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| Prophecies are dark and muddled things, often confusing to those trying to interpret them. We all understand that, it's in the rules. Motion pictures about prophecies seem to fall under the same statutes, at least in Toho's book.
Of all the confusing silliness, this film is honestly all over the place. Complaints you ask? Oh, I have grievances, not the least of which is I don't know half the people's names in this movie and I watched it three times! Of the people whose names I do know only about half of them matter! Nishiyama's chubby little assistant for example, he is "Yahari" or something to that effect, but the photographer guy who appears in half the movie and gets Mariko pregnant? No idea!
The movie shuffles its way through silly plot point after silly plot point, most of which are related to pollution. Even the radioactive cloud hovering over New Guinea is attributed to it. Who the hell has been dumping that stuff? Pennsylvania again? (Three-Mile Island joke for you slow ones.)
We do get treated to some truly amazing creatures, especially the giant slugs which are barely contained by troops using flamethrowers. A foot long slug is impressive, but salt costs about fifty cents a pound.
Shifts from what Nishiyama and family experience to grand catastrophes are numbing, though I did find myself humming snippets of Godzilla theme music on occasion. When finally all hell breaks loose and nuclear missiles fly I was so relieved, since it meant the end (of this movie) was near.
This is just a small part of Bangs and Whimpers, make sure you read these other great reviews for "End of the World Films:"
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| Things I Learned From This Movie: | |
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 | Nostradamus was a Japanese man.
| | Giant slugs can only be stopped with flamethrowers.
| | Sex makes women cry.
| | Dark subway tunnels promote wild and amazing plant growth.
| | When blizzards hit Hawaii there is a problem.
| | Pygmies love airplanes.
| | Blood is stored in VeryFine juice bottles.
| | If the Concorde ever explodes in midair it will destroy the Ozone Layer.
| | Just when you think things couldn't get any worse the 60's are back.
| | A traffic jam made up entirely of Ford Pintos is trouble waiting to happen.
| | After nuclear war anyone in a military bunker will be dead, but their fingers will be on the button, seemingly glued there.
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| 6 mins - Hey kid, dying of respiratory failure? Have some candy...
| | 15 mins - You three can't stop this old man?
| | 18 mins - Look, I don't care if these two idiots are in love, let's get on to the next scene.
| | 21 mins - Why is there a radioactive cloud over New Guinea?
| | 22 mins - My thoughts exactly.
| | 51 mins - Godzilla should come tromping out of the water about now.
| | 53 mins - Hot Wheels cars!
| | 67 mins - You may only join this mob if armed with a stick.
| | 72 mins - Wipe your nose for goodness sakes Nishiyama, how can I feel sorry for you with that hanging out?
| | 77 mins - Don't touch her baby, er fetus!
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| | Audio clips in wav format | SOUNDS | Starving actors speak out | |
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| File | Size | Dialog |  | lastdays1.wav
| 78k
| Narrator: "Nostradamus forecast that Armageddon would come in the Twentieth Century, the days in which we live."
| | lastdays2.wav
| 82k
| Nishiyama: "We've no idea what made those slugs grow to such an enormous size. Anyway, in Japan now days how many of us know what's in the food we eat?"
| | lastdays3.wav
| 112k
| Scientist1: "Look at that! I never imagined a tree like that could even exist!"
Scientist2: "Normally it wouldn't; it must be some kind of mutation."
Scientist3: "That's right, probably caused by radioactivity."
| | lastdays4.wav
| 24k
| Nishiyama: "Politicians are human beings like any others!"
| | Theme Song | | Listen to a clip from the soundtrack. |
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| | Click for a larger image | IMAGES | Scenes from the movie | |
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  | Netflix - Only 4.99 a month. No Late Fees. Try it for Free | Badmovies.org recommended! If you want to rent many of the films reviewed on Badmovies.org - try Netflix. They carry an impressive number of b-movies and the DVDs arrive fast (create a list of titles you want to see, in case some are in high demand).
Netflix is running a free trial, so try it out today! |
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| | Watch a scene | VIDEO | MPEG video files | |
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| | Leave a comment | EXTRAS | Buy the movie | |
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| Last Days of Planet Earth
Reply #1. Posted on January 18, 2000, 05:14:05 AM by Scotto
Do yourself a favor and miss it, or suffer the *fate* of a masochist! (I can't believe this is currently airing on AMC).
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Reply #2. Posted on March 20, 2000, 03:23:35 PM by Mick Cantone
The movie makes sense when you're drunk. It makes more sense when you're high on pot. It makes the most sense when you're trippin' balls. It's just eye candy. Turn the sound down, put on your favorite music, pick your favorite mind-altering chemical and enjoy the show.
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Reply #3. Posted on May 18, 2000, 06:04:35 PM by Noah Hopson-Walker
I saw this late at night on TNT's '100% Weird'. It was like a train wreck:you want to look away but you can't stop watching. I finally turned it off after I saw the African Natives who looked like Japanese guys with body paint and 'fro wigs on.
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Reply #4. Posted on July 25, 2000, 09:34:43 PM by Chris K.
This is a pretty good film. It supposidly was released in U.S. theatres as PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS, but it was later released on home video as THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH. I recently obtained a copy, but it was the horribly re-edited print released in EP mode thru Paramount Home Video (I really don't care if it was re-edited, but I think that Paramount has problems with releasing videos in bad EP copys). It was really a good film and totally thought provoking, but when Toho used stock footage destruction sequences from THE LAST WAR(1961) it made me wonder where the budget went to? But, it has been said that in the 1970's some films had huge budget restrictions in both the United States and foreign films as well. But, who can turn down a film from the company who brought us Godzilla? I can't!
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Reply #5. Posted on April 21, 2003, 03:46:19 PM by andromeda
This airplane Not are a concorde but an SSTV, stratospheric airplane, if in an immaginary future many of this flyng, with an ozone hole into atmosphere need only 2 or 3 (explosion) to enlarge this or not?
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Reply #6. Posted on November 25, 2006, 05:09:49 PM by Paul Westbrook
It's true. It's true. The prophecy depicted in this movie is true. If Toho keeps churning out this junk, then the world will end.
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Reply #7. Posted on November 25, 2006, 05:09:49 PM by J.K.
For some reason, when I saw this on AMC, I thought it was pretty good. I love the music, for some reason, the music really touches me. I think if this film was re-made to today's standards, and rewritten just a tad, it could be pretty good. It would be nice to find a widescreen copy of this movie, but a full screen I really wouldn't mind either. The dubbing to English is horrible, but enjoyable. This is one of those kind of films, that is B-rated, yet still enjoyable to watch, like The Crawling Eye.
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Reply #8. Posted on November 25, 2006, 05:09:49 PM by David Silliman
The film was banned in Japan when an Anti-nukes group complained. It was originally 114 minutes, but Toho's international version is 90 minutes and you can find it on the web with Dutch subs. Americans ALWAYS mutilate these films. The americanization or bastardization which is known as Last Days of Planet Earth has everything that makes sense and links everything is edited out.
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Little girls will happily substitute a big, ugly toad for a doll. 