Friday night was a double feature, Dracula 2000 and What We Do In The Shadows.
Dracula 2000 [dir. Patrick Lussier, 2000] - I've watched the commercial for this movie at least 15 times with my friend, each time confirming it would indeed be a laugh riot. It was somehow better and worse than we expected and a hell of a lot more boring. Despite our own endless stream of commentary it couldn't alleviate the sluggish feeling of everything. the last 20 minutes or so were just a painful slog. If this movie had a ton of tits and/or gore I could've easily been into it. But instead you get Gerard Butler trying to bang his ugly half-sister/half-daughter, which would've been hot if she was hot or there was any chemistry between them. However, there two things worth noting: first, this movie captures the powerful plasticity of the year 2000 in fashion, music, cars, and special effects. ugh. second, there are a lot of actors from different nerd fandoms making an appearance which is kinda cool. oh and Christopher Plummer shoots up Dracula leech blood.
What We Do In The Shadows [dir. Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, 2014] - So I watched the TV show before this and Matt Berry is probably my favorite comedic actor so I didn't really expect to like this more than the TV show and I didn't. BUT it was still fine and fun and a nice pallet cleanser after Dracula 2000.
Then yesterday I watched a bunch of stuff while dubbing tapes and cutting and folding jcards.
Mechanical Violator Hakaider [dir. Keita Amemiya, 1995] - I've been waiting to watch this until the right mood struck, but I was a little more hesitant after watching both Zeiram films as I liked them but wasn't as in love as I'd hoped. Well Hakaider is exactly what I hoped it be, a sumptuous visual affair with nearly non-stop violence and A+ aesthetics. While half the dialogue is just exposition, there's still so little its not an issue and 90% of the world building is done visually. It reminds me of Dark Souls style storytelling. It's definitely supremely corny in some ways but then all the white armor gestapo dudes carry P90s and get blown up constantly so it goes down easy for me.
Godzilla vs Biollante [dir. Kazuki Ōmori, 1989] - I've been wanting to watch this one for a minute. My first Heisei era Godzilla film, so I can't compare it to anything but the Showa era or Shin Godzilla. Damn did I enjoy it though! I can typically get behind "genetic modification gone awry" plots so that worked well and Biollante was even cooler than I hoped. Bonus points for Mitsubishi Starion and the badass Saudi Arabian assassin who drove it. My only complaint, one that's applicable to most Godzilla movies, is people just nonchalantly watch him destroy and fight instead of having mental breakdowns. He's a good of doom and destruction and the army and scientists watch him like he's a dog taking a shit on their lawn. And I'd think Biollante and him have a through down would be the most terrifying experience of anyone's life, but nope, everyone is nonplussed. But yeah, otherwise way better than I was expecting and it serves as the forceful shove I needed to starting watching the other Heisei era films.
I finished out the weekend by watching the first half of the The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor OVA from 89-92 on Youtube. Image quality was of course shit from old mediocre transfers but sure beats spending 100+ to buy the DVDs or VHS. The English dub is all that's available on Youtube and is also notoriously bad but it's also from before the time of quality dubs so it is what it is. Noteworthy is voice actors Steve Blum's first voice acting roll as Agito Makishima. Despite a bad dub and poor image quality watching the Guyver was incredibly fun. It's super violent, high school kids get murdered regularly, arms are ripped off, eyes are gouged out, people liquefy. The soundtrack is perfect anime OST stuff. And eventually there's even a naughty tentacle scene. It really bums me out that all the ultra-violent anime of my youth is mostly languishing on OOP VHS and DVDs without hope of reissue due to convoluted licensing problems and therefore selling for insane prices on Ebay. I get sick of shitty Youtube rips and torrent files.
