Brain Dead and Loving it!

If anything, the new film will have given us amazing posters; case in point, this stunning Russian poster for GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. I've always had a fondness for GODZILLA and his rubber-suited pals. The very first film I remember seeing on the big screen was at the age of 6, in my school's gymnasium on a Saturday night. Surrounded by my friends, I stared in awe as a gigantic Frankenstein's creature battled another gargantuan monster named Baragon, in the midst of a fiery inferno as a forest burned down around them. The intricate miniatures, the grotesque make-up, the menacing yet somewhat endearing monster, the bombastic music, the wildly imaginative story-line...THIS, I thought, was the very essence of cinema. Make-believe by Excellence. The movie was 1965's FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD by Ishiro Honda released by Toho Studios. Eleven years prior, director Honda had unleashed upon the unsuspecting world the infamous radioactive beast w

Jim Henson at the Montreal Puppetry festival in 1986. (Photo by Eric Lavoie) Materializing from the shadowy corners of the small club, his lanky frame cutting through the cigarette smoke like a train slowly emerging from the station, a long-haired man sporting a greyish beard climbs the stairs leading to a modest stage. He puts down delicately a duffel bag carrying a precious cargo which has been a constant companion for close to 30 years. He reaches inside gingerly, and brings out a limp, bright green piece of fabric and felt which, in a quick turn of the wrist, becomes a lively and witty amphibian that has been a staple of many generations' youth. The eyes of the spectators glimmer with the nostalgic recognition of the puppet which has become by this point an extension of its 49 year old creator.  On June 2, 1986, the short-lived Montreal Puppetry Festival had invited legendary performer Jim Henson to chat with fans of the art form in a cabaret-style informal even