IonicBreezeMachine Reviews

Snack Shack (2024)

A raw and honest coming-of-age comedy where the air of authenticity makes its abrasive characters palatable

[7/10 · 7 May 2024]

Set in Nebraska City, Nebraska 1991, teenagers A. J. Carter (Conor Sherry) and his scheming friend Moose Miller (Gabriel LaBelle) try their hand at various get rich quick schemes from placing bets at off track betting parlors to brewing their own beer to sell to other high schoolers. After their parents put a stop to their questionable activities the two empty their savings accounts in order to place an exorbitant bid on the snack shack at the community pool as A. J. now has to pay back the money to avoid being sent to military school. Over the course of the summer A. J. experiences romance, tragedy, and struggle.

Snack Shack is the sophomore mainstream directorial effort of Adam Carter Rehmeier following his 2020 film Dinner in America. The film is a semi-autobiographical film with Rehmeier having based significant parts of the film off his own experience manning a pool shack in his youth. While I found the film to be an acquired tasted due to its purposefully abrasive characters, there is an unmistakable air of authenticity to the film that once I emersed myself in did win me over.

Being set at the start of the 90s, Snack Shack has an air of similar films from the decade that preceded (Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the like) or even more modern ones such as Adventureland. Both Conor Sherry and Gabriel LaBelle give strong performances and have good chemistry as A. J. and Moose, and while their introduction doesn't initially present them as the most likable of characters it does feel true to form in that phase of brash overconfidence that adolescent boys often go through as they approach adulthood. Despite having a heavy focus on shenanigans and risky behavior the movie does also showcase the humanizing aspects of the characters particularly regarding the major milestones of first loves or an untimely tragedy that carry strong weight.

While I didn't enjoy Snack Shack as much as some similar films in this genre (such as The Way Way Back or Adventureland) I did appreciate the film for its authentic presentation that captured not only the look of its time and place but also the feel. The characters are flawed but human and there's a strong core to the movie once you get to know it beyond its slightly abrasive surface.

DogMan (2023)

Luc Besson makes a massive comeback with an endearingly odd character study anchored by Caleb Landry Jones's hypnotic performance

[8/10 · 3 May 2024]

In Newark, New Jersey, a paraplegic man named Doug Munrow (Caleb Landry Jones) is arrested after being found driving a truck full of dogs while dressed in drag. Unsure of what to do with him, the state assigns psychiatrist Evelyn (Jojo T. Gibbs) to evaluate him which leads to Doug telling her his life story where his love of dogs saved him from his abusive father and older brother and sent him on a path of protecting all the strays he came across as well as the unconventional means by which he provided for them.

Dogman is the comeback for writer director Luc Besson who following a series of underperforming risky business ventures like the Relativity EuropaCorp Distribution venture with Relativity Media or Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets and allegations which have since been cleared saw the prolific director/writer/producer take a hiatus from the industry with his last film being 2019's Anna. While the film's marketing by Briarcliff has positioned the film as a quirky modestly budgeted action thriller of the John Wick-mold it doesn't quite sell how offbeat and character based the film is making it a pretty entertaining ride.

From the scenes in the marketing you might think this is a straightforward revenge narrative and while there is some dishing out of revenge there's also a surprisingly good character study at play. Dogman undeniably touches upon ongoing social issues like wealth disparity, religion, systemic indifference, and animal cruelty but at the same time it doesn't forget what kind of movie it is and indulges in all manner of fun genre nonsense from Doug's dogs stealing from wealthy neighborhoods or Doug's hideout that leads to an inspired third act that needs to be seen to be believed. Caleb Landry Jones is excellent as Doug who fully commits to the eccentric and bizarre world of the film and he's well paired with Jojo T. Gibbs' Evelyn who serves as a strong sounding board against Doug in their scenes together. The biggest criticism would probably be a thread involving Evelyn's ex husband that seems like it's being setup for a payoff that never comes through, but when the movie keeps delivering surprise after surprise it's hard not to recommend.

Dogman is probably some of the most fun I've had with a movie this year and I couldn't have been happier walking in as blind as I was. Whatever movie you're expecting from the marketing I guarantee you the reality breaks from your expectations in the best possible ways.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023)

In the Land of Saints and Sinners has a bit more thematic weight than other Neeson thrillers but succumbs to many of the established tropes

[6/10 · 27 April 2024]

Set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1974, Finbar Murphy (Liam Neeson) is an aging widowed hitman who seeks to leave his work behind. During one of his walks through the village, Finbar comes across Moya (Michelle Gleeson), the daughter of village bartender Sinead (Sarah Greene) and sees several bruises upon her. Walking her home Finbar soon learns Curtis June (Desmond Eastwood), a man claiming to be her uncle, is the one abusing her and takes matters into his own hands and kills him. Curtis' sister Doireann McCann (Kerry Condon), the head of an IRA cell in hiding after a bombing goes wrong, sets about finding her brother putting Finbar on a violent collision course.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners is the latest action thriller starring Liam Neeson and features the actor once again in a mid-budget gritty affair as an aging man of violence. Neeson was apparently quite taken with the script as well as the opportunity to work with longtime friend Ciaran Hinds and sees him return to work with Robert Lorenz of The Marksman. While the movie doesn't stray too far from the established Neeson mold, its setting and neo-western framing help to make it a cut above the crop of the recent variety of this kind of movie.

As with The Marksman, Robert Lorenz stages the film like a classic western albeit transferred to the lush green of Ireland's Northern Coast. While Neeson is once again playing a man with a heavy violent past, the movie feels like it's channeling something like Shane to a degree in trying to escape ones past. The best scenes of the movie are in the opening 40 minutes with Neeson interacting with various people in the village with Sarah Green, Ciaran Hinds, Nimah Cusack, and especially Michelle Gleeson giving good performances and there's a sense of melancholy in these scenes where he's getting to know his community free of the burden of his profession. Once we get more into the revenge angle it becomes somewhat more conventional but the IRA cell lead by Kerry Condon's Doireann are well acted and some engaging antagonists for Finbar to face off against. I do however feel the movie is uncertain as to whether its playing as more of a character piece or a more disposable case of revenge wish fulfillment down to an ending that I feel undermines parts of the movie. In terms of movies that are set during this time period it treats it pretty shallow and surface level in comparison to more dramatic works like Belfast or even something that was more aligned with thrillers like the underrated '71.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners has more dramatic weight than it really needed for this kind of movie and while it starts with a lot of promise it opts to go more conventional as it goes along and culminating in an ending that I personally don't feel fits with the earlier thematic framing. I do however mildly recommend the movie as a decent neo-western with a novel setting and a good performance by Neeson.

Immaculate (2024)

Immaculate takes well-trodden material traced back to Rosemary's Baby that adds a certain novelty with a touch of nasty intensity

[7/10 · 25 April 2024]

Sister Cecillia (Sydney Sweeney) is a young American woman whose parish in America has closed and is relocated to the convent Our Lady of Sorrows in the Italian countryside. Far from home and unfamiliar with the language, Cecilia finds friendship in Sister Gwen (Benedetta Porcaroli) a former abuse victim who found safety and comfort in the church. After suffering a fainting spell, Cecillia is told she is pregnant despite being a virgin with Father Sal Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte) believing this to be a case of immaculate Conception and heralding a return of the savior. Cecillia's feelings of isolation increase as she questions the benevolence of the supposed miracle and finds herself worried that it may be something far darker.

Immaculate is the latest vehicle for up and coming star Sydney Sweeney who proved a breakout with the series Euphoria and co-starred in the sleeper hit Anyone but You. Having been attached to the film since 2014 when it began development (stalling for just under a decade), Immaculate now finds itself a modest release from distributor Neon with the film quite a nasty and tension filled sit that is honestly pretty engaging and a welcome departure from the plethora of overly safe fodder mainstream horror has seen this year.

In many ways Immaculate falls in line with many of the religiously themed horror films that preceded not the least of which being Rosemary's Baby and the various follow-ons that took inspiration from its format and success. I tend to have an acquired skepticism towards horror films involving Satanic or religious themes due to the debt owed to the forebears of the genre (your Exorcisms, Omens, etc.) and while Immaculate does technically fall in line with that crowd it's the little details that stuck with me especially in how out there it gets with its third act reveal. Sydney Sweeney is really good as Cecillia and you can see why she was so eager to play this role as she does well playing this vulnerable person who's isolated in more ways than one (especially with the language barrier) and she's quite believable during the scenes of horror she experiences. I also rather enjoyed Benedetta Porcaroli as Sister Gwen who befriends Cecilia and Alvaro Morte is quite good as Father Tedeschi especially in the third act. Immaculate dials up the shock to an incredible degree complete with an ending that serves as the crescendo to the unpleasant hell Cecilia goes through and I respect Immaculate for going full force with this premise and diverging from the Rosemary's Baby formula in some novel and outlandish ways.

I was pleasantly surprised by Immaculate, while there are certainly some shades of DNA from the likes of Rosemary's Baby, Sydney Sweeney's central performance, some very charged subtext about reproductive freedom and bodily violation, and an unapologetically intense delivery make Immaculate stand out among a very crowded and well traveled field.

Knox Goes Away (2023)

Keaton stars and directs in this well acted noir thriller where his central performance and tight direction compensates for its story issues.

[7/10 · 20 April 2024]

John Knox (Michael Keaton) is an aging contract killer who is diagnosed with an extremely rapid form of dementia that will see him loose lucidity in a matter of weeks. As Knox prepares to get his affairs in order before losing cognitive function, he must also keep his estranged son, Miles (James Marsden), out of prison after he killed a man who seduced Miles' underage daughter.

Knox Goes Away is the sophomore directorial effort of Michael Keaton (who also stars) having previously helmed The Merry Gentleman over 15 years ago. Working from a relatively low budget and quick shooting schedule, you can tell that Keaton is throwing his all into the film as it's well acted with some strong characters and tension even if I fee, some elements of the script don't fully work.

While Knox Goes Away is a very familiar premise in the hitman/contract killer subgenre of thrillers unlike many genre exercises we've had of late much of the details of that aspect are left in the background while the primary focus is on the characters and how they face the grim reality before them. Keaton gives a wonderful performance as John Knox whose portrayal of a man with sharp intelligence and humor underscores the tragedy as the weeks tick by leaving him with less of himself as he runs short on time to rectify his affairs. Having recently undergone my own experience with this situation I'll freely admit there's a high likelihood that my perception has elevated certain scenes especially between Keaton and James Marsden as his son that gave a sense of raw emotional power. The movie also features a collection of good actors in the ensemble such as Marcia Gay Harden, Suzy Nakamura, and Al Pacino and Keaton does a good job directing himself against the other actors and creating some strong emotional scenes.

The one major misstep I had was in Gregory Poirier's script where it touches on underage sexual assault in a very detatched manner as the focus is more on Miles' reaction to the situation than his daughter's who isn't really a fully formed character and instead comes off as more of an archetype because the plot needed an inciting incident. There's nothing wrong with looking at how the family of sexual assault victims cope with the tragedy, after all the 2010 film Trust did it, but like Trust you also need to make sure if you include this element in the story you need to serve it properly and by holding the audience at a distance from the character who experiences this it only serves to detract from the main focus and feel cheap and exploitative in the process.

As a performance piece and directorial exercise, Keaton shows himself to be deftly capable of wearing many hats and balancing the elements needed to make something both tense as well as emotionally raw. The script does have some underlying issues that are hard to ignore, but the strength of everything around it helps in its favor.

Land of Bad (2024)

Above average war film where Eubank's taut direction coupled with some game performances in Hemsworth and Crowe makes for tense viewing

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

In the Southern Philippines, Abell (Luke Hemsworth), Bishop (Ricky Whittle), Sugar (Milo Ventimiglia) undertake a rescue mission of a missing CIA asset with Kinney (Liam Hemsworth) serving as the link with air support provided by Grimm (Russell Crowe) in Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The mission goes wrong with the arrival of extremist faction Abu Sayyaf prompting the team to reveal their position to stop civilian casualties leaving Kinney the last man alive. With only his direct link with Grimm, Kinney must now traverse hostile territory in order to make his way home.

Land of Bad comes to us from director William Eubank and was written by him and David Frigerio back in 2012 under the title of JTAC. 10 years later the film was setup independently through the Highland Film Group securing distribution thanks to the presence of notable names like Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe in the cast. While Land of Bad doesn't stray far beyond the requisites of the modern military thriller, it offers an intense ride that doesn't let up until the end.

In terms of plotting, Land of Bad is about as simple a concept as you can get with a relatively wet behind the ears soldier sent into the fray only for things to go horribly wrong and leaving him the last man standing and the only one to get to the extraction site. Liam Hemsworth as Kinney is the best he's been in a lead role in quite sometime and he shows himself to be both physically as well as emotionally capable of handling a role like this. Stealing every scene he's in however is Russell Crowe's drone pilot, Grimm "Reaper", and while his role involves a lot of him sat behind a computer console there's a lot of energy brought to his performance as he creates this world weary character who also adds some nice touches of humor to the proceedings as he supports Kinney over comms and with drone support. Eubank's direction is incredibly taut and uncompromisingly brutal with the action sequences feeling intense and heart pounding. I will say that maybe the script gets a bit too heavy handed when it drives home its points about the detached nature of drone warfare (particularly the scenes where Grimm shopping for his vegan pregnant wife are intercut with Kinney being tortured) especially since it doesn't have as much of a clear statement on the issue in comparison to something like Eye in the Sky.

Land of Bad was a pleasant surprise and stands out nicely among the field of mid-budget internationally co-produced action thrillers. While the movie stumbles a bit in its commentary of drone warfare the movie makes up for it with some good characterization, taut direction, and some game leads in Hemsworth and Crowe.

Stopmotion (2023)

Robert Morgan showcases impressive animation and unnerving visuals in his feature debut compensating for a very basic narrative

[6/10 · 6 April 2024]

Ella Blake (Aisling Franciosi) is a stop-motion animator who assists her animator mother Suzanne (Stella Gonet) in finishing her final work as debilitating arthritis has robbed Suzanne of her ability to animate. When Suzanne suffers a stroke and is rendered comatose, Ella is intent on finishing her mother's film and rents an apartment to use as a studio. However, the appearance of a mysterious little girl (Caoilinn Springall) sends Ella on a different path animating the tale of a girl in the woods hunted by an entity known as The Ash Man, but the lines between reality and fantasy soon become blurred.

Stopmotion is the feature debut of director Robert Morgan, a British stop-motion animator and director whose work has previously been seen in a number of short films including as a segment in The ABCs of Death 2. Given a limited release in February 2024 before its premier on Shudder, Stopmotion has earned considerable praise for its direction, atmosphere and performances and you can see why in the final product. While I appreciated Stopmotion on a technical level, I was overall left somewhat cold by it.

To start off, Stopmotion showcases some nicely unnerving animation by Morgan that is intermixed with the live-action work with some memorable sequences of the effects interacting with the human elements in grotesque and macabre ways. While not possessing the level of polish of say Laika or Shadowmachine, Morgan's grungy but minimalist aesthetics are put to good use and you can feel the level of effort that went into his abominations. Aisling Franciosi gives a great performance as Ella Blake who conveys the characters descent into psychosis quite convincingly. There's a real sense of tragedy to the character as she spent her life in her mother's shadow and you get the sense from the opening sequence where Suzanne looks over her shoulder making the already arduous process of stop-motion all the more unpleasant with her curt delivery towards Ella.

I think where the movie struggled to hook me was with the nature of its plot which will be very familiar to horror fans as it does have shades of the likes of Videodrome or Censor albeit with a slight seasoning of Mad God in the aesthetic value. I also feel like the movie undercuts itself by taking Stella Gonet's Suzanne out of the story mostly because the dynamic between Gonet and Franciosi felt very rich nuanced and tension filled and while they try for something similar with Caoilinn Springall's character (who is good in the movie, no question) the exchanges never really recapture that strong undercurrent from the opening.

Stopmotion is a frustrating film for me because it's got such dedication and effort on display and seemingly has all the parts needed to make something I should love but the pieces never settled in a way that it went above respect to greater enjoyment. As a stop-motion and horror fan I think there's some good material here and I'm curious to see what Morgan can pull off with greater backing, even if this is only a marginal one time viewing from my own viewpoint.

Argylle (2024)

Matthew Vaughn mixes Romancing the Stone with the iconography of Kingsmen that wears out its novelty with inconsistent tone and a bloated runtime

[4/10 · 31 March 2024]

Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the author of a successful series of spy novels based around the adventures of fictional character of Agent Argylle (Henry Caville) of the clandestine spy agency The Directorate. While Elly's books are full of adventure and thrills, Elly is considerably more reserved and cautious. On a train to meet with her mother (Catherine O'Hara) and discuss the next book in the series, she meets Aidan Wylde (Sam Rockwell) who beneath his rough exterior claims to be a spy sent to protect her from rogue agency The Division as her books actually parallel the spy world with only surface level details changed. Set upon by waves of henchmen, Elly finds herself swept up in a hih stakes adventure in which the lines of fact and fiction are continually blurred in addition to the convoluted nature of spy craft.

Argylle is the latest film from Matthew Vaughn who has teamed with Apple Studios with the intent on launching a new franchise in the vein of Kingsmen (including more direct connections by way of a cinematic universe). Vaughn described the film as an homage to 80s action thrillers and there's been sizable attention paid to both the marketing and production budget of the film with many theories surrounding the identity of the ghostwriter of the real life Argylle tie-in novel to the $200-250 million production budget which Vaughn has refuted. Released in February 2024, Argylle managed to top the box office, but with negative critical reception, tepid opening numbers, and weak holds Argylle has struggled to make even $100 million worldwide against its $200 million budget. Going into Argylle I'll admit I approached it with some skepticism, but while I was initially willing to give it some benefit of the doubt it quickly wore out its goodwill and became irksome and overshadowing the moments I thought legitimately worked.

Despite the marketing department placing Henry Cavill front and center of much of the materials, make no mistake this is first and foremost Bryce Dallas Howard's and Sam Rockwell's film. While Vaughn has cited Lethal Weapon and Die Hard as influences on Argylle, a better 80s comparison would be the likes of American Dreamer, Vibes, and of course Romancing the Stone whose success spawned a number of imitators. Bryce Dallas Howard does show a solid range going from timid introvert to a more bold and active character, but while Argylle has a game cast and material that seems poised for high concept fun the movie often struggles to maintain itself across a near two and a half hour runtime and material that alternates between pointing out its own ridiculousness and trying to take itself seriously.

Sam Rockwell is a fine actor and I'm all for seeing him play an unconventional superspy who lacks the Bond-esque charms, but I often found that Rockwell and Howard didn't exhibit much chemistry. Henry Cavill and John Cena are having fun playing over the top spy movie pastiches but the over the top fiction of Elly's novels is so close to how the "serious" threats of the real world are portrayed that it kind of kills the source of the humor in how this setup is supposed to work. While Vaughn knows how to stage an action sequence, the movie has so much DNA mined from Kingsmen (including direct ties and references) that it often feels like you're watching a less bold and less novel version of Kingsmen. By the time the movie gets to the hour mark and we get our first big "reveal" the movie alternates between playing itself for farce and playing itself seriously that it just becomes obnoxious and it reminded me less of the highpoints of Kingsmen and more of the low points of forgotten failures like Hudson Hawk.

Argylle didn't aspire to be much except for some lighthearted escapist fare, but there are so many better movies to which it owes a creative debt (some of which from Vaughn himself) that there's no good reason why you should watch this rather than one of the earlier films from which it transparently takes inspiration.

Air Force One Down (2024)

The time tested "rescue the president" action formula is trotted out by upward failing producer Steven Paul that's bad, but better than The Painter from earlier

[4/10 · 8 March 2024]

Alison Miles (Katherine McNamara) is young and untested Secret Service agent serving under her uncle and mentor Agent Sam "Uncle Sam" Waitman (Anthony Michael Hall). As President Dallas Edwards (Ian Bohen) prepares to depart for the Eastern European nation of Astovia broker an oil deal with the nation's President, disgraced Astovian General and former leader of Astovia Azem Rodninov (Rade Serbedzija) initiates a plan to seize control of Air Force One and kidnap President Edwards with Agent Miles now the only one who can save him.

Yet another film from producer Steven Paul and Paramount's revived Republic Pictures label, Air Force One Down sees Paul diving into the direct-to-video action well once again after gracing audiences with The Painter earlier this year. Air Force One Down is more enjoyable than the Painter thanks largely to being shorter and less plodding, but it's also a not all that competent retreat on action formula that despite Paul's promise of delivering a "new twist" is more or less of the standard you see in direct-to-video trash lining the bottom shelf of Blockbuster during the 90s and 2000s.

Watching Air Force One Down it's pretty clear from the opening that starts with Allison partaking in sparring matches to establishing shots of DC and text identifying names and positions of characters that Air Force One Down owes a massive debt to Millennium Media's Fallen series of films that star Gerard Butler. While I'll admit I enjoy the occasional Millennium film, even the most ardent defenders can't deny films like The Expendables or Olympus Has Fallen are basically supped up versions of direct-to-video action templates from the company's early days that are redressed with bigger star names and a slightly larger scale. While Steven Paul is clearly trying to capture that same aesthetic Millennium films have, he clearly doesn't have the means or resources to do so.

The feature directorial debut of veteran stunt coordinator James Bamford I'll say that at least Bamford knows how to keep things moving with a brisk pace, but the action is also quite clumsily staged at points and can veer into unintended humor such as how henchmen during gunfights seem to forget how their guns are supposed to work and instead rush Agent Miles while carrying their AK-47s rather than actually shooting them. Katherine McNamara lacks the hardened edge you'd expect of a character in this role (but she's agile and at least can move during the very silly action sequences) and her exchanges with Anthony Michael Hall's "Uncle Sam" did amuse me with how much they failed to be endearing, especially with how producer Steven Paul who serves as the writer must've felt so proud of that "Uncle Sam" play on words given that it's revisited more than once until Anthony Michael Hall exits the movie unceremoniously at the half-way point.

Going into a movie like this, you pretty much know it's going to be bad given all the warning signs involved, but at least unlike The Painter from earlier this year it moves quickly enough that you can have a cheap laugh at its expense if you're so inclined. Otherwise: Just stick with Air Force One, Olympus Has Fallen, or White House Down for your "save the President" fix.

Damsel (2024)

A mixture of Ready or Not by way of Dragonslayer, Damsel manages to be a well-made, but familiar, inverted fairy tale.

[7/10 · 8 March 2024]

In a northern land ravaged by frost and famine, Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone) is sent a letter from Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright) of the Kingdom of Aurea requesting princess Elodie's (Millie Bobby Brown) hand in marriage to her son Henry (Nick Robinson). Once in Aurea Elodie and her family are taken aback by how rich and elegant the kingdom is while Elodie's stepmother Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett) feels something isn't quite right. After Elodie and Henry are married and engage in a ceremony commemorating a tragedy that befell Aurea from an ancient beast that resulted in sacrifices to maintain prosperity with Elodie now the latest sacrifice as she is tossed into the caves. Within the caves lurks a fire breathing dragon (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and now Elodie must repurpose her royal trappings and use her wits if she wishes to escape the caves with her life.

Damsel sees Netflix reteam with star Millie Bobby Brown and producers Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum with the streaming having worked with Brown on the very successful Stranger Things TV series and Enola Holmes films while Roth and Kirschenbaum previously gave them the YA fantasy film The School for Good and Evil. Netflix secured the rights to Damsel shortly after the success of acquiring Enola Holmes in 2020 and after waiting for Covid conditions to die down and shoot the film and having its release delayed by the strikes last year, Damsel is now available on Netflix and if you're looking for a straightforward but well-made inverted fairy tale this is reasonably entertaining.

Much like prior Joe Roth fantasy productions, Damsel features some polished looking kingdoms with ornate and elaborate sets and costume designs but the movie is at its strongest when it steps away from those trappings and instead opts for grittier and modest surroundings like Elodie's winter-ravaged northern kingdom or the elaborate cave system that serves as the dragon's lair. In many ways it feels like it's not too far removed from the universe of Joe Roth's films like Snow White and the Huntsman or The Huntsman: Winter's War even down to Robin Wright's Queen Isabelle inviting comparisons to Charlize Theron's Queen Ravenna from those films (while also being the least interesting part of the movie proper in what's a pretty thankless role). Where the movie exceeds however is in Shohreh Aghdashloo's vocal performance as the dragon who creates a memorable, menacing, and often times frightening antagonist and making herself a welcome addition to the pantheon of cinematic dragons (especially ones that speak). Not only does the dragon sound good, but it's also well designed with a striking, distinct, and expressive face that the effects team are to be commended for crafting.

But this of course leads us to the titular Damsel of the film and much like Millie Bobby Brown's prior headlining features she's no less good here and shows strong presence in lengthy stretches where she's the only character on screen and has to react to effects that will be put in later. We've certainly seen this kind of "anti-princess" fairy tale setup before with the Joey King movie The Princess coming to mind as a recent example, and while its become a well-worn trope at this point Damsel doesn't linger too hard on it and keeps its focus primarily on the survival game which is its strong suit. Angela Bassett also feels like she's kind of wasted in a role that has promise with her being a more benevolent stepmother in contrast to the fairy tale trope, but unfortunately like Robin Wright it feels more like a placeholder role that doesn't allow too much.

Damsel creates a memorable antagonist and a solid hero and pits the two against each other in entertaining and often brutal ways in an efficient and effective manner. Some of producer Joe Roth's tropes with the fantasy genre are showing their age with diminishing returns, but there is enough new added elements especially with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's taught direction that fans of grittier fantasy fare such as Dragonslayer will find plenty to appreciate.

Howling V: The Rebirth (1989)

Howling V doesn't reach the level of entertainingly crazy as II or III, but it's a major step up from IV

[5/10 · 24 February 2024]

In Budapest, Hungary, a long closed and forgotten castle is now being re-opened 500 years after a mysterious incident left its prior occupants massacred. The enigmatic Count (Phillip Davis) plays host to an eclectic group of guests for a party which they are forced to stay at due to the remote location and onset of a blizzard and one by one the guests are slaughtered by a strange beast and discover their invitations may not have been random.

While Howling IV was panned by audiences, critics, and even the producers and crew, the film was successful enough that producer Steven Lane was able to justify another installment. Made as an international co-production as a cost saving measure to utilize the affordable locations of Eastern Europe. Utilizing a more gothic atmosphere and a whodunit style narrative intended to de-emphasize effects sequences, Howling V uses these limitations to its advantage. While Howling V never gets as entertainingly bonkers as II and III, it's a solid enough whodunit that engages in spite of technical and acting limitations.

If you're familiar with the setup of your traditional limited location murder mystery, Howling V covers many of those beats by producing a distinct lineup of characters and a solid location in the old castle that's a character in and of itself. Howling V has much loftier ambitions than a direct-to-video werewolf film really needs and with a little more budget and polish you could hypothetically see this setup as something a major studio could do but given this is from the director of Space Mutiny it strives for being serviceable if slightly disposable entertainment which it is. As a murder mystery it's pretty engaging and fun although the hit-and-miss acting coupled with a very frugal approach does sometimes make the film feel less like a classic gothic murder mystery and more akin to a spoof like Clue or Murder by Death played straight with no jokes (arguably making it as if not more humorous).

I can't really defend Howling V too heavily on its own merits (though it has more than it really needed, especially in comparison to its predecessor), but if you're looking for fun if very straightforward werewolf trash Howling V has you covered.

Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988 Video)

The fourth Howling film eschews the trashy thrills of the prior two entries, becoming a tedious bore that only comes to life in the last 10 minutes

[3/10 · 9 February 2024]

Marie Adams (Romy Windsor) is a successful author who suffers what appears to be a nervous breakdown after seeing visions of a nun and a wolf like creature. Told by her doctor it may be stressed related, Marie and her husband Richard (Michael T. Weiss) travel from the din of L. A. to the isolated town of Drago where Richard has secured a cottage. While initially the secluded hideaway seems perfect for some rest and relaxation, repeated nights of a mysterious howling coupled with strange events lead Marie to believe her visions may not be the product of an overactive imagination.

After the success of the Howling III, rights holder and producer Steven Lane was approached by producer Harry Alan Towers (best known for his hand in various Fu Manchu films) about producing a Howling sequel in Africa as part of a tax shelter. Unlike the smooth production of Howling III, Howling IV experienced issues from the very beginning with Towers allegedly disappearing upon the crew's arrival, providing only part of what he had promised, and the crew were shocked to learn they were to produce the film in South Africa rather than a neighboring country. Despite a bevy of production issues (many of which Lane and effects artist Steve Johnson laid at the feet of director John Hough), Howling IV: The Original Nightmare continued the success of Howling III ensuring that additional sequels would be produced. Unlike the fascinating trainwreck of Howling II or the swing for the fences insanity of Howling III, Howling IV looks and feels like a stereotypical direct-to-video film with a paper thin plot stretched to the nth degree past tolerance.

I'll start off by saying the best things in this movie are the Justin Hayward performed theme song "Something Evil, Something Dangerous" and Steve Johnson's effects work in the climax of the movie. While the movie past the opening credits with that song are a tedious bore before the outlandish display of effects work at the last 10 minutes, at least the movie begins and ends on a good (sometimes literal) note. Unfortunately for us there's an entire movie sandwiched between those two highpoints, and it's filled with the most tedious running in circles narrative one can have. While having a married couple come to a secluded community only to slowly find out something's wrong as tension builds between them is a rich setup (it's basically a copy of the first Howling film with The Colony), Romy Windsor and Michael T. Weiss don't come off as compelling leads and fail to replicate the chemistry The Howling gave us. Both actors come off as overly reserved and stiff and with John Hough's slack direction with a story that's not that interesting, it only serves to remind you of how little actually happens in the movie. By my most generous memory, I don't believe we actually see a werewolf until about the 70 minute mark as the hour leading up to the reveal is just a bunch of would be scare sequences built around Marie's waking dreams that only become annoying because they have no consequences and the audiences know there's no consequences. We eventually get to a decent climax involving the wolves (and several dogs standing in for wolves) that has some decent transformation work (like a "melting" man animatronic) and a decent sequence involving a bell tower, but the movie leading up to it has been such a "nothing" experience you really don't care like you should.

I'm not naive when it comes to watching a movie like Howling IV, I know this movie doesn't have the means or resources to compete with its iconic original or bigger studio werewolf movies but it should at least play to some level of trashy, exploitative, or ironic level of enjoyment and it doesn't. It doesn't have the weird disjointed feel of Howling II that made that film's failures so fascinating, it doesn't have the far out insanity of Howling III done with its surprising level of earnestness, and instead it's just a dull retread of the setup of the first film only without the good performances or passion.

Howling III (1987)

The Howling goes down under taking the series in an anthology route that swings for the fences in amusing ways.

[5/10 · 7 February 2024]

After the U. S. government intercepts Soviet chatter regarding "werewolves", professor Harry Beckmeyer (Barry Otto) goes to Australia to prove to a dismissive President (Michael Pate) that there may in fact be scientific evidence to prove werewolves should be taken seriously. Meanwhile in the Australian Outback, a young woman named Jerboa (Imogen Annesley) flees her abusive stepfather and heads for the city where she is met by young production assistant Donny Martin (Leigh Biolos) who gets her a job in a horror film he's working on. Over time a romance blooms between the two with their relationship going well until Jerboa suffers a reaction from flashing lights at the wrap party requiring hospitalization. The doctors soon discover the fur and pouch on Jerboa's abdomen that suggests she may not be fully human and inviting the attention of Beckmeyer.

After the messy production of Howling II which still yielded rights holder Steven Lane no return on his investment in the series, Lane was ready to give up trying to produce movies until Howling II director Philippe Mora (also frustrated by the mess Hemdale made of the movie) approached Lane about a standalone sequel that would be filmed in Mora's native Australia. Lane was ultimately convinced and serving as writer, director, and producer Howling III was made as its own entry free from any continuity ties to the prior films. While reviews were mainly negative the film did find some appreciation for how outlandish the film got from the likes of the New York Times and Variety and while it did (supposedly) have a theatrical release, it took off on the exploding home video market and finally yielded Lane a return on his investment and laying the groundwork for furth installments. Howling III is a strange little film in that it has a lot of ideas (with its reach often exceeding its grasp) but there's a charming b-movie endurance you have to admire in the leaps its willing to take.

At its core, Mora makes the film a love story and frames the werewolves in a (mostly) more sympathetic light with parallels drawn between them and the hunting to extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger. While some of the acting on display from leads Imogen Annesley and Leigh Biolos isn't the greatest, they're a much more engaged set of leads in comparison to the ones from Howling II (though given one was Reb Brown that's not saying much). Rather than having just one solid performance like Howling II had with Christopher Lee, we get some genuinely good work from Barry Otto and Ralph Cotterill as the scientists investigating the werewolves, and an extended cameo by Frank Thring as "I can't believe it's not Hitchcock" Jack Citron is wonderfully over the top and amusing.

In terms of the werewolves, they're a marked improvement from Howling II's confusing mess in both lore and appropriation of vampire tropes and while the transformation effects aren't groundbreaking Mora does get some memorable moments like a ballerina turning into a werewolf while doing a pirouette and a birthing scene with a surprisingly decent effect for creating a baby werewolf. In terms of making the werewolves more sympathetic characters there's a genuine effort made with the likes of Jerboa and Olga, but we also have some things the movie doesn't really address like Jerboa's abusive stepfather which is established and not really resolved in any meaningful thematic way. The story does have a few issues in how it tries to merge multiple plot threads that happen in the film, and the passage of time coupled with some occasionally questionable editing does lead to a messy third act which has timeskips of about 25 years in total, but the movie is so unpredictable in where it takes you that I couldn't help but be invested in where it was going in spite of myself.

I can't say Howling III is a good movie, but it's a really entertaining movie in how it swings for the fences in spite of itself. It's filled with ideas, characters, humor, and bold unpredictable moves that sometimes left my jaw dropped that I have to respect it for throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the audience (or at least as much as its budget will allow). It doesn't match the heights of the original, but it actually feels like a singular cohesive whole unlike Howling II.

Howling II: ... Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)

With a troubled production history leading to a confusing and misguided script, Howling II is a terrible sequel to the original, albeit fascinatingly so

[3/10 · 6 February 2024]

After Karen White's (Hana Ludvikova) death her funeral is attended by her Montana rancher brother Ben (Reb Brown) and her colleague Jenny Templeton (Annie McEnroe). The two are approached by supernatural investigator Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee) who unsuccessfully tries to tell Ben his sister was a werewolf and a victim of a larger secret society of werewolves lead by Stirba (Sybil Danning) that is approaching a once in a millennium ritual. While Ben is initially skeptical, the truth is soon revealed with both he, Stefan, and Jenny, traveling to Transylvania to stop Stirba's plan.

While The Howling was a box office hit, due to Avco Embassy's shaky financial situation the company offset several unrelated costs against The Howling's box office grosses meaning that producer and rights holder Steven Lane never saw any money from its success. Due to the nature of the agreement with Avco Embassy, Lane still had sequel rights to the film but could not use any directly traceable elements to the first film as those were exclusively reserved for Avco Embassy (who with the recent purchase by Norman Lear was uninterested in producing the genre fare it previously dabbled in). After shopping a sequel concept around Lane managed to get the film setup at Hemdale only to find once he'd done so that Hemdale greatly misrepresented they financial standing leading to a stop/start production which was re-written while the movie was being produced. Due to cash flow issues with Hemdale, Howling II would often start production in one area only for money to run out and necessitating relocating production in another area. This would also have an impact on the film's werewolf effects which according to effects artist Steve Johnson were shot months after filming had wrapped hence why they often feel so detached from the context of what's going on. Howling II has all the hallmarks of a troubled production held together with duct tape and hope, but while it lacks the novelty and craft of its predecessor it does become amusing in how much of a trainwreck it is. In terms of story Howling II is crudely assembled at best (with strange things like making Titanium their weakness or mining vampire lore for the werewolves) and often action and reason are mutually exclusive when discussing what actually happens here.

From the opening that features Christopher Lee floating in a void reciting from the section of the Book of Revelations (somewhat clumsily setting the stage for analogues to Stirba), we then segue into our first major signs that something's amiss with an open casket funeral for previous protagonist Karen White who is not only not played by Dee Wallace, but the camera gets close enough to instill that fact in the audience (possibly an unfortunate effect from the contractual prevention of direct references back to the original). We take a major step down in terms of protagonists with C-movie action staple Reb Brown whose acting ranges from his trademark over the top yells to barely mustering an octave of emotion when discussing his dead sister (which he doesn't seem to care that much about) and Annie McEnroe's Jenny is only slightly less wooden. Christopher Lee somehow manages to bring some level of dignity here even when discussing ludicrous elements like magic earplugs or dressing in 80s punk attire that almost feels like a prototype of the "How do you do fellow kids?" meme, but given that Sybil Danning is our main villain you've probably gathered that acting isn't a strong suit of this movie. In terms of story Howling II is crudely assembled at best (with strange things like making Titanium their weakness or mining vampire lore for the werewolves) and often action and reason are mutually exclusive when discussing what actually happens here.

In terms of providing the selling points of a werewolf movie, Howling II has some legendarily poor effects work on display with the werewolf effects show either as very basic costumes in chaotically edited action scenes or existing in weird black voids for close-ups and reaction shots due to the production often running out of money meaning a majority of these effects sequences were added in months after the fact. Major set pieces just feel confusing and disjointed but I will say that the film is filled with lots and lots of nudity and sex (some not all that sexy like the werewolf threesome) so take that for what it's worth.

While I don't think Howling II can be called the worst werewolf movie especially with the existence of something like Tony Zarindast's Werewolf, it's certainly far from being a good werewolf movie or a good movie in general. Howling II is bad, but it's at least watchably and memorably bad. Also the Howling Club Mix by Steve Parsons & Babel that is reused several times throughout the movie is quite catchy.

The Howling (1981)

Joe Dante and John Sayles create a modern update on Werewolves with the same sly humor of Piranha and added social commentary

[7/10 · 5 February 2024]

Following news reporter Karen White's (Dee Wallace) cooperation with the police in taking down stalker and serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo), Karen is still reeling from the events with the trauma affecting both her career and relationship with her husband Bill Neill (Christopher Stone). On the advice of Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee), the two travel out to a secluded wellness hideaway known as The Colony in an effort to allow Karen a space to heal, in spite of mysterious howling in the surrounding woods. Meanwhile back in L. A., Karen's friends Chris (Dennis Dugan) and Terry's (Belinda Balaski) investigation into Eddie Quist reveals he may have been a more literal type of monster.

The Howling is a 1981 horror film loosely based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Gary Brandner. The film was brought into existence by theater chain owner Steven A. Lane who had wanted to get into film production and being an avid horror fan took an interest in the howling after seeing a blurb from Stephen King on its cover. Pursuing the rights to current holder Jack Conrad, the two set the film up at Avco Embassy Pictures. After creative clashes between Conrad and Avco Embassy both Conrad and Lane stepped back into an executive producing capacity with then Avco Embassy President Robert Rehme hiring Joe Dante and John Sayles as writer and director respectively having had a positive working experience with the duo at New World Pictures on Piranha in 1978. The Howling not only proved a hit with audiences earning $18 million against its $1.5 million budget, but also from critics many of whom appreciated the update on werewolf tropes with a healthy does of dark humor and social satire. The Howling is undeniably a welcome addition to the werewolf canon even if there's a few rough spots courtesy of its low budget.

As The Howling opens, you can feel the modern influence of urban cinema on its approach as the gothic structures and foggy moors have been replaced with the kind of sleazy corridors of urban rot that characterized many films of the 70s and 80s in various crime films. Dee Wallace is really good as Karen White who helps take down her stalker with the help of the police, but even after her nightmare is seemingly over it still lingers with her. The chemistry between Wallace and her real life husband Christopher Stone is well done and you do care about them as characters and become unsettled by the building tension over the course of their time at the Colony. The movie features a rich level of satire from the "wellness retreat" like atmosphere of the Colony that gradually becomes more sinister to the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality of the TV news, to even commenting on the rise of pop psychology in the form of Dr. Waggner played by Patrick Macnee. If there's one thing I feel could've been revised a little I think it would be in the characters of Chris and Terry who initially feel very detached from the main plot for much of the running time and don't become as integral as they should until about the 50 minute mark or so. There is a bit of a feeling of budget based story compression going on as the audience is really thrown into the whole Eddie Quist setup pretty quickly which didn't allow me to get my bearings as quickly as I would've liked.

The Howling sees Joe Dante continue to refine his style of dark comedy with B-movie thrills in a entertaining and often intelligent modern re-dress of werewolves. While it has clear signs of rougher edges due to a low budget and tight turnaround time, it puts its limited resources to good use to make something that walks the line between funny and thrilling.

Piranha (1978)

Joe Dante's solo directorial debut owes a debt of inspiration to Jaws, but its unapologetic execution of B-movie tropes with a playful edge helps justify its existence

[6/10 · 4 February 2024]

In the rural area of Lost Lake, skip tracer Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) is tasked with locating two missing teenagers in the area and enlists the reluctant help of alcoholic single father Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) who maintains a curmudgeonly existence in the woods after his wife left him. The two come across a bizarre enclosure with a research pool and drain it looking for human remains leading to a brief fight with Dr. Robert Hoak. Eventually it's revealed the enclosure housed a mutated species of Piranha developed as a weapon for the U. S. Government and with the fish now in the river they must try and stop their advancement including towards the Summer camp where Paul's daughter, Suzie (Shannon Collins), is staying.

Piranha is a 1978 darkly comic horror film from screenwriter John Sayles and director Joe Dante who makes his solo debut having previously served as co-director alongside Allan Arkush on Hollywood Boulevard. Made for a modest $700,000 (with producer Roger Corman having cut the budget a few days prior to filming), very little was expected of the film as the crew were left mostly on their own while making something to cash-in on Jaws' success while Corman was busy producing Avalanche which was his belated entry into the Disaster movie wave of the 70s. The film became something of a sleeper for New World not only outgrossing the much bigger budgeted Avalanche, but also became New World's highest grossing film since its inception and helped launch the careers of Joe Dante and John Sayles, and Steven Spielberg called it the best of the Jaws knock-offs. Critical reception at the time was mixed with some cautiously embracing the film's tongue-in-cheek exploitative style, while with others it was dismissed as a quickie Jaws rip-off including from Siskel and Ebert. While Dante's style is very much in its early stages, Piranha shows a solid foundation for what we'd come to expect from Dante's later work.

While the movie's plot is pretty standard B-movie material with science gone horribly wrong and unleashed upon unsuspecting denizens, the screenplay by Sayles and the direction by Dante offer enough in terms of amusing characterization and wry humor intermixed with the more exploitative elements with plenty of blood and some not unwelcome shots of breasts per the standards of Corman's production approach. While the Piranha effects aren't anything too outstanding, they're nonetheless done to a successful degree giving the time and budget that was worked with that featured early work from effects mainstays like Chris Walas and Phil Tippett (including some of Tippett's stop-motion work). I will say that I'm quite surprised that the first major "feeding frenzy" sequence involves a bunch of kids at Summer camp which I'm of two minds with: On the one hand it's a bold and daring move that you wouldn't see a larger studio take, but on the other hand the acting by the kids is pretty good and they're not unlikable so it feels somewhat more at odds with the humorous parts (though your mileage may vary).

For what it is Piranha is better than it has any right to be. Given that this was a Corman production with little to no executive oversight the crew just needed to make a bare basics rip-off of Jaws and while there's DNA of Jaws on display, there's also a wry element of humor without turning into an overt comedy. More of a dry-run for characteristics of future Dante helmed projects, but one where you can see his unique style taking shape.

Orion and the Dark (2024)

The Charlie Kaufman penned Orion and the Dark is a sweet fantasy with an amusingly self-aware edge that never feels cynical

[7/10 · 3 February 2024]

Orion (Jacob Tremblay) is a young boy who is terrified of virtually anything ranging from social humiliation to more abstract fears like the nothingness of being. During a particularly dark night which sees Orion loudly curse the dark, a personified version of Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) comes to Orion to voice his annoyance that out of all the people afraid of him Orion is by far the loudest and most obnoxious. Dark makes a deal with reluctant Orion to have him accompany him on one day of his job with the other Night Entities of Sleep (Natasia Demetriou), Insomnia (Nat Faxon), Dreams (Angela Bassett), Quiet (Aparna Nancherla), and Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel) to show Orion that Dark is nothing to be scared of.

Orion and the Dark is a 2024 animated film co-produced by Netflix and Dreamworks Animation. The film marks the directorial debut of animator Sean Charmatz who more commonly works as a storyboard artist on everything from Spongebob Squarepants to various Warner Bros. And Dreamworks animated films. The film is an adaptation of the 2015 children's picture book of the same name by Emma Yarlett and is adapted by noted screenwriter Charlie Kaufman marking his second time writing for animation following 2015's Anomalisa. At its core Orion and the Dark is a very simple and straightforward story of overcoming ones fears, but while the movie features well worn ideas it's in the delivery of those ideas where the film really comes to life.

While the film's animation isn't given the level of detail or experimentation as something like bigger budget productions, the use of more simplistic models is put to strong use by capturing the soft and gentle appeal of a children's picture book while also incorporating 2D elements that allow for more playfulness such as Orion's various flights of fantasy that come to life in the form of his journal drawings bring to life his seemingly never-ending list of fears. The film features animation work by Mikros who previously worked with Dreamworks on Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and much like how that film captured the childlike frenetic energy that made the books so popular, the same process is used to capture the childlike sense of whimsy and mystique.

Orion and the Dark is about as simple of a story as you can get and the screenplay by Charlie Kaufman is aware of it in more ways than one affectionately pointing out the recurring tropes of this kind of narrative (including a rather cheeky reference to endings in animated films where the characters have a dance party). I don't want to go into too much detail because part of the fun is in seeing the different directions the movie goes storywise, but needless to say that same playfulness on display in the animation can be felt in both the acting and the writing with an approach that was very Princess Bride in its delivery.

I really liked Orion and the Dark for its simplicity and sweetness that managed to maintain a feeling of intelligence without resorting to cynicism or the smug sense of self-awareness characterized by various Shrek clones. While Orion and the Dark isn't the riskiest animated feature, there's always a welcome place for simple stories done well and with intelligence.

Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Godzilla's final bout before hibernation sees original director Ishiro Honda attempt to bring back some of the thematic weight with mixed results

[6/10 · 3 February 2024]

In the aftermath of Godzilla's defeat of Mechagodzilla, the Ocean Exploitation Institute (OEI) sends an experimental sub to look for the wreckage. When the sub is destroyed with the only clue being the last transmission mentioning the word "dinosaur", scientist Ichinose (Katsuhiko Sasaki) and INTERPOL agent Murakoshi (Katsumasa Uchida) investigate which brings them to Katsura Mafune (Tomoko Ai) the daughter of the supposedly dead scientist Dr. Shinzo Mafune (Akihiko Hirata) whose theories about dinosaurs saw him laughed out of academia. Unbeknownst to the world, Dr. Mafune is alive and collaborating with the original builders of Mechagodzilla with his daughter a key and reluctant part of Mafune's revenge on mankind.

After Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla proved a decent draw with audiences (a far cry from the heights of the series but an improvement from the prior two) a sequel was commissioned that would feature the return of Mechagodzilla. The script by Yukiko Takayama was based on a concept that was the winner of a contest held by Toho for potential Godzilla concepts, and based on the reception Takayama became the first woman screenwriter to write a Godzilla film. While producers hadn't considered returning to series director Ishiro Honda whose contract with Toho had long since lapsed, Takayama was an integral part in encouraging his return with Honda all too happy to do so appreciating a woman's perspective on the series. Terror of Mechagodzilla received mixed reviews from critics and also became the least attended Godzilla film (with the entire tokusatsu/kaiju style as a whole seeing a decline) and Godzilla would mostly become dormant for the next decade barring licensing exceptions like the Marvel comic book or Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Terror of Mechagodzilla is mostly on the same level of enjoyable as its predecessor, even if its thematic reach exceeds its grasp.

Ishiro Honda adds a surprising amount of weight and gravity to this entry of the series with Godzilla largely absent until the 50 minute mark, and when Godzilla does arrive Honda actually manages to make his arrival have pretty substantial impact thanks to some unique staging and lighting. While Terror of Mechagodzilla doesn't play at the same scale as its predecessor most of the time with much of the action relegated to the third act and Titanosaurus taking up the majority of the first and second acts, you can tell Honda is trying to add back that element of dramatic weight that had largely been absent from this series for the past decade. This is particularly true of Katsura Mafune played by Tomoko Ai who's the tragic heroine of the film who holds a dark secret thanks to her father's corrupting anger and lust for vengeance that has made her an unwilling participant in what's transpiring. With that said however, Terror of Mechagodzilla does have many issues that keep it from greatness. As with the predecessor, the Black Hole Aliens (or spacemen) are about as generic as you can get with these kinds of antagonists and with them being goofy relics from later era Showa installments like Monster Zero and Destroy All Monsters it feels at odds with the heavier dramatic themes. Similar issues arise with our characters beyond Katsura with our leads of Ichinose and Murakoshi being bland and uninteresting, and the romance between Ichinose and Katsura is lacking in passion or much reason to care.

As a send off (which it was never intended to be) Terror of Mechagodzilla gives the Big G another round with a worthy foe along with an adequate foe before sending him into the sunset. It doesn't reach the heights of the series, but it's way above plumbing the depths.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Jun Fukuda gives us the pinnacle of his work with the Godzilla franchise and introduces one of Godzilla's most beloved foes

[6/10 · 3 February 2024]

On the island of Okinawa, a priestess has a vision of a monster destroying a city. Meanwhile two brothers working in Okinawa separately find an idol statue of the guardian monster King Cesar and a piece of space metal. With Godzilla soon emerging from a volcano to cut a swath of destruction not long thereafter, matters are further complicated when it's revealed the Godzilla is a mechanized copy created by forces not of this Earth.

While Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. Megalon were successful in spite of their dwingling domestic ticket sales thanks in no small part to international sales, they were seen as creative failures leading to the next film getting something of a creative shakeup. Inspired by the popularity of giant robot anime, the appearance of Mechani-Kong from King Kong Escapes, and the reduced costs in building a robotic "monster" versus a living one, Mechagodzilla was created with the Okinawa setting and "Red Moon" iconography from the scrapped Tsubaraya Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. Redmoon, and approaching it with a relatively more mature tone and plot. While like many Showa Godzilla films it didn't achieve the highs of the series' heyday, it was seen as an improvement from Godzilla vs. Megalon and saw the best Ticket sales since Destroy All Monsters and coupled with the popularity of Mechagodzilla would see a direct sequel as the final installment of the showa series. While Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla doesn't shake all of the issues of later Showa installments, it manages enough to be a strong redemption from Megalon.

I'll start off by saying that admittedly the plot is kind of a mess. While the actual motivations behind Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla are fairly straightforward, the movie mixes mystical elements, pulpy alien sci-fi elements, and even spy elements together into a story that doesn't necessarily do the best at tying them together and it feels like the plot strands are running parallel to each other rather than coalescing into a singular whole. When you have a movie that starts off as seemingly being about a prophecy only to compound matters by adding in aliens and spies with the aliens not even given proper names and the spies popping in at random, it's a pretty strong bet that "story" won't be this movie's strong suit.

What does work however is the monster action with Mechagodzilla a welcome addition to Godzilla's rogues gallery and with a strong robotic design that mirror's Godzilla's physique and powers with additional unearthly tech it's pretty obvious why Mechagodzilla has been a mainstay of the series. The fights are pretty entertaining even when Mechagodzilla is disguised as Godzilla (poor Anguirus takes a pretty brutal attack to illustrate the stakes) and there's a lot of creativity on display with how they handle the fights and Mechagodzilla's abilities. The movie also gets some bonus points for being the first Godzilla movie in a long time to avoid recycling stock footage. The one downside is probably with King Cesar who just feels underwhelming especially with being a dog/lion hybrid that just kind of looks cheap (especially with the eyes). It honestly makes me wish they'll just let Anguirus be the secondary player because King Cesar just felt like a placeholder down to the fact he's awakened by the same gimmick as Mothra (being sung a song).

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla avoids many issues of later era Showa installments, but it's also not without it's own problems such as a cluttered and overstuffed narrative and the underwhelming nature of King Cesar. I will say the monster fights are fun and Mechagodzilla is a more than worthy foe for the big G.

Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla vs. Megalon is arguably the franchise's zenith in "kiddification", but at least there's an enjoyable climax.

[5/10 · 1 February 2024]

Inventor Goro Ibuki (Katsuhiko Sasaki), his younger brother Roku-chan (Hiroyuki Kawase), and the friend racecar driver Jonko (Yutaka Hayashi) find themselves targeted by nameless henchman who are presumably after the robot prototype Jet Jaguar that Goro is building. At the same time, the entire world is experiencing an unprecedented amount of Earthquakes. The Earthquakes are in actuality attacks by the undersea kingdom of Seatopia whose Emperor (Robert Dunham) has declared war on the surface world for atomic testing and seeks to steal Jet Jaguar to use as a foundation for a robot army to attack the surface along with their giant burrowing monster Megalon.

Godzilla vs. Megalon is the 13th entry in the Godzilla franchise with Jun Fukuda returning as director from Godzilla vs. Gigan. At this point Toho still saw Godzilla as a lower tier asset and would often farm out the rights to the characters to outside studios hence why Godzilla appeared in TV series such as Zone Fighter. Supposedly another Godzilla movie was going to be made under Tsuburaya Productions who produced the successful children's kaiju film Daigoro vs. Goliath with Noboru Tsubaraya (son of the recently passed effects artist Eiji Tsubaraya) able to persuade Toho to license him the character for a film that would recycle various assets from Daigoro vs. Goliath. After the Tsubaraya film fell apart for undisclosed reasons, the Godzilla team at Toho were tasked with hastily putting together a replacement with director Fukuda writing much of the screenplay himself due to Shinichi Sekizawa not having time to write a full treatment. While the film continued the downward trajectory of attendance for Godzilla films in Japan becoming the first film in the series to sell under one million tickets, the film still managed to pull in $20 million worldwide against its $1 million budget. Uncharacteristically for a Godzilla movie at this time, the film was given a massive promotional push in the United States theatrically, and was the first Godzilla film shown on prime-time with host segments featuring SNL comedian John Belushi (which have since been lost). Critical and audience perception of Godzilla as cheap kiddie material can mostly be traced back to this film, and while cheap, juvenile, and lacking in production value there's still some entertainment value to be had.

While Godzilla vs. Megalon is sometimes said to be the closest we've gotten to a Showa era Gamera like take with Godzilla, I don't think we can go that far. While the movie does have a garish color pallet at points with the exterior of the Ibuki's house looking like the set of either a hippie commune or a cheap kid's educational show Roku-Chan doesn't have the same level of dialed up "pwecociousness" that many of the Gamera children were written with and while the choice for his voice dub didn't do any favors (an issue with child actors even in good foreign movies like A Fistful of Dollars) I can't say he's that bad and all the characterization is just bland.

As with the last film Godzilla vs. Megalon features hefty amounts of stock footage (quite possibly as much if not more than Godzilla's Revenge ratio-wise) as pretty much every scene where Megalon destroys either the military or cities is taken from prior films including Godzilla vs. Gigan which was already heavy with stock footage. As for Godzilla, don't go expecting him until the last 20 minutes or so because we instead follow Jet Jaguar the magic robot (pretty much magic as he "programs" himself to be bigger during the climax in one of several instances of sticky tape used to patch a slapdash plot). Jet Jaguar has become a point of fascination with Godzilla fans mostly due to his creation as part of a contest Toho held for children to submit their own giant robots (and apparently to the dissatisfaction of the winner whose drawing looked nothing like Jet Jaguar and was called Red Arone) but at no point was the movie actually intended to be featured exclusively around Jet Jaguar. Once Godzilla enters the fray and gives us some new footage (along with Gigan) the final monster fight is fun if over the top and ridiculous complete with evil laughter from Megalon.

Godzilla vs. Megalon is about as dumb as you've heard and outside of All Monsters Attack/Godzilla's Revenge is probably the zenith of the franchise's kiddification. It's cheap, it's stupid, it has holes Godzilla can walk through, but if you go in with a certain mindset it makes for enjoyable silly viewing.

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

Godzilla vs. Gigan sees itself mostly return to the camp of the later Showa films, but enjoyable to a certain extent

[6/10 · 30 January 2024]

Struggling manga artist Gengo (Hiroshi Ishikawa) whose children's stories involving homework and stern mother monsters are consistently rejected by editors takes a job with the company designing the new monster theme park World Children's Land. When Gengo finds an audio tape dropped by a young woman named Machiko (Tomoko Umeda), he stumbles into a conspiracy that suggests World Children's Land may be a front for more insidious purposes involving the monsters of Monster Island.

After the divisive reception to Godzilla vs. Hedorah (it's hard to know how well it did financially due to scarcity of sources on that point) producer Tomoyuki Tanaka sought to bring the Godzilla series back where he felt it needed to be. With Godzilla still seen very much as cheap kiddie fare at the time, Tanaka devised a premise he felt would entice people back while also being cost effective by brining back fan favorite King Ghidorah who would fight Godzilla along a new monster. Supposedly made for $1.2 million the film was allegedly better attended than Godzilla vs. Hedorah and made $20 million when factoring in foreign exports. Godzilla vs. Gigan is less ambitious than its predecessor and is visibly fighting against its kiddified status and budget, but assuming you can forgive the slow buildup and indulgence of stock footage it can be reasonably entertaining.

As with the previous few Godzilla movies, the human characters are more here out of obligation than for providing anything interesting and while there aren't any prominent child characters here that same feeling of childishness that many later Showa entries have seen is here in spirit. Gengo's bumbling and stupidly on the nose monster drawings based on "what kids hate" to an absurdly literal degree isn't as charming as it thinks it is, and the supporting cast aren't much more developed aside from being "hippie-ish" archetypes who are very Scooby-Doo like in their presence here. Given producer Tomoyuki Tanaka's hatred for Godzilla vs. Hedorah it's rather ironic that he not only recycles footage from that film, but also parts of the message as it is somewhat glanced over when the big "reveal" comes which is disguised with the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash or Dick Dastardly.

So how is the monster action at least? Half-good and half-assed. Starting off with the half-assed portion: the series continues its gratuitous use of stock footage with action scenes for Ghidorah lifted wholesale from Destroy All Monsters and Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster most prominently, and the movie does little to disguise it aside from cheaply applying a day-for night filter on it. It's pretty clear that the Ghidorah effects they have now aren't as mobile and dynamic as the early ones with the presence of older footage next to new footage exacerbating that point. With that said the climactic fight in World Children's Land that features Godzilla and Angilus/Angirus vs. Ghidorah and Gigan is pretty fun with Gigan a pretty visually interesting monster that looks like a mixture of a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, praying mantis, and bird of prey and the fights have some pretty bloody impact scenes at points.

Godzilla vs. Gigan doesn't reach the Showa era's heyday but it doesn't exactly embarrass itself either (questionably suit quality at this point notwithstanding). Godzilla vs. Gigan is a comfortably middle of the road entry that while it has its annoying bits mostly gets those out of the way early enough that the ending is a pretty good time.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah tries to course correct and bring the series back to its allegorical roots in a bold and experimental fashion even if it's not entirely successful

[6/10 · 29 January 2024]

When Dr. Yano (Akira Yamanouchi) investigates a strange tadpole like creature found near the coast, he and his son are soon attacked by a larger version of it that comes to be known as Hedorah. Hedorah is an alien monster who has fed off the various pollutants of the air and sea and is growing at an exponential rate with Godzilla soon appearing to fight against the creature.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (aka Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster) is a 1971 kaiju film and the eleventh installment in the Godzilla franchise. Inspired by growing concerns of Japan's issues with pollution at the time, the film marked the feature debut of Yoshimitsu Banno who opted to make the film with an environmental bent. Working with Treuyoshi Nakano on the special effects, the two attempted to make a film as ambitious as the reduced budget and tight filming schedule would allow as Godzilla movies continually saw themselves moving to lower tiers among Toho's production schedule. While Banno sought to make a children's film with environmental messaging, Nakano sought to make something with the impact of the 1954 Godzilla with the two often compromising where needed. Critical reception at the time was very mixed with some offering praise to the film for adding some weight back to the series after All Monsters Attack/Godzilla's Revenge, while others responded negatively with some claiming it one of the worst films in the series and even series producer Tomoyuki Tanaka would accuse Banno of having killed the series. At its core Godzilla vs. Hedorah is very experimental in its approach to the Godzilla formula and like any experiment there's some success and there's some failure.

Despite the movie prominently featuring a child character, in this case Ken Yano played by Hiroyuki Kawase, the movie mostly avoids the pitfalls that befall this character type such as those seen in the Gamera movies. The characters aren't given the greatest amount of depth but for what their place in the story is, they do it well enough. Conceptually speaking Hedorah has a good design being a shapeshifting mound of sludge who feeds on pollution and excretes poison and the movie offers some pretty horrific imagery (at least by the standards of this kind of movie) that even if you don't like this movie you at least have to give it credit for "going there". This is however where the problems arise because it feels like the movie's going in two directions trying to be a serious cautionary tale about the effects of environmental pollution but also trying to cater to that lighthearted sense of "fun" from entries like Destroy All Monsters. The Kaiju battles feel a lot slower this time around and often play towards emphasizing the collateral damage of Hedorah's sludge than the impact or choreography of the monsters, and the Kaiju battles often go on way longer than you want them to with numerous false stops only for the battle to keep going. The movie also takes a very "arm's length" approach to pollution with the primary focus being on the evil of the pollution itself rather than discussing the sources or human indifference that lead to it being there in the first place so it feels like it's only addressing half the issue.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is the kind of movie I wish I liked more than I actually did. Despite working with the ever decreasing budgets that dogged this era of the franchise you can tell there was some desire for ambition and experimentation with the film even if it doesn't quite pay off. Definitely worth a viewing if only for curiosity's sake in some bold moves for this entry, but no guarantee they'll work for you.

All Monsters Attack (1969)

Is it the worst film in the franchise? Probably. Is it deserving of its level of scorn? Bit more complicated

[4/10 · 28 January 2024]

Set at the end of the 1960s a young boy named Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki) is a shy lonely boy who is often by himself due to his parents needing to work two jobs and is often a target for bullies such as Gabara (Junichi Ito) and his gang. Ichiro returns home after school to check in with his toymaker neighbor Minami (Hideyo Amamoto) who looks after him and then proceeds to dream about visiting Monster Island where Godzilla lives and going on adventures with Godzilla's son Minilla. When Ichiro comes across a driver's license in an abandoned building, he inadvertently crosses paths with two bank robbers who stole 50 million Yen.

Although Toho Studios had considered putting the Godzilla series to rest after Destroy All Monsters, the successful export of Destroy All Monsters to countries abroad most likely helped persuade Toho to continue the series. After a deal to co-produce an animated series with Filmation fell through (similar to Toho's deal with Rankin-Bass regarding King Kong Escapes' ties with the cartoon The King Kong Show), Toho continued with the mindset of producing an additional Godzilla film aimed at children that would be produced quickly and cheaply through use of stock footage. The film proved to be a decent performer at the time making about as much as Destroy All Monsters had made (and likely more profitable due to a reduced budget) but critical and audience reception has remained tepid to put it generously with many often declaring it the worst Godzilla movie. Objectively speaking, All Monsters Attack/Godzilla's Revenge falls short of the standards one expects from a Godzilla movie and yet at the same time I can't fully dismiss it either.

To get things out of the way: Yes, all the problems you've heard about this movie are true now and they were true then. The movie's brazen recycling of stock footage from the last three Godzilla films is massively excessive and the fact that much of the "plot" takes place in dream/fantasy sequences robs the movie of any real sense of stakes or weight for much of the time since we know it's a dream. Then of course we have Minilla who now speaks (with a gratingly silly voice in the American dub) and has the personality of being a cowardly simpleton alternating between hackneyed "Gee gosh" dialogue and his braying and squealing he had in the prior two films. There is some new monster footage featuring Godzilla and Minilla fighting against a new creature called Gabara and while Gabara's design isn't great it's good enough even if the fights feature a lot of flailing slapstick from Minilla.

So yeah, the actual monster element of this monster film isn't that great but at the same time I can't fully dismiss it. Despite the film having a clearly tighter budget, that frugalness does actually kind of work to the film's benefit in depicting contemporary Japan in the real world sequences. This is where I feel that director Ishiro Honda deserves some slack because Toho wanted a cheap children's movie using stock footage and they were going to get it, at least Honda tries to add some semblance of weight and substance to what could've been a purely cynical cash grab. As the film was made during a time of economic hardship in Japan where rising living costs necessitated both parents taking jobs leading to a rise in latchkey kids, you do get a sense of the times in which the film was made with how Ichiro and several other children are basically left to fend for themselves. While the plot where Ichiro comes across and foils two bank robbers has more than an air of the fantastical to it, you can see Honda trying to make an empowerment story for children in overcoming their own personal "monsters" and having that strength within themselves. Does that make the movie underrated? I won't go that far because the lackluster production values coupled with a sometimes confused script (such as the ending sequence where he beats his bullies only to befriend them through a mischievous prank) have issues that are hard to ignore, but given the time and situation surrounding this material this isn't as bad as it should be especially when compared to similar films like Gamera: Super Monster or Space Warriors 2000.

All Monsters Attack is clearly originated from cynical executives looking to sucker people into something with low costs and low effort, but at the same time that cynicism isn't coming through in the writing or direction. If you're looking for a Godzilla movie to watch this isn't one you should see as there are far better examples, but it also doesn't deserve as much scorn as I first thought.

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Destroy All Monsters sees a return to form with Ishiro Honda back in the director's chair in a fun if slightly messy monster mash.

[7/10 · 28 January 2024]

In the future of 1999, all of the monsters including Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and several others are confined to Monsterland, a large contained island where the monsters live sequestered from the rest of the world with ample food supply. When a group of mind controlling aliens known as the Kilaaks lead by their Queen (Kyoko Ai) take over the observation center and its controllers, the Kilaaks unleash the mind controlled monsters upon the entire world as part of an invasion. In order to stop the rampage of destruction, Katsuo (Akira Kubo) leads a group against the invaders.

Potentially planned at the time of being the final Godzilla movie, development on the film began alongside Son of Godzilla with the idea supposedly being to feature every single giant monster Toho Studios had ever produced including King Kong and the Gargantuas. After it was decided that Son of Godzilla would take priority, the film was postponed until the following year by which point Toho's King Kong license had expired and the number of monsters was scaled back for budgetary reasons. While Destroy All Monsters did little to win back critics and was only a marginal step up in ticket sales in Japan, thanks to its popularity abroad with the film being sold to many countries it likely gave Toho the confidence to continue the franchise (for better or worse) and has become a fan favorite for its large scale monster brawls. While Destroy All Monsters doesn't reach the level of earlier entries like Godzilla vs. Mothra or Ghidorah, The Three-headed Monster, it's none the less an exciting monster mash that pulls out all the stops.

In terms of its plot Destroy All Monsters is more or less a remake of Invasion of Astro-Monster only without the alien's pretense of benevolence and considerably less stock footage. The plot's about as simple as you can get with good humans, bad aliens, and as with the previous movies human characters no one really stands out, but it also avoids the painful comic relief. Where the movie does deliver however is with large scale Kaiju action. Destroy All Monsters tries to encompass a more "global" feel this time around with brief tangents where the monsters attack major cities such as Moscow, London, and New York City (albeit at a slightly reduced scale and briefly for budget reasons) but we do get an entertaining full city destruction sequence in Tokyo which marks the first one of those we've gotten since Ghidorah, The Three-headed Monster. Destroy All Monsters puts a previously unprecedented amount of Kaiju on display from major players like Godzilla and Mothra to more minor monsters like Baragon and Manda. Admittedly the Kilaaks are pretty standard evil aliens, but at least there is slightly more to them than the Planet X aliens from Invasion of Astro-Monster.

Destroy All Monsters is pretty much truth in advertising (not necessarily the "Destroy" part) and if you want an "Everyone is here!" style monster free-for-all Destroy All Monsters has it to spare. A fun if not particularly substantial entry in the Godzilla saga that makes up for the mediocrity of the prior few entries.

Son of Godzilla (1967)

More or less on the same level as Ebirah, but with the very rough addition of Minilla

[5/10 · 28 January 2024]

On an island in the Pacific, a team of scientists under the direction of Professor Kusumi (Tadao Takashima) is working to perfect a weather control system while dealing with giant praying mantises and the arrival of reporter Maki Goro (Akira Kubo). When then the test of the weather system malfunctions due to interference from somewhere on the island a radioactive storm is unleashed that decimates the team's equipment and communications leaving them to deal with the further enlarged mantises (dubbed Gigantises) who unearth an egg containing a baby Godzilla that whose cries are summoning its father.

Son of Godzilla is the eighth film in the Godzilla series and the second to be directed by Jun Fukuda as the original team of Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsubaraya were assigned to the Rankin-Bass co-production of King Kong Escapes following a previous attempt going awry which lead to Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. Per the direction of Toho, Son of Godzilla like Ebirah also saw itself set on an island location as a cost saving measure and were also directed to make a movie appealing to the date crowd with the idea that a "cute" baby Godzilla would appeal to women. In the years since its release it's gained a reputation as being one of the lesser films in the series as well as introducing the divisive character of Minilla and you can certainly see why in the end result.

In terms of the effects work the human structures look better than the ones like the Red Bamboo's fortress from Ebirah (most likely because they don't try to get too ambitious with it) and the effects work used to bring to life the Gigantises and Spiga the giant spider are nice looking in a way that almost reminded me of something like Them!. Godzilla's appearance isn't at the height of the Showa era as from certain angles his eyes maybe feel a bit too pronounced, but at least his characterization feels more consistent from Ebirah where he was shoehorned into a King Kong role. And then we have Baby Godzilla or as he'd come to be known Minilla. Charitably speaking Minilla could be described as a "love him or hate him" character in the series and he does have defenders but I'm not among them. While I'm not against the idea of Godzilla having offspring (I thought Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II handled that quite well), Minilla's design just doesn't look appealing and I think it comes from how they've tried to anthropomorphize it too much. Minilla's face is more sunken in compared to Godzilla and complete with a more stout and wobbly appearance it feels like they've made a hybrid of 40% of Godzilla's trait with the remaining bit seemingly modeled roughly on the appearance of a human one-year old or less baby and it does not work at all and just looks off. The movie also continues the trend of more anthropomorphic behavior with Minilla and Godzilla and coupled with the repetitive and often grating noises Minilla makes a lot of scenes that try to be cutesy just don't work. In terms of the monster fights Gigantis and Spiga don't pose much of a challenge to Godzilla and I felt they were good monsters for something like a "man vs. Monster" type story, but in a Godzilla movie they don't measure up.

As with the last few movies the humans aren't terribly interesting with the only real character coming from Maki Goror and Saeka played by Akira Kubo and Bibari Maeda respectively, but that's only by comparison most of the science team on the island is pretty interchangeable with not much sense of identity established to them.

Son of Godzilla is a series entry I don't typically revisit and for pretty good reasons. While some of the effects work on Spiga or Gigantis is commendable, many of the issues seen in Ebirah are carried over. Hardly the worst of the series, but also not reaching the level of "good".