Mondo's got another amazing gallery show ready to hit Austin. Starting October 19th, the lucky locals will be able to see great works of art from Drew Struzan, Rick Baker, JC Richard, Rich Kelly, Kevin Tong, etc and all devoted to the Universal Monsters. Hope you've saved your pennies folks. The above prints from Ken Taylor, Francesco Francavilla, and Laurent Durieux are just a taste. Can't wait to see what the heavy hitters have in store.
Can't believe I've never seen this before. Discovered via Frankensteinia, this image from Mike Mignola is circa 1999. Really beautiful, would love to see a print of this but I won't hold my breath.
I know Matt just blitzed through Universal's Dracula movies and didn't really have the best experience with them, and I too am not the biggest fan of Lugosi's Dracula. Blasphemy? Naw, I'm just more of a Wolf Man/Frankerstein's Monster kinda guy. But you can't deny the power of Mondo's latest creation. The artist is Martin Ansin and the above print will set ya back $45. The below gray variant is $84 and the wood coffin variant is $135. All three go on sale today at some random time. These are the last posters from Mondo in 2011. It's been a very good year for them.
Sadly, I didn’t get too awful much accomplished this week. I’m guessing that’s going to be the general way of things for the next month or so. Anyway, here we go.
Son of Dracula: Another kind of ho-hum entry in the Universal Dracula series. Pretty much the same as the previous film, but with a male vampire instead of a female. Meh.
House of Dracula: At least this time they went for something different. Sure, cramming all the monsters in for no particular reason (beyond being a gimmick) is awkward. But at least the story is better and different. A solid cast helps.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Final Justice: Oh, man. You know, when you mix the boys and Joe Don Baker, you’ve got comic gold. This episode is glorious, and really should be among the classics. I’m surprised it doesn’t get talked about more. Easily as much fun as the terrors of Mitchell, it’s a must see for fans. Such an awful movie, and such a great episode.
Frankenstein: An interesting adaptation of the classic of science fiction. There are some good performances and some excellent sets. But, as adaptations go, it skims over a LOT. Very little character development and an extremely linear plot get you from start to finish in almost no time at all. Iconic images aside, there’s not a lot of meat.
Forbidden World: OK, so it’s a Corman produced movie, so you shouldn’t be coming here for ‘good.’ But, entertaining? You know it. Really bad. Really, really bad. But kind of awesome. The editing is enough to give you seizures. So much gratuitous nudity. Lots of cheesy gore. And gobs of bad editing. Fox Harris turns in an absolutely fantastic performance as the resident crazy scientist, which is frankly, worth the price of admission.
Seriously, this is totally important to the plot.
Race with the Devil: A good cast and some pretty good production value help this low budget 70s Satan film rise a bit over the typical hum-drum of the sub-genre. Unfortunately, it’s still full of the typical elements you expect from this sort of thing, including massively, ridiculously omnipresent cultists. Worth a watch, but not amazing.
Here's some buckshot for your face, Satan!
Starcrash: Absolutely awful, this Star Wars knock-off is a total gas. Bad dubbing, unfortunate effects, and woefully wrong music choice. And it’s awesome. Do not watch this alone. This is a delight to be enjoyed with friends. I spent a lot of my time watching this movie laughing. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the effect the filmmakers were going for, but there it is.
The Future looks pretty good to me.
Departures: A quiet, funny, and touching drama out of Japan, this film is the story of a young man who has finally achieved his goal of playing cello in an orchestra, only to have the orchestra close and find himself searching for a job with no practical skills. Masahiro Motoki is a sympathetic lead, and Tsutomu Yamazaki is great as his Yoda-like new boss. The film is an interesting glimpse into an aspect of Japanese culture that it seems even the Japanese don’t like to think about. Well worth checking out.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Giant Gila Monster: Fairly standard, but quite funny, this isn’t a stand-out episode, but it’s a lot of fun. Plenty of good belly laughs.
Fringe: Season 2: Though there are a few ‘filler’ episodes, season 2 cranks up the mythology stories, primarily advancing the overall story with most episodes. Characters get taken through the wringer, learning about themselves and each other, and frequently not good things. I continue to like the show more and more as it goes on, and as the Pattern of the first season evolves into the revelation of the second universe, and all that that entails, it just gets better episode by episode. I’m very curious to see where the writers take things with the next season.
I did finish up Andre Norton’s The Galactic Derelict, which really cranked up the space opera for the series. After a brief foray into the past, our time agents get stuck on a ship heading out into deep space. I’m really digging the universe she created in these books. And I’m very curious to see where things go in the next two books. Not sure when I’m gonna start up book three.
And I finally acquired volume one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which has recently been published again by IDW. So far, a lot of fun. It’s cool to read the writers talking about their experience as independent comic creators. Having gone through some of the same stuff while working on comics, myself.
Another week down. This is the extra, extra busy season in my non-Dork life, so I haven’t been doing as much cool as I’d like. I didn’t get much reading done. Watched some movies while I was drifting in and out of sleep.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon: Amazing creature design and costuming help make this film especially effective. The creature can swim, attack, and stand in the light of day without betraying its costumed nature. The story is cool, the cast does a fine job, and the music is over the top intense. A must. One of my favorite Beauty and the Beast variations.
Revenge of the Creature: Kind of boring movie about the exploitation of the gillman, this time making him an exhibit at a fairly crass oceanarium. At least the creature is still his underwater self. And darn it, John Agar is creepy.
The Creature Walks Among Us: This kind of silly sequel deals with the gillman being force-evolved into a more land based being. Though the real story is about a dysfunctional marriage falling apart, and the dangers of jealousy and emotional instability. Gone is much of the power and class of the original.
Immortals: The gods must be crazy! With his typical flare for impressive visuals, Tarsem brings the gods to life in this Greek myth inspired epic. The cast is quite good and the action scenes impressive and surprisingly brutal (lots of heads explode). It doesn’t always work, and it’s certainly not a perfect film. But, it’s actually a lot better than I expected. And like this year’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Freida Pinto was nearly as irritating as the trailer made her seem. God Fight!!!
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World: Turns out the Time Keeper is actually Robert Rodriguez and he just stole an hour and a half of my time. There was a time when I’d have considered Rodriguez one of my favorite directors. And yes, I even enjoyed his kid friendly movies. But this film sucks from moment one, and it doesn’t let up.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Devil Fish: Craptastic Italian horror gets a solid drubbing from the boys in this episode. Sadly, Pearl gets some screen time, so it’s not as good as it could be. However, the movie is a riot and Mike and the Bots are on. Before Sharktopus, there was Devil Fish!
What’s Up Nurse: Moderately funny…no scratch that. Occasionally slightly funny. Pretty typical low brow cheeky British humor. Not really worth the time it takes to watch.
Dracula: An interesting, iconic, but ultimately not that great adaptation of Bram Stoker’s deffinative vampire novel. One thing I noticed upon this viewing is that the films editing is extremely awkward and rough. The acting is typical of the early days of sound (read: more like stage acting). There are, of course, some impressive moments. But taken by itself, it’s only an OK movie.
Dracula (Spanish): Pretty much the same script (but in Spanish) as the Bela Lugosi version, this film works better in part because the editing and direction are far cleaner and effective. The actors feel a bit more natural and the cinematography takes more advantage of the same sets as the Lugosi version.
Dracula’s Daughter: An OK movie, I actually found it more interesting than the original Lugosi film. There’s not really all that much to it. Everything happens exactly how you expect it will. But, it’s well made and the cast does a pretty good job.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 3: The show continues to remind me why I loved Star Wars for so long (while pointing out why that love was so sorely tested by the prequel trilogy). It expands the universe, tells good tales, and revels in the nature of space opera.
The Muppets: They’ve still got it. Unlike a certain friend of mine, I did grow up loving the Muppets and all things Jim Henson (sadly, wasn’t able to watch Fraggle Rock until a couple years ago…though that may be for the best, as I think I appreciate it more as an adult than I would have as a child). And this movie is a love letter to that wonderful time. A look back on what made them great, and a wonderful way to bring them into the spotlight again. I hope the movie makes many new fans, and it certainly should. The script is spot on, the jokes fast and furious, and that wonderful mix of extreme cheese, elbow nudges, and real heart that have made the Muppets so enduring. Not gonna lie, my lump of coal (I don’t have a heart) twitched more than once, and a couple of times I got a bit misty.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Swamp Women/Swamp Diamonds: A ‘holy crap!’ awful Roger Corman movie about some lady ex-cons looking for some diamonds, taking hostages, and fighting in swamp water. Sounds good, right? It’s not. However, the boys have a lot of fun with it, as they usually do. A solid episode, with plenty of good laughs.
That’s about it. Didn’t even listen to much music or anything.
Considering how crazy busy I’ve been this week, I really don’t know how the heck I got so much viewing and even reading lately. My day job is taking up more of my time these days. We’ll see how dorky I can make next week.
The Mummy: “Had to! Science you know.” The classic horror movie may be a touch old timey for many modern viewers, with its almost 20s style and sometimes stiff acting, but it’s got some pretty cool sequences and great lines.
Doctor Who: Colony in Space: The Doctor finally gets free of Earth for an adventure, taking Jo on her first offworld jaunt. And what they find is a pretty interesting situation, with colonists and a mining corporation at odds over a planet, and some natives creeping about. The problem, as with so many Pertwee era stories is that it’s too long. There’s a bout a four part story here, but it’s a six part arc. This sadly invites the writers to bring in the extremely over-used and one note Master, for no good reason. The final episode kind of breaks down a bit with his dastardly doings. Still, it’s a fairly cool story overall, even with the faults. The costumes on the natives look terrible, but the rest of it is pretty good.
The Ides of March: Clooney sure knows how to direct a film. He makes good movies, and each one is very different from the last. Unfortunately, this one is kind of a misfire. The cast is good and the movie looks great. However, it’s simply not all that interesting. It’s not bad. It’s timely. But, it’s not exciting at all. And I don’t just mean because there’s no action. I mean that it’s really not very interesting. Ah well, his previous work as director is plenty strong enough for me to look forward to his next.
The Mummy’s Hand: A kind of goofy misadventure, this film finds two luckless guys hanging out in North Africa, looking to find their fortunes. When they team up with a stage magician and his lovely daughter, they may be in far over their head. It’s an OK, light hearted mummy movie this time around.
The Mummy’s Tomb: All the lightheartedness of the previous film is extinguished rather quickly with a brutal murder. The tone is totally different as the horror is brought to America and people start getting picked off rather quickly. As with the previous entry in the series, it’s OK, but not great. It’s certainly more violent. And there is something oddly fun about torch bearing peasants in suburban America.
Bellflower: Argh! A cast of absolutely infuriating jerk-offs doing lots of stupid crap. But don’t worry, they take forever to do it. Hipster crap. Infuriating hipster crap. I felt like screaming in rage for most of the film (at the film).
The Mummy’s Ghost: The Mummy is back, and still (un)living in the States. Not especially interesting, though it does play out in an interesting way during the very finale. Life in the swamp, man.
The Mummy’s Curse: I think the problem with the last three Mummy movies is that they’re pretty much the same movie with some slight variations and cast changes. Well, that, and if you pay attention to the time that’s supposed to have past between each film, Curse should be taking place in the latter days of the 20th century, but things still look pretty 40s to me. Like the previous film, it’s OK, but forgettable.
Doctor Who: The Mawdryn Undead: This episode really uses the time travel aspects of the show a bit more than usual, with events playing out in parallel timelines. It’s an interesting episode, one of the better Davison I’ve seen. It’s always good to see the Brigadier, too.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Touch of Satan: “This is where the fish lives.” An extremely crappy Satan based horror movie from the 70s is typically blah. However, Mike and the lads are quite funny. A good episode, with thankfully little (no) Pearl.
Bunraku: Extremely stylistic, with lots and lots of fun little homages to various classic genre films (especially Westerns and Martial Arts movies), this could have very easily been a total mess. However, though it drags a bit in the third act, it’s actually quite entertaining. Not for everyone, surely. But, for those who want a little fun with their action, give this one a look. Probably Hartnett’s best work to date.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Unearthly: A boring Dr. Frankenstein type story is made more watchable by Joel and the Bots. And this episode features two shorts. The one about posture is extremely awkward and creepy. Good stuff.
Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons: The introduction of two characters I’m not especially fond of, Jo and The Master. And it’s squarely set in the era when the Doctor was stuck on Earth, battling alien invasion after alien invasion. All that aside, it’s not a bad story. Jon Pertwee sure has grown on me on my re-watching of the classic episodes. But, man, I wish he had more interesting stories and better companions/villains.
On Sunday, Ben and I watched some more episodes of From the Earth to the Moon, which continues to be an excellent series. I also caught another batch of Fringe episodes, which is continuing to be very cool, occasionally funny, and is making me curious to see where it goes. And I decided to finally pick Stargate SG-1 back up. I got side-tracked last holiday season at the halfway point of season 10. So close to the end. So, I watched a few episodes of that. The show has its flaws, but is surprisingly good more often than not.
And the Clone Wars series continues to impress. It’s so, so, so much better than the prequel trilogy. It does so much to remind me of all the things I loved about the originals. It’s classic space opera, high science fantasy, and rip-roaring fun.
I read volume two of the comic Orbital, which finished up the first story. The art is excellent and the setting quite cool. The writing isn’t amazing, but it’s passable. I’m enjoying it enough to be excited about reading the next volume.
And on cineAWESOME! this week, I took a look at some of my favorite movie chases.
