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brianjs
Reviews
Kaijû daisensô (1965)
The best Godzilla film ever made.
I saw this movie when I was 8 years old, and I've loved it ever since. One doesn't need to be a child to enjoy Godzilla, but it helps. The playfulness, the cheesyness, and the sheer low-budget destruction combine to make one of the most entertaining films one could ever want.
Now, as a junior at Berkeley, I know I should be above such thrills as any kind of monster movie. Indeed, any pretentious, humorless prig of a critic will hate this movie. But the rest of mankind will get a kick out of the complete wackiness of two men dressed like 80-meter-tall lizards boxing in downtown Tokyo (or what it would look like if Tokyo were a 1/10000th size scale model).
This movie has every campy necessity to make it the greatest of the great B movies. You've got your Brooklyn astronaut, your emotionless aliens in goofy outfits, one brilliant scientist who uses Mr Wizard techniques to demonstrate scientific facts that are blatantly false, and a smattering model tanks melting under a stage-hand's blowtorch. The "A-cycle light wave," the random cuts of stuntmen falling over balconies, awesomely anthropomorphic monsters, the annoying nerd character, Planet X--What more could you want from a classic "fun" movie? It even has Godzilla's famous victory dance! How could you not like this movie??
I pity the child who is deprived of the joys of Godzilla before he must face the harsh realities of life.
She-Wolf of London (1990)
An entertaining, well-done show that died miserably
She Wolf of London was an interesting series in the mid to late 80s. Never more than a blip in mainstream media terms, the show did have a pretty large cult following, which it deserved.
When this show first came out, I was completely enthralled. Sure, I was in junior high school at the time, but good writing is good writing. Werewolf fans and horror aficionados alike could appreciate the amount of creativity put into each episode, not to mention the dry British humor. In addition, the presence of a strong female lead (played by Kate Hodge) put the series several years ahead of its time. The She Wolf paved the way for a certain Vampire Slayer named Buffy.
Early on, it was clear that this was tv for adults. I don't mean it was pornographic, but rather that it did not shy away from contemporary network no-nos like sex, death, and a dominating young woman who didn't take crap from anyone. The double entendres involved with Ian placing her in shackles in his family's basement were enough to win hearty guffaws from even the most innocent viewer. But of course, a series like this can never last long.
As the seasons rolled by, the quality of the show decreased more and more. It was clearly floundering in the ratings by the time its title changed to "Love and Curses." The characters moved to LA to fight demonic evils every week, and it was just as ridiculous as it sounds. (Apparently, this is a TV formula as common now as chicken pox.) This is about the time I stopped watching it, as the life had been snuffed out of the series. I recently found to my delight, however, that the Sci Fi Channel reruns first episodes of She Wolf of London in the wee early hours of the morning. If you're up really late and have nothing to do, then check out the show. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.