Giles

what actually makes Gremlins 'more' fantasy is the visual joke of the Time Machine at the convention behind the phone station that Randall Peltzer is making his phone call - it disappears - it's such a surreal odd moment

Actually watching it again on the big screen (Cinemark screening) I was noticing things that I never noted before: Gizmo saying 'Bambi' when he sees the fawn in 'Snow White'
and things that don't make any logical sense:
- snow is a form of water why didn't Spike just roll around on it?
- why doesn't Mr. Hanson, the science teacher use the phone on his desk, but goes to a payphone?

coyoteblue

Snow isn't wet (just accept that it's magical and not biological, which explains the lapses in logic, because magic doesn't have to be logical).

Giles

ahhhh - gotcha...


it's also rather amazing that Spike knew that a swimming pool would be at his disposal in a YMCA - he's pretty smart.

OR

even the fact that the gremlins are drinking liquid at the bar ... wouldn't have that made them explode? I was asking myself a lot of questions while watching this for some reason.

BobO'Link

That's why I keep a sticky note pad and a fine tip sharpie by the TV. If for some reason I stop a movie/TV set in the middle I note where on a sticky note and put it on the disc case. I reuse the same sticky note until it'll no longer "stick" or it has no more useable space. The sharpie won't damage the case surface when writing on the sticky note while it's on the case. Yes, it's low tech, but it's quick and easy. I use IMDB to catalog the collection, and it has a "seen" field/marker, but the note/sharpie method is easier.

Ash Ketchum

Last night I wanted something short, black-and-white, and in English to fall asleep on, so I rummaged through a box of tapes and found COSMIC MONSTERS, a 1958 British sci-fi film with American star Forrest Tucker, which I'd taped off TCM some years ago. It's a really odd film with a lot of talk in its first half, but it's got a large set of interesting characters and unknown British actors and a French leading lady and Tucker really holds his own, dispensing with the scientific jargon as handily as the rest, while interspersing some American slang. He's really quite likeable and this is just six years before he made a splash as Sgt. O'Rourke on "F Troop."

The film picks up when the giant insects attack this tiny English village where the cosmic ray experiments are happening. (The insects have turned giant when the rays burst through the ionosphere and affect them.) The insects are all real insects photographed in extreme closeup either on miniature sets or matted into the shots with actors. Very effective practical effects and very creepy and scary to those freaked out by bugs. I was impressed. To make things even more interesting, there's a mysterious stranger in town, a "Mr. Smith," who turns out to be a visitor from Planet X who's concerned about the effects of the cosmic rays on the rest of the solar system. He's played by Martin Benson, who played Solo, the ill-fated gangster in the 3rd James Bond film, GOLDFINGER. The character was clearly inspired by Klaatu (Michael Rennie) from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. There's also a lot of good local English color on display, including a little girl obsessed by bugs and a local pub that hosts a dance.

While it's no THEM!, this film certainly ranks well alongside such other 1950s giant insect thrillers, including TARANTULA, THE DEADLY MANTIS and THE BLACK SCORPION and it was certainly better than the giant grasshopper opus, THE BEGINNING OF THE END. I don't know why this was never shown on TV when I was a kid and why it never crossed my radar before I recorded it. In fact, from the title, I thought it was something I'd already seen that has a similar title, but once it started I realized I'd never seen it before.

shadokitty

After all the talk about The Hobbit, I am curious now, and considering a marathon of both trilogies on these last coupe of days.

shadokitty

I'm on the fence between a Tolkien marathon, or a B5, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate and Destination Truth marathon.

Dimension X

Based on my admittedly faulty memories; in the comics, he was crossing a busy NYC street and was hit by a truck carrying nuclear waste (which, I think, maybe, splashed on him). Anyway, as with most Marvel heroes and villains from the early '60s, instead of dying from exposure to radiation, he developed super-abilities. I think they might have altered that slightly in more recent comics. I assume the TV version is slightly different also.
This makes the most sense. Just state in the rules post that if IMDB or allmovie doesn't have a "Fantasy" or "Sci-Fi" tag on something that obviously has fantasy or sci-fi elements, go ahead and count it.

EDIT: Should've Googled it first (but I was close).

shadokitty

Actually, I think I'm done. Might get in a little sci fi, but I think I'm gonna watch what I want on this last day or two.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I use Movie Collectorz but I'm just slow to update things after I've watched them and I could leave a note in the software but it's just about laziness. In theory, with this software I could add in a 50 movie box set and then inside that entry there options that let you add however many discs are in the set and then put what titles are on each disc and mark those as I watch them. There's also a notes section if I wanted to use that.

What holds me back from doing any of that is those disc specific options have to be manually added and I'm lazy. I'm also not sure if any of the movies added to those discs carries over to the mobile app. I frequently use it to check stuff before I buy or figure out if I've seen something.

If the recent Batman films that don't have a sci-fi tag count, then I don't see why a man with radar sight shouldn't count as sci-fi.

shadokitty

I got bored with nature documentaries, so after I took a nap, I was ready to .resume the challenge. I put on an episode of Destination Truth, about a giant man bat in Madagascar, and a zombie ghost in Guam.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

How does a zombie ghost work?

shadokitty

Ask the Guamanians

LJG765

We're almost down to our last day (depending on where you live, you may be in it already!) I'm finishing up by watching The Complete Metropolis which I've been meaning to watch all challenge but just haven't gotten around to doing. It's as good as I remember! I may or may not also watch a couple more ST:TNG episodes to finish off the disc I started yesterday.

I do plan on watching a couple animated Sci-fi or Fantasy films tomorrow to get double credit. The animation challenge starts at midnight on the 31st, so feel free to watch starting then at your local time!

I'll do the prize drawings on Saturday sometime. I'll list the winners here plus send them a private message with more details, but basically, the quicker you respond, the more likely you'll be able to get your pick of prizes. I'll also be giving people 4 days to respond, after that, I'll be picking another winner. Good luck to all, I think we have some good prizes picked out!

shadokitty

My boxer woke me up early to take her out, so I thought as long as I was up, I'd start the challenge for today. I looked on H2 On Demand on Sling TV and found an episode of UFO Hunters, about trace evidence that UFOs leave behind.

coyoteblue

Amazon put the Harry Potter Hogwarts Collection (31 - discs, Blu-ray + DVD + Ultra-violet) on sale today. The last day of the challenge, natch. It's still not exactly cheap, but it is tempting. For next year perhaps.

BobO'Link

Or forgo the DVD copies, extended cuts, 3D version of #7, and some extras for the region free 11 disc version delivered to the US from Amazon UK for ~$46 USD. My son has that one and loves it.

coyoteblue

I saw that, too (I did some research). I like the ultra-violet copies, though and having dvd backups.

BobO'Link

I finished Stargate SG-1 S2 last night. Overall it was *slightly* better than S1 but still had, at least to me, frequent just average episodes. I think the part that got me the most was the season ending episode was essentially a *clip* episode with a bit more window dressing than those usually receive. In all fairness I fell asleep on the last 10-15 minutes of that one and will fully complete it after work this afternoon but don't expect it to be better than what I'd already seen.

One episode, in particular, annoyed me to no end. "Holiday" (S2E18) had a premise where a advanced being used a device to literally swap minds with one of the SG-1 team members. They attempted to figure out how the device works and create another pair of swapped bodies only to discover they can't figure out how to swap them back. Here's my issue:

It took them ~20 minutes show time to come to the same conclusion. There were similar lapses of logic on the part of the writers in other episodes.

Still... it has *very* good sets and sfx. I hope they get the dialog in better shape and use more logical thinking in the seasons left. If not, I'm in for a continued bumpy ride.

I hope to get in a couple of films this evening as I'm not starting the Animation challenge until tomorrow. I've not yet decided what they'll be as I have 15-20 unopened qualifying films from which to select. It'll mostly come down to watching something I've seen before over those I've never seen. The biggest issue will be that of length. Most, if not all, of what's left runs 2 hours or more.

And I *still* didn't watch S4 of Enterprise! But I'm not waiting long to resolve that... I may use it to break up the Animation challenge a bit.

Gobear

I watched Akira Kurosawa's Dreams this morning. IMDB has it listed as Fantasy, and with segments involving a weeping demon and fox spirits getting married, I'd say it counts. For those who haven't seen it, it's a collection of short sketches based on dreams that Kurosawa kept in his journal. It's not one of his best, but some of the images are arresting and he uses color beautifully, especially in the Van Gogh section. The oni dream is creepily prescient, showing a demon weeping for the death of humanity in the ashes of a nuclear plant meltdown.

I'm planning a marathon tonight until I'm too sleepy to go on.

Trevor

Likely closed out the Challenge with a first time viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy last night. It was quite good, but perhaps I bought into the hype a bit too much, as I was expecting better. The jokes were frequent and funny, but not quite LOL funny.

But it was my first ever exposure to the Guardians, never read any of their comics over the last 40 years somehow, and maybe I enjoy my superhero movies more when I have more of the backstory in my memory.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Your post reminded me that I wanted to track down a copy of Woman In The Dunes. While Criterion claims it isn't OOP, price tracking sites seem to disagree http://camelcamelcamel.com/Hiroshi-T...uct/B000PKG6O4 (Make sure to check the 3rd party prices)

Hopefully it gets a bluray upgrade because my printer doesn't print money.

I didn't know the same guy did The Face of Another, which I also liked. I haven't seen Pitfall but it's on Hulu. It's fantasy, so maybe I'll watch it before the challenge is over

Dimension X

I was a little disappointed with that one myself, and I place the blame squarely on reading so many "Best. Marvel. Movie. Ever." comments on the internet.

I found a cheap 3D copy a few weeks back, and I'm looking forward to watching it again sometime with a realistic mindset.
This is hard to believe. How is that even possible for a big Marvel collector?

Trevor

Yep, and perhaps I'll try the same thing, re-watching in 3D with diminished hopes and crushed dreams.
I'm more a DC guy; and while I have read a ton of Marvel books (possibly literally) I was more a Hulk and Daredevil collector.

Quick aside: This reminds me of a subject on a recent podcast. There is such a huge history of comics that even the most avid fans and professionals must have dozens of 'must read' 'best story arc ever' runs that they've never read and others are shocked to hear. Might make a good thread.......

Dimension X

Internet hype has had a big effect on how I end up feeling about movies I've seen the last few years. Either I like it because it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, or I don't like it because it wasn't all that great, like I'd heard it'd be. I try not to read much about new films I'm likely to watch, but it's getting harder to avoid.
I'm mostly a DC fan too, but I'd seen the Guardians of the Galaxy before.
There's too many of those to even think about.