|Harry Mackin| “Did you ever take that test yourself?” Whenever an institution of power has wanted to exploit, enslave, or just murder another group of people, they’ve gotten away with it by convincing everyone else that group isn’t really human. There have been… Continue reading
|Nicole Rojas-Oltmanns| In 2020 when COVID-19 shut down most of our social connections, I, like many caregivers, was the opposite of lonely. While so many were alone at home, I was inundated with constant human interaction. While I had purpose… Continue reading
|Elizabeth Mathers| My (unknowing) introduction to Heavy Metal (1981) was South Park’s Season 12, Episode 3 “Major Boobage.” An absolutely transcendent piece of comedy. I know others also took this episode as an entry point into finding one of the greatest animated films. Heavy Metal is the gift that keeps on giving—great art,… Continue reading
|Jay Ditzer| The reputation of the animated cult classic Heavy Metal rests on promises it largely can’t keep. Sure, it’s full of sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll, at least superficially. What it actually delivers is something more revealing. The film is deeply of its era, which is both a strength and a weakness. Continue reading
|Dan McCabe| Obedient tool. That phrase from the intertitles of Metropolis describes what a group of men desire in another science fiction film made decades later, The Stepford Wives (1975). In Metropolis… Continue reading
|Ben Jarman| Before prequels and sequels, kids used to tell me Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars movie. I used to tell the same thing to adults just after the movie came out. Then I grew and my body cracked, forming a chip on my shoulder. Return of the Jedi was suddenly just a… Continue reading
|John Costello| I’m supposed to write about the problem with science fiction tropes—mainly space Westerns—but I keep thinking about Peter Boyle’s portrayal of Sheppard in Outland (1981). Sheppard spends much of his time playing golf in his office, looking like he can’t afford a haircut, a beard trim… Continue reading
|Zach Staads| So, the civilization we know today is coming to an end and the enlightened intelligentsia want to use the end of the world as a playground for their own disaffected experiments and whims as they figure out immortality and aren’t sure what to do with the cruder… Continue reading
|Michael Popham| When people see the movie Zardoz for the first time, they usually walk out of the theater with a lot of questions. Chief among them is, “What the fuck was that all about?” I’ll admit this isn’t a movie for everyone. But hear me out: Zardoz is not just a perfect example of 1970s… Continue reading
|Ryan Sanderson| One could argue that every Terry Gilliam film is a magnum opus—Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, even Lost in La Mancha feels like a definitive statement about human nature in which Gilliam serves as… Continue reading
