.

Now, despite being a groundbreaking game, Fallout can’t claim to be the genesis of its post-apocalyptic niche. Post-apocalyptic nuclear fiction is much older than 1997, and its earliest entries began appearing in the 1950s, predictably around the time the world became aware of the atomic devastation in Japan. So, anyone looking to scratch that Fallout itch has over half a century of content to peruse.

In addition to Sick, Scream Factory’s February home video line-up includes 4K upgrades for Galaxy of Terror, Ghosts of Mars, and Humanoids from the Deep.

Galaxy of Terror lands on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 11. Produced by Roger Corman, the Alien-inspired 1981 sci-fi horror film has been newly restored in 4K from the 3mm interpositive with Dolby Vision.

Bruce D. Clark directs from a script he co-wrote with Marc Siegler. Edward Albert, Erin Moran, and Ray Walston star with future horror icons Sid Haig and Robert Englund. A young James Cameron served as production designer and second unit director.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K Restoration Of The 3mm Interpositive (new) Presented In Dolby Vision (new) Audio: English DTS-hd Master Audio Mono Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

4K Restoration Of The 3mm Interpositive (new) Audio: English DTS-hd Master Audio Mono Audio Commentary with Cast and Crew Tales...

The concept of horror on film is most often exhibited with masked killers, mutant monsters, or extraterrestrial terrors that live only in imagination. Defying that very concept, 1986s When the Wind Blows presents a true existential terror that cuts to the core of modern fears. Using a simple, yet effective style of animation, director Jimmy Murakami brought Raymond Briggs gut-wrenching graphic novel to life, depicting the real horrors of nuclear war through a childlike lens. Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills give a terribly sympathetic voice to the potential victims of such a conflict, with the characters of James and Hilda Boggs representing all innocent people who face destruction in the wake of atomic war. When the Wind Blows is one of the saddest, most terrifying visions of an apocalypse ever put on film, and no less than in decades past, it is a film that demands to be viewed and appreciated.

In December 2023, the first part of Zack Snyder's sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" was released on Netflix to cold reviews and audience indifference. The story of "Rebel Moon" followed a rebel named Kora who knew that an evil Empire was traveling to her home world -- the titular rebel moon -- to steal all their grain and force the natives to starvation. Kora trekked out into the galaxy to collect whatever ragtag warriors she could find, hoping to hire them as her homeworld's scant defenders. 

The story, of course, was adapted directly from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic "Seven Samurai," and no review of Snyder's film was complete without direct comparison's to the master's work. Even the plot point of stolen grain is common between the two films. 

More cinematically well-versed critics likely also made a comparison to "Battle Beyond the Stars," a 1980 sci-fi "Seven Samurai" riff directed by Jimmy T. Murakami...

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: A Meddlesome Producer’s Bloodiest, Briniest Catch of the Day

As titillating as it is atrocious, “Humanoids from the Deep” has everything. Sandy boobs. Practical gore. A woman director undermined by Roger Corman. Garnish with those dead dog scenes, and what more could you ask of a creature feature from the summer of 1980?

Starring Doug McClure as a hero fisherman, Ann Turkel as an inquisitive biologist, and Vic Morrow in a shifty special performance, this sluggish monster invasion imagines a community ravaged by sea creatures (Aka clumsy actors in suits...

Both "Grave of the Fireflies" and "When the Wind Blows" are anti-war films portraying innocent people suffering from the devastation of armed conflict. The movies showcase the emotional toll of survival amidst war, with characters struggling to maintain normalcy despite dire circumstances. Through national myth-making, the films highlight how governments can blind the public to the harsh realities of war and its aftermath, leading to immense suffering.

Studio Ghibli and Isao Takahata'sGrave Of The Firefliesis widely cited as one of the most harrowing films ever made. The 1988 film viscerally conveys the horrors of war and shows the suffering of the Japanese people in the final days of World War 2. However, itisn'tthe only animated film to cover these topics. Animation fans looking for a film to pair withGrave Of The Firefliesshould watchWhen the Wind Blows,as both it andGrave Of The Firefliescover similar topics from different perspectives, leading to a fascinating double feature.

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we take a look at Kate Bush's King of the Mountain, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami. With the recent passing of Roger Corman, I would like to look back at the work of one of his protegés, and especially his music videos. Many people are aware that Corman helped launch the careers of people like Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson and many many more. But one of the lesser known names is Jimmy T. Murakami, even though I consider him to be quite great. Murakami started out as an uncredited co-director on Humanoids from the Deep, before making one of Corman's bigger budget...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Roger Corman, the B-movie legend who helped launch the careers of Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Francis Ford Coppola, among many others, has passed away at the age of 98. His family told Variety that he died on Thursday, May 9, at his home in Santa Monica, surrounded by his loved ones. The family also released this statement:

"His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, 'I was a filmmaker, just that.'"

It's no exaggeration to say that Hollywood wouldn't be the same without Roger Corman. In a career that spanned half a century and hundreds of films, he directed and/or produced B-movie hits and cult classics like "House of Usher," "The Little Shop of Horrors," "Death Race 2000," and "Attack of the Crab Monsters" (not to mention a famously unreleased "Fantastic Four" movie...

The premise of Zack Snyder's upcoming two-part sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" is lifted directly from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic "Seven Samurai." Sofia Boutella plays Kora, a former army officer who must defend her modest moon-bound home from an encroaching battalion of fascists -- fascists she once served under. Before the enemy can attack, Kora has to scour the galaxy for a small team of dedicated warriors to mount a defense. 

Kurosawa's premise is so simple and effective, it has been recycled many times since 1954. Famously, "The Magnificent Seven" transposed the story to the Old West, while "A Bug's Life" set it in a world populated by anthropomorphic insects. Jimmy T. Murakami's 1980 film "Battle Beyond the Stars" was, like "Rebel Moon," also a sci-fi rendition of Kurosawa's tale. 

The first half of "Rebel Moon" will be released on Netflix on December 22, 2023, and, like most of Snyder's films, promises to be enormously overblown.

One can never accuse director Zack Snyder of playing small or aiming low. The quality of his films varies wildly, but he always seems to want to tell the largest version of his stories possible. Perhaps most notorious in the director's filmography is his four-hour cut of "Justice League," a movie that he had to initially abandon due to a personal tragedy and then return to complete years later, using an additional $70 million. He's fond of overblown action, operatic visual bombast, and a lot -- a Lot -- of slow-motion photography. Snyder has amassed a strangely passionate following of fans who leap to the director's defense at every available opportunity, eager to point out that something profound might be happening in his typically turgid pictures. 

Snyder's next film is called "Rebel Moon," and it is due to be released on Netflix on December 22, 2023. It has already been announced that it...

(Welcome to Animation Celebration, a recurring feature where we explore the limitless possibilities of animation as a medium. In this edition: "When The Wind Blows.")

When thinking about animation geared toward adults, people often immediately think of hyper-violent anime like the recent Hulu series, "Chainsaw Man," or excessively vulgar comedies like "Sausage Party," which is getting a series reboot, by the way. With so many people falsely believing that animation is a genre and not a medium, animated features that aren't marketed with the caveat of "not being for kids," are often assumed to be meant for children simply because people foolishly forget that complex and challenging stories are frequently better suited without the limitations of live-action.

After successfully adapting Raymond Briggs' picture book "The Snowman," animator Jimmy Murakami decided to tackle Briggs' more adult graphic novel, "When The Wind Blows." The 1986 film tells the story of an elderly British...

Director and producer who supported the making of classic British films including Gregory’s Girl, Babylon and When the Wind Blows

The producer Mamoun Hassan, who has died aged 84, was a significant figure in British cinema of the 1970s and 80s, whose remarkable career, if not entirely satisfying his artistic gifts, was unusual in that it enabled so many other film-makers’ careers, and gave rise to numerous courageously non-commercial projects. What was notable was how commercial some of them turned out to be.

Although he was a talented director and screenwriter, it was in his roles as the first head of production of the British Film Institute (1971-74) and managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation that Mamoun was most influential, being instrumental in the making of such classic British films as Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl, Franco Rosso’s Babylon (both 1980) and the animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s When the Wind Blows,...

The author’s books inspired Channel 4’s much-loved Christmas animations.

The author and illustrator Raymond Briggs, best known for his 1978 work The Snowman, passed away yesterday, August 9, aged 88.

Briggs produced a wealth of books including an illustrated book of nursery rhymes, The Mother Goose Treasury (1966), Father Christmas (1973), Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), When the Wind Blows (1982) and The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984).

Many of his works, which were largely based on themes of love and loss, have been adapted into films, plays and TV animations.

The producer John Coates turned his most famous work,...

The Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings are continuing next month with a selection of new releases, retrospective, series, and more. Leading the pack is, of course, a horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, featuring ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (pictured above), Tobe Hopper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more.

Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.

Freshly divorced from American-International Pictures, Roger Corman leaps into the filmic mainstream with a fairly large-scale World War One aviation picture. He competes with the big studios but retains his nonconformist attitude: his retelling of the story of the Red Baron fixates on the theme of the death of chivalry in combat. For his star player Corman picks John Phillip Law, whose on-screen persona is a good fit for one of the first warrior aces of the sky.

Von Richthofen and Brown

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield

Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.

Cinematography: Michael Reed

Film Editor: Alan Collins

Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer

Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington

Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami

Directed by...

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami who went on to helm animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman.

We’re not saying they all should be, but they could.

This week, Disney releases another live-action remake of one of their animated classics. And they have many more planned for the future. But they aren’t the only ones attempting to adapt animated works into flesh and blood. The Ghost in the Shell joins Beauty and the Beast in theaters later this month, and other anime remakes, such as Akira, are in development.

It is surprising that more studios aren’t trying to copy Disney with the idea, though. Is it because so few non-Disney features involve human characters or because those that do aren’t that interesting? Below I’ve selected some that could work just fine. Some of them maybe should be done. If you have any other ideas, be our guest and share them in a response.

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)

As I’m not a fan of redundant literal adaptations, I...

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent, including a score by James Horner, a script by John Sayles, and art direction by James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon, and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, who went on to helm animated classics like "When the Wind Blows" and "The Snowman."...

Moonraker

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

Screenplay by Christopher Wood

UK, 1979

Moonraker has the unique distinction of being the most absurd and over-the-top Bond film produced in 50 years of the series. Spy films exist in a genre unto themselves, but the Bond films sometimes like to crossover into other popular genres as well. The first clear example of this was 1973’s Live and Let Die, which mimicked the then popular Blaxploitation genre. When Moonraker was released however, the Bond series took this genre crossover to its extreme, resulting in a Bond film as much a science fiction saga as it is screwball comedy. Certainly one of the strangest Bond films to date, Moonraker holds a unique admiration among Bond fans and remained the highest grossing of all the Bond films until the release of Goldeneye in 1995.

Before Moonraker came 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me which concluded with the end credit...

We look at how director Tomm Moore created the Oscar-nominated animation Song Of The Sea, and how the Irish landscape inspired it...

Walking along Ventry beach in south west island, it's easy to see how a filmmaker might be inspired by the spectacular landscape: the rolling hills and craggy rocks, the overwhelming air of tranquillity. But the inspiration for animator Tomm Moore's new film, the Oscar-nominated Song Of The Sea, was inspired by a less than tranquil experience.

About a decade ago, Moore was staying on holiday in the nearby town of Dingle, and visited Ventry beach with his 10-year-old son. To their horror, they found the beach littered with the bodies of dead grey seals. Reports at the time suggested that local fishermen, who blamed the seals for dwindling fish stocks, were responsible for the cull.

"I was talking to a local lady, and we were disturbed by...

In case Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis don't do it for you, here's another epic space adventure worth ascending... Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) Director: Jimmy T. Murakami Stars: Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, Sybil Danning When his planet is threatened by a merciless villain, a young man heads out to find the universe's greatest warriors to help him defend it. Battle Beyond The Stars is an example of a movie being utterly cheesy, obviously low-budget, and still...

Born an American of Japanese decent and soon quarantined to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in northern California after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as child, Jimmy Teru Murakami was permanently scarred by the experiences he and his family endured during the war. Decades later, after he had been nominated for a pair of Academy Awards for his shorts The Magic Pear Tree and The Snowman, as well as having collaborated with Roger Corman on the sci-fi feature Battle Beyond the Stars, Murakami confronted the realities of nuclear war by stretching the boundaries of traditional animation with his bracing blacker-than-black satirical comedy, When The Wind Blows.

Based on Raymond Briggs’ brutal graphic novel of the same name, the tale follows a senior couple who lived through World War II as part of the British army and fought the good fight, now elderly, living rurally and long out of the loop of real world politics.

Blu-ray Release Date: Nov. 11, 2014

Price: Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Twilight Time

The 1986 animated film When the Wind Blows is a dark comedy-drama directed by veteran Japanese-American animator Jimmy Murakami, who passed away this year at the age of 80.

Jim and Hilda Bloggs (voiced by legendary English actors Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills), a middle-class, elderly British couple who, with the help of government-issued pamphlets, build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II. There home is hit indirectly by a Soviet nuclear bomb, leaving it in ashes and barely standing, with the couple surviving by ducking behind a door that Jim set up as an inner refuge. But barely surviving the attack is not enough, as they steadily fall prey to lethal radiation sickness…

A well-regarded Britsh cult entry (and a sad one!

Destination Outer Space! continues over at Trailers from Hell, with director Neil Marshall introducing "Battle Beyond the Stars."This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80. )...

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80.

The post Battle Beyond the Stars appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

★★☆☆☆ Apocalyptic teen angst is the order of the day in Kevin Macdonald's limp and languid How I Live Now (2013), a functional - if uninspiring - adaptation of the 2004 Meg Rosoff novel of the same name. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the American relative of a rurally-situated British family, the film sees our green and pleasant land under attack from an unknown foe, commencing with a catastrophic nuclear strike on London. Though such subject matter may sound provocative on paper (indeed, Rosoff's text is highly regarded), Macdonald's big screen translation is too dour and generic to ever truly capture the imagination.

Kitted out in leather and shades, Daisy (Ronan) arrives in the UK at a time of unclarified unrest. Picked up from the airport by 14-year-old Isaac (Tom Holland), she's soon introduced to her English aunt (Anna Chancellor) and fellow cousins, including Edmond (George MacKay, seen again this week in two...

Chicago – It ain’t over until the fat mammoth sings, and that’s precisely what happens—more or less—in “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” the fourth installment of Blue Sky Studios’ increasingly tedious, decade-old franchise. Why can’t any of Pixar’s rival animation studios come up with a marketable formula better than Celebrities Voicing Animals Delivering Tired Sitcom Dialogue?

Whereas “Madagascar 3” represented this formula operating at its finest, “Ice Age 4” represents its nadir. With 3D visuals on the level of a pop-up book and bored actors mugging their way toward their next easy paycheck, this picture is dead on arrival, yet its particularly brand of badness is more peculiar than one might expect. Just how many kiddie movies have attempted to merge DeMille-level spectacle with booger jokes? Thankfully, not that many.

Blu-ray Rating: 1.5/5.0

In this cheery “Ice Age” entry, our heroes are running for their lives as they find...

Moonraker

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

Screenplay by Christopher Wood

UK, 1979

Moonraker has the unique distinction of being the most absurd and over-the-top Bond film produced in 50 years of the series. Spy films exist in a genre unto themselves, but the Bond films sometimes like to crossover into other popular genres as well. The first clear example of this was 1973′s Live and Let Die, which mimicked the then popular Blaxploitation genre. When Moonraker was released however, the Bond series took this genre crossover to its extreme, resulting in a Bond film as much a science fiction saga as it is screwball comedy. Certainly one of the strangest Bond films to date, Moonraker holds a unique admiration among Bond fans and remained the highest grossing of all the Bond films until the release of Goldeneye in 1995.

Before Moonraker came 1977′s The Spy Who Loved Me which concluded with the end credit...

Apocalypse is an ever-popular idea in cinema. After all, what could be more dramatic than the possibility -- or even the actuality -- of the end of everyone and everything that you've ever known. It's an all purpose metaphor, and can be used to tell all kinds of stories, in all kinds of tones, as highlighted by this weekend's comedy-drama "Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World," which sees Steve Carell and Keira Knightley brought together by the impending end of civilization.

The film's only semi-successful at melding romantic comedy with the end of days, as you'll find from our review, but there's plenty in the film to recommend it as well. And if you're still looking for a little more end-of-the-world drama, we've picked out five lesser-known examples that are worth seeking out Asap. Check out our selections below, and let us know your own favorites in the comments section.

'Jimmy Murakami – Non Alien' Loopline Films' 'Jimmy Murakami – Non Alien' has won the Directors Choice Award at Sacramento Film and Music Festival. Irish documentary 'Off the Beaten Track' nabed the Prize from the Council of Bosco Chiesanuova at the Xvii Film Festival della Lessinia, Italy this weekend and West of Ireland based production company Magamedia's documentary 'Diabhal ag an Damhsa' picked up the Social Commentary award at the Inaugural Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival in Waterville, Co. Kerry...

Chicago – It doesn’t take a child psychologist to figure out why British author Julia Donaldson’s 1999 book “The Gruffalo” has become a hit with families around the globe. It gives parents ample opportunities to portray various animal voices, while kids can take part in reciting the multiple catchy refrains. Best of all, Donaldson centers her tale on a tiny hero who uses his brains to outwit hulking predators.

Clocking in at a slim 25 minutes, Max Lang and Jakob Schuh’s Oscar-nominated animated adaptation has been hailed in some quarters as a family classic. I don’t think the film is nearly substantial enough to deserve such acclaim, though that’s not because of its limited running time. Several short films left an enduring mark on my childhood. I’ll always cherish the artistic exuberance of Stephan Martinière’s “Madeline,” the Broadway-worthy songs of Michael Sporn’s “Lyle Lyle the Crocodile,...

Damnation Alley - is one of the most sought after post-apocalyptic cult relics of the 70's that, believe it or not, is only now making it's way onto DVD and Blu-ray in an official release. So basically, it's a red letter day for Pa junkies and I'm off to pick this bad boy up as soon as I post this. It's also based on a book from 1967 by Roger Zelazny (who hated this film).

Insidious - is the best film from James Wan since the original Saw and one hell of a haunting flick. I loved this film far more than the glut haunted house films we've been getting recently like Haunting in Connecticut. Perhaps it had something to do with Rose Byrne being in the film? Whatever it was, this was a great flick that's made better by the subtleties and unanswered oddities in it - like what relevance...

Rank the week of July 12th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Arthur

(DVD and Blu-ray | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5711

Times Ranked: 827

Win Percentage: 52%

Top-20 Rankings: 6

Directed By: Jason Winer

Starring: Russell Brand • Helen Mirren • Greta Gerwig • Jennifer Garner • Luis Guzman

Genres: Comedy • Farce

Rank This Movie

The Lincoln Lawyer

(DVD and Blu-ray | R | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #2807

Times Ranked: 1535

Win Percentage: 55%

Top-20 Rankings: 6

Directed By: Brad Furman

Starring: Matthew McConaughey • Marisa Tomei • Ryan Phillippe • William H. Macy • John Leguizamo

Genres: Drama • Psychological Thriller • Thriller

Rank This Movie

Rango

(DVD and Blu-ray | PG | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #595

Times Ranked: 5790

Win Percentage: 38%

Top-20 Rankings: 18

Directed By: Gore Verbinski

Starring: Johnny Depp • Isla Fisher • Abigail Breslin • Ned Beatty • Alfred Molina

Genres: Action • Adventure • Animation • Comedy • Family-Oriented Adventure • Family-Oriented Comedy • Western

Rank This Movie

Insidious

(DVD and Blu-ray | PG13 | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #3119

Times Ranked: 1785

Win Percentage: 52%

Top-20 Rankings: 6

Directed By: James Wan...

Some say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And in the case of Roger Corman and his New World Pictures, they have made some of the biggest names in the film world quite flattered, that is, if this is indeed true.

The king of the cinematic “sample,” Corman has ripped off, or at least borrowed from, countless films. However, none of his pictures sums this up quite as well as the Jimmy T. Murakami picture, Battle Beyond The Stars. Not only drawing inspiration from the sci-fi juggernaut that is Star Wars, but also Akira Kurosawa’s classic masterpiece The Seven Samurai, and while it may not live up to this pedigree, it is quite the entertaining piece of cinema.

Plot wise, the film sounds like a futuristic Kurosawa film right from the beginning. A farm colony is under attack from an evil conqueror, and one of their citizens attempts...

The sick and twisted minds behind the Melbourne Underground Film Festival have launched a brand new horror and sci-fi themed fest: Bloodfest Fantastique! Australia gets a lot more blood-soaked on June 10-18, nine nights of some of the most gruesome, terrifying and far-out films, past and present, from around the world.

While Muff has never been shy about screening genre films, Richard Wolstencroft — founder and director of both fests — is planning for his newest endeavor to simply be a celebration of his two favorite genres of filmmaking, without all the politicking hooha-ery that surrounds Muff.

So, there’s still a very underground-esque flavor to Bloodfest. The newer flicks in the festival have a scrappy, inventive, degenerate quality, from slice and dice em’s like Chris Sun’s Come and Get Me, Chad Ferrin’s Someone’s Knocking at the Door and Geoff Klein Bikini Girls on Ice; to monster flicks...

Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (see Alex’s review here ) heralds a return to the 2D hand drawn animation of yesteryear.

To celebrate the revival of an old art form we’re offering ten of the finest traditional animations for your delectation. This list represents our personal favourites so don’t be upset if your own doesn’t appear or go ahead and be upset, just keep it to yourself.

What are you favourite 2-D animations? Leave us a comment, suggestion, etc.

The Emperor’s New Groove (Mark Dindal, 2000)

A spoilt Emperor plans to bulldoze a village and replace it with a water park. He’s then transformed into a llama and gets to spend some time with the subjects he plans to displace in this neglected gem from 2000. Pixar’s success had put a ball and chain around Disney’s early nineties revival and dropped it down a well.

Editor's Note: We hope you enjoy this new Friday afternoon column, Junkfood Cinema, by Brian Salisbury. It celebrates movies that are so bad, even though they are also sometimes so good. For more (coming each and every Friday), stay tuned to the Junkfood Cinema Archive. Also, please feel free to let us know what you think of this new weekly feature in the comment section below. Battle Beyond the Stars Directed by: Jimmy T. Murakami Written by: John Sayles & Anne Dyer Produced by: Roger Corman, Ed Carlin, & Mary Ann Fisher Starring: George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, John Saxon, and Richard Thomas For this second helping of Junkfood Cinema I will gorge myself on Battle Beyond the Stars.  Operating a bad movie column, it was merely a matter of time before I snacked on something from the Roger Corman.  He is the sultan of schlock and a genius in the art of box office manipulation.  If...

The full Irish line up for the Palm Springs International Shortfest was announced yesterday. With only 315 films being selected from more than 2,500 worldwide entries, Irish talent is represented with seven films chosen for screening, at this year's festival. The selected Irish shorts are: Atlantic' by Conor Ferguson; 'Whatever Turns You On' by Declan Cassidy; 'Sunshower' by Liam Gavin; 'The German' by Nick Ryan; 'The Man Inside' by Rory Bresnihan; 'Sandpiper' by Jimmy T. Murakami; 'The Ranger' by Pj Dillon.