Sci-Fi Watch: Cocoon (1985)

Watched:  I actually am not sure.  Roughly 05/05/2020
Format:  Cable
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director: Ron Howard

I don't remember seeing Cocoon (1985) after about 1989 or so, but it was a surprise how much of the movie stayed with me on a rewatch.  It's also amazing to think that this sort of thing, which was a huge hit when it came out, would now be pitched as a stunt or aimed only at the Boomer crowd (and would certainly be derided as a fantasy meant to hurt Millennials somehow).

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla v. Gigan (1972)

Watched:  05/12/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  First all the way through
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Jun Fukuda

We're in that part of the Showa era of Godzilla where it's kinda for kids and every once in a while there's a bunch of samurai blood shooting out of a kaiju.  Godzilla v Gigan (1972) features about 30 minutes of WWE-style monster fighting at the end of the movie, so it's light on plot and eager to deliver what you paid to see.

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  First as an adult
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Jun Fukuda


This movie is straight nonsense.

That's not exactly a criticism, but it is remarkable how, in a short couple of decades, Godzilla went from "manifestation of faults and failures of a nation coming back in the form of an unstoppable behemoth" to "giant friend to the children who likes a good bit of wrasslin' with other giant monsters".  As I said elsewhere, any time you see one of these movies and it stars a kid in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, you know you're often getting a particular flavor of Godzilla that is knowingly goofy.

PODCAST: The Omega Man (1971) - Quarantine Watch w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  04/17/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  Third
Decade:  1970's
Director: Boris Sagal


More Ways To Listen

We're in quarantine, and there's one sci-fi movie that's been on our minds. Join us as we talk about being the last man on Earth! At least the last sane man on Earth. Except for those other people out there living in the 'burbs. Anyway, it'd be nice to just drive cars off the lot without having to haggle.




Music:
The Omega Man Theme - Ron Grainer


Playlist:

Tweet Watch: Manos Returns (2018)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Tweet-a-long on Amazon Prime
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Tonjia Atomic

I don't know.  I don't know what I expected.

Somehow a return to "Manos"- The Hands of Fate, the 1966 zero-budget horror indie out of El Paso, TX, which had neither synced sound nor coherent narrative, and arrived in 2018'ish as a shot-on-video-but-not-great-video and featured simply too much dialog - was kinda just right.

Manos Returns (2018) features - and I want to get this out there, because I missed this prior to watching - the original actor who played The Master and the former little girl who played Debbie, now a grown lady-person still playing Debbie!  Take that, David Lynch and your 25 years later!

Much like the original, I don't understand the movie or what it is trying to do.  At times it seems like it wants to be a parody, and at other times, a straight sequel with some enhancements thanks to the power of video editing. There's genuinely more story to this movie, but with similar outcomes.  And more red bras.  Lots of red bras.

I dunno.  I didn't *not* enjoy seeing the movie, and it is definitely a worthy successor to Manos, whatever that means.  But, you know, beware something striving to be a sequel to Manos.

BTW - seeing this also told me there's a mini-market of Manos ancillary media being produced.  Debbie is going on to make a TV series, there's a Rise of Torgo movie out there, too.  And seemingly other things.  Anyway, proceed with due caution.

Noir Watch: Fallen Angel (1945)

Watched:  05/08/2020
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Otto Preminger

This movie sort of felt like it was all over the place, or like parts of a few movies crammed together and held together by the twin powers of Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell.  Which is a shame, because Alice Faye, with whom I am not familiar, is good in this movie as well, but her plotline feels like it's sliced and diced til it leaves what looks like an interesting role as a sort of bystander on the sideline of her own story. 

Is it a Nightmare Alley look at carnival people and illusion?  Is it a Postman Always Rings Twice story of a girl stuck in a rut of her own making and wanting out, making a sap of a guy to do so?  It is a small town drama about spinsters and a travelling huckster?  It's got all of these elements, and you can see the lines where the stories are fused, but it does stick together.

Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)

Watched:  05/03/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2000's
Director:  Masaaki Tezuka

This movie kind of kicked ass.

Sure, it's from the Millennium Series which is kind of confusing as the movies don't work in any shared continuity, but since we learn "all you need to know is Gojira from 1954", it's pretty dang easy to play catch-up.

Here's your plot:  1999, a series of monsters have been arriving in/ attacking Japan since Godzilla's first arrival in 1954.  A squad has been put together with advanced weaponry to take these monsters on, and has been pretty successful to date.  No more rampages like those of '54 (Toho also uses footage from Showa-era films as "documentary" footage).

But, whoops.  Here's a Godzilla again, with atomic breath and a terrible attitude about people.

Noir Watch: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)

Watched:  05/01/2020
Format:  Noir Ally on TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Fritz Lang

This one hadn't really been on my radar, but with Fritz Lang directing - his final American film, no less - and starring Dana Andrews, and both coming off the heels of a movie I thoroughly enjoy, While the City Sleeps, I saw no reason not to give it a spin.  In some ways, and from an elevator pitch angle, the plotting is very similar to 1963's Samuel Fuller directed Shock Corridor, but Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) is a different type of movie, even if the two films definitely share significant DNA.

Doc Watch: Never Surrender - A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019)

Watched:  04/07/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Jack Bennett

I forgot to write this up a month ago when I watched it.  A really fun doc on a great movie, and with terrific participation from darn near everyone who was in it or worked on it.  And, as always, Sigourney Weaver is the coolest.

Anniversary Watch: Hiis Girl Friday (1940)

this poster does absolutely nothing to convey what this movie is about

Watched:  04/28/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  Unknown - fourth or fifth?
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Howard Hawks

First - I'm adding the director of a film to my list of stats at the top not because I particularly adhere to the auteur theory of cinema (we can talk more about that in depth sometime), but because it's a somewhat interesting stat, and easier to decipher than who produced a film.  You can look up writers on your own.  I'll retroactively figure it out for all the movies I watched in 2020, but this is at least my second Howard Hawks movie this year, and I thought it would be interesting to spot trends in January 2021 when I do my numbers round-up.

Tweet-a-Long Watch: Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Watched:  05/01/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director: Jimmy T. Murakami, Roger Corman

I dunno, man.  It's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980).  It's a not-great sci-fi movie that hasn't aged particularly well. 

Mostly I had fun watching it with a whole bunch of folks on the twitters!  Thanks for showing up, every buddy!

One day we'll understand why that ship has a rack/ looks like a diagram of the female reproductive system.

Noir Watch: Night and the City (1950)

Watched:  04/30/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  2nd or 3rd
Decade:  1950
Director:  Jules Dassin

I've seen this movie before, and, if someone asked me what I think makes for a pure distillation of one of my definitions of "film noir", ie:  a character who is deeply in over their head because of a character flaw - you have Double Indemnity and you have Night and the City (1950).  And it's possible Night and the City is the even purer dose of the idea - because unlike Double Indemnity, there's no sex tangled up in the question - this is just a broken guy who, as Gene Tierney's character Mary says "You could have been anything. Anything. You had brains... ambition. You worked harder than any 10 men. But the wrong things. Always the wrong things..."

The only mistress in this movie, which absolutely does have the "good girl" in the form of Tierney waiting on our protagonist, is his own sense of destiny and overconfidence in his ability to play the grift. 

But, man, fate is a bitch.

PODCAST: "The Killing" (1956) and "Asphalt Jungle" (1950) - Noir Watch! w/ JAL and Ryan

Watched:  04/03/2020 (Killing)/ 04/06/2020 (Asphalt)
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1950's
Directors:  Stanley Kubrick/ John Huston

More ways to listen

JAL and Ryan watch two noir classics. Both heists. Both starring Sterling Hayden. One directed by a young Stanley Kubrick, the other by John Huston. We dive into what makes them work, some terrific performances and which director was in his prime and which was sorting things out. It's a journey into movies that set the stage for every heist movie to come after.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 101: "The Killing" (1956) & "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) - Noir Watch 05 w/ JAL & Ryan

Music:
Noir Watch Theme - The Unsuspected Main Theme - Franz Waxman
The Killing, Main and End Theme - Gerald Fried
The Asphalt Jungle Theme - Miklos Rosza


Noir Watch Playlist:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Noir Watch

Kaiju Watch: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

Watched:  04/26/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990's
Director:  Kensho Yamashita

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) is maybe not the best entry in the series, but it does have a NASA official reviewing footage of the inside of a space craft that has some damage from an exterior source before exploding and says "it must have been a huge monster".  Look, science is just different in a world with Mothras and whatnot.

Ninja Dino Catholicism Drug Dealer Hooker Lawyer Doctor Watch: The Velocipastor (2018)

watched:  04/24/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming Tweet-a-Long
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director: Brendan Steere

It was amazing.

Russell Watch: The French Line (1954)

Watched:  04/23/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director: Lloyd Bacon

Hoo-boy.  Apparently Howard Hughes realized, after loaning out Jane Russell to Fox for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1952) and watching them make a mint, *he* had a Jane Russell under contract at RKO that he didn't need to loan out at all.  So, he decided to make another splashy musical about Jane Russell on a boat headed for Paris all on his own.  And if people liked a bit of sexiness, he was going to shove Jane Russell into even sexier outfits!  And he'sdrelease the movie in 3D!  Jane Russell would be dancing and standing around as if she were in the room!  You guys get it?  wink wink nod nod need I say more?

PODCAST: "Superman: The Movie" (1978) a Super Movie Special with Stuart and Ryan

Watched:  04/12/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  oh, you kidders
Decade:  1970's
Director: Richard Donner

Ryan is joined by fellow Superman super-fan, StuartW, as they take on the 1978 superhero film that made the world believe a man can fly. It's a discussion of how lightning was caught in a bottle and set a template that the better superhero films still emulate. It's a geek-out fan-fest as Stuart and Ryan fly high into the movie that maybe both of them have seen way, way too many times.

More ways to listen





Music: - All Songs from Superman: The Movie, OST, composed by John Williams

• Prelude and Main Title March
• The Planet Krypton
• Lois and Clark
• The Flying Sequence/ Can You Read My Mind?
• Finale and End Title March

Ryan's Random Playlist

Yes, This Is The First Time I Saw This: Tremors (1990)

Watched:  04/21/2020
Format:  Netflix
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1990
Director: Ron Underwood

No, I'd never seen Tremors (1990), and it's just one of those gaps that happened for no reason.  I always assumed it was exactly what it turned out to be, which is something I am not against and often enjoy if you catch me in the right mood.  And, hey, yes, it was exactly that movie.  And that's okay!

It fits neatly in with a lot of movies from the era, while also being generally better acted and produced with, frankly, amazing practical effects.  Good stuff and an entry-level horror I might show a kid.

I have nothing to add to anything about this movie except that I am joining my voice to the chorus that believes this is the prequel to Dune.  Fan theories!  Totally a legit way to watch movies!

KAIJU WATCH: Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah - Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) AND Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II

Watched:  04/19/2020/ 04/20/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First/ Firstish
Decade:  2000's/ 1990's
Director: Shusuke Kaneko/ Takao Okawara


I am unsure what I'd heard about Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) as a particular entry in the G-franchise, but it *seems* to be pretty popular.  Godzilla v MechaGodzilla II (1993) may be marginally popular with kaiju fans.  Arguably, GMAOA is aimed at an older crowd, and harkens back to the existential threat of Godzilla as first presented in 1954.  GvMGII seems aimed at a younger crowd, but still works pretty well.

Russell/ Monroe Watch: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Watched:  04/21/2020
Format:  TCM
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1950's
Director: Howard Hawks

I'm not proud.