Friday, May 12, 2017

GODZILLA FINAL WARS / Toho Company - 2004

Today we gots giant monster mayhem in a story that goes like this... When the aliens Xilians invade Earth, they release their monsters to destroy the big cities in Japan. The Earth Defense Force formed by mutants is incapable to defeat the creatures, so, Commander Gordon decides to unleash Godzilla what has been trapped for many years, to fight against the aliens' monsters. Godzilla becomes the last hope on Earth to vanquish the evil aliens and the powerful Gigan!!

I'll start with this shot of a pimp confronting the police over a traffic stop. This is a fun scene that literally has nothing to do with the plot... Hey, nice Caddy!!

Then, Earth is suddenly invaded by the Xilians. Their huge mother ship hovers over the city before a hostile meeting with the Earthlings.

To show they mean business, the Xilians bring in the mighty Gigan! The thing stars tearing the crap out of the city just before...

A ton of fighters are released from the Xilians' mother ship! Again, the beauty of destruction.

A shot of another battle at an icy location... The rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air!

This is one wild and weird shot, three monsters in a dog pile on the monkey. Funny stuff!

The Earth Defense Force brings in an updated version of their original ATRAGON flying war machine. It gets through the Xilians' defenses and crashes into the mother ship!

Our hero finds the Xilians' leader and puts the hurt on him! It's pretty funny to watch him pounding away on the leader as we see Godzilla beating the stuffing out of the monster he's fighting on the screen!!.

Our heroes get away just before the Xilians' mother ship blow itself to Hell and back!!

Then, an upgraded version of Monster X appears and the battle's on!!!... The battle has Godzilla in a bad way until the table gets turned and the three headed monster goes down for the final count...

And, wouldn't you know, THE SON OF GODZILLA is back, this time he shows off his fiery breath, but, dad has his back turned! Tune in tomorrow when Eegah!! will have something special for us all...

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

CONJURING ORSON - Jeremy Dylan Lanni (2014)

 Jeremy Dylan Lanni has been my friend on Facebook for a few years now. We've never met or spoke to each other, but he sends me emails with links to his short films, and I haven't been disappointed yet! Tonight's Wild Wednesday 8 minute short feature  written, directed, and produced by Jeremy is called "Conjuring Orson!" It's well done, funny, smart, and informative, so what the Hell else could you want out of 8 minutes?

And so it goes, "Conjuring Orson" is a movie about making a movie about a movie!

The main scene is set at a seance!
Eileen Barnett is awesome as Madam Tana! Eileen has been all over TV for three decades now!


 Sarah (As The World Turns, All My Children) Glendening is Kristen Powers, and Clifford (Redlands) Morts are two film makers who want to remake the last but unfinished film of Orson Welles called "The Other Side Of The Wind," and they're seeking spiritual help to try and find out what kind of ending Orson had in mind!

 The skeptical third member of the party is Stuart (Not Necessarily The News) Pankin as an actor Eli Klein!

The ghost of Orson Welles is one of the hardest working guys in show business, Peter (They Live) Jason, who ironically enough was actually in "The Other Side Of The Wind" before it got scrapped!

 They ask some questions and Orson has some not so kind things to say about the film making business, and then..........

 ..........He's gone just as fast as he appeared, and he never got around to answering their question about the ending, so they're just going to have to come back and pay for another session!

 They didn't get the ending out of Orson, and I'm not going to tell you either!!

But you can go watch it yourself, and that would be my recommendation!
So what do you think? Orson's real last film that got completed was a documentary titled "F For Fake," so you can pretty much assume that this is 
not quite The End either!

Monday, May 8, 2017

The HORROR And SCI-FI MOVIES Of ARTHUR FRANZ 1951-9

Arthur Franz was in a pile of great Fifties Horror and Sci-Fi Movies, here are the movies he starred in from 1951-9. He did a few other horror movies in the sixties and seventies but I'm not including them for good reason...

In 1951 Arthur starred in the Universal sci-fi comedy, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN. In 1948, at the end of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, our boys meet The Invisible Man in a row boat, but, the voice was that of Dungeon Hero, Vincent Price!

Also in 1951, Arthur took a FLIGHT TO MARS with his pals! Man, does he look handsome in his space garb as he represents the Earth on their journey to the Red Planet.

INVADERS FROM MARS from 1953 is one of my very favorite flicks... In the still, we see David confirming that the UFO model he's shown by Dr. Kelston is the same as the one that landed in the dunes while Dr Blake looks on. If you don't recognize this scene, well, it's because it only appears in the reedited British version, which I watched again over the weekend!

Then, in 1957, Arthur appears in the very strange movie, BACK FROM THE DEAD. What I remember about this one is the weird sci-fi music Arthur plays throughout the movie.

THE FLAME BARRIER from 1958 is another one of my favorite movies, saw it when it came out. Arthur plays the older brother of a jungle expedition team that helps the wife of the dude in the space blob save the world!!

Another movie I saw at the time was Universal's MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS in 1958, Arthur plays Professor Blake who becomes the monster... The still shows Eegah's (!!) favorite scene!

THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE from 1959 is another all time favorite movie of mine. Arthur is perfect as the hard nosed Lt. Cmdr. Holloway. In the still, he shoots a flare into the eyeball of the giant cyclops monster! So, there you go, although Arthur was a very unhappy actor, his movies are always great to watch again and again...

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Ernest Hemingway's THE KILLERS - Tense Love, Taut Luck (1946)

A couple weeks ago, I presented you with the 1964 version of "The Killers," I guess if I had given it any forethought, I would have done this 1946 version first, but since everything else in my world is bassackwards, I guess it doesn't matter much! That being said, it's time for another Saturday Night Special down in The Dungeon, and a very special film for numerous reasons, "Ernest Hemingway's The Killers!"

I don't know it for a fact, because I still haven't read the story, but I'm willing to bet that this version is a lot closer to the original tale! It just makes sense!

In this 1946 version, even though it's named after them, the two killers have a much smaller role! Charles (The Mad Ghoul, The Birds) McGraw, and William (Cannon, Jake and the Fatman) Conrad in only his second big screen appearance, are Al and Max, aka, "The Killers!"

 "The Killers" is well lit and extremely atmospheric!

In this version, there is an insurance investigator named Jim Reardon who has a bunch of sneaking suspicions about a death, and a rather odd policy! Jim Reardon is played by Edmond (D.O.A.) O'Brien, and in my feeble mind, he's the real star of the movie, even though he's not even credited on the poster, because..............

......."The Killers" is a movie about two different and more dynamic talents of the time, Burt Lancaster, and ...................

..........The gorgeous Ava Gardner!!

The 1964 version featured John Cassavetes as a banged up race car driver, and in this version, Burt Lancaster is a washed-up boxer because of a broken right hand, which would have been a lot more appropriate for 1946, but it kind of makes you wonder why they thought they needed to change it, because boxing was still popular in 1964!

 Believe it or not, "The Killers" isn't a vampire or a Universal horror movie, but you wouldn't know it by looking at this shot!

Or this one that looks like it's from "Peter Pan In Prison!"

 I think this was the original poster, and I like it a lot, because it tells you who all the awesome supporting cast members were! Albert (Dr. Cyclops) Dekker, Sam (Three Men On A Horse) Levene, Vince (Red Planet Mars) Barnett, Jack (Kiss Me Deadly) Lambert, Jeff (Lady In A Cage) Corey, and Virginia (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) Christine!

 Ava Gardner gives you lots of different looks in this movie, and they're all good!!

 "So what do you think guys? I told you it was big!"
"Wow Boss, you weren't kidding!"

 Now this is what you call a fight scene!!

Time to head on over to the "Green Cat" for a drink or two!
A very interesting place!

 These five guys squished into a patrol car reminds me a bit of stuffing nine clowns into a Volkswagen!

I'll leave you with this killer production still of Ava Gardner!
"Ernest Hemingway's The Killers" is a great story no matter which version you see, but I think I liked this version a little bit better, but overall, you're not going to go wrong! Just watch it already, you won't regret it!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??