My Second Post! I begin by addressing the few people who commented on it on Facebook. Original movie night date – 20/02/19. Post date – 21/02/19.
Before I get into this weeks movies, I would like to thank those of you who read my post and responded, whether it was in the comments or in other ways. I was genuinely shocked at the number of people who read it, let alone responded. It warmed my hearts so thank you everyone.
ANYWAY! Wednesday Night Classics/Favourites with Liam! What happened this week? Two similar classics, right after I said I wouldn’t do themes XD This week was both robotic. 1958s ‘The Colossus of New York’ by Eugène Lourié and 1999s ‘The Iron Giant’ by Brad Bird.
The Colossus Of New York – 1958 – Eugène Lourié – 70 mins
‘The Colossus Of New York’…I’ll briefly explain the plot. Peace prize winning scientist dies in an accident. The peace prize winners Father is a doctor and his brother is a scientist in electronics. The father keeps the brain alive and puts it in a cyborg body, forcing the brother to help. The experiment alters the way he thinks, so instead of continuing his humanitarian work, he thinks the humanitarians are the problem, after the father tells him is family is dead and he finds out they’re not. Goes to New York and kills some people before telling his son he can’t stop himself and to kill him. Oh, and of course after the experiment, he gains psychic powers.
Its a simple sci-fi movie, which I throughly enjoyed! If you are wondering why I like the classic movies, I’ll tell you why. In the Marlborough District Library, there was (I don’t know if there still is) a book called ‘The Great Book Of Movie Monsters’. It was filled with all sorts of old school movie monsters, so I know of them but I haven’t actually seen them. Hence their popularity of being on the list. This is one that was in the book. I am looking out for a copy of that book; very hard to find though. AbeBooks have one I’m wishing about but I’ll get there one day.
I could see how it would inspire things like Robocop, since its essentially Robo (Robocop minus the Cop). I haven’t seen it but I’m sure it has a similar plotline to Transcendence. A much more scary movie than ‘Creature From The Black Lagoon’ I will say and some scenes with the Colossus on set were obviously sped up but its understandable when you think of the size and weight of the eight foot tall costume. I believe similar techniques were used in the movie ‘Nosferatu’, which is also on the list of classics I haven’t seen but I know about the effects used.
Overall I liked the film. It had good effects for its time. The flashing light hypnosis, the psychic beams, and the costumes eyes flashing. I’m sad its not a true classic and one of those movies you hear about a lot, but I would count it as one of my own favourite movies.
The Iron Giant – 1999 – Brad Bird – 70 mins
‘The Iron Giant’. Its funny, when I introduce this movie to people, I generally say, “Its my favourite non-Disney, non-Pixar, non-Dreamworks animated movie” but now I look at it, I think I love it more than Pixar and Dreamworks (Not Disney, I love Aladdin and Hercules and some others too much to make that claim). I love the story of the film.
I think what really appealed to younger me is the two sides of the Iron Giant. One second innocent and looking harmless, then next second, boom! Weaponised! Definitely in my top 10, probably even top 5 movies. It’s always so hard to pick…there are a lot of movies. Such memorable lines too. “Hogarth. You stay. I go. No following” and of course…”Superman…” Ah, back in the times where people didn’t make such a fuss about merely mentioning things in your movie…Not looking at anyone, Sony/Marvel re: mutants and vibranium/adamantium.
Anyway, I found the book the movie was based on at a book sale and boy, is it different. I would love to write and direct a sequel based on it, but at the same time, I love the movie as it is and the pressure to add and potentially ruin its reputation would be too much for me…probably…You bet your ass I saw this when it re-screened in theatres in 2015 for the release of the signature edition with two extra scenes…and accidentally had to buy it twice on iTunes (long story, basically comes down to the crummy NZ iTunes Store).
As a side note, this was the selling point of ‘Ready Player One’ for me. I saw the concept art for the film they released ages ago and was like “Huh…a lot of nerdy references there! Could be a good film”. Then I saw the trailer with The Iron Giant in it, and they had me. While I agree with people not liking the story of the film, I enjoyed it for the amount of things they managed to get the rights to to put in the film. I prefer the story of the book, but hey. When it comes down to copyright on this scale, you’re gonna lose somethings. Still…wish Ultraman hadn’t been between ownership and made it into the film…’Ready Player One’ is on the list. I got a lot to talk about that one. But The Iron Giant! Great film! Love it to death!
Anyway, those are my rants about them. I’m really enjoying the movies so far! I wonder how long till I run out of ideas. As suggested, I think next week will be 80s night…We’ll see how that goes; there are so many I haven’t properly seen.
Wednesday Night Classics & Favourites With Liam! 