Astron-6

Released by: Troma Entertainment
Released on: 12/13/2011
Director: Conor Sweeney, Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
Cast: Conor Sweeney, Matthew Kennedy, Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski
Year: various (late 00s)
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The Movie:
“Astron-6” is the name of a film production company made up of five creative people from Canada, who met competing against each other at a Winnipeg film fest for a number of years. This is a collection of short films by the group, all sharing directing and acting duties. Much of what they do is lampooning different movie genres and playing on their cliches, and also poking fun at trailers. Spread out over two discs, the shorts range from around twenty minutes to just a few minutes, and it's pretty consistent in its production values and performances. Some of the stuff is downright funny, and although you don't have to be a midnight movie fan to get the jokes, being one might make the jokes better.

The short “Cool Guys” pokes fun at the spring break flick; “Punch-Out” is a John Hughes-ish teen-angst movie; “H.I.Z.” is about a summer camp with zombies. That last one mentioned is made to look like it was a foreign movie dubbed in English, which helps with making it funnier. There's some fake trailers, stop-motion monsters, and a particularly nasty serial killer short film, “Sebastian & Alan”, that's not funny at all, as it's not supposed to be, and is really well done. There's also a short cartoon, a silent movie, and some sci-fi action. One of the fake trailers they made is for “Father's Day” and reportedly when they showed it to Lloyd Kaufman, he told them to make a full-length movie and Troma would distribute it. Something to look forward to if they made the feature anything like they make their short subjects. As of this writing it isn't yet out on DVD, but when it comes out they have at least one confirmed sale.

To go into detail about the movies on this 2-disc set would be a disservice to the filmmakers and any potential viewers, and a list of the titles on each disc really wouldn't amount to a hill of beans in this review, so we won't do that. But what will be said is how enjoyable Astron-6 movies are. The scripts are funny (when they're supposed to be), the acting is mostly intentionally campy but fun, and some of the films are pretty ambitious. It will be interesting to see what this team can do with an 80- or 90-minute running time.

Video/Audio/Extras:
The filmmakers use various aspect ratios, cameras, and techniques, so the video quality is all over the place, and the look depends on the genre/movies they are poking fun at. Dirt, scratches, and heavy grain are present in some of the movies, intentional of course, and adds to the charm. There doesn't seem to be any authoring troubles to mention. The audio is 2.0 Dolby Stereo track and sounds fine. Nothing special to note, but it gets the job done without apparent defects.

Astron-6 provides some quality supplemental material, available for many of the shorts on the submenus for each film. Many have audio commentaries that are great, and give the listener the sense that these guys really get along and have a fun time together. Behind the scenes photos can also be seen for many of the films. There is also the fake trailer that has become a real trailer, Father's Day, and it's easy to understand why Kaufman wanted them to make a feature length movie based on the trailer. Disc Two has some additional extras on it, including “A word from Uwe Boll” in which he picks on Astron-6 member Adam Brooks for about a minute. Missing are “Tromatic Extras” which isn't a bad thing really. They need to change those more frequently.

The Final Word:
Astron-6 is funny. Not really for watching with a mixed crowd (like playing in the background while Christmas gifts are exchanged), but funny to watch with fellow movie geeks. The crew is clever and they obviously love crap movies as it comes out in the production and the performances. The commentaries are well worth listening to as they as entertaining and the films themselves. Seriously, drop the $15 on this set. It shouldn't cause buyer's remorse.