The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - Original Theatrical Trailer

Sven is showing this great movie tomorrow.  It is part of an in progress issue of Xenorama, which hopefully will be out next year.  I am looking forward to watching it!

Cute Monster of the Week- Magular

 

Finding a picture of this beast was not easy to do.  So i chose a behind the scenes photo that never happens in the episode (notice the building there in front of the monsters and Ultraman.  It would have been a fun episode, though!  Magular is a heat monster, capable of generating extreme, well, heat.  Whatever it touches starts to melt in its clutches. It is too much!  It never wants to see a day under 60 degrees- it would rather have 70, 80, 90, 100 if you please.  I am sure it loves a green Christmas, and could cause a heat blister.

Superboy makes a statement

This first season tries really hard to be important and have a message.  It got a little too much at times, and bordered on Afternoon Special messaging.  The first season of the show is a little rough, with Superboy fighting crooked beauty pageant promoters, gangsters and Lex Luthor being normal.  Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up once, and we get a few aliens and robots.  Those appearances make the episodes more special, but it makes the other episodes ever so dull.  I like the cast, but I think the second season is going to be better.  They replaced most of the principle cast.

Spider-man: Far From Home (2021)

 

This sure was fun, and a spider-fan's dream.  I loved it.  The ten year old me would have gone completely out of his mind, if he had gotten to see this (and most of the other Marvel movies, I'll tell you what.  It had everything- well, almost everything- in it.  Two thirds of the Sinister Six, three different yet oddly similar Spider-men and all kinds of references to various other Marvel stuff.  I would almost go see it again, if it wasn't going to be on Disney+ in a month of so.  It was a team up movie that actually worked like it was supposed to work.

Sven- The Spider (1958) - Official Trailer

This trailer sure makes the movie sound incredible!  The movie isn't the greatest, but it is a lot of fun.  And unlike the generally superior Tarantula, this arachnid actually goes on a slight rampage through a town.

More Calvin Questions

 

Once again, Calvin is not wrong.  The more think about such things the more they fall apart.  This is one of the great things about Watterson's comic strip- he did what he wanted, without worrying about what his readers would think.  And those of us that had been reading since nearly the beginning loved that.  There were some morons out there who took offense at random strips they came across, but as always, their  opinions barely amount to anything.  Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic strip of all time, and I miss it.  I'm glad he has shown up in some newer comic strips these days.

a Santa question

 

Calvin makes a good point here.  How does Santa know all this stuff unless he has a vast network of spies all over the world?  I know, I know, he's also magic.  This sort of thing keeps kids up at night during this Yule season, and also causes that big meltdown on Xmas Eve.  Happened nearly every year at my house hold growing up.  This was always followed by the threat of not getting any presents at all.  I can easily understand why this time of year stresses people out.  Not only that, but Hobbes himself may be a Yule Cat, which would have terrified Calvin, possibly.  Unless he ate Moe, the bully.

Hawkeye 06- So This Is Christmas

 

Clint and Kate team up to take on the Tracksuits, which ends up with Kate battling the freakin' Kingpin which the Swordsman clears his name and helps out.  Hawk and Yelena make each other cry talking about Tasha.  Kate's mom gets arrested and she goes to have Xmas with the Bartons.  Finally Clint gives Bobbi Laura her SHIELD Rolex watch back.  It says Agent 19 on it.  There was much humor, action and real emotion in this episode, and it flew by way faster than a few of the early episodes.  Heck, Scott Lang was even name dropped by Hawkeye at one point, and any episode with an owl in it is always great.  I keep wondering how long Marvel/Disney can keep up shows of this quality.

MOTW- Chandlar

 

Could Chandlar BE more menacing? It would be perfection if it was.  Chandlar battled Red King and did some damage, until Red King removed an arm/wing.  It then wandered off, never to be seen again.  Unless it met a young lady monster who nursed it back to health, it did not become the one winged monster and return to avenge itself against Red King.  Whew, that was a long way to go to get that One Armed Swordsman/Boxer metaphor.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

Look at this gorgeous print you can watch for FREE on YouTube (with ads).  It's great.  This is the dubbed version, but damn, who would have thought this would be possible?

The Get Smart Handbook

All you want to know about Get Smart!  This book is really fun as well.  It is about 30 years old now, as it was first published in 1993.  The good thing about it is Mr. Joey Green gets to talk to all the principle players who were still alive then.  He also didn't have to endure the short lived- seven whole episode- of the 1995 sequel series, Get Smart (wow, clever title there, Fox).  The book is written in the style of an actual spy handbook, and it's very funny.  I never knew it was written, but got the first two season pretty cheaply from Amazon and wanted to know more about the creation of the show.  This popped up right away.  My copy is complete, but definitely well loved, so it was worth the price I paid for it.

Ultraman Ace Blu Ray review

The picture and audio quality are great.  This was the first Ultra series after the original that I ever watched all the way through. So it's a sentimental favorite.  I can't believe that was almost 30 years ago now, in raw Japanese with no subs.  Who knew we would get these Blu Ray sets with English subtitles?  I know I say that a lot, but it's still amazing to own these sets (I'm not buying Taro, no way no how.  It's too silly).  As stated, the VQ is great, so good that strings and wires are visible for monster and mecha at times.  That never bothers me, since I love the hand made effects, rather than sometimes soulless CGI ships and effects.  Seeing real miniatures is just amazing these days.

The Undead (Trailer 1957)

Since Sven aired this back in April of this year, I probably won't watch it again.  It's interesting, but kind of a mess.  Once a year is just fine for me!

Hawkeye 05- Ronin

Poor Yelena.  She lost her sister and has no real family and apparently is very gullible.  I can't imagine that Tasha didn't tell her all about Clint.  Why would she believe Valentina telling her Hawkeye killed her sister.  I am sure this will be all sorted out in the final episode (I think it's only six episodes long).  This was another good episode though, and that ending surprised me.  It also surprises me that I somehow managed to avoid all the spoilers out there.  Hawk tries to settle this Tracksuit Mafia business before "the big guy" gets involved,  Kate and Yelena have a girls night, and finally Kate rescues Clint from Maya.  I'm looking forward to this finale.

MOTW- Pigmon

 

Poor Pigmon.  In his first two appearances he gets smashed or crushed or killed by the enemy monsters, Red King and Geronimon.  He is pretty cute, so of course he eventually returned in other series.  He was also in Ultra Q under the name Garamon, but was a giant threat in those two episodes.  He must be pretty durable, though.    A different version of the creature was an actual member of the Science Guard Party in The* Ultraman cartoon series.  I think it was a robot, actually.  Pigmon literally comes from the portmanteau of pygmy and monster.  He was helpful and friendly towards humans, and warned the Science Patrol about the threat of Geronimon. He was a valiant and noble ally.

Boris and Natasha (1992)

 

I watched this fun if overlong and scattered movie the other night.  The lead stars, Sally Kellerman and Dave Thomas, wisely chose not to sound like their cartoon versions.  It's hard enough not to compare them, but this helped.  Fearless Leader sets up our two "heroes" by sending them to the US as defectors.  His real agent, known as X, is after a time traveling microchip and the inventor of said item.  There are some very funny bits here and there, but it was scattered all over the place, with models and romance... this could work in a weekly serial, when you got two Rocky and Bullwinkle segments at a time.  Moose and Squirrel do make an appearance in here, of a sort, but they don't reveal themselves until the end of the movie.  Speaking of the finale, it is pretty clever.  Yes, it does involve the macguffin of the microchip.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

 

This movie feels like the end of an era.  I have enjoyed the "Fourth Phase" movies and shows, but they don't have the same feeling all these movies do.  I know they had no idea how big these movies would get, but I am glad they went for it.  Thanos makes a great "big bad" since he also has the power to challenge all the heroes at once.  They even made time travel work (for the most part).  I had not remembered Loki actually causing the variant to happen.  I thought they played fast and loose with that bit.  I should have known better.  I was not one that got weepy at all the people getting killed in this movie.  It was more the little touches that got me.  Tony talking to his father, Thor talking to his mother, things like that.

Sven- How to Make a Monster (1958)

 

It's funny, I don't think I have seen either of the "I was a Teenage..." movies that AIP made.  I had Werewolf on tape at some point, I am sure, but I don't recall watching it at all.  For some reason many of the later 50s AIP genre movies were never aired in my area on television.  I had to wait until home video to see many of these movies.  Oddly enough, I did see Teenage Caveman.  How to Make a Monster was released with that movie as a double bill.  Caveman is a much better movie.  This one is pretty fun, though, and seeing it though older eyes makes it slightly bittersweet.  One can hardly blame a monster maker who is told he is no longer needed.  Especially when Paul Blaisdell would be told that soon enough.

Captain Marvel (2019)

none of these  3 Captain Marvels are Carol Danvers

I have known Carol Danvers most of my comic book fandom life.  I have seen her through her civilian days, meeting Marv-Ell when she worked with NASA to her working for JJJ and all the other drama that Marvel decided to put her through.  She's had more superhero names than most heroes, including Hank Pym.  I really never saw her assuming the Captain Marvel moniker, but it makes sense.  The MCU is lucky, since they don't have to deal with some 30-70 years of stories that repeat themselves ad nauseam because Marvel didn't want to deal with legacy heroes.  Even though events matter in Marvel Comic books.  That is until the next artistic team shows up.

Hawkeye 04- Partners, Am I Right?

 

This episode clocked in at 40 minutes, and that includes all the credits!  If this keeps up the last episode will be about 10 minutes long.  Boom!  I doubt that will happen, but it would be amusing.  Once again this is an action packed episode, but there are some amusing bits with Kate's mom and Jack.  There is also talk of Tasha and how Clint met her.  Kate still wants to design a costume for Hawkeye.  Finally, Yelena, the White Widow (what else are they gonna call her) shows up.  Clint calls her a Black Widow assassin, but we the viewers know there is more going on.  Did the Swordsman (now ID'd as the leader of the Tracksuits) hire Valentina to send Yelena after Clint?  I am looking forward to the next couple episodes. 

Ant-man and the Wasp (2018)

 

Scott is on house arrest from the events of the Civil War.  He has three days left.  Hank and Hope hate him for helping Captain America.  Can Scott stay out of trouble for the until he is released on probation?  What do you think?  This movie is fun, but it is not quite as good as the first Ant-man.  There is a LOT going on in it, and they could have done without the gangsters altogether.  There was no real purpose to have them, since "Ghost" was a good enough antagonist on her own, along with Hank's former mate Bill (Black Goliath, Goliath, Giant-man II) Foster.  It would have made the movie a bit shorter as well.  Aside from that, it is a fun movie, and it's great to see Giant-man in person yet again.  And of course, that ending... when I saw it in the theater the people sitting next to me gasped at the same time when we realized what was about to happen.

MOTW- Red King

 

Nearly everyone loves Red King.  He's been a super popular monster, showing up twice in the first Ultra series and then many times later one.  He's tough, and cool looking, but really kind of stupid.  He's seems to be the blueprint for Toho's Gigan, who has many similar qualities.  I've never seen the appeal of the kaiju that many fans do- I like him, but prefer Gomora as the kick ass monster of the series.  Perhaps if I had seen him at a younger age I would put him in the top five of monsters.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

 

Well, at least A Captain Marvel sort of makes an appearance in the movie.  The movie starts with Thanos wiping out the Asgardians that were alive from the end of Ragnarok.  He also kills Loki again, but as we know, he is only sort of dead.  Of course, we didn't know that three years ago, but I'm OK with it.  I started with a real review, but really, the important thing in here is I went into the movie knowing what was (probably) going to happen to The Vision.  I mean, he has the Mind Stone embedded in him.  They did it so well I thought perhaps I would be wrong, but alas, I was right.   I will admit, I wished I was wrong.  At least I still got WandaVision.

Marvel Team Up: Homecoming (2017)

 

I gotta admit, I love Spider-man.  He and Batman were the first heroes I remember reading about and seeing on TV.  It's hard for me to be very objective about the character.  This is a good thing and a bad thing, as I am also overly attached to my ideas of HOW the character should be presented.  I really enjoyed the Raimi films (well, the first two) but never saw the Garfield ones.  I was happy when Peter showed up in Civil War because this is the first time Peter has actually looked like a 15 year old kid.  And he's a great.  So this movie happens after CW, and we get to see Peter try to find his place in both high school and the super hero world. He also has to contend with the Vulture and his gang of thieves.  It's all pretty predictable for some of us, but it's pretty great.

The Cramps - The Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon

                     

Sven aired The Crawling Eye last night, I recently watched it, so there's no real need to go over it.  Next week is How to Make a Monster which made me think of this song.  I thought about putting up the actual video, but it's very Cramps ish, and I decided discretion was the better part of valor.  Enjoy!

Happy 6th Birthday, Emeral Sage

 

This beautiful girl turns six years old today.  She's been part of the family for almost 3 years now.  She arrived weighing about 9 pounds and had a broken upper right fang, which has since been removed due to infection.  She's been such a love and purrs almost immediately when petted. 

Hawkeye 03- Echoes

 

Kate shows Clint a costume to help his "brand".  Guess what it looks like.  Yep, the classic costume.  Maybe she will design the short lived blue outfit next.  Of course, Hawk acts like it is the most ridiculous thing he has ever seen, which is kinda sad.  At least Elizabeth Olsen has mentioned how much she enjoyed wearing Wanda's classic costumer in her miniseries.  WandaVision for the win again!  Anyway, this was a fun episode.  There is a lot more action and the car chase involves a lot of arrows, including one that has the PYM label on it.  Wonder where Clint got that arrow?  The Tracksuit Mafia is given some background, and I know nothing of them.  Kate hasn't figured out that Clint was the Ronin, or she has and is respecting Clint for not admitting it.  It all ends with Jack (The Swordsman) introducing himself to Hawk.

Black Panther (2018)

 

This movie was harder to watch this time, mostly due to Chadwick Boseman's most untimely passing.  Knowing he was battling cancer during all his movie appearances makes me appreciate his work even more.  The movie is quite good, with a great cast.  Sometimes the CGI people look a bit like video game people, but it's not too bad overall.  I do miss fight scenes that don't need augmentation.  I can't fault them for using it, as it does make things safer for the actors, but does it always have to be used?  I didn't realize John Watson was in here, that was a pleasant surprise to discover.  I did see the movie in the theater, but I didn't know most of the actors in the movie until later.  I was glad to see M'Baku rehabilitated.  And he even has a sense of humor! I like the idea of Wakanda being made of various tribes. 

Ultra MOTW- Antlar

 

Antlar is one of the best looking monsters in this first 13 episodes of Ultraman.  It comes complete with a magnetic ray that can even affect Ultraman.  It is strong enough to resist the Spacium Beam when fired point blank.  It's a good thing Ultraman had visited the Earth centuries ago and left a certain blue stone which is Antlar's weakness.  That is a very intriguing part of this story which is never really addressed again, that the Ultras have been around a lot longer than thought.  It makes sense, really, since the Ultra Planet has been established to be thousands of years old.

Hawkeye 02- Hide and Seek

 

This is a typical second episode.  Lots of talk and not much action, with Hawkeye and Kate getting to know each other.  He's playing the "lone archer" card... how many seasons of Green Arrow did Ollie do that?  I hadn't realized we also had met the Swordsman already, though I doubt he will be named that during the series.  Still, it's a nice touch.  I gotta say the Track Suit Mafia makes me laugh though.  They sure speak a lot of Russian.  Hmm, perhaps that is some foreshadowing?  I thought we might get an answer to that at the end of this episode, but we didn't.  They sure do talk about Tasha a lot, which is a nice bit.  I am happy to see Clint's family here.  

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 (2017)

 

I don't think this is the same Yondu from the movie, but that's OK.  This one is from a slightly different future than the standard Marvel Universe.  He didn't threaten to eat Quill or even Vance Astro.  There sure is a lot of this movie I did NOT remember, I'll tell you what.  I didn't remember Yondu having a chat with Starhawk at the beginning of the movie.  That sure was important later.  It was nice sort of seeing the original Guardians of the Galaxy (I'm going to assume Nikki was there somewhere).  Martinex looked great, and I am glad that Michael Rosenbloom was his voice, since he's great.  Apparently he auditioned for Quill.  Kurt Russell as Ego, the Living Planet was so much fun.  And I was thoroughly surprised by Dave Bautista.  

Sven- The Devil's Rain (1975)

 

I've never been too much into devil movies.  They always seem to lack something, perhaps some kind of person  who knows the way to properly combat the demon or devil.  And they all seem to have to act like the Catholic Church is right about all this stuff.  So I have never watched many of them, aside from a few exceptions (Curse of the Demon, Equinox, to name exactly two).  This one sure has some star power in it- Bill Shatner, Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn and some kid named Travolta has about two lines as well.  They do well, and there are some really cool makeup effects to help out, plus the whole gooey end.  But the script is all over the place and makes no real sense.  It's a waste of a good cast.  It's not bad, it's just... meh.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) thoughts

I did not remember a lot of this movie.  Seeing it again reminded me how good the whole film was, overall, even if how the Hulk got to Sakaar was never fully explained.  I don't like that the Warriors Three were killed, but since it's comic books, they can return, since even Loki came back from the dead at least four times.  And Lady Sif was nowhere to be seen in this movie.  I hear she will be in the 4th Thor movie, along with Dr. Jane Foster.  Now, if that follows the comic books... well, that would be spoiling things, wouldn't it?

MOTW- Guesra

 

Poor Guesra.  It lives the dream of eating chocolate and cacao for sustenance. The beast came from South America and got mutated by polluted water in Tokyo Bay,  That caused it to grow large and dangerous, as it swamped boats looking for food.  This naturally brings the Science Patrol and Ultraman around to stop it.  The smuggler Diamond Kick (what a great name) is also around, along with three or four kids.  It all works pretty well in the episode.  Still, you feel sorry for Guesra, since all it wanted to do was eat.  It was not its fault it became a giant menace and had to be stopped.  Ultraman does this by ripping the feeler off Guesra's head.  This causes it to weaken and die.  It's really Diamond Kick's fault, since he fired on the monster, and loud noises make it violent.

Hawkeye 01- Never Meet Your Heroes

 

We take a small break from our MCU marathon to watch the first episode of Hawkeye.  I forgot it was starting yesterday.  I only watched the first episode, and it was fun.  It basically set up the origin Hawkette, or Ronin, Jr, or whatever they are not going to call her, for the rest of the show.  It's nice that she was inspired by Hawkeye from the first Avengers movie.  And the passage of time suddenly makes us realize that was over eight years ago.  I am really glad to see Clint and his family, and that he actually has a hearing aid.  One would think exposed ears around all those explosions would cause hearing loss in most superheroes.  Having read Hawk's first miniseries I know how he lost most of his hearing.  Is his wife named Bobbi?  That would be a nice touch.

Doctor Strange (2016)

 

I was wrong, it was this movie and not Spidey that came next.  So I will watch that a bit later.  I did see this movie in the theater, and have watched it once again.  This time I was really struck by all the multiverse talk by the Ancient One.  I thought the TVA was traveling through time to prevent that sort of thing from happening?  Perhaps they meant different dimensions, but at this point it is moo now.  This is really an enjoyable movie, especially knowing what is going to happen.  It's too bad Marvel doesn't have the rights to Namor, the Sub-mariner.  I think a true Defenders movie might be fun.  It sure has taken a long time for the good doctor to get a sequel, though I know he will be featured in the new Spider-man movie.

Civil War (2016)

 

I have never read the comic book version.  Just looking at the cover makes me think it has WAY too many characters in it.  One of the good things about this first run of Marvel movies is that they only had a handful of superheroes to use, whereas the comic books had literally hundreds of these heroes to put in any given story.  This movie uses most of the established characters, and adds T'Challa into the mix.  All the heroes get some good moments.  Baron Zemo- well, Colonel Zemo, is the only real villain (aside from that petok General Ross) and the story is more grounded.  We also get Spider-man's debut (along with Aunt Hottie) and that is great.  The best scene of all is Giant-man showing up in the middle of the day.  I loved that scene.

Sven- KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962)

                                           As I have mentioned many times, this was the first Godzilla and King Kong movie I ever saw.  Sven has aired it before, but the last time the MeTV feed was somehow screwed up and we got to see Lone Ranger episodes for 90 minutes.  Sven didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know, but it's always fun to see giant monster movie on a Saturday night.

Ant-Man (2015)

 

Scott Lang steals Hank Pym's overly ornate Ant-man suit.  He needed a job, and ended up with one.  This is pretty much what happens in the comic book, though he showed up in the Avengers first, then we got the origin story.  Hank was in his Yellowjacket mode at this time.  The movie uses all of this, but adds Hope, the Pyms' grown daughter.  We don't see Janet van Dyne in this movie, but she will show up in the future.  It's a fun movie, and a lot more down to Earth than most of the previous movies, even if it does involve saving the world.  The cast is good, and there is a lot of humor in it.  There is bound to be a lot of physical comedy bits when someone is learning to shrink down and talk to various kinds of ants.  

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

 

I really enjoyed this movie.  Of course, it has the Vision making his debut, and even though I wish they had said something about using Professor Horton's amazing android (see Cap's first movie) it all worked out just fine.  What struck me the most while watching it this time was all the foreshadowing that began here.  The whole "why can only Thor lift Mjolner" scene is really great.  There might by one other Avenger who can lift the hammer, but he wisely decides not to let anyone else in on it.  Heimdall referring to Hel showing up.   All sorts of things I missed the first time around.  I do wish that Hank Pym would have been involved in the creation of Ultron as well, but in the MCU he is a hero from the previous generation.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

 

I didn't see this one in the theater either, and I don't know why.  the movie got rave reviews from a few of my friends.  I didn't think it was that great when I finally did see it.  Some of that was these Guardians were not the real Guardians of the Galaxy.  I had known of the originals for many years, and of course, not reading modent comic books I had no idea the group had been retconned to have a current line up, rather than the future/alternate reality line up.  I didn't know any of these characters, except for Drax the Destroyer... and Groot.  I knew Groot from being one of Marvel's monsters.  The Hulk had fought Groot and several other beasts as well, in one annual.  I didn't know the species had been reformed.

Ultra MOTW- Miroganda

This was the third and final episode of Ultraman I ever saw as a kid.  It is not the most exciting episode, but now I really enjoy it.  It's a mystery, and fun to watch.  This is the first plant monster an Ultra fights, and it won't be the last, though these sort of creatures are rare.  This one grows huge but really isn't a threat to Ultraman, who finishes it off with the Spacium ray.  But look at this set up- I love the miniatures and the way it is shot.  No wonder this show was such a hit back then!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

 

I'll admit it, I'm still salty about Bucky being alive.  I get it, no one ever dies in comic books, even if you see the body sometime.  Please tell me Uncle Ben is still dead.  That would ruin Spider-man completely.  Bucky's death is what gave Steve Rogers some character, rather than the happy go lucky soldier he was in the comic books.  It was a defining moment in his life.  OK, now that I have said that, I don't mind this Bucky being alive in the MCU, since it is rather different than the comic books.  And Sebastian Stan is just great.  And this movie is pretty great, though it's far closer to a mini-Avengers movie, and Natasha gets a great deal of time in the spotlight.  While she really deserved a solo movie (as solo as any Marvel movies can be at this time) long before she actually got one, this is really a co-starring role for her.

Thor: Dark World (2013)

 

I enjoyed this more than the last time I watched it, some eight years ago.  With the rest of the movies in hindsight, some parts of this are far more impactful than they were.  Of course, watching Loki get "killed" again is still ridiculous.  The end of the movie subplot was wrapped up in a hurry in the next movie, and was probably not where they were going to go.   Natalie Portman was better in this movie, but now, almost ten years later we haven't seen her since.  And then there is Frigga... Rene Russo is just great, so knowing Endgame it's even more poignant.  Also a plus is the plot lines all are tied together, rather than meandering all over the place.

Sven- Indestructable Man (1956)

 

I saw this many years ago, on Channel 2 KWGN of course, and haven't seen it since then.  They had aired the sort of similar Man-Made Monster (1941) either before or after this one, and it was similar enough that I was a bit confused, thinking it was the same movie.  Lon is Butcher Benton, brought back to life by a misguided scientist and his assistant (Joe Flynn, before he enlisted in McHale's Navy).  He goes on a killing spree before Joe Friday, I mean Dick Chasen stops him and gets the girl.  At least the movie has a small bit at the end to wrap things up.  They probably had to have that end part there, since the movie had a scant 72 minute running time.

Iron Man Three (2013)

 

This is the second time watching this movie.  I liked it more this time, even without any guest appearances from the other MCU superheroes (at least until the post credits sequence).  Pepper got to wear the suit for a minute or so, and she only sort of could use it properly.  Did the armor fit itself to her form?  She's not as tall as Tony, so the fit wouldn't work properly.  Here's a fun fact- after knowing Pepper for many years, I just found out her real name is Virginia.  It must have been said at some point in the comic books, but I never saw it.  The "Mandarin" is featured here, as is Aldrich Killian, the new head of A.I.M.  It's a misdirect, which works well enough the first time watching it.  Since the Ten Rings has reappeared for Shang Chi (since he can't be the Son of Fu Manchu these days) we eventually find out the Mandarin or someone like that is real.  It only took eight years.

Avengers (2012)

 

This was the first MCU movie that I saw in the theater.  There were a lot of reasons for this, but I had seen all the other ones, including The Incredible Hulk (2008).  And of course, I had read many Avengers comic books for most of my life.  I was looking forward to this movie.  I had been waiting most of my life to see the Avengers in live action.  It was a couple weeks after the release that I went, but dang, that was a great night, with the movie being pretty great as well- the cherry on the top of the sundae.

Thor (2011)

 

I did review this movie a while ago, and haven't seen it since that time.  I enjoyed it quite a bit more this time.  Goodbye, pickle! 

So the main point I didn't like from this movie, or the sequel, is the casting of Natalie Portman as Dr. Jane Foster.  Nothing against her, but the role was a not a good fit for her.   I did like her performance in What If...? so I have a slight hope that she will be better in the upcoming sequel.  But I ain't holding my breath.  

MOTW Ragon

This was the first monster from Ultra Q to be featured in Ultraman, Ragon would not be the last of these crossovers.  The beast went unnamed in the US dub, as many monsters did, but we would not have known about the earlier appearance, so it's OK.  It is human sized in Ultra Q, but in Ultraman is a giant, ray spewing monster.  It is a great looking creature, that is for sure.  Ultraman had to battle it to retrieve an atomic bomb that was attached to it's neck.

Iron Man (2008 ) and Iron Man 2 (2010)

 

I decided that I would watch all the MCU movies in release order.  I know there is also a chronological order, but I think it's more fun this way to see how things started and progressed, rather than how it ended up.  I have reviewed several of them here and there, so mostly this will be me finding things that made me happy about the movies, rather than actual critiques.  I did not see ANY of the Iron Man movies in the theater, though a few of the movies could actually be considered Iron Man movies in a way.  But I digress.  I enjoyed the first Iron Man movie a lot, even though I knew exactly who the villain would be almost immediately.  This happened a lot, even though I was never a big reader of the Iron Man comic books.  I was happy to hear the 60s Iron Man cartoon song adapted to a jazzy number as well.  It was a good starting point.  And of course, the post credits scene was great, especially Nick telling Tony he was NOT the only superhero around.  Since he had "already" met Ms Marvel, Ant-man and the Wasp, this makes sense.  Not to mention the whole world would have known about Captain America...

Zorro contra Maciste (1963)

 

This was made right after Hercules and the Masked Rider, and both star Alan Steel.  They also share some of the same scenery.  This one actually does feature Zorro, though it is not Don Diego.  Finding a decent copy of this movie was a chore.  Heck, even finding a bad copy was not easy.  I tracked down a version that had English subtitles, and it has a gorgeous picture.  I've enjoyed all 12 minutes that I have watched so far.  

Sven- Munster, Go Home! (1966)

 

The print Sven aired tonight was amazing.  It had to be from the Blu Ray that Shout Factory released last year.  That was my first reaction.  As mentioned earlier, I have seen this movie many times.  The Munsters were never my favorite comedy monsters, I always preferred the Addams Family.  I watched a lot of the episodes though, as both were aired all the time all over the country.  I also saw the movie a few times during summer kiddie matinee shows.  It was always a crowd pleaser with that particular audience.  When watching it on television it always seemed rather long to me, since the commercials had to be factored in.

Munster go Home

watch trailer here!

I saw this a few times in the theater.  I liked it fine, still do.  Never even noticed Marilyn was different.  This was a pain the butt post.

Xenorama #35 is on sale!

All that extra time during this unusual part of the century have paid off in being able to write a lot for the book.  Between the first Kamen Rider series and the first Sentai series I watched nearly 200 episodes of those first two runs alone.  None of the other series went beyond 52 episodes or so, thank goodness.  This issue does feature the proto-Sentai Strada 5 which I had never heard of before.  It features five members, four men and one woman, all of whom have a particular gift.  They do wear matching outfits and drive cool vehicles.  It's a short run, only 13 episodes, so it wasn't really successful, but it set the stage for Gorangers.  I really like the first two series, which is before the robots started showing up.  Jetman was a very pleasant surprise.  It really changed things for the genre, and for the better.

KING of the MOTW- Godzilla

 

I can't believe I have been doing the "Monster of the week" for almost ten years, and Godzilla was not the first monster, nor has ever been a monster of the week.  So it is fortunate that it is Godzilla Day that the King gets featured here.  I am lucky that I can remember the first Godzilla movie I ever saw, where I was, and where the movie was screened.  It also happened to be my first King Kong movie and my first giant octopus movie, so I got a great start.  There really isn't a lot to write about Godzilla, but that hasn't ever stopped me once. 

ha! Kaida the Destroyer

Yesterday, while doing whatever it was I was doing in the office, probably writing the next issue of Xenorama, I heard a crash.  Then saw a bit of black lightning zoom into the office,  I got up and looked into the living room, and there was a mess.  This is after I picked up all the pictures and everything Kaida, the polydactyl princess had knocked onto the floor.  There had been a runner on that divider, though it ended up on the floor with nine pictures (out of a possible twelve) and several candles as well as one potted plant.  That is the dirt that is on the ground.