Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV Czech filmmaker Karl Zeman (1910-1989) made movies like no other. Combining live-action with every form of special effect available, including stop-motion models and cutouts, his films approach the medium in a manner almost alien to audiences weaned solely on Hollywood films. More now than ever, Hollywood's big-studio, effects-heavy movies operate from a stylization of photo-realism, visual effects designed to recreate a kind of believable reality. It's not realism, as today's CGI-laden movies casually ignore basic laws of science in these recreations of reality: mass, gravity, sound effects in airless space, etc. But for most audiences, these movies look real. Conversely, to a greater or lesser degree, Zeman's movies are emphatically unreal. They're droll and wryly amusing, but character and story are less important than an all-pervasive stylization, an all-encompassing look that facilitates...Read the entire review »

Mister America by Tyler Foster Tim Heidecker (Tim Heidecker) is running for office. He's working out of a hotel room with only one other campaign employee, Toni Newman (Terri Parks), trying to get himself on the ballot in the upcoming election for San Bernandino County's District Attorney. Specifically, Tim's looking to defeat incumbent District Attorney Vincent Peretti (Don Pecchia), a man he consistently describes as the city's "rat problem," with big, but "very doable" dreams of eliminating "100% of crime" in the area. He's even hired a filmmaker named Josh Lorton (Eric Notarnicola) to follow him around and document the journey. Unfortunately, for Tim, the media seems to have no interest in him, he's struggling to collect the right number of signatures to get on the ballot, and worst of all, his former associate Gregg Turkington (Gregg Turkington) is hellbent on calling him out about his horrific past. Perhaps unfairly obscure...Read the entire review »