Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Chopping Mall

This 80s horror comedy is about a trio of mall security robots who go haywire and kill everyone staying after hours at the mall, and judging by the fact that they show characters watching Attack of the Crab Monsters on TV, reference The Day the Earth Stood Still, and have a nice Dick Miller cameo leads me to believe that this movie was made by a total nerd!

Got a copy of a Ray Harryhausen boxed set which has these in it: Earth vs The Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles To Earth, It Came From Beneath The Sea, and 7th Voyage of Sindbad (on Blu-Ray).

Watched Earth Vs The Flying Saucers (in color), was kinda goofy but not too bad.
Then 7th Voyage of Sindbad, still a really cool movie!

^ Hard to beat 7th Voyage. One of the most enjoyable films ever.

King Boxer (aka Five Fingers of Death)

From what I've read, this was actually the first breakthrough success of an Asian martial arts movie in the US. The thing is, the entire Bruce Lee phenomenon erupted almost immediately after, so this is less remembered in the pop history consciousness despite it breaking down the barriers first.

As for the film itself, a lot of the standard martial arts cliches are there, which makes sense because this was comparatively early in the cycle: rival schools, a promising young fighter, secret techniques, and unscrupulous rivals willing to kill! And the movie gets more and more nuts as it goes on, which is a big plus for me.

Us - "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!" fantastic! 10/10

The Man Who Knew Too Much - Even better than the original as the characters are given so much more time to be developed and become likable. Not to mention the concert scene is so much more suspensful. 10/10

Finally watched some Warner Archive Blus I got ladt month. Horror of Dracula is the first and probably the best of the Hammer Dracs and Dracula 1972 AD is a later one that's a lot better than you probably expect.

Some say The Sea Hawk is the best Errol Flynn swashbuckler, and I still pretty vehemently disagree. It's good, sure, and Errol Flynn has become a much better fencer by this time and is quite impressive in the finale, but it lacks the panache and effervescent spirit of The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood. I think the fact that this movie, made in 1940, reflects real life political stuff of the time, visa vie making Spain a stand-in for Nazi Germany, gives the film an inflated sense of purpose, at least for film historians maybe?

Maybe. But I think people regard The Seahawk as the best because, as you say, Errol Flynn is at the peak of his skill (acting and fencing) and it absolutely has the best pirate ship battles and sword fights. It’s kinda like Destroy All Monsters; the peak spectacle of its genre. And while a case could be made that some other films are in fact better, the Seahawk is certainly no slouch!

^ The ship to ship battle in the beginning is incredible, but I'd argue maybe the movie tops itself there. Also, from the film's midpoint all the way to almost the very end the heroes are defeated and in captivity (Captain Blood did that, too, but in the first half before all the fun stuff happens) and, while Flynn's swordplay is fantastic, his final triumph is rather short and small scale, as opposed to the huge, cathartic triumphs the heroes have in Captain Blood and Robin Hood. It results in a, in my opinion, tone that's a bit too dour.

Goosebumps 2 - I really liked the first one, but this, this was just... I have no idea. It sucked. Even most of the monsters were not even from the books. This felt like a made for TV movie. 4/10.

Watched Us (the best), watched Mothra vs. Godzillla (also the best, but man am I jonesing for a Criterion remaster) and last night watched Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky which is one of those "finally! How is it I didn't see this decades ago?" watching experiences. The only problem with it may be that as it goes on it's not as able to consistently shock you with the ultraviolence as much as it does early on, when you just guffaw over the extremity of it all.

I'd rather watch Crimson Peak a thousand times before Goosebumps again, if ONLY because it actually LOOKS like an actual movie and not something shot on an iPhone in front of a green wall.

Wonder Woman hard to believe that this is only my 2nd viewing of this film. The first was when I purchased it on Blu Ray in Nov 2017. I'd always meant to watch this one repeatedly because I do enjoy it, but other things just kept coming up. Looking back since its been almost 2 years since its release, I think some people are not as high on this film as when it first came out. Most critics fall back on the fact that despite an impressive 1st and 2nd acts, it falls into the stereotypical 3rd act *bad guy* trope, which honestly doesn't bother me. The film is not perfect, but it's highly enjoyable. Gal Gadot is such an amazing actress, and is surrounded by strong supporting characters. Definitely looking forward to the sequel next year.

I like Crimson Peak is as much as Shape of Water. I loved seeing Shape get all those awards and accolades for GDT, but deep down was a bit miffed everyone slept on Crimson Peak.

^

Watched Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro Monster, and Ebirah, Horror of the Deep .

Man, sometimes you forget just how good Ebirah is!

...Man, is the Godzilla suit looking ragged by the end, though! The only disadvantage of the stellar picture quality on the Blu-Ray!

Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, and All Monsters Attack. That's right; the Minya trilogy!

Watching Godzilla vs. Hedorah, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and Godzilla vs. Megalon back-to-back really makes you feel the severity of dwindling budgets and increasingly brief production schedules in the 70s!

Usually I cite Gigan as my favorite of these films, but this time Hedorah jumped out at me more. That's the weird thing about these films; no matter how many dozens of times I watch them my views on them and my reception towards them are always in flux.

Thor Ragnarok - I have to admit, it wasn't as amazing this time around as it was when I first saw it in theaters, but still a great movie nonetheless, especially after the first act is over. Hela and Grandmaster easily steal the show. 8/10

Aaaaand I finish the Showa series with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla.

In a weird way, despite being the end of the original series these films anticipate elements that would dominate the second and third series; namely an occasionally meta awareness of the series own legacy and a reliance on using legacy actors from the series' glory days in auxiliary roles as authority figures. The gloominess of Terror even seems to point towards the tone of the 80's films!

Solo was finally able to get a blu ray for a decent price (under $10). I still personally think the film would have been better off if released in December instead of May, to let TLJ hate subside somewhat. It still wouldn't have been a monster hit, but it might not have been the first SW film to fail financially either. But Disney just had t push Mary Poppins. I had no interest in that film, but I chose poorly and started to believe in the hype, glad I was wrong on that, still it was a bad play for Disney & SW. Solo is a decent film. It wasn't necessary, and is more forgettable than not, but it wasn't horrible either.

War of the Gargantuas...I probably am not as big a fan of this film as many here, but an opportunity to see it with a friend who hasn't seen it in many years wasn't something I was going to pass up. he really praised the detail of all the miniatures and sets, something sometimes I just take for granted watching these films sometimes.

Also saw Shazam in theaters, but posted comments in that thread.

My biggest issue with Solo is that I was just flat out bored with it. It's even more boring than The Phantom Menace.