Godzilla (2014)

Well, where to start?  To be honest, I’m still in shock. I was so looking forward to this after seeing the trailer, but what a monstrous disappointment it’s turned out to be (pun indented)

The title of the film should have been: Cloverfield Monster vs The American Army plus Godzilla. In the whole 2 hour running length of the film, Godzilla appeared 4 times, and for a total of about 20 minutes. The first half hour involves Bryan Cranston’s character searching the world for the monster that killed his wife when it attacked the nuclear plant she worked at 15 years earlier… He eventually discovers that the mysterious beast is being held captive at secret base, run by an annoying scientist played Ken Watanabe.

Watanabe and his scientific college (an annoying women who looks like a frog) advise the army throughout the film.  They both seemed to have contracted ‘locked jaw’ because their response to any crisis or question, was to look down at their feet, move slowly and dramatically towards to camera (jaws trailing on the floor), and state the obvious.

Everything happened at a thousand miles per hour, leaving no time for character development, or a discernible plot of any kind. There was the usual cheesy one-liners,  ridiculous posturing American army, lots of grunting and saluting – what you’d expect from an action film this – only worse.

The only highlights were the battles between Godzilla (in his rare appearances) and the Cloverfield monster. I have to admit, Gareth Edwards actually did a great job with the look of Godzilla . He looked much more like the classic beast we know from the Japanese films, and not like the giant iguana that Roland Emmerich crapped out.

Great monster battles and CGI don’t make up for a horrendous plot. At times, I actually thought I was watching a Transformers film. Gareth Edwards may have been out of his depth with this, seeing as his previous films were low budget indie films, which is a shame because I really liked his first film: Monsters. I hope that, if there is to be a sequel, they will learn from their mistakes .

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At The Devils Door (2014)

So, the film starts with a young girl and her boyfriend hanging out with a bunch of devil worshiping weirdo’s who talk her into playing a game of “keep your eye on the cup”, the result of which will decide  whether or not she has been chosen to be possessed by the devil. 

Needless to say, the girl wins and is told by one of the cult members to stand at a road junction and say her name and the devil will appear.  She is possessed and forced to do evil things, but eventually kills herself. The devil’s spirit remains in her house and tries to find a way back into the souls of whoever lives there.

The rest film is set some thirty the years later (present day) and follows a real estate agent trying to sell the possessed house. Things take a bit too long to get going for my liking with practically nothing happening for the first half hour. The scene when the real estate agent discovers that she has just been talking to the ghost of the girl who committed suicide in the house, is just ridiculous to me.
The natural reaction would be to get the hell out of the there, but she follows the girl around the house. I mean she’s just asking for trouble.

The evil spirit passes from person to person during the film with some great shock scares along the way. The scenes where the sisters each search the house in the dark with torches are really creepy – I was just waiting for something to jump out. I found the scene with the girl standing in front of the mirror the creepiest of all -  with that sinister voice.

Altogether, this wasn't a bad effort. It slowed down and dragged in parts, but there were plenty of scares and creepy moments; and the ‘floating in the air’ possessions scenes were very convincing. This film brings something different to the possession sub-genre.

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The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Day The Earth Stood Still was made during the Cold War and directer Robert Wise created a warning message of sorts, and in his own way took the wider view of the global situation - by making one the greatest science fiction films ever made.

When I first saw this film I was taken by the simple yet powerful message it conveyed.It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite books: Childhoods End by Arthur C. Clarke - a tale of an alien race arriving in a giant spaceship on a mission to rid the earth of war, famine and hatred.

 The plot is fairly simple and direct: A visitor from another planet has come to warn us that we are too aggressive, paranoid and dangerous to ourselves and the other planets if we continue the nuclear arms race. Klaatu, the alien visitor (played by Michael Rennie), is an instantly likable character. Having arrived on earth to a less then polite welcome, he escapes the clutches of the military and takes shelter in a guest house, where he befriends a young inquisitive boy and his mother, who eventually help him to complete his mission.

The great old school b-movie soundtrack and radio broadcasts at the beginning of the film set the perfect, foreboding atmosphere. One of the most iconic and memorable characters in sci-fi history is Gort, the giant robot guardian of Klaatu - an 8 feet tall clumsy looking thing wearing size 50 silver clogs - that's fifties special effects for you. An easily accessible and enjoyable sci-fi classic and easily the best of the fifties, followed closely by Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Them!. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a truly timeless classic and a must watch.

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