You Can Help Finance an Independent SciFi Film - And You Should

Benjamin Capps is an actor and independent film producer who is looking for help in financing his next project.  He needs to raise about $10,000 by the end of April.  The film is called "Civet" and it's a "sci-fi horror movie", according to Capps.  He has already produced a 9-minute film called "It Grows Dark" (see below) that has earned him some attention, so it's not like I'm suggesting you give a complete unknown producer a shot.

Happy Birthday to Xenite.org

It has been just a little over 20 years since I launched the Xenite.Org Network. I'd like to say "how time flies when you're having fun" but, damn, it feels like it's been twenty years since it all began. Technically, it has been longer. I can trace my "Web"-like experience back to the first days I uploaded files for sharing on CompuServe. And, in fact, it was CompuServe where I published my first Website in 1996. But Xenite.Org is where things really started happening and I hope people will appreciate the long retrospective article I wrote titled "20 Years of Science Fiction and Fantasy: The Many Faces of Xenite.Org". While it runs to 6,000 words, the 10th Anniversary special feature included many articles and took about half a day to get through. It was worth it.

Gaming and Fantasy Movies on the Xenite.Org Network

I love going to the movies when the movies are good to go to.  Of course, until you see the movie you have no idea of whether you'll enjoy it.  This weekend the critics seem to have come out in force against "Independence Day: Resurgence" and I have to ask what those people have been smoking (to borrow a line from "Avatar").  Having now seen this movie I can say unequivocably that I love it.  What is everyone's beef with it?  Does Will Smith really have to be in the flick?   Absolutely not.  Life goes on without your favorite actors and heroes in the real world.  It can do the same thing in fictional worlds.  And I shared a lot of my good positive vibes about "Independence Day: Resurgence" at A1 Movie Reviews.  I encourage you to check it out.

Captain America and Elrond Too

You can never go wrong with a superhero movie, except when you go wrong with a superhero movie.  Until Jon Favreau convinced me a man could fly in an iron suit I had little hope that anyone in the film-making industry would take the superhero genre seriously.  I enjoyed the first "Fantastic Four" movie but not everyone else did.  "Iron Man" was the first universally hailed film from superheroland.

This year's highly disappointing "Batman vs. Superman" movie left me wondering if we had not seen the best that Hollywood could produce in the superhero genre.  But "Captain America: Civil War" has restored my faith in the Marvel Studios, Disney, and superhero movie makers.  The DC universe is simply cursed with really bad choices for directors and screen writers (much like Star Wars cannot shake Lawrence Kasdan from its shoe).

Star Wars: The Adjusted Numbers

Yes, yes, yes. We can all agree that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has broken all box office records and stands firmly atop the franchise in terms of first-run (raw) box office dollars. Yay for Force Awakens!

But let's get serious here.  People who trash "The Phantom Menace" continue to live in some sort of weird fantasy dream state because they not only say "Phantom Menace" was bad, they claim "The Empire Strikes Back" was good.  Well, if it was so good, why didn't anyone want to watch it at the theater?