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[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - June 8th, 2021


Indiana Jones: 4-Movie Collection
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/DC combo $99.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Crafting Your Own Doom Part II


Harsh camera lights and a filming production put a lot of stress on the made rooms.

In the end, much of the cardboard used were returned to those dumpsters for recycling. And production did not pay for any cardboard used. They used their money on effects - forced perspective visuals to make the place bigger than it was. Plus stop-motion animation and paper puppetry.



The rescue numbers dwindle for the rescue. The laws of physics is different, bordering on the supernatural. Death is complex (craft related). The tee shown above was one of the shirts sold. The movie then takes a metaphysical detour once our gang finds Dave.

He and Annie witness their lives together if they choose to remain. It's hard to put into words. It makes a hard 180, not a bad thing. And was sweet, they do love each other.

The remaining gang with Dave keep trying to stay one step ahead of the Minotaur. There are traps and temptations (non-explict vag room, 'it's so pretty'). At one point they find 'origami land' and see this bird flying about. It sort of follows them on their journey. I wish this critter was more in the flick. Even when they get out - keeping it, alive and treating the thing like a real bird - would've been cool.



I like that it took time from their eighty minutes long run time to spend it on Annie and Dave; they're the thing which hold the story together. Her love for him and vise versa.

There is no exit, it's endless. But that's when it pops to mind - why is part of this place incomplete?

He's a prisoner of his fault, not following through. Dave has to finish the building from the inside to break out - back to our reality. And lucky for him, Annie was supplied. As said the movie is short, they couldn't make it longer - sets wouldn't allow them and limited resources. Man, I wanted this to be longer - so... different, imaginative, a handmade fantasy world.

By the way, Adam Busch who plays Gordon; Dave's best friend. Man, he is giving off such an Andy Dick vibe - which is cool here. Gordon has some of the best liness. Frank Caeti plays the boom operator, no name - but has the some of the best screen time, his reactions.

The criticism. There are people who didn't care for it, two reasons. 1) They didn't care for the characters. I can see that, a few of the explorers are obnoxious Red Shirts - but those are the first to die, showcasing the horrors of this place. 2) They did not like the ending. The feature rushes during those last few minutes and yeah, the finale feels forced. This was the best they could do; running out of money and time. I'm okay with that.

The film was a ride and to won me over. So sway - like it was inspired by Terry Gilliam movies. So many WTFs. I'm glad I made this blind buy (from Gravitas Ventures). Glad I took the time to research and found the real deal, pressed copy, worth it.

I am bugged by one moment; when Annie gets ready to go in (with the gang). She is seen prepping a backpack. We see her with a bottle of water and a box cutter, that's pretty much it. What's in the backpack? We don't know. There should've been a suit up/gearing up montage, yes it's a trope, but a well established one. Made famous by directors as John Carpenter and Sam Raimi. She's the only one who prepared - we should know what's she carrying into the alien world.



Above is co-writer/director Bill Watterson outside of Dave's creation. The DVD and BD have the same extras. A twenty minute making-of featurette, commentary by Watterson, deleted scenes, their crowd sourced video pitch and trailers. And in 5.1 surround sound. A decent pile of bonuses. The film was co-written by Steven Sears.

Those discs are region free with subtitle in English and Spanish.

There you go folks, I had limited materials to work with and a personal matter - which ate a lot of my time. Luckily I did the image work, weeks in advance. I had home repairs, that needed to get done before the temperature hits over 100 degrees. Summer is here.



This final bit; above are two additional posters. The left was the early poster - seeking crowd sourcing funds. The right image is the Korean poster which is better than the U.S. advertising pix. Okay done. You need to see this, you could have issues with the movie, but it will be an imaginative ride.

See you back here on June 24th, 2012 for something, still thinking on - could pick a different exclusive, not set. We'll both be surprised. *nods*