Word: godzilla
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...that masquerades as a two-hour put-down of bad films. Three figures -- a human, Mike Nelson (played by head writer Michael J. Nelson), and two robots, Tom Servo (Kevin Murphy) and Crow (Trace Beaulieu) -- sit in front of a movie screen and, as First Spaceship to Venus or Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster or I Accuse My Parents unspools, they crack wise. That's about it, plus a sketch or two and some edgy banter with the mad scientists, Dr. Clayton Forrester (Beaulieu again) and TV's Frank (Frank Conniff), who supposedly have stranded Mike and the 'bots...
Director George Reyes has woven together some lovely contrasts: in one scene, the cacophonic screaming of 20 maniacs ceases in a split second, and a timid flute melody drifts up into the air like Bambi frightening away Godzilla. The choreography achieves an apt explication of abstract concepts when the three singers illustrate de Sade's case against equality. The "General Copulation" number, however, is a bit too fervent...
...edited this week's cover story on the Rocky Mountain boom in addition to our coverage of Michael Jackson's woes and the frantic behind-the-scenes fine-tuning of Bill Clinton's health-care proposal. Instead of a more traditional ficus plant, a 6-ft.-tall inflatable Godzilla peers from one corner of Howard's work space, while Gumby covers the exit. A prehistoric pteranodon (with a 6-ft. wingspan) swoops over story conferences from its perch on the ceiling. Souvenirs sent from all over the world by friends and colleagues line the bookshelves. "Some people would...
Like the films to which it pays elaborate homage -- Gertie the Dinosaur, King Kong (and its Universal theme-park spin-off, Kongfrontation), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla, Bringing Up Baby -- this one sometimes creaks when it's not playing with the beasties. For the first half-hour -- the preshow before the thrill ride -- you are advised to bide your time. Screenwriter David Koepp's subplot, in which a paleontologist (Sam Neill) is force-fed lessons in fatherhood by his paleobotanist girlfriend (Laura Dern), is laid on with a trowel. And the plot occasionally beggars belief. If you were...
...that spurs childlike terror and wonder by fooling the eye 24 times a second. They want to be convinced that the artful fraud on the screen is real. The prehistoric creatures from The Lost World (1925), One Million B.C. (1940), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Godzilla (1954) dwelt in kids' nightmares, not because they were realistic -- scientists knew so much less about dinosaurs back then, and film budgets were so much smaller -- but because they were persuasive...