Monday, June 29th, 2009
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Horrorthon Posts
George Pal was a fair-to-middling producer/director of high-concept sci-fi spectacle movies in the 1950s (like “Destination Moon” and the original “The War of the Worlds”). In other words, he was the Roland Emmerich of the Truman/Eisenhower Era.
Anyway he made a movie called “When Worlds Collide” in 1951 (based on a novel of the same name) that I remember watching on black-and-white TV with my Dad back when I was a little kid. And it was really exciting and scary! The earth’s about to be destroyed and the government sends an “ark” into space in order to save the species.
So now, in the tradition of “Gladiator” and a whole bunch of other 1950s retreads, Sony Pictures has made what as far as I can tell is a remake-in-all-but-name called “2012,” directed by Roland Emmerich (of course). It’s really interesting to watch both trailers, one after the other, just to see how much things have changed in 58 years (both in the world and in Hollywood). Like I said, it looks like practically the same exact movie, except that movies are made, well, a little differently these days.
Watch the trailer to “When Worlds Collide” and then the trailer to “2012” (watch “Trailer 2”). The more things change, the more they remain the same…
[Octopunk: as I mentioned, I moved this up because I had a longer comment to make on it about something besides White House bashing.]
Monday, June 29th, 2009
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Horrorthon Posts
My remarks about the awesome-looking new disaster movie 2012 just below are the latest in a series of Jordan posts that nobody seems to care about (except octopunk, who’s kind enough to spare me a sardonic remark out of pity in between his diaper-changes and Spider-Man archivia). Was it something I said? Where’s the love? (I put serious research into these things!) :)
Friday, May 29th, 2009
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Horrorthon Posts
Danish political cartoonist Boris Artzybasheff was heavily influenced by the then-contemporary surrealist movement (from what I see, I’m guessing Di Chirico and Dali). In his collection As I See, while discussing modern warfare, he wrote
In their long search for better tools and weapons, men at last have found the way of locking a pinch of cosmic force in a sheath of silver-white metal… as well as the means for making it go boom. Any time they wish, or think they must, men can touch off an orgasmic flash, making the oceans boil and seethe with fire, making the soil rise up in crimson dust… Perhaps after the cloud drifts thrice around it, the earth will emerge once more free of living things… In the hush of night this comely planet will go on waltzing in its ordained orbit until God awakens from His sleep and resolves it back to the primordial elements. I try to shake this thought off; it may be that a healthy planet should have no more life upon it than a well-kept dog has fleas; but what posesses the flea to concoct its own flea powder?
Anyway check out these incredible pictures here and here! It’s WWII as you’ve never seen it before; perfect for the fine tastes of the Horrorthon crowd. (From the always-excellent ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.)
