Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song

The last of the four Scorpion films. Now, the first two Scropion films are total classics, but with the third director Shunya Ito felt he was out of ideas. Instead of letting a popular franchise expire, the studio turned to another director to do one more film. The first half of Grudge Song plays much like the previous film, with Scorpion as a fugitive, this time hooking up with a former activist who was mutilated by the police. The second half of the movie is much more interesting, with Scorpion back in prison and on death row. This prison has an all female staff, but the all-male police squad that's been pursuing Scorpion and wants revenge against her plant themselves in the prison awaiting Scorpion's execution. This part of the movie gets back to the clash of personalities inside the prison dynamic that made the first film so great, only now not as operatic and over-the-top. The most interesting conflict is between Scorpion and a female prison guard who's kind and tries to befriend the condemned. Scorpion instantly dislikes her; from her perspective you can't play at being nice while being a part of an oppressive system.

All in all, Female Prisoner Scorpion three and four are interesting and worth watching, but if you can only catch two of these things make sure to catch the first two.

Final thing about the Scorpion films I forgot to mention: a kid in the second movie has a totally sweet Baragon toy.

Godzilla VS King Ghidora at my localish Alamo Drafthouse... despite being informed that they would be projecting the Sony Blu-ray, which I already have a copy of, I didn't feel like passing up a rare chance to catch an authentic Godzilla movie on the big screen. While seeing it on the big screen didn't change the opinion I've always held about this film, it was still worth it. What really shocked me was how good the Blu-ray looked projected on the big screen... if I hadn't already been told it was the Blu-ray, I could've easily assumed it was a DCP. Sony did a great job encoding this one.

I recently watched the classic The THING From Another World for the first time, and was surprised to discover it was far less of a horror film than I expected. That didn't hurt the film at all, though - the entire cast was engaging, with extremely lifelike dialogue and behavior that seemed generally natural for them. What the film lacks in special effects it makes up for in presence; there's not much horror, but there's ample suspense in the discovery of the alien and its awakening, not to mention the rising danger once it's loose and the scientists begin to realize what sort of menace the thing really is. Overall, this was a very entertaining film, and I see why it's hailed as a classic of science fiction.

Yesterday I went to see A Silent Voice for a second time at the theaters, with my mom and a couple friends to share the experience. I loved it the first time and still loved it the second. The movie really is a fascinating exercise in audio/visual narration; as much is said through framing, character animation, and sound effects/music as there is actually said in dialogue. There are a few points where the plot stumbles a bit - probably an inevitable result of abridging 7 volumes of source material into one two-hour+ film - but the emotional heights of the film easily overshadow those weak points. Yes, this is a very emotionally driven film, and it handles the complicated feelings of the two leads with grace. There's not really any black-and-white presentation of things here, because real relationships and communication are tricky like that. I'm already a pretty big fan of Kyoto Animation titles, but from what I've seen so far this film might be their most unique yet, and certainly one of their greatest triumphs.

I find The Thing from Another World to be all right. It's not bad or anything, but I can see why everyone's talks about Carpenter's over it. I do like how the characters tend to talk over each other like real people do, but the pacing feels off to me.

Getting back to my watch pile after a month of only horror, and after finishing off my Female Prisoner Scorpion box set I suppose it's about time to finish my Lone Wolf and Cub set as well!

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons goes whole-hog into the fact that we're not dealing with modern morality in a plot that has members of a clan hiring Ogami and Daigoro to kill their five year old princess. Their lord, you see, has gone a bit senile and is raising the girl as the male prince, and if this is ever found out it could mean seppuku for every man, woman, and child in the clan. The scene where Daigoro and the princess make funny faces at each other before she orders LW&C killed is rather chilling. Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell is the final film, and is considered the weakest, but it's not really bad. I remember when I first watched it I thought that the new martial arts clan's illusions brought an unwelcome fantastical element to the series, but I disagree now: it's no more over-the-top than the way many other feats of martial arts are portrayed throughout the series. The guy who plays the Black Hole alien commander in the two Mechagodzilla films is in this, as a lieutenant of the villainous Retsudo.

I've still got one movie to go on this set: the English dub re-edit of the first two movies into one movie, Shogun Assassin. This Americanization has a lot of fans so I'm looking forward to it.

taking a fast break from Ultras and Kamens I'm going to see if I can binge Godzilla 2000, GMK, and Shin into my schedule today.

I ordered the Bandai vinyls for 2000 and Shin last week and I'm hoping to order the NECAs for GMK and Shin this week so I'm pumped to see these 3 films again.

Shogun Assassin takes the second Lone Wolf and Cub film almost in its entirety and grafts on the origin story stuff from the first film as a kind of flashback prologue. The characters and their various clan allegiances are simplified in a way that I find makes the story weaker, but probably made it more accessible to the intended US and British audiences of the time who may not have been too familiar with the samurai genre aside from the then wildly popular novel and miniseries 'Shogun' (which is probably the reason for this movie's title, eh?). The good things about this version are two: an absolutely bangin' synth score and that they tied everything together by having a real child actor play Daigoro and narrate the entire film from his child perspective. That's such a fantastic idea I hope a further LW&C adaptation adopts that!

Gamera vs Zigra via the Mill Creek Blu-Ray, looks great, is still fun as heck, and of course the space babe was rather nice.

Thor: Ragnarok at the theater, had a really short day at work (on a rather rainy day) so I went to see it.
It was a ton of fun, and since it was a weekday it wasn't that crowded, and the crowd stayed quiet.
Plus a few people (besides myself) actually stayed until after the credits.

Will be seeing the new Murder on the Orient Express a bit later today, it looked interesting enough.

Suburbicon - George Clooney directs this 1950s-set tale based on a screenplay that Joel and Ethan Coen first wrote in the '80s. It's a good movie but I must say that the trailer is both very spoilery and rather misleading, which is quite a feat. I recommend avoiding the trailer and checking this out if you're a fan of the Coens' style of bleak comedy.

Jane - This chronicles the life and accomplishments of Dr. Jane Goodall, whose field studies of chimpanzees beginning in 1960 unlocked a world of discovery and new understanding of the species. Director Brett Morgan had unprecedented access to over 100 hours of unreleased 16mm film shot decades ago by Hugo Van Lawick, the Dutch photographer who was sent by National Geographic to chronicle Goodall's studies and wound up marrying and having a son with her. There have been a number of documentaries and TV specials about the chimpanzees of Gombe over the years, and while this naturally touches on them too, this one is specifically about Jane Goodall, who recounts her experiences in newly recorded interviews. I've read books that she's written about her studies (In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window) so it was a real treat getting to see so many of the recorded events unfold on the screen via archival footage. Jane is a magnificent chronicle of a brilliant scientist and a fascinating case for the work she pioneered. I definitely recommend seeing this documentary if it .

Thor: Ragnarok - I posted more about this in its own thread. It's a top-tier MCU entry, right up there with Iron Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and both Guardians of the Galaxy and Vol. 2.

Rodan - haven’t watched this in a few years. Thanks to Criterion and the free Starz trial on amazon, I got to watch it in HD! And it looked great. Or, at least miles better than any version I’ve gotten to watch previously. Awesome movie, awesome monster, awesome effects. I really can’t think of anything to say about it that’s not entirely positive.

War of the Gargantuas - also in HD thanks to Starz. It’s the international dub, which I’ve never seen, and is basically just the Japanese cut dubbed in English. Personally, I prefer the U.S. cut but there was one improvement here: the voice actor who dubbed Russ Tamblyn gave a much more enthusiastic performance!! The film also looked fantastic compared to any previous versions. I did see the U.S. cut via an original 35mm print a few years ago, but it was pretty badly pink-shifted. While that print may have been a little sharper, I’d say this criterion/Starz version (a port of the Japanese BD master that’s been corrected for North American TVs? Sure looks that way) is still the best overall copy I’ve seen.

As for the film, it’s never been one of my favorites. It’s got a good story and GREAT effects with some really creative ideas. But Russ Tamblyn’s phoned-in performance hurts it badly. And then, I’ve just never cared for the monster designs. They’re just so humanoid. I vastly prefer my giant monsters to be inspired by the animal kingdom. Especially prehistoric and/or reptilian creatures; but animals, bugs, and the like in general are almost always preferable to humanoid. Kong is about as humanoid as I like to get. It’s one of the main reasons that, despite really trying to give him an honest chance, I just don’t care much for Ultraman. Ah well, it’s still an awesome movie.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

Okay, makes sense in terms of sequel escalation: have the cenobites invade the real world. Easy peasy. Too bad the new cenobites are really lame, and while Doug Bradley is fun as Pinhead I don't think the character works as well as an independent slasher type character and was more interesting as the servant of a higher power in the first two. The distinct gothic moodiness of the two initial films feels drained out, and what's left is a more generic type of horror film that, when redressed, could have been sold as something other than Hellraiser. Heck, with the dream subplot you could probably make a few changes and it could be a mediocre Elm Street sequel.

Thing I like, though? It feels soon early '90s. I was a little kid in this time, and B-movies almost seem to absorb the feeling of the moment better than other types of films, so I always enjoy this kind of practical time travel.

Miss Meadows - A dark little comedy starring Katie Holmes as a "vigilante Mary Poppins". Small budget crime flick that doesn't overstay its runtime.

War for the Planet of the Apes - somehow this feels smaller in scope than Dawn, but solid quality film nonetheless. My biggest complaint is naming the girl Nova reduces the scale and timeline a bit by putting the events of the original PotA within 10 years of this films ending, however within the context of the film it doesnt carry much weight.

Silent Hill - It's been a few years since I have seen this, but i think it holds up as a horrifying dark twisted fantasy. Still the best film adaptation of a video game i've come across. Visually this film is wonderful and between this movie and Brotherhood of the Wolf, I really wish Christophe Gans directed more films (but with 6+ years between movies, maybe there will be a new one coming soon?) - It's also interesting watching this with the knowledge that the studio wouldn't greenlight the film without any male characters, so everything involving Sean Bean was added in later in the process. The barbwire ending, another weak spot was also the result of budgetary constraints with the original script featuring multiple pyramid heads.

Get the Gringo - Another revisit for me. I like this flick, it's pretty much the unofficial sequel to Payback, another solid modern noir living up to the "Parker" name (despite neither film using the Parker name)

Yeah, no matter how you look at it, these movies are a new universe. There is no way they could tie into the original movie.

Wheels on Meals

Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao are Chinese skateboarding cousins who operate a food truck in Barcelona, and they cross paths with a girl who may be a prostiute, or actually maybe a thief. Wait, let me back up. Sammo Hung is a Chinese private detective living in Barcelona who is hired by some mysterious guy to track down this girl, and Sammo has this terrible perm. Let me put it this way; there's an evil, sword fighting Count. Oh, and Sammo is good friends with Jackie and Yuen's characters but the movie doesn't let you in on the fact they even know each other until 45 minutes in. There's lots of gags, lots of fighting, maybe not the most delicate handling of portraying the mentally ill on film... it's a lot of fun. It's a fun, easy-going type of movie.

The opening is epic: Jackie and Yuen wake up and go through their morning exercises and the way the scene plays is almost hypnotic.

^ Where did you see btw? (streaming service? dvd? other?)

Attack on Titan v1: Well i have this on bluray, but this is the first time i watched it since the theatrical release. Figured I would watch the dub...
When i saw this in theatre I had dragged a non-toku fan along with me. I remember being a little embarrassed at the beginning of the film at how horribly awkward the characters and dialogue were.. In a lot of ways its like an old 50s horror flick, with actors in their late 20s playing teens and giving cringe-worthy tweeny dialogue and occasional exposition drops.. the dub only amplifies the problem. I still think the Titan attack scenes are delightfully creepy. There's enough competence and visually interesting things in this movie that ultimately i think the best way to improve this movie would be with an alternate subtitle track that takes a lot liberties.