Asashoryu Wins Sumo Tournament

Asashoryu wins New Year Grand Sumo Tournament!

The Daily Yomiuri reports:

The yokozuna made history on Sunday when he beat Hakuho in a playoff to become only the fourth man to win 23 Emperor's Cups.

The International Herald Tribune reports:

Grand champion Asashoryu of Mongolia defeated compatriot Hakuho in an extra title-deciding bout Sunday

The Japan Times reports Asashoryu's emotional response:

"I'm back, Asashoryu has come back," the teary-eyed yokozuna said after being presented with the trophy by Prime Minster Taro Aso, triggering wild cheers around the arena.

Mainichi Daily:

Asashoryu beat Hakuho in a playoff to win this year's first sumo tournament at Tokyo's Kokugikan sumo hall in Ryogoku on Sunday

HT: Kyodo News

The photo is from Wikipedia.

Quatermass and the Pit

Quatermass and the Pit (1967) is the 3rd and last in the Hammer Quatermass film series and the first not to star Brian Donlevy in the title role. Andrew Keir gets the part in this one. Keir is much less bombastic and blustery.

Watch it, compliments of googlevideo, here:


Fun! I'm liking all the Quatermass movies.

Moria says,

here Nigel Kneale has expanded his ideas out with breathtaking regard. And this is what everyone loves about Quatermass and the Pit.

SciFi.com (and most everybody else) likes this one best of the 3:

Quatermass and the Pit is a compelling example of how an innovative story, strong acting, and powerful directing can obviate the need for spectacle. After all, science fiction was invented to challenge the mind, not the eye.

6/30/2009: WTF-Film says it is "one of the high points of science fiction predating the release of Kubrick’s genre-defining 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY."

Sunday Psalm

Psalm 62

1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

4 They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

5 My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.

11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

KJV

Stalker

Stalker is a 1979 Soviet science fiction film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (Solaris, Andrei Rublev). It is loosely based on Roadside Picnic, a Russian novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The novel can be read online in an HTML version of a PDF file.

The movie is #22 on the ArtsAndFaith.com list of 100 Most Spirituality Significant Films. It's a haunting film -bleak, with long periods of silence and little action. Thought-provoking.

It's available online, but embedding is disabled. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.

Slant Magazine closes its analysis with this:

Perhaps Tarkovsky summed it up best when he wrote about Stalker, "In the end, everything can be reduced to the one simple element which is all a person can count upon in his existence: the capacity to love."

DVDJournal describes it as

Ostensibly a science fiction film, like Solaris it is mostly a movie of ideas, with even fewer of the trappings of the conventional sci-fi movie.

and quotes the director as saying,

"People have often asked me what the Zone is, and what it symbolizes, and have put forward wild conjectures on the subject. I'm reduced to a state of fury and despair by such questions. The Zone doesn't symbolize anything, any more than anything else does in my films; the zone is a zone, it's life, and as he makes his way across it a man may break down or he may come through. Whether he comes through or not deepens on his own self-respect, and his capacity to distinguish between what matters and what is merely passing."

The review at DVDTalk.com praises the film saying,

This film is a work of art, yet many people won't like it. It is a slow moving film, there are no action sequences or fight scenes, and the most suspenseful segment has a man slowly walking through a tunnel. It is terribly engrossing nonetheless. The movie runs two and a half hours but is never dull or boring.

DVDTimes says,

Much like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stalker very much has its own pace and rhythm, and how one responds to it depends largely on one’s engagement with the film in general. I’ve always found it so hypnotic that I barely notice the running time
...
Personally, I think it’s not only Tarkovsky’s masterpiece but one of an infinitesimally tiny number of films that really does make you look at the world in a different way after you’ve seen it

8/20/2009: 366 Weird Movies covers this film, saying "step into Tarkovsky’s strange world and be prepared to glimpse miracles. If you are at the proper wavelength, Tarkovsky will cast a hypnotic spell on you like no other director."

Journey to the Seventh Planet

Journey to the Seventh Planet is a 1962 science fiction film about an Earth expedition to Uranus, which they pronounce "yur AH nus". Ib Glindemann is credited for "original music". The set-up reminds me a bit of the Star Trek Shore Leave episode, though this movie ends up in a whole 'nother place. This is an interesting film, though slow-moving and with chintzy special effects.

Googlevideo has it online:


Voice-over narration before the credits:

There are no limits to the imagination, and man's ability to make reality out of his visions is his greatest strength. Through this skill, he has been able to conquer time and space. The story you are about to see takes place after man has solved the complex mysteries of space travel. The year is 2001. Life has changed now. The planet Earth is no longer racked by wars and threats of annihilation. Man has learned to live with himself. The United Nations is the sole governing body of the world, and the great hunger now is for knowledge. All the planets near the Sun including Saturn have been explored and charted by the U.N. space fleet. But as yet no sign of life in any form has been discovered. The search goes on, and systematic exploration continues. Spaceship Explorer 12 is now on a mission to survey, land and investigate the 7th planet Uranus.

Moria says that "despite itself the film succeeds in transcending its limitations by creating an air of intriguing mystery."

The Giant Claw

The Giant Claw is a 1957 science fiction movie that could've been named Attack of the Alien Bird. It is directed by Fred Sears (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers), a Memphis resident in the early 1940's. It stars Jeff Morrow (Kronos) and Mara Corday (Tarantula). The movie is full of people who make giant leaps to conclusions beyond logic and then follow them with, "There's no other reason for it," or "There's nothing else it could be." And Martial Law! Why, of course! That's a necessary response! The movie also has an exploding car and some kids who get their just deserts.

via youtube:



I should have expected it, I guess, but I was still surprised when the mathematician (the token woman) brought everybody sandwiches and coffee before the final flight.

1000 Misspent Hours likes it:

what makes The Giant Claw truly special, beyond its ludicrously inept dialogue, its impressive misuse of stock footage and voiceover narration, and its legendarily cheap and unconvincing special effects, is that it boldly defies the aforementioned pattern. The Giant Claw is every bit as unrepentantly bizarre as any Japanese or Korean creature film, and in exactly the same characteristic way. It is, so far as I’ve seen, the only true American kaiju movie.

StompTokyo talks about the Alien bird:

What makes The Giant Claw a schlock fan favorite, however, is the monster. And oh, what a monster – part vulture, part Looney Tunes Dodo, and all puppet, the Giant Claw glares at us with its googly eyes, flares the nostrils on its mushy beak(!), and mocks us with its shock of black hair....You will recoil in horror – that is, if you can keep from doubling over with laughter.

BadMovies.org has a thorough plot description, sound and video files and this: "It is impossible not to laugh about the movie's special effects."

6/16/2009: Arbogast on Film describes it as "routinely short-listed as one of the biggest movie turkeys of all time".

3/28/2010: I watched this again this afternoon at the Brooks Museum as part of the Sivads of March film festival.

Wild Wild West

A triple feature! I picked this one. The Younger Son got Wild Wild West for Christmas and had already seen it, but this was my first time. I think of Wild Wild West as a tv Western and not as a steampunk science fiction movie. Watching it made me want to see the tv show again. I prefer the original series -the characters, their portrayals and relationships, and I've always had a soft spot in my heart for perpetual bad guy Dr. Loveless.

The 1999 film stars Will Smith, Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh. It's the 10th most expensive movie ever made when adjusted for inflation. And the jokes are so lame.

trailer:

Wild Wild West (Theatrical Trailer)

Roger Ebert calls it "a comedy dead zone". Moria gives it one star. Salon.com says it's "one of those bummer summer hybrids".

Speaking of the original... Here's a video of stills and clips from the tv series showcasing Dr. Loveless. Another is here. Michael Dunn (who has a Star Trek connection) was brilliant.

RoboCop

I picked up RoboCop used at Spin Street, and The Younger Son chose it for our second feature tonight. It's got gore galore, rampant drug abuse and language to offend anyone. It easily earns its R rating. If you can get past all that it's a fun movie. The problem is that it'd be appealing to a teen audience that can't see the thing. Well, they can, I guess, but sheesh, I wouldn't have wanted my kids to have seen it any younger.

The robocop character and his partner are particularly sympathetic figures. There's no gray in this movie. The good guys are good, and the bad guys are irredeemably bad. It's #14 on EW's top 25 action movie list. The Criterion edition is oop, but the one we bought has a cool cover.

It's a 1987 science fiction cop movie with Dan O'Herlihy and Ronny Cox (who has a Star Trek connection). RoboCop is played by Peter Weller, who also has a Star Trek connection).

trailer:


Moria says,

What did endear RoboCop to people was the strong sarcastic bite the film came with that gave it the appearance of an ultra-violent action movie with a socially acute, even intellectual edge.

and a special note to The Younger Son -Moria calls it "cyberpunk":

RoboCop has been cited, justly so, as one of the major cinematic Cyberpunk texts.

1000 Misspent Hours gives it 4 stars and says,

although RoboCop made its greatest impact at the time through the controversy over its wildly excessive graphic violence, it becomes clear upon close examination that Verhoeven’s aim was largely to poke fun not only at the very sort of movie he was making, but indeed at the entire culture that could produce the likes of it. The delivery may be mostly deadpan, but the material itself is often so arch that the intent is difficult to miss.

Roger Ebert closes his review with this:

Most thriller and special-effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance, and usually be right. "RoboCop" is a thriller with a difference.

A Night at the Opera

I took The Younger Son to the Goodwill Store in search of clothes and to Spin Street in search of yet more DVDs, and when we got home what did we find The Husband up to? Making supper and watching A Night at the Opera. According to The Husband, who is our resident Marx Brothers fan, this is the best of their films. I've always liked it. Groucho was a genius.

Here's the sanity clause scene:

FilmReference.com has an article that says, "Recent critical opinion allows A Night at the Opera to retain status as one of the best, if not absolutely the best, of the Marx Brothers films." NPR has a short article and links to video clips and related reports.

Invasion of the Saucer Men

Invasion of the Saucer Men is a 1957 science fiction film starring Frank Gorshin. "A true story of a flying saucer." In this one teen couples rallied at Lovers' Point caravan to the flying saucer landing site to defeat the evil aliens using their car lights. I've decided that any science fiction movie with a teen protagonist should be avoided like the plague.

Googlevideo has it online:


1000 Misspent Hours says,

Invasion of the Saucer Men is almost painful to watch...

Moria calls it "dreary".

The Last Woman on Earth

The Last Woman on Earth is a 1960 Roger Corman science fiction film. At about the 27-minute point the woman picks up a copy of Vogue magazine and looks at the cover before dropping it. It's not that they give up trying to find other survivors, it's that they never start.

It is available online:


1000 Misspent Hours closes their review this way:

in general, The Last Woman on Earth enjoys the distinction of being among its creator’s most pointless and uninteresting movies. If you’re left with the impression that Corman probably made this turkey solely as an excuse to take a two-week vacation in Puerto Rico, you’re not alone.

Million Monkey Theater say,

It certainly does look like the whole thing could have been filmed in under a week.

What is not lacking, however, is a strangely powerful story of the end of the world as we know it as seen through the eyes of a very small group of people.

Part 2 of The Guardian's list of 124 SFF Novels You Must Read

SF Gospel has discovered where some of the missing books are. You know... those books you miss when they're not on a list of must-read science fiction and fantasy books. It seems some books are separated into sub-genres. So here are those lists (as printed in the SF Gospel post) with ones I've read in bold print:

Imagined Worlds:

1. CS Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56)
2. JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit (1937)
3. JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings (1954-55)
4. Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials (1995-2000)
5. Terry Pratchett: The Discworld series (1983- ) I've read the first 3 and look forward to more.
6. Ursula K Le Guin: The Earthsea series (1968-1990)

Best Dystopias:

1. George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-four (1949)
2. Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
3. Frederik Pohl & CM Kornbluth: The Space Merchants (1953) Maybe... I don't remember.
4. Angus Wilson: The Old Men at the Zoo (1961)
5. Thomas M Disch: Camp Concentration (1968)
6. Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
7. Joanna Russ: The Female Man (1975)

Radical Reading:

1. Virginia Woolf: Orlando (1928)
2. Angela Carter: The Passion of New Eve (1977)
3. Ursula K Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
4. Geoff Ryman: Air (2005)

The Best of J.G. Ballard:

1. The Drowned World (1962)
2. Crash (1973)
3. Millennium People (2003)

Ballard gets his own list? Odd. I think Donaldson's first Thomas Covenant trilogy should be on the list somewhere.

It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night is directed by Frank Capra and stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Alan Hale (Sr.) has a small part. It won 1934 Oscar awards for best picture, actor, actress, director and screenplay. The Husband picked this DVD up the other night and picked it for us to watch tonight.

Googlevideo has it online:


Senses of Cinema calls it "The grandparent of the screwball comedy sub-genre, and arguably Frank Capra's best film". FilmReference.com claims it's "One of the most successful films of its time". Salon.com says it's "among the first of its kind, and it's one of the greatest" and that it "still feels unbeatably fresh and shiveringly touching".

Teenagers from Outer Space

Teenagers from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction movie about an invading force of alien teenagers set on using Earth as a lobster farm. It's every bit as bad as it sounds. Alien Teenagers Screw the Earth! Honestly, their spaceship screws into the Earth. See for yourself. Watch it from googlevideo:

or at the Internet Archive

1000 Misspent Hours gave this little gem negative 4 stars, which, I think, is the worst rating I've seen them give. from their review:

Teenagers from Outer Space went so comprehensively wrong that it is all but guaranteed to inspire dedicated fans of the very worst in 50’s sci-fi to a nearly religious sort of awe.

I don't think I've heard a movie defended because it means well, but DVDTalk closes its review with this:

Teenagers from Outer Space works because its heart is in the right place.... The primitive theatrics are actually quite touching -- the show finds its own humble level of dramatic integrity.

Classic Sci-Fi Movies likes it:

Why is this movie fun? For a cast of amateurs, and a neophyte director with little budget, they did pretty well. The story keeps moving. While it's not highly original, it is at least uncluttered.

124 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels You Must Read

When I first saw the Guardian must-read books project I subscribed to their rss feed, but the lists are just too long for me to want to wade through...

but

A blogger at SFSignal notes which ones of the recommended SFF books he has read at this link. Ones I have read are in bold print below:

1. Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
2. Brian W Aldiss: Non-Stop (1958) hmmm, I can't remember...
3. Isaac Asimov: Foundation (1951)
4. Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin (2000)
5. Paul Auster: In the Country of Last Things (1987)
6. Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory (1984)
7. Iain M Banks: Consider Phlebas (1987)
8. Clive Barker: Weaveworld (1987)
9. Nicola Barker: Darkmans (2007)
10. Stephen Baxter: The Time Ships (1995)
11. Greg Bear: Darwin's Radio (1999)
12. Alfred Bester: The Stars My Destination (1956)
13. Poppy Z Brite: Lost Souls (1992)
14. Algis Budrys: Rogue Moon (1960)
15. Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita (1966)
16. Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Coming Race (1871)
17. Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange (1960)
18. Anthony Burgess: The End of the World News (1982)
19. Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars (1912)
20. William Burroughs: Naked Lunch (1959)
21. Octavia Butler: Kindred (1979)
22. Samuel Butler: Erewhon (1872)
23. Italo Calvino: The Baron in the Trees (1957)
24. Ramsey Campbell: The Influence (1988)
25. Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
26. Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
27. Angela Carter: Nights at the Circus (1984)
28. Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000)
29. Arthur C Clarke: Childhood's End (1953)
30. GK Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)
31. Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004)
32. Michael G Coney: Hello Summer, Goodbye (1975)
33. Douglas Coupland: Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)
34. Mark Danielewski: House of Leaves (2000)
35. Marie Darrieussecq: Pig Tales (1996)
36. Samuel R Delaney: The Einstein Intersection (1967)
37. Philip K Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
38. Philip K Dick: The Man in the High Castle (1962)
39. Umberto Eco: Foucault's Pendulum (1988)
40. Michel Faber: Under the Skin (2000)
41. John Fowles: The Magus (1966)
42. Neil Gaiman: American Gods (2001)
43. Alan Garner: Red Shift (1973)
44. William Gibson: Neuromancer (1984)
45. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Herland (1915)
46. William Golding: Lord of the Flies (1954)
47. Joe Haldeman: The Forever War (1974)
48. M John Harrison: Light (2002)
49. Robert A Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
50. Frank Herbert: Dune (1965)
51. Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game (1943)
52. Russell Hoban: Riddley Walker (1980)
53. James Hogg: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
54. Michel Houellebecq: Atomised (1998)
55. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)
56. Kazuo Ishiguro: The Unconsoled (1995)
57. Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
58. Henry James: The Turn of the Screw (1898)
59. PD James: The Children of Men (1992)
60. Richard Jefferies: After London; Or, Wild England (1885)
61. Gwyneth Jones: Bold as Love (2001)
62. Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925)
63. Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon (1966)
64. Stephen King: The Shining (1977)
65. Marghanita Laski: The Victorian Chaise-longue (1953)
66. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: Uncle Silas (1864)
67. Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961)
68. Doris Lessing: Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
69. David Lindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus (1920)
70. Ken MacLeod: The Night Sessions (2008)
71. Hilary Mantel: Beyond Black (2005)
72. Michael Marshall Smith: Only Forward (1994)
73. Richard Matheson: I Am Legend (1954)
74. Charles Maturin: Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)
75. Patrick McCabe: The Butcher Boy (1992)
76. Cormac McCarthy: The Road (2006)
77. Jed Mercurio: Ascent (2007)
78. China Miéville: The Scar (2002)
79. Andrew Miller: Ingenious Pain (1997)
80. Walter M Miller Jr: A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960)
81. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas (2004)
82. Michael Moorcock: Mother London (1988)
83. William Morris: News From Nowhere (1890)
84. Toni Morrison: Beloved (1987)
85. Haruki Murakami: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1995)
86. Vladimir Nabokov: Ada or Ardor (1969)
87. Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)
88. Larry Niven: Ringworld (1970)
89. Jeff Noon: Vurt (1993)
90. Flann O'Brien: The Third Policeman (1967)
91. Ben Okri: The Famished Road (1991)
92. Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club (1996)
93. Thomas Love Peacock: Nightmare Abbey (1818)
94. Mervyn Peake: Titus Groan (1946)
95. John Cowper Powys: A Glastonbury Romance (1932)
96. Christopher Priest: The Prestige (1995)
97. François Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-34)
98. Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
99. Alastair Reynolds: Revelation Space (2000)
100. Kim Stanley Robinson: The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)
101. JK Rowling: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)
102. Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses (1988)
103. Antoine de Sainte-Exupéry: The Little Prince (1943)
104. José Saramago: Blindness (1995)
105. Will Self: How the Dead Live (2000)
106. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)
107. Dan Simmons: Hyperion (1989)
108. Olaf Stapledon: Star Maker (1937)
109. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash (1992)
110. Robert Louis Stevenson: The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)
111. Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)
112. Rupert Thomson: The Insult (1996)
113. Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1889)
114. Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan (1959)
115. Robert Walser: Institute Benjamenta (1909)
116. Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes (1926)
117. Sarah Waters: Affinity (1999)
118. HG Wells: The Time Machine (1895)
119. HG Wells: The War of the Worlds (1898)
120. TH White: The Sword in the Stone (1938)
121. Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun (1980-83)
122. John Wyndham: Day of the Triffids (1951)
123. John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos (1957)
124. Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (1924)

A couple of these are in my tbr stack, and I think I'll take this list to the used book store to add some more to the pile. Fun. I'm always interested in lists of must-read books.

1/29/2009: Black Gate (HT: SFSignal), on the other hand, dismisses the list because the Italo Calvino book is included but is not science fiction or fantasy:

I guess my point is: This is a flawed list; it is less than wholly perfect.

I expect lists to be deeply flawed. That way I don't feel bad finding fault with them no matter how illustrious the compilers are.

Ammonite

Ammonite is Nicola Griffith's debut novel. It won both the Lambda and the Tiptree awards. I liked this and will look for more by her. A book without men. And I didn't miss them one bit.

from the back of the book:

Change or die: the only options available on the Durallium Company-owned planet GP. The planet's deadly virus had killed most of the original colonists - and changed the rest irrevocably. Centuries after the colony had lost touch with the rest of humanity, the Company returned to exploit GP, and its forces found themselves fighting for their lives. Afraid of spreading the virus, the Company had left its remaining employees in place, afraid and isolated from the natives.

Then anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrived on GP, sent to test a new vaccine against the virus. As she risked death to uncover the natives' biological secret, she found that she, too, was changing, and realized that not only had she found a home on GP - she herself carried the seeds of its destruction...

Crack in the World

Crack in the World is a 1965 science fiction movie starring an international cast and crew, including Dana Andrews (Curse of the Demon, A Walk in the Sun, Best Years of Our Lives and Laura -one of my favorite movies) and Janette Scott (Day of the Triffids).



If only plate tectonics hadn't spoiled the plot for present-day audiences. It's fun anyway, though -tense, dramatic, without the last-minute everything's-back-to-normal moment most science fiction films seem to end with, because I can't help but think a second moon won't be good for the tides and the earth's rotation. The love story is tender and not sappy, but the woman does get to cry and scream for help. I liked the music in this one. I thought it added to the film.

The New York Times review says,

Up until the last scene—a curious Hans Christian Andersen touch—"Crack in the World" is an inexpensive model of its kind: trim, engrossing, beautifully written and chillier by the minute.

The DVDTalk reviewer says

Crack in the World turned out to be as good as I remembered, an intelligent eco-disaster film with a strong anti-nuke message and a decent soap opera-y subplot.

and then explains how the movie is really all about sex.

The Thing

The Thing is John Carpenter's 1982 adaptation of the science fiction short story Who Goes There?. There was a looser adaptation in 1951 called The Thing from Another World. The John Carpenter version stars Kurt Russell and Wilford Brimley. There's much too much, what should I call it... gore? here to suit me.

There is a 7-minute filmed introduction to the movie here:


Roger Ebert doesn't like it:

THE THING is a great barf-bag movie, all right, but is it any good? I found it disappointing, for two reasons: the superficial characterizations and the implausible behavior of the scientists on that icy outpost.

Moria says,

The Thing is an odd case of a film defying what is generally considered poor filmmaking sense – all special effects, minimalist characterization – and still emerging as a great film despite.

The New York Times calls it

a foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other.

1000 Misspent Hours praises it, saying

it pleases me to see that finally, after most of twenty years, this movie has started getting some of the respect it deserves. Having been staunchly in The Thing’s corner for about fifteen of those twenty years, I’d like to take a moment now to say, “I told you so.”

DVDTalk says, "As a series of exciting scares, Carpenter's show has few equals."

The Day the Sky Exploded

The Day the Sky Exploded is an Italian science fiction film originally released in 1958 and released in the U.S.A. in 1961.

The entire film can be viewed here, compliments of the Internet Archive:


It's interesting that the pilot of the space ship is by far the tallest man in the room. I'm impressed at the attempt at a realistic view of a first manned rocket trip into space. They take it slow. I also like the view that multinational cooperation will be the standard. And the smug Russians. I'm getting a kick out of them.

I hate that the pilot and his wife are named John and Mary. There's actually a "John!" "Mary!" scene across a view of crowd panic. Mary is an over-wrought sap. And in another romantic encounter a woman says, "Destiny sure plays odd tricks," right before The Kiss. Oh, please, spare me! Even as the gotcha moment it turns out to be, this is incredibly lame. The women are hyper-emotional, falling apart at the least provocation. I'd like to see this movie without the "romance novel" plot lines.

Weird Wild Realm closes its review with this:

The Day the Sky Exploded is plodding but drums up a bit of suspense & believability, just so long as you don't ask how 3,000 a-bombs happened to be on warhead rockets capable of reaching outer space on a moment's notice.

Million Monkey Theater has a fun review which ends this way:

I still think the Earth is doomed. And all those nuclear explosions in the upper atmosphere has got to coat the planet with enough radiation to kill off millions. But it's just a movie. To close, John and Mary walk outside to see the rising sun across the beautiful land. They still don't kiss, I think John is secretly gay. We see Katy and Laduq hugging, maybe they will kiss later, I need to see a kiss!

The Last Man on Earth

The Last Man on Earth is a 1964 Vincent Price film. It's the first of 3 adaptations of Matheson's book I Am Legend (the 2nd being Omega Man and the 3rd I Am Legend).

SciFi.com says,

Vincent Price is the linchpin of the entire affair. Through his skill and will, the production is graced with believability and pathos.

1000 Misspent Hours praises Vincent Price's performance while panning everything else. Moria has a review that points out that this is the only film version that maintains the novel's ending. Stomp Tokyo says the film "supplies some powerful imagery".

5/30/2009: Vault of Horror has a review which praises the film and says, "if you want to see the original undead apocalypse movie, this is where you need to go."