POST #300 - MY THIRD, FULLY-UPDATED, ALL-TIME TOP REVIEWS LISTING ON SHUKER IN MOVIELAND

Following a tradition begun with my 100^th Shuker In MovieLand blog post (of 6 December 2020), when I listed what was at that time this blog's all-time top 10 movie/TV reviews as measured by reader hit counts (click here to access it), and continued with my 200^th blog post (of 13 January 2022), when I presented an updated top 10 listing (click here to access it), I am now, with this, my 300^th blog post (of 5 June 2023), presenting the very latest listing. But this time, for added interest and because of the considerable quantity of movies plus TV shows now reviewed on my blog, I am presenting not merely a top 10 but rather a top 20.

As in the earlier two, each of this third listing's 20 movie/TV reviews is presented as a clickable link, together with its original publication date on my blog, so that you can access it directly from this page to read in full if you so wish. Also, where applicable, each movie's position in my previous, second listing is given here in blue brackets. So here it is:

#1        The Lost Continent (4 April 2021) (#1)

#2       Ron Stryker's Motorbike and the Lightning Tree – Revisiting Follyfoot ((16 February 2022)

#3       Oliver in the Overworld/Little Big Time (15 February 2022)

#4       9 (2 March 2022)

#5        Horns (28 February 2022)

#6       Rumble Fish (28 April 2022)

#7        Rock 'N' Roll Cowboys (6 March 2022)

#8       The Prisoner (7 May 2022)

#9       Chander Pahar (aka Mountain of the Moon) (4 June 2022)

#10     From Selkies to Space Vampires (14 April 2021) (#2)

#11      Shadow of Death (aka Destroyer) (1 May 2021) (#3)

#12      Fade To Black (30 March 2022)

#13      Rock 'N' Roll High School (14 February 2022)

#14      Angels and Panthers and Yetis, Oh My! (25 April 2022)

#15      Land of Doom (aka Raiders of Death) (19 March 2022)

#16      The Singer Not The Song (12 February 2022)

#17      Carmen Jones (30 April 2021) (#4)

#18     Wish Dragon (11 June 2022)

#19      Mune: Guardian of the Moon (26 May 2022)

#20     The Sin Eater (aka The Order) (30 May 2022)

Only two movies from my second top 10 listing back in mid-January 2022 retain a place in this latest, third one, indicating that newer movie entries swiftly draw interest away from older ones. But of these two exceptions to that apparent rule, The Lost Continent retains not only a place in this new listing but also the very same place as before – i.e. right at the top, at #1, and via an appreciably higher hit count than even the entry directly below it at #2, let alone all of the other 18 in this top 20 listing. Why this relatively obscure, unremarkable horror/monster movie should have attracted such considerable interest from readers is a complete mystery to me, but it's an interest that shows no sign of waning. Indeed, if Shuker In MovieLand stays in existence long enough to reach a 400^th blog post and thus the compilation of a fourth top 10 or 20 listing, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that The Lost Continent is still residing tenaciously at its summit.

Equally odd is that the majority of the movie reviews contained in this top 20 were  all posted within a very narrow period of time, spanning a mere 4 months, from 12 February 2022 to 11 June 2022 inclusive. So why were these specific reviews, and/or that particular time period, so inordinately, disproportionately effective in attracting high readership counts? Again, I have no idea.

Moreover, as with the two previous listings, I see no patterns or trends emerging as to which genres are represented in this latest one, nor the proportions of such representations. Indeed, the only aspect of this entire listing exercise that I feel certain about is that when it comes to movies and viewers' movie tastes, nothing is ever certain!

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

9

 

My official UK DVD of 9 (© Shane Acker/Relativity Media/Lux Animation/Focus Features/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 7 January 2022, I watched a spectacular computer-animated sci fi feature film with only the slightest of titles – 9 – but which was anything but slight in terms of its content and scope.

Directed by Shane Acker (upon whose earlier, Oscar-nominated, 11-min animated short, 9, this movie-length treatment was based), and released in 2009 by Universal Pictures under the Focus Features name, 9 was co-produced by Tim Burton, but is very different from his 'normal' death-obsessed works.

Beginning in an alternate 1930s Earth, 9 has as its titular character the ninth in a series of small, numbered, ragdoll-like homunculi known as stitchpunks. These have come to life following the death of their scientist creator in a grim, fearful post-apocalyptic world, for they collectively contain his soul.

The scientist had transferred it into the stitschpunks via alchemy, in a last attempt to right the terrible wrong that had resulted when an exceedingly powerful sentient machine, 'the BRAIN', invented by him to bring about world peace, was hijacked by the military for purposes of war instead. This had resulted in the BRAIN being transformed into the Fabrication Machine, which duly created other, deadly sentient machines that wiped out not just humanity but also every other living organism on Earth.

With the passing of the years, most of the machines eventually cease to function too, and the stitchpunks elude the final few by surviving in hiding – until one of them, 9, inadvertently brings the original BRAIN back to life. This mechanical entity in turn swiftly reanimates other killing machines, and also seeks to suck out the life force of the stitchpunks in order to fuel its own continuing existence. The movie presents their perilous mission to destroy the BRAIN and restore those stitchpunks that it has successfully drained.

The animation in 9 is absolutely astonishing in both design and execution, the sense of poignancy and pathos pervading the entire movie is almost palpable in its intensity. As for the highly individualistic stitchpunks, with their own very different personalities, they are voiced by the likes of Elijah Wood (stitchpunk #9), Christopher Plummer (#1), Martin Landau ('#2), and Jennifer Connelly (#7).

As for their enemies: one particular mechanical foe, known as the Seamstress and resembling a huge hooded cobra but sporting a series of insectoid limbs on its thorax, plus an abdomen that can unzip itself to engulf its victims and then sew itself back together, is truly horrifying! (Do I detect the twisted touch of Burton?) Click here to view it in all its gruesomely gory glory!

I won't provide spoilers as to how successful or otherwise the nine stitchpunks prove to be in their desperate but determined endeavours to save not only themselves but also the entire planet itself. However, the closing scene in 9 subtly yet also very skillfully offers a genuinely uplifting sensation of hope for the future of Earth, and the return of life to it, by focusing almost in passing upon the reappearance of some of its smallest subjects, in every sense. Think The War of the Worlds…

9 is a truly fantastic – and fantastical – animated movie that I'm surprised has not attracted much more attention and acclaim than it has done (perhaps because it received a PG-13 rating in the USA and a 12 rating in the UK, whereas animated features aimed at family viewing generally receive nothing more stringent than a PG rating?). And to see what I mean, be sure to click here to watch an official 9 trailer on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.