All the Godzilla movies get their own post later. I’m still mainlining podcasts about the Bronze Age (and earlier) while I Do Stuff, so not so many movies this week.
Critters (1986)
Cable, original English
It was bad, but it was a good bad. I laughed where expected, the product placements made me nostalgic, the sheriff later plays a retired LEO in The X-File About Baseball, and the kid grows up to become the First Officer on the Orville.
86 minutes of dumb escape. Can’t get enough of that these days.
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
German Commercial Free TV, Deutsch
After a handful of Godzillas, Mr Radish was in the mood for something different and chose…a reworking of Mechagodzilla with a splash of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Evil kaiju-sized robots, feisty orphan girls scavenging for parts, threats to the whole planet.
German commercial free TV is my absolute least favorite way to watch a movie; the commercial breaks are so long–and they have a deal with the cable company, no fast-forwarding the commercials on the DVR– that they repeat scenes because you’ll have forgotten what you’re watching by the time you return. I probably would have enjoyed the movie on another platform.
The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar (1921)
Netflix, Swedish title cards with English subtitles
Another Swedish silent film based on a poem, this time by the German poet Heinrich Heine (just pretend we’re all familiar with the work of Heine). I could see from the title cards–lovely art deco illustrated capitals, btw–that the Swedish translation rhymed. The English translation did not.
Some nice special effects, and much of it was filmed on location in Germany. Kevelaer is a real place, with a 17th century shrine to Mary Mutter Gottes and until the ‘rona ruined everything, the parish organized yearly processions of pilgrims seeking her help. Occasionally they process up the mountain with motorcycles, which delights me.
In later Hollywood you’d call this a twist ending, but it’s a lesson I learned in Lutheran Sunday School–think carefully before you ask for something in prayer.
