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.
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Last night we started with The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo - Doctor Frankenstein, which I had definitly not seen before (nor had I ever heard of). Surprisingly, it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel (for the most part, especially considering it's only 23 minutes long without commercials), and even includes the novel's framing sequence. I thank Philip Portelli for bringing it to my attention.
After that, we moved on to the colorized version of Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster. Taking Bob's recommendation into account, we started watching the MST3K version but, when Tracy realized she had seen it before (I guess her boycott of Ed Wood movies does not extend to MST3K), we switched over to the colorized version, which is what I was in the mood for in the first place. (FWIW, I do agree that the MST version is very good, but the movie itself is entertaining enough without the jokes.) The colorization, I must say, was rather slipshod, with stray body parts (such as a hand of a nose) slipping back-and-forth between color and b&w. That didn't really matter, though. I generally disapprove of the colorization of classic movies, but Ed Wood is hardly known for his b&w cinematography.
Knock at the Cabin - It has been a while since I've watched an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but I was interested in this because: 1. The premise seemed really interesting. 2. I wanted to see former wrestler, Dave Bautista, in a dramatic role. The premise is that a family on vacation must willingingly choose to kill another family member to prevent the Apocalypse. Or do they? Are the four strangers who have captured them, and held them hostage, telling the truth. Or are they some part of a crazy cult? I loved this idea, and I loved watching the story play out. As for the second point, I though Bautista was really good. A much better actor than I thought he was.
Legend of the Eight Samurai - A princess' clan is killed by some phantom warriors. We soon learn that is a part of a long history between 2 different clans, one good and one evil. Once the princess is sacrificed, the bad guys will be immortal and such. There are 8 crystals, each representing a different virtue, that someone possesses. Once all 8 are found they can assault the bad guys lair and end them once and for all. It takes a loooooong time to get all 8 together...way longer than to find the 13 assassins in....um....13 Assassins. Once we finally get ramped up though this is a good movie. It's well over 2 hours long, and took me 2 sessions to watch it all. This is part of the Sonny Chiba Collection DVD set I got a while back.
THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER (1981): I boycotted this movie for 43 years but I finally caved and watched it tonight. After the cancellation of the TV series, Clayton Moore made a living touring as the Lone Ranger, but when the movie was in production, the studio barred him from doing so or from wearing a mask. He took to wearing a large pair of sunglasses and billing himself as "Clayton Moore, the Man Who Portrayed the Lone Ranger." I saw him in person twice, spoke to him, shook his hand, and I feel as if he asked me personally not to see the movie. Curiousity finally got the better of me, though. Moore is dead now and the studio didn't make any money off me, so I'm hoping that's all right.
The producers took quite a few liberties with the "legend," not the least of which is making Butch Cavendish (play by Christopher Lloyd, BTW) a major in the U.S. Army. When Clayton Moore spoke, he was uspet that the movie was rated "PG"; he felt that "The Lone Ranger" should never be unsuitable for young children to watch. (But I've got some news for Moore; in today's political climate, even his television show is rated PG in reruns on cable.) The movie also added a (quite unneccesary) narrator, who piped up at the most inopportune of times. the theme song is sung (yes, sung) by Merle Haggard. It's not quite Doc Savage bad, but it's pretty bad. The origin takes 58 minutes, leaving 39 minutes for the plot (not much longer than a TV episode), which involes the kidnapping of President Grant (played by Jason Robbards) in exhange for Congress ceding Texas to Cavendish. John Hart also has a small role.
Klinton Spilsbury's voice was dubbed throughout by another actor, and he hasn't appeared in another film since. the movie was a critical and commercial failure. I'm glad my curiousity has been sated but, knowing what I know now, I honestly could have waited another 40 years. If you haven't seen it, don't bother.
It’s not a werewolf movie, but was recommended along with two actual werewolf movies. I’m glad it was. Sigourney Weaver in the role of the evil queen (actually a titled Lady) turns in her usual terrific performance. In this version, she is the new wife of “Snow White’s” father (Sam Neill), a rich widowed Lord. Lilli Hoffman (Monica Keena), aka Snow White, is born to her dying mother after her father is urged to perform a C-section. Somehow he does it without killing the baby. There is a mirror (which I will call The Mirror, an evil entity) that is in the new wife’s possession. The Mirror nudges her more and more into evil acts. There is a poisoned apple and there are seven rough, tough miners, only one of whom is a dwarf. Originally intended for theatrical release, this movie was released on Showtime. I highly recommend it.
We watched the 1935 adaptation of David Copperfield. It's truncated, but features a dream-cast of old-time actors. Their stage-trained approach works with the Dickens source material. W.C. Fields gets to play someone who isn't just W.C. Fields.
Frankenstein (1931) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Son of Frankenstein (1939) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) House of Frankenstein (1944) House of Dracula (1945)
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Last night we started with The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo - Doctor Frankenstein, which I had definitly not seen before (nor had I ever heard of). Surprisingly, it's a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel (for the most part, especially considering it's only 23 minutes long without commercials), and even includes the novel's framing sequence. I thank Philip Portelli for bringing it to my attention.
After that, we moved on to the colorized version of Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster. Taking Bob's recommendation into account, we started watching the MST3K version but, when Tracy realized she had seen it before (I guess her boycott of Ed Wood movies does not extend to MST3K), we switched over to the colorized version, which is what I was in the mood for in the first place. (FWIW, I do agree that the MST version is very good, but the movie itself is entertaining enough without the jokes.) The colorization, I must say, was rather slipshod, with stray body parts (such as a hand of a nose) slipping back-and-forth between color and b&w. That didn't really matter, though. I generally disapprove of the colorization of classic movies, but Ed Wood is hardly known for his b&w cinematography.
Knock at the Cabin - It has been a while since I've watched an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but I was interested in this because: 1. The premise seemed really interesting. 2. I wanted to see former wrestler, Dave Bautista, in a dramatic role. The premise is that a family on vacation must willingingly choose to kill another family member to prevent the Apocalypse. Or do they? Are the four strangers who have captured them, and held them hostage, telling the truth. Or are they some part of a crazy cult? I loved this idea, and I loved watching the story play out. As for the second point, I though Bautista was really good. A much better actor than I thought he was.
Legend of the Eight Samurai - A princess' clan is killed by some phantom warriors. We soon learn that is a part of a long history between 2 different clans, one good and one evil. Once the princess is sacrificed, the bad guys will be immortal and such. There are 8 crystals, each representing a different virtue, that someone possesses. Once all 8 are found they can assault the bad guys lair and end them once and for all. It takes a loooooong time to get all 8 together...way longer than to find the 13 assassins in....um....13 Assassins. Once we finally get ramped up though this is a good movie. It's well over 2 hours long, and took me 2 sessions to watch it all. This is part of the Sonny Chiba Collection DVD set I got a while back.
At the end of the trailer I just posted for Venom 3 you will see a symbiote-infected horse doing a Hulk-like jump.
THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER (1981): I boycotted this movie for 43 years but I finally caved and watched it tonight. After the cancellation of the TV series, Clayton Moore made a living touring as the Lone Ranger, but when the movie was in production, the studio barred him from doing so or from wearing a mask. He took to wearing a large pair of sunglasses and billing himself as "Clayton Moore, the Man Who Portrayed the Lone Ranger." I saw him in person twice, spoke to him, shook his hand, and I feel as if he asked me personally not to see the movie. Curiousity finally got the better of me, though. Moore is dead now and the studio didn't make any money off me, so I'm hoping that's all right.
The producers took quite a few liberties with the "legend," not the least of which is making Butch Cavendish (play by Christopher Lloyd, BTW) a major in the U.S. Army. When Clayton Moore spoke, he was uspet that the movie was rated "PG"; he felt that "The Lone Ranger" should never be unsuitable for young children to watch. (But I've got some news for Moore; in today's political climate, even his television show is rated PG in reruns on cable.) The movie also added a (quite unneccesary) narrator, who piped up at the most inopportune of times. the theme song is sung (yes, sung) by Merle Haggard. It's not quite Doc Savage bad, but it's pretty bad. The origin takes 58 minutes, leaving 39 minutes for the plot (not much longer than a TV episode), which involes the kidnapping of President Grant (played by Jason Robbards) in exhange for Congress ceding Texas to Cavendish. John Hart also has a small role.
Klinton Spilsbury's voice was dubbed throughout by another actor, and he hasn't appeared in another film since. the movie was a critical and commercial failure. I'm glad my curiousity has been sated but, knowing what I know now, I honestly could have waited another 40 years. If you haven't seen it, don't bother.
IIRC, they took The Adventures of Superman off the air when the 1978 movie came out!
Snow White: A Tale of Terror(1997)
It’s not a werewolf movie, but was recommended along with two actual werewolf movies. I’m glad it was. Sigourney Weaver in the role of the evil queen (actually a titled Lady) turns in her usual terrific performance. In this version, she is the new wife of “Snow White’s” father (Sam Neill), a rich widowed Lord. Lilli Hoffman (Monica Keena), aka Snow White, is born to her dying mother after her father is urged to perform a C-section. Somehow he does it without killing the baby. There is a mirror (which I will call The Mirror, an evil entity) that is in the new wife’s possession. The Mirror nudges her more and more into evil acts. There is a poisoned apple and there are seven rough, tough miners, only one of whom is a dwarf. Originally intended for theatrical release, this movie was released on Showtime. I highly recommend it.
TRAILER
We watched the 1935 adaptation of David Copperfield. It's truncated, but features a dream-cast of old-time actors. Their stage-trained approach works with the Dickens source material. W.C. Fields gets to play someone who isn't just W.C. Fields.
Sandman Season 2 News
STORY
(Sounds like it will finish with season 3)
Recently Re-Watched:
Frankenstein (1931)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
House of Frankenstein (1944)
House of Dracula (1945)
No Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein? It's as much in continuity with the series as the others.
I think Bride of Frankenstein is the best of this lot-- though Dracula's Daughter is underrated.
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