Kaiju New and Old, Among Other Nonsense

One of the many things I do love 

about the Day Job is that we follow an academic schedule. If schools are closed for a holiday, we usually are, as well. This Labor Day weekend will mark the start of Hell Week for Uncle P's return to the stage for the first time since my mother passed away, "Bluebird" which also marks my debut with the Langhorne Players. I am appearing as two very different characters in Simon Stephens' fascinating 1998 play about a night in the life of a London mini-cab driver and how his various fares relate to and inform his own story. I love both characters and love that I get to do two different accents in the same show. K came over tonight to help with lines (she is half--jokingly referred to among our circle of friends as the "Line Nazi"). I came in two weeks late and while I find both characters so compelling, memorization and short rehearsal periods only work well with shows I've done before or know really well. Thank goodness she came and helped. I feel so much better about opening in less than 6 days!

But that's not really what this post is about and I apologize for rambling (sort of).

Because I really want to talk about finally seeing Guillermo del Toro's Kaiju V. Giant Robots movie, Pacific Rim. I must say, I think del Toro was given short-shrift hen it came to reviews of yet another visually stunning movie from the genius who has given us Pan's Labyrinth The Devil's Backbone  and the Hellboy movies. And while del Toro always tries to make his films be about more than amazing visuals, when it comes to the Kaiju genre, there really isn't a lot of room for compelling characters, though co-writers del Toro and Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans) do their best. The very fine Charlie Hunnam ("The Sons of Anarchy") leads a cast which includes Idris Elba (using his own accent, which only makes him sexier); Charlie Day ("It's Always Sunny in Philadephia"); "Torchwood" alum Burn Gorman and del Toro (and genre) favorite Ron Perlman in a very funny cameo as a dealer of exotic Kaiju parts. Amongst the explosions and destruction, there are plenty of moments that illicit the requisite relief laughter and moments of heroic sacrifice. You really can't ask for more from a Kaiju movie, and those who love the genre will totally get it.. *** (Three out of Four Stars)

Growing up in the 60's and 70's, there was plenty of Kaiju (though I didn't learn that word until much later) on TV. Toho Studio's "Godzilla" movies and their many spin-offs were regular Saturday afternoon fare on UHF channels (if you know what UHF was, you're probably as ancient as Uncle P) and after-school programming always included Tsuburaya Productions' TV show, "Ultraman." A benevolent alien pursues a monster to Earth, accidentally colliding with Science Patrol Officer Hiyata. Fusing with Hiyata, Ultraman is evoked using the Beta Capsule (which resembled a red, glowing vibrator, if memory serves) and Hiyata is transformed into a gigantic, Kaiju-killing machine:

For del Toro, Kaiju is obviously an extension of his desire to adapt H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness." I do hope a studio finally realizes that it would have to be a hard R, and would still make tons of money. Have they forgotten The Exorcist and The Silence of the Lambs? Both iconic films and iconic Horror,

More, anon.
Prospero

TV Review "The Strain"

Director Guillermo del Toro and writer Chuck Hogan came up with their own twist on vampire mythology in their trilogy of novels "The Strain," "The Fall" and "The Night Eternal." The first novel pays homage to Bram Stoker's "Dracula," substituting a plane for ship Demeter, but later delves into epidemiology; the logistics of plague and the spread of disease using one of horror's oldest tropes, the vampire. The cable channel FX has developed the trilogy into a TV series, with Del Toro and Hogan at them helm, assuring audiences that the series will be at least as good as (if not better) than their novels.

Hottie Cory Stoll ("House of Cards;" The Normal Heart) is CDC doctor Ephraim Goodweather, who is brought in when a plane from Austria arrives at JFK "dead." All equipment is off, all the lights are out and all but one window shade is closed. Of the 210 people aboard, only four are alive, though by the end of the first episode, it is clear that none of them are 'dead.' Eph is also in the midst of a custody case over his young son, Zach, which serves as both a distraction from his work and a stress-factor in life. Meanwhile, aged pawn-shop owner Abraham Setrakian (Harry Potter's Argus Filch, AKA, David Bradley) knows that an old enemy has come to America and is determined to stop him, at any cost,

Drawing on classical vampire mythology. "The Strain" adds virology to the mix, adding an intriguing (and often disgusting) element to the genre. Del Toro has directed the first three episodes and written (along with Hogan and others) the first 7, staying close (so far) to novels' plot, while adding and/or subtracting for TV audiences. The cast, which includes Sean Astin; Kevin Durand ("Lost's" Keamy) and several other TV vets, seems well up to the task at hand. And the effects are downright disturbing. Blood-sucking worms and supernormally fast & strong creatures are abundant, while subtler motifs ("Papa. I am so cold") abound. Two episodes in and I am totally hooked. Hopefully, the series will not totally rely on all three of the novels, the second and third of which left much to be desired. So far, though, the series is excellent! ***1/2 (Three and a Half Stars Out of Four).

Happy watching!

More, anon,
Prospero

Retro Review: "Mama"

Jessica Chastain had a very interesting 2013. After being nominated for an Oscar for Zero Dark Thirty, she showed up looking very different as the rocker girlfriend of a man whose brother murdered his wife and kidnapped their daughters in the Guillermo del Toro produced thriller, Mama. Written by the brother and sister team of Andres and Barbara Muschietti from their original short and directed by Andres, Mama turns out to be a rather standard ghost story, despite it's promising premise, creepy effects and some of the creepiest performances by children since the original Village of the Damned.

Lucas (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau)  has spent the last five years searching for his missing twin brother Jeffrey and his nieces, Victoria and Lily. When the girls are found, feral and half-starved, Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain) find themselves their guardians, in housing provided by the psychologist (played by Aliens Pvt. Spunkmeyer, Daniel Kash) who wants to bring the girls back to humanity. Resistant at first, Annabel soon finds herself bonding with Victoria (pretty Megan Charpentier) and eventually, even Lily (so creepily played by young Isabelle Nelisse) finds comfort in her arms. Of course, the girls were not alone all that time and they bring with them an entity they call "Mama," a vengeful spirit with a penchant for moths and over-protection. 

The scares in Mama are pretty standard, though the effects used to deliver them are pretty good, if a bit indistinct at times. And there is some very clever camera work - the scene where we see Lily playing tug-of-war with an unseen Mama as Annabel carries laundry down the hall is reminiscent of both DePalma and Polanski. Chastain once again proves her versatility as the badass rocker with hidden maternal instincts, while Coster-Waldau is fine as an obsessive man who spends 1/3 of the movie in a coma. The real treat here is watching Charpentier and Nelisse go to town. I can't imagine an actor as young as Nelisee was able to plumb the depths of weird she manages to attain and must attribute her performance to both good direction and great editing. So, so creepy.

The main problem with Mama is it's script. Filled with gaping plot holes and an ending that was both surprisingly dark and completely unsatisfying, Mama would have better been served by making a choice, instead of a compromise. And the exceptionally cheesy last moment didn't help in the least. Mama wants to be The Others. It ends up being a poor man's version of The Woman in White. Mama joins Don't Be Afraid of the Dark among del Toro's lesser projects. 

** (Two Out of Four Stars)



And here's the short that inspired the film:

Potential Cinema Nerdgasms

Well, it looks like we may well have another summer and fall of potentially terrific movies ahead of us. I have yet to see Ironman 3, but I thought Star Trek Into Darkness was a lot of fun. Of course, even Will Smith couldn't save M. Knight Shayamalon's latest, After Earth, though for once, I can't fault M. Knight alone. The concept was Smith's and it is obvious from many a publicity still that the movie had two directors. Does the Philly-based director get a pass, then? Nope. He lost his pass with The Village. He went on to lose all credibility as a writer with the abysmal Lady in the Water. I honestly don't understand why studios and/or producers continue to pay this man to direct movies no one wants to see.

Still, there are plenty of upcoming films that give Uncle P a Nerd-On. Starting with Man of Steel. This year, my  Birthday Present Movie from Christopher Nolan is Henry Cavill as possibly the hottest Kal-El ever. I know I've both complained and gushed about this movie, but the more I see of it, the more I want to see it. I've already sent a "Save the Date" email to the Usual Suspects (D, K. Q, Dale, etc.), while trying my best to keep my expectations in check. Still... Cavill is absolutely breathtaking; Amy Adams will always be one of my favorite actors ever and the involvement of  Nolan all give me hope that Zach Snyder's reboot of the original Superhero will be as good as the trailers promise:

On the silly side, opening just a few days earlier is the all-star apocalypse comedy, This Is the End, a movie I've reserved to see with D (Trailer NSFW):

The following weekend features three releases, only two of which have my attention. First is Pixar's prequel to Monsters, Inc., Monsters University:

Brad Pitt's World War Z opens the same weekend. I found Max Brooks' novel to be boring and derivative, and certainly unfilmable as is contained no true narrative plot. Brooks has already disavowed the film and there is nothing in any of the trailers that makes me want to see what is sure to be another big budget flop. Is it unfair of me to already hate this movie?

Also seeing release that week is the remake of the 80's slasher Maniac, starring everyone's favorite Hobbit as a serial killer (may be NSFW):

There are plenty more, like my Birthday Gift from Guillermo del Toro, Pacific Rim:



And James Wan's take on 'Demonologists' Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring:

And since we're already talking about Wan, his sequel to one of my favorite recent horror movies is scheduled for release on Friday, September 13th. D has already promised to see it with me, though he said he can't promise not to cry:

There are tons more movies I (and probably you) want to see this summer. I'm taking the season off from theatre (for the first time since 1987) so I might actually get to see more films this year. 

More, anon.

Prospero

PS - Watch for links updates to this post.

On Kaiju, Cthulhu, Lovecraft and del Toro

Many of you know that Uncle P is a Lovecraft fan. So it should be no surprise that a few years back I was very excited to learn that Guillermo del Toro was planning to adapt Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" for the screen, I nearly peed my pants with joy. As far as I am concerned, del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth is the first film masterpiece of the 21st Century. The Mexican-born director (and fellow monster-movie geek) has made some of the most visually arresting genre films ever made, including Blade II and the Hellboy movies. 

If anyone could successfully bring Lovecraft's horrifying monsters to the screen, it would be del Toro. Others have tried. In 1970, Sandra Dee; Dean Stockwell; Ed Begley, Sr; Sam Jaffe and Talia Shire starred in the rather boring and not scary The Dunwich Horror.  In the 80's, Stuart Band and Brian Yuzna made the first of many Lovecraft-inspired films, Re-Animator; an hilariously sick, gory and over-the-top film released in 1985 without a rating. It was followed by From Beyond and several other films, including Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, all starring genre legend Jeffrey Combs. The underrated and very clever 1991 HBO movie Cast a Deadly Spell saw Fred Ward as noir detective Phillip Lovecraft in an alternate-history version of the 1940's where magic is commonly used by almost everyone and a real-estate developer is using zombies to build a housing development which is really just a front for a cult bent on reviving The Old Ones. And John Carpenter's 1994 film In the Mouth of Madness combines elements of both Lovecraft and King in a tale of a publisher searching for his missing best-selling horror author in a bizarre New England town where nothing is what it seems to be. Lovecraft's work is even referenced in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films. While some of these movies succeed more than others, none has managed to truly capture the abject horrors Lovecraft describes in his stories and novels. A del Toro version had the potential to do just that. Sadly, the studio backing the project got scared off by such a big-budget production which would limit audiences by requiring an "R" rating in the U.S. and the project was nixed.

Happily, it left the director free to make a movie he was only supposed to produce. The kaiju/giant robot mash-up, Pacific Rim. Inspired by the Toho Studios post-nuclear giant monster (kaiju means 'strange beast' in Japanese) movies of the 50's and 60's, Pacific Rim will undoubtedly be little more than what it advertises itself to be: A big, splashy, FX-laden 3D movie about giant robots battling giant monsters. And watching the latest trailer (below), who could want anything more. Destruction! Giant monsters! Giant robots! I am so there. Watch this one in Full Screen and the sound turned up!

Sweet Mia and I, after being friends for a while now, may have to make this our first movie date.

PS - I am a sucker for Fred Ward and I actually really like Cast a Deadly Spell. It's funny and very, very clever. Plus, David Warner!



And while wildly uneven, Carpenter's take on Lovecraft is at least fun to watch:



More, anon.
Prospero

If the Feature's Half as Good...

Writer/Director/Producer Guillermo del Toro has a pretty good track record when it comes to genre films (despite the fairly crappy 2010 remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark). His next directorial effort is the Kaiju vs Giant Robots epic Pacific Rim, which looks like it's going to be a sort of Godzilla vs Transformers through the eyes of a mad Mexican genius. And while Blade II was amazing; both Hellboy films were visually stunning and Pan's Labyrinth was absolutely devastating, del Toro hardly has a perfect track record.

Well before Pacific Rim is released, del Toro produced the forthcoming ghost movie Mama. Based on a short film from brother/sister team Adres and Barbara Muschietti, Mama is the story of two young girls who witness their parents' murder and spend the next five years not-quite-alone in the woods. Returned to civilization under the care of their uncle ("Game of Thrones" alum Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his wife (recent Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, looking very different with short, brunette hair), the girls may have brought 'something' along with them...

Traditionally, early-in-the-year films aren't the best of what the studios have to offer. Invested in their late-year Oscar hopefuls, most studios dump the movies in which they have the least faith off in late January and February, hoping to make a quick buck off of opening weekend receipts. And while I fear this may well be the case with Mama, the short on which it is based gives me some hope:

While Chastain may have proven herself in films like The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, that doesn't mean everything she's in is a gem. And del Toro (best known for the 2006 atmospheric fantasy Pan's Labyrinth) has made and/or produced some of the genre's recent best films (The Devil's Backbone; The Orphanage), flops like Don't Be Afraid of the Dark give me reason to pause. Personally, Uncle P will probably wait to see Mama either OnDemand or on cable, unless Dear D or one of my other horror-loving friends wants to see it on-screen.

Any real writer familiar with the English language knows that "unexplainable" isn't a real word. "Inexplicable," however, is. But then, I may just be a picky a-hole...

More, anon.
Prospero

Kaiju Do Me a Favor?

Cthulhuzilla? (via)

"Using the Beta Capsule, Hiyata has become... Ultraman!" As a kid, my first real introductions to Japanese culture were the Anime series ("Kimba the White Lion;" "Astroboy") and Kaiju  movies and TV shows I watched after school and on Saturday afternoons - Godzilla movies and "Ultraman."  I think even as a kid, I thought they were goofy. The monsters (and even the heroes) were obviously men in rubber suits, stomping around models of mid-century Tokyo. The response of Japanese filmmakers to the horrors of nuclear war, the genre spawned an industry that has found its way into American culture... or did it?

Kaiju [kye-jou] literally means "strange beast" in Japanese. In this case, giant monsters which wreak havoc in a major metropolitan city. Hmm... in what early American movie does a giant monster wreak havoc on a major metropolitan city...?

Hell, Toho studios practically admits they stole the idea in 1962's particularly silly King Kong vs. Godzilla.

And one can certainly go further back than that for tales of giant monsters. Lovecraft created an entire mythology based on giant monsters who ruled the world before the age of men. Conan-Doyle's The Lost World? No, older. I know...think about it - Moby Dick is actually early-American Kaiju. Further back? Sure. 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and any quest to slay a dragon. Earlier? Thor used his hammer on the Ice Giants. Wait, further? Okay - Goliath and Jonah have really bad days. Giant monsters persist in mythology because when early humans first encountered dinosaur fossils, they imagined all sorts of creatures that may have covered such skeletal remains. And just to bring it back full circle, the most recent example of American Kaiju was 2008's first-person, 'found footage' movie from producer J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield:

Having been denied (for now) bringing his vision of At the Mountains of Madness to the screen, director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth; Hellboy) is about to unleash his interpretation of Kaiju with next summer's release of Pacific Rim. A fan of del Toro's ever since 1993's odd little vampire tale Cronos, I have always been in awe of the director's passion for spectacular visuals. The full trailer for Pacific Rim was released online today and even from what little it shows, you can tell that no one's skimping here. Some folks have described Pacific Rim as "Godzilla meets Transformers." I can certainly see how some people might make that correlation but knowing the body of the director's work, I think we're in for something much more.

I have no doubt that Pacific Rim will be decidedly better than the 1998 fiasco that was Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Godzilla:

Let's hope the proposed 2014 American reboot of the franchise isn't anything like that. Regardless, I'll be seeing Pacific Rim. Will you?

More, anon.
Prospero

What Is a Ghost?

The Devil's Backbone

Director Guillermo del Toro's first anti-Franco horror film, 2001's The Devil's Backbone explores many of the themes common to his films: parental abandonment; the horrors of war; children who are 'different;' man's inhumanity to man and ghosts. 

Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at an orphanage, thinking his stay is temporary, until his father returns from the war. In the orphange's courtyard lies a supoosedly diffused bomb. Carlos tries to make friends, but is bullied by Jaime (Inigo Garces), who steals Carlos' comic book. That night, when an apparent ghost knocks over the water pitcher, Carlos and Jaime dare one another to go to the kitchen and refill it. Carlos is caught by Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega) and sent back to bed. The next day, Carlos saves Jaime from drowning, despite having his face cut by Jacinto. Eventually, Jaime tells Carlos the story of Santi, an orphan who died the day the bomb was dropped and who now supposedly haunts the orphanage. Jacinto learns that there is a large stash of gold in the orphanage and plans to take it, but is foiled when the orphanage's director Carmen (Marissa Paredes) refuses to give him the key to the safe. Carmen is in love with Dr. Casares, but he is too scared to admit he loves her. When he witnesses the murders of Carlos' tutor and body guard, he decides to lead all of the orphans out of the city. His plan is spoiled when Jacinto burns down much of the orphanage in failed attempt to steal the gold, during which Casares is mortally wounded. 

Jaime tells Carlos he saw Jacinto kill Santi in the cistern. Meanwhile, Jacinto returns for the gold with band of hooligans, who abandon him when they find the safe empty. The remaining orphans, knowing that Jacinto is evil, arm themselves with sharpened sticks and pointed rocks. When Jacinto finally finds the gold (hidden in Carmen's prosthetic leg), he is confronted by them and thrown into the very cistern where he drowned Santi. Weighed down by the gold and dragged down by Santi's ghost, Jacinto disappears in the murky water and the orphans leave as the ghost of Casares watches over them.

Just a bit grimmer than Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone is remarkably atmospheric and quite chilling. Del Toro truly found his voice with this film and his love of the genre and flair for ominous visuals is in full display. I imagine a double feature of the two films would be rather... intense. Later films produced by del Toro (The Orphanage and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark) explore similar themes, though none quite so horrifyingly as The Devil's Backbone. Del Toro has said it may be his most personal film, which I must imagine says a lot about his own childhood. 

Del Toro's next film Pacific Rim, is his homage to Japanese kaiju (monster) movies of the 50's and 60's.

Given del Toro's amazing visuals (see Hellboy II  and Pan's Labyrinth), Pacific Rim should be THE Sci-Fi movie of 2013. Personally, I am bummed that his proposed adaption of At the Mountains of Madness isn't going to happen.

More, anon.
Prospero

A Particularly Twisted Bit of Genius: "Hambuster"

Hambuster

Before we get to tonight's "Main Event" (as it were), there's a new interview out with the brilliant genre director Guillermo del Toro, who is currently in the middle of his upcoming Kaiju Aliens Vs. Giant Robots movie, Pacific Rim. In it, he talks about yet another of my obsessions, the film's score. Composed by Ramin Djwadi (Ironman; "Game of Thrones"), del Toro practically gushes about the score. He also talks about expensive collectibles that I can't afford. You can see the interview here at Collider (via). Personally, I can't wait to see del Toro's version of a kaiju. I'm sure, given that his adaptation of In the Mountains of Madness was kiboshed., the gigantic beasties will be an homage to Lovecraft. Del Toro's is also working on the reboot of Disney's The Haunted Mansion. The 2003 Eddie Murphy movie is completely forgettable twaddle (much like every other Eddy Murphy movie since the first Nutty Professor - and that's being kind). A draft has been submitted, which the director says the studio loved, but he's too busy with Pac-Rim at the moment and IMDb is reporting he has  Pinocchio in pre-production and has announced Hellboy 3, so who knows when or if we'll ever see Disney de Del Toro.

Now that I've bored you all silly, onto the (you should excuse the expression) "meat of the matter" (you'll get that terrible joke in a couple of minutes).  My lovely theatre friend and fellow Humanist, Diana G. posted the video I am about to share on my Facebook Timeline with the comment: "Thought you might enjoy this." Hambuster could mean anything, especially when I saw the YouTube still of a baby on playground horsie. After I watched it, I commented: "J'adore! J'adore! What a particularly twisted bit of genius! Thank you!" And now I have no choice but to share it's deliciousness with you, dear readers. Ladies and germs, the funniest comment on carnivorous activity I've seen in a very long time - I give you Hambuster:

What do you think - Supersize Me meets Little Shop of Horrors via Dawn of the Dead? It doesn't matter, because it's just effing hilarious! Crap! I had to give up Chick-hates-Gays and now I have to give up burgers, too? Damnit! Good thing there's a great Italian/Pizza place and an amazing Chinese place, both within 5 minutes of my house.

Diana, who has been on the Foley crew for both of the JTMF staged radio plays, once commented on some bizarre* Facebook profile picture I had posted with something like: "Can't you ever post a nice profile picture like a kitty or a puppy or something? Of course you can't! And that's why we love you!" For someone I see only a few times a year (which must be remedied), Di knows me so well. 

*Bizarre? Me? Of course, you damned well know that 99% of my Facebook profile pictures are bizarre. And speaking of which, watch for a new Caliban's Revenge profile pic of Uncle P, soon. I'm still choosing from a number of possibilities. 

More, anon.
Prospero