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.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"I would say, if/when you feel like watching it again, try the Japanese version, but don't have special viewing."

When watching solo, I generally opt for the Japanese version, but Tracy prefers English (so she can "multi-task" on her phone, i suspect). 

"According to the commentary track, this was the lowest-grossing Godzilla movie."

Which no doubt accounts for the fact that is was the last one for nearly a decade. 

"Apparently, the guy in the Godzilla suit also played Ultraman Taro, and the guy in the Titanosaurus suit played Ultraman Leo."

Really! That's interesting. Good to know. 

[The Baron]

According to the commentary track, Toho ended a lot of long-running film series in a variety of genres around that time,

Apparently, this picture was included in a "Childrens' Film Festival", which would  haveincluded some animated cartoons and some episodes of tokusatsu, I guess so Mama Nakamura could drop little Ichiro and Emiko off at the local cinema and go do her shopping or have a cocktail or six with the other mothers or meet her boyfriend or whatever.  I gather that the anime was more popular than the live-action stuff, so they moved more towards that.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

"According to the commentary track, this was the lowest-grossing Godzilla movie."

Which no doubt accounts for the fact that is was the last one for nearly a decade. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES (1936): This is a sequel, of sorts, to White Zombie (see above) by the same director. There are three kinds of zombie movies as I classify them: 1) voodoo zombies, 2) supernatural zombies, and 3) science zombies. Sometime these categories can overlap somewhat, but this early on, this is strictly a "voodoo zombie" movie. But without Bela Lugosi (except for close-ups on his eyes), this one is decidedly boring. 

[doc photo]

Cowboys and Aliens. I passed on this when it originally came out because it sounded dumb. Apparently a lot of people had the same opinion as the film bombed at the box office. Turns out it is quite good - worth a watch.

[ClarkKent_DC]

doc photo said:

Cowboys and Aliens. I passed on this when it originally came out because it sounded dumb. Apparently a lot of people had the same opinion as the film bombed at the box office. Turns out it is quite good - worth a watch.

My brother figured it's got James Bond and Indiana Jones together -- what's not to like?

[Richard Willis]

I'm pretty sure that "voodoo zombies" were the only kind until Night of the Living Dead. Somehow, fans started referring to these living dead rotting ghouls as zombies, and it stuck.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES (1936): This is a sequel, of sorts, to White Zombie (see above) by the same director. There are three kinds of zombie movies as I classify them: 1) voodoo zombies, 2) supernatural zombies, and 3) science zombies. Sometime these categories can overlap somewhat, but this early on, this is strictly a "voodoo zombie" movie. But without Bela Lugosi (except for close-ups on his eyes), this one is decidedly boring. 

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Saturday morning I watched The Many Saints of Newark. This is the prequel movie to The Sopranos TV show. I thought it was pretty great. I believe you can watch this, and still enjoy if you aren't familiar with TV show. Now, if you are familiar with the show there are a couple of "Oh, s***!" moments.

I thought some of the actors did a really good job of using the mannerisms/catch phrases of the originals.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS: Now that I have finished reading Lone Wolf & Cub I figure it's time to watch the two remaining movies. This in one of my favorites of the series. The stories were well-chosen and better intertwined, plus the cinematography was better. It adapts...

"Castle of Women"

"Kyushu Road"

"Shattered Stones"

"The Gateless Barrier"

"Penal Code Article 79"

[Jeff of Earth-J]

GODZILLA 1984 / THE RETURN OF GODZILLA: We watched the original Japanese version of this tonight after having watched the American version last week. You know, it never even occurred to me that they pulled the same stunt with Godzilla: 1985 that they did with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In other words, I didn't realize that all that Raymond Burr stuff was just add-ons. (Then again, I didn't know that about the first movie until the late '90s/early 2Ks.) The Japanese version is much more coherent! Apparently, they "cut over 20 minutes of original footage and effects, changed key plot points and altered the dark dramatic tome and narrative by inserting additional scenesand humor in an attempt to 'Americanize' the film." Who knew? (Not me.) Does this mean Raymond Burr and the American military are still runnning around the scenes doing their thing but it's just not being shown? Kinda funny to think that.

It's somehow fitting that the American version. a direct sequel to the original, also features Raymond Burr. Actually, there's nothing in the Japanese version that absolutely rules out the previous films, at least not Raids Again because Godzilla is said to have been in hibernation. Frankly, I had hoped this disc would have included a clean copy of the American version for comparison's sake, but the English version is simply the Japanese version dubbed. I guess there is no Godzilla: 1985 on DVD, huh? Having said all that, I liked Godzilla: 1985, cheesy as it was, but I really like this version. 

[The Baron]

Yeah, I only G85 on VHS, myself.  Oddly enough, it in cludes Bambi Meets Godzila.  My notes onnthis film are here.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

GODZILLA 1984 / THE RETURN OF GODZILLA: We watched the original Japanese version of this tonight after having watched the American version last week. You know, it never even occurred to me that they pulled the same stunt with Godzilla: 1985 that they did with Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In other words, I didn't realize that all that Raymond Burr stuff was just add-ons. (Then again, I didn't know that about the first movie until the late '90s/early 2Ks.) The Japanese version is much more coherent! Apparently, they "cut over 20 minutes of original footage and effects, changed key plot points and altered the dark dramatic tome and narrative by inserting additional scenesand humor in an attempt to 'Americanize' the film." Who knew? (Not me.) Does this mean Raymond Burr and the American military are still runnning around the scenes doing their thing but it's just not being shown? Kinda funny to think that.

It's somehow fitting that the American version. a direct sequel to the original, also features Raymond Burr. Actually, there's nothing in the Japanese version that absolutely rules out the previous films, at least not Raids Again because Godzilla is said to have been in hibernation. Frankly, I had hoped this disc would have included a clean copy of the American version for comparison's sake, but the English version is simply the Japanese version dubbed. I guess there is no Godzilla: 1985 on DVD, huh? Having said all that, I liked Godzilla: 1985, cheesy as it was, but I really like this version. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"...Raymond Burr as 'Mr. Martin'..."

He was also sometimes referred to as "Steve" but never "Steve Martin."

"One thing I remember about the U.S. version is the fairly hamfisted product placement for Dr. Pepper, a chief backer of the film."

I was going to mention that but forgot. That was pretty bad... so obvious. 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

So there’s a new streaming service, Kino Cult, available on the Roku (and other devices, I presume). It’s ad-supported, so there’s no subscription fee. The ads are repetitive, ill-timed, and intrusive, but hey, free is free. So I decided to watch The Nude Vampire because a 1970 French naked vampire film seems pretty squarely in the mission statement of this new channel.

And WHOA. When you’ve seen The Nude Vampire, you really know you’ve seen something. (Although, strangely enough, you haven’t seen a vampire. And that non-vampire is never completely nude, either, though plenty of other people are.)

So, what do you get?

Nude phlebotomy. Creepy stalkers in papier-mâché animal masks. A suicide cult. Colorful hoods. A mysterious dude in a beige science-fiction cape. Twins lounging naked, or in weird mobile tops made out of suncatchers. A mysterious girl in a diaphanous orange dress. Long pans down silent corridors. Strangely bloodless murders for a vampire film. Cap guns, meant to represent real pistols. A long, unintentionally(?) hilarious fall down a staircase. It ends (almost) with two old men walking in a field, trying to puzzle out the plot. “Do you think she was a vampire? Maybe she was a werewolf. Maybe we’ll never know.”

And… I kinda loved it. It was mesmerizing. It starts out as nudie exploitation, then veers right into David Lynchian weirdness. I haven’t seen any other Jean Rollin movies yet – he’s done a number of these fleshy Frenchy arthouse phantastiques, and plenty with vampires (or “vampires”) – but I’ll be keeping an eye out for more.