COLOSSAL: Another fine and original sci-fi film from Spanish master Nacho Vigalondo

What happens and why in the frolicsome, funny, and surprisingly thoughtful new sci-fi/monster movie, COLOSSAL, is so oddly charming and original that to give it away seems very unfair to any viewer who enjoys the necessary surprise that should go along with any movie experience. Too many reviewers have already ruined that surprise, but if you're still unaware of it, TrustMovies will do his best not to spoil it for you. The movie begins with the appearance of a monster in, hmmm... Korea. And then it jumps ahead to the USA some 25 years or so later.

The filmmaker here is one of my favorites, Nacho Vigalondo (shown at left), who has now given us three fine sci-fi films (Time Crimes, Extraterrestrial, and this one), as well as the excellent, modern-day, surveillance thriller, Open Windows. If his latest is not quite up to the wonders of Extraterrestrial, which is among, if not the best sci-fi film I've yet seen, it is, by virtue of being a Vigalondo movie, a "must" to view. It is also his "starriest," boasting a cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, with Tim Blake Nelson and Austin Stowell in smart supporting roles.

Hathaway (at right) plays a very problemed-from-alcohol young woman, whose boyfriend (Mr. Stevens, below) kicks her out of their NYC apartment, and so she returns home to her parents' empty house in the sticks, where she takes up with an old school chum (played by Sudeikis). The movie takes place in both Seoul, Korea, and and the USA, and this very arbitrary choice of locales is one of the reasons why the film demands such a large suspension of disbelief.

Extraterrestrial posited the coming of aliens in space ships that simply hovered over our world without engaging with it. This was actually easier to buy than Colossal's plot gimmick, for the humans in that earlier film grew and changed due to their own responses to this not-quite alien invasion. Here, the monsters are certainly connected to the humans, but that connection demands a leap of faith in a manner that the earlier film did not.  That said, if you're willing to make the leap, Colossal provides some wonderful, original fun, along with terrific performances from the entire cast.

Ms Hathaway has never been better (and that includes her Oscar-winning performance), and Mr. Sudeikis (above) is a revelation. A very easy-to-enjoy actor, he has never been either this surprising nor this good. Nelson and Stowell (below. with Sudeikis) offer lovely turns, as well.

Again, I am not telling more about the plot because it would spoil the surprise. I'll just say that things here revolve around anger and how we use it.

If you enjoy sci-fi and/or movies with more than their normal share of originality, this one is definitely for you.

Colossal -- a charmingly ironic title -- running 110 minutes opens here in South Florida today, Friday, April 21, at the Brickell City Centre Cinema, the AMC Sunset Place and the AMC Aventura and here in Boca Raton at the Regal Shadowood.

It's playing elsewhere across the country, too, so click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Nacho Vigalondo's EXTRATERRESTRIAL -- one of the year's best --opens in theaters

First seen in New York last December at the FSLC's Spanish Cinema Now, this wonderfully clever and sophisticated "aliens arrive" movie is finally making its theatrical debut in a limited run across the country. Below is what TM said about the film when it first appeared. He's seen it again since then and can confirm that it's ever better than he originally imagined.

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Think there's not much new in the "space invaders" genre? Think again. Nacho Vigalondo, the young Spanish filmmaker who a few years back brought us the mini-budget but maxi-creative sci-fi thriller TimeCrimes, is back this year with a wonderfully goofy, funny and inventive movie that takes a very real and imposing invasion from space and turns it into a kind of McGuffin, a red herring that allows this clever and ironic writer/director to explore once again, Spanish style, those eternal verities of sex, love, honor and commitment while making us gasp and laugh, wonder and chuckle. One neat feat of moviemaking is EXTRATERRESTRIAL!

Señor Vigalondo, shown at left, is a man who makes the most of his resources. And while the budget here is a lot bigger than it was for TimeCrimes, it's still small potatoes by most movie-making standards. And yet the filmmaker creates a truly marvelous world in which invaders land (or at least hover), the populace is evacuated (except, of course, for the few characters who plays into the scenario) and... action ensures. Yet that action becomes more and more about everyday occurrences -- jealousy, envy, what's-for-dinner -- rather than the usual "escape-the-aliens" routine. It takes, I would suggest, immense balls to even try something like this -- let alone bring it off as well as does Vigalondo.

How the filmmaker interests us in this, rather than in what we expect to be interested in, is what makes the movie such a little treasure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first such topsy-turvy film in the invaders-from-outer-space genre, and as such, as well entertaining the hell out of audiences receptive to something different, is going to be remembered in times to come. For Vigalondo's use of tennis balls alone, the movie is memorable.

Vigalondo has cast his little "game" with a more-than-game cast, and everyone delivers the goods. In the lead role of our just-a-guy hero, Julián Villagrán (two photos up and below) is terrific -- going through change after change, trying to adapt to the invasion of his planet and then of his heart, as he grows closer to the young lady whom he has recently screwed but knows almost nothing about. Played by Michelle Jenner (above) -- quite the little performer who also starred in this year's SCN movie Don't Be Afraid -- this crackerjack actress is practically unrecognizable visually and emotionally from one role to the other.

The film's remaining three characters (small cast!) are handled by Miguel Noguera (as a TV newscaster with a lot of problems), Raúl Cimas (above, with firearm) as Jenner's boyfriend, and especially Carlos Areces (so amazing in last year's SCN hit The Last Circus) as Jenner's next-door-neighbor, the ironically named Ángel. Among his many skills is Vigalondo's ability to subtly foreshadow and then build on it. I won't say anymore -- except that the film's final conversation is delightful: a kind of message about how to live, to perform and maybe even to make movies. And the last shot is simply glorious: a beautiful, low-key, deadpan hoot-and-a-half.

Extraterrestrial, from Focus Features' FocusWorld, opens today, Friday, June 15, at Brooklyn's reRun GastropubTheater, and will screen at a number of other cities and theaters this week and in the weeks to come. Click here to see the entire roster. Simultaneously with its theatrical debut, the film will appear on DVD, on iTunes and via VOD. So there's really no excuse to miss this, one of the smartest, most enjoyable movies of the year.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL: Nacho Vigalondo's loony, loving sci-fi surprise opens SCN

Think there's not much new in the "space invaders" genre? Think again. Nacho Vigalondo, the young Spanish filmmaker who a few years back brought us the mini-budget but maxi-creative sci-fi thriller TimeCrimes, is back this year with Spanish Cinema Now's opening night selection. This is a wonderfully goofy, funny and inventive movie that takes a very real and imposing invasion from space and turns it into a kind of McGuffin, a red herring that allows this clever and ironic writer/director to explore once again, Spanish style, those eternal verities of sex, love, honor and commitment while making us gasp and laugh, wonder and chuckle. One neat feat of moviemaking is EXTRATERRESTRIAL!

Señor Vigalondo, shown at left, is a man who makes the most of his resources. And while the budget here is a lot bigger than it was for TimeCrimes, it's still small potatoes by most movie-making standards. And yet the filmmaker creates a truly marvelous world in which invaders land (or at least hover), the populace is evacuated (except, of course, for the few characters who plays into the scenario) and... action ensures. Yet that action becomes more and more about everyday occurrences -- jealousy, envy, what's-for-dinner -- rather than the usual "escape-the-aliens" routine. It takes, I would suggest, immense balls to even try something like this -- let alone bring it off as well as does Vigalondo.

How the filmmaker interests us in this, rather than in what we expect to be interested in, is what makes the movie such a little treasure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first such topsy-turvy film in the invaders-from-outer-space genre, and as such, as well entertaining the hell out of audiences receptive to something different, is going to be remembered in times to come. For Vigalondo's use of tennis balls alone, the movie is memorable.

Vigalondo has cast his little "game" with a more-than-game cast, and everyone delivers the goods. In the lead role of our just-a-guy hero, Julián Villagrán (two photos up and below) is terrific -- going through change after change, trying to adapt to the invasion of his planet and then of his heart, as he grows closer to the young lady whom he has recently screwed but knows almost nothing about. Played by Michelle Jenner (above) -- quite the little performer who also stars in this year's SCN movie Don't Be Afraid -- this crackerjack actress is practically unrecognizable visually and emotionally from one role to the other.

The film's remaining three characters (small cast!) are handled by Miguel Noguera (as a TV newscaster with a lot of problems), Raúl Cimas (above, with firearm) as Jenner's boyfriend, and especially Carlos Areces (so amazing in last year's SCN hit The Last Circus) as Jenner's next-door-neighbor, the ironically named Ángel. Among his many skills is Vigalondo's ability to subtly foreshadow and then build on it. I won't say anymore -- except that the film's final conversation is delightful: a kind of message about how to live, to perform and maybe even to make movies. And the last shot is simply glorious: a beautiful, low-key, deadpan hoot-and-a-half.

Extraterrestrial will screen twice only during SCN: Friday, Dec. 9 @ 6:15 pm and again Thursday, Dec, 15 @ 9:00 pm. But (he says, with hope in his heart), surely some smart/art distributor will take a chance on this one and give us a larger, longer chance to catch it.