Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here with a handful of pretty fun shorts - all of which were created by AICN readers like you and me. I hope the bulk of you are having an extra special love fest of romance this weekend. If not, now's a great time to grab your gal/guy, throw them gingerly to the couch and... make sweet sweet love to their eyes with the help of this week's explosion of scifi fun. "Muldoon, I've got no lover - what ever shall I do?" Boom, I've got you covered - pre-load all of these shorts, then randomly walk up to that cutie you've got your eyes on and gently whisper into their ear "Let's go back to my parent's place and stare at a computer screen for about an hour."
Works every time. At any rate, I'm insanely excited about this week's selection of films. We've got a handful of some incredibly talented filmmakers who absolutely have worked their butts off to bring us some damn fine stories. While the bulk of this week's picks are indeed science fiction related, there's no shortage of laughs hidden in this week's lineup. I'm tickled pink (in the manliest way possible) that the level of quality that hits my inbox continues to keep me on my toes - I mean we've all been here for roughly three years or so and yet I've not had a single weekend that I felt was a dud. That's only the case because of the filmmakers in the audience, the people who may or may not have gone to film school, but grabbed a camera and figured out the logisitics of taking something out of their imagination and sharing it with the rest of the world. If you've got that burning desire to make something, but aren't sure if it'll be a hit or are under the impression you need famous names to make it good.... stop stopping yourself. Masterpieces rarely arrive in a first draft, so go borrow your rich friend's slick new camera, grab some buddies, and make the best damn movie you can - then send it my way! (Sneaky Muldoon - always on the hunt for awesome content.) Okay, enough ramblings, let's watch some shorts.
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:
HIBERNATION
TRT: 16:42
First up is a slick film from Jon Mikel Caballero, a talented force who commands the camera with surrgical precision. I eagerly await seeing what Jon brings us next. "As a homage to classic science fiction of the sixties and seventies, Hibernation tells the story of Joseph Wood, an astronaut set to go where no man has gone before thanks to a cryogenic process. But Something happens between him and his instructor Claire."
HIBERNATION from Jon Mikel Caballero on Vimeo.
GOOD MORNING
TRT: 4:41
Everyone knows I love me some puppets, especially in situations that are completely out of the norm (murder, robberies, puppet trafficking...), so when I saw what Matt Glass did... I knew I had to share. Though I'm not at all about sharing the plot of the thing.... It's colorful, funny, and a lovely gear shift from our last film. "You know what they do with flowers like you in prison?" (I plan on stealing this line and putting it in every movie I ever make.) Be sure to check out Matt's website and check out what else he's got going on!
REFRIGERATOR
TRT: 28:21
Simon Sorrells brings us our next film, a TWLIGHT ZONE style film that (to me at least) feels deserving of a 28 minute run time. It's not been online long, but I expect it to spread like a wild fire across the movie blog world. Simon takes a dash of GHOSTBUSTERS (alternate dimensions in your fridge) and adjusts the concept to tell something completely unique. So if you're ready to step on in and find out what's on the other side of the fridge's door - do yourself a solid and click play.
BAR TALK
TRT: 8:42
Lowell Northrop has our next film, a seemingly normal story of two guys striking up a conversation while drinking some booze at the bar, just killing time. Not much to it, right? Bam! Perhaps everything is not quite as it seems... "In a dusty Texas bar, a chatty stranger insists on striking up a conversation with the man sitting next to him. The more this out-of-towner talks, the more obvious it is he's not from 'round here. Heck, he's not even from this planet! Based on the short story by legendary author Joe R. Lansdale ("Bubba Ho-Tep", "Cold in July")."
A Bar Talk (short film) from Lowell Northrop on Vimeo.
A LADY & A ROBOT
TRT: 6:56
Toby Morris has our last film of the week with a tale of two star crossed lovers - a woman and a robot. Sure, one's meaty and the other's mechanised, but does that really matter when it's love we're talking about? Hell no. "A young lady falls in love and elopes with her family's butler, who just happens to be a robot from the future..." Be sure to hit up Toby's website for more incredible films.
A Lady & A Robot from Toby Morris on Vimeo.
Okay ladies and gents, I'm out of here. I'll see you fine people next week with another handful of great films. In the mean time, feel free to check out past columns, or head over to my new column: MEET THE CREW. Have a great week and go make something kickass!
SATURDAY SHORTS 2012
SATURDAY SHORTS 2013
SATURDAY SHORTS 2014
The Off Season; Why Does My Girlfriend Text So Much?; Landscape; The Magician (1/3/15)
Atropa; Good Conduct; Ulla; Blackouts; Pizza And Bullets (1/10/15)
Vicki; Strange Thing; Kill The K-Cup; The Grandson; The Dark Walk Backward (1/24/15)
Leonard In Slow Motion; A Good Man Is Hard To Findl The Baker; Certified; Chloe (1/31/15)
Old/New; Alexia; The Beating; Temblor; Royal Blood "Out of the Black" (2/7/15)
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
