US 98m, Colour Director: Matthew Avant; Cast: Dave Potter, Jed Himel, Matthew Avant, Hal Maynor, Nathan Avant, Sarah Avant, Arte RichardA documentary styled film that is reminiscent of Alternative 3 (1977), Lunopolis is a science fiction film surrounding the discovery of a time machine. The film maker's investigations lead them to a conspiracy involving a Scientology-like cult and their control over knowledge surrounding the settlement of the moon and time travel which is used to reshape earth's future by changing events in the past. An excellently scripted production, Lunopolis is a well-crafted low-budget movie that contains some unexpectedly good special effects, and opening and closing scenes which neatly bookend this entertaining film (Klaus Ming July 2013).

I love low budget films. Or maybe I hate high budget films. I am convinced that some movies evolve out of somebody's idea for a grand and glorious special effect ... and they build a movie around that one scene. There is no such thing here. It is a classic formula ... they build the case for the premise while they are in fact telling the story. Sure it has some flaws ... even big budget spectaculars have flaws. The biggest flaw is the far too long interview with David James but that cemented the storyline together so I let it slide. It just didn't fit the shorter scenes in the rest of the movie. The really oddball thing ... is ever since we watched this movie we have been receiving mysterious phone calls ... like our time-lines are messed up now. Seriously. Hopefully this will sort itself out, with or without the help of the Lunarians.

Lunopolis had an interesting premise, and the writers and director show a lot of promise by telling a good, suspenseful story. Unfortunately, the film is let down by it's obviously minuscule budget. The format of the film (documentary style) does lend itself to a low-budget production, but there are many points where the lack of cash is apparent enough to pull you out of the story. For one thing, there are a few brief special effect scenes that have zero authenticity to them whatsoever. The director would have been better off finding another way to treat the material, because a bad effect is far worse than no effect at all. Another thing that pulled me right out of the film was the scene at the cult compound. They clearly had no money for extras, wardrobe or stylists, so instead of a scene featuring intimidating, creepy, authentic-looking security guards in black suits (as intended), you have a couple of dorks in cheap sunglasses and clothes that don't fit, trying their best to look tough (and failing). It was pretty bad. Anyway, as I said, it's an interesting film. I do wish they had the money to execute properly though, because it could have been much, much better.

I was bored one night on Hulu and clicked this movie completely thinking it was gonna be a cheap cheesy Sci-Fi film made in someones basement. I was pleasantly surprised at its quality, the in-depth story line, the immense amount of scene changes, the ability to pull you into the story and make you feel for the characters. I believe this is one of those films that no one knows about but deserves awards for how good it is. Needless to say I did not regret watching this movie. The story line is a little out there but I don't think the whole plot would make sense if the story line wasn't a little out there. So YES I would recommend it to friends and I have.