Saya, the last true vampire, battles the bloodthirsty demons attacking an American base in Japan during the Vietnam War. Much of the story takes place during the late afternoon and evening, and the artists use shadows, reflections, and light with exceptional skill: the look of the film is more interesting than the underdeveloped story. Saya wields a deadly sword and pursues her foes with chilli…
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vol. 1 (The Criterion Collection)
A milestone of the silent film era and one of the first "art films" to gain international acclaim, this eerie German classic from 1919 remains the most prominent example of German expressionism in the emerging art of the cinema. Stylistically, the look of the film's painted sets--distorted perspectives, sharp angles, twisted architecture--was designed to reflect (or express) the splintered psyc…
Ub Iwerks was one of the greatest animators of the silent and early sound eras: he animated "Steamboat Willie" and other early Disney shorts virtually by himself. But the films he produced at his own studio after breaking with Walt Disney in 1930 lack the vitality of his earlier work. During the '30s, the animators with Disney, the Fleischers, Warner Bros., and MGM developed a new style of …
Courage the Cowardly Dog: Season 1 (Cartoon Network Hall of Fame)
A textbook example of '50s-era science fiction, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers boasts not only a solid script and competent performances, but some genuinely impressive stop-motion effects courtesy of one of the industry's uncontested masters, Ray Harryhausen. Scientist Hugh Marlowe (who faced a more benevolent invader from space five years earlier in The Day the Earth Stood Still) discovers that …