Bill the Galactic Hero (2014) Reviews

• Bill, the Galactic Hero and the Planet of the Blistering Shoestring Budget

  robert-5522015-01-22

  This movie is a student film shot in B&W and book-ended with color animated sequences. Given what happens in those sequences, I suspect the decision to animate them was due to budgetary constraints. We see the progression of a naive young man duped into joining a military force and watch his personality progress alongside his misadventures in outer space and on other planets. The decision to turn a male character into a female one was interesting to me, and I figured why not, since the character's sex wasn't integral to the plot. (Not Bill, someone else.) Due to its budgetary constraints, I am reluctant to hold the movie to the same standards of movies put out by major studios, making my rating decision a little difficult to decide on. I did not care for the stylistic decisions of the animated parts. Having said that, I feel like this might've been more interesting -- whether or not it were possible -- to do a crowdsourced version of this in the style of Star Wars Uncut.

• 25 bucks, down the hole.

  c18956392014-12-20

  As a huge fan of the novels, I eagerly shelled out $25 on KickStarter to get a download of this movie. Alex Cox, a real director (Repo Man, etc.)... what could go wrong? Well... everything. I won't spoil it for you, in case you really want to watch, but here was my reaction while watching Bill: Sweet! Here we go! Umm... oh. OK. Huh? WTF?? *start skipping to the end* Well *&@)* me... To somewhat quote Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder, a nut-less monkey could have done better than this. From retarded, childish animation, to even worse black and white home video, to 60's Flash Gordon-type stuff (except not as good), back to retarded animation, this whole pile of dung wasn't even worth the 10 minute download time. It's not even funny or interesting as satire, if that's what Cox was going for. I can't even tell. This cost over $100,000 to make? Again, I say WTF? At least I'm only out $25.

• galactic allegory

  merrittcrocker2015-02-07

  I refrain from a perfect 10/10 rating because as Alex says "the perfect is the enemy of the good" One day I walked into Alex Cox's intermediate filmmaking class and he informed me and my colleagues that we would be helping him shoot a kickstarter video. 2 years later, I sat in his living room and stuffed envelopes with DVD's, scripts, fake ipads and other intergalactic recruiting materials to be sent to the project backers as reward for their donation. Yes, the film bears his name and writing credential, but the film really belongs to us... the students. The book 'BiL the Galactic Hero' screams millions of dollars when thought of in a cinematic sense. Slipways, fusebays, helivators, refreshment robots, different planets, spaceships, alien species.... you get the point. What's interesting is that for some reason, this factuality didn't mar Alex's enthusiasm or confidence in any way. Ever. At every turn and hurdle Alex was there asking us our thoughts and writing us checks to explore our ideas. Without a doubt, this movie is riddled with frustrating errors and puzzling inefficiencies, but between the rough edges, if one cares to look, is an incredible act of generosity and a remarkable teaching tool. I want to sincerely thank everyone who donated to this project. You bolstered the education of nearly 70 film, theatre, dance and art students who would have NEVER had this opportunity otherwise. You supported something that stands for cooperation and perseverance, but also urges independence. All of us twenty somethings who worked on this project could have easily enlisted in the military had we so desired, but instead we present to you this modest picture. _m