Monster of the Day #3694

OK, it took forever, but I finally mastered at least showing YouTube videos on Discord for our watch parties. The secret? You can’t use the Discord app (??), you have to use the website. The only downside is that once you’re in there it takes up the full screen so you can’t get to Gmail to send out email invites. I’ll probably send them out and then say, “Sign into Discord and I’ll start the chat in a minute.” Otherwise, pretty good, and no one is mourning Kast.

So we watched the adorable old (1948) Unknown Island, filmed in cheap, probably two-strip color. It’s basically a cheap King Kong rip-off, which is fine. It’s got a solid cast (Barton MacLane is great as the Wolf Larsen-esque skipper), a nice short running time and, oh, yeah, lots of adorable dinosaurs. Also Ray “Crash” Corrigan breaks out his ape suit, but it’s not an ape, it’s (as we’re told) a giant sloth. Because yes, that’s what those look like. Anyway, if you couldn’t make the show, check out the film on YouTube because it’s pretty fun.

Back to T-Fest coverage tomorrow.

Pin It

Beckoning Chasm

I watched Criterion's beautiful 4K release of "Godzilla vs. Biollante." I was kind of iffy about it. For one thing, there's very little "vs. Biollante" in it. And Biollante gets her ass kicked pretty easily. You kind of expect the other monster to be a threat. The miniatures and effects were great, sometimes very charming. But I kind of want a little stupid in my Godzilla movies and this didn't have any.

Also, since this was made in the 80's I guess I was expecting Godzilla might turn out to be the good guy, and Biollante the bad guy? But I guess Biollante was "chaotic good" or something. She didn't really do much of anything, honestly.

Anyway, it was a thing that exists.
🐻 bgbear_rnh

Many people say it is their least favorite but I can't see how anything could be worse than Godzilla vs Hedorah/Smog Monster. I need to see Biollante again but I recall it was OK.
Cullen Waters

I can see A LOT of Godzilla films worse than vs. Hedorah (at least six), but I don't understand vs. Biollante being a least favorite. There are far worse films in the Heisei series alone.
Cullen Waters

That dimetrodon is a thing of beauty.
🐻 bgbear_rnh

Maybe it just irks the heck out of me.
Gamera977

Not really a big fan of most of the Heisei series. GvB is one of the ones I do like though. Personally I've always thought it was a big step up from Godzilla '85 which always kinda bored me.

And gee isn't merging the DNA of your deceased daughter, your prize rose bush, and Godzilla the very definition of 'mad' scientist???
Gamera977

Seconded! The T. rexes were whimsical and fun but goofy. The dimetrodon looks great though! It's just easier to do quadruped critters than bipedal ones.
Gamera977

I watched a couple of Biblical epics over Easter.

And maybe I'm just speaking as a heterosexual guy tired of buffalo shots of big hairy man butts but the greatest invention in human history isn't the wheel nor fire, but pants. Joke about the Middle Ages being the 'Dark' Ages all you want but they had something the Romans never had… trousers…
🐻 bgbear_rnh

The silent version of Ben Hur was on last night and Ramon Navarro was definitely a Ben Him.
Beckoning Chasm

I didn't DISlike it. For the most part I liked it. I wished that the "bearded terrorist guy stealing bacteria" character was wiped out early on, but that's just because he was the most evil thing in the film.
I think I was mainly let down that Biollante had been sold (previously, when the film was not readily available) as this awesome creature that spread its (her) tendrils around everywhere and she was unstoppable. Turns out she was very stoppable.
And I know I should know better, but when Criterion releases something, and they do a 4K release, one should expect something outstanding.
This wasn't outstanding. I liked it in the main, enjoyed it a lot, but outstanding? Not really.
Ken_Begg

That's how I felt. I saw Godzilla 85 in the theater and was very disappointed. Then a few years late a found a gray market VHS tape of Godzilla vs Biollante and was like, "What is this?!" After I watched it wished that was the one they had shown in theaters. It was also the first film to portray a Japan that followed a different path following the original Godzilla incident. All the anti-Godzilla tech, etc. It's not tightly scripted, but I really like it.

Related Posts