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Reviews
Lovelines (1984)
Lovelines - The pool scene
Lovelines is one of the worst films ever made. So why the Nine? In the very start of the movie, a girls' high school swim team has a prank played on them by girls from the rival high school and lose their suits, with an underwater camera on hand to take it all in. This is the best such scene of the 1980's. So while the Nine is heavily qualified, this scene turns a must-avoid into a must-have, at least for fans of such scenes.
There are some problems even in the scene. The swim girls veer between stupid behavior and going along with the gag at their expense. No scene is shown of them making a mad dash for the locker room. They react to an underwater camera they shouldn't know about. But if you want to see a voyeur scene that embodies all the rest, rent or buy Lovelines.
Gojira no gyakushû (1955)
Either one of the best or one of the worst
The vague words above are easy to explain : The Americanized version is easily the worst of the butcher jobs. No other G-Film veers further off from the source material than the film sometimes known as 'Gigantis, The Fire Monster'.
Major differences : 1 - No voice-over narration. Improves things a lot. Raymond Burr's narrative in G56 in some cases actually leads to a more coherent, less rambling film. It even got released in Japan in 59', shown as another perspective on the events of the now-classic film. But the VO in 'Gigantis' is just a distraction.
2 - Godzilla is called such from the moment he appears. No bloody fire monsters, no bloody Gigantis, no bloody lamer-than-usual pseudo-science, no bloody C, and no bloody D. (Sorry, Trek leak-over) 3 - Even though Godzilla is more of an animal than a force of nature, it works well, particularly in his battles with Angilas.
4 - When the former pilots reminisce about their military service, no bones is made about the fact that they served the losing side--and some dialogue even indicates they now regret serving an immoral regime. Very rare in any post-war Japanese movie. I suppose that maybe the entrenched, practiced denial of Japan's role in WW2 had yet to kick in.
5 - The fact that random events, like the escaping convicts' fiery crash, can impact and destroy a well-laid plan, seems less out of place in the original print.
6 - The 'hidden tragic romance' shown at the end is foreshadowed in the Japanese version.
7 - The dialogue is not nearly as stinted--IMHO, up to 75% better.
A print worth having, even lacking a legitimate release.