GALAXY LORDS -WTF Did I Watch?

I saw "Galaxy Lords" a few weeks ago on Prime Video.  It is, in one word, insane.  The F/X are amazing for a low budget movie and except for an extensive use of CG, fit in well with the rest of the retro feel of the movie.  The movie's biggest downfall is the lumbering set-up after the initial opening action sequence.  It gets very talkative and slow for a good few minutes with the only action being our hero chopping wood, terribly.  Anyone who has seen "Lumber vs Jack" or "Jack vs Lanterns" knows that I take my wood chopping super seriously.  My axe throwing is another story.

As suggested viewing, to get you into the right mind set, and to understand what is being spoofed here, I suggest my younger readers check out "Flash Gordon" (1980), and the "Buck Rogers" T.V. show from the same time period.  Other things, like the countless knock-offs of "Star Wars" undoubtedly played a hand in inspiring the filmmakers, but production value-wise, those two should suffice.  Maybe a bit of the original "Battlestar Galactica".  


Now that you have some context, watch the trailer to get a true feel for what "Galaxy Lords" is like.

Do  you see what I mean?  The little robot buddy?  The "rocket cycle" like flying treadmill with a laser cannon in it?  Those red baddies really resemble Ming's troops, right?

None of this is necessarily bad.  It really all depends on whether or not you can accept the tone of the movie.  The beards are fake, the costumes are foam, the F/X are a mix of practical and CG and the acting is usually so far over the top it falls back down to the bottom, but this all part of the fun.

One reviewer on Amazon (where this movie is pretty well liked judging by the star rating) suggested that the movie would play better if it was transferred to VHS first. I think that observation is spot on.  It would give the movie the look of its intended contemporaries. 

If you like some humor with your lasers, give this one a try.  You may be left confused, but you'll at least be entertained.  (You may just want to fast forward past that whole wood chopping scene.  I honestly nearly gave up before watching the rest of the movie.  It's a painful few minutes.)

Lifepod: 90s Sci-Fi Mystery and Suspense

Strictly speaking, 1993's "Lifepod" is not an "independent film", but as a made for TV movie from the 90s, it certainly shares some of the limitations and charms that make indie movies appealing.

For one thing, there is the cast.  Robert Loggia certainly has his movie credits, but in the 90s he was doing guest appearances on TV and he was perfect in this.  CCH Pounder always turns in a great performance and Ron Silver was part of the ensemble cast and directed this movie.  Directing a movie touted as being based on a Hitchcock classic ("Lifeboat") is no easy task.

One of the types of movies I love as a low budget filmmaker, myself, is the isolation movie.  It allows for a small cast, limited locations, and thus a lower budget.  This also makes it a great genre for television.  The trick is to craft a solid story with interesting characters and make everything seem larger than what you're presenting on screen.  Keeping an audience interested in just one location can get very tricky.  "Lifepod" had the added attraction of being set in space and the in the future.  The sci-fi elements instantly appeal to a specific audience (if handled well, which I thought they were), while the characters and mystery can draw in other viewers.

For a movie of this type there was a surprising amount of action.  The opening "ship wreck" was handled very well and helped to set up the characters in their dire situation and lead us into the mystery that would follow.  Was the ship sabotaged? Did the saboteur survive? And if so, was he or she aboard this lifepod?

All in all I really enjoyed this one.  The sets created atmostphere without being so dark and dreary that the images were muddy. The acting was, as  you would expect from this cast, superb and the special F/X were pleasantly dated, using well crafted models rather than CGI spacecraft.  This is significant because of the time in the 90s when this was made.  CGI was coming into its own and was very popular while models were often considered "old fashioned", yet, in many cases, especially with lower budgets, CG simply wasn't up to the cast of being convincing yet and really well used models were the better choice.  I think they were used very well here.

The story develops a bit slowly, but there are, as mentioned, action sequences that break the monotony. The slow pace eventually helps feed into the despair that the characters are feeling about running out of supplies and possibly never finding rescue.  In the background of all of their struggles is the nagging question about whether it all comes down to bad luck or the intervention of someone up to no good.

If you're looking for a movie to watch that requires you to pay attention a bit, but still gives you cyborgs, explosions, sci-fi and even a little gunplay, then "Lifepod" is a good way to spend 90 minutes.