So I headed out to the Times Cinema last night and caught a double feature of Them! and The Incredible Shrinking Man. First let me say that for value, the Times Cinema can’t be beat. An evening movie there only costs $4.50, and they show double features (such as last night) which still only cost $4.50 for BOTH MOVIES! Not to mention a large popcorn is under $4.50 and a large soda is under $3.00.

Anyway, as to the movies. The thing you have to understand about me is that I am a SUCKER for old sci-fi and horror. Throw anything at me. I don’t care how bad you think it is I will be able to find something in there I love. Well, these two are about as classic as you can get.

Them! is basically the story of Godzilla told with ants. Ants are irradiated from the US’ careless testing of atomic bombs in the mid-40’s, growing to as large as 15 feet long. Some local cops, an FBI agent, and two doctors try to destroy the nest in New Mexico only to find that two queen ants escaped so they have to continue to destroy all possible colonies. The acting was stiff, the lines were hilarious (“If I can still raise my arm after this I’m gonna show you how saturated I can get.”) and the fx were cheesy. And I sat there with a smile on my face the entire time through. Just a joy to watch.

The Incredible Shrinking Man was slightly different. Instead of going for the (now corny) horror approach that many movies went for, it went more towards a surreal and philisophical approach, like the Last Man on Earth of The Twilight Zone. The premise is that Scott Carey (Grant Williams) is exposed to radiation (gee, I think I’m noticing a theme here) and starts shrinking. Initially he shrinks slowly but eventually it becomes more rapid. This movie actually struck me as interesting. Long before Peter Jackson used things like forced perspective and enlarged props for Lord of the Rings, here was Jack Arnold doing the exact same thing 45 years earlier. But unlike Jackson who only had to cater to two different sizes (man and hobbit), Arnold had to accomodate for many different sizes in between. And what is interesting is that throughout the film, even in scene to scene, you can pick out the little attentions to detail he put in on the continual shrinking. Anyway, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that hasn’t seen it, but I was presently surprised at the level of detail paid to the finer points of this movie.

So there is my movie review of two classic sci-fi pics. Hopefully some of you will go out and try them. And if anyone happens to be in the Milwaukee area ever, make sure to check out the Times Cinema. Because in Milwaukee, literally, there isn’t any place else like it.