I’m a huge fan of genre mashups, so a film like Astral Plane Drifter is right up my alley. A film that combines comedy, Kung Fu, spaghetti westerns, lo-fi Sci-Fi, and the metaphysical?

Sign me up!

Synopsis

Sometime Before Yesterday. Or After Tomorrow. Somewhere Out In The Yonder. There Was This Guy.

Astral Plane Drifter was directed by Scott Sloane and created and written by Mike Caravella. The film stars Mike Caravella, John J. Jordan, Mike Rad, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Andrew Joseph Perez, Irena Murphy, Richard Wayne, Blade Sabovcik, Jenny Leona, Gianni Caravella, Samuel Hanke and Matt Weis.

I really enjoyed Astral Plane Drifter. It’s kind of an easy watch. You just have to go with it’s flow. It has a really laid back and chill vibe. The film follows The Drifter as he tries to save his friend, and in effect, the earth itself, from an energy vampire. Over the course of the film he’ll have to find his path and content with vampires, energy vampires and snake men.

The film is an absolute blast. The Drifter is so laid back and fun to watch. Think The Dude if he had metaphysical powers. The combat scenes are completely not what you would expect at all from a film that takes Kung Fu as an influence, which just makes it all the more hilarious. The dialogue is another strong suit for the film, especially the double entendres, such as when The Drifter tells the energy vampire he can’t put his key in his hole. I died laughing from that line alone.

I really liked the lo-fi aesthetic, especially the look of the villains. They had a very retro look that worked well with the vibe of the film. I like how the hero rarely had to use his abilities to take down the villains, using his go with the flow nature to his advantage. Seeing the hero just shooting the shit and getting wasted with henchman that were sent after him was a joy to watch.

When The Drifter uses his powers, it’s absolutely hilarious. Did I mention the dude can shoot lasers out of his junk? The film wraps up the main story but leaves things wide open for a sequel, which I definitely wouldn’t mind one bit.

Final Thoughts

If you enjoy chill comedies, stoner comedies, Kung films, Spaghetti Westerns and Lo-fi Sci-Fi then Astral Plane Drifter may just be the film for you. It’s laid back but also frequently hilarious.

Arts

We Live In Time
Director: John Crowley
Film4, SunnyMarch and Shoebox Films
In Theaters 11.18

Laughter, tears, the joy of love, the pain of loss and Andrew Garfield. I’ve personally encountered each and every one of these during my time circling the sun, and they are part of the rich tapestry of the human experience. John Crowley’s new film, We Live In Time, weaves them all together with an elegance and poignancy that is truly a joy to experience.

Tobias Durand (Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom!, Spider-Man: No Way Home), a representative for a major cereal company in the U K.,  has just signed his divorce papers when he decides to pop across the street from his hotel room to visit a convenience store and is promptly hit by a car driven by Almut Brühl (Florence Pugh, Midsommar, Little Women).  Almut takes Tobias out to dinner, and the sparks start almost immediately. As their relationship deepens and they move in together, they face ups and downs, including a brief separation over differing feelings toward marriage and kids. Love prevails, however, and the couple has a daughter, Ella (Grace Delaney), who is the center of their world at the time that Almut is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. While there is the possibility of a positive outcome with chemotherapy, Almut—overachieving free spirit that she is—questions whether she wants to risk wasting the time that she has left with grueling and miserable procedures, or simply to live her last months to their fullest with the people that she loves. The difficult decision will test the strength of their bond, but together, Tobias and Almut stay committed to the idea that whatever happens, they will embrace each moment together, however it is spent.

While the premise behind We Live In Time is largely that of a standard romantic weepie, the approach is something else entirely. The screenplay by Nick Payne (The Last Letter From Your Love) is clever and filled with wit, warmth, wonder and richly drawn characters. The story is told out of sequence, and while the non-linear approach is right on the edge of wearing out its welcome, here it allows for a movie that’s made up of moments in time, capturing the reality of a relationship and all its experiences, memories and feelings, without have to artificially craft them into a formulaic and false plot structure. There’s an ethereal quality to the way the various elements connect-seeming to float gracefully from one thought to another rather than jump cutting scene to scene-that is beautifully and profoundly refreshing, acknowledging that life doesn’t follow a rigid structure, and is neither episodic nor separated into three acts. The fact that Crowley (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) is able to jump back and forth so completely through time in such a free style without ever sacrificing focus and narrative clarity is remarkable, and speaks to a skilled director with a vision. 

It would be going too far to say that this movie is all in the performances, yet it’s hard to overstate the impact of the exceptional work that Pugh and Garfield are doing here. The depth of the connection and commitment to bringing the chemistry and emotion couldn’t be stronger, and the movie soars because the audience falls in love with them both so completely. The ensemble surrounding them is very strong, with Douglas Hodge (Gemini Man, Joker) as Reginald, Tobias’ father, and Lee Braitwaite as Jade, a chef who works with Almut, being the most obvious examples. But then there’s Nikhil Parmar (Gran Turismo) and Kerry Godliman (Trigger Point) as Sanjaya and Janes, respectively, two service station workers who figure prominently into the film’s most memorable sequence, as Almut is unable to make it the hospital before giving birth, in what is arguably the most exciting action sequence of 2024. Each minor character becomes a fully realized and believable person, yet it’s impossible to think about any of them for too long without coming back to Almut and Tobias, because the lovable characterizations from two of the most fearless actors of our time are just that good. 

We Live In Time may be indeed just be an exceptionally well-made romantic melodrama that hits all the right notes, but when you consider that the abysmal It Ends With Us represents the most successful mainstream entry in that genre in some time, to say that Pugh, Garfield and Crowley transcend those trappings doesn’t feel like sufficient praise. This glorious, wonderful and life affirming film is a testament to what artists who are passionately committed to bringing a story to life can do, and it ranks among my favorites of the year. –Patrick Gibbs 

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Film Review: The Night Eats The World 

A little holiday cheer is expressed and even more is shown, or at least sampled, in “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.” And almost nothing is explained.

The idea behind Tyler Taormina’s (“Ham on Rye”) warm, aimless and largely laugh-free Christmas Eve wallow in nostalgia is the selectivity of memory, and perhaps how drab the “colorful” memories our director and co-writer decides to show us turn out to be.

Unexplained, disorganized and cluttered with characters we strain to identify in banal situations that go nowhere, this isn’t one that’s going to replace “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Story” or even “The Family Stone” or “Feast of the Seven Fishes” on anybody’s holiday movie list.

What we figure out — eventually — is that this extended family is gathering on snowy Long Island for what could be the “last Christmas” with Grandma Antonia (Mary Reistetter). Eventually, a “Carmine” is mentioned and a couple of other names that suggest this is an Italian American clan.

We see a flip phone, a ’90s Buick wagon and a ’92 Jeep Cherokee and piece together that this an “Eve” in the early 2000s.

A couple of siblings bicker with a couple others over “Sunrise Nursing Home” or “live in aid” options for their mother, over who is not doing enough to help this situation and who is.

The little kids are kind of passed-over — merely underfoot — as the adults cook, smoke cigars, kvetch and reminisce, and the teens and tweens experience traditions such as “the walk,” “the bird” (cooked) and “the parade” — decorated fire engines that pass in a blur. Some kids borrow a family Cherokee for a run out to a cemetary, a little drinking and carrying-on shared in dark close ups and hook ups.

“Car equals FREEDOM!”

We assume they’re not kissing cousins, but hey, when you don’t explain Jack, there is is some doubt.

A couple of local cops (Gregg Turkington and Michael Cera) gawk at some of this while on duty and get into one awkward conversation meant to be comical.

And the soundtrack to it all is early ’60s doo-wop and pop, perhaps for its Italian-American connotations.

I found the entire experience a dissonant disconnect as there is barely anyone to identify, much less identify with, there’s little novelty to anything presented here and nothing to root for because basically a lot of nothing or nothing much is all that happens.

Save yourself the drive. Rent “Feast of the Seven Fishes” and get a load of THOSE Italians if you want to see a memorable period piece about a memorable Christmas.

Rating: PG-13, smoking, teen drinking, sexual situations, profanity,

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Shenkman, Matilda Fleming, Sawyer Spielberg, Leo Chan, Gregg Turkington and Michael Cera.

Credits: Directed by Tyler Taormina, scripted by Eric Berger and Tyler Taormina. An IFC release.

Running time: 1:47