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- Follow and you call yourself a scientist!? on WordPress.com
and you call yourself a scientist!? 
Imma just leave dis here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4dRapN8tA
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Oh. My. God.
Not a single line delivered like a normal piece of dialogue.
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That link is dead now, so here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH_OpyK4yrg
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I’m very much afraid this is my fault. I’m sure I complained somewhere about there *not* being a shark in the water behind The House—didn’t I??
(Ahem. Which reminds me, I still owe you money, right…?)
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Well, technically I suppose you do, but I’m not too concerned (I’d be satisfied knowing I contributed to your reviewing). Plus I haven’t been able to send those to you since I don’t have the necessary info. Once you’ve got them we can worry about it. 🙂
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We’re really quiet around here lately. I hope everyone is doing well under the current circumstances and taking care of themselves.
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Well, I’m here. So I must be about to apologise, right?
Yeah. Sorry. I’ve been dealing with a family medical emergency (not the obvious one, which frankly is just piling on at this point), and pretty much everything else has fallen off the table.
I’m hoping to start picking up the pieces over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, there is an update at Et. Al, which sadly enough represents almost the sum total of what I’ve been able to watch in the interim.
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Oh, I’m so sorry about that! Naturally that would take precedence. I hope everything is improving.
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My ap-po-lo-geez (sp?)
(from Blackadder)
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I have now found something worse than the OCR. The OCR with a rooster.
I just watched War Gods of the Deep (aka City in the Sea) with Vincent Price. It was about 90 minutes, with 20 minutes of the heroes wandering through underground passages (with the rooster), and 20 minutes of an undersea chase (with the rooster inside one of the heroes’ diving suits). Very little time for the actual plot, which tried to cover an ancient sea curse, a deserted underground sea, immortality (until you get in the sunlight), and a heroine who is maybe Price’s reincarnated wife, although maybe 4 sentences covered that part.
I love Vincent Price, but this movie strained my love for him.
I’m having fun watching good, bad, and terrible movies right now..
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I approve of watching the good and the bad to maintain the cosmic balance. After purchasing and watching seasons one and two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I cleansed my palette with Velocipastor.
Some, but I think not from the regular visitors here would argue those are both bad. Buffy is remarkably well written at times. And very well written the rest of the time.
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My friend, I would love to see you tackle ISLE OF THE DEAD (RKO, 1945), produced by Val Lewton, starring Boris Karloff and Ellen Drew. I saw it a few years ago and recently viewed it, again. It’s just up your alley, as it has a major plot thread of science vs. superstition. The story’s central threat of septicemic plague has a certain relevance to current affairs. But, most important, I’d love to hear your take on it. This was one of those rare films for me, in that the first time I saw it, I really didn’t know what it was about. It emerged as one of my favourite Karloff films.
Sorry to read about your family medical emergency. I sincerely hope that has resolved itself for the better, or at least is on the mend.
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Hello, my dear!
Of course I should have gotten to all of the Lewtons by now (“should”, ha!), but I too have a fondness for Isle Of The Dead as being one of the lesser-known ones…and of course for Boris…and for “vorvolaka”, which I say obsessively whenever I watch it. You are quite right that our current circumstances add to its interest, though there is plenty going on there anyway.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
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Speaking of movies with violence and children (although not as graphic as Lone Wolf and Cub) this is the perfect place for some experts to help me track down a title. It’s a western, and eventually the family is either in a cabin or in circled wagons with Indians attacking. The boy was played by not the greatest actor, apparently, as when shot (I believe fatally) with an arrow instead of a blood curdling scream of pain like AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! all he said was, “Ow.” “Ow.” “Ow.”
It seemed so unnatural and fake it caused my whole family to bust out in inappropriate laughter.
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Yes. Well.
My previous effort at getting things moving again didn’t exactly go to plan. Hopefully this time around it sticks. In the meantime, you may take these posts as a promise of better things.
And of course as an apology. Always an apology. Lots of apologies…
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I don’t think you need to apologize, considering your last post above and what you’ve no doubt been going through, but thank you nonetheless. As for “better things,” well, your two most recent offerings definitely fit in there, considering the quality of the movies you’re reviewing (the quality of your writing never being in doubt, naturally). As you can imagine, I’m quite giddy about one in particular!
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On the contrary, apologies are warranted, imperative and hopefully forthcoming shortly. 😦
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As you wish. 🙂
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just a quick family update you all might appreciate.
I posted on Facebook, saying in part, “I’m not sure what’s happening next, but I’m afraid zombies will be involved.”
My brother commented, “Just remember, headshots on the zombies.”
Yep, we’re definitely related.
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I read your review on pumpkinhead and am watching the movie rn and wanted to ask you, in the review you say “Chris is weak, not deserving of Tracy,” why? It seems like he’s well intended and tried fighting the other guy before getting knocked out. Clearly Steve comes across as the best guy in the group of people as he’s the only one who stays with the kid but Chris did try to fight the other guy and hasn’t come across to me as overly weak or anything.
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Well, I wrote that about fifteen years ago so it’s all a bit fuzzy; you’ll have to wait until I get around to a re-watch / revision, to see if I can figure out why I said what I said.
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I made a comment almost over a week ago and it said it had to be approved by mods and then just never got pushed through, wth?
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The “mods” is me and I missed the notification, that’s all.
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just checking, are you still ok? a lot of stuff happening this year.
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I’m okay; others are not. 😦
Thanks for checking in, I should try and do that a bit more myself…
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Well, Lyzzy, you’ll be happy to know you don’t have to worry A Chinese Ghost Story. All three movies are on Amazon Prime right now. Also The Bride with White Hair and its sequel, which I’ve also been waiting to see. I’m going to be set for this holiday weekend, for sure!
I hope all is well with you. Or as well as can be expected in Hell Year.
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See above. 😦
You’re very wise to go ahead on your own, as that has *still* not come out of the box. I’m glad you found another source: at least that’s one teeny but of guilt off the table…
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Oh, hon…I’m so sorry to hear that. You know where to find me if you want to talk about anything.
No guilt was necessary about that, although I’m not one to talk about unnecessary guilt. I still feel bad about those movies I have for you, even though there’s really no way for me to get them to you at present.
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Right. Let’s try this again. Again again.
Again…
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Lyz, I thought you might like this. A baseball player helps a bug.
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what a surprise, votes are still being counted. I’ll spend the next few days watching all the movies I recorded from TCM. The Mummy, The Mummy, The werewolf, The Ghoul, Island of Lost Souls, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, The Leopard Man, and a bunch more.
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Just an update, I’m watching ‘The 4 Skulls of Jonathan Drake’, and I learned something new. To shrink a head, you have to remove the skull! I never realized that, although it makes sense once you think about it – bone is pretty much unshrinkable, without a lot of brute force.
I’m embarrassed to think that if I was ever asked how to shrink a head, I would have been woefully wrong. I’m not sure when I would have been asked that (maybe Jeopardy), but now I’m a little more prepared.
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I feel like I speak for everyone when I say GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE to The Year Which Shall Not Be Named. I hope you’re all well, and may we get more wonderful reviews from Lyzzy in the new year.
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Again again again…
Working on something. No promises. Fingers crossed.
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Hello Lyz,
Here’s a very pro-SCIENCE episode of Ultraseven that you might enjoy. I’m not sure if the link will work for you directly but I checked and Tubi is available in Australia. (Turning on closed captioning gives subtitles.)
https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/556288/s01-e38-ultraseven-s1-e38-the-courageous-battle?start=true
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Ooh, thanks! 🙂
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One of the many things I enjoy about the Ultra series is that the Science Patrol and all its descendents do pretty well for themselves against giant monsters with their scientific know-how and nifty gadgets.
Not that having regular assistance from giant superbeings from the Land of Light hurt any.
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A new Lon Chaney Jr movie I never saw before!
“Man Made Monster”, with Lionel Atwill as the mad doctor. Sort of a combination of Mad Monster and Indestructible Man.
Why do they always have a doggie that breaks my heart?
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If you need a not heartbreaking dog to maintain the cosmic balance there’s Love and Monsters. The new movie, not the ridiculous Doctor Who episode.
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Happy Easter.
I saw a Snopes article that surprised me, which discussed the history of chocolate eggs for Easter (spoiler alert, they used to be really expensive). The article was obviously from England, referring to prices in pounds.
It got me to wonder – who buys chocolate eggs vs chocolate bunnies? Here in the US, bunnies are definitely more common. There are chocolate eggs available, but the bunnies rule all the way.
So what is your vote? eggs or bunnies?
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We go for eggs here, but then we also run a stubborn campaign in favour of the Easter Bilby, so I guess that isn’t surprising.
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I had to look up Easter Bilbys, and they are adorable!
To tell the truth, I’ll eat almost anything chocolate.
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So, yes…I’m back again…and trying to keep the transfers ticking over, at least…but am absolutely going to promise nothing… 😦
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Didn’t want to clutter up your latest Et Al., but your mentioning the “Aww, monkey!” through-line in Rampage led me to wonder if you (or anyone else) have had a chance to see Godzilla vs. Kong yet?
I also hope you are doing well, my dear. Thank you for the flurry of activity lately; it’s been a treat.
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Things like that just don’t happen any more, I’m afraid. But yes, thought you’d be interested! 😀
I’m hoping to keep the flurry going though outside forces are gathering again. Thank you for hanging in there.
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I caught Godzilla vs. Kong two Saturdays ago.
Spoilers ahead
It’s really Godzilla and Kong have a fundamental disagreement until they meet the real enemy at the end. And they did it again. You get a sense that Kong is a bit overmatched and so, well, yeah a magic ax makes all kinds of sense. The “Omigosh we’re in big trouble how do we get out of….. Wow that was close!” escape again. Three times again. Probably trying to compensate for the human characters not being terribly interesting. I was pleased that it wasn’t waaaaayyyy too long like a Marvel movie.
But the special effects are good. Saw it on the big screen instead of streaming. And they got bonus points from me for the use of a Judas Priest song.
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A couple of things.
Not too long after I got involved with reviewing movies for Joe Bob Briggs I found “The Video Wasteland” rental service. (Now Cinema Wasteland and only deals in memorabilia and sales of merchandise.). And Accion Mutante was one of the first two movies I rented. Never thought I’d see that come up on my radar screen again. My rental copy was subtitled and probably a bootleg, but who knows for sure.
Well, I’m one of those people that’s gone through five decades of thinking a league was akin to a fathom. So far after coming out and announcing to the world what an idiot I am I’m scoring perfect on everyone I quiz on it also not knowing.
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Lyz may want to consider taking a look at Great White (I’ve just watched the trailer on youtube): Australian survival horror with sharks that are smart enough (and tough enough) to sink a seaplane, and hunt in packs. It’s clearly going to be rubbish, but it may be enjoyable rubbish, especially if one’s natural tendency is to favour Team Shark.
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Just saw a headline online, ‘Venomous sharks reported in the Thames’.
Lyz buys an airline ticket to London.
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or are you staying for the 50 million cannibal crabs crossing Australia?
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Not sure if I need some professional help, or this is just par for the course.
I sell doll clothes on Etsy, and I wanted to branch out into making baby dolls. I was planning on getting started today after work, so of course last night I dreamt that all my dolls turned into Zombies. I would wake up every few hours, think “ZOMBIE DOLLS!”, and have trouble getting back to sleep.
So what’s the consensus? Is there a market for Zombie Dolls? I figured this was the place to ask.
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I’m sure Charles Band would be happy to make a film of it.
(This is not necessarily a recommendation.)
All the best to Lyz.
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I just watched an episode of Mission Impossible (tv show), and thought of Lyz. Season 2, Episode 9, uses a cat to help steal the sacred seal of (imaginary country), currently owned by Evil American Millionaire. The cat looked just like my Buddy. Of course, if Buddy did steal something, he’d never give it up just for a treat.
I read in the Trivia section that they used 12 cats altogether for the show.
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Conjugate the verb ‘to suck’:
It sucks.
It has sucked.
It continues to suck.
But here I am trying one more time to pull it together. We’ll see.
I can’t say I anticipated that a federal election might help snap me out of my funk. I was rather expecting the final crushing blow…
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I’m sorry it took that, but I am glad that you’re feeling more motivated. Here in the USA, I’m feeling damned dispirited. Buffalo, Uvalde, abortion rights being stripped, and a minority of the people and elected officials forcing archaic religious and political ideas on everyone because they fear the future.
*sigh*
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I suppose we can hope the new administration there isn’t hamstringed by the minority, as it is here.
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Hamstrung?
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Hamstrung. 🙂
They have a majority in both the HoR and the Senate, so that shouldn’t be an issue, thankfully. If anyone gives them trouble it will likely be the Greens; though on the whole I think they and Labor and the new independents are on the same page and should be able to work together on most things.
I know you guys have been having a shocking time too, and I’m very sorry. I hope you manage to find a way through.
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Thanks for the assist with verb tense. The correct choice occurred to me seconds after my reply posted. Blast WP for not allowing comment edits. I shouldn’t post when I’m as tired as I was, at that point. It seems hard to believe myself, but in my youth, I was a working journalist and my command of language was considerable. Decades away from regular practice of writing, and aging, have led to atrophy. Ah, well.
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I’d like to give you some sort of positive, encouraging response, but, consider the current state of my own life, it would feel hypocritical. Regardless, it’s good to see you active here. A new AYCYAS review is just what I needed, so thanks for being your usual insightful, intelligent, witty, and genuinely decent self. And at least it looks like things are looking up for you on a national level.
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I’m very sorry to hear you’re having such a tough time, Alaric, and glad that I could help at all.
Generally yes, though the media is still in a state of shock and basically refusing to acknowledge what’s happened: still obsessively interviewing the opposition and letting them talk about what they’ll do when they get back in and how the new government is responsible for the disasters they spent nine years creating…
ETA: This, basically:
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As always, it’s a relief to see you post again, although I wish the sucking would stop for you. (And for a lot of us, I’ll wager.) I’m glad something went in a way you found positive, I’m sure it was nice to experience.
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A relief to be here, too, but as always, We’ll See.
Yes, it’s easy to get self-absorbed and forget that I’m not the only one dealing with the ceaseless suck.
Pleasant surprises have been exceedingly thin on the ground, so yes, very much. 🙂
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And yet another almost completely irrelevant comment from yours truly.
A few years ago, I was working as a substitute teacher. One day I had 8th grade Reading. The students would read aloud from a book. Each would read a few sentences as we went around the room.
As it happened, That Conjugated Verb was used halfway through the day’s section from the book. The student who was reading stopped, gave a gasp, and giggled. Then there was a loud whispered comment, “We aren’t supposed to use that word!”
It hadn’t occurred to me before, but I said, “You can use the phrase, ‘It stinks’.” And we continued with our reading.
I had 5 or 6 classes that day, all reading from the same section in the book. So at the start of every class, I said, “There will be a bad word in the reading. When you come across it, use the word ‘stinks’.” I got really tired of saying that by the end of the day.
I’m sure the kids had heard worse language, and had probably used it too. But apparently, the school had decided that ‘It sucks’ was not appropriate for 8th graders to use.
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Can I get a date on that? We never had that expression here until The Simpsons, so early 90s for us. I objected to its use in the remake of The Amityville Horror as being anachronistic but I’ve since wondered about that.
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this would be between 5 and 10 years ago. I can’t remember which unemployment stretch it was.
Engineers make good money, but they get laid off a lot. At least last time, 2 years ago, I had a lot of company. I’ve now been working again for a year, and hopefully it won’t happen again before I retire. I turn 65 next week, and get full SS benefits at 66 and a half
I remember as a kid, ‘sucker’ was a synonym for fool, and there was no dirty connotation about it, at least not in polite society.
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“Sucks” in that sense was definitely in use in the US as long ago as the 1970s.
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On a nostalgic note –
The new Dr. Strange movie being directed by Sam Raimi does have a gratuitous Bruce Campbell comic relief cameo.
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The Bruce is never gratuitous…
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I forgot to add, I saw a new movie on Svengoolie last weekend that I had never heard of before. The Monolith Monsters.
Science! specifically, geology. Not sure it would hold up in a lab. But for a change, the monsters were not intelligent, or even alive really. It made for an interesting movie.
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The Monolith Monsters is a great little movie and one of the infinite “I’ll get to that one day”-s. And the coffee!
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The Good Mrs. Benson and I caught the same broadcast. (She’s fond of the “creature features” of the era.) And, somehow, I had never seen THE MONOLITH MONSTERS in my youth.
I had precisely the same observation that Dawn did: that, while the science may not entirely hold up, it was an intelligently done film. The characters acted rationally within the framework of the situation present. I particularly liked all the concern over getting the governor’s authorisation to explode the dam. That sort of real-life consideration isn’t found in similar films of the day.
Of course, the hero chooses to nlow up the dam, anyway. I can’t help thinking that, if the movie had been made in this century, it would’ve been followed by a sequel: THE MONOLITH LAWYERS.
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On a general note—
I will get to the other comments that have been left around the site, including the ones further up this thread. Thank you to those who continued to visit and post!
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You continue to be a Good Thing!
(Also, I don’t know how other people do this, but I find RSS feeds very useful – you may post nothing for months, but my robot servants are still faithfully checking the page every so often and telling me as soon as they see something new.)
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sorry to keep asking this, but Lyz, are you ok? lots of stories about flooding in Sydney. Not sure if that’s better or worse than the fires from a while ago.
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Cheryl and I watched THE GREEN SLIME last night. It was the first time for her. That film holds a nostalgic place for me—it was the first film you and I ever discussed, the one that prompted me to send you an e-mail. That was nearly twenty-five years ago, when I was assigned to Commander SEVENTH FLEET.
This morning I re-read your review of that film. Why am I not surprised that I remembered nearly all of your commentary, and particularly that on what a d*** Jack Rankin was. I pointed out to Cheryl (as much as I hated to diss a “fellow” commander) how Rankin was actually the cause of the woes and deaths thst befell Gamma 3, as you explicated in your review.
In getting re-acquainted with your review, Lyz, I was reïmmersed in how good a reviewer you are, my friend. The best kind of film review accomplishes the following:
■ describes an accurrate synopsis of the film
■ makes cogent observations on how the film hits or misses
■ provides interesting behind-the-scenes information
■ and, most important, does it in an entertaining voice.
The gold standard for this sort of thing was the Medved brothers, of THE GOLDEN TURKEY AWARD fame. They combined all of the above in a pitch-perfect wry style.
I’ve seen too many review sites that try to follow the Medved style, but take it ‘way too far, substituting garish sarcasm for wry observation and humiliation for humour.
I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, Lyz, but your work comes as near to the Medved gold as I think anyone can and still retain his own voice. You’re damn good at your writing, and the proof of this is I will read your reviews of films in which I have zero interest, in fact, less than zero, because I would actively avoid them, just because the way you write them is such a pleasure to read. And when you cover a film I’ve seen, it’s a pure joy.
I don’t comment here as often as I’d like. I have a few too many irons in the fire right now. But I regularly check in, to keep up with my old friend’s latest gems.
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I just caught this too, on TCM. In her review, Lyz mentioned the less-than-stellar quality of the models. Every time they showed the space station, I heard the theme song from MST3K. The music in the movie sounded like an old Dr. Who episode. So it was enjoyable on many levels, although yes, Rankin is still a jerk. At least he didn’t get his shirt torn off, like Kirk always seemed to.
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I watched the behaviours of both Commander Rankin and Commander Elliott with a more critical eye—that’s the luxury of having seen a film a few times—and drew some conclusions NOT entirely consistant with Lyz’s evaluations, particularly of Rankin. Although, Lyz wasn’t too far off the mark.
For example, she’s completely correct in laying the blame for the titular threat of the film on Rankin. It was his precipitous action in destroying the jar with the protoplasm sample on Flora which resulted in all the deaths and destruction.
One, as Lyz noted, Rankin had to be aware of the purpose in a scientist being ordered on the mission.
Two, also a Lyz said, there was no evident reason why the alien sample couldn’t be taken along. (I’m presuming that Dr. Halverson had brought along a safety container for transporting potentially hazardous substances. Given what we saw of Halverson’s sloppiness in handling unknown substances, I’ll allow that I might be giving Halverson too much credit.)
Three, Rankin had to have been aware of the protocol for even disposing of alien substances—that’s been part of astronaut training since the Apollo missions—and it wouldn’t have been smashing the container on the nearest rock.
Four, even if no protocols were extant, smashing the jar at the feet of the crew, were the spatter of an alien, potentially lethal substance could contaminate their spacesuits was just plain stupid.
From a leadership standpoint, Rankin’s combative attitude was disruptive. The frequent public arguments with Elliott over who’s in command disrupted and confused Captain Martin and the rest of the crew—or it would have if it had been real life, rather than a script depicting the staff of Gamma 3 immediately following Rankin and ignoring Elliott.
On the other hand, Rankin was correct about Elliott’s weakness as a commanding officer.
Certainly, Elliott was knowledgable, capable, quick-thinking, and brave. He was also a less-rigid personality, which made the viewers like him. But the fact is, Elliott could not make the hard decisions. Lyz didn’t talk about that much in her review.
The backstory establishes the bad blood between Rankin and Elliott began when Rankin charged Elliott with inability to command, based upon an incident on a mission in which Elliott’s decision to attempt to rescue one man resulted in the deaths of ten other men.
While no details are presented for the audience to evaluate Elliott’s actions in that past incident, two occasions arise in the film which support the idea that Elliott cannot make the tough decision for the greater good.
First, on Flora, after Rankin receives word that the asteroid’s approach to Earth has accelerated. In order for the landing party to have any chance of survival, it has to leave Flora NOW. Yet, Elliott is willing to, insists upon, endangering the othet members of the party by waiting for Halverson to return. The situation is obviated when Halverson arrives moments later. But Rankin was correct in his willingness to leave Halverson behind. One doesn’t cost seven men their chance at life to wait for one.
The other occasion in which we see Elliott show the same poor decision is after the slime creatures are isolated in the chamber in C-block. Partially due to his own impetuousness, Dr. Halverson is inadvertantly trapped in the chamber with the deadly creatures.
At that moment, the creatures are trapped, the threat is isolated, and the safety of the rest of Gamma 3 is firmer. Yet, Elliott insists on reëndangering the station by rescuing Halverson—because it means breaking the integrity of the confinement and releasing the creatures.
When Elliott goes to open the hatch, Rankin threatens to shoot him to stop him—an action with which I agree. Maybe Rankin wouldn’t have, but he definitely did not when Lisa stepped in the line of fire.
The result: the hatch was opened, and Halverson was already dead—AND the slime monsters were once again released to invade the station. From that point on, Elliott had an equal share of the blame for subsequent deaths and the destruction of the station.
It’s difficult for the viewers to view it that way. Television and movie plots have conditioned us to expect the hero always finds a way to rescue that lone individual without the loss of life to the many who sre endangered because of it. There’s ALWAYS a way.
But, in real life, there isn’t, and sometimes, terrbly, tragically, one life must be sacrificed to save many. Trust me, I know. And Vince Elliott was incapable of making that decision.
Make no mistake, Jack Rankin was a d***. He wasn’t an Admiral Halsey or General Patton, who were hard-bitten personalities, but had the leadership skills to earn their subordinates’ loyalty. But his abrasive, bull-in-a-china-shop attitude keeps the audience from noticing that, at least a couple of times, he was right.
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Lyz, I am sad. Whilst watching a YouTube essay comparing “The Midwich Cuckoos” and the original “Children of the Damned,” I looked up the Wikipedia entry for the novel. There, I saw mention of a Thai semi-ripoff movie, “Blackbirds at Bangpleng.” Checking the references, I was pleased to see a link to your site. Then I was saddened to see that it had been hosted at Blue Mountains.
Please, please, Lyz, ‘port that review here! I do so much want to read your thoughts. Thank you.
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Please disregard. I found it via Wayback Machine.
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So. Another family medical situation; I suppose this will stop sooner or later?
Anyway, you guys know the drill by now. Trying to pick up the pieces…
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I hope you’re doing your best to take care of yourself, as well. With all that’s happening I’m sure it’s grinding you down. Last thing we want is for you to end up ( go back? 😀 ) to the looney bin.
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All the best, ma’am. I love your writing, but I’d rather you be in shape to write more later than you burn yourself out trying to get something out to meet a schedule.
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I admit it. I went to see Cocaine Bear. Took off a half day of work to see the first showing of the movie event of the century.
A couple of weeks before, I was at the same theater and a young (late teen, early 20s) couple was in line for tickets. The guy spots the Cocaine Bear poster. Grabs her shoulder. “COCAINE BEAR!! It’s about a BEAR! That does COCAINE!!” She looked deeply in his eyes as of saying, “You are so wise!”
Not Sharknado ridiculously silly. More like Army of Darkness almost ridiculously silly. 5 stars out of 5.
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https://xkcd.com/2747/
Don’t know if you catch this website, but it had LYZ!!!! all over it.
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Hey, let’s see if we can get some chit-chat going!
Thinking about Carnosaur earlier made me wonder what your “guilty pleasure” movies are. For the record, I don’t consider Carnosaur one of those; I think its merits are objectively strong enough to elevate it from that category, although I do probably like it more than most.
The one I immediately think of is Attack of the Supermonsters. I stumbled across it in a video store in my early teens (along with Legend of the Dinosaurs, but the less said about that one, the better) and from that first watch I’ve absolutely loved it. Yes, it’s repetitive; three of the four episodes used to make it have the same damn plotline where a dinosaur turns regular animals into slavering killers. Yes, the mix of rubber monsters stomping on sets and sketchy animation is disconcerting. Yes, the leads are fairly dull and the comic relief is neither. When I was younger I could say it was all that monster stuff that saved it, along with the ridiculously hammy performances of the voice actors for the dinosaurs. Especially Emperor Last Dinosaur I MEAN TYRANNUS. But to this day, I have the same fondness for it. We watched it at T-Fest 2012. Ken fell asleep during it, I think most people were pretty “meh” towards it, but I was just as happy as ever. People I watch it with are mildly amused at best and rather hostile towards it at worst. I did not begrudge them their feelings. I don’t expect anyone else to enjoy it like I do. I’m certain I’ve watched AotS more times than anyone else on the planet, and that number will only grow. I will keep inflicting it on people hoping for at least one more convert (yes, I did make one), but if I don’t find another, it’s fine, because I love it and I don’t care who knows it.
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Deep Rising! The OCR gets shot twice! The heroine changes from a formal dress to pants/shirt, with a gun tucked into her belt.
My favorite quote, ‘So we’re all going to die because you were bad in math?’
Now if only the villain hadn’t tried to explain what the creature was, it would have been so much better. Just how did he know so much to begin with? not to mention most of it is flat out wrong.
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I have an unreasonably soft spot for Ghosts of Mars. I mean, I’m not blind to its faults, and there are lots of ’em. But I’m also not one of those fans who was expecting The Thing 2 only to be disappointed by getting Assault on Precinct 14 instead. Dude, space train! Ice Cube can actually act! (But oh, man, both Michelle Yeoh and Franka Potente turned down the lead role, and I’d love to see what they’d have done with it.) And I particularly love the slow build of tension in the first half, even if the second sinks too far into horde action.
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I saw something on the news the other day that will surely warm Lyz’s cold, icy heart. Google alligators in Mesa AZ
A park in Mesa has added a foam alligator and a foam crocodile to its lake, for the wildlife to have additional places to perch. The news story mentioned turtles, but all the pictures they were showing had birds standing on the animals. As long as they share, I guess.
Apparently 911 has been inundated with people reporting live alligators/crocodiles in the lake. The operators have been busy assuring people that no, they’re not real.
I don’t know why they used those shapes, instead of logs. But the kids like them.
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