Petrol Heads
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.....If it has an engine then this is the forum for it.
114 topics in this forum
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- 5 followers
- 564 replies
- 86.7k views
I at a car show and will post pics. Post any cool cars you happen to see. I'll open with this Delorean at the show today
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Dodge's Auto Repair Shop
by Dodge- 1 follower
- 15 replies
- 2k views
Thought maybe this would be a good place to start an auto repair Topic. There are forums all over the web about how to work on cars. From changing the oil, to replacing the engine. Now we have an XDBX Automotive Repair Topic. So here is a Topic for posting questions, tid bits, or common fixes for automotive problems. Personally I specialize in Chrysler, and BMW.
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Car Rental in US
by BryannosaurusRex- 6 replies
- 1.2k views
Question to my friends across the pond. We’re off to NY/NJ next month - flying in and out of Newark. Any rental companies to avoid? Majority of them we have over here, but 2 that keep coming up on the searches are Alamo and Dollar. Are they any good?
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I need this engine
by JustHatched- 0 replies
- 1.3k views
https://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolet-performance-1000-hp-zz632-crate-engine/ Chevys new 632ci 1000hp big block, roughly $30000 for one. Maybe a gofundme will help.
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My new (to me) S10 1 2
by JustHatched- 3 followers
- 30 replies
- 5.2k views
Bought this a couple weeks ago. Its a 1991 S10. The guy whom built it passed over a year ago, his daughter has since had it and it pretty much has sat since then. We've been negotiating on this thing for awhile. I know it has a 383 V8, Comp roller cam, Edelbrock Airgap intake, 2 Edelbrock Performer Carbs, 700R4 trans with trans brake, and Ford 9 inch rear. It's a work in progress.
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- 3 followers
- 139 replies
- 15.5k views
This thread will be for car and truck videos that don't really need a topic of their own. First up is this Willys Jeep video from Petrolicious.
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- 2 followers
- 23 replies
- 2.1k views
Hello! As the title suggest we are looking to get a secondary car once my oldest gets her licens. I do not know much about those type of cars, but we are looking a something in the size of a Blista or Club. I figured I ask in here to see if we can get some ideas and advice. Looking to spend about £$ 10k. Priority is: Safety Reliabilty Price 5 seater As much as I am fighting the idea of a fun fast sporty car with 200+hp and 4wd, we will not go that way (this time).
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Winter projects?
by JustHatched- 11 replies
- 1.7k views
SO what's your auto winter project? I have a few I am wanting to get taken care of Currently have our HHR apart-ish, since the shop is closed we no longer need a panel (2 seat) HHR, so I did install a back seat in it, right now I am working out the dents from hitting a dear a few years ago and it getting hit by a garage truck. Nothing major but those dents and a few other dings are in process of being pulled out and filled, only those areas are being painted. Plus new brakes, shocks, timing chain and windshield and it should be good for several years. Hoping to have this done mid Decembr. After that gotta get back on Project Dakota, it's just got a l…
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Electric Vehicle Apocalypse
by Smurf- 1 follower
- 8 replies
- 1.7k views
These soy bean vehicles are coming but what does the future look like, I often think your more likely to get injured or murdered at a Gass Station🚉 while waiting for one of those bad boys to charge up, especially truck drivers than it happening via a road fatality accident. What are the pro's and Con's and are you ready to mount a 250 watt solar panel to the roof of your vehicle to get that extra sweet 35BHP You've been dreaming about?
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- 4 followers
- 266 replies
- 36.3k views
I spend most of my time in a 2010 Chevy HHR. It is the delivery vehicle for our flower shop The family vehicle is a 2003 GMC Yukon XL (seats 7 which is what we need) Getting ready to restore a 2002 GMC Yukon (5 seater) for when a couple of the kids are out on their own we can part ways with the 7 seater. And mine is a 1991 Chevy S10
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Mirror mirror on the floor...
by BryannosaurusRex- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 1.3k views
I was working in an empty garage/workshop/petrol station yesterday that’s due to be demolished. Sadly no old cars awaiting to be rescued, however I did find this mirror. It’s got a Chrysler symbol on it. What do we reckon? 1960’s? 1970’s? The garage owner was a Cadillac fan, so I’m guessing it’s from a US car. @JustHatched. @zztop911
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1972 VW Microbus Deluxe 1 2
by BryannosaurusRex- 3 followers
- 30 replies
- 3.8k views
Seeing as I've mentioned it a couple of times I thought I'd make a thread about it. I'm a regular on a UK based VW owners forum and I was tempted to just put a link up to my thread on there, but you guys deserve better . It's a 1972 Microbus deluxe in pastel white over elm green. It was built in Germany and shipped to USA where it spent it's life in sunny California. It was imported by the previous owner in November 2008. Completely rust free with a repair to the front panel and some dodgy repaint. One of the first things he did was get it rust proofed with underseal to the chassis and waxoil all the bodywork cavities. He also took out the 2 rear bench seats and s…
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Greg the Corsa - Progress Thread
by Aslad- 20 replies
- 2.4k views
Hello - for those of you that don't know me, my name is Aslad, I'm 19 and from the UK 🙂 I recently compiled all my many, many photos of Greg the Corsa (my car) and thought I'd introduce our American friends to the life of young drivers in the UK, where astronomical car insurance makes driving anything with an engine above 1.4l very expensive. Hell, my 1.2 litre, 85 horsepower hatchback still cost £1200 to insure in the first year of driving with a black box - to put that into perspective, the car is probably worth about £2500.. £3000 at a stretch. Anyways, since I have all these photos now I thought I'd share my 'progress' on it since I first bought it back in June 2…
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Kids vs Silverado engine
by JustHatched- 1 follower
- 5 replies
- 1.6k views
@dead_x_12 is about to turn 16 and have his license to drive. He aquired a 1998 Chevy Silverado a bit back and it needs a new engine. SO he and @WasHatched started getting the old engine apart tonight. I'll post pics as they get the work done. I am only advising them, they are doing the work Was is the one under the truck
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Project Dakota
by JustHatched- 4 followers
- 18 replies
- 2.8k views
@WasHatched recently bought a 1991 Dodge Dakota. It is pretty much rust free other than some surface rust on the hood and only 1 baseball size dent in the right fender. This will be what he will be driving when he turns 16 next year. It has a 318ci V8, auto trans. The paint is peeling on it pretty bad though (pics to come). This thread will be to post pics of the progress of a total restoration of this truck. All is being done with money he has earned himself.
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Just a Mustang
by Sinister- 0 replies
- 1.3k views
and its owner out doing Mustang things. It caught fire after impact. All involved parties are OK.
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FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) 2019 season
by Protocawl- 16 replies
- 2.1k views
There's been basically no talk about WRC within XDBX, but are there any other rally fans here who follow the action every year or at least this year? If no, then you probably should (especially if you're following the boring and quite predictable F1 this year ). Here's why... After many years since the early '00s of not really actively following WRC, I caught up with it again in 2017, just after the over-dominant Volkswagen factory team had pulled out of the competition after absolutely dominating 4 years in a row in the motorsport and each year has been more and more exciting since, with 2019 being regarded as one of the most epic seasons of all time. …
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- 1 follower
- 40 replies
- 5.3k views
Looks like they finally decided on a new host for Top Gear, Chris Evans: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33158464 Anyone heard any news (not rumours) on what will Clarkson, Hammond & May be doing?
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Fuel prices.
by Burgermauger- 3 followers
- 17 replies
- 2.5k views
Hi all, here in Canada they have introduced a new carbon tax and our fuel prices jumped considerably. Where I live it’s $1.20/litre, in Vancouver it’s $1.79/litre. I know here in Canada it’s metric and I believe in UK and Europe it’s in litres as well. But the US is imperial. Please post the price per litre or price per gallon where your from.
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Real life Bravado Banshee!
by Torrid- 2 followers
- 6 replies
- 1.8k views
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Lego Bugatti
by JustHatched- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 1.3k views
This is an interesting piece. You Lego guys in the crew now have a new challenge to meet/beat https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/30/lego-built-a-life-size-drivable-bugatti-from-over-a-million-technic-pieces/
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Identify the car (EU version) 1 2
by Pb76- 1 follower
- 26 replies
- 4.2k views
Can you identify a car from a tail-light, a close up of a fender or a photo taken from a weird angle? start with an easy one..... Make and model please
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Identify the Car (NA Version)
by JustHatched- 1 follower
- 11 replies
- 1.8k views
Can you identify a car from just a small image of a piece of it?
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I need this lawn mower
by JustHatched- 2 followers
- 2 replies
- 1.3k views
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Your commute....
by Pb76- 1 follower
- 9 replies
- 1.9k views
How far do you travel to get to your place of work? Is it a fun journey, or mind numbing tedium?
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Recent Activity on RSCnet
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249Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
Operation Mincemeat (2021) dir John Madden A WWII film focussing the efforts of British intelligence to trick Germany into thinking an upcoming major operation was going to happen somewhere else, so that they diverted defending forces away from the actual location. The basics are a true story. The characters are mainly the real people who were involved. It has a great ensemble cast. The main characters are two officers working for MI5, one from the navy and one from the air force, played by Colin Firth and Matthew McFadden, with Kelly MacDonald and Penelope Wilton playing their civilian assistants. It also features Johnny Flynn as the young Lt. Ian Fleming who narrates some scenes in a style that could well have been passages from his James Bond novels. You could, at a big stretch, almost class this as Bond film since it features characters referred to as M (head of MI5, Jason Issacs) and Q-branch (the gadget inventor, James Fleet). Simon Russel Beale also puts in a great performance as Winston Churchill. I have heard of Operation Mincemeat, knew the basics of it, that Ian Fleming was involved and what the outcome was. I don't think it's a spoiler to say the plan worked, as various characters in the film say that if it doesn't the allies won't win the war. The plan was to take the body of recently deceased man, a Welshman living rough in London called Glyndwr Michael, dress him in an officer's uniform, attach a brief case containing fake, but apparently top-secret documents, and then release it from a submarine such that it would wash up on a Spanish beach. Spain was neutral in WWII but under the regime of the Fascist, pro-n*zi, General Franco. So British intelligence knew that the contents of the brief case should find their way into the hands of German agents, before being returned to Britain, and thus the fake information would find it's way to Berlin. The operation they were planning for was the allied invasion of Italy, then Germany's ally. The fake information was one part of bigger plan to convince the Germans it was occupied Greece that was going to be invaded. The subsequent invasion of Italy is one of the lesser known parts of the war. Much is made, quite rightly, of the D-day landings, but that was not the first invasion of German controlled Europe, it was this invasion of Italy, nearly a year earlier. So it's nice to see a film about this aspect of the war, because there aren't very many of them. The film shows the meticulous level of detail the agents went to, creating a whole fake identity, Major William Martin, along with personal letters, a photo of a fiancé, etc. The plot does come across somewhat unbelievable at times and includes a completely unnecessary romantic sub-plot. Even if some of that is what actually happened, the way the films portrays this comes across as if the producers wanted to “s*x it up” and add these elements in because they thought the story of the planning and execution of the operation was not interesting enough. I was all set to give this a lower score than I did, but the last 30 mins or so redeemed it a little. What I found really interesting was, after the the plan had been put into action, the role British diplomats in Spain then had to play to make sure that the brief case of fake documents did indeed end up in German hands. Because after all the detailed and careful planning, it could have easily been undone by a Spanish official simply handing the brief case straight back to Britain, as was technically the correct thing for a neutral country to do, but not what they were supposed to do according to the pro-German Fascist regime in charge. There's almost none of the action you usually get in war films, until right at the end when we see an American infantry sergeant, a minor character introduced earlier, on board a landing craft, storming a Sicilian beach which was taken and held with relatively light causalities. All due to the success of Operation Mincemeat diverting German forces hundreds of miles away. 6 / 10- 1
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249Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
What I Watched This Week #179 (June 2-8) Escape from Alcatraz dir. Don Siegel/1979/1h53m Clint Eastwood stars in this prison break drama based on the true story of the only man to escape from the famous prison island off the San Francisco coast, Frank Morris. This film takes its time, much like Eastwood's performance style it's understated, deliberate and measured, with none of the melodrama of something like The Shawshank Redemption. The plot is simple, Eastwood arrives at the prison, spends some time scoping it out, then enacts his plan. It's the little things that give weight to this film, particularly the character of Doc (Roberts Blossom), who quietly represents the unshakeable human yearning for freedom with his portraits and the symbolic use of chrysanthemums. At times the pace of the film does undercut some of the urgency of the escape attempt, but I did like the ambiguous ending that doesn't tell you what happened to Frank after he got past the prison walls. 7.5/10 Rhinestone dir. Bob Clark/1984/1h51m I was scrolling through Sylvester Stallone's filmography and came across this, and knew that I had to watch it just to make sure that it's real. Rhinestone stars Dolly Parton as aspiring singer Jake who needs to get out of her crummy contract at the titular New York country music club. To do this she makes a bet with the manager, Freddie (Ron Leibman), that she can turn anyone into a country singer. The person chosen is tone deaf cab driver Nick, played by Stallone. To do this she takes him back home to Tennessee for some real country experience. Stallone also co-wrote this based on the song Rhinestone Cowboy. Really, it even says so in the opening credits. This whole thing is like a fever dream, especially the scenes where Stallone sings by howling like a demented gibbon. He plays his role like an overactive child with attention issues. Parton is just as sweet and charming as she always is, and the moments when she gets to sing are obviously excellent. I also liked Richard Farnsworth as Parton's father. This is not a good film, but it is a bizarre film, and it has its charms. 6/10 The Hustler dir. Robert Rossen/1961/2h14m Paul Newman stars in his iconic role of pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson who is on the fast track to self destruction as he becomes obsessed with beating the best pool player in the world, Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). This is a film in three distinct acts. The first and third are Felson's showdowns with Fats which bookend a tragic romance between Felson and Sarah (Piper Laurie), a depressed alcoholic. This is a bleak film about addicts and losers, yet there is beauty in the direction that makes this world of smoky pool halls cool and alluring. It also helps that Newman is incredibly handsome. The two pool games between Eddie and Fats are the showpieces here and are given the attention they deserve, with Eddie losing even when he wins, that's just the kind of man he is. Gleason is great as Eddie's opposite, someone totally calm and in control of their emotions. Laurie is heart breaking as Sarah, with only one inevitable outcome for her. Rounding out the main cast is George C. Scott as Bert, the sleazy and manipulative pool hall owner. As a standalone film this is excellent, but wouldn't it be good if we caught up with Eddie let's say twenty five years later? 9/10 Lime's Co-Film of the Week! The Color of Money dir. Martin Scorsese/1986/1h59m Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money catches up with Fast Eddie Felson (a returning Paul Newman) twenty five years after the events of The Hustler. He's now making a decent living off of whiskey, but when a hotshot young pool player, Vince (Tom Cruise), catches his eye he wants back in the hustling game. Without the context of The Hustler this is still a fantastic film full of Scorsese's trademark moves, but with the added history of the character a whole new tragic dimension is added. Eddie is a man full of regrets, so when he sees a chance to recapture his glory days he'll do anything he can to grab it, his old instincts kicking in almost instantly. He's there to use Vince, and he's open about it. But Vince is no d*mmy, even though he may act like it, and with his more emotionally mature girlfriend Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) he may end up teaching Eddie a thing or two. This has a much different vibe to the previous film, very fitting for the time it was made, and the pool scenes are edited violently by Scorsese's long time editor Thelma Schoonmaker, almost like they're fight scenes. This is a Scorsese film I've not seen before, and didn't really have any interest in before watching The Hustler, but I think this is one of his best works of the decade, only The King of Comedy is better in my opinion. Combined with The Hustler this is an epic, four hour rise and fall and rise and fall and maybe rise again story that spans decades. And it all ends on a high note with a brilliant one liner and a classic Scorsese freeze frame. 9/10 Lime's Co-Film of the Week! Bottom: Exposed dir. Adrian Edmondson/2024/1h30m This made for TV documentary covers the creation, production, reception and legacy of one of my all time favourite shows, Bottom. Written and performed by the late, great (he said so himself) Rik Mayall (seriously, his autobiography is called Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ) and Adrian Edmondson (director of this documentary), Bottom was a BBC comedy that ran for three series in the 90's and was violently crude, obscene, anarchic, absurd and offensive, and one of the funniest things I've ever seen, with slapstick fight scenes that would make Chaplin blush and a sound effects guy straight out of the Looney Tunes. The documentary itself is fine if very standard, featuring interviews with cast, crew and fans, but the real gold is when Edmondson is talking about Mayall, the two being lifelong friends since university. It gets quite emotional at points, which Mayall would have f*cking hated. One of my favourite memories is going to see the Bottom live show with my dad in 2003, their last of five live tours, and even though it's the worst of the five (my favourite is split between 2 and 3), it was amazing being so close to such raw, unfiltered energy. If you've never seen Bottom before, watch it, because the main thing I took from this documentary and seeing all the clips from the show, is that it's been too long since I've seen it. 7/10 La Cage aux Folles dir. Edouard Molinaro/1978/1h32m This French comedy stars Ugo Tognazzi as Renato Baldi, owner of drag club La Cage aux Folles, with Michel Serrault playing Albin, aka Zaza, his partner and star performer. When Renato's son Laurent (Remi Laurent), who the couple have raised since he was a baby, comes home he has some big news. He's getting married. But unfortunately the parents of his girlfriend are in politics, on the conservative side. The very conservative side. So he asks his father and Albin to tone things down a bit while they are visiting. I think this film has aged pretty well considering it was made in the 70's, and while it does rely heavily on stereotypes it never comes across as mean spirited. Tognazzi is good in the lead role, being pulled between his partner, his son and his own identity, with Serrault stealing every scene he's in as a flighty drag queen. The highlight of the film is the climactic dinner party between the two sets of parents with Albin showing some real depth and character here. A little dated but still with a pure heart, I can't wait to compare it with the American remake (see next review). 8/10 The Birdcage dir. Mike Nichols/1996/1h59m Robin Williams and Nathan Lane star as drag club owner Armand Goldman and his partner and star performer Albert in this American remake of La Cage aux Folles. The plot remains basically unchanged from the French original, just with some extra time to let Williams and Lane shine. Considering he's playing a gay drag club owner Williams gives a fairly understated performance, with really only one instance of that classic over the top exuberance. All of that is left to Lane, who is hilarious here. My only real problem with this film, same as the original though I didn't mention it in my review, is that their son, Val (Dan Futterman), is an unappreciative *sshole. Thankfully that doesn't take too much away from this, and the presence of Gene Hackman as republican senator Kevin Keeley, his future father in law, really alleviates this, with him getting to exercise his comedy muscles (and he looks great in drag). This is a slice of fabulous fun and, thanks to the lead duo of Williams and Lane, is better than the original. 9/10- 2
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249
Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
What I Watched This Week #178 (May 26-June 1) Welcome to the Dollhouse dir. Todd Solondz/1995/1h28m This darkly comic coming of age story stars Heather Matarazzo as Dawn Wiener, a bullied twelve year old whose parents don't seem to care. One day, the school's meanest bully, Brandon (Brendan Sexton III), threatens to r*pe her when classes are out. Dawn actually turns up voluntarily to this meeting, just glad that someone is paying attention to her, and so starts a weirdly sweet relationship between two outcasts (he doesn't by the way, you know, just if you were worried). This all sounds incredibly bleak, but this is a very funny film in the same awkwardly stilted way as something like Napoleon Dynamite, big Midwest Indie vibes. This also feels very authentic, and that is largely due to Matarazzo's performance which always comes across as natural and real. Sexton also does well with a character that could be totally unlikeable, but he brings some real sympathy and nuance to him. This film does excellently to be edgy without it being there just for shock value. And I love that we end on what seems to be a small note of hope for Dawn, because she deserves it. I hope she had a wonderful life. 9/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler/2025/2h18m The latest film from the team of director Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan sees him playing twins Smoke and Stack, returning to their hometown in the deep south during prohibition in order to open up a juke joint, somewhere for their incredibly talented blues musician cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) to play. But trouble comes not from the Klan, but from a group of vampires led by the enigmatic Irishman Remmick (Jack O'Connell). This is a film of two halves. The first is pretty much devoid of any horror elements save for a short prologue. Instead it really focuses in on the characters of Smoke and Stack, and everyone they round up to help them run their club. Among them old bluesman Delta Slim (one of my perennial favourites Delroy Lindo), Smoke's estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and bouncer Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). But what really gets the film's attention is the music. This is a real celebration of the blues and Black music and culture, with Caton, a musician in his first film role, giving the best performance out of a cast of seasoned professionals. The whole film seems to pivot on a crucial scene halfway through where Sammie is giving a performance in the club and he is joined by spectres of Black music both past and present. Native Africans from thousands of years ago performing alongside DJ's and rappers from the future. It's really beautiful and marks the high point of the film for me. After that is when the horror kicks in, which works less well for me. The interactions between the characters is still really well written and performed, but it's the actual action that is lacking, which is a shame because the fight scenes in Creed, again directed by Coogler and starring Jordan, were near perfect. If that side of the film matched the dramatic side then this would be an instant classic for me, but as it is I still highly recommend this. 8.5/10 Finding Dory dir. Andrew Stanton/2016/1h37m In what feels like a totally unnecessary sequel we return to the world of Pixar's near perfect Finding Nemo, but this time my least favourite part of that film, annoying sidekick Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), takes centre stage. Here the forgetful fish has a sudden moment of clarity and remembers her parents (Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy), and sets out on an epic quest to find them. I'm still not a huge fan of the character, but thankfully she's been toned done slightly from the original, a huge relief given the increase in screen time she has. It also helps that this is a well written film, not one of Pixar's best, but it still had me invested. And the flashbacks to a baby Dory and her parents and just so incredibly sweet that I couldn't help but root for her. I also really liked the new character of Hank (Ed O'Neill), a surly octopus who just wants to be left alone. It's a testament to Pixar that they can make a whole film about one of my least favourite characters of theirs and still have me enjoy and be moved by it, and I don't need to say it but I will, the animation is absolutely stunning. 7/10 The Morricone Duel: The Most Dangerous Concert Ever dir. Karsten Andersen/2018/1h11m (no trailer for this, so here's a performance of The Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) This concert film captures a tribute to legendary composer Ennio Morricone by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks. Most famous for defining the sound of the western thanks to his scores for Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), which is all represented here, this also features pieces from other films he scored such as The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in America, and his two Tarantino scores for Inglourious Basterds and The Hateful Eight. There are some works not composed by Morricone here, like the Orchestral Suite from The Godfather by Nino Rota and Sonny Bono's My Baby Shot Me Down (presumably for the Tarantino connection as this was used in Kill Bill), but I would've preferred them to stick with Morricone as he has such a huge and varied body of work, the scope of which I don't think is fully represented here. The musicianship, being a national symphony, is world class, so if you have a half decent sound system crank it up and enjoy. The presentation is simple, but there are a couple of nice touches like some hanging corpses around the venue, and simple graphics projected on to screens symbolising the films being played. 7.5/10 Baldwin's Ni- dir. Horace Ove/1968/46m (no trailer again, so here's a clip) This provocatively titled documentary (the title is explained by the subject himself in the above clip) is the first work from acclaimed director Horace Ove, who would make the first feature length film by a Black British filmmaker with Pressure in 1975. Here he documents a short lecture and Q and A session in London given by American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, with some short comments at the end by comedian and fellow activist d*ck Gregory. Speaking with a quiet, polite intensity he expounds on the differences in race relations between the UK and the US, his own personal history, what steps need to be taken next, and what role, if any, white liberals have in the civil rights movement. Baldwin is a thoughtful, intelligent, engaging, witty speaker and the forty five minutes spent with him here just flies by, leaving you wanting more. It's so refreshing to see a civilised, mature, grown up discussion about such subjects considering the state of political discourse these days, which just seems to all devolve into shouting matches on social media. A simple and bare bones film, but when you have a subject like Baldwin you don't need anything else. 9/10 Lost in Starlight dir. Han Ji-won/2025/1h36m This Korean animation is set in the near future and tells the story of literally star-crossed lovers, astronaut Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri) and downbeat musician Je-i (Hong Kyung). Their brief romance is tested when she gets a place on a mission to Mars, following in the footsteps of her late mother. This is rather melodramatic at points, but it's also very sweet and tender and genuine, which helps ground it even in the futuristic setting. The world is well designed with it feeling not too far fetched, like it's attainable for 2050, and the animation is crisp and gorgeous, the use of space imagery being particularly pretty. The cross cutting between Nan-young on her mission and Je-i trying to get his music career back on track on Earth is well done, with the distance between them bringing them closer together, but it is all quite predictable. 7/10 A Single Life dir. Joris Oprins, Job Roggeveen, Marieke Blaauw/2014/2m This Dutch animated short has a simple yet fairly well executed premise. A woman has a mysterious vinyl record that, when skipped back and forth, can transport her to different points in her life. This leads up to a dark punchline that's perhaps the best thing about this. I like the style of the set here but I find the character design quite ugly and off-putting, and feel like this could have been expanded to something more emotionally hefty rather than as a setup for a gag. This feels like a practice run for something substantial with more to say, but as it is it's still an entertaining couple of minutes. 6.5/10- 2
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