rmd | A whole lot of movies (and this is just the features not the shorts)

It was the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival last week+, which wrapped up with a 24 hour SF Movie Marathon this past weekend! I watched a lot of movies.
In order:
Nigerian Frequency - Starts out looking like a parody of 'freemium' internet things ("Friendl! Your internet friend!") and turns into an examination of an AI.
Dust of War - more a western than SF. There was one speaking-role female character who wasn't either a prostitute or a victim of sexual violence, and that was a little girl being told how many kids she was going to have when she grew up. Sigh. Had a very "wait, WHAT??" ending.
LFO - Swedish film about a guy who comes up with mind control and it gets dark and then darker.
Animosity - This was the director's thesis film. I liked it. A married couple buys a house out in the woods, and strange things start happening. Part of it had a real "Rosemary's Baby" feel to it, with the isolation and lack of understanding. I had a somewhat frustrating discussion afterwards with some other folks in the audience, when I found myself saying things like "How many limbs do you have to cut off without anaesthetic before it *becomes* a dick move?"
Inverse - Alternate universe stuff, with people moving into this one from another. Some really good bits and some frustrating bits.
SOS (Save Our Skins) - Two Brits are in town for NYC Comicon-type event except the zombie apocalypse happens while they're there. Hijinx ensue as they try to find other survivors. (The film has not one but two! guys who look like they want to be Nick Frost when they grow up)
Bunker 6 - I *really* liked this. Alternate history where the Cuban Missile Crisis ended badly, and our story picks up 10 years later as people start being murdered and the bunker's systems start breaking down. It's got a Canadian distribution deal lined up but nothing the states yet.
Dragon Day - I keep seeing things online describing it as a new "Red Dawn" or "Red Dawn for intellectuals", but it was really the *anti* "Red Dawn". I found it frustrating on several levels.
After Exodus - I think this was another student feature film. No dialogue, all filmed out on the North Carolina Barrier Islands. Post-apocalypse survival.
The Tragedy of Macbeth - The Scottish play, ANIMATED WITH ROBOTS! By the Robot Shakespeare Company! Apparently it also includes subtitles in modern English, and is aimed at a younger audience. I found myself delighted by this. I'm a sucker for the Scottish play, though.
Echo Drive - An android security guard and a family in a gated house in the hills around LA. What could go wrong?
Point B - an attempt at a 1980's sf comedy sort of film. I found parts of it sort of unrelentingly glib. Also a complete and total sausage-fest. I did like that they left their romance subplot totally unresolved.
Los Ultimos Dias - a Catalan film about what happens when a worldwide virus spreads that gives people agoraphobia so severe that they die (from heart attack or stroke or something) when they go outside. Digging into tunnels, people banding together in the office buildings they're stuck in, etc. The film makers think that the SF twist is the agoraphobia virus. I think the SF twist is that with the cell network down, GPS still works when you're deep underground in a tunnel.
Perfect 46 - A guy comes up with a way to match people with their idea genetic mate. Things go awry. I think this lagged a bit in a few places but could've been a great shorter movie.
Senn - very pretty to look at. About communication with other life forms.
Search for Simon - David's younger brother Simon disappeared years ago, and his dad told him that Simon was abducted by aliens. David's been looking ever since, and his obsession has made it difficult to make (and keep) friends.

Also playing at the Fest but I didn't see it until the marathon over the weekend, Coherence, which was *great*. I did a 6 word summary of it after watching as "Edward Albee in the Twilight Zone". Stars Nicholas Brendan, of Buffy (and Criminal Minds) fame. He did a Q&A after the Thon showing. Apparently much of the film was done improv and was shot chronologically, so many of the reactions to unexpected events (thumps at the door, for instance) are real. The actors all got individual notes each day, which included one of the best lines of the movie.

Other movies at the Marathon: First Men in the Moon, Westworld, The Power, Europa Report (Solid! I hadn't seen this, and it was quite good.), Silent Running (I watched "Black Sunday" recently and between that and this, I have to say that Nic Cage cannot hold a candle to classic Bruce Dern crazy-eyes), The Truman Show, Electric Dreams (Listening to the soundtrack, 30 years fell away and I had total 80's flashback), The Visitor, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and Grabbers. Grabbers is *great* - like an Irish "Tremors". We left after Grabbers and missed "Children of Men" and "Flash Gordon".