Post by Xenorama ™ on Apr 22, 2007 21:06:59 GMT -8
a little project i am working on- just some fun reviews of whatever i am watching/reading/listening to:
MOVIE of the WEEK: KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962, US version) Crybabies and whiners these days will always call this a "hack job" compared to the Japanese version, which is, granted, a superior movie, but this is a fun film in it's own right. you get the two greatest monsters pitted against each other in a knock down fight, all in big color on the screen (as i saw in first in late 1971). it's full of great effects, good acting (even under the dubs you can tell the actors are quite good). there is a lot of humor there- part of it is missing as the US version presents the movie a bit more seriously than the Japanese one. still, some good honest laughs are to be had, and some unintended ones- the natives being taught how to smoke "it's OK now, they are all smoking!" is one line that makes you laugh and wince at the same time.
Godzilla looks great in this movie. wish i could say the same for Kong. it's not a great suit. more like a ogre-ape than the classic image you see from the first movie.
all in all, a fun time to be had. available on a great looking DVD.
BOOK of the WEEK: "The Best of Frederick Pohl" which covers the first part of his work. Lester Del Rey introduces the book, and then we get an afterward by the author himself. the stories are short, and even then he gets a lot of good stuff in there. i was particularly struck by "Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" in it's very clever dissection of the commercialization of the Holiday and a romance during it. it was also very sweet, which is a rarity for speculative fiction writers, as they tend to want to go for the clever twist or surprise ending. these days, a simple ending is the surprise. "We Never Talk about Aunt Nora" is also both funny and scary at the same time. be careful who your suitors are!
this book has a lot of stories so it will probably be reviewed again next week as well.
SERIAL OF THE WEEK: "SOS Coastguard" (1937) Bela Lugosi is our villain and Ralph Bird is our hero. i'm up to chapter four, and Ralph wears a suit that never gets dirty, or he has an inexhaustible supply of them. Bela is trying to export a deadly explosive (among other things) to his country to cause trouble in the world, and our heroic heroes (and comic sidekick) do their best to stop him. it's 12 chapters long, and is easily available as a Public Domain movie.
CARTOON OF THE WEEK: "The Galaxy Trio" i just watched all 20 episodes (not all at once) of this fun 1967 cartoon. it was the companion to "Birdman" (not the stupid Harvey Birdman) and it ran on CBS, i believe. it was a very popular show, but i never saw it at all until the late 80s. the Galaxy Trio consists of Meteor Man, Gravity Girl and Vapor Man, and they travel about the cosmos in their ship Condor 1, righting wrongs and fighting evil. influenced by the Fantastic Four and Star Trek, the designs were from the late master cartoonist/artist Alex Toth.
also coming out on DVD in June or July.
CD of the Week: "Celtic Favorites" which is a 3 CD collection of mostly Irish music. it's by a variety of artists, but overall is quite enjoyable. there's a little booklet that talks about the traditions of the music and dancing, but not much about the songs. it's good for background music, since some of the songs are in Gaelic, which is hard to understand!
MOVIE of the WEEK: KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962, US version) Crybabies and whiners these days will always call this a "hack job" compared to the Japanese version, which is, granted, a superior movie, but this is a fun film in it's own right. you get the two greatest monsters pitted against each other in a knock down fight, all in big color on the screen (as i saw in first in late 1971). it's full of great effects, good acting (even under the dubs you can tell the actors are quite good). there is a lot of humor there- part of it is missing as the US version presents the movie a bit more seriously than the Japanese one. still, some good honest laughs are to be had, and some unintended ones- the natives being taught how to smoke "it's OK now, they are all smoking!" is one line that makes you laugh and wince at the same time.
Godzilla looks great in this movie. wish i could say the same for Kong. it's not a great suit. more like a ogre-ape than the classic image you see from the first movie.
all in all, a fun time to be had. available on a great looking DVD.
BOOK of the WEEK: "The Best of Frederick Pohl" which covers the first part of his work. Lester Del Rey introduces the book, and then we get an afterward by the author himself. the stories are short, and even then he gets a lot of good stuff in there. i was particularly struck by "Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" in it's very clever dissection of the commercialization of the Holiday and a romance during it. it was also very sweet, which is a rarity for speculative fiction writers, as they tend to want to go for the clever twist or surprise ending. these days, a simple ending is the surprise. "We Never Talk about Aunt Nora" is also both funny and scary at the same time. be careful who your suitors are!
this book has a lot of stories so it will probably be reviewed again next week as well.
SERIAL OF THE WEEK: "SOS Coastguard" (1937) Bela Lugosi is our villain and Ralph Bird is our hero. i'm up to chapter four, and Ralph wears a suit that never gets dirty, or he has an inexhaustible supply of them. Bela is trying to export a deadly explosive (among other things) to his country to cause trouble in the world, and our heroic heroes (and comic sidekick) do their best to stop him. it's 12 chapters long, and is easily available as a Public Domain movie.
CARTOON OF THE WEEK: "The Galaxy Trio" i just watched all 20 episodes (not all at once) of this fun 1967 cartoon. it was the companion to "Birdman" (not the stupid Harvey Birdman) and it ran on CBS, i believe. it was a very popular show, but i never saw it at all until the late 80s. the Galaxy Trio consists of Meteor Man, Gravity Girl and Vapor Man, and they travel about the cosmos in their ship Condor 1, righting wrongs and fighting evil. influenced by the Fantastic Four and Star Trek, the designs were from the late master cartoonist/artist Alex Toth.
also coming out on DVD in June or July.
CD of the Week: "Celtic Favorites" which is a 3 CD collection of mostly Irish music. it's by a variety of artists, but overall is quite enjoyable. there's a little booklet that talks about the traditions of the music and dancing, but not much about the songs. it's good for background music, since some of the songs are in Gaelic, which is hard to understand!
