cult film freak: nuclear

Showing posts with label nuclear. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 2/18/2024 / No comments / british , creature , dean jagger , fifties , hammer films , horror , kenneth cope , leo mckern , michael ripper , nuclear , science-fiction , william lucas

DEAN JAGGER AND WILLIAM LUCAS IN HAMMER'S 'X THE UNKNOWN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFYr9YI4BhkslOH6CpAAH7SCLjfSmNcOmcuSvas8maCfYWtZZ8EoanyuJsjPcxLvYHxzN4MrfTMxrFTMwoZ3-stt2YGCuqJtfGs12D5S0xXye0EeMe9iI03fk6Au9UVabhC2m592yMgckIO740Mq5DJSTEhx-HOJAYWgq72kcjUSBAQCw5xR1gtaRpFwW/s2078/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-26%20at%2012.24.59%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="2078" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFYr9YI4BhkslOH6CpAAH7SCLjfSmNcOmcuSvas8maCfYWtZZ8EoanyuJsjPcxLvYHxzN4MrfTMxrFTMwoZ3-stt2YGCuqJtfGs12D5S0xXye0EeMe9iI03fk6Au9UVabhC2m592yMgckIO740Mq5DJSTEhx-HOJAYWgq72kcjUSBAQCw5xR1gtaRpFwW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-26%20at%2012.24.59%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>X THE UNKNOWN Year: 1957 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Hammer's science-fiction/horror hybrid X THE UNKNOWN came out the same year as QUATERMASS 2, sequel to THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT where Brian Donlevy played the inevitable creature-seeking Dr. Quatermass in both...<br><br>And this production was supposed to be yet another of that franchise, which makes sense since Dean Jagger plays central investigative scientist Dr. Adam Royston with more genuinely cerebral concentration and would have made a far superior, more effective title character... but being a standalone makes X a solidly entertaining thriller about a
 mysterious atomic substance that first kills a soldier (Kenneth Cope) and then a child in a rural wide-open field... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

british, creature, dean jagger, fifties, hammer films, horror, kenneth cope, leo mckern, michael ripper, nuclear, science-fiction, william lucas

DEAN JAGGER AND WILLIAM LUCAS IN HAMMER'S 'X THE UNKNOWN'

X THE UNKNOWN Year: 1957 Rates: **** Hammer's science-fiction/horror hybrid X THE UNKNOWN came out the same year as QUATERMASS 2, sequel...

CHEVY CHASE AND DAN AYKROYD SEEK HOPE IN 'SPIES LIKE US'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GW_lK2gHzA-YpbycOOZdhsDfA2u7Q1JJtYqb-Ck73c3pCy3H6HDNiXsPjjkTxaZMaY1etzEYzXdjoknoCBzEIzGFS7mXf1_TlXm10v_XhE2CUVFEl8WwdpZbReCv15eicI69Y66Q_dVY/s1092/Screen+Shot+2021-08-30+at+12.13.11+AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1092" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GW_lK2gHzA-YpbycOOZdhsDfA2u7Q1JJtYqb-Ck73c3pCy3H6HDNiXsPjjkTxaZMaY1etzEYzXdjoknoCBzEIzGFS7mXf1_TlXm10v_XhE2CUVFEl8WwdpZbReCv15eicI69Y66Q_dVY/w400-h289/Screen+Shot+2021-08-30+at+12.13.11+AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: Spies Like Us Year: 1986 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Spouting technical 
jargon with a computer-like brain, Dan
 Aykroyd could have made the perfect <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/08/ghostbusters.html">GHOSTBUSTERS</a> type straight man... so it's strange John Landis had him be equally buffoonish as Chevy Chase within
 the jovial spirit of those Hope/Crosby "Road" movies of yesteryear's yesteryear: Making SPIES  LIKE US an attempt to get young viewers into the frolicking comic adventure the director (and his 
generation) grew up on... </p><p>The funniest scenes occur during the training camp with Bernie Casey as a tough but likeable Sgt. Hulka type while square-jawed Steve Forrest and Pentagon partner Tom Hatten feel part of a bonafide Russian vs America Cold War thriller (Steve's brother <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/07/iCURTAIN.html">Dana Andrews</a> starred in one of the first), sending our reluctant/oblivious expendables to randomly traipse from the Arab desert to<i> </i>snowy missile-hiding Russia. And along this ROAD are are some fun obstacles and decent one-liners ("What's a Dickfer?" "To pee with").... albeit dialogue that could've been uttered by any comedic actor. For unlike 
Landis/Aykroyd's classic BLUES BROTHERS and TRADING PLACES, the talent 
isn't deliberately retrofitted to the surroundings. Instead, our two SNL vets seem like 
guest stars in someone else's picture, and, this being a deliberate homage, 
perhaps that was the nostalgic director's intention all along. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, bob hope, bruce davison, chevy chase, comedy, dan aykroyd, eighties, james daughton, john landis, nuclear, political, ray harryhausen, road movie, team-up, terry gilliam, tom hatten

CHEVY CHASE AND DAN AYKROYD SEEK HOPE IN 'SPIES LIKE US'

Title: Spies Like Us Year: 1986 Rating: *** Spouting technical jargon with a computer-like brain, Dan Aykroyd could have made the perfect ...

DANA ANDREWS ATOMIC UNDERGROUND 'CRACK IN THE WORLD'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuAeIkJd-5Lqk7eAq7N2SBYP36Z7UBRC9F6bSvfm73KyhCaZ-oZg7H0sadb8ZM_eya5goUOls0mk-1XkSVSnBm8zvh1XhXR_eAfOCslYzE_jqDgaoJSwmgNC8jNt_qZpxP1_Jiw4JD-3VbwPtoLF8JXR4LarE5ntFGFqsvuiJCJAPRSMkzKwJNJY-2Q/s1686/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-22%20at%201.07.46%20AM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="1686" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuAeIkJd-5Lqk7eAq7N2SBYP36Z7UBRC9F6bSvfm73KyhCaZ-oZg7H0sadb8ZM_eya5goUOls0mk-1XkSVSnBm8zvh1XhXR_eAfOCslYzE_jqDgaoJSwmgNC8jNt_qZpxP1_Jiw4JD-3VbwPtoLF8JXR4LarE5ntFGFqsvuiJCJAPRSMkzKwJNJY-2Q/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-22%20at%201.07.46%20AM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Dana Andrews in CRACK IN THE WORLD Year: 1965 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Not really a mad scientist but more an 
impatient one, with a soft yet distinguished voice, Dana Andrews is surprisingly 
secure and relaxed... And perhaps that fits, since brilliant, hard-driven, stubborn, important men don't know they're going a little off-kilter, and his Dr. Stephen 
Sorenson is only driven by a lack of time...<br>
<br>
Dying of a blood disease, he 
wants to put his experiment beyond the testing stage, a great 
risk in the eyes of younger British scientist Kieron Moore as Dr. Ted 
Rampion, the older doc's student turned antithesis who'd actually make a better fit
 for Dana's young trophy wife – another scientist, Maggie, played by gorgeous
blond-haired  b-starlet Janette Scott (Moore and Scott <i>did</i> play husband and 
wife in THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, and she's the real life wife of Dana's THE FEARMAKERS co-star, Mel Torme)...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

alexander knox, dana andrews, disaster, janette scott, kieron moore, nuclear, race against time, science-fiction, sixties

DANA ANDREWS ATOMIC UNDERGROUND 'CRACK IN THE WORLD'

Dana Andrews in CRACK IN THE WORLD Year: 1965 Rating: **** Not really a mad scientist but more an impatient one, with a soft yet distingui...

VAL GUEST DIRECTS DISASTER IN 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCH1xeQoRZG4bWB6MnA9I7rOhKh75MFKviJwKrqVWYXtoNNOeQBuLl8o6btuj7kXOSQA5zlfUfYAqurRKmXnDmSTGEeOfQateJDQawMAtKUeXFLFdr9O5CQ22Bas0XX6hnN5JxTMkaIDGH/s1903/Screen+Shot+2021-04-13+at+5.59.47+AM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1903" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCH1xeQoRZG4bWB6MnA9I7rOhKh75MFKviJwKrqVWYXtoNNOeQBuLl8o6btuj7kXOSQA5zlfUfYAqurRKmXnDmSTGEeOfQateJDQawMAtKUeXFLFdr9O5CQ22Bas0XX6hnN5JxTMkaIDGH/w400-h297/Screen+Shot+2021-04-13+at+5.59.47+AM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Val Guest's disaster opus THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE has ice caps melting decades before the standard trend...<br></p><p>And there's a fair amount of preaching (albeit far ahead of its time) like any cautionary science-fiction... but everything flows not only with the dire situation at hand but the hustle and bustle of a hustling/bustling newspaper office... </p><p>Where boozy yet intellectual veteran reporter Leo McKern and tattered, has-been, single father Edward Judd are in the nervy dilemma of figuring exactly what to write about — despite the fact both America <i>and</i> Russia tested nuclear weapons not only one day apart, but an entire week earlier, so, with <i>that </i>important game-changing aspect out of the way, the story begins as if the viewer arrived fifteen-minutes late as Judd's snarky, sarcastic reporter is a bit much to take so soon, all at once: Yet his obnoxious persona makes more sense the closer the slow-burn, possibly-apocalyptic future nears...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, bernard braden, british, cult, disaster, edward judd, gene anderson, geoffrey frederick, janet munro, julie samuel, leo mckern, michael caine, nuclear, sixties, val guest

VAL GUEST DIRECTS DISASTER IN 'THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE'

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE Released in 1961 A rat-a-tat dialog hybrid of THE FRONT PAGE and the doomsday-anticipation of THE DAY THE EART...

ORIGINAL JAPANESE GODZILLA VS THE NINETIES AMERICAN REMAKE

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6DzPr48RHSiycl1lIskfOId4nAekFp0O3B1r6ZDOwOKOrJZtSlIdjqOhARrgIFZu8gUARKG8UZdlc6S2_SC-BBYatu3wjm9Sl5_muLXRAhziJqGWKwUvJvC34ADNyvBvaKdcp0unVUc/s1600/Gojira_1954_Japanese_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6DzPr48RHSiycl1lIskfOId4nAekFp0O3B1r6ZDOwOKOrJZtSlIdjqOhARrgIFZu8gUARKG8UZdlc6S2_SC-BBYatu3wjm9Sl5_muLXRAhziJqGWKwUvJvC34ADNyvBvaKdcp0unVUc/s1600/Gojira_1954_Japanese_poster.jpg" width="281" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: GOJIRA year: 1954 rating: ****</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like KING KONG before and JAWS after, here’s a timeless classic that builds momentum leading to the entrance of the feared antagonist, and, using a sense of palpable, underlying doom, even during pockets of downtime, the story remains intensely intriguing throughout...<br />
<br />
Forget the Americanized GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS where a tacked-on Raymond Burr strolls around Tokyo recalling events from the real GODZILLA, using each scene as if they were memories or newsreels, or memories of newsreels…<br />
<br />
The 1954 Japanese film, actually titled GOJIRA, begins with a rumbling in the ocean as witnessed by a boatload of Japanese sailors. But we don’t see anything till Godzilla actually shows himself to a group of beach-dwelling locals and then, later on, rears up in full shriek from a mountainside… teasers of what's to come. We all know it’s merely a man in a costume (Haruo Nakajima to be exact), but the way the beast is shown sporadically, and with only a trace of its full frame... And since he's spoken of as an impending threat by the military or a rare species that should be taken alive and studied by a wise old scientist (Takashi Shimura from IKIRU and SEVEN SAMURAI)... By the time Godzilla ravages a city using lethal vapor-breath, tripping around power lines and stomping cars and buildings, he truly deserved his moment of gloriously formidable destruction.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rmGR56j_2zTiIy2zV_Ocw_qz4OnGEyu8zXCfQEvUNHqiw0dl1-Qo6zFqYRPOghRRSOKnffrHwQwIvZ41ksAnPRQgO24z_8k4QJkHhYpsHHx4q23hX6uw2rXuJxhi15kegIBQoLxdmTk/s1600/Gojira1954.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rmGR56j_2zTiIy2zV_Ocw_qz4OnGEyu8zXCfQEvUNHqiw0dl1-Qo6zFqYRPOghRRSOKnffrHwQwIvZ41ksAnPRQgO24z_8k4QJkHhYpsHHx4q23hX6uw2rXuJxhi15kegIBQoLxdmTk/s1600/Gojira1954.jpg" width="161" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Title</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile, each human character has significance to the plotline… especially the old and young scientists – the latter developing an underwater weapon that could skeletonize the monster to avoid worldwide havoc. Excluding the screeching female role, the performances are good and yet the people never outshine what, or rather, <i>who</i> really matters. <br />
<br />
With gorgeous black and white cinematography ranging from the terrifying (and now iconic) rampages to one particularly moving scene... as the camera glides slowly across a choir of young girls singing a prayer for the city’s fate… And with a historic aspect on the nuclear repercussions from World War II, the original GODZILLA is deep and thoughtful, and even sympathetic… <br />
<br />
At the very end, as two intrepid heroes dive into the ocean, moving slowly across the surface to stealthily take out the monster for keeps, we see a docile Godzilla waking from an underwater nap, looking humanly groggy and naïve to the circumstances, making this a creature to both fear and feel for.  <br />
<span id="goog_2081903547"></span><span id="goog_2081903548"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinI7_cAbY_9bGvey2zil_2izf7Ki9-vq_It0CdRQwV5gLEGTpFObLFPvem5UOfDD9N8SP6YKH1yJQ79B7MhuDoyBroDBKNPq61uzrEjfw9LUuGitRqh2wWKuvjYGsCTd4UZDeK4klprTw/s1600/godzilla.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinI7_cAbY_9bGvey2zil_2izf7Ki9-vq_It0CdRQwV5gLEGTpFObLFPvem5UOfDD9N8SP6YKH1yJQ79B7MhuDoyBroDBKNPq61uzrEjfw9LUuGitRqh2wWKuvjYGsCTd4UZDeK4klprTw/s1600/godzilla.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">title: GODZILLA year: 1998 rating: *</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The teaser/trailer for Roland Emmerich’s GODZILLA was admittedly pretty good: a man fishing on a pier sees the ocean rise into a mysterious mound that winds up being a gigantic reptilian eyeball…<br />
<br />
Which is the best thing the horrendous 1998 remake has to offer, a highlighted scene that would have been much better used only in the promotion: once GZ's on the big screen, marking the first sign of the rebooted beast before ravaging New York, the movie goes downhill… and then some... <br />
<br />
Actually, most of Godzilla’s reign occurs as if he were taking a breezy afternoon walk across Manhattan… With so many shots of the creature’s giant green claws, you’d think Emmerich had more of a foot fetish than Quentin Tarantino for Uma Thurman… <br />
<br />
But what goes on inside the surrounding office buildings makes this a true howler… Matthew Broderick’s Dr. Niko having neurotic arguments with his ex, Audrey, seems like a rehearsal for a Neil Simon romantic comedy, neither caring that a giant monster is about to take down the entire city just outside their windows… So any impending threat or a palpable sense of doom is gone. Even when the adventurous third banana Jean Reno, as the Robert Shaw/Captain Quint of the film, is introduced for action-packed potential, the awkwardly balanced humor and suspense amounts to little more than, once Godzilla hatches a bevy of eggs, a banal JURASSIC PARK Raptor rip-off – perhaps the title should have been GODZILLAS. <br />
<br />
If given a dollar for each time someone (male or female) refers to Matthew Broderick as being cute or adorable, you'd be reimbursed for the ticket or rental price of this abysmal reboot that hopefully gets made up for with the upcoming Bryan Cranston vehicle – which won’t have a problem surpassing this particular catastrophe, but that’s a monstrous given.<br />
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creature, disaster, fifties, jean reno, matthew broderick, monster, nineties, nuclear, remake, takashi shimura