Hollywood in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s created a long string of cheap horror movies that never reached the top rating lists. However, some of them, despite being left mostly abandonned by their authors, are worthy of some renewed attention. In this context, it is interesting to notice that the Internet Archive has recently pointed to a nice list of these B horror movies. In there, you will find (available for free download):

• Attack of the Giant Leeches
• Attack of the Killer Mushrooms
• Horrors of Spider Island
• Killers from Space
• Bloody Pit of Horror
• The Satanic Rites of Dracula
• Werewolf of Washington
• Killer Shrews
• The Giant Gila Monster

Star Trek nearly defined what a SciFi TV series is or should be. Of course, there is something slightly ridiculous to the coloured pajamas used by the actors to convince the spectator that they are in the far future with advanced technology. But despite all its drawbacks, Star Trek is still a must-see for all lovers of Science Fiction.

Starship Enterprise

Most people lost count of the number seasons aired for Star Trek (after the initial series, there were long-living extensions like Voyager, Enterprise, The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine) but CBS decided to offer free access to the first season on its web site: Star Trek: The original season. It was aired from September 8, 1966.

Synopsis

The story is set in the 23rd century. We follow the adventures of the crew of starship Enterprise under the lead of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), his First Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy, his logic and his pointed ears), and his Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Exploring deep space, they meet a number of aliens, exotic civilizations and various adventures.

Many will remember the memorable “Beam me up, Scotty!” used by Captain James T. Kirk to call a teleportation back to the spaceship.

Today, I want to present a major movie, one of the world best films, a diamond from 1950. Rashômon is one of the most important movies of its time, and it stays as a golden nugget for both its form and its contents. Akira Kurosawa is clearly not any movie maker, he is the author of Yojimbo (the bodyguard) which was the source of For a fistful of dollars with Clint Eastwood as well as Last man standing with Bruce Willis (the least interesting of the three). He also created Seven Samurais which will be done again in a western adaptation universally known as The Magnificent Seven.

But Akira Kurosawa is not only a Japanese movie maker and director, he also was at the origin of a true revolution of 20th Century Japanese cinema. He introduced techniques and ideas coming from the Western world (like Hokusai had integrated the impressionists’ painting in his works), and he brought to light an exceptional cinema where everything is worth keeping. Rashômon is of that quality. One single story, told from different points of view, grows to the size of four different mixed stories. Each camera angle brings distinct tint and perception. The picture-goer will be drawn into the camera moves and will perceive how much there is no perfect point of view, how much a motion-picture (and its director) tells a unique story merely by placing a camera here instead of there.

But it is also the dramas of three people stuck in their environment, their culture, their prejudices and those of their contemporaries. You will be deeply moved, but there is not even a hint of cheap sentimentality.

And we will remember that Rashômon was the reason for the creation of the Best foreign film category of the Academy Awards. A motion-picture that breaks so many cinema rules, and still stays attractive to the largest public, that it appeared necessary to Hollywood to open a new category just for it.

Synopsis

Toshirô Mifune plays a bandit accused of the heinous murder of a man. But didn’t he rape his wife too? Four witnesses (including the bandit and his victim) will tell the single sequence of events. Each one will slightly transform it according to his memories and the personal additions. Where is the truth? Are memories real?

After that, you will be able to come back to Pulp Fiction (a movie I simply loved) and perceive how difficult it is to reproduce the strength of Rashômon.