The Comic Critic Reviews "The Creation of the Humanoids."

I really was very young when I saw The Creation of the Humanoids. It had a very lasting effect on me. Until then, I never considered what a thin line there might be between man and machine. How much of a person’s personality is nature and how much is nurture? What defines a creature as being biological? Is being biological a requirement for consciousness? It was all very heady stuff. It’s a good thing The Creation of the Humanoids didn’t have dazzling special effects, roaring chase scenes, or fireball explosions to distract me from those talking heads. My young mind was doing its best to keep up with the implications of their discussions. The acting in this film is very stiff. It’s not improved by the cinematography. Nearly all the scenes are unanimated people talking to each other. But as I watched The Creation of the Humanoids again, all these decades later, I was  struck by how many of the film’s predictions or concepts have came true. I’m also amazed at how the dialog, while a bit uninspiring, continues to touch on relevant social issues, such as surveillance, sexual freedom, relationships, and what constitutes a partnership. You might find The Creation of the Humanoids a clunky old sci-fi movie, but I challenge you to compare it to modern science fiction movies. See if current productions touch on as many social issues, or if they are just eye candy. 

The Comic Critic Reviews The Blob

The 1988 version of The Blob is much-overlooked. The cult status of the original Blob appears to be unshakable. It would appear that anyone familiar with the title is also familiar with its star being Steve McQueen, even if that person had never seen The Blob (or any Steve McQueen film for that matter). They’re joyously shocked to find out that there was a remake. My only guess about the source of that joy is that they are pleased they don’t have to watch a movie quite so dated (if they want to see a large jellied mass eat people). While 1958’s special effects can be easily replicated with a camcorder and a jar of jam, 1988’s special effects suffer from early CGI. What is great about 1958’s Blob is its cast of overqualified actors (even if they seem to change clothes between scenes). What is great about 1988’s Blob is the practical special effects used for close-ups and quite grisly scenes of the Blob grabbing and eating people. These are the scenes eager movie viewers of 1958 wished they could have seen (and which made the 1988 version my personal favorite). Still, I do suggest that you see the earlier version to fully appreciate how well the second one follows it and provides a twist to pay homage to the Cold War Era.

The Comic Critic Reviews: The Dam Busters

Back in 1955, The Dam Busters was the biggest movie in Britain. One of my fans reminded me about this film when I asked you for Blockbusters. I’d forgotten nearly all of the details, so I watched it again. The importance of this film, and the book that inspired it, was the accuracy of the facts reported. Some of them were withheld for national security reasons, but the book got nearly all of them right. What few historical flubs there were in the movie (such as a plane crashing on the wrong side of the river) were criticized. You won’t see it played very often on television anymore because of the dog’s name, which is repeated at surprising frequency. You might think that they would just change the name of the dog. But that wouldn’t be the British thing to do. I wonder how it will be dealt with if there’s a remake.