|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 27, 2024 22:13:44 GMT -5
I kind of got a jump on things, tonight, with Godzilla Minus One. Tremendous film; and, for my money, the best Godzilla film ever. The story is really built around the people, making them more real than previous films, even the original. The setting and legacy of the war, with survivor's guilt, humiliation of defeat, the propaganda revealed as false, and the destruction of the firebombing of Tokyo all add to the suffering of the characters, as they grapple with living, after so much death. The scope is truly epic, while keeping things on an intimate level, through the focus characters of Koichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who feigned technical problems on his sortie, to escape death, only to find himself in the path of Godzilla, where he again freezes in the face of the monster, failing to fire his aircraft cannon. This leads to the deaths of all of the ground crew, except the lead mechanic, Sosaku Tachibana, who curses Koichi and shoves a packet of photos, from the dead ground crew into his hand, when the sail back to Japan, after the surrender. Koichi finds his family dead, his neighbor curses him for failing in his duty and the deaths of her children, from the firebombing. He encounters a woman, with a baby, stealing to survive and she stays with him in the ruins of his family home. he eventually gets a gob as a gunner, on a minesweeper, as they work to clear the sea lanes of wartime mines. This leads to a new encounter with Godzilla, who comes ashore and attacks the Ginza district, where the woman, Noriko, is working. A plan is hatched to try to ensnare Godzilla in cables, attached to freon cylinders, to then sink Godzilla to the sea bottom, over a deep trench, letting pressure destroy him, with a back up of CO2-inflated airbags to float him back up and let decompression do the rest. An alternate plan, to equip a Kyushu J7W Shinden experimental fighter as a kamikaze plane, is formulated, with Koichi enlisting the help of Tachibana, to refit the derelict aircraft. Everything is as good as it can be...better. The filming is mostly kept at an intimate level, so that the money spent on effects work can be used to the fullest and give it the most impact. Godzilla has the familiar silhouette, but with more detail, more aggressive. The Godzilla theme is used for the proper emotional impact and there are homages to parts of the original, like Noriko riding a train, when Godzilla attacks it, and the freon trap reminding one of the oxygen destroyer, in the original. The film also acts as a commentary on the failure of government to deal with the COVID pandemic, through inaction in the face of Godzilla, not to mention commentary about propaganda and withholding information from the public, both in the war and in things like the Fukushima disaster and COVID. It also shows post traumatic stress, in the survivors of the war, especially soldiers and sailors, conditioned to fight to the death, but finding themselves alive in the aftermath. It does have some minor translation problems, in the subtitled version I watched, as it keeps referring to the Shinden as a "jet fighter," when it is a prop aircraft. Provisions were made to eventually equip them with jet engines, once they became available, but parts were rare and held up Japanese development of such things. Also, the Shinden was conducting test flights on the days of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, which brought an end to the idea of using them to defend the home islands from an invasion. This makes it an appropriate platform for the heroic defense against Godzilla. Even with the monster destruction and spectacle, it is still about these people and the struggle to go on living, in the face of death and disaster, something lost as the Godzilla films descended into kaiju pro wrestling and totally absent from American attempts. It blows away the Legendary Pictures film series, both in story and visuals, and a value for the budget. I'm way behind on all the recent monster movies of the last few years. I still haven't seen Skull Island, which I thought looked good in previews at the time. I'll keep that and Godzilla Minus One in mind for when I get up to relatively recent movies, which I'm planning to do towards the end of the month. Skull Island is decent fun; but, i find the Legendary Pictures films are more dumb fun, with badly rendered human characters, and monster pro wrestling for the spectacle....more like the 70s Godzillas. Godzilla Minus One is closer to the original than any other and better, in my opinion, in rendering the human characters as more than just observers or cliches. It is better written than almost the entire series and gets back to what Godzilla was...a metaphor for immense, unimagined destruction. I haven't watched Shin Godzilla yet; but, most of what I have read and heard suggests it is also superior to the American efforts and many of the original series. I enjoy plenty of the dumb monster punch-ups (like King Kong vs Godzilla...the original); but, when there is a real plot there, and some decent characters, they tend to hold up better. |
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Sept 28, 2024 19:18:34 GMT -5
I watched Kong vs Godzilla on my flight home from the UK in August. Never been a big Godzilla fan, but it was OK for what it was, which was a way to pass the time. Didn’t watch the follow-up, which was also available, instead watching Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which was an utter mess of a movie.
One of my coworkers is a huge movie guy and he recommended both Skull Island and Godzilla Minus One. If he says they’re good, I trust his opinion.
|
|
|
|
Post by commond on Oct 1, 2024 9:11:50 GMT -5
Well, October 1st is almost over where I am, so I'll get the marathon started:
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970)
Last Halloween, I got heavily into Dario Argento's films. My favorite was Suspiria, but I also appreciated his giallo films. This was Argento's debut, and while he wasn't as good as he'd later become, it's still a slick, Hitchcock-inspired giallo film. It's the story of an American author who witnesses an attempted murder and becomes embroiled in trying to solve who the killer is. My favorite thing about it is how the author has no qualms about becoming involved in the case despite the repeated attempts n his life. The films gets a bit odd at times, but it wouldn't be a giallo without a few quirks.
Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972)
This is an interesting giallo set in a village in the Italian countryside that has been beset by a series of child murders. Nowhere near as gruesome as Fulci's later films, it's more pf a psychology exploration of themes of suspicion and mistrust.
The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
This is an interesting zombie film from Fulci as it mixes elements of supernatural horror with the zombie genre. A woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that is one of the seven gates of Hell. Once the gate is opened, the dead return as zombies and terrorize the poor woman and her love interest. Incredibly gory with some disturbing jump scares. The ending is trippy and open to all sorts of interpretations. I enjoyed the gore in this, and the zombie scenes were fun.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 1, 2024 11:44:48 GMT -5
Well, October 1st is almost over where I am, so I'll get the marathon started: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970) Last Halloween, I got heavily into Dario Argento's films. My favorite was Suspiria, but I also appreciated his giallo films. This was Argento's debut, and while he wasn't as good as he'd later become, it's still a slick, Hitchcock-inspired giallo film. It's the story of an American author who witnesses an attempted murder and becomes embroiled in trying to solve who the killer is. My favorite thing about it is how the author has no qualms about becoming involved in the case despite the repeated attempts n his life. The films gets a bit odd at times, but it wouldn't be a giallo without a few quirks. Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972) This is an interesting giallo set in a village in the Italian countryside that has been beset by a series of child murders. Nowhere near as gruesome as Fulci's later films, it's more pf a psychology exploration of themes of suspicion and mistrust. The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981) This is an interesting zombie film from Fulci as it mixes elements of supernatural horror with the zombie genre. A woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that is one of the seven gates of Hell. Once the gate is opened, the dead return as zombies and terrorize the poor woman and her love interest. Incredibly gory with some disturbing jump scares. The ending is trippy and open to all sorts of interpretations. I enjoyed the gore in this, and the zombie scenes were fun.
Of those three I've seen only The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which was one of several Argento films that played at a local cinema around here last year. I really liked all of them and have become a definite Argento fan. I have some of his 80s movies that I haven't yet seen lined up for later in the month.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 1, 2024 15:50:20 GMT -5
Well, October 1st is almost over where I am, so I'll get the marathon started: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970) Last Halloween, I got heavily into Dario Argento's films. My favorite was Suspiria, but I also appreciated his giallo films. This was Argento's debut, and while he wasn't as good as he'd later become, it's still a slick, Hitchcock-inspired giallo film. It's the story of an American author who witnesses an attempted murder and becomes embroiled in trying to solve who the killer is. My favorite thing about it is how the author has no qualms about becoming involved in the case despite the repeated attempts n his life. The films gets a bit odd at times, but it wouldn't be a giallo without a few quirks. Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972) This is an interesting giallo set in a village in the Italian countryside that has been beset by a series of child murders. Nowhere near as gruesome as Fulci's later films, it's more pf a psychology exploration of themes of suspicion and mistrust. The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981) This is an interesting zombie film from Fulci as it mixes elements of supernatural horror with the zombie genre. A woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that is one of the seven gates of Hell. Once the gate is opened, the dead return as zombies and terrorize the poor woman and her love interest. Incredibly gory with some disturbing jump scares. The ending is trippy and open to all sorts of interpretations. I enjoyed the gore in this, and the zombie scenes were fun. BTW, what are Fulci's best movies? Or what are your favourites? An open question to anyone reading, of course. I think I might try one as part of the Hallowe'en Movie Marathon if I can find any. Maybe The Beyond, unless I hear about one that sounds more interesting. Actually The Beyond sounds good, though I'm not a big zombie fan. |
|
|
|
Post by commond on Oct 1, 2024 16:37:37 GMT -5
I'm only beginning to explore Fulci's films, but I imagine it depends on your preferences -- stylish slasher films or gory supernatural thrillers?
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeddak on Oct 1, 2024 17:28:13 GMT -5
Scars of Dracula - 1970 - I love Christopher Lee as Dracula, but I do remember the Hammer series as being, shall we say, uneven. Off to a great start, but awful by the end. But even though I've seen them all, I have no memory of this film. So it's a prime candidate for a re-watch.
It starts off well, getting right into the resurrection of Dracula, as a bat vomits blood onto his ashes. No context, no explanation, but they waste no time getting to the stuff we want to see. Then the villagers, not happy with his return, storm the castle. Thinking they've won (though they don't even search for Dracula himself), they return home, to find all the village's women have been slaughtered (in the church, no less) by bats. It's a good, solid opening. If only the rest of the film had kept this pace . . .
Yeah, well. Then in a total tonal shift, we get a bit of Carry On sex farce introducing us to our leads, a boring trio of young folk. From there we get a lot of don't-go-to-the-castle, go-to-the-castle-anyway. Not a lot of plot to this one, and nothing that's new. Only one character I liked, and being the 2nd female lead, she doesn't make it.
Dracula is given more to do in this one, interacting with the other characters, but Lee clearly doesn't care, giving a pretty low-key, even bland performance through most of it. He just did it for the money, folks. There is one torture scene where he manages to look suitably sadistic, though. There's a fair bit of blood and gore, and a lot is made of Dracula's control of bats. They kill all the women in the church, they tell their master of incoming prey, one rips a cross off the neck of an intended victim, and there was that resurrection scene. Would've been more effective if the bats looked more convincing, of course.
Honestly, it's better than I expected. A couple of good elements (the bats, Dracula's lair only being accessible by a high window, one bit where his red eyes glow through his lids). But it still isn't all that good, y'know? The thin plot, the bland human leads, the unearned ending (which looked okay, but was unsatisfying from a dramatic point of view). I enjoyed it, but I know they could have done so much better.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 1, 2024 19:12:03 GMT -5
I'm only beginning to explore Fulci's films, but I imagine it depends on your preferences -- stylish slasher films or gory supernatural thrillers?
Definitely more to the supernatural thriller side.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 1, 2024 21:24:22 GMT -5
Shin Godzilla was my first official for this. I know it gets tons of praise, but I thought it was a bit underwhelming. For showing how government responds in a disaster, it it fine; but, the characters are pretty thin and seem to just be there to deliver rapid-fire dialogue, either reacting to disaster or data about the monster. Didn't really find anyone with whom to connect. The monster execution was rather like a puppet, at the early stages, and with the borrowed or mimicked music cues, I kept expecting the Thunderbirds to roll in and launch an attack. It looked better when it evolved to final stage and the climactic attack on it was suitably good, apart from looking like a video game. Kind of felt like they underfunded the CGI to better render it. Nothing bad and it is gripping, and still better than the Monsterverse, in terms of making the monster's attacks more meaningful and not saddling things with junk like eco-terrorists and deaf children who talk to giant apes. Still, I'd rather watch Godzilla 2000- Godzilla Final Wars, because they at least try to develop the human characters.
Godzilla Minus One vastly superior, in every aspect, from the script, to the characters, to the monster effects and practical effects and CGI.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 1, 2024 23:30:55 GMT -5
I saw Body Double (1984), one of Brian de Palma's Hitchcock-inspired thrillers that I missed at the time. I really liked it, especially the first part. Once Melanie Griffith made her appearance and became the main female character the film lost some steam for me. Not that she's a bad actress - she does a passable Judy Holliday impression in this one - but I've just never found her appealing in any way. Deborah Shelton was much better cast as the lead female character in the first part, though apparently de Palma didn't like her voice and had her dialogue dubbed in by someone else. But she doesn't have a lot of dialogue, she's mainly the beautiful object of the male lead's obsession and she looked right for that part.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 2, 2024 1:05:53 GMT -5
Finished my other movie for today: Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (Reasonable Rates!), the last truly great Hammer horror film, though it as much a swashbuckler, as horror. The film stars German actor Horst Janson (dubbed by British actor Julian Holloway, with a German accent), with John Cater as his colleague, Professor Hieronymous Grost, a learned hunchback. They come across a young girl (possibly a gypsy, but never named as such, in the film) and free her from the stocks (for dancing on a Sunday). They ride to a village, summoned by Kronos' old army friend, Dr Marcus, because of the strange deaths of several young girls of the village, where they trned up, life drained from them, appearing as old crones. Also in residence are Paul and Sara Durward, children of a famed swordsman and local lord, dead seven years, leaving their aged mother a widow. Kronos and Grost investigate the occurrences, conclude a vampire, then set out to try to track it and determine what will kill it.
The swashbuckling elements elevate this, for me, as I am not a major vampire or horror fan; but what really sets it apart is the fact that there are different species of vampire and to kill them, you must determine their vulnerabilities. What works for one does not always work for another. Kronos and Grost are thinkers, not just stabbers and stakers. It is so refreshing to see science (of a sort) and deductive reasoning applied to a supernatural subject, rather than mystical mumbo jumbo and plot convenience.
The film was written and directed by Brian Clemens, who made a reputation for himself as a writer and producer of various ITV adventure series, particularly The Avengers. Much of the cast are Avengers veterans, including former star Ian Hendry (Dr David Keel), as sword for hire, and bully, Kerro, who is set upon Kronos and Grost, in a tavern, in a scene lifted from many a western. Hendry's role is pretty much a cameo, but he makes the most of it, though his sideburns hardly suggest the 18th or early 19th Century, which this appears to be set. There is vague reference to Kronos being a former captain of the Imperial Guard and the suggestion is the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which housed many a vampire legend. The script is clever and the action very well choreographed, by William Hobbs (who has a minor role, as well) who also choreographed the Richard Lester Musketeer films, Robin and Marion, Royal Flash, Excalibur, Flash Gordon, Ladyhawke, Willow, Rob Roy and the Patrick Bergin Robin Hood (1991).
Caroline Munro sexes up the screen, as Carla, the young woman Kronos frees from the stocks, though they avoid outright nudity. Shane Briant, who portrays Paul Durward, looks like the love child of Queen's Roger Taylor and Malcolm McDowell, while sister Sara (Lois Daine), is implied to be a lesbian, as she is depicted in male attire for most of the film and gives Caroline Munro a long lingering stare, in the third act, when she comes to their home, as bait for the vampire. The film invokes the name Karnstein, which was central to a trilogy of Hammer films, centered around Countess Marcilla Karnstein, based on the story "Carmilla, by J Sheridan Le Fanu: The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, and Twins of Evil. Those films had featured lesbian story elements and there had been plans for a fourth film, that went unrealized. it seems Clemens picked up some pieces from that unrealized 4th film.
I first read about the film in Jeff Rovin's Encyclopedia of Adventure Heroes, which was a wide-ranging reference to all kinds of characters, including detectives, monster hunters, sci-fi adventurers, western heroes, cops, and explorers. I found the film at a local Family Video and rented it and loved it, hunting down my own copy. Kim Newman makes reference to the Karnstein films, in the Anno Dracula and has written well of this. It was intended to be a new series for Hammer, but middling box office and Hammer's financial woes left this an only child. It also seems to have provided much inspiration for the Japanese novel series and anime Vampire Hunter D, which has openly cited Hammers Horror of Dracula as an inspiration.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeddak on Oct 2, 2024 6:38:06 GMT -5
Zombie Lake - 1981 - French resistance fighters killed a bunch of Nazi soldiers and dumped their bodies in the local lake. Now they're back. Technically this was directed by Jean Rollin, who has done a few films I really like, including The Iron Rose, one of my all-time favorite movies of all-time. But it turns out he was called in at the last minute to direct this one after Jesus Franco bailed, but before he saw the script, which he apparently didn't like. And someone else directed parts of it anyway. But what the hell, I figured I'd give it a chance. But this is not a good film.
The zombie make-ups are weak, mainly green skin with an occasional scar or missing eye, and the attacks are not convincing. During one attack, the zombie is clearly just licking the victim's throat over and over. Not really scary. The acting is not great either, and some scenes are pointless, dull and go on way too long. Even the sex scene. There's a reporter nosing around (before any killings occur) who's just there to give the audience an exposition dump, in the form of a long, long flashback. And a couple of detectives show up, but they don't accomplish anything before being killed.
There is a fair bit of nudity; both Franco and Rollin went on to do straight porn, so that's not surprising. Now, I don't mind nudity in film. When a young lady goes skinny-dipping to open the movie, that's fine. The sex scene, sure. A girl taking a bath in a corn field, I guess. But when a girl's volleyball team shows up and they all decide to go skinny-dipping, that's pushing it a bit, guys.
There is one potentially interesting sub-plot. One of the Nazis had an encounter with a village girl, and she had a baby. Now the zombie somehow recognizes his daughter, and they bond. It was an attempt at an emotional arc that most zombie movies don't go for, and if it had been better handled it could've elevated this film some. But the relationship between the solder and the village girl is perfunctory, with one line of dialogue between them. And the kid accepts her dad instantly, not bothered at all by the green skin or the whole being undead thing. Dad defending his daughter against the other zombies should have been the emotional climax of the movie, the culmination of the arc. But it's just another slow, dull fight scene. And the end, when the little girl lures the zombies into a trap, has some emotional impact, but it should've been much more powerful.
Yeah, I can see why Jean Rollin denied having directed this one for years.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2024 6:58:57 GMT -5
Well, October 1st is almost over where I am, so I'll get the marathon started: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970) Last Halloween, I got heavily into Dario Argento's films. My favorite was Suspiria, but I also appreciated his giallo films. This was Argento's debut, and while he wasn't as good as he'd later become, it's still a slick, Hitchcock-inspired giallo film. It's the story of an American author who witnesses an attempted murder and becomes embroiled in trying to solve who the killer is. My favorite thing about it is how the author has no qualms about becoming involved in the case despite the repeated attempts n his life. The films gets a bit odd at times, but it wouldn't be a giallo without a few quirks. Don't Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972) This is an interesting giallo set in a village in the Italian countryside that has been beset by a series of child murders. Nowhere near as gruesome as Fulci's later films, it's more pf a psychology exploration of themes of suspicion and mistrust. The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981) This is an interesting zombie film from Fulci as it mixes elements of supernatural horror with the zombie genre. A woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that is one of the seven gates of Hell. Once the gate is opened, the dead return as zombies and terrorize the poor woman and her love interest. Incredibly gory with some disturbing jump scares. The ending is trippy and open to all sorts of interpretations. I enjoyed the gore in this, and the zombie scenes were fun. BTW, what are Fulci's best movies? Or what are your favourites? An open question to anyone reading, of course. I think I might try one as part of the Hallowe'en Movie Marathon if I can find any. Maybe The Beyond, unless I hear about one that sounds more interesting. Actually The Beyond sounds good, though I'm not a big zombie fan. Now I want to do a whole month just on Fulci. I'd never heard of him until now and am psyched to check him out! |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Oct 2, 2024 6:59:49 GMT -5
Scars of Dracula - 1970 - Definitely my least favorite installment in the franchise. Felt like a totally different genre, and not in a fun way like the final film. |
|
|
|
Post by commond on Oct 2, 2024 8:24:58 GMT -5
A Bay of Blood (Mario Bava, 1971)
Not one of Bava's better films, imo, though it has a lot of fans. It's a giallo that ventures so far into the slasher genre that its often credited as an inspiration for films that followed like Halloween and Friday the 13th. The difference being that instead of a single killer like most giallo or slasher films, it's a bunch of unlikeable people bumping each other off so they can have the rights to a bay. It's by far Bava's most violent film, and was controversial at the time of its release, especially among viewers who were fans of Bava's more elegant and restrained films from the 60s. Its reputation has grown over time given its influence on the slasher genre, but I have to admit that I was more interested in the cinematography than the story and spent a lot of time anticipating the next death, which was one of the big criticisms of the film at the time. As one reviewer put it, Bay of Blood "is made for people who derive pleasure from seeing other people killed." The convoluted plot isn't helped by the bizarre ending that's like something out of a Godard film, though I could see how people might love how outrageous the final scene is (and, to the film's credit, there is NO WAY you can see it coming.) There are a lot of Bava films I'd recommend before this, but if you're a Friday the 13th fan you may enjoy it more than I did as the first Friday the 13th film lifts quite a bit from it.
|
|
