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#11
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by M.10rda - April 13, 2026, 11:57:12 AM
Somehow I watched thirteen short films by Donald F. Glut, the 82 year-old creator of "Masters of the Universe" who made a poop-ton of home movies as a kid in the 50s and 60s. I'd watched two of his shorts previously and thought they were complete senseless garbage, but who among us self-identified filmmakers hasn't made some senseless garbage?

Anyway, the ones I watched over the weekend include a staggering eight (!) prehistoric/dinosaur/Gojiralike/KING KONG ripoffs, the earliest dating back to 1953, when Glut was 9yo (and it shows); two Invisible Man thrillers; and three old timey serial pastiches starring "Atom-Man", "Rocketman", and "Spy Smasher" (the last of which at least was a real serial superhero). All the dinosaur movies are a mind-numbing chore, particularly as most of them are generally or completely out-of-focus. (The shortest is probably 3-ish minutes, and the longest feels like it's about four and a half hours, I don't know.) To be fair, focusing on film cameras in the 20th century was a notorious pain in the @$$ and was tricky to get a handle on when I was 18, and I certainly couldn't be arsed about measuring focal distances as a 9 year old. In spite of looking like crap, these films clearly took a lot of patience and effort, and one must admire that youthful initiative.

The Invisible Man movies are the dopey stuff teen boys make in their house when their parents are gone but Glut does achieve the "unwrapping his head" effect pretty decently. The serials represent the three latest films in this batch and they are - okay! Or pretty much on par w/ what we expect when we watch amateurs w/ no money screwing around in costumes. "Atom-Man" and "Rocketman" are both basically "the Rocketeer" and somehow Glut manages to shoot some cool-looking and reasonably convincing (short) shots of flying effects in ROCKETMAN FLIES AGAIN (1966). It's one of the shortest films in this bunch (2-3 minutes) but it's in color, in focus, and is legitimately entertaining. Glut's friends either had some fight training or just had a few beers and didn't care if they got hurt, 'cause Rocketman really roughs 'em up. One funny shot has an acrobatic bad guy appearing to tumble end-over-end down a steep hill - Glut clearly shot it on a flat surface and just tilted the camera, but the actor pulls off the stunt and it made me laugh. I'd give that one a 3/5.

Glut also made a bunch of Universal Monster flicks and some DC + Marvel superhero movies in the 50s and 60s. I'll watch those eventually... after a long break from his canon.  :teddyr:    Apparently he continued making low- or no-budget monster schlock on video in the 90s and into this century, but those features might be too uhh raw for my tastes.  :bouncegiggle:    I don't know if he still gets profit-participation in MOTU projects like this summer's HE-MAN movie or if he just took a paycheck and a hike in the 80s, but the production values for his adult features look little higher than his production values as a kid!
#12
Solved / Re: Strange movie poster on Pi...
Last post by Trevor - April 13, 2026, 11:36:09 AM
Quote from: M.10rda on April 13, 2026, 07:14:51 AMJOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN isn't very good... there are interesting moments but it definitely isn't a horror movie. ALIEN COVENANT, whatever its faults, wouldn't have been improved by an Anderson/Parrish version!

I loved all of Anderson's TV series as a kid until I read an interview with him saying that "people who can't draw, have cripple's hands". That made me quite upset.
#13
Good Movies / Re: London After Midnight
Last post by M.10rda - April 13, 2026, 11:20:49 AM
I agree that the old listings could be wholly in error or, worse, could be pure charlatanry. But I'd love to know for sure.
#14
Entertainment / Re: What Video Game are You Pl...
Last post by M.10rda - April 13, 2026, 11:15:47 AM
^^^ /s? Or is that a real game?

I've been (incrementally) playing a nearly 20-year old console port based on QUANTUM OF SOLACE... which jumps from action sequence to action sequence while providing very little or no explanation for how Bond gets from one city or continent to another or why... which is fine, actually, because QOS was pretty boring iirc. There is a little variety in gameplay but mostly it's just Bond dashing from one source of cover to another, then ducking out to shoot an endless parade of bad guys, which....... again, is quite fine, as that's all I tend to have energy or attention span for before bedtime. Also the levels are mostly pretty quick/short, which again is actually ideal since (as w/ so many unholy console ports) it has no option to save anywhere, so if I get killed I'm reverted to some arbitrary checkpoint and lose precious minutes of my life. Then again I am playing a nearly 20-year old console port based on QUANTUM OF SOLACE, so perhaps I shouldn't complain about my precious time being wasted.
#15
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by claws - April 13, 2026, 11:11:03 AM
#16
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by Rev. Powell - April 13, 2026, 10:04:21 AM
Quote from: indianasmith on April 12, 2026, 06:38:42 PMI don't know how to do any of this AI stuff, but could one of you please do a poster for
EXPLODING COWS FROM MARS?



If you have a windows 11 computer, you have CoPilot (it's also available for Windows 10). I just asked it "make me a poster for the fake movie 'Exploding Cows from Mars'" You can customize your request with specific styles or items you want included on the poster.
#17
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Rev. Powell - April 13, 2026, 09:05:52 AM


Best classical release I've heard this year so far.
#18
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by Rev. Powell - April 13, 2026, 08:52:17 AM
Quote from: Dr. Whom on April 13, 2026, 01:23:10 AMThe Capsule (2012)

Six girls arrive in bizarre ways at a convent-like institution where they are trained by a seventh, who may or may not be a vampire

It turns the bizarre and the weird up to eleven from the first minute, in a way that reminded me Lanthimos.

Surprised I hadn't heard of it, but then I saw it was a short.

NIGHT OF THE KINGS (2020): A young man is sent to a maximum security prison in the Ivory Coast, where he finds himself anointed "storyteller" in a bizarre inmate ritual. With the cellblock ruled over like a fiefdom by the dying Lord Blackbeard, it's a fascinating creation of a unique penal subculture, with the story-within-a-story echoing "Arabian Nights." Quality-wise it's likely a 4.5/5, but it didn't really stick with me so... 4/5. Best movie I've seen from Ivory Coast.
#19
Television / Re: Stranger Things. Season 5.
Last post by M.10rda - April 13, 2026, 08:29:22 AM
The 11 "resolution" is lifted directly from Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL Issue #190. Ah well, steal from the best.

I agree that the action undelivered but oddly the final 25 minutes of sentimental goodbyes was my favorite part of the season. I'm not a big fan of lengthy, laborious "sentimental goodbyes" at the end of high-conflict fantasy/action/adventure et al, but somehow the Duffers handled it well. (I wasn't going to be at all happy if Steve or Dustin or Max sacrificed themselves so I can't complain about their lengthy send-offs.)

A recreation of a conversation with my brother-in-law:

BRENT: It just went on forever. Just everyone being sad and saying goodbye to each other. Way too long.

ME: I get your point... similar issue to the end of the last LORD OF THE RINGS movie... forty-five minutes of unnecessary tearful homoerotic gazing...

BRENT: (Baffled look.) What are you talking about? That was awesome!

 :lookingup:
#20
What Was That Film? / MOVED: Strange movie poster on...
Last post by Rev. Powell - April 13, 2026, 08:14:19 AM