The Mysterians
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Movie Reviews of The Mysterians
Movie Review: Just like I remembered
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember a hot summer afternoon in 1960. The newspaper was showing a picture of this huge robot with death rays shooting out of its eyes, so being thirteen years old at the time, I just had to go. What I saw just blew my mind away. Remember, this was early days in the world of special effects. George lucas was still waiting for his acne to clear up and Star trek was several years in the future. Godzilla was still fresh in everyone's memory as well as Rodan and I had been too young to see them. This movie was beyond anything that had been out before. It was a true war of the future. It had jets, strange rocket powered airships, tanks, and a weird weapon called a Markalite that fired off a fuzzy death ray against the sinister alien dome that was equipped with its own death ray. and the dome was protected by a force field that repelled all sorts of explosive shells. There was a huge earthquake that swallowed a town whole and did not even leave a dog alive. (except for a single scientist and three beautiful girls saved by the aliens for truly evil reasons) And, oh yes, that huge robot with the death ray eyes. And then there was that music score. I had never noticed a movie score before (excepting Rogers and Hammerstein), but I remembered this one! Even after forty five years, I can still hum the theme that played when the good guys attacked. It was an afternoon of pure theatre.
After that I was sure to see it every time it came up on tv, and when video tape became available, It was one of the first movies I looked for and I was elated when I finally got a poorly printed, truncated version of it. Then I found this DVD version.
This version is clear and sharp, the sound is good, and much of the original footage that had been cut out for television was restored. Then there was the audio commentary by a pair of japanese film makers. I learned that while some models were used, Those were real Japanese soldiers,tanks,and weapons for the most part. (There was, of course, no such thing as a Japanese Army at the time, but there was a so-called Self Defense Force that served the same purpose.)
This DVD is a must have, not only for the occasional nostalgia buff, but an important piece of Movie History. It was the true forerunner of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek, and if you look closely, you will see many effects used for the first time that were to become a staple of later sci fi classics.
But most of all It's just a good old fashioned, rip roaring adventure, complete with a brave hero, damsels in distress, evil villains, repentant dupe who dies to bring on the villains defeat, and wise, clever scientists working against the clock to save the world.
Movie Review: A review of the DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't be the only one eagerly awaiting news and information about this release (and the release of "Matango", one of my favorite movies ever). So, having had a copy of the DVD in my hands for about ten minutes now, I want to share information with you!
Picture quality is very good, although a bit soft. It can't compare to a recent film, but then again I've seen enough recent films released to DVD with worse transfer quality than this! The print is stable and clean with good color. The movie is presented as ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (16:9 enhanced) at about 2.35:1 aspect ratio, starting right off with that cool TohoScope logo. Titles are in Japanese, just like they should be. Menus are 16:9.
Audio: the viewer can select from a 5.1 English mix, 5.1 Japanese, mono Japanese, and mono Spanish. Selectable subtitles are in English. Another audio track presents a commentary from Koichi Kawakita and Shinji Higuchi - it's in Japanese, but there are also English subtitles for the commentary. And what's really nice is that you can turn on TWO subtitles at the same time, so if you read quickly, you can see the movie's subtitles at the top, and the commentary's subtitles at the bottom. Cool!
But that's not all. There's one MORE audio track - the isolated score by Akira Ifukube. And the extras? Photo gallery, design gallery, storyboards, trailer, and previews for "Matango", "Dogora", "Varan", "Gappa the Triphibian Monster" and "One Missed Call" (a recent film). The first three previews are original anamorphic widescreen Japanese language trailers, and they look good ("Varan" looks dodgy at the start, but is fine afterward). The trailer for "Gappa" is in English, and is letterboxed widescreen.
Well, seeing the trailer for "Matango" has got me very excited now, and my copy has already shipped and should be in my hands a few days after I'm writing this... so look for a review over on its product page, too, as soon as I get it.
Movie Review: Treatise on Post-World War II Japan
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, a classic Japanese camp sci-fi thriller, operates on two distinct levels. The first is the obvious 'aliens-threaten-our-way-of-life'. The second is a picture into post-WWII Japan. Japan had lost face, and lost the war. In this picture, Japan is the 'good guy'. Every decision is made by holding a (democratic) meeting. The Japanese are not only attempting to save themselves, but the 'whole world'. Big, potent rockets are used to fight the heat-ray weilding nasty aliens. When not at war with the aliens, the citizens are a happy, prosperous, educated group who enjoy all the modern comforts (watch for the prominent displays of electric appliances, particularly oscillating fans!)and are very, very civilized. H-Bombs, radiation, enlightened decision-making, all figure in the story.
The english dubbed version is particularly funny-right down to the older graying scientist who sounds like a cheerleader for your local gay-pride parade! It doesn't get better than this-history, camp, nostalgia all in one fab movie.
Movie Review: A true Toho scifi classic.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film established the very first alien invasion toho film, and certainly the best. The Special effects are very good, and most still hold up today. Eiji Tsuburaya is hard to beat when it comes to matte shots and miniature destruction. IMO, he had a bigger effect on modern SFX than any other SFX director, American or otherwise. To those of you who scoff at suitmation, let me tell you this. Suitmation looks a HELL of a lot more convincing than stop motion, especially when slowed down. And filmmakers are quite lazy today. All they rely on is CG, which to tell you the truth, lacks organic illusion. At least you KNOW somethings actually there with suitmation. Sure, the Mogera was laughable in regards to it's movement. Akira Ifukube composes a great score here.
Movie Review: My Favorite Summer Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
In the 60's the local TV channels would show this at least once every Summer. Great stuff. Two of the best scenes -
At a meeting of government officials.
"We have determined that enemy ray is more powerful than the great earthquake of Kanto."
"Is this possible?"
Brief pause.
"Yes."
At the police department after the appearance of a 100+ foot tall metal alien robot.
"What was it - I understand even a pistol had no effect on it."
It just doesn't get any better.