The park is gone when the Reel Nerds review Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Before Marvel had its superheroes, the world had Godzilla. With all of the talk of Marvel and Disney revolutionizing the film industry, it’s easy to forget that they aren’t the first time a “Cinematic Universe” has succeeded. The first being all of the Kaiju films that range from 1925 to even today. So for a new series that I think might be fun, I’m going to look at all of these big ole monster films and see if all of them hold up. This includes the King Kong films as well as the Godzilla films, and all of the spin-offs of these franchises like Mothra and Gamera.
So do they hold up? Let’s start today with the first big ole monster film ever made, The Lost World, though not technically involved with the rest of the films; this film is historically significant as the primary influencer into the next movie. The Lost World is directed by Harry O. Hoyt and Milton Menasco. It is the first adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel detailing a large island inhabiting large creatures! And by giant creatures, we mean dinosaurs for the most part. Now the film didn’t age well, but it’s not awful by any means. The film is just a bouncing point. The effects used in the film I’m sure are mind-blowing for the time, but today just seem like a poor choice in comparison to the next film.
The next film is the iconic King Kong! Coming out almost ten years after The Lost World, Ernest B. Schoedsack was deeply inspired by the film and made what is arguably the most iconic film ever made. I feel like I don’t even have to explain the plot of this film. But King Kong follows a group of money hungry filmmakers as they find a giant ape and bring the ape back to New York. Things then go very swimmingly, and nothing bad happens. Unlike The Lost World, the effects for King Kong hold up exceptionally well. To the point where I still wonder how exactly a few effects were done. The film to this day, almost one hundred years later, still holds up as an amazing film.
Now King Kong was a roaring success. To the point where only a year later, almost everyone involved with King Kong returned for the sequel, The Son of Kong. Ernest B. Schoedsack returns for this film, and if you are wondering what else he did with his career, he found his niche and made films about how dangerous mammals are with The Most Dangerous Game, Dr. Cyclops, and Chang. The Son of Kong picks up immediately after King Kong; our main character is on the run from everyone who wants to sue/kill him because of the events of the first film. He returns to Skull Island where he finds out that King Kong had a son. Now, this film really can’t compare to the original. They had a smaller budget and smaller set. And noticeably it has a much lighter tone, almost becoming a comedy. Remember this because this will be a reoccurring theme throughout this series.
The Kong films became famous around the world. Interestingly, five years later a small production studio in Japan was interested in these films. This production company was called Zensho Cinema, and not much is known about them today. But they liked the Kong films so much that they decided to make their own. So they made the film The King Kong That Appeared in Edo. Following King Kong as he treks to Japan and causes chaos. Unfortunately, once the war broke out in Japan, the film was destroyed and is now considered lost. All that remains is a few pictures and frames of what the film looked like. And this might be a bad time to bring this up, but I have a fear of bad masks. Like when something looks half human and half animal. I don’t know; it just freaks me out. So when I look at the costume for King Kong made by Fuminori Ohashi, I freak out. It is terrifying, and I am honestly glad I didn’t have to watch this film. And although the film was lost and wasn’t a thundering success like the other Kong Films, Ohashi caught the eye of another director in Japan sixteen years later. This director was Ishiro Honda.
Ishiro Honda was a Japanese director who throughout the early stages of his career, he was forced to make propaganda war films for Japan. Upon the end of WWII, Honda began to make films the way he wanted but was met with harsh criticism and reluctance from financiers. Many claimed that Ishiro Honda’s scripts were too dark and realistic. Many of which criticized the war and the Japanese Government and Military, a very taboo subject at the time. It wasn’t until 1954 that Honda contacted Fuminori Ohashi, wanting to recruit him to create the suit and costume for his next film, Godzilla.
In 1954, Honda directed the secretly hyper critical anti-war film Godzilla. Though many who have never seen a Godzilla film before might be disappointed in the monster first foray into film. Godzilla doesn’t make that long of an appearance in the film, but his presence is strong. Off the coast of Japan, a monster has been born, and the natives call it Gojira, a 164-foot tall monster that is headed toward Japan. The rest of the film is the government attempting to figure out how to defeat the creature before it destroys Japan, and consequently the rest of the world. Godzilla is dark and haunting. There are no fun action sequences; it would be more accurate to describe the film as a horror film. The audience and the characters know destruction is coming and there is no stopping it. The only thing they can do is wait for their doom or try to figure out any possible way to stop it. Ishiro Honda didn’t realize what he was making then would end up changing cinema for the rest of time.
The Reel Nerds countdown each of their top three comic book movies in front of an audience at Denver Comic Con (6/17/18)!
Every con has its pros when Corinne returns to review Ocean’s Eight with the Reel Nerds.
The Reel Nerds are neither man nor machine but more when they review Upgrade.
Do you ever want to feel artistically superior to all of your friends? Maybe you are tired of your friends talking about how great the latest action film is and want to sound better. Maybe you want to impress your date with obscure film trivia. Maybe you think that knowing a lot about film history and art will somehow validate your meaningless existence and will replace that ever-growing pit in your heart that tells you that you don’t matter and no one cares about you. Well, don’t worry! Because I watch a bunch of art house films and can give you recommendations on what to watch and what to feel superior about! So without any delay, let’s get pretentious!
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The best way I can describe the films that I’ve seen by Hirokazu Kore-eda is to say they remind me of a spring breeze. The films of his that I’ve seen remind me of my childhood. His films have the same dynamic tone seen in Yasujiro Ozu’s work, but with just a slight bit more dirt. I really enjoy watching Kore-eda’s filmography and he is one of those directors that I am gladly watching all the way through currently. Which leads me to why I choose this film, Still Walking, for my review this week.
Still Walking, is a 2008 Japanese film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Still Walking follows the Yokoyama family as they come together to mourn the death of Junpei, the eldest son, on the 15th anniversary of his death. Despite the heavy tone, the film never gets dark I would say. Though the theme of the film reminds me of something I would see in something directed by Jacques Audiard, it never becomes a haunting film that a director like Audiard would make. It remains a Kore-eda film through and through, where the film just feels calm. There is sadness, but there is never sorrow.
If there was a performance that I wanted to highlight, it would probably be Hiroshi Abe. Abe plays Ryota, the youngest son of the Yokoyama family. Ryota feels as though his parents wish he had died instead of his brother. On top of that, he must introduce his wife and stepson to his family, which also causes conflict. Hiroshi Abe’s performance is very nuanced in the film and he delivers something both subtle and impactful with his performance. Abe’s performance completely blew me away in this film.
Though I did enjoy the film, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was expecting or hoping. I far more enjoyed his film Like Father, Like Son as well as Our Little Sister to a lesser extent. I honestly expected this to be his magnum opus, as it was the average highest rating on Letterboxd. Though the film is by no means bad and is actually very good, I might have just had too high of expectations and I should have just checked those expectations at the door. But currently, as it stands I was a tad bit let down by the film.
I don’t have much else to say about the film. It’s a very calm and enjoyable film. It doesn’t push the boundaries of film nor does it revolutionize anything. But it doesn’t need to. Because it is a great way to calm down. It’s a great way to smile. I think this film has a lot to enjoy because it’s one of those films. Kore-eda is the director equivalent of a feel-good hangover movie. You can just put it on, and not have to worry about anything. You just let it play.
The current state of the horror genre nowadays has bore much sweet fruit. With the current wave of socially relevant fright fest that have emerged in turbulent times, it does seem that some styles and tones that were extremely prevalent in the 80’s horror are getting makeovers for the better or being left to the ages because there is almost no possible way to justify their continuance.
Watching ‘Dark Forest’, the debut film from Zellco Productions in Canada, I felt that former revelation throughout on both the positive and negative.
‘Dark Forest’ lays out the story of a group of ladies heading out for a camping trip in an isolated forest. Among the group is Emily (sympathetically portrayed by Laurel McArthur), whose abusive boyfriend Peter (Dennis Scullard) is adamant she not go on the trip to the point where he hurls insults and beer cans at her friends. When she sneaks away from him to join her friends on the trip, Peter anger protrudes further outward as he enlists his ‘friends’ to join him in hunting the girls down in the forest. What follows is a Roger Corman-esque spree of bloodshed that recalls the 80’s splatter-fests of yesterday.
Sadly and Gladly, the film is ambitious be more than what it is at many points. Starting off with the central plot line, the idea of slapping together the slasher characterization onto the all too timely topic of domestic abuse is inspired in ways, creating a potentially terrifying villain whose selfish nature and demented viewpoint of love are cringe worthy. And Dennis Scullard as Peter is up to the challenge, providing a truly creepy persona. Despite his menace, the film as a whole undermines its potential relevance by relying on Exploitation tropes. This is apparent in the way female side characters are treated or treating each in a very outdated fashion.
Alas, it is all underdeveloped in a 75 minute film that also carves time for a second and third group of victims who seem to be there to provide further kills for Peter in order to rack up the body count, despite the fact they are irrelevant to his goal. Interestingly, they seem to throw romance in his face in a nearly comical fashion before he proceeds to hack and slash. The idea is there, but it seems to be lost in the forest without a map.
The film also grasps onto a Death Proof style third act where the heroes and villain face off. Again, another great idea that feels too little developed when also trying to embrace a 80’s slasher esthetic. The sub- genre they manage to tap into is one that usually devoid of much substance and sincerely is just there for thrills. That, combined with editing that barely connects anything together, left me wondering if there was an extra 30 minutes of set-up/exploration that is on the cutting room floor to get it to an acceptable length for distribution.
Yet in spite of my blows, I admire this films intent to try for that blend. There are moments when the film is aimed straight at the target and even hit the target. The final showdown in the last 5 minutes recalls a mix of the visual grit of the first Slumber Party Massacre finale mixed with the aforementioned Death Proof’s attitude. And the cinematography is a big shining star in the film as it fully embraces the 80’s grit and rough edges that reminds me of the VHS and early dvd copies of those Slasher films I watched behind my folks back at 8.
All in all, I feel that Zellco, and Writer/Director Roger Boyer, have the potential to hit a home run in the indie filmmaking ball game based on their passion and intriguing ideas.. sadly, this film was not that homer.
Do feel free though to watch it and judge for yourself. It is now available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and other VOD sites.
Be Lisa’s Next Victim!
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James requested it, so I got my hands on a copy of Her Name Was Lisa, a film directed by Roger Watkins starring Samantha Fox as the titular Lisa. If those two names don’t mean anything to you, good! They shouldn’t! But if you are curious and don’t want to open up a secret internet window, Roger Watkins was a mid-tier pornographic director who also made a few horror films in his time. Samantha Fox was actually a fairly famous and notorious pornographic actress. And in case you were wondering by now, no this film is not a sexploitation film like I was hoping it was going to be. This is just a straight up pornographic film.
Our story begins where all great pornos begin, at a funeral. The titular Lisa is dead. Are you excited yet? Because I’m sure not. In a weird way, this film is basically a porn version of the 1954 Humphrey Bogart film The Barefoot Contessa. The film is told in flashback as people remember their fondest memories of Lisa, which most of the time involves hardcore sex.
The first memory is from this one photographer. Lisa comes to him and is like “I’m a model I guess”, they honestly never really establish who Lisa is or what Lisa wants. Which is strange for a film that is centered around Lisa and her life. But anyway, Lisa shows up to this modeling gig and begins modeling. What’s amazing though is that the photographer doesn’t own a camera. Lisa is modeling and the photographer is sitting down just kind of watching her. I don’t know what kind of business this guy is running but I don’t imagine his income is very high if this is how he operates his business. Then they have sex. And I was concerned because this was at the seven-minute mark and now the story can’t really progress because all of the sexual tension is gone. Don’t worry though. I was wrong.
So then the next scene is a few weeks later and they are doing another session. The photographer isn’t important for this scene, so he has a camera now. Also Lisa is blonde now for some reason. She is never blonde again for the rest of the film. Part of me thinks it honestly might be a different actress. But anyway, the photographer is a tool and is angry for some reason. She is like “Bruh, calm down. What’s your deal?” and he’s like “The producer is coming today and I don’t want you to meet him!” Then like a Scooby Doo villain the producer shows up and is standing behind them and tells the photographer to go get them food. The producer and Lisa start talking. Lisa is clearly not into him and does not want to be around him. And is also pretty creepy and I wasn’t a fan of this scene. But then the sex music starts playing and Lisa is totally into him for plot purposes and the two have a long and boring sex scene. The entire scene I was thinking “what happens when the photographer shows up and walks in on his fat producer naked lounging around his studio?” So I guess the director had a great sense of tension when directing the scene. The photographer does end up showing up and walking in on this and the producer just says “You should have knocked!”
We then hard cut back to the funeral. It’s kind of hilarious how this film bounces from straight up sex with full penetration, to these bad porn actors trying to be sad at this fake funeral. I’ll also say that what was nice about reviewing this film is that I really only had to watch it with a critical eye for maybe twenty minutes of its hour and a half runtime because I could just tune out during the sex scenes. Nice and refreshing viewing experience.
The next flashback presented is the memory from the producer. Apparently, that sex was so good that they got married and had a long marriage of growth and love. Just kidding. The memory from the producer is this one time that he came home and she was a dominatrix and they had sex. It’s a long scene that is primarily just him naked being sexually tortured. If I could have fast-forwarded, I would have. She then goes to a sauna and meets Carmen! Carmen is played by Vanessa del Rio who at the time was a medical researcher attempting to find a cure for AIDS. Just kidding. She was another pornographic actress. Now according to the bio for this film, Carmen is the main antagonist. But after watching it, Carmen is in like two scenes and doesn’t do really anything.
Hard cut back to the funeral. People are still sad. This film is really well written.
Then Lisa and the producer are hanging out at home and the producer is having some friends over. Lisa for some reason thinks that the producer will be leaving and just the friends would be there. Which is very foolish but I honestly don’t even care anymore. So the friends show up and in a really dark and uncomfortable turn, the friends rape Lisa while the producer watches and masturbates. I was really losing my patience with the film around this point.
Lisa then meets up with Carmen in the sauna again and the two have the obligatory lesbian sex scene. And then Lisa dies. The end.
So yeah. I went in expecting a fun sexploitation film. And instead I got a bad porno that wasn’t exciting at all and involved rape and poorly done BDSM, and on top of that, the overarching plot revolves around a funeral where everyone is crying. So even on a porn level, this film is a failure. Why do I do this to myself? I could have watched an Italian Neo-Realism film. Or an American New Wave film. Or hell I could have watched one of the Erotic Thrillers from the 90s. But instead I watch Sad Funeral The Porno.