Love, Death and Robots
Executive-producers: David Fincher and Tim Miller
Other credits at link below. Each of the 18 episodes has its own director(s) and voice actors.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9561862/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
Back in the days when the Enter key was a lever on the side of the adding machine, there was Métal Hurlant, a French magazine that migrated to the US and became known as Heavy Metal. The comics (nobody used the term ‘graphic novels’) were sardonic, strange, funny, and usually adult-rated. The quality of the individual works varied from brilliant to pretty fucking dumb. Even the bad ones were at least worth checking out. To this day, there’s a French sensibility to the magazine.
Tim Miller, executive producer of Love, Death and Robots, did Deadpool. He brings a similar sense of decorum and sensitivity to this collection of animated shorts. Some are science fiction, some are fantasy, some are horror. Nearly all of them are NSFW, with lots of nudity, gore, and language that would curdle the milk in Auntie Giselda’s tits.
The quality of the offerings varies, but most exceed expectations, and some are sublime. Some looked like outtakes from action adventure games, and the worst of them had plots that could have come out of most 1950s war movies. Those tended to have photo-realistic animation, and we really are near the point where it’s getting difficult to tell if some of them are animated or ‘real’.
The first is ‘Sonnie’s Edge’, a kind of mecha-death-match that avoids mediocrity with a pleasantly twisted ending. ‘Three Robots’ is hilarious, a near future story in which three sardonic robots try to determine how humanity destroyed itself. Yes, they do get an answer. ‘The Witness’ is a gorgeously stylized chase story loosely based on Hitchcock’s Rear Window. ‘Suits’ is another mecha piece, this one with laconic farmers mecha-protecting their land from alien invaders. ‘Sucker of Souls’ finds archaelogists stumbling upon the tomb of Vlad the Impaler. It doesn’t go well, which begs the question of why anyone would want to be an archaeologist. The death toll from cursed tombs must make them uninsurable. ‘When the Yogurt Took Over’ is a silly but very sly piece about leadership with a sense of culture. ‘Beyond the Aquila Rift’ is a story about getting lost in space and ending up in a sanctuary that isn’t what it appears. Captain Kirk, only with actual sex. ‘Good Hunting’ is a marvelous piece about a culture that transforms in short decades from medieval to steam punk, threatening to eradicate all magical creatures. ‘Dump’ is a very silly piece that is saved by good art and generous humor. ‘Shape-Shifter’ is American Werewolf in Kandahar. ‘Helping Hand’ is a bone-chilling account of an astronaut caught adrift in orbit with oxygen rapidly running out. ‘Fish Night’ is a wonderfully surreal story about two traveling salesmen whose car breaks down in the desert. ‘Lucky 13’ is a shopworn Garth Ennis-style plot about an unlucky ‘bucket of bolts’ that proves the opposite for a flight crew. ‘Zima Blue’ is a beautifully rendered story about a renowned artist named Zima, and why he is associated with a particular shade of blue. ‘Blindspot’ is more mecha, although nicely done. ‘Ice Age’ addresses what might really happen if ancient items in your refrigerator freezer until actually did develop their own culture. I’m sorry to say the source material is Brussels sprouts rather than yogurt, so the results are a bit bleaker. ‘Alternate Histories’ is six amusing ways to kill Hitler, and how it affects future history. Squid on the Moon! And the final one, ‘The Secret War’ is another war story, this about a squad from the Red Army facing vicious, monstrous foes.
The worst of the 18 is at least worth watching. Most are ten minutes or less. And the majority are very definitely items most people are going to want to see. My own favorites (your mileage may vary) are Three Robots, Fish Night, and Good Hunting. But another half-dozen also wowed me. Keeping in mind that they are NSFW and should not be shown to Auntie Giselda, this is a fine collection of animated works.
Now on Netflix.