The most notable thing from this 1964 Japanese sci-fi movie is silly the starfish alien designs. The point of the story is for the aliens to warn Earth of an impending disaster, but they go about it in the most roundabout way possible. The, at the eleventh hour, they just save everyone completely negating the entirety of the movie’s narrative. The scenes of the aliens on their ship must be inspired by German expressionist films. The rest of the movie is pretty dull.
I came across this movie when it was featured in a list of pre-Romero zombie movies. The only thing it has going for it is Barbara Steele looking emaciated as per usual. The effects are limited to decomposed hand reaching out from around corners and few seconds of a mauled eye in the first three minutes of the picture. The rest is mostly boring, poorly dubbed dialogue about a scientist who died.
Are all ancient religions actually based on alien encounters? Of course not, but that’s not going to stop these film makers! The case made here is paper thin and devoid of any evidence. Most of the proof comes in the form of looking at ancient artwork and then saying stuff like, “The drawing’s head is very round… could it be… a space helmet!!” or “Those ground markings seem to go nowhere… or could they be… landing strips for spacecraft!!” Their biggest piece of evidence isn’t even an actual cave drawing. It’s a reproduction drawn by the one scientist who actually believes this garbage. At the very least, I did like appreciate the just seeing ancient monuments like the pyramids and moai statues.
I was really excited to see this movie and so my viewing suffered from raised expectations. I liked it but I was a little disappointed by how close it mirrored The Matrix at times and I didn’t appreciate the crude humor. This is a movie about a mother/daughter relationship and adding drag-show level gags alienates a large group of younger viewers who might get deep meaning from the narrative. Otherwise, this was a very fun and imaginative take on the concept of the multiverse.
I played all of the sequels to this RPG that were available on the Sega Genesis, two on the actual hardware and the last one as a Virtual Console game. I am finally getting around to playing the first game in the series on the Sega Master System.
Growing up in the 80s, I never actually saw a Master System in person and knew of nobody who owned one. Yet there are hundreds of games for the system and a lot of folks consider Phantasy Star to be one of the best. I enjoyed it for the most part, but, if not for the conveniences of emulation, I would not have been able to get through it. State saving and CPU speed boosts help to get through the most tedious parts of the game play.
The turn-based combat mechanics are incredibly basic. Your characters can ether attack, run, talk, or cast spells. Talking is useless. There are only about four combat spells and one protection spell. Ninety percent of the time I would go into fast emulation and just spam the attack button. It’s really not until the final few dungeons that I had to think a little more about tactics. This is too bad, because most of the game is grinding to level up.
There is barely a story. The gist of it is simply to get revenge for the death of your brother. You advance through the game by finding items that give you access to more regions and dungeons. The dungeons are the core of the game. They are impressively rendered as first-person perspective mazes. Much of the game’s challenge is then mapping out these mazes as you would in Eye of the Beholder.
Despite the flawed mechanics and threadbare plot, I enjoyed most of the experience. There’s a very casual pacing to the game and enough variety to keep it interesting.
This is a 70s low-budget version of a Poe tale by the director of Alucarda. A reporter goes to a famous asylum only to discover that it is being run by a madman, It feels a little like an episode of The Prisoner but there is no visual flare. It’s shot in a really flat, boring way and is completely lacking any energy. The actors (all filthy hippies) look like they raided a community college prop room and each put together a “crazy” outfit. On top of all that they plot is not very good and the score is terrible. I wanted to like this one, but alas it is not very good.
Another Philip Marlowe mystery featuring excellent hard-boiled prose. The story is filled with drug addicts, drinking, mobsters and crooked cops. The casual racism of the time is a bit jarring but, at some level, it is an integral part of the plot mechanics and the reasoning as to why certain cases aren’t being investigated. Just thinking about this book makes me want to keep whiskey in my desk drawer.
Philip Guston started as a WPA muralist, then became one of the leading figures of abstract expressionism. He is one of the few abstract expressionists whose work I can stand and I think it’s because figuration was always a lingering presence even when the work was pure abstraction. Eventually he abandons abstraction for what would become his most important and influential work: large, loosely painted cartoons with hints of political meaning. I love this later work and this book features a lot of it in big colorful plates. The writing is very informative and to the point. You’re probably not going to find a better overview of Guston’s life and work.
Every couple of years I get back into emulation, mostly as a reaction against some massive open-world game I just spent hundreds of hours playing. This time ’round I enhanced my retro-gaming experience with the purchase of an 8BitDo M30 gamepad which mimics the layout and feel of a six-button Genesis controller.
Crusader of Centy is a Genesis game which I only know from grabbing a pack of a zillion ROMs from the Internet back in the days of the Genecyst emulator. It has the look and feel of a console JRPG but is really a simple action game with some puzzle moments. It’s styled very much after the original Zelda with a top-down view and sword-shooting attacks. Also, if you are looking for a copy on Ebay it will cost you more than a grand.
Unlike many games on the Genesis, Centy is bright and colorful with smooth animation and excellent pixelated character design. Along with the cheery music, this feels more like a Nintendo game than an exercise in x-treme Blast Processing™.
The controls work well for movement and interaction but combat is a bit clunky. Your sword never quite swings fast enough and enemies don’t react to hits other than their sprites blinking. Outside of boss battles, you are better off just avoiding fights since there is no leveling-up or noteworthy loot drops. The main hook of the game is collecting animal friends which give you special powers. You use these powers to get past obstacles and occasionally as specific means of attacking a boss.
All this makes for a very light and casual gaming experience. Unfortunately, there is very little of interest in the overarching plot in the game. At one point there is some time-travel to mix things up, but mostly its going from point A to point B for unspecified reasons. The dialogue is terse and bland and there are no memorable characters. A more developed narrative would have added so much more. Instead we are left with a very pretty but shallow action adventure.
I have been looking for this movie for quite some time. I love Charles Bronson and I love Tele Savalas (look at that guy, serioulsy!). As per usual I know about this one from its Ennio Morricone score which evoke all sorts of seedy, urban action. I was a bit taken aback hearing the title theme being played of tranquil shots of Bronson on a Caribbean vacation. For a movie about a city which is violent, a lot of it takes place in a rural countryside. The opening set piece is an exciting car chase and it sets up the expectation that the rest will be balls-on action, but, alas, it is not. The remainder of the film is a slow build-up to the revenge climax which is brief, but very effective in the way it is shot and sounds.
