Nazis, who have colonized the dark side of the moon since their defeat in WWII, have decided to re-invade Earth in the upcoming comedic action/sci-fi/steampunk-ish film Iron Sky. Laibach did the soundtrack. Who’s stoked? I’m stoked.

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The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.

I love the movie Koyaanisqatsi and the whole Qatsi trilogy by Godfrey Reggio and I really don’t think you should watch the following clip unless you have seen the films. But this is pretty amazing to watch for those of you who would love a refresher. Koyaanisqatsi speed up at 1552 percent speed is an exciting 4 and half minute romp over the world and a glimpse into the things that destroy it. Not as good as the real thing, but a great refresher. I do miss the Philip Glass original music and the pace of the original, but this is perfect for those of us with ADD.

Meeting on the Stairs is an independent Irish drama by first time writer/director Lorna Fitzsimons. Lovingly made on a tiny budget with a young cast and crew, it tells a sometimes stark story beautifully. It debuted nationally at Clones Film Festival, internationally at Washington’s Capital Irish Film Festival, and is showing at The Underground Cinema, Kingston Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, on February 9.

A few years ago, some friends and I were sitting around complaining about what a shithole our country has become. So we decided to take a stab at fixing it. The result is Good Virus, a documentary all about being nice. We filmed a lot of very smart people telling us the advantages of being nice and giving us concrete examples of what we can do without breaking the bank or taking too much time away from our friends and families to make a difference. Maybe if people learn to be a little nicer to each other, then we could get things back on track.

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A friend of mine emailed me The Butterfly Circus a while back. He knows that I have a soft spot for things that harken back to days gone by. It seems that in the old days, especially the great depression, people had a better set of values than they do now.

I realize that this probably has more to do with revisionist history and man’s remarkable ability to forget the bad stuff, but it makes for a great backdrop for this film about triumph and individual beauty. I know they have a feature version in the works, but my secret fantasy is for Joshua Weigel to adapt Katherine Dunn’s fantastic novel Geek Love to the big screen. I could totally see Nick Vujicic as Arturo.

With all the gross out jokes and silliness of the common comedy romp, you’d think making them would be easy. Well, it’s not. It’s actually really difficult. Writing a joke is one of the hardest tasks anyone can undertake.

With films, there’s also the inherent problem of narrative, as at some stage, the stupidity can no longer be sustained and you have to get on with the story. It’s a movie after all, not a sketch comedy show. So the last third is where most comedies falter as they put substance over slapstick and try to eek out some meaningful conclusion. A Few Best Men sits in a curious comedy netherworld as it resists putting the comedy or the narrative at the forefront at any stage, making for a well-balanced laugh excursion. Great fun throughout, with a best man’s speech for the ages.

Girl Walk All Day is a feature length dance video story that used the public spaces of New York City as its stage. I’m a sucker for dance of all kinds. Plus, it’s another amazing Kickstarter funded success story.

No One Knows About Persian Cats is a film I really want to see. I was pretty indignant when I first heard what the film was about and then I remembered my Mum telling me that in the 1970s, Barry White was banned on the radio here in Ireland. Barry White!

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At one time, this documentary was getting a lot of buzz. It’s both a fascinating milieu and flawlessly executed. I have an obsession with obscure hobbies that create huge subcultures where the fans would give anything to be Jim Richman for a day, a person who most of us would never hear of if it weren’t for beautiful little films like this My favorite line in the whole movie is: ‘Lance Armstrong is the Jim Richman of the bicycle world’. It sums up the whole film for me.

John Dies at the End, affectionately known by its creator and fans as JDATE, may have started as a free series of chapters about two college drop-outs experimenting with drugs, but it eventually became such a cult hit that it culminated in a film adaptation that premiered in this year’s Sundance Festival. The appeal? A drug called Soy Sauce promising an ‘out of body experience’, a dash of apocalyptical humor, and a plot that seems to go everywhere and anywhere at once.

A badass military robot malfunctions and develops memories of being human before going berzerk and escaping in this short and sweet film by Aaron Sims who has worked on films such as I Am LEgend and Batman Forever.

When you begin a band, do you ever think about how will it end? LCD said their goodbyes last year with some concerts for all fans to celebrate one last loss of abandon. Lucky for all those who did not get to be part of the farewell, there is a documentary sharing all the highlights.

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Dubstep is conquiring the world at a crazy rate at the moment, so it’s real important to know of its roots. Bassweight is a wicked feature length documentary charting its growth from its origins in London town. Beautifully shot, it features interviews with the pioneers and major players of the game.

A few years ago, I happened upon a documentary about a fascinating subject I wasn’t aware existed: people that are in love with inanimate objects. Married to the Effiel Tower follows two women. Erika Eiffel is a former Olympic archer who has a relationship with her bow, and as the title suggests, the Effiel tower. Amy Stokes has a passion for a German rollercoaster ride and church banisters.

I’ll admit, I’m late to the party. Not just any party, but the party of the warped universe of Katsuhito Ishii films. Here’s an unforgettable scene from his 2004 film Taste of Tea featuring the high-fashion moves of a hotshot photographer and a couple of action hero mascots on the Japanese subway.


Getting Up is a documentary about LA-based graffiti artist Tony ‘Tempt’ Quan, who developed Lou Gehrig’s disease, which paralized him. Though unable to move from his hospital bed, Quan has been using technology that allows him to continue his artwork using just the movement of his eyes.

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Check out this official trailer for Beauty Is Embarrassing, the funny, irreverent, joyful and inspiring documentary featuring the life and current times of one of America’s most important artists, Wayne White.

This documentary looks fascinating. It’s about a guy named Mike Sullivan who has been shooting a stop-motion robot porno for the past 10 years, accumulating thousands of hand-built robot models in the process.

PressPausePlay is not your everyday documentary on digital media. It showcases a bunch of ‘artists’ and their scattered opinions on democratized culture in terms of the lack of limitations holding back today’s artista from creating. It won a couple awards, too. No surprise.