u/TimeShifterPod

Ben Rock directed the previously reviewed ALIEN RAIDERS and worked as the Production designer on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. We sit down and have a lengthy discussion on both films, and then some!

A fairly solid big budget “B-movie.”
The cast is immaterial, as they are interchangeable. Anyone could have starred, but they chose some recognizable names.
The action is a bit too frenetic at times. That may work better in a theater setting, but not so much on home viewing.
No new ground broken here, but it was well done for what they did.
I DID appreciate that the movie did not go down the trope of an infected person immediately going to the dark side. This had the character using his new found abilities to actually try to help his friends. That was at least refreshing.

I can’t defend the film, or argue that it is in anyway a good film, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t kind of enjoy it. 
The low budget shines through in almost every scene, but somehow that makes it all the more endearing.
It’s like a bunch of friends got together one Halloween, made a movie and somehow it got  uploaded or something. It’s just kind of… fun.

This is one of those films that you can tell the writer had the most basic idea, and then struggled to come up with a rhyme or reason why any of it was happening. A lot was thrown at the wall here, and whether it stuck or not, a movie was made.
There is an actor or two that showed promise, and I’d be willing to see them in something else, but there are also a few that I was counting the minutes waiting for their character to be killed off.

Oh, that pesky ozone layer!
I kind of wish more of our cast were affected by the radiation. Would have been great to see Leslie Nielsen and a few of the others going toe-to-toe Lord of the Flies like.
I’m not convinced that Nielsen lost his fight with the grizzly in the film. We don’t see him actually killed. He could be up on the mountain dining on bear at the film’s end!
Almost immediately I’m taken out of the film by the clothing choices of our intrepid hikers. Everyone complains about the heat but wears 6 layers of leather and polyester! Where were the 1970s short shorts and halter tops?

Now, I have no idea how good of an adaptation this was as I don’t think I even laid eyes on the game, but the core plot on its own is pretty well trodden ground. 
There is no denying that this was a HUGE step in computer generated animation. I don’t think we truly had any idea how big of a step it was 25 years ago. Or maybe we did and that is why it did so poorly at the box office. Maybe it was a push back on something we weren’t quite ready for. Flash forward 20 years and now what was achieved in this film seems quaint and almost as old-fashioned as cel animation.
Between this and 2004’s “Sky Captain…” the genie was out of the bottle and it was only a matter of time before it would, as it has, being the norm rather than just “experimental.”

I don’t mind the film. I remember being VERY impressed with it then and looking at it now, it is easy to see its rough spots. The animation while groundbreaking, lacks emotion and feels a little disjointed from the audio. The actors are giving it their all and their characters seem disinterested.
The “spirits” motivation is questionable. I get that they are the souls of a dead world, and that they are confused and scared, but I’m not sure that justifies their very decisive attacks on the living. 
You have to be willing to accept a lot of metaphysical theories and be willing to just roll with the plot, but it’s not a bad film. It just fails to elevate itself to being a good one.

If it is nothing else, it is a fantastic time capsule of technology and animation.

I’ll give it a point for some originality as far as the ending is concerned. (Unless you’re a Six Million Dollar Man fan.) Outside of that, having a bunch of Bigfoot, (Bigfoots? Bigfeet?) stalking a bunch of kids in the woods is a plot that smells of week old campers.
The monster suit isn’t too bad to be fair. Some impressive, if repetitive, facial movements that I was not expecting.
As far as the acting… Well, George Kennedy is the high bar here. Take that as you will.

This would be just about passable if someone had given even half a toss with the English dubbing. Though, even subtitled I fear it wouldn’t help a great deal, as there is very little original among the many ideas that are attempted and MANY other films have done these stories better.
Effects were pretty good and the sets looked great.
Not unwatchable, but not worth watching.

I’m not sure I really care for everything about the final solution, but over all this was REALLY good and one of the best early 30s mysteries I’ve seen.
The cast is phenomenal and they have a fantastic script to work with. Direction is on point as well!
It was really refreshing seeing the police being the smartest person in the room rather than playing second fiddle the star. Edward Arnold shows up half way through and steals the show. Up to that point Paul Lukas was a favorite.
Highly recommended!

Think of it as King Kwōng.
It is as if a Kaiju film were produced by Monty Python.
More comedy than pure monster-themed horror, and for this US viewer, a bit of a mess. I watched it in the original Korean but still think there could be some things “lost in translation.”

Science, physics, and logic be damned!
Nothing that happens in this film makes any sort of sense, but that doesn’t stop it from being a fun watch, and maybe adds to it.
Everything from the very idea of drilling all the way to the magma core, to then thinking you can use that as a power source, to an elevator that can transport you 2 miles in a single conversation without making you a stain on ceiling or floor. (And let’s not forget about a couple CLIMBING up the elevator shaft to safety while the earth crumbles around them.)

It isn’t scandalous for me to say that we were so relieved to watch a romantic comedy that is actually romantic and funny!

Just finished reading this book.
Not bad! Some really interesting behind the scenes stories and information about each of the Japanese films. Lots of the hows, whys, and who’s.
It is a coffee table sized book, and weighs about 8 lbs, so it’s a shame that so much of the text is REALLY tiny and many of the BTS photos are smaller than I’d like them to be. Feel they should be the focus and not marginalized.

Still, worth it if you can snag it from the library.

It’s hell upside down, times two, as we compare 1972’s The Poseidon Adventurewith its 2006 remake, Poseidon. Will either film stay afloat, or are they both all wet?

Christopher has Tom watch a film he stumbled across several years ago that, despite its unassuming (okay, terrible) title, turned out to be a great watch.
Does Tom agree? Push play to find out!

The movie that pulled a great magic trick on Lydia and Christopher! They both fell for the illusion of it being a good movie, but then they pulled back the curtain…