Hello ladies and gentlemen, Muldoon here with this week's selection of interesting films I think you fine folks might want to check out. Each week I put together a mixed up - anything goes - style list of short films that were created and submitted by fellow AICN readers. I'm consistantly blown away by the amount of quality shorts that land in my inbox. This week is just that, a handful of quality films presented in a rather bizarre line up, thanks to your bud Muldoon. So if you're in the mood to switch gears after each short, well you're in luck. So if you're in the mood for some incredible future science fiction, a cool music video, and a couple of hard hitters - good - let's get this show on the road!
Go grab yourself some popcorn, lock your kids in a closet, kill the lights, relax and check out this little weekly film fest we've got ourselves here:
STATE OF THE UNION
TRT: 4:55
BAM! Right out the gate, let's travel to the (near) future to see the President of The United States give a frantic last address, one warning that we really aren't alone in the universe and that we're in for some tough times ahead. Hot damn are there incredible VFX composites in this piece. It's got production value that's hard to ignore, which I guess shouldn't come as a shocker given the director, Bruce Branit is also the man behind 405 and WORLD BUILDER.
State of the Union - Chapter 1 from BranitVFX on Vimeo.
BOB REUTER'S ALLEY GHOST "BEHIND ENEMY LINES"
TRT: 3:55
Up next is a music video from Wolfgang Lehmkuhl and while I'm not necessarily 100% in love with the music, I like the feel of the video. It brings up a sense of nostalgia that I just can't shake. Hopefully you ladies and gents get a kick out of it!
WOODS BASEBALL
TRT: 18:19
Speaking of nostalgia, our next film feels straight out of a mid-nineties VHS produced TV segment. From the gang at Famous Oldie, we get: "The great American past time, meets the great American outdoors." WOODS BASEBALL is the latest comedy short film from director Ben Kujawski, take a trip back to the year 1997 and into the backs woods where a dysfunctional baseball league plays baseball...in the woods."
Woods Baseball from Famous Oldie on Vimeo.
RICH/FIT/SUCCESSFUL
TRT: 8:56
Let's go from a comedy to a film about "the American mass shooting epidemic." I know... slightly terrible timing given the recent UCSB tragedy, however the filmmakers "have decided to release the film during this raw and emotional time to further the discussion and examination of this horrible problem." (Trust me. If I thought this was a blatant exploitation of a tragedy - it wouldn't be here. This film is an interesting perspective that ought to give quite a few folks something to chew on.) Dear lord is this film creepy/uncomfortable to watch, an intention i think filmmakers Gary Lauten and Sean Rourke Meehan intended.
RICH/FIT/SUCCESSFUL from Gary Lauten on Vimeo.
AS YOU WERE
TRT: 22:10
Boy are you in for a treat with this next one. Trevin Matcek has created a film film within the whole of FUTURESTATES, a rather cool collection of science fiction shorts. "It's got giant mechs, killer drones, cyborg love and a little girl addicted to Virtual Reality - jam packed into a 20 min short!" Damn skippy it does. "AS YOU WERE is about a soldier who, after losing an arm and leg in a futuristic drone battle, is fitted with advanced robotic prosthetics. Returning home for the first time in years, he struggles to reconnect with his family and a society suspicious of robotics."
ZOMBIE ZEALOT
TRT: 3:14
After a rather heavy dose of seriousness, Mike Scott's got just the movie for us: an animated zombie comedy that will have you in stitches (and quite possibly craving brains as well). "Would Jesus frown upon eating brains? One Zombie thinks so." If you like what you see, be sure to follow Scott's twitter: @MikeyTScott.
Okay folks, that's it for this week. I hope you've laughed, you've cried, you've vomitted everywhere... Okay, really I just hope you found a short that you really liked and wouldn't have seen otherwise! (That's all I really can ask for, right?) I dug them all - all for very different reasons, but dug them all nonetheless. I'll see you cool kids here next weekend with another assortment of interesting films!
SATURDAY SHORTS 2012
SATURDAY SHORTS 2013
The Misinventions of Milo Weatherby; Lifted; The Rinsing; Ashes; M is For Maltese (1/25/14)
Rivotanana; End Of Dates; First Date; The Last Girl (2/1/14)
Cockatoo; Hematiet; SLR; Sheridan; A Horny Ghost Named Buster (2/8/14)
Poppetje; In Vain; The World Is Burning; The Central Park Snowman Project; Mission (2/22/14)
La Boca De Leon; Bedbug; Wax; Skin; Something (3/1/14)
Luna; Logan Must Make Star Wars; Rocco; No Strings Attached; Blessing In Disguise (3/8/14)
Plastic Love; Audrey Moon River; The Afrobats; The Flying Lesson; Strike (3/15/14)
Timeholes; Child Eater; Walter Don't Dance; Low Hanging Fruit; Love Hitch (3/29/14)
House of Thrones; The Hunt; Tumbleweed!; Tolerated; The Colour of Her Eyes (4/5/14)
#PostModem; No Help; The Hobbit Games; College Romance; Lost Voice (4/12/14)
Book 1; Compliments; Twiller Parkour #2; They Say; Bikini Girls Vs. Dinosaurs Trailer (4/19/14)
Chomp!; NSFL; In The Black; Everyone's A Comedian; Zenith (4/26/14)
Caterwaul; First Sight; Man Vs. Woman; Say Cheese; The Train (5/17/14)
Booby Traps; Hard Love; That Guitar Man; Ask An Astronomy Brain Parasite; Dada (5/24/14)
If you have a short and think it belongs here or are on the fence about whether to send it in, please do send it in - I'd love to see what you've put together. I've already seen hundreds of fresh new filmmakers' shorts and like any good addict, I need more!
Shoot me an email at "Mike@aintitcool.com"
In the subject line include:
“SHORTS” + “Your film’s name” + “The film’s genre”
Then, in the body of the email, please include a synopsis of the film and any contact information you might think I need or would want published. The more info you send my way, the more info there is to put with your short.
Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times.
Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (JUST DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you like 'em?
BY THE WAY: If you've had a short featured here, that means that I personally am a fan of your work, so feel free to shoot me any kind of news on new projects/films/whatever. I can't say I'll be able to help or in what capacity, but I'm interested in your work and am always down to see more! (Keep making cool stuff, everyone!)
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
