Godzilla: Shōwa Era Films (1954-74)

01. Godzilla (1954) 

Dir. Ishirō Honda

NOTE: for simplicity's sake I've used English language titles for each of my Godzilla reviews, but it's always the original Japanese language versions of the films that I refer to.

The monstrous growl that's heard over the film's opening credits foreshadows what's to come, which can be summed up as the Japanese people facing a monstrous terror that the rest of the world has never seen. It begins at sea and then moves inland.

The creature responsible for the inhuman roar — the monarch of kaijū eiga — is a force to be reckoned with, for sure, and is more than just an excuse to have a guy in a rubber suit trash tiny models. You don't need to be a history scholar to pick out the many wartime parallels: nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, irradiated wells, air raid sirens, and footfalls that sound like distant bombs impacting and exploding are all highlighted.

The Ring Virus (1999)

The Ring Virus (1999)

Dir. Kim Dong-bin

TRV is (to date) one of four 'film' versions of Japanese author Koji Suzuki's Ring (1991) novel. It's South Korea's attempt at capturing the horrors, although Wikipedia mentions that's it's a 'joint project' with Japan - but what that means specifically, I don't know.*

I'll go quickly over the story again in case some folks aren't familiar with it. A journalist (Shin Eun-kyung) investigates, for reasons both personal and professional, the mystery of a cursed video tape that supposedly heralds the death one week later of anyone who watches it. The hunt for the truth puts her onto paths that lead to supernatural happenings and alleged psychic phenomenon.

Like in Hideo Nakata's version of the story, the protagonist is changed to female, but otherwise TRV more closely follows the plot of the novel. The 'virus' part of the title is alluded to directly, and there's references to cloning, identity, and gender early on.

Perhaps unwisely, it also also recreates (i.e. steals, sometimes almost verbatim) some of the other film's more recognisable original scenes, which blurs the line between it being a new adaptation of the novel or a semi-deferential remake, ultimately lessening its distinctiveness.

Stargate SG-1: Season 09 (2005-06)

Stargate SG-1: Season 09 (2005-06)

Dirs. Various | 20 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Year nine begins with another new opening credits sequence, but that's the least of the changes. Three new cast members are added to the home team, and there's an entirely new non-Goa'uld threat that's intent on forcing the whole universe to follow a new system of beliefs.

That's arguably the goal of many organised religions, but the threat in question has the means to destroy entire planets if the inhabitants refuse to convert. Mercifully, none of Earth's actual world religions are able to do that.

The new cast members include Gen. Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) and Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder). Landry is bland, but he has the lesser role. Mitchell, on the other hand, is to the fore as he tries to reassemble the original SG-1 team after the events of Season 08.

Lucifer: Volume 08 (2005)

The Wolf Beneath the Tree (2005)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrators: Peter Gross / Ryan Kelly / P. Craig Russell / Ted Naifeh | Page Count: 160

"To read aloud from the book makes the book an element in the story it tells."

Volume 08 of 11 in the Lucifer series opens with the 50th issue, pencilled by P. Craig Russell. He did The Sandman 50th issue, so it's pleasing that he got to do Lucifer, too. The art is of his usual high standard, full of open splendour or intimate moments when needed.

It's titled Lilith. If you've followed the series from the beginning, you may be able to guess how that ties in with events thus far and what it means for one or more of the supporting characters. But what we weren't told previously is how large a part it played in other events.

A gathering puts the Lightbringer face to face with the embodiment of the thing that he despises most.

Readers who've been paying attention to what they've been reading up to now will notice that it's the very thing that the former ruler of Hell has spent the previous seven books trying to escape.

Sorceress (1982)

Sorceress (1982)

Dir. Jack Hill (credited as Brian Stuart)

It's not a phenomenon exclusive to the Sword and Sorcery genre, but in a great many cases the quality of such a film can be measured by the frequency and rapidity by which it feels the need to have its female characters strip naked. In short, the quality tends to be inversely proportional to the tit-count. Sorceress (1982) is very much at the wrong end of that scale.

The plot, such as it is, involves an evil wizard's (Roberto Ballesteros) pledge to kill his first born child in service of his god, and the resultant quest of vengeance undertaken by blessed twin sisters Mira and Mara (Leigh and Lynette Harris, respectively). 

Eraldo Carugati's poster art makes it look fantastic, but the reality is very different. The twins clearly weren't hired for their acting or combat skills, but the weak overdubbing of them — and everyone else — ruins any atmosphere that may have been possible during dialogue scenes. It could've been easier to tolerate that if Jack Hill's direction was any good, but for the most part it's terrible, too.

Critters: Films (1986–)

Critters: Films (1986–)

Of the shovel-load of horror B-Movies that the industry shat out during the 1980s, Critters (1986) directed Stephen Herek was one of the more entertaining ones. It arguably still is. It's basically a sci-fi/horror hybrid with some accidental laughs and some purposeful laughs.

The creatures are like vicious little bastard cousins of the Gremlins. They wreak havoc, as you'd expect, but what makes the film work so well is that the family is at the heart of it. The bitey things don't kill off dumb, screaming, sex-crazed teenagers one by one - they threaten something important, something that's worth fighting for. That makes all the difference.

Critters 2: The Main Course (1988) directed by Mick Garris is set two years after the fuzzy feckers went wild in Kansas. Life goes on for the survivors, but nothing's peaceful for long in B-Movie Land. The space porcupines are back for more, and their numbers have increased

Stargate SG-1: Season 08 (2004-05)

SG-1: Season 08 (2004-05)

Dirs. Various | 20 episodes, approx 44 minutes each.

Most of the science-fiction television series that I'm a fan of ended either before or at their seventh season. In fact, I think now might be the first time that I've featured an eighth season of something sci-fi on the blog. In that respect, if nothing else, SG-1 Series 08 is an exception to me. It was reduced to just 20 episodes, but eight years is still a heck of an achievement.

As if to mark the occasion, it has another new opening credits sequence. I don't know if what I write next will be considered spoiler by many folks, but I'll give a warning now, just in case.

Amid the action scenes in the opening sequence, the most notable thing is that Carter isn't the only one with a new hairstyle - Teal'c has one, or rather Teal'c now has some actual hair!

It's a little odd at first, but he's the same dependable ex-Jaffa as he always was, and it even plays a role, of sorts, in one of the episodes.