Because Somebody's Doing It

With Battleship hitting theaters this weekend I was inspired to revisit with another board game inspired movie. My all time favorite board game is Clue (or Cluedo as it is known as in England, its country of origin), which in 1985 was made into a feature film by Jonathan Lynn. Co-written by John Landis the movie was the first time a board game was adapted into a film. It’s essentially a send up of whodunit movies, much like Murder by Death was, and it featured some of the biggest comedic actors of that time. Considering the premise of the game this Clue movie could have easily been made into a thriller. I’ve imagined something along the lines of an old-school Italian horror flick, like a Giallo film. But, as a comedy the film works. The jokes may be corny, but through the dedicated performances by its actors Clue is an immensely enjoyable cult classic.
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While none of these films are particularly great I find that I’ve enjoyed watching all four films in the Starman series. I would like to see the original Japanese cuts of these four films (meaning the 9 short films that were edited together to make these four feature length movies) but I’m happy with what I’ve gotten out of these American edits. Attack from Space is the third film in the series, and while not being as bad as the first one, Atomic Rulers of the World, it’s still along the same lines as far as taking itself a little too seriously and not offering up as much fun as the other two Starman movies, Invaders from Space and Evil Brain from Outer Space. Evil Brain from Outer Space, which is the last in the series, was the first that I saw and remains as my personal favorite of the four movies.
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As ridiculous as Starman is, in both concept and design, the best thing to do with the character is to pit him up against something equally as ridiculous or far worse than he is. Atomic Rulers of the World was a decent film, but having the practically invulnerable Starman (Ken Utsui) up against regular human beings (in this case a terrorist organization) left the film with very little suspense and no sense of urgency for Starman’s safety. Invaders from Space, which is pieced together with footage from the 3rd and 4th short film entries of the Japanese series titled Super Giant, doesn’t pit Starman up against something of equal strength, but their appearance is just as outlandish (probably even more outlandish) as Starman’s. This entry in the series had almost as much silly fun as the last Starman movie, Evil Brain from Outer Space, does.
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After watching and falling in love with Evil Brain from Outer Space I decided that I should watch the other films in this series. The Starman movies were a series of short films from Japan, where they were titled Super Giant. When the rights were purchased here in America the 9 films that comprised this series were edited together into four movies. Atomic Rulers of the World, the first edited together movie, is comprised of the first and second films of the Super Giant series. While the last film in the series featured some outlandish monsters for Starman (Ken Utsui) to face this film has him up against a terrorist organization that is threatening the world with nuclear weaponry. This one isn’t nearly as fun as Evil Brain from Outer Space, but as far as anti-nuclear statements go it’s a better movie than Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
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The last film that Tim Burton directed that I would consider to be a great film would be 1994’s Ed Wood, the biopic of legendary cult film-maker Edward D. Wood Jr.. At that time it was the 2nd time Burton had worked with actor Johnny Depp (the first time was with the film Edward Scissorhands), and it would prove to be their best collaboration. From there the two worked together in Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland. While I like many of those movies none of them are particularly great, some being quite dull. I’m not well versed in the legacy of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows as much as I would like to be. I’ve seen the updated version from the 90s, and of the original run of the show I’ve seen less than 20 episodes all together. But, from what I’ve seen it does appear to be a series that could have been turned into a good movie. And who better to do so than Tim Burton? He’s someone who has a love of all things gothic and has made his own patented brand that is unmatched by any other film-maker out there today. This eighth collaboration between Burton and Depp ends up being one of their weakest.
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