“Mars Attacks!” (1996) is a satirical alien invasion film directed by Tim Burton and starring a surprisingly large cast of familiar actors. It’s easy to forget that Burton, now a friend of the establishment, once made films with a misanthropic subversive element. This is in full view in Mars Attacks! which (similar to Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers) embraces its inherently xenophobic premise and pushes it over-the-top to skewer society’s most cherished institutions (ie. government, media, religion, and business). The movie bombed when first released but perhaps it was just a little ahead of its time?
Watch the full film here.
Carnival of Souls is a 1962 American independent horror film starring Candace Hilligoss. The film was produced and directed by Herk Harvey for an estimated $33,000. Carnival of Souls did not gain widespread attention when originally released as a double feature with The Devil’s Messenger. Today, however, it is regarded as a cult classic. Its plot follows a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident, finding herself drawn to the pavilion of an abandoned carnival.
Set to an organ score by Gene Moore, Carnival of Souls relies more on atmosphere than on special effects to create a mood of unease and foreboding. The film has a large cult following and is occasionally screened at film and Halloween festivals. It has been cited as an important influence on the films of both David Lynch and George A. Romero.
“The Cable Guy” (1996) is a dark satire written by Judd Apatow and directed by Ben Stiller which straddles the line between comedy and psychological thriller. Jim Carrey (still in the midst of his rapid rise to fame) stars as Chip Douglas who, after setting up free cable for Steven (Matthew Broderick) begins to behave in increasingly comical yet unsettling and stalker-like behavior to attach himself to his new “friend”. The film features metacommentary on Hollywood narrative tropes while effectively using them in the service of a cautionary tale about mass-media obsession and social alienation.
Paul Verhoeven and Edward Neumeier, the writer/director team behind the original Robocop returned a decade later with an equally satirical vision mocking while paying homage to propagandistic and militaristic Hollywood tropes: “Starship Troopers” (2007). The story follows a new recruit and his circle of friends as they go through training and onto the battlefield in a war against hostile aliens. It’s a story told countless times before and since but rarely with as much self-awareness and overtly fetishized fascism.
Welcome to Terminal City-one of only five livable places left on Earth.
Telegenic Mayor Ross Glimore (Peter Breck, The Big Valley, Shock Corridor), is king of all media, and rules as a virtual dictator. To maintain his grip on power he must stage an election, and for that he needs fresh fear. Enter Alex Stevens (Mark Bennett), a fed-up, cynical newspaper delivery boy who happens to witness Glimore run over one of his own supporters in his car, and leave the scene of the accident.
Glimore and his Rove-wellian henchman Bruce Coddle (Jello Biafra) hatch a plot to brand Alex “the #1 terrorist threat” (based on his connection to rock’n’roll music which, along with meat, is banned) to cow Terminal City into submission and steal another tabloid election.
Alex flees underground, where he stumbles into a resistance movement led in part by his newfound friend Beatrice (Lisa Brown), and a fugitive brain-damaged goalie from the Glimore-owned hockey team, unforgettably portrayed by two-time Genie Award® winner Germaine Houde (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Les bons Débarras 1980, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Un Zoo la Nuit 1987).
Alex finds himself caught up in a plot to bring Glimore down, with the not-so-secret police (D.O.A.’s Joe Keithley and pro-wrestling legend Gene Kiniski) hot on the trail.
“The Red Elvis” (2007) is a German documentary directed by Leopold Grün about the life and legacy of Colorado-born singer Dean Reed who, after a promotional tour in Chile, fell in love with the culture and became involved in anti-imperialist politics around the world. Through archival footage and interviews the film explores Reed’s unique personal and professional journey which was tragically cut short by his mysterious death in 1986 at age 47. Some of the circumstances surrounding Dean Reed’s death suggest it may be more complicated than the narrative presented in the film.
“Jammin’ in New York” (1992) was Carlin’s 8th HBO special and was a performance he considered a career-best. The constant stream of jokes and wordplay are kept at a rapid pace throughout the show but the true highlights are his incisive commentary on the government’s war-like tendencies which bookend this classic.
If you enjoyed Jammin’ in New York, you should also check out “It’s Bad for Ya” (2008), his final album and HBO comedy special. Some of the most memorable and enduringly truthful moments of both performances are still widely shared as video clips and meme quotes.
It’s Bad for Ya can be viewed in it’s entirety here:
There have been several good films and videos about 9/11. But the film by award-winning film-maker Massimo Mazzucco Released in 2013 is in a class by itself.
For those of us who have been working on 9/11 for a long time, this is the film we have been waiting for.
Whereas there are excellent films treating the falsity of particular parts of the official account, such as the Twin Towers or WTC 7, Mazzucco has given us a comprehensive documentary treatment of 9/11, dealing with virtually all of the issues.
There have, of course, been films that treated the fictional official story as true. And there are films that use fictional stories to portray people’s struggles after starting to suspect the official story to be false.
But there is no fiction in Mazzucco’s film – except in the sense that it clearly and relentlessly exposes every part of the official account as fictional.
Because of his intent at completeness, Mazzucco has given us a 5-hour film. It is so fascinating and fast-paced that many will want to watch it in one sitting. But this is not necessary, as the film, which fills 3 DVDs, consists of 7 parts, each of which is divided into many short chapters.
These 7 parts treat Air Defence, The Hijackers, The Airplanes, The Pentagon, Flight 93, The Twin Towers, and Building 7. In each part, after presenting facts that contradict the official story, Mazzucco deals with the claims of the debunkers (meaning those who try to debunk the evidence provided by the 9/11 research community).
The Introduction, reflecting the film’s title, deals with 12 uncanny parallels between Pearl Harbor and September 11.
The film can educate people who know nothing about 9/11 (beyond the official story), those with a moderate amount of knowledge about the various problems with the official story, and even by experts. (I myself learned many things.)
Mazzucco points out that his film covers 12 years of public debate about 9/11. People who have been promoting 9/11 truth for many of these years will see that their labors have been well-rewarded: There is now a high-quality, carefully-documented film that dramatically shows the official story about 9/11 to be a fabrication through and through.
After the Crash 