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Reviews
Automation (2019)
SUPERIOR SCI-FI IN THE CORMAN STYLE!
AUTOMATION reminded me of the cheap-but-smart sci-fi movies Roger Corman directed in the 1960s (NOT OF THIS EARTH, IT CONQUERED THE WORLD) and produced in the 1980s (PIRANHA, FORBIDDEN WORLD).
It's like CHOPPING MALL meets OFFICE SPACE... with a surprisingly sensitive side!
The budget is limited, so you don't get gloss and spectacle and tons of CGI. The VFX you do get are fun and help build a world where delivery drones and lawn-mowing roombas are as common-place as cell-phones.
The movie leans into it's limited budget with a story of everyday characters with flaws instead of epic heroes. After a decade of overwrought pixel parades, it felt good to see a 1970s-style sci-fi with relatable people!
Even Auto, the worker-robot run amok, has an almost tragic character. You almost feel sorry for Auto, as he fights to stay "alive," and the surprising ending leaves you wondering.
If you miss grindhouse movies with ideas as well as exploitation, check out AUTOMATION!
Pit Stop (1969)
FASCINATING PORTRAIT OF AMERICA
It might seem odd to give this modest movie such a high score, but it is so well crafted and now in retrospect so fascinating, it is far more entertaining than much bigger and "important" movies made today.
First off, there is the insane-but-real setting of figure 8 racing, where racers speed across each others' paths at the track intersection. Just seeing such a crazy real-life sport enacted is worth watching PIT STOP!
Next, we have a layered story, with contrasting character arcs for "hero" Rick and heel Hawk (a career-best performance by the late, great Sid Haig).
The performances are great, with Brian Donlevy lending the same amoral tough-guy gravitas he brought to the Quatermas movies, and an early appearance by Ellen Burstyn.
And Kustom Kulture fans will also appreciate the on-location views of George Barris' car shop (the creator of the 1966 Batmobile, Munsters Coach, Monkeymobile, and many other showcars).
A real gem from the time when the American Grindhouse was taking cues from Euro Art House.
Death Race 2000 (1975)
A GRINDHOUSE MASTERPIECE!
DEATHRACE 2000 is exploitation cinema at it's best: it delivers on the most basic levels of sex and violence, and at the same time examines our fascination with these foundations of entertainment.
The script's combination of dystopian sci-fi, social satire, and mock media also prefigures the similar tone and style of ROBOCOP (one of the movies that moved Corman-style exploitation from grindhouse to multiplex).
Top it the tank with fun performances from psychotronic celebrities and you're ready for a wild ride. David Carradine, Mary Woronov, the Real Don Steele, Martin Kove (evil karate teacher in KARATE KID), and Fred Grandy (Gopher on "Love Boat", who later became a real-life congressman in U.S. House of Representatives - I guess he learned a bit about politics from Frankenstein!) keep scenes moving. Even director Paul Bartel joins in the fun as a surgeon. And of course, Sylvester Stallone chews the scenery as heel Machinegun Joe Viterbo.
Annihilation (2018)
BEST SCI-FI MOVIE OF THE DECADE
Now that the decade is nearly over, we can say with some certainty that ANNIHILATION is the best sci-fi movie of the decade.
THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE for the ecstasy crowd, ANNIHILATION has haunting, beautiful, and disturbing visuals throughout.
Events are suggestive without ever being vague or confusing, a clear story that still has room for mystery.
And the end sequence is a body-horror reply to the Stargate sequence in 2001.