|
The American Astronaut Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
Cory McAbee's movie is a fantastic voyage through weird-land. The story is very loose, essentially providing just enough glue to connect a series of musical set pieces. Every one of those pieces is completely hilarious, as well as being great music. Two early on in a bar (on the moon) are as wacky as anything I've ever seen; you'll know at that point whether you'll like this movie or not. If you have fairly broad musical tastes, and a hankerin for a different type of pure-entertainment movie experience, American Astronaut will not disappoint. Highest recommendation.
Rating: -
Directed by Corey McAbee of the rock/performance/art/film group The Billy Nayer Show (KETCHUP & MUSTARD MAN, reviewed in CdC #9), THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT is a cross-pollinated pastiche that plays as a science fiction/musical/comedy/western/road movie shot in beautiful black and white, with occasional low-tech animation, retro-futuristic art direction, and chocked full of catchy tunes, quirky characters, and pure originality.
Rakish pilot Samuel Curtis (McAbee) pilots his flying mobile-home spaceship through the galaxy, on several missions at once. When we first meet him, he's taking a cat to a run down bar on barren asteroid. He trades the cat for the ingredients of a "real live girl" clone. He meets up with his old dance partner, the Blueberry Pirate (producer Joshua Taylor) who proposes that Sam take the clone to Jupiter, an all male planet, in exchange for "The Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast" (Greg Russell Cook) before turning around and trading the boy for the former king of Venus, an all female planet. Corpse in tow, Sam could turn a hefty profit by bringing the deceased king back to his family on Earth. Got that? All the while, Sam is pursued by the insane Professor Hess (Rocco Sisto), a birthday boy who kills only those he has no reason to kill.
One of the things that make this film stand out among other musicals is that the songs are mere excuses for absurdity, rather than devices to progress the story. The music resembles avant-rock more than show tunes. The only exception is a song sung by a miner explaining how he and his clan ended up floating around space in a barn. Again, the song does not progress the film's story but explains the existence of some mostly insignificant characters and one minor character, and contains the only lyrics that sound specifically written for the film.
THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT feels like it is only one episode in the many adventures of Samuel Curtis. When the ending comes, it comes abruptly, as if McAbee is saying to the audience, "You already know how this is likely to end, so let's just stop here." McAbee's version of space, though, is one that deserves further exploration.
Rating:  -
While this film is not quite a masterpiece, it deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who likes low budget oddness. However, The American Astronaut is more than just weirdness. It has a story, strange as it may seem, and it has down to earth characters, odd as they may appear on the surface. The FX are nice. Not fancy or impressive, but simple and effective. Not that they're really the point.
Astronaut has many strange musical interludes, which just pop up without reason. And the dialogue is often full of intentionally awkward moments. The movie has a leisurely pace, and doesn't rush where it's going. And when it gets there, it doesn't mind stopping with a simple resolution. I recommend renting before buying because it won't be to everyone's taste. But it's a good, unusual film. And I enjoyed it.
Rating: -
Some of the negative reviews I totally understand. If you don't like off beat movies then you are not going to like this one. But if you can enjoy a movie with an odd sense of humor that was filmed in black and white then you'll probably like this one. It does have a little of that "arty" quality with some of the scenes, but it does indeed have a cohesive plot and great characters.
Rating: -
I'm a big budget guy.
Big explosions. Special Effects. Named actors. And a little nudity never hurt.
I'm simple to please.
When I was told about "American Astronaut" I had no opinion.
I never saw a trailer in a movie theater, or on TV.
I pictured some low budget garbage.
I was only half right.
It was low budget.
Black and white was the only way this movie could have been shot.
Wonderful still artwork was the only way space could have been represented.
The opening sequence begins with a long, almost uncomfortably long, walk across the surface of a barren rock face to visit a grungy bar.
Rotted teeth patrons meandered insides.
I'd have to suspend things like oxygen leaks, food supplies, and inbreding.
With the proper mindset I settled in for the viewing.
And can I just say, at 15 minutes in I was amused.
At an hour in I was impressed.
And by the end, I was extremely happy that the fates conspired in a way to let me be in a position at the right place and time to view this movie.
Many people are saying "it's good because it's weird".
That's not giving people reading the whole story.
It is weird.
But it's good because, it's well, good.
It had none of the elements I look for in a movie.
Yet it's one I'd highly recommend to anyone. Including people like me.
|
