Movies I Have Seen Lately

[The Baron]

Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.

[The Baron]

Now re-watching Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I have to find something to watch while Tracy is out of town next week. Although she's a big fan herself, "Godzilla" is a likely choice. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Started watching Andrew Bujalski's 2013 movie Computer Chess on a whim last night and I was enthralled. Full of awkward people using clunky computers to play an elegant game, but what really fascinates is their interactions with each other, and the burgeoning technology itself. The black and white lends it the vibe of a non-raunchy Clerks, but in other ways it's completely opposite: the movie's intriguing rather than in-your-face, and it feels like there are a myriad of secrets to tease out during re-watches.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

I finally saw the Western classic, Shane. I thought it was great, and lived up to the billing. It is definitely a slow burn, and even compared to other Westerns of that era, it had a low body count. The only thing that annoyed me was how often everyone called him by his name. Especially, the little boy.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I had a professor in college who used the movie Shane to explain dramatic structure. He acted out all the parts. His lecture was really quite entertaining and I remember it to this day. I had seen the movie, but I don't think most of the rest of the class had. A few years later, when I was student teaching, I tried to replicate the same results a class of ninth graders, but I used Star Wars. I figured that movie would hold more interest for them, but no more of them had seen Star Wars than my fellow students had seen Shane. 

[The Baron]

Re-watched Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002), Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2003) and Godzilla (2014).

[Luke Blanchard]

I've only seen a few of Alan Ladd's and Van Heflin's other movies. Whispering Smith (1948), starring Ladd and Robert Preston, is a classy colour A-Western. 3:10 to Yuma (1957), starring Heflin and Glenn Ford, is an absorbing B&W Western with a terrifically tense climax (so avoid spoilers at all costs!)

Whispering Smith was from a 1906 novel by Frank H. Spearman. It was apparently viewed as a classic: the net tells me there had been a number of silent and earlier sound films adapting the novel or otherwise using the character, a railroad detective. Audie Murphy played him in a 1961 TV series.

3:10 to Yuma was from a short story by Elmore Leonard. I haven't seen the 2007 remake.

Van Heflin played Athos in the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers, starring Gene Kelly.

[The Baron]

Re-watched Shin Godzilla (2016) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Hahahah. Oh well, you tried.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

I had a professor in college who used the movie Shane to explain dramatic structure. He acted out all the parts. His lecture was really quite entertaining and I remember it to this day. I had seen the movie, but I don't think most of the rest of the class had. A few years later, when I was student teaching, I tried to replicate the same results a class of ninth graders, but I used Star Wars. I figured that movie would hold more interest for them, but no more of them had seen Star Wars than my fellow students had seen Shane. 

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Luke, I'm not sure I've seen another Alan Ladd movie, I'd have to look up his filmography.

I've only seen the 2007 remake of 3:10 to Yuma. I've read the short story a few times. I think it is a masterpiece of the style.

Luke Blanchard said:

I've only seen a few of Alan Ladd's and Van Heflin's other movies. Whispering Smith (1948), starring Ladd and Robert Preston, is a classy colour A-Western. 3:10 to Yuma (1957), starring Heflin and Glenn Ford, is an absorbing B&W Western with a terrifically tense climax (so avoid spoilers at all costs!)

Whispering Smith was from a 1906 novel by Frank H. Spearman. It was apparently viewed as a classic: the net tells me there had been a number of silent and earlier sound films adapting the novel or otherwise using the character, a railroad detective. Audie Murphy played him in a 1961 TV series.

3:10 to Yuma was from a short story by Elmore Leonard. I haven't seen the 2007 remake.

Van Heflin played Athos in the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers, starring Gene Kelly.

[Richard Willis]

Watch for free on Shout Factory TV. Channel in on Roku.:

Woman in Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek and the Remaking of NASA

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE CAPTAINS: A film by William Shatner

William Shatner interviews Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and Chris Pine.