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Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 1974
Hear me out: there’s actually an artistic point to this film. Yes, it is pure popcorn. But it’s *smart* popcorn, dammit! The villains are aliens that look human until wounded, at which point the hurt part reveals their true nature beneath. Once fully revealed, they look like gorillas. Reviews repeats this as a plot point but go no further. Obviously, however, this parallels the reveal of Mechagodzilla itself. The film links the technological terror of Mechagodzilla with the bestial nature…
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Princess Mononoke 1997
This was my third Miyazaki choice for Moll. I wanted her to understand Miyazaki’s love for the earth from his sadness (Nausicaa) and his joy (Totoro) before seeing his anger here. Yet the “Hilary-Clinton” character is more complex, while still hitting the same critique. I feel the same terror of that anger as I remember feeling when I first watched the original Godzilla.
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Mulholland Drive 2001
This was our movie-night follow-up to Blue Velvet. It is a far more challenging movie, though it starts out quite similar with a breathtakingly innocent, blonde starlet fresh to Los Angeles who quickly wanders into a strangeness and darkness beyond her feeble imagination. Our favorite scene is when she meets the more senior, worldly co-star who after first meeting the starlet, seems to stagger and fall as if physically struck by her naïveté. We burst out laughing. However, by the…
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Flash Gordon 1980
What an unsung gem, with music by Queen. It’s visually enchanting and full of whimsy, true fantasy, faithful to the spirit of pop adventure, and confident enough to be silly and poke fun at itself, too. It is, though, sadly uncritical of its orientalist source material. Also Queen’s talents are, I think, under used. The effects, ambitious at the time, show their age; and the actors, while clearly having so much fun, don’t always deliver lines that feel sincere. But,…
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