Godzilla Minus Zero - The scoop and digest

Writer-director Takashi Yamazaki returns for the sequel to Minus One, as does composer Naoki Satō.

Title refers to people trying to return to normality, while acknowledging a threat may still remain.

Ryunosuke Kamiki - Kōichi Shikishima

Minami Hamabe - Noriko Shikishima

Min Tanaka - Professor Kanji Murakami

Hidetaka Yoshioka - Kenji Noda

Masami Nagasawa - Makoto Aoyama

Kuranosuke Sasaki - Seiji Akitsu

Yuki Yamada - Shirō Mizushima

Jun Kunimura - Dr. Orgata

Summary

1949. Matsumoto City, Nagano.

Two years after the events of Minus One, former kamikaze pilot Kōichi has married Noriko (who still carries Godzilla's DNA), and continue to raise their adopted daughter Akiko.

A dragon-like creature causes mischief, destroying buildings by firing a golden ray from its mouth.

Professor Kanji Murakami and his assistants document the attack and report their findings to Kenji Noda, as former naval engineer now leads the Disaster Response Bureau.

They discover monster emerged from a meteorite that landed in the Hida Mountains, with gelatinous organism transforming after consuming local wildlife.  Blending the words chimera and hydra from Greek mythology, Noda names it Ghidorah.

When a thermobaric bomb does jack shit, an aircraft drops a harpoon equipped with lightning rods onto Ghidorah's back and natural lightning seemingly kills it.

However, bastard soon awakens and evolves, sprouting two extra heads and another tail, now able to lift and throw whatever object with the gravity beam.

Hail to the King, baby.

As Ghidorah continues its rampage across Japan, a fully regenerated Godzilla rises from Sagami Bay, larger and more aggressive than ever.

Let battle commence.

Fight fire with fire

While inferior to previous entry, this was still an entertaining ride, boasting spectacular effects and thrilling Kaiju action.

King Ghidorah looks fucking awesome btw.

Story still packs an emotional punch, but human drama definitely isn't as strong.

After been defeated by Ghidorah, Murakami's Resonance Wave revives Godzilla, who uses trademark atomic breath to completely destroy enemy.

In the aftermath, Godzilla peacefully returns to the ocean.

Fearing the military will weaponize his technology, Murakami burns his research, but is captured and taken into U.S. custody.

Kōichi and Noriko take Akiko with them and go on the run.

Of course a third could happen, but what would title be?

Plus One? Minus Two?

(Laughs).

The Greatest - TV series

Ben Watkins' dramatisation is unrelated to 1977 biographical film of same name, where Ali and Drew Bundini Brown (his cornerman and assistant trainer), play themselves, with the rest by actors.

For shiggles, another film with same title (that has nothing to do with boxing), was released in 2009.

Anyway, ding ding.

Jaalen Best - Cassius Marcellus Clay, later Muhammad Ali

Omari Hardwick - Cassius Clay Senior

Dana Gourrier - Odessa Clay

Kai Parham - Rudy Clay

Giovanni Ribsi - Angelo Dundee

Amin Joseph - Sonny Liston

Michael Ealy - Malcolm X

Erica Tazel - Geraldine Liston

Reno Wilson - Drew Bundini Brown

Aleks Paunovic - William Faversham, Jr.

Dave Davis - Marvin Geller

Kelly AuCoin - Joe E. Martin

Joel Keller - Chris Dundee

Episodes

1. Fool's Gold

2. Promised Land

3. The New Negro

4. Artist at Work

5. X²

6. Eight Count

7. Louder Than Words

8. My Name Is...

Summary

During the Summer Olympics in Rome 1960, 18-year-old Cassius Clay wins amateur boxing's biggest prize by beating Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the gold medal fight.

Returning home a hero, Clay signs for the Louisville Sponsoring Group (LSG).

He wins his first professional bout against Tunney Hunsaker on 29 October by unaminous decision.

Meanwhile, the fearsome Sonny Liston (said to be born 8 May 1932), has his boxing licence temporarily suspended by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission for past behaviour and rumoured ties with organised crime.

On 25 September 1962, Liston viciously knocks out Floyd Patterson in the first round and becomes heavyweight champion.

In 1963, after meeting African American revolutionary Malcolm X, Clay flies to London, England, for Henry Cooper.

At the end of the fourth round, Clay is floored by Cooper's trademark left hook - 'Enry's 'Ammer'.

However, Clay recovers, and after severely opening up a cut under Cooper's left eye, wins by TKO in the fifth.

25 February 1964.

Despite Liston nursing a shoulder injury, Clay still goes into the fight a massive 7/1 underdog.

At the start of the fifth, Clay struggles to see properly, with Clay's corner complaining that something on Liston's gloves has got into Clay's eyes.

Nearly blind, Clay has no choice but to run away and survive.

Strategy somehow works, and with sight returned, Clay dominates the sixth, and a spent Liston retires on his stool.

Clay visits Malcolm X and then publicly denounces his 'slave name', becoming Muhammad Ali.

What champions are made of

Leading man gives performance his 'Best' shot and fights boast impressive energy, but narrative abruptly ending when it did, thus not including Joe Frazier and George Foreman was really frustrating.

Oh, even though show's anachronistic hip-hop soundtrack was deliberate, I wasn't a fan.

Fiction

E1 - angry at being refused service at a whites-only diner, Clay tosses his Olympic medal into the Ohio river.

In reality - he simply lost it.

E2 - while serving time at Missouri State Correctional, Liston wins a gladitorial bout watched by prisoners baying for blood.

Sure, whatever.

E3 - Clay takes on then trainer Archie Moore at his training camp in the ring, and Moore knocks Clay down several times.

Bullshit.

They officially settled their differences on 15 November 1962, which Clay won by TKO in the fourth.

E6 - days after winning the title in 1962, Liston appears as a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show.  

Yes this happened, but unlike the reality of host enjoying enjoyable banter with Liston, champ is really awkward, with Sullivan humiliating him.

Appofeniacs - The scoop and digest

Tech-themed horror is written and directed by Chris Marrs Piliero.

Title is a play on apophenia, the tendency to perceive patterns between completely unrelated things.

Aaron Holliday - Duke

Jermaine Fowler - Cedrick

Sean Gunn - Clinto Binto

Simran Jehani - Poppy

Michael Abbott Jr. - Banks

Paige Searcy - Lazzy

Will Brandt - Texas Tim

Summary

Three intertwining vignettes focus on sociopathic loner Duke, who after being 'wronged' by individuals, uses a powerful AI phone application to post deepfake videos of them on social media as a form of revenge, resulting in brutal, bloody violence.

Turning fantasy into reality

The structure is basically Pulp Fiction, and slimy degenerate weaponising unpleasant shit is obviously plausible.

Script largely works, but performances are disjointed.  However, Sean Gunn, as cosplay guru Clinto Binto was the most interesting character, but doesn't really feature until the final act.

While not a splatter fest, this often paints houses in gratuitous ways, with stabbings and shootings commonplace.  One icky scene involves a geezer bonded to a table covered with super glue, forcing him to partially rip off one side of face to escape and during mean-spirited finale, peeps are dispatched with a variety of unconventional weapons.

Gorehounds may rejoice, but personally - I found unsubtle approach pretty miserable.

Primetime - The scoop and digest

Lance Oppenheim's feature debut is written by Ajon Singh and loosely based on Luke Dittrich's 2007 Esquire article Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die.

Robert Pattinson - Chris Hansen

Merritt Wever - Andie Bender

Skyler Gisondo - Dan Plum

Matthew Maher - Xavier Von Erck

Anna Faris - Mary Hansen

Bokeem Woodbine - Chief Cortland Gunn

Alex Winter - Bill Conradt

Phoebe Bridgers - Del Harvey

Bill Heck - Stone Phillips

Summary

In 2006, reporter Chris Hansen hosts Dateline NBC series To Catch a Predator, in which he and his crew conduct sting operations with anti-paedophile vigilante group Perverted-Justice, co-founded by Xavier Von Erck, to lure child predators and get them arrested.

The show quickly becomes popular and NBC's Jeff Zucker gives it primetime to compete with ABC's Lost.

Aspiring actor Dan Plum successfully auditions in Burbank and used as a decoy.

Although fictional, character is heavily based on Dan Schrack.

Hansen is married to Mary, but has a mistress called Krysten.  He breaks shit off at a restaurant, unaware he is being photographed.

Sticking fingers where they shouldn't be stuck?

Tut tut.

Fearful of his affair going public, Hansen's behaviour grows increasingly erratic.

Under pressure from studio executives to expose a 'whale', Hansen breaks formula and travels to the house of district attorney Bill Conradt, with deadly consequences.

Cleansing an ancient evil

In recent years, the current Batman has become one of my favourite actors, and performance of paranoid android (with a god complex) was superb.

David Osit's 2025 documentary Predators (ntbcw 2010 sci-fi film or 2022 nature minseries of same name) told us the facts, where as this predictably takes liberties with the truth.

Even so, I still found dramatisation fascinating, even if the real Chris Hansen condemned it as being "detached from reality".

Film strongly implies Conradt's suicide via gunshot to the head ended series, but shit continued until its cancellation in 2008.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse

Evil Empire completes the 'unfinished' Curse trilogy, with Konami officially confirming Curse of Darkness as the prequel.

Although Netflix series Castlevania exists in a different continuity, Graham McTavish reprises his role as Dracula.

Summary

1499, 23 years after Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

A great evil has descended on Paris.

The moon burns red and the city is in pandemonium, as monstrous creatures suddenly emerge from the shadows.

Trevor Belmont entrusts his daughter Rose to save humanity from devastation.

An intense tale of agony and despair unfolds.

No sacrifice is without blood

Visually beautiful and an absolute joy to play - this was surprisingly brilliant.

Yes game. You belong in this world!

Rose (who shares similarities with Sonia from de-canonised Game Boy entry Castlevania Legends), explores a non-linear map consisting of the Parisian streets, Holy Innocents' Cemetery, the Catacombs and of course - Dracula's Castle.

As with any Metroidvania, locations are split into numerous areas, with a decent chunk only accessible after learning the correct skills.

Equipment tab covers Arcana, Armoury and Relics.

Traditional sub-weapons are represented as Tarot cards and acquired by absorbing Arcana after beating bosses.  Completing mini challenges/objectives dubbed "Works of Mercy", unlock "Blessings" to upgrade weapons.

Spells also stem from Tarot cards and require Mana to cast.  For example, defeating The Prophetess (Medusa) rewards Petrifying Gaze and The Zealot (Isaac) gives Chronomantic Dive.

Some don't deal damage, but essential to progress the story.  Dealing with The Warrior (Joan of Arc), awards Holy Light, allowing Rose to disperse Chaos Shards (bypass walls) and create bridges.

Tarot cards are the equivalent of the Dual Set-up System (DSS) in the first GBA outing Circle of the Moon, centred around Nathan Graves pairing Action and Attribute cards to modify weapons, boost stats and create spells.

At set periods, we interact with spirits who give clues about locating bosses.  Conversely, Seer Statues inside Dracula's Castle do the same thing, as they think Rose is the Lord of Darkness.

Mirrors of Life act as save points and The Ferryman's Wharf serves as a fast travel point to areas you've already discovered.

The first fly we must swat is The Fallen, who very kindly gifts us the Arcane Whip, primarily used to grab onto sharpened anchors and negotiate fiendishly difficult obstacle courses.

Geezer later reveals himself as Leon Belmont, the protagonist of Lament of Innocence, who used the Whip of Alchemy to hook and swing around rooms.

He would've died in 1094, but Dracula used his desire for justice and revenge and cursed him with extended life.

Optional boss The Temptress (Succubus) disguises herself as Sypha.  Demon previously adopted the guises of Lisa (Alucard's mother) and Sara (Leon's love) in SOTN and LOI respectively.

Once inside Dracula's Castle, soundtrack weeps an excellent remix of Bloody Tears, while a bevvy of classic enemies launch a frenzied attack.

Beyond fucking cool.

Bosses come thick and fast towards the end, including The Occultist (Carmilla), The Builder (Talos) and The Shadow (Death), with Dracula waiting impatiently on his chair.

Depending on gameplay decisions, three outcomes are available:

Belmont's Fall (False), The Hunt Goes On (Normal) and Curse Lifted (True).

Dracula may be 'destroyed', but remember, it does not take long to make a cemetery.

Verdict 9/10

Ali G: Who Iz I? - The scoop and digest

Sacha Baron Cohen's directorial debut is standalone and not a sequel to Ali G Indahouse (2002).

Some people were in on it:

Morgana Robinson - Julie

Alpha Miknas - Manu

Clive Russell - Malcolm "Rocky" Atkins

The rest weren't.

Summary

Following the cancellation of the Da Ali G Show, Ali G has relocated back to Staines.  While raising cash for the 'stomach infection' of his Julie at a pawn shop, Ali discovers a fax from HBO offering $3.2m for a third series of his show.

After arriving in Los Angeles, Ali receives a call from an HBO executive informing deal expired 22 years ago.

Unperturbed, he decides to self-publish his dream on TikTok.

News of his return to America spreads to black community leader Nira Cain-N'Degeocello, who slams Ali as a cultural appropriator.

The final character Cohen plays is martial artist Erran Morad, who convinces his class that Ali is a drug lord and that Julie must be deported.

The Buckingham Phallus

I never cared much for Borat or Brüno, but always found the 'voice of yoof' rather funny.

Arguably his funniest interview was Posh and Becks back in 2001 for Comic Relief.

But that was over 20 years ago, and this is a prime example of why some things should be left in the past and not brought back.

Jokes try to be offensive, but are just offensively bad.

Virtually nothing works, and an AI-generated music video featuring Tupac, Greta Thunberg, Adolf Hitler and The Notorious BIG bizarrely lauding Ali's sex appeal just about sums up haphazard shit storm.

Aiii.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival - Beyond the Horror

Game was...

https://nukesandknives.blogspot.com/2026/10/clive-barkers-hellraiser-revival.html?m=0

Anyway, time to play.

Trophies/Achievements

Here's my top picks from the standard 44 (platinum, gold, silver, bronze and 'missables').

Most quotes are verbatim, but some have been shortened.

Hellraiser (1987)

Lead Cenobite

The Box. You Opened It. We Came

A Waste of Good Suffering

No Time for Argument

Demons to Some, Angels to Others...

The Further Regions of Experience

A Waste of Good Suffering

We Have Such Sights to Show You

Tear Your Soul Apart

Frank Cotton

Every Drop of Blood You Spill...

Puts More Flesh on My Bones

Pain and Pleasure, Indivisible

Come to Daddy

Experience Beyond Limits

Come Here, Damn You, I Want to Touch You

So Much for the Cat and Mouse Shtick¹

¹word replacing shit means a gimmick or comic routine.

(Frowns).

Rather bizarrely, Jesus Wept! is omitted.

Not Leaving Us so Soon, Are You? - Female Cenobite

²Go to Hell! - Kirsty Cotton

²repeated by Joey in Hell on Earth, before she jams the box into Pinhead's body.

Pinhead (Hellbound: Hellraiser II onwards)

Burn? Oh, Such a Limited Imagination! - Hell on Earth

Only Nightmares Last Forever! - Deader

The rest

What're Ya Buyin? and What're Ya Sellin? - Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Unlimited Power - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

What's in the Box? - Seven

A Quiet Place - title of 2018 film

Lord of War - title of 2005 film

Guns, Lots of Guns - The Matrix

I Can Do This All Day - Captain America: The First Avenger

No Mercy - The Karate Kid (1984)

Red Dead Damnation - Red Dead Redemption

Puzzle Me This - contrary to popular belief, The Riddler's catchphrase Riddle me This was first heard in the 60's live-action TV series.

Most cryptic of all:

In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King - a spin on the proverb "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king", attributed to Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus.

PC only

For some reason, 25 don't appear in console versions.

My magnificent seven:

Jusr a Flesh Wound - Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Knives Out - 2019 film or Radiohead song that murder-mystery is named after.

Handyman - a play on Candyman (1992), inspired by 1985 short story The Forbidden.

What's Your Pleasure, Sir - the final line spoken by the puzzle box merchant in Hellraiser (1987).  

Twisted Firestarter - lyrics to The Prodigy song Firestarter.

Power to the People - John Lennon and Yoko Ono 1971 song.

No Life in the Void, Only Death³ - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

³only works if at critically low health before Leviathan's gaze kills you.

Miscellany

Chatterer and Female Cenobite⁴ are based on Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound respectively.

⁴Barbie Wilde famously replaced Grace Kirby.

Our ultimate goal is to reconstruct Sunny's body by feeding her the hearts of Charlotte, Sister of Mercy and Marlowe, pretty much the same principle as Julia bringing Frank men to regenerate him.

Speaking of which.

Bruno Keller⁵ vs Frank the Monster

⁵Like hedonistic millionaire Roland Voight in Hellraiser (2022), Bruno is also an art collector.

Colin Marlowe's fanatical cult the Scarlet Church must be a nod to 2015 novel The Scarlet Gospels, which serves as a continuation of The Hellbound Heart and the canon of Harry D'Amour stories.

Interestingly, Winter LeMarchand (a descendant of toymaker and puzzle box designer Phillip LerMarchand), leads cult The Deaders in Deader (2005).

As stated in a note, the Cenobite Orno is perhaps the least known by the Church.

An illustration of Zora Beckett's father.

Geezer first appeared in a comic line.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser, Book 5: Mazes of the Mind

The tentacles from Dr. Channard's hands sprout deadly knives, and one such example grows from the walls within the Labyrinth.

Ozzy Osbourne's grave

Here lies our Prince of Darkness that raised hell then went back to his mother.

In the immediate vicinity, we can also see his iconic glasses and two bat statues.

Adjacent to tombstone is a cowboy hat of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister.

This is really cool, because he co-wrote the song Hellraiser with Ozzy and Zakk Wylde, which plays during the end credits of Hell on Earth.

Famous paintings

Bruno's mansion boasts an impressive selection.

Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Willem van der Meer - Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt and Pieter van Mierevelt 

Dante and Virgil - William-Adolphe Bourguereau

Fall of the Damned - Peter Paul Rubens

Head of a Guillotined Man - Théodore Géricault

Joy of Life - Suzanne Valadon

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - Pablo Picasso

Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman - Rembrandt

The Barque of Dante - Eugène Delacroix

The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers - Jan de Baen 

The Fall of Ixion - Cornelis van Haarlem

The Great Fire of London - unknown artist

Personal best

In the Child's Play franchise and Chucky TV series, Damballa is the Haitian voodoo deity who in the original 1988 film, serial killer Charles Lee Ray invokes using the famous chant "Ade due Damballa" to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. 

I'm sure the others are made up, but the orange book Eyes Wide Open II pokes fun at Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

Triptych (middle panel) vs The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun - William Blake

Police randomly showing up before boss fight with Charlotte mirrors Hell on Earth, where CD and Barbie massacre the law, ending with Camerahead quipping "That's a wrap."

While passing hrough the swamp, the eagle-eyed will notice a yellow balloon floating in the background.

Inflatable was changed to red in big budget 2017 film, but in the 1990 It miniseries, Pennywise (Tim Curry) uses a yellow balloon to coax Georgie to the storm drain.

Rotating corridor vs 'Meat grinder' tunnel - Event Horizon

This makes sense, because Hellraiser was of the primary influences for Paul W. S. Anderson's 1997 cult classic.

BDSM model vs Lying Figure - Silent Hill 2 (2001)

Probably coincidence, but the Pillar of Souls in Hell on Earth resembles a person wearing a straitjacket.

Pinhead is initially trapped, but blood offerings free him.

Our journey ends, but remember - I have eternity to know your flesh.