Search
Search results
Awix (3310 KP) rated Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) in Movies
Feb 12, 2019
Archetypal Toho monster mash with exuberant men-in-suits wrestling and an all-over-the-place plot - Flying Saucer enthusiasts predict the apocalypse, a Himalayan princess survives an assassination attempt when she is possessed by the spirit of a Venusian (or Martian, depending on which version you watch), a mysterious meteorite hatches out Ghidorah the three-headed space dragon. Earth's fate depends on the ability of a caterpillar to persuade a nuclear dinosaur and a giant pterodactyl to work together.
Lots of fun if you enjoy this sort of thing, with many incidental pleasures - not least the startling shades-and-ruff outfit adopted by the chief villain at one point. Not quite as jokey in tone as King Kong Vs Godzilla, but still notably lighter than most of the previous films in the series - the various monsters are treated more as characters than before, too (there's a fairly lengthy conversation between Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla). Calling this the mid-60s Japanese version of The Avengers is probably stretching a point, but it's certainly one of the better early Godzilla movies; hopefully the forthcoming American take on these characters will be as much fun.
Lots of fun if you enjoy this sort of thing, with many incidental pleasures - not least the startling shades-and-ruff outfit adopted by the chief villain at one point. Not quite as jokey in tone as King Kong Vs Godzilla, but still notably lighter than most of the previous films in the series - the various monsters are treated more as characters than before, too (there's a fairly lengthy conversation between Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla). Calling this the mid-60s Japanese version of The Avengers is probably stretching a point, but it's certainly one of the better early Godzilla movies; hopefully the forthcoming American take on these characters will be as much fun.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Gamera: Advent of Legion (1996) in Movies
Mar 15, 2019 (Updated Mar 15, 2019)
Startlingly sophisticated mash-up of the giant monster and alien invasion B-movie genres; second in Shusuke Kaneko's trilogy of Gamera movies. A meteorite brings the gestalt organism Legion to Earth, specifically Japan (of course). Scientists and the army embark on a desperate race to figure out how to stop the various manifestations of the creature, but may have to rely on their unlikely ally: the giant nuclear turtle Gamera.
The bare bones of the plot make it sound fairly absurd, but the combination of a clever, cine-literate script that knows exactly when to play it loose and when to get to the point, and superbly accomplished special effects mean this is one of the highlights of the Japanese monster movie tradition; arguably very influential within the genre, not least for the way it plays with all the classic tropes and manages to rationalise many of them. The design of the antagonist monster could have been a bit less weird, but you can't have everything I suppose. Exceeded in its crazed grandiosity only by the third part of the trilogy, but still outscores that in the script department.
The bare bones of the plot make it sound fairly absurd, but the combination of a clever, cine-literate script that knows exactly when to play it loose and when to get to the point, and superbly accomplished special effects mean this is one of the highlights of the Japanese monster movie tradition; arguably very influential within the genre, not least for the way it plays with all the classic tropes and manages to rationalise many of them. The design of the antagonist monster could have been a bit less weird, but you can't have everything I suppose. Exceeded in its crazed grandiosity only by the third part of the trilogy, but still outscores that in the script department.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea in Books
Jan 17, 2018
An utterly bleak story of an invisible man
Masaji Ishikawa's story is truly soul-crushing, the level of trauma is beyond comprehension, therefore read it with caution.
Ishikawa describes his life under the North Korean regime as gruelling, horrifically terrifying, and there are some completely hopeless moments where you think why even bother anymore.
His journey begins in Japan, the child of a Japanese mother and Korean father, he was forced at a young age to move to North Korea under the pretence of "returning" to his motherland, though he never believed so. His father, an originally extremely violent man became pacified as he realised the perilous situation he bought his family into. But they soon face the truth and brutality of their circumstances.
The narrator defects at a much later stage in life, living around 30 years under the dictatorship, but leaving his family behind. He questions whether he made the right decision in the end as the consequences are revealed and the reader is left writhing in agony at his pain.
It is not an easy read, but it is important to understand the level of complexity and the reality of the situation. An absolute must read.
Ishikawa describes his life under the North Korean regime as gruelling, horrifically terrifying, and there are some completely hopeless moments where you think why even bother anymore.
His journey begins in Japan, the child of a Japanese mother and Korean father, he was forced at a young age to move to North Korea under the pretence of "returning" to his motherland, though he never believed so. His father, an originally extremely violent man became pacified as he realised the perilous situation he bought his family into. But they soon face the truth and brutality of their circumstances.
The narrator defects at a much later stage in life, living around 30 years under the dictatorship, but leaving his family behind. He questions whether he made the right decision in the end as the consequences are revealed and the reader is left writhing in agony at his pain.
It is not an easy read, but it is important to understand the level of complexity and the reality of the situation. An absolute must read.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Dogora (1964) in Movies
Jul 20, 2019 (Updated Jul 20, 2019)
Bonkers Japanese sci-fi from the Godzilla team makes most of those movies look like models of restraint and gritty realism. Odd things are afoot in Japan as seemingly random objects - coal, trucks, bank robbers, buildings - start spontaneously floating into the air. 'I never jump to conclusions but I think a giant space monster is probably responsible,' says the lead cop investigating the case. Of course, he is correct, and it's up to the usual team of cops, scientists, and soldiers to save the day.
The really weird thing about Dogora - and this is saying something - is that the giant diamond-eating monster element is not the oddest thing about this film. Most of it looks and feels like a particularly frantic cops-and-robbers thriller with the odd giant floating blob sequence edited in under protest. Still, the script has Shinichi Sekizawa's usual cheerful wit and the special effects are, believe it or not, excellent. Good fun if you like tokusatsu movies; the climax, in which wasp venom is used to try and petrify the monster and a gun battle turns into a dynamite-chucking contest, has to be seen to be believed.
The really weird thing about Dogora - and this is saying something - is that the giant diamond-eating monster element is not the oddest thing about this film. Most of it looks and feels like a particularly frantic cops-and-robbers thriller with the odd giant floating blob sequence edited in under protest. Still, the script has Shinichi Sekizawa's usual cheerful wit and the special effects are, believe it or not, excellent. Good fun if you like tokusatsu movies; the climax, in which wasp venom is used to try and petrify the monster and a gun battle turns into a dynamite-chucking contest, has to be seen to be believed.
Lipa Planets: Gods of the Solar System
Book and Games
App
In this stellar interactive book, kids join Skipper the space dog as he explores our solar system...
Kiwaka Story
Book and Education
App
Do you know that, according to an old legend, fireflies carry the light from the stars? Our story...
Maybe Baby 2016 Lite - Fertility / Ovulation Diary, Period Tracker, Menstrual Calendar, Pregnancy & Gender Predictor
Medical and Health & Fitness
App
MUST HAVE APP #1 FOR EVERY WOMEN -it shows if you could get pregnant today -if it would be a boy or...
For Organizations - 2016 Physiology Animations
Medical
App
*** This is the 2016 version of Physiology Animations. It is exclusively for institutions that...
Faith, Hope and Rice: Private Fred Cox's Account of Captivity and the Death Railway
Book
Fred Cox, a young soldier in the East Surrey Regiment, was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the...
Judy: A Dog in a Million: From Runaway Puppy to the World's Most Heroic Dog
Book
The impossibly moving story of how Judy, World War Two's only animal POW, brought hope in the midst...