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I'm sure you've noticed I've redecorated. The pitiful human vessel I now inhabit has such mediocre and generic tastes. For the time being I Pf'Iloigoth The Servant of Spook control his form as well as his pitiful blog. A musical about 1930's Germany and the rise of fascism may be scary but it is not in the spirit of Spook. So I am altering the course of this blog. Until the dimensional walls reassert themselves I, Pf'Iloigoth will use my vessel's experience and knowledge of film to discuss movies that are in the spirit of Spook. Beginning with the classic 1980's slasher movie Friday the 13th (1980)

Spider-Man Custody Battle Resolved Whoopty Doo

So Marvel and Sony have reached an agreement: Spider-Man is back in the MCU. The details of the agreement are as of yet unknown, and will probably never be revealed if we're all being honest with ourselves. Regardless I do have some thoughts so I thought I'd do a followup on my previous editorial on the subject.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

I've loved Stanley Kubrick's work pretty much ever since I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) when I was... about 10 I think. Yeah, I had a pretty kick ass attention span for a kid when it came to sci-fi movies at least. I even remember enjoying Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (accurately nicknamed Star Trek: The Slowmotion Picture). Of course it wasn't until much later that I saw some of Kubrick's other movies like The Shining (1980) and today's film A Clockwork Orange. The film has very strong themes of sexual and state violence so inevitably I will be discussing such concepts. If these topics are especially distressing to you it might be a good idea to skip this post.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Anyone else notice that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is pretty similar to the later Fast and Furious movies? You got this pair of criminals who are also close friends doing death defying stunts usually involving some kind of mode of transportation while on the run from supernaturally capable and powerful law enforcement. No? Just me? Okay then.

The Pink Panther (1963)

Conventional wisdom tells me that it's generally not a good idea for a comedy film to be overlong. running gags can really only work well 2-3 times before they get stale, and with a single setup and set of characters there is typically only so much iteration you can do before you start to repeat your self. Imagine my surprise then that The Pink Panther (1963), a movie I've seen a few times and generally regard as a light quick comedy, is actually a nicely plump 2 hours. It certainly feels a lot quicker.

News/The Godfather (1972)

Sorry there will be no full length blog post today. Due to my own procrastination and an informal promise I made to my manager at work I spent the majority of today watching The Godfather which to be honest I don't have much to say about.

The Miracle Worker (1962)

We all had some good laughs last week with Some Like it Hot, (potentially problematic bi-representation aside), and to be honest I didn't really wanna let that fun go to get into another drama as The Miracle Worker (1962), being based on the early life of the famously blind and deaf woman Helen Keller, most obviously is. Especially since the past few dramas I've reviewed for the blog have been... well... awful for one reason or another. As The Miracle Worker opened with a mother and father literally screaming at their blind, deaf baby hoping to elicit some reaction I felt as though my fears would be made manifest. That feeling didn't last long.

Some Like it Hot (1959)

After Tuesday's overwrought and, quite frankly unpleasant, drama I needed a good laugh, but I must admit I had some concern over Some Like it Hot (1959). A comedy about men cross-dressing made 60 years ago? It's really tough to intuit if it could stand up to scrutiny in 2019 now that gender-fluid and non-conforming individuals are less of a target of mockery. I have to admit I was fairly charmed and impressed by the film.

IT (2017-2019)

I was originally going to do just a review of IT Chapter 2 which came out just a few days ago, but upon a re-watch of the 2017 film I realized that, more than any other similar part 1/part 2 movie, IT chapters 1&2 are intimately connected and support each other so well each makes the other better.

A Place in the Sun (1951)

First, some housekeeping. I've stepped away from this blog for a while due to getting my wisdom teeth pulled outta my head. It's pretty difficult to maintain motivation when you're in either in pain or on high dose pain killers. Regardless I've pretty much recovered and am getting back into this thing. So the movie reopening this blog is 1951's A Place in the Sun.

Spider-Man's Custody Battle

As many have heard Sony and Disney are having a little tiff about profit sharing and Disney has elected to use Spidey's involvement in the MCU and Kevin Feige's involvement in Spider Man movies as bargaining chips to have an even profit split. Understandably, people are upset, and I'm being unironic here people love these characters and love seeing these characters interact and this tiff is putting this in jeopardy, but I find the discourse incredibly troubling.

An American in Paris (1951)

I love the glitz and excess of "The Musical" as it as been mythologized in the public consciousness and especially in the movies. However, with an industry wide shift in the 70's toward realism ,"the Musical" became less popular as a film genre to the point where musicals really only exist in the modern industry as gritty dark awards bait films like Les Miserables. It seems they can only exist if their song and dance is balanced out with a realistic narrative, characters, and visual style. An American in Paris is very much not that.

Raw Deal (1948)

Raw Deal (1948) is absolutely another standard Film Noir like Born to Kill (1947). However this particular Film Noir proved to be far more interesting than I could have anticipated. But, before I get into that I need to point out a bit of language used in the opening credits. The credits read that the movie was "suggested by a story by Arnold B. Armstrong and Audrey Ashley". Can we use that language more often? It seems most movie adaptations of books, real events, and other works are more "suggested by" than "based on". That language would really apply to the crappy Percy Jackson movies; certainly movies "suggested by" Riordan's work and not based on.

Shumacher's Gay Batman

Today's normally scheduled post is coming later, but first I had to deal with an issue that's been growing in my brain and gnawing at me for the past year. So welcome to my first bonus editorial! It has no connection with today's scratch off poster movie (Raw Deal), but everything to do with a video I recently saw on YouTube linked here. Yup this is about criticism of Joel Shumacher's Batman movies. For a bit of context I'm a fan, and have been since I initially saw them on home video as a kid, but only recently have I been bold enough to publicly declare my love of these two movies, especially Batman and Robin.

Born to Kill (1947)

Since taking a class focusing on the genre Film Noir has been my favorite genre of a bygone era. Gaining prominence just after the second World War film noir was born out of the cynicism and nuclear fears of the 40's and 50's. It is characterized by morally ambiguous heroes, manipulative femme fatales, plots of murder, large sums of money, and a general feeling of darkness and cynicism. Born To Kill (1947) is fairly exemplary example of this genre.

The Great Dictator (1940)

Having done a bit of research on this film (actually just glancing at the wikipedia page) I learned that in his biography Charlie Chaplin stated that he would not have made The Great Dictator (1940) if he had known the true extent of the violence committed against the Jewish people in Germany. Perhaps this would have been the right decision in 1940 when Hitler was still in power and the threat he represented wasn't widely known. Trivializing dangerous people can give them power by disguising their threat, however in 2019, to quote Mel Brooks, "Of course it is impossible to take revenge for 6 million murdered Jews. But by using the medium of comedy, we can try to rob Hitler of his posthumous power and myths."

Gone With the Wind (1939)

It seems Tuseday's post about Frankenstein was the perfect prelude to this post. I mean talk about a cinematic institution. Gone With the Wind is, has been, and probably always will be THE highest grossing film of all time. Sure Avengers: Endgame may hold that title in raw unfiltered numbers (after a re-release with additional footage), but if you were to adjust for inflation Gone With the Wind has made over one trillion dollars. That's a lot of money, and if that weren't enough it's widely considered to be one of the greatest achievements in filmmaking. 4 hours of engrossing drama, searing romance, lush imagery etc... After watching it for myself...

Double Feature: Frankenstein (1931) & Dracula (1931)

So in an attempt to get through this scratch off poster of mine a little faster I've decided to double up on movies where time permits and doubling up is relevant, and there is no better pair of movies to start this with than Dracula and Frankenstein. Both films came out the same year, share an actor and producer, are based off classic horror literature framed as correspondence, and both Universal horror films. Its impossible to deny the influence both Frankenstein and Dracula had on the horror genre (having practically invented the mainstream perception of the genre) and on the broader industry.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

If you've been following this blog you may have noticed I did not publish a full post last Thursday. This was because I spent all my time before work goin off to guest co-host for CommTrack. CommTrack is a podcast intended to be synched with a film to hear the hosts chat while watching the movies. Kinda like a casual RiffTrax. Anyway I Co-hosted the most recent episode: Spirited Away so pop in your DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS, or however you keep your movies and click on over here to give it a listen. Anyway can't dwell on the fun stuff forever cause today's film was the 1930's version of All Quiet on the Western Front

The Circus (1928)

Genre is an interesting thing. There are very often blurred lines separating works into genre classifications. The more closely you examine any work the more difficult it becomes to lock it down to a specific genre. Very often this distinction comes down to a wishy-washy "I know it when I see it approach".

News

No post today was busy driving down to west-chester to co-host a podcast. Will link next week.

A Symphony of Horror

It's shocking how much things have changed since 100 years ago. Nosferatu is a 1922 horror film adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula that was entirely unofficial and unauthorized. Even Asylum's mockbusters (Transmorphers, Atlantic Rim etc...) don't have the guts to use identical plot and characters to their "inspirations". Aside from the usual adaptation changes of shortening and simplifying the original work the only things F.W. Murnau changed from the book original were the names and locales, and even then not very much.

The Pawnshop and A Dog's Life

When you go back far enough into the history of popular art you reach a point where works get increasingly hard to talk about due to the almost alien cultural context within which they were created and initially seen. This is not to say that art can't be timeless, many paintings, music, books etc... are received in much the same way now as they were when they were created, but many popluar works lose or change their meaning over time and this can be alienating. This is very evident when viewing the cinema of the early 20th century today. The tools filmmakers had to work with were more restrictive and that certainly does have an alienating effect, but there were also vastly different cultural expectations as to what moving pictures were expected to accomplish.

Beginnings of Cinema: 4 Silent films

This week is going to be the start of a somewhat new direction for this blog. I've been having some difficulty coming up with topics twice a week, and this hobby of mine isn't actually encouraging me to see movies I haven't seen or to reconsider movies I have seen. So what I need is some kind of guiding structure to guide my topics and push me to more interesting things, and I think I have just the thing.

Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Out of Sci-fi Schlok: Meaning

It's now Independence Day. What is a film blog supposed to talk about on Independence Day? Can I get through an entire post dancing around the obvious topic? I'm gonna try. I'm not really a patriotic person. I respect my country, the US of A, but boy has it been a difficult country to love recently, and it seems even suggesting that I don't love the United States gets a few raised eyebrows in my direction (seems a bit creepily nationalist to me). But there is one thing I unreservedly love about my country and that is that I don't have to. I am under no obligation to think that America is the greatest country in the world or that our nation's policies and activities are moral and correct. That is the freedom I like to celebrate every Independence Day. To that end I think it would be interesting to indulge my inner Godzilla fan and explore the political undertones of Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

A Defense of Shinji Ikari

Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the most influential certainly one of the most successful and most important anime of the late 20th century. This is probably what led Netflix to obtain the rights to stream the anime internationally with a brand spanking new dub/subtitle translation. I imagine most people who read this blog are already aware that this new dub/translation has quite a few problems and there are some other related licenses Netflix didn't bother to obtain (notably the cover of "Fly Me to the Moon" that plays at the end of every episode). This essay is not about the new translation's problems those are well shared and known by this point, and while there are subtle nuances to the discussion that deserve a deeper dive, there is another Evangelion related topic that has been bothering me for far longer.

The Tragedy of David Cage

So I took a week and a half off. Had some personal stuff going on and things weren't exactly easy but I'm back and ready to recommit to this blog. So what movies are out that I should go see... oh wait that checking account number is looking a bit low... hmmm... I'll stay in and find something to talk about: Heavy Rain just got a PC port, that's kinda a movie. The game's writer and director David Cage clearly has some affection for cinema. Interaction throughout the games he makes is minimized to timed button presses, light adventure game mechanics (not puzzles mechanics), and dialogue options, and he tells his stories using the same tools cinema uses: dialogue, cinematography, music, action etc...

Franchise Retrospective: SAW

For a while there I was seriously thinking that I'd be able to post reviews every Thursday and essayistic opinion pieces every Tuesday, but here I am Thursday night with nothing really interesting to review. I did indeed watch stuff I have thoughts on but I'm doing this bi-weekly blog thing to write about things I'm interested in and excited about I'll give in to the drudgery of writing about things that don't interest and excite me as soon as someone wants to pay me to do it. Ah well I think I'll do a franchise retrospective... Yeah that can be a recurring feature here that sounds like fun. But where to start? Something long easy to talk about and maybe slightly controversial...OOH Like how the Saw franchise is an intricately plotted crime drama that only gets good after the 3rd movie!

Dune (2020): A Dilemma

Denis Villeneuve's upcoming adaptation of Frank Herbert's Sci-fi epic Dune holds a lot of promise with a stellar writer/director who claims such acclaimed credits as Arrival (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and Sicario (2015), and a shockingly good cast with FAR too many big names to list here. The movie shows so much promise that Warner Bros. has apparently already ordered a spin off television show based on the Bene Gesserit, an order of women who, through careful breeding and mental conditioning, have developed a supernatural mastery of social and political manipulation to guide humanity. Not knocking this idea at all it sounds like a fantastic series concept with potential to replace the GoT shaped void in many people's lives, but shouldn't Warner Bros. wait and see if Dune (2020) is successful first?

Tender Loving Care

Unsurprisingly my first love is movies. Like many kids born in the 90’s I grew up watching Indiana Jones, E.T. and Star Wars on VHS over and over, but I also can’t remember a time when I didn’t have access to a PC, and of course PC games. So imagine my surprise and excitement when I learned about the brief fad in PC game development when newly emerging CD technology meant developers could put actual live action video in games. The popular name for this technology and by extension the games that utilize it is FMV or Full Motion Video.

Godzilla vs. Critics

Godzilla (1954), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster (1964), Invasion of Astro Monster/Monster Zero (1965), Destroy all Monsters (1968), Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Godzilla 2000 (1999), Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), Godzilla Mothera and King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002), Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Godzilla (2014), Shin Godzilla (2016)... Ok maybe I've seen a few by now. I did that not only to show off, but to bring some context to the coming essay/review. I am a fan. So expect a fan's perspective. However, I am also a film student and amateur film critic and will endeavor present my opinion in its proper context with my biases. Oh and expect spoilers, but c'mon guys do you really care about plot details?


Alright now that that's out of the way it's clear that I probably have some strong feelings about Godzilla King of the Monsters. The kind of feelings that are difficult to express with anything beyond excited screaming, and animal noises. The kind of feelings that had me singing proudly and loudly to Bear McCreary's EXCELLENT arrangement of Blue Oyster Cult's Godzilla, clapping to the beat in the middle of a crowded IMAX theater on a Friday morning. It was an awe inspiring spectacle that NO film I have seen in theaters in 25 years has approached. So naturally its not an easy film to write a review about... I mean what do you talk about? It looked really cool when Godzilla ripped King Ghidorah's head off? I mean yeah it's a true statement but that's not like it communicates the film's qualities. I'm certainly not the only one struggling: a favorite reviewer of mine, Movie Bob of the Escapist, spent a solid 3rd of his review doing just the animalistic screaming I described. Of course it seems other critics have found plenty to talk about judging by its Rotten tomatoes and Metacritic scores of 40% and 49% respectively. Geeze I know Godzilla isn't Citizen Kane but are we really placing this on the same level as The Angry Birds Movie, and The Meg? Sure many critics have a bias against spectacle focused sci-fi action films but tell that to Avatar and Gravity. Anyway, enough ranting I want to actually accomplish something with this piece. I obviously really enjoyed Godzilla King of the Monsters, and I spent A TON of time and money on film studies classes so I really ought to be able to articulate why and in doing so I think I can isolate the qualities of Godzilla King of the Monsters that mainstream critics seem unwilling or incapable of seeing.

Godzilla didn't get to where he is today by simply beating up on a bunch of other giant beasties. Otherwise, we'd all be talking about Gamera, and The Gargantuas as well as our friend Goji. As is well understood and documented, the original 1954 japanese film from which Godzilla sprung used Godzilla as a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear weaponry. I'm pretty sure I don't need to get into that. What may be less well known is that while the importance of Godzilla as metaphor waned as the series progressed it never fully went away. Notably Godzilla, Mothera, and King Ghidorah Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (GMK) updated Godzilla to be the souls of those killed on both sides of the Pacific conflicts of WWII returning to take revenge on Japan for the atrocities THEY committed, and Shin Godzilla used Godzilla as a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear energy in a country with an inefficient government that relies on larger international powers fix stuff for them. King of the Monsters carries on this legacy only somewhat less gracefully. Here Godzilla and the other titans are rising as a sort of natural defense against the damage humanity as a whole is doing to the planet. We are screwing with the natural order, and Godzilla and the other titans are naturally returning the planet to a more balanced state (as all things should be). King of the Monsters supports a thematic core that we need to coexist with the monsters (planet/our environment) lest they rise up and destroy us with nuclear energy beams (natural disasters/adverse weather). Godzilla King of the Monsters uses its narrative of people using technology to work with the world to heal itself from the attack of an invasive species to suggest that we need to do the same and utilize technology to work to drive out and reverse the damage that we ourselves cause. In a late movie twist Godzilla King of the Monsters suggests that we are in our own way apex predator titans. I think this detail is often overlooked as a bit of handwavy plot BS to keep things moving towards the monster fight, but it is there to suggest that we do have the power to change the world on the level of the titans and we need to work to overcome our own destructive tendencies. Sure the metaphor isn't perfect, and isn't the reason anyone would go see Godzilla King of the Monsters, but it is not a completely brainless movie.


Ok I'm going to push aside the plot analysis for a moment here to get to the fun stuff. The whole reason anyone would go see this movie. The spectacle. I'm going to reinvoke the movie Gravity here to make a point. Gravity was a movie that honestly had less going on thematically, and narratively than Godzilla King of the Monsters. You had Sandra Bullock (whose character name I don't care to look up) trying to get back to earth after an accident with the space station she was working on. There is little to no narrative, admittedly a well executed character arc supporting a "triumph of the human spirit" theme but nothing we hadn't seen before, and a HELL of a ton of spectacle. It is for this spectacle that Gravity got heaps of praise. Here have some quotes to prove my point:

"Gravity is not a film of ideas, like Kubrick's techno-mystical 2001, but it's an overwhelming physical experience..." (Sandra Hall)
"This won't be the film many were expecting but as pure spectacle cinema, Gravity is breathtaking." (Craig Williams)

"Gravity is less a feature film than cinema as experience: a new frontier in filmmaking that will appeal to studios trying to attract people to movie theaters." (Sonny Bunch)

So at least a few critics seem to think that spectacle can carry a film if that spectacle is spectacular enough. I trust that you will believe me if I say that Godzilla King of the Monsters greatest strength is its spectacle. The titans are all truly massive and the environment within which they fight is torn to shreds and reformed by their struggle. These massive creatures fight like massive creatures grappling, roaring, ripping and tearing their way through each other and any people, structures or natural land features unfortunate enough to get in their way. There have NEVER been giant monster fights depicted with as much scale and fidelity. Not in that they are realistic, far from it this is Godzilla, but the CGI and motion capture on display in the film is jaw-droppingly amazing. And that's not even paying any lip service to the cinematography. King of the Monsters is FULL of poster worthy shots that communicate the epic stakes and scale of the action. We are constantly reminded these aren't merely giant monsters in a scrape for dominance THESE ARE GODS, the very avatars of the planet, both deadly and majestic engaged in a war for balance. Also supported by Bear McCreary's UNBELIEVABLY epic score. Critics recognize the spectacle is present but find it overwhelming and lifeless, not seeing how it connects to the underlying environmentalist theme.

Godzilla King of the Monsters's plot and characters are undoubtedly it's weakest aspect, but there is still a lot of good here. Many critics are quick to point out that the actual human characters don't really do anything and spend the movie sitting around and talking. I am just as quick to point out that if that's true there is NO WAY we saw the same movie. The movie I saw had Emma Russell (Very Farmiga) waking up Ghidorah with the Titan communication device, the Orca, after a staged kidnapping during an assault on a Monarch facility, and Monarch air-men leading Rodan to Ghidorah to minimize damage to an evacuating city. It also had Dr. Sarizawa sacrificing himself to heal Godzilla with a nuclear blast, cleverly mirroring The Dr. Sarizawa of the original film. The entire climax of the film happens because Emma Russell's daughter, Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), steals the Orca and takes it to Boston to stop the monster rampages that are happening across the world. I don't know about you but that sounds to me like people doing stuff. One place where I do agree with many critics is that none of the characters are really memorable and few have an arc or change at all. The ones we get, however, that do change are competent in execution. Mark Russell (Kyle Candler) and Emma Russell both have their own unhealthy ways of dealing with the loss of their son in the events of the 2014 movie, and throughout the movie learn that they need to put that aside and focus on their daughter Madison. Its a bit trite and cliche but its still there and competently executed. Critics also overlook the monsters themselves. Godzilla King of the Monsters goes above and beyond to actually provide Godzilla, Mothera, Rodan and King Ghidorah with identifiable personalities. Mothera is a majestic and selfless protector. She is never shown to aggress without provocation and lays down her life to protect Godzilla. The movie even goes on to suggest that the Mothera and Godzilla have some kind of deeper relationship adding further dimension to these "Monsters". Rodan is the weakest of the monsters and shows it by literally bowing to whomever is in charge at the time. He's a wormy henchman sidekick type who wants only to side with the winner. Ghidorah is a crazed destroyer. His 3 heads are often at odds with each other snapping at each other and appearing to disagree. His goal is unchallenged domination he intends to wipe out any potential opposition to his dominance which includes humans. And of course we have Godzilla. He is a proud war hardened badass. Earth is his home and he'll be damned before he lets anyone else make a mess of it. In keeping with the weird relationship Godzilla has with Mothera he is shown to have a bit of a soft spot calling out to Mothera when he is recovering in his undersea hideout. This is all communicated without dialogue. EXCLUSIVELY through the monster's actions and attitudes and is refreshing to see in an American made monster movie. Perhaps when critics were looking for humanity they were looking in the wrong place.

It really is no secret that critics come into these movies with a bias against "low art" like Godzilla, but "low art" is an arbitrary and elitist distinction that has no baring on a films quality. Is Godzilla King of the Monsters a classic that will be loved for generations to come ABSOLUTELY just like Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, and Destroy All Monsters. Lets never forget that quality is subjective but sometimes people are just looking in the wrong places for the wrong things, or only see what they expect to see. Whether you enjoy it or not Godzilla: King of the Monsters was EVERYTHING a Godzilla movie should be and it almost made this Goji fan cry to finally see his favorite nuclear powered dinosaur given the big budget American film that finally shows off his finest qualities.

Detective Pikachu: a Review

Videogame movies are always interesting to see. Especially the bad ones. Adaptation is a harder game than it looks from the outset: storytelling conventions, expectations, tropes, archetypes, pacing, and length all differ greatly between mediums, and that's not even getting into the factors relating to stripping interactivity from a work whose engagement relies on that interactivity. I open with this to remind people that Detective Pikachu is first and foremost a videogame adaptation, and a pretty solid one at that.

A Post in Search of a Topic

So how's about that new Godzilla film... I'm excited for that. But it's not out yet and I'm no big shot film critic who gets invites to press screenings. So can't talk about that. I'd love to talk about one of the 30 some other Godzilla films but I don't have anything new to add to the discussion surrounding those and those not familiar probably wouldn't care anyhow. That Detective Pikachu movie is doing well, but I haven't seen it yet so I don't have anything to say about that either... So what to talk about...

Michael's Guide to Sounding Smart About Film

As someone who has spent a lot of time studying film in an academic environment (roughly 5 years now). I have gotten really good at sounding like I know what I'm talking about. The secret, as with any pretentious fan club, lies in learning the club's secret language. What follows is a crash course in film criticism's secret language so you too can sound really smart while making some pretty simple observations.

Reboot!

I think I'm gonna reboot this blog. After a few years dormancy I want to refocus on writing. Especially media theory and criticism. I like the title of the blog and don't really want to change it (I might) but the purpose of the blog is going to change slightly.