Saucer Cinema – Details, episodes & analysis

Happy Holidays! On this final episode of 2023 I'm joined by Aubrey Curtis and frequent guest John Ferrer to talk about one of our favorite films of the year, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City.

We touch on Anderson’s oft-misunderstood ouvre and continuing influence, navigate the film’s labyrinthine meta-commentary on the creative process, marvel at the ridiculously stacked cast, enjoy alien-themed hoedowns, and much more! 

(Note: this is a “rerun” of a previous episode. For some reason a few podcast platforms won’t display the first couple episodes so I am re-uploading them again for newer listeners.)

Our movie this week is the 1995 made-for-television film Visitors of the Night. Directed by Jorge Montesi, it stars Markie Post and Candace Cameron. Joining me to discuss this shockingly-not-a-Lifetime-movie offering is the ever-delightful Mandee from the podcast Fake Movies.

Put on your tinfoil hats and swing away! Parker Bowman of the long-running podcast Junk Food Dinner joins me to talk about M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 blockbuster Signs starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. 

We discuss the fascinating-if-checkered career trajectories of the movie’s director and controversial star, the power of quiet and minimalism in building suspense, aliens as metaphorical (and possibly literal) demons, downloading pre-release bootlegs in the early days of internet file sharing, and much, much more!

Sex! Drugs! Fashion! Alienation! More drugs! Tiny UFOS! This week's movie is the cult classic Liquid Sky from 1982, starring Anne Carlisle and directed by Slava Tsukerman. Joining me to talk about the film is André Callot, a professor of Film and Digital Media Arts at the University of New Mexico.

This week I am joined by J.W. Friedman of the podcast I Don't Even Own A Television to talk about the Chiodo Brothers' cult classic 1988 sci-fi horror-comedy Killer Klowns From Outer Space. 

We discuss childhood fears, B-Movie ingenuity,  the persistence of clown-related horror, Ancient Clown Astronauts, Juggalo journalists, the Nickelodeon-to-delinquent pipeline, and much, much more! 

Erik Thybony of the podcast Illogical Contraption: Nights After Dark returns to discuss the 1993 alien abduction drama Fire in the Sky, directed by Robert Lieberman.

We compare and contrast the film's harrowing depiction of Travis Walton's purported 1975 UFO abduction with Walton's own account of the incident, catch up with recent controversies, contemplate being healed by Swedish pop gods, and discover President Joe Biden's sinister secret.

Plus: Erik recounts his tour of the alleged Walton abduction site in the mountains of Arizona.

Saucer Cinema ushers in the new year with a look at the 1993 TV miniseries adaption of Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, directed by John Power and starring Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger. 

Mandee from Fake Movies Podcast returns to talk about magic typewriters, lipstick laser guns, deadly dolls, killer soda machines and other (literal) plot devices in this not-so-subtle sci-fi addiction allegory. 

Captain Christmas himself, John Ferrer returns to the pod to discuss a truly uh, "unique" piece of children's entertainment: 1971's The Christmas Martian, directed by Bernard Gosselin. 

To quote a writer known for Christmas cheer:

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

Happy Holidays!

For this episode I am joined by Grimm to chat about the underrated 1996 thriller The Arrival, directed by David Twohy and starring Charlie Sheen.

Among the topics discussed: the timeliness of the film’s commentary on climate change, its relationship to another Twohy-associated project (1995’s Waterworld), just how surprisingly well the visual effects hold up, the strange resemblance of the film’s aliens to a certain deceased politician, and more!

The space vampire mayhem continues with Part Two of our episode on Lifeforce (1985) featuring Jen Albright of Have You Seen This? and Bitter Karella

Masochistic nurses, melting starship captains, cannibal sharks-there's something for everyone here!