Poster Art - ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966)

DINOSAURUS! (1960) - Poster Art and Comic Book!

I caught up with this minor dinosaur tale last night and found it to be on the low end of entertaining. It was produced by the same team that made THE BLOB (1958) a few years earlier but is a less endearing bit of science fiction. A construction team working on a Caribbean island accidentally unearth a couple of frozen (?) dinos who thaw and start butting heads, A local jerk also finds a frozen caveman who proves himself helpful as the action limps along. Much more screen time is spent with the caveman than the dinosaurs which is reflected in the French poster art. 

As soon as I made mention online of watching this film Hunter Goatley pointed to the strange synchronicity of the World of Monsters blog posting a scan of the Dell comics adaptation on the same day! Sometimes a silly monster movie is on everyone's mind at once, I guess. In several ways the comic book is a better version of the story!

World of Monsters LINK

Trailers From Hell - THE LOST WORLD (1960)

I've been on a binge of giant monster films for the past few days. This is one of the few rewatches that didn't involve stop-motion animation but it's still a fun ride. 

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969) Poster Art (and Comic Book Cover)

I rewatched this Harreyhausen classic last night and it really hit the spot. I've loved this movie for years but it had been over ten years since my last viewing so it was nice to have the movie surprise me a few times. I had forgotten how appealing James Franciscus is in the lead role even though his character is less than the hero at times. I had also forgotten just how beautiful Gila Golan was and that she had been obviously dubbed. I'm guessing her European accent wasn't quite what the filmmakers were looking for in the role of a Mexican national. And I had forgotten that Richard Carlson plays a large part in the story meaning that he is in three of my favorite science fiction monster movies of all time! (The other two being THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) of course.) This is a perfect film for summer viewing as it takes place mostly in the bright blazing sunlight. You can almost feel the sweat!

What I Watched in June

Last month saw me slow down a bit on theater visits. The best was the first when I took in TOMORROWLAND, the latest from director Brad Bird best known for his excellent animated features THE IRON GIANT and THE INCREDIBLES. So far Mr. Bird shows a marked talent in live action filmmaking as well with the best Tom Cruise Mission Impossible under his belt and now this wonderful effort. I always have my suspicions aroused whenever Disney decides to turn one of their amusement park attractions into a film as it smacks of boardroom synergy BS rather than the desire to tell a good story. So I went to see this one with a fair amount of trepidation and found myself shocked at how much I enjoyed it. This film feels like an old fashioned Disney movie from the 1950's and 60's - and I know that by telling you that I have just lost a fair percentage of you but please let me explain. There used to be an entire sub-genre of family friendly movies that Disney pioneered that were very well made, tightly scripted and fun in ways that made them perfect for kids but not insulting to adults. This kind of cinema is pretty much the norm for animated features these days where the idea is to get the whole family in the theater instead of crafting flicks for the Saturday matinees. But the appeal of this type of tale in live action has been forgotten or, more accurately, relegated to cheap TV productions done for - ah ha! - the Disney channel. 

TOMORROWLAND is a throwback to the days when real budgets and excellent ideas were used to craft movies that the entire family could enjoy without the winks and nods to the adults in the audience. This movie is for everyone and is all the better for attempting to bring back the real Disney family film of old. I've read shallow criticisms of the film that hinge on the things that the film doesn't have such as a romantic subplot (why would you need one in every damned story?) or that it doesn't have a conventional villain (good intentions gone catastrophically wrong are not interesting?)  and I find it all pathetic. TOMORROWLAND is an unabashed anti-cynical, optimistic blast of pulse-quickening futuristic fun with a glorious heartfelt message at its core - turn away from the darker parts of yourself and work toward a better tomorrow or there will be no better tomorrow. To have communicated that idea while firing laser guns, fighting robots and flying around on jetpacks is quite an accomplishment, in my book anyway.

On the darker end of the futuristic spectrum comes EX MACHINA which is being called one of the best of the year. I walked out of the theater thinking this film was a solid effort that just didn't connect with me. I was impressed with everything about it on a technical level but I felt detached and distant from everything that happened. I was able be interested in what was being said and done onscreen but there was no emotional connection for me. But over the next few days I found myself unable to stop thinking about EX MACHINA and the ideas it examines about human nature, sexuality, power and our inability to understand what it is that makes us real to others. The more time that has passed since I watched the film the more it has been on my mind so I know I'm going to have to see it again soon. I suspect that a second viewing may make me more aware of what is making the film stay in my head and might make me think better of it overall. And by the way - Oscar Issacs is an amazing actor!

JURASSIC WORLD is nothing more or less than remake of JURASSIC PARK which was a remake of WESTWORLD and may well have had a preceding film or book I am unaware of that Michael Crichton drew inspiration from way back when. In my opinion the further you get from the original the more clever you have to be to create something memorable and unfortunately the makers of this film are not very clever. Oh, they're clever in the special effects field creating all manner of new dinosaur experiences and monsters and creatures but it is the same damned story. Again! Yes, Chris Pratt is charming and Bryce Dallas Howard is gorgeous and Vincent D'Onofrio is wonderfully villainous but it is still the exact same story told back in 1993 and 1973. The same. Only with cooler special effects and, to be blunt, dumber shock moments. I mean, Hell - I thought the idiotic T-Rex inside the building ending of JP was stupid but the finale of this film throws believability into the fish tank for the same kind of 'cool' moment that finishes breaking the film for me. Not that the movie had been handling the spatial relations between humans and dinosaurs very well for a while at that point but it's as if they gave up trying. But its made over half a billion dollars worldwide so what do I know - other than there will be another Jurassic film in about two years probably telling the same story again. 

OMEN IV: THE AWAKENING (1991)- 3 (and it limps into the 90's)

LONG LIVE ROBIN HOOD (a.k.a. ARCHER OF FIRE) (1971)- 7

THE RAID 2 (20) - 9 (rewatch)

WORLD GONE WILD (1988)- 4 (terrible post apocalyptic tale but it has its charms)

TOMORROWLAND (2015)- 9

HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS (1967)- 6

BLACK BELT JONES (1974)- 7

THE DEVIL SHIP PIRATES (1963)- 7 (rewatch) (Chris Lee as a pirate!) 

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976)- 7 (rewatch)

ANNA (2014)- 8 (well done, slightly SF mystery)

ENDGAME (1983)- 6 (Italian post apocalyptic action)

EX MACHINA (2015) - 7 (interesting but overly detached and cold)

GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORA: GIANT MONSTERS ALL OUT ATTACK (2001)- 9 (rewatch)

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015)- 10 (rewatch)

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)- 8 (wow!)

THE WOMAN THEY ALMOST LYNCHED (1953)- 6 (Republic western)

SUNSET (1988) - 5 (missed opportunity)

SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961)- 7 (excellent murder story from Hammer)

JURASSIC WORLD (2015)- 5

TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1950)- 7 (Lex Barker is a very good tarzan)

Odd Comics - Tragg and the Sky Gods

I recently came across this issue of Tragg and the Sky Gods in the quarter bins and could not resist. I had absolutely no knowledge of this series but it seems I really lucked out - even though this is numbered 9 it was the last of the series and was a simple reprint of the very first issue. It is certainly interesting and if I could grab the rest of the run as cheap I'd do it! What other Don Glut surprises await me in the cheap comic boxes?