Hoch’s cinematography, though, it’s just plain fantastic.ĭo you know anyone who’s seen it who doesn’t love “ Galaxy Quest”? Of course not, that shit is funny. Welcome to the gonzo club, Robinson! Nothing gonzo about Winston C. He also tries to teach a monkey, his only companion, to speak English. Wait till they see how Paul Mantee’s ‘Crusoe’ walks about with his helmet open half the time, bathes in the water like he’s in a spa, and eats those nasty ass sausages that grow underwater. Thankfully it’s been unearthed, and while it may feel a little more serious than some of the others on this list, this is still a good home for “ Robinson Crusoe On Mars.” A retelling of the famous Daniel Defoe story from “ War Of The Worlds” director Byron Haskin, instead of getting shipwrecked on an island, this guy gets spaceshipwrecked on Mars, which probably amuses a lot of scientists out there.
Who knows how deeply buried this movie would be if it hadn’t been picked up by Criterion and restored for a gorgeous Blu-ray edition. And whatever it lacks in cinematic grandeur it makes up for with clever storytelling flourishes, shocking deaths and a most unusual villain in Chiwetel Ejiofor.
When Joss Whedonencouraged James Gunn to make his “ Guardians of the Galaxy” script “ more James Gunn,” it wasn’t just as the director of the immensely successful “ Avengers” that he spoke, but as a writer/director with a storied background in gonzo, space cowboy storytelling, first with TV series “ Firefly,” then with its fan-demanded film “ Serenity.” Despite being an early cautionary tale in the “can TV fan clamor translate to box office $$$” argument, barely making back its production budget (see also: “ Veronica Mars”), “Serenity,” like the series that preceded it, is a blast, packed with lovable rogues trading Whedonesque quips.
Perhaps one of these might scratch a post-‘Guardians’ itch? Take a look at our list below, and let us know your favorites in the comments section. And so, to mark the film’s success, we’ve hopped in our spaceships and looked back at a selection of oddball, gonzo takes on space and science-fiction, from classic B-movies to more recent freak-outs.
Now that many of you have caught up with James Gunn‘s film, you know that it’s a detailed and lived-in world, full of colorful characters and strange creatures. Abrams‘ “ Star Trek,” this is a space that harkens back to messier visions: the Cantina Bar of the original “Star Wars,” and various other oddball sci-fi movies of times gone by. These aren’t the sterile galaxies of the “ Star Wars” prequels, or the Apple Store future of J.J. Marvel‘s first attempt at the space opera, it keeps, as we discussed in our review, a little too close to the studio’s playbook at times, but is positively refreshing in the way that it looks and feels big, bold and different. “ Guardians Of The Galaxy” has been in theaters for a whole week now, and finding enormous success everywhere it goes.