What I’m watching: a fun new adventure sci-fi film

Jan. 11, 2021 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

This giant crab is one of the monsters seen in the new film “Love and Monsters.”
Reminder Publishing submitted photo

What I’m watching: a fun new adventure sci-fi film.

On Blu-ray and at Red Box; “Love and Monsters”

I watched this new film cold – with no research or prep – and I’m glad I did. “Love and Monsters” in many ways harkens back to the days of the films by stop motion animation god Ray Harryhausen.

Harryhausen enjoyed making films based on legends and myths, the result were timeless classics of fantasy.

While there is no stop motion animations in this film – the monsters are made through both CGI and practical effects – there is a tone which matches the spirit of many of Harryhausen’s films.

There is an innocence and a kindness about this post-apocalyptic story that is often lacking in the science fiction sub-genre. That’s not to say there isn’t suspense as well as some perfectly conceived and disgusting monsters. There is simply a lack of mean-spiritedness that makes this film acceptable to most ages.

The premise is Earth in the near future has undergone a radical event. An asteroid nearly crashed into the planet, but is stopped by an international barrage of missiles. The fallout from the missiles changes the DNA of many of the smaller creatures of the planet: insects, snails and frogs, into human-eating giant beasts.

The result is the world’s population has been reduced to about five percent of its previous number. The survivors live in small colonies underground.

Our hero Joel (Dylan O’Brien) is one of those survivors and the story takes place seven years after the event. Joel is the odd man out at his colony as he is the only single person left – everyone else is in a relationship – and he is too afraid to do the hunting runs.

The memory of the girl he loved, Aimee (Jessica Henwick), has compelled him to search for her by looking for her at other colonies via radio. He finds her and he decides to set out for an 85-mile trip to reunite.

So, Joel summons up his courage and sets out. Luckily for him he is found by Clyde and Minnow (Michael Rooker and Ariana Greenblatt), an older man and a young girl who are on their way to a colony up in the mountains. They teach him how to survive the surface world and the many perils it has.

The film moves quickly and has a high monster quotient. I’m sure younger children would be frightened and the rating of PG-13 is an acknowledgement of the film’s content. There is no human gore, but there are monsters who end their days in a rain of pieces. You’ve been warned.

The script is clever with some surprises, the emotions are realistic and the performances are sincere. All around this is one of the most satisfying films I’ve seen in a long time because its tone reflects a simpler – and often better time – of filmmaking.

On Netflix: “History of Swear Words”

I’m a 66-year-old journalist and I swear. I try not to swear in the office though as I know I’ll get into trouble.

As a fan of profanity, though, I enjoyed the new six-part series on Netflix hosted by the amazingly hammy Nicholas Cage as both informative and funny.

The premise is to have historical, linguistic and social experts speak about the words and how they came to be curses. Commentary about the words is provided by a panel of comedians.  

One of those experts is a former editor from our own Merriam-Webster.

I can’t tell you which words were covered in this newspaper, but they are standard ones that are frequently used. I think their origins may surprise many people.

This is a fun little series that I hope will return for another round. There are still a number of words they could examine.

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