Do you like? It’s yet another piece of the SquidFlicks 2.0 experience!

Folks, this was pulled from the site a year ago because the film was in several competitions. I have re-released it for viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Big news, everyone! I recently contacted my cousin, Ellen Jones, who has been working as the producer of a new Independent Film called The Chemical King. SquidFlicks has the honor of being the first non-production entity to view the movie, so this will be a world-wide exclusive that you cannot afford to miss!

The Chemical King is a movie about a boy who runs away from home and meets a beautiful girl. Unfortunately, he is about the biggest nerd in the world and has less than a zero percent chance of having any interaction with her.

How does he solve his problem? Well, he takes his genius and makes the world’s first WORKING love potion, all from household materials. However, as always, his feelings for her are starting to fade, and the potion shows no signs of wearing off…

The movie will be reviewed in a group format, much like the very popular Nightmare on Elm Street SquidFlicks Movie Marathon. Ellen sent me the DVD a couple of days ago, and I have yet to watch it. I will wait until the entire group watches so that we are all honest!

More updates on this soon!

See the website for The Chemical King – thechemicalking.com

Trailer for the film: thechemicalking.com/Trailer (quicktime needed)

Intro:

Imagine a planet filled with garbage and devoid of life -- it is unfortunately the reality of the planet Earth in Wall-E. Left by the humans decades prior due to the their own destruction of the planet, it was up to Buy in Large’s robot garbage collectors to clean up the mess. The human race floats through space on an intergalatic space cruse while the planet repairs itself. Sounds like a good idea right? Unfortunately, most of the bots, with the exception of Wall-E, are now defunct and the world remains a gigantic wasteland.

Dialogue:

There was not much dialogue at all in this movie. After all these are robots we are talking about here. I mean, you don’t know one word R2-D2 has uttered but everyone loves him right? It’s the same principal here. For what little human presence there was in the movie, it was pretty well scripted.

Animation:

The animation in the film was fantastic, which we are used to from Pixar. Once again they manage to create a visually stunning masterpiece that combines just enough reality with cartoon.

Plot:

The plot, while apocalyptic and often used in the science fiction world, was pretty unique in the display of the evils of corporate power and human pollution gone unchecked in a scarily near world. Robots are commissioned by the mighty company to clean up the mess, and the entire human population is loaded, like animals on Noah’s Ark, onto a large cruise to enjoy while the ‘bots clean up the big mess at home.

It was complex but presented in an easy to understand format to let the younger viewers get into the film too.

Music:

Wall-E was another Pixar film with an excellent score. It features work from scorer Thomas Newman, who also worked on the score of Finding Nemo, another excellent Pixar film.

Overview:

This is a great movie worth a watch with the family or even by yourself. It has a strong and valuable lesson, a warning almost, that everyone should take heed -- treat the environment right; be responsible for your own actions. The human race is not going to be able to compute or build our way out of every single serious situation we create in the first place. It’s time to start being responsible from the start and doing things right.

5/5 Reels
Platinum Squid Rating
Excellent film! A must-see!

Trailer:

Purchase:
Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition)

Check out what I had to say about SquidFlicks’ second birthday and Halloween night on Third Street, as well as some events to come in the next month!

Well, since Turkey Day is coming up here in the US of A, Patrick and I thought it was only fitting to do a Thanksgiving Special since the Halloween special was cancelled at the last second. (sorry about that…)

The Thanksgiving special will be the video review of the Independent Film The Chemical King, which was produced by my cousin, Ellen Jones.

As a matter of fact, the review was filmed last night, and I think that it is the best video SquidFlicks has made yet. I hope to have the final cut up on the Internet by mid-week. There will be a new post to highlight the video!

See you around!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/squidflicks-live

I have some bad news to report guys. Due to the horrible weather this past week, we were unable to commence filming on the Squidflicks Digital Short – Halloween: Season of the Bitch. I’m very sad, because this was a promising short and one I believe would have been one of our funniest. The good news is that we were able to shoot some on the next Squidflicks Creature Feature: The Muffin Man!!! AND tomorrow’s Halloween!! It also marks the two year anniversary for Squidflicks. Make sure you check the site tomorrow to see what surprises we have in store.

“One more day till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, One more day till Halloween, Sil-ver Shamrock!!!”

What do you think? The final version has the extra marker wiped off, BTW.

I took it upon myself to spruce up the site a little. I updated lots of code and added some new plugins to give everyone a taste of some upcoming features in SquidFlicks 2.0, which is still not fully ready for public release. The biggest change is the comment system, which is now more streamlined and offers an easier way to give input on our posts!

Be prepared for an announcement of our SquidFlicks Birthday/Halloween bash and the release of Halloween: Season of the Bitch!

Also due this week – some reviews of recent movies! Ha!

Intro:

Sometimes, when life’s got you down, it’s good to have a local bar to drown your sorrows in. In the case of Mick, it’s the recent loss of a girl that has him in the local watering hole. He vows to not move from his barstool for three months, but then he meets an artsy college student who steals his heart. Will it be a love found, or will Mick return to his spot in the bar? You’ll have to watch to find out!

Dialogue:

The dialogue in the film was effective, and at times there was silence that helped set the seriousness of a scene. Overall there were very few clichés or other annoying staples of the Independent Film genre (thankfully there was a lack of excessive expletives!) Barstool Cowboy does dialogue right!

Acting:

The casting for this movie was fantastic. Mick, who was played by Tim Woodward, is a very convincing cowboy, even though none of his skills are shown the the movie. (I hope that’s not a spoiler, ha!) Every character was perfect, from the angry guy at the bar to the wine salesman and last but not least, Arcy, who was played by Rachel Lien.

Plot:

The plot of Barstool Cowboy is simple yet unique. It is the traditional love story wrapped up in unusual characters and events. The main character, Mick, is an unemployed cowboy who vows to never find love again, but he does. The events that occur later are unpredictable and entertaining all the same.

All in all it presented traditional cinematic themes with a new presentation, which is a bonus in the originality aspect.

Music:

The music in the film was an interesting yet effective mix of acoustic guitar and vocals that fit the movie very well. This is because the music was made solely for the film, and it added to the entire viewing experience!

Overall:

Barstool Cowboy is a great film that combines an unusual story with interesting characters and some humor to create original entertainment, This is a great film that is worth the time to watch – a clever twist in the usual love story! Two thumbs up for writer, director, and producer Mark Thimijan!

4/5 Reels
Gold Squid Rating
Fantastic and different independent film!

Trailer:

Purchase & More information:

Amazon DVD – Barstool Cowboy

Website – http://barstoolcowboymovie.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barstool-Cowboy/99982064884