At the Movies #77: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFAtTheMovies77GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters/SandF–At_the_Movies_77–Godzilla_King_of_the_Monsters.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSNuclear families (hyuck, hyuck), boat-cars, and Transformers, oh my! In today’s episode, Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, Alex Acks, and Jen Zink tackle the giant roaring beast(s) that is Godzilla: King of the Monsters! There are definitely opinions in this episode, y’all. LOTS OF OPINIONS! We basically took the Kaiju plot of King of the Monsters and turned it into a podcast. In today’s episode, Shaun is the evil Ghidorah and Jen is the good and kind Godzilla. Yep. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Listen as the team discusses their disappointments, why the movie is a bit of a mixed bag, what really pissed us all off, how white liberalism makes an appearance, how the scale of the monsters didn’t always work, MOTHRA, and more! Lots and lots more because this is a team with OPINIONS! Footnote: David Annandale was missed terribly. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Episode 5. Into the Wardrobe with Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971; dir. Robert Stevenson): The Age of Not Believing and the Problem of Empire
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEp5IntoTheWardrobeBedknobsAndBroomsticks/SandF–Ep5–Into_the_Wardrobe–Bedknobs_and_Broomsticks.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn this episode of Into the Wardrobe, Shaun and Jen talk about the utterly delightful, but definitely problematic, 1971 Disney production, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, directed by Robert Stevenson and featuring a heavy production overlap with Mary Poppins. The duo discuss everything from why they loved this film, the amount of nuance that they didn’t pick up on as children, the heavy influence of British Empire and Nationalism, the wonderful relationships and character arcs, and honestly a lot more that you’ll just have to discover yourself by listening to the episode! Enjoy!
Book Review: LOST FILMS, Edited by Max Booth III & Lori Michelle
Along with stories by Stephen King, cinematic horror is largely responsible for introducing the weird and terrifying to me and a generation or two of teens. For years my friends and I sought horror films both good and bad, and we heard that particular macabre whisper calling us to the most unhinged and obscure among them. The memorable ones have been those whose reputations have created anticipatory trepidation equal to the thrills of watching the movie itself. The cursed production history. The banned content of unfathomable realism. The haunted film. Horror built around such themes of its visual representation proves popular, from Apollinaire’s “A Good Film” to Suzuki’s Ringu or American Horror Story: Roanoke. Ironically, written explorations of horror in visual media have a stronger impact on me than the those relayed through a screen medium. An excellent recent example would be Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. The announcement of the Lost Films anthology from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing therefore really excited me. Comprised of nineteen stories with an introduction by Max Booth III (co-editor with Lori Michelle), it is one of the strongest collections I’ve read, with several potential standout favorites for readers from both established and new authors.
Month of Joy: Audio Commentary by Alex Bledsoe
As both a full-time writer and stay-at-home parent of three children, two cats, and a dog, my days tend to be packed. There is joy in my responsibilities, to be sure, but it’s often balanced by stress, doubt, and the sense of futility experienced by all artists (and parents). However, there is one tiny area where I do find moments of absolute unqualified joy: the audio commentary. I discovered my love for movies – and stories – simultaneously: with the 1977 release of STAR WARS, followed by years of magazines and books that picked over its sources and influences. And to this day, I love movies almost as much as I do books. They’re both ways to tell stories, after all, and the things that make a good story apply in both forms. And just as I learn from every book I read, I pick up things from movies as well.
Geekomancer Under Glass – PACIFIC RIM News
As I said on Twitter, this post will be comprised of squee and speculation in the wake of this exciting teaser video from Guillermo del Toro: So, quick recap. We are promised the following by 2017 – Animated series More comics Pacific Rim 2 (in 2017) Please pardon me while I flail for a moment. Like so:
A (World) SFF Film Odyssey: Mutant Girls Squad (2010) and Anime’s Excesses
Warning: there are some graphic images in this post. NSFW. Not too long ago, I set myself the goal of viewing every SF/F film released in 2010. It figures that the first non-American film I decided to view would be one of the most ridiculous, violent, and bizarre films I have seen in a while. After being bullied by her classmates, high school student Rin (Yumi Sugimoto) returns home to discover that her father is actually a humanoid mutant known as a HILKO (or hiruko — the subtitles use HILKO, but descriptions of the film use “hiruko,” so I’m not sure which one is correct). But before she can take in this surprising news and its implications for herself, she and her parents are attacked by an anti-HILKO military unit. What follows is an all out bloodbath as Rin tries to escape not only the military, but the blood-thirst of her home town. Later, she is picked up by other HILKO members and trained and indoctrinated into a violent counter-revolutionary force run by Kisaragi (Tak Sakaguchi), who believes his pack of teen girl HILKOs are the perfect fighting force for making Japan a human-free zone.
