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For this Special Thursday Cinema Night, first up is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), a melodrama based on Betty Smith’s novel of the same name. Set c. 1900, it follows a Brooklyn family’s journey through poverty as they navigate the vagaries of American capitalism and try to pull through. The father’s an alcoholic, the aunt marries a bunch of crappy men, the daughter wants to go to private, and so on. Director is Elia Kazan, the guy behind such other social melodramas as East of Eden (1955) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), the latter of which we previously watched. This is considered one of the best Hollywood films of the 1940s, so let’s check it out.

After that is Shin Ultraman (2022), another updated take on a classic Japanese tokusatsu series, along the same lines as Shin Godzilla (2016) and Shin Kamen Rider (2023), both of which we previously watched. When giant monsters suddenly start attacking Japan, a task force tries to find a way to drive them off, until they suddenly come across a gigantic silver man who wrestles them to death. A whole bunch of silly fights and special effects follow from there. Director Shinji Higuchi previously co-directed the aforementioned Shin Godzilla with Hideaki Anno, and helmed the live-action Attack on Titan (2015) film, as well.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:

https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

Doesthedogdie.com links:

CWs for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn:

  • Smoking.
  • Poverty.
  • Alcoholism.
  • Death of parent.
  • Childbirth.
  • Babies.

CWs for Shin Ultraman:

  • Death of animal.
  • Cruelty to animals.
  • Someone is physically restrained.
  • Unconsciousness.
  • Broken bones.
  • Suicide.
  • Kidnapping.
  • Possession.
  • Hospital scene.
  • Flashing lights.
  • Objectification of female characters.

Links to movies: