EXCLUSIVE King Kong vs Godzilla Remake NEWS

King Kong vs Godzilla Remake is happening? Well it looks like the Ministry of Truth did it again with an exclusive interview with a graphic designer working on a project for the upcoming movie. Right now, I have Part One, which was published today. Hopefully, Part Two will have more details and more proof (color me a skeptic, but, hey, you never know.) Rest assured as someone campaigning for this movie and rating its probability of being near zero, I was very suprised and happy to hear about this news.

CCB3

King Kong vs Godzilla Remake News: The Ministry of Truth (MOT) finally tracked down a graphic designer associated with the King Kong vs Godzilla remake. Due to a no-confidentiality contract, this person cannot be identified, but he is technically an independent contractor for either Toho or Universal, and is currently in the Philippines with new information about the King Kong vs Godzilla remake. As a graphic designer for one of these major movie studious, he has inside information about current projects, upcoming projects, and canceled projects. He was very scared to be interviewed by MOT News, so he spoke to us on the condition of anonymity (he wants to be called CCB3) and insisted on saying he works for Toho OR Universal.

MOT: Keeping within our agreement of anonymity, tell us who you are and how you would have any inside information about a King Kong vs Godzilla remake?

CCB3: I have worked on numerous projects overseas for Toho or Universal. I am an independent contractor; I am not employed by Toho or Universal nor am I officially a King Kong vs Godzilla remake worker. I get paid via a subsidiary. I am a simple Pinoy worker trying to support my family in the Philippines before I came across this King Kong vs Godzilla remake unofficial project. Part of the agreement was to sign a no-confidentiality agreement, so I can’t get on TV and talk about a King Kong vs Godzilla remake.

MOT: Does that mean there is a King Kong vs Godzilla remake in the works? CCB3: In a word, yes- Toho or Universal has commissioned the office where I work at to design preliminary CGI graphics for a King Kong vs Godzilla remake.

MOT: Please describe your role in this King Kong vs Godzilla remake and how the process went.

CCB3: Well, Toho or Universal contacted the company where I work (we get subcontracted a bunch of stuff that n one knows about), and asked for a 5 minute battle between Godzilla and King Kong using the same 3-D motion capture CGI graphics as [the movie] Beowulf. Due to the fact that this request came straight from the company and big money was offered, we knew this had to do with the King Kong vs Godzilla remake.

MOT: What did you do for this King Kong vs Godzilla remake clip? CCB3: I’m on the King Kong vs Godzilla remake graphic rendering and shadow team; we worked 6 days a week on this for one-and-a-half months. Looking back now, it was a fun experience to be part of the King Kong vs Godzilla remake, but it was very stressful because of the battle scene they requested. MOT: Why was this King Kong vs Godzilla remake scene stressful?

CCB3: Well the first major issue is that it took weeks for our artists to render the two monsters without true frames of references, so we were forced to have a lot of “wide angles” and “blur motion” scenes in this battle. We also had issues because since this will be like Beowulf, we had no people to motion capture so we kinda had to use less detail for the human bystanders in the scene.

PART TWO of this King Kong vs Godzilla remake interview soon.

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King Kong vs Godzilla Remake

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Godzilla toys, Godzilla movies, Godzilla game, Godzilla DVDs on sale now

Hey Godzilla fans, as you know I am Godzilla’s biggest fan, having watched every Godzilla movie and Godzilla cartoon in addition to having Godzilla toys and being a huge fan of Godzilla music. I wrote a bunch of Godzilla movie reviews on this site, so I thought I’d give you a heads up- I have compiled the best Godzilla movies, Godzilla music, Godzilla toys, Godzilla video games, Godzilla monsters toys, and much more at the DailySkew Godzilla Unleashed Store.

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Best Godzilla Movie: Ranking Godzilla Movies Showa Series

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Review: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

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Review: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla AKA Gojira Tai Mekagojira AKA Godzilla vs. the Bionic Monster AKA Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster is one of the well known Godzilla films, and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Big G, and is a favorite to many Godzilla fans, as it features the first appearance of a true rival to Godzilla: MechaGodzilla. However, a bad sci-fi James Bond meets Planet of the Apes plot makes any good impressions of this movie a thing of childhood memories and nostalgia, as opposed to being a fun movie to watch now.

The Plot

According to cave drawings and legends, there is some sort of prophecy about monsters attacking, if you watch the signs. Thankfully, we have an interpol agent, professor, reporter, and second string women to watch them and help save humanity. Sure enough the signs appear to be coming true when Godzilla attacks Japan and his friend Angilas. Godzilla’s roar is all wrong, too, and he’s walking differently- why did he turn bad? While he beats down his old friend Angilas by breaking his jaw and making him bleed (Angilas has a bad win/loss record), Godzilla’s skin chips to reveal him being a robot! The REAL Godzilla fights him. It’s Godzilla vs Godzilla!

The evil Godzilla is revealed to be a cyborg robot created and controlled by evil spies who are really monkeys from another planet (Third Planet from the Black Hole).

Meanwhile, MechaGodzilla defeats Godzilla and is pretty much indestructible. The good humans solve the prophecy riddle and awaken the sleeping guardian monster: King Seesar. He sounds scary and powerful. (Too bad he looks like your puppy, and doesn’t stand a chance against MechaGodzilla).

Godzilla is clever, and he absorbs lightning to become even more powerful and become a walking magnet. He finally defeats his robot double, and the heroes beat the Planet of the Apes rejects in a very confusing and boring subplot.

The Good

• MechaGodzilla doesn’t look like a rubber costume. It also is the best challenge to Godzilla in a while- he has all of Godzilla’s powers plus unlimited missiles, force shield, and flight.
• The monster battles were enjoyable and hard hitting.
• The music was a change from the “funny” composers of recent movies.
• Excellent use of pyrotechnics and miniatures.
• Darker movie…more melancholy than the goofier movies that I have been reviewing.
• Helped me with an afternoon nap on Saturday. I love afternoon naps, and haven’t taken one in a very, very long time.

The Bad

• The human elements are just boringly bad: plot, pacing, dialog, and storyline. It’s a Japanese spy movie: the villains wear sunglasses, speak melodramatically, have futuristic technology, and when they die, they show their true forms: apes. The whole subplot had bad pacing, and the focus is on the humans too much.
• King Seesar looks like a giant version of Rowlf from the Muppets, and doesn’t change the tide of the battle. It seemed like he was being pushed as the next big thing, like Godzilla’s replacement, but once he began to fight, he was pretty weak.

The Ugly

• A woman sings for around 10 minutes to wake up the guardian monster King Seesar.
• The “old man” is a stereotypical kung-fu hermit.
• The alien invasion by James Bond villain apes should have been funny and campy; instead it was pitched as a serious storyline.

Conclusion
This is an overrated Godzilla movie because it features the first (and some say best) appearance of MechaGodzilla, who really has a great presence and is a super villain for Godzilla. The actual human plot and alien invasion storyline took too much screentime and was poorly conceived and executed. Not even the great battle scenes can save this from being bad. Other Godzilla fans rate this much higher, and call it an “above average Godzilla movie”, and they technically may be correct- especially when compared to the last few movies- but they are ignoring the human vs alien parts, which take up the bulk of the movie.

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Review: Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

Godzilla vs Megalon is arguably the most watched Godzilla movie of all time (unless you count the U.S. 1998 Godzilla movie, which didn’t have our Godzilla in it), due to actually being released in the U.S. theaters in 1976 after being in Japan since 1973, a healthy run in syndication, and being infamously repeated in Mystery Science Theater 3000. When most non-fans think of Godzilla they think of this movie.

Unfortunately for Godzilla fans, such as myself, it also happens to be the worst Godzilla movie of all time (at least for the ones I have reviewed so far, i.e. a lot).

I was crying for Joel and Crow T. Robot to save me from this movie, which was originally not even a Godzilla movie. A kid won a contest creating a robot, which Toho named Jet Jaguar. Then Toho got scared because they feared Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon (a new giant cockroach monster) wouldn’t sell tickets, so they added Godzilla, the good guy. To protest this movie, I am only using MST3K clips in this review.

The Plot
Lord in Heaven, what were they thinking? Back in the 1970’s people were into Atlantis and another the hollow-earth theory, i.e. there is another earth/civilization under the crust. So in this script, the civilization is Seatopia, and they have to do with Mu, the “lost continuent” and the Easter Island heads, and date back an astonishing 3 million years.

They wake up a dung beetle giant monster called Megalon to attack Japan for its nuclear testing (uhm….I think the U.S. or U.S.S.R would have been better targets), which has been disturbing the environment with earthquake tremors.

Anyway, the plot gets worse and worse, and harder and harder to follow, I wish the MST3K puppets were with me to explain it. It centers around a scientist, his young kiddie brother with short shorts, and another guy. There are bad guys from Seatopia. The inventor made a robot named Jet Jaguar, who the Seatopians want. Jet Jaguar rebels against his would-be controllers and fights Megalon and the summoned space monster Gigan, from the last movie. Megalon had beat up Angillus (who once again couldn’t seem to fight back).

Around 40+ minutes into the film Godzilla comes in, does his Muhammad Ali shuffle, teams up with Jet Jaguar and finally have a tag team showdown vs Megalon and Gigan. The last scene fight is the most funny, and the only time I enjoyed the movie.

The Good

• Cure for insomnia found.
• Megalon destroying the dam was a good miniature and special effect.

The Bad

• Worst plot, acting, entertainment of any Godzilla movie.
• The human plot was ridiculous, mind-numbing, slow, boring, poorly paced, AND took up the bulk of the move.
• If you watch clips or read plot summaries about the movie or see MST3K jokes, you’d think this movie was funny in a campy way like All Monsters Attack (1969), but the truth is the plot is supposed be a serious mystery. Only the last battle is blatenly campy (Godzilla’s two drop kicks, the two evil monsters communicating with each other, Jet Jaguar and Godzilla shaking hands, etc). The rest of the movie actually tries to take itself seriously…very frustrating.
• Stock footage from around 10 monster movies.

The Ugly

• Megalon and Jet Jaguar’s costumes. Of course, Godzilla’s costume was embarrassing.
• Jet Jaguar reprogramming himself to grow into a giant robot.
• The misleading U.S. movie posters showing Godzilla and Megalon in the Twin Towers. All of the action occurred in Japan.
• Baaaaaaad 1970’s car chases- sped up and reversed film, random crashes, too LONG, etc.
• The special effects and low budget costumes were worse than 1970’s TV shows.
• No extras (to save money). Just 9 actors plus guys in rubber suits.
• That little kid…another homoerotic kiddie in a Godzilla movie…bad stuff, man.

Fun Facts

• Godzilla went on to appear in a TV series called Zone Fighter after this movie. I watched a number of episodes but will not review them because I didn’t have any English subtitles, and my Japanese is limited (only from Godzilla movies). I will say that Zone Fighter was 100% more fun than this…it was a funny Power Rangers on 1970’s TV sets. Great stuff because it was openly campy.
• It was the first Godzilla movie to sell under a million tickets in Japan. That should have been yet another sign to Toho to stop and make a new gameplan for the character, but…they didn’t.

Conclusion
Bomb. A great candidate for the worst Godzilla movie ever (at least bottom 3), and an excellent candidate for one of the worst movies ever put on film. Again…when you see the clips you may think the whole movie was supposed to be campy…but it wasn’t. It was more like a cheap 1970’s bad action movie with very few monster battles. MST3K version is better, but only if you see it at night-time (real late), and are..uh….in a good mood.

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Review: All Monsters Attack (1969) [Godzilla's Revenge]

All Monsters Attack AKA Godzilla, Minilla and Gabara: All Great Monsters Attack AKA ゴジラ • ミニラ • ガバラ オール 怪獣大進撃 ,AKA Gojira Minira Gabara Ōru Kaijū aishingeki AKA Godzilla’s Revenge is universally regarded as the worst Godzilla film ever made. I saw it numerous times as a kid, and wondered why the movie focused on a little boy with short shorts.

However, for my most recent viewing I realized something: this movie is a parody, like Blackzilla. Once I was the opening, I knew this was a spoof and a kid’s movie, even more so that Son of Godzilla. In other words, although 99% of Godzilla fans would beat you up if you said anything remotely positive about this film, I have to say it: I thought it was funny and very entertaining! Well, just watch the actual opening, and you will know where I am coming from. Like I said, it’s all a big joke! Why so serious, fans?

Most funny Godzilla opening ever:

Plot
Ichiro is a lonely little boy in urban Tokyo, with an active imagination. Both parents are working, and Ichiro is a latchkey child, who is bullied by his classmates. When his mother has to work late, an adult toymaker babysits him. Ichiro uses a toy computer and dreams about being at Monster Island. Ichiro identifies with Baby Godzilla (Minilla). During the dream sequences, Ichiro meets all of the monsters via stock footage, with Minilla as his guide. Minilla shrinks down to the boy’s side, and then grows to fight his own bully: the orange haired monster named Gabara (the same name as Ichiro’s school bully).

In-between dream sequences, two unprofessional robbers kidnap Ichiro, and Ichiro uses his lessons from Godzilla and Minilla to not only defeat the burglars, but also stand up to his bullies at school.

The Good

• Well, for once the human plot is actually interesting and easy-to-follow. Seeing the world from Ichiro’s point of view is cool- like many kids at the time, he sees the monsters at Monster Island as celebrities. Additionally, the toymaker is a great mentor to Ichiro. The bully scenes were great. For 1969, I was surprised the Japanese would tackle the “latchkey kid” era- where parents are too busy working to pick up their kid from school and provide the proper attention the child needed.
• The sheer over-the-top goofiness is upfront, so there is no mistaking that this is a 100% joke movie for kids. In fact, because all of the monster scenes occur in Ichiro’s imagination, technically this movie does not affect Godzilla continuity in anyway besides showing that the monsters are well known in Japan and toys were made of them.
• Laughter is a great medicine. There are many intentionally funny scenes, and some unintentionally funny scenes- especially Ichiro’s short shorts.
• Ichiro grows: he defeats two criminals and stands up to a gang of bullies thanks to his new confidence from his imaginary meeting with Minilla (who actually speaks Japanese in this movie).
• The following monsters appear in this movie (although they are mostly stock footage from previous Godzilla films, and appear in the boy’s imagination): Anguirus, Ebirah, Gabara, Godzilla, Gorosaurus, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Manda, Minilla, and the Giant Condor.

The Bad

• Too much obvious stock footage. Also, they used the Giant Condor and the Giant Lobster- two of the worst scenes ever (which I pointed out when I reviewed their 1st appearances)
• Bad Minilla costume- again.
• Barely a Godzilla film because the monsters are all part of Ichiro’s dream. If this was a comic book, it would be a short backup story.
• Released just 15 years after the original iconic classic, we are now reduced to stock footage, wacky music, kids worshiping a heroic Godzilla, and an ugly duckling Son of Godzilla giving advice on how to stand up to bullies.

The Ugly

• Ichiro’s short shorts. Trust me.
• From the eyes of a 2009 American, the mentor relationship between the toymaker and Ichiro is…..weird, i.e. unintentionally GAY.
• The monster Gabara: the orange hair on a light green Godzilla wanna-be is pretty lame, but still funny.
• Offensive to Godzilla purists, who call it the “black sheep of the family”.
• None of the titles (Godzilla’s Revenge, All Monster Attack) have anything to do with this movie.

Conclusion
An obviously bad movie, but still a pretty funny film, which doesn’t deserve to be ranked the worst by everyone. Once you lower expectaions- which is PRETTY EASY with the opening music and montage- you can sit back and enjoy the INTENTIONAL comedy in this film. Ultimately, The Bad doesn’t outweigh The Good, so the movie will still be ranked low by me when I compile my official list of Godzilla movies, but I can tell you I really enjoyed watching this, and was pleasantly suprised. Some Godzilla refuse to revisit this film because it is so bad, but it is bad in a campy way, with an easy plot to follow and has likable characters. If my fellow Godzilla afficiaindis want to excommunicate me for saying so, that’s fine.

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Review: Son of Godzilla (1967)

Son of Godzilla, AKA Monster Island’s Decisive Battle: The Son of Godzilla AKA 怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子 ,AKA Kaijū-tō no Kessen Gojira no Musuko is kid’s movie, and his 100% comical. I assume this was intentional. I mean, I hope.

Instead of trailer, here is a fan video using the best clips from the movie:

Plot

A bunch of nerdy male scientists are stuck on a hot island for a long time (ewwww) to test the professor’s weather controlling device, while they fend off giant praying mantis monsters (Kamacuras). A nosy goofy reporter lands on the island to break the story about the weather controlling device, but gets a bigger story when they find a giant egg, which contains Baby Godzilla (Toho calls him Minilla, although I never heard them call the baby that).

Godzilla trains his baby in the ways of the world, as they fend off multiple Kamacuras and the main bad monster on the island: Kumonga, a giant spider with webs (webs, as many sci-fi lovers know, are the cheesy weapons in the world- and can stop anything.)

Oh, and the reporter finds a woman on the island, who was raised by her father years ago, and is like Jane, from Tarzan.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the movie is about the freakin’ humans and their stupid weather control device and running from the giant insects.

In the end, the device finally works- the professor’s life long dream achieved- and the snow stops all the monsters on the island, and Godzilla and son hibernate together in one of the most touching scenes in such a goofy movie.

The Good

• The special effects for the giant spider (Kumonga) is awesome for 1967. The spider is very well done and extremely scary to see for a kid. The giant mantises are also scary and good quality, although the eyes are probably too big. I recall being frightened by them when I was a boy. Now, of course, I am not afraid; I can appreciate the work that went into making them.
• Seeing Godzilla being a parent is very funny. Godzilla is a brutal parent- unforgiving and impatient. Godzilla tries to teach his son the hard way, but he does love Minilla, as he protects the boy from the monsters.
• The ending- it’s tough to keep a dry eye when Godzilla hugs his son and burrows with him in the blizzard, snow, and ice at the end to conserve heat and begin hibernation.
• The music is very bombastic and lively. I believe they were going for a Son of Kong vibe, and it worked.

The Bad

• Man, the humans were boring. And they occupy, like 85% of the screen time. Give me more Minilla!!!
• The plot is pretty hokey.
• Acting is extremely bad.

The Ugly

• Horrible Godzilla and Son costumes. Horrible.
• No one can take Godzilla teaching his son how to shoot the death breath seriously. Hard core Godzilla fans hate Minilla and hate Godzilla acting goofy. They hate this movie because of the bad Godzilla and Minilla costumes.

The Pink Elephant in the Room Question: How the F#@$#%@ can Godzilla have a $@#%$%@ baby?

My theories:

1) Minilla isn’t Godzilla’s baby. First of all, they don’t even look alike. Second of all, in the movie Destroy All Monsters (1968) the future is shown in the year 1999, and Minilla is still small, which means that he can’t be the same species as Godzilla. In fact, it’s very possible that Minilla is a kind of ugly duckling…a baby monster that follows around an unwilling parent, who begrudging adopts him. Besides, that is one BIG egg. How did Godzilla lay that egg?

2) There are many Godzillas. This has already been said in Godzilla Raids Again. So obviously, if there are many Godzillas, two of them could have procreated, and laid that egg.

3) Godzilla doesn’t need a mate. Some animals in real life are asexual.

(Oh, and is Godzilla a MAN OR WOMAN?- I don’t know)

Conclusion

In many ways, this movie is as ridiculous and humorous as Adam West’s Batman TV show, which means “serious” sci-fi and Godzilla fans don’t like to talk about this movie. The truth is, the Godzilla and son scenes are so funny that I LOL’ed. I just wish we could have seen more of those scenes than the awful human plot and acting. Really, the movie is very boring except for the monster scenes (15% of the movie). I would say that this movie holds a special place in your heart if you saw it as a kid, and although everything is over-the-top and silly when you watch it now, the parent-child relationship between the monsters is great.

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Review: Godzilla vs Gigan (1972)

Godzilla vs. Gigan AKA Earth Attack Command: Godzilla vs. Gigan AKA 地球攻撃命令　ゴジラ対ガイガン AKA ,Chikyū Kogeki Meirei Gojira tai Gaigan AKA Godzilla on Monster Island has bad acting, too much focus on the humans, bad costumes, stock footage, and cockroaches, but it does have a long battle scene and the 1st appearance of Gigan.

Trailer:

Plot
A bunch of shady and weird businessmen want to build a Godzilla amusement park and make the world peaceful by eliminating the monsters on monster island. A comic book artist, his kung fu cute girlfriend, a female hippie, a fat male hippie, and a nerdy scientist team up to discover the deadly secret of these businessmen.

After an infinity of sitting through the crazy plot, it is revealed that these guys are really interstellar cockroaches underneath the optical illusion of having a human body that they replicated.

Meanwhile, the cockroaches have two monsters under their control: King Ghidorah and Gigan, the Space Monster. Godzilla and Angilas (now friends) are earth’s last hope. Angilas is a bad tag team partner since he has no tactics. Thankfully, Godzilla talks to him and teaches him how to fight the two monsters.

Speaking of the two monsters, they are deadly and, coupled with the alien cockroaches’ laser beams from a Godzilla tower in the amusement park, Godzilla bleeds and is almost killed before he gets a second wind. Suffice to say, Godzilla does a few tag team maneuver with Angilas to defeat Ghidorah and Gigan- but it was close.

The Good

• The real Godzilla composer is back…the music was great. Plus there was a new theme song at the end.
• Gigan may look like flying giant chicken from space, and you have to wonder how he got a circular saw in his stomach, and the laser beam eye, but he sure is a tough challenger and a unique-looking monster.
• The sound effects: all four of the monster’s voices were in vintage form. I laughed when a general listening to space recognized King Ghidorah’s voice.
• The blood: for the first times, we see monster blood and it’s pretty vicious.

The Bad

• Too much focus on the humans. I don’t know how I stayed away, but I did. And they were typicaly goofy. I was wondering: do the Japanese have such a poor self-image of themselves, or are they trying to make fun of the viewer being goofy enough to watch this movie?
• Stock footage makes a jumbled mess of trying to follow the fight scenes. We have costume changes, and day/night shifts.
• Why is Angilas so weak? He gave Godzilla a decent battle back in 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again.

The Ugly

• Godzilla’s costume actually falls apart.
• You can see strings and plastic heads on Ghidorah.
• Godzilla talking to Angilus…it sounded like a record scratching.
• They used real cockroaches for the aliens. The last time they used octopi for a monster was King King vs Godzilla, and the crew ate the fish after the scene….You do the math.

Conclusion
What can I say? New director Jun Fukuda was supposed to return the franchise to normalcy after Godzilla vs. Hedora, and in a way it is: bad acting, bad costumes, bad plot, bad villains…That being, said it wasn’t as bad as some others. Some fans peg this to be bottom of the barrel, but I don’t think it’s totally sunk.

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Review: Godzilla vs. Hedorah (Smog Monster) 1971

Godzilla vs. Hedorah AKA ゴジラ対ヘドラ ,AKA Gojira tai Hedora AKA Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster is an original, unique, innovative, different movie which you either love or hate. New director Yoshimitsu Banno was fired after this movie because it feels like an acid trip, but the truth is the movie is a very stylish allegory about the perils of pollution.

Plot

A new monster is destroying ships. A scientist and his little smart boy Ken (along with his mom) discover that Hedorah, an alien life form, lands on Earth via meteorite and begins feeding on pollution, while expelling sulfuric acid and gas. The Smog Monster almost beat the hero Godzilla due to his poison body, various forms, amphibious powers, and toxic nature.

Godzilla and the military team up (!) and used electrical generators to dry out Hedorah.

Because director Banno totally created a new type of Godzilla movie, I will disregard my regular The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly format:

The Different

• The message. Chronologically, the 11th Toho Godzilla film, the deeper messages have been lacking since…well, the first movie. Here, the 1971 pollution message is throughout the entire movie: mankind’s disregard for the environment mutated the Hedorah alien tadpole by poisoning it with radioactive waste and garbage.
• Hedorah: He has different stages and forms, a first in Godzilla films. As a kid, I was scared of “The Smog Monster” because sometime he looks like a giant piece of crap, the big brown muppet that has a person in it from the Muppet Show, and like The Blob: when Godzilla punches him his hand goes through him. Plus he breaks off in different parts and when combined he gets bigger, and he farts poison which turns people into skeletons. Godzilla was losing until he teamed up with the army.
• The fight scenes. You know how I complain that the fight scenes are too short, and that Godzilla is just making a cameo? These fight scenes and skirmishes are the longest I’ve ever scene. Granted, the pacing is bad when Godzilla acts goofy, and they tend to be a bit drawn out, but Hedorah is the star of this movie in terms of screen time, not the humans.
• The style. 1) As soon as the movie started, the music was weird (a sinking trumpet), and I noticed some wide camera shots. The boy, Ken, is playing with Godzilla and Ghidorah toys down a sliding pond (a symbol of the franchise losing its steam?). It felt like a post-modern Godzilla film due to the camera angles. Some scenes were very melodramatic- Ken is crying “Papa” several times after we see The Smog Monster attack his dad underwater. The boy is wiping his tears but won’t leave the seashore, shouting “Papa!” 2) As the movie went on, I realized that there was a hippy, beatnik, psychedelic culture in Japan in 1971, from the…uh…dance night clubs and girls dancing to the lava lamp oil on the walls to the Japanese version of Woodstock to the groovy musicians. I’ve never been a big fan of early 70’s movies like that (I always saw them as dated teenage movies, with the people speaking a weird language, with free sex and drugs), so I guess that’s why most Godzilla fans HATE this movie. But to me, it was a breath of fresh air in a dying franchise. 3) Animated cartoons. These cartoons were pretty weird- they were like post-modern dark public service announcements against pollution, featuring the Smog Monster and mankind destroying nature. 4) Symbolism and camera techniques. Godzilla is spinning the Smog Monster around (fast film speed), and it fades into the next scene features a bunch of men spinning a Mahjohg board around (the camera started with the spinning board). Parts of the monster’s body (crap) breaks through the window and kills them all. 5) A guy gets drunk (or stoned) at a night club and he sees everyone else as having FISH-HEADS while they dance.
• The MEDIA. Whereas previous Godzilla films always portray the MEDIA as newspapers (the idealistic journalist and mean editor-in-chief), this MEDIA was in the background. That’s right, we finally didn’t have to care how about some complicated subplot about how the news was reported; it just was. And the director showed the MEDIA to be a bunch of TALKING HEADS and MOUTHS. It was pretty dark and gritty a la the movie Network, and wasn’t cheesy. This was a new Japan. No longer was there just one news channel with one voice reading instructions for the obedient and compliant Japanese to follow. Now, the MEDIA was an animal of its own, and the psychedelic style enhanced it. For the first time, death tolls were given. That added to the “realism”.
• The fight scenes mostly happened at night, so it was gloomy. The water was heavily polluted with garbage.
• There are horror elements: many times it felt like the original Blob. We also see death- people burned by acid and smoke and charred into skeletons.

This clip has the weird and creative animation scenes:

The Strange

• The music. Without the original composer, we have Riichiro Manabe, who just used the variation of an LSD-inspired theme song throughout the entire movie. His only different song is a warped and twisted military march that is used when Godzilla flies.
• I’m pretty sure the director was on acid. Weed alone cannot induce this creation. I think the director wanted the viewers to take acid too, and to see all the deeper meanings of his weird scenes.
• Dated. The film is targeted to a particular taste (I assume teens and people in their early 20’s in 1971), and if you don’t dig a contemporary early-70s style, then you will be unable to understand or appreciate anything about this film.

The Horror, The Horror

• Most fans and non-fans point to the scene at the end where Godzilla is flying by using his atomic breath. It happens to be one the most cheesiest scenes of all time, definately in the Top Five of Godzilla’s Top 50 Worst Moments.
• The crap. The Smog Monster is made of crap. He throws it. Godzilla throws it. It’s stinky. It’s slime. It’s disgusting.
• The Smog Monster transforming into a flying saucer in the day-time is very, very lame.

Clips of some cheese (or in this case crap- literally):

Conclusion: A truly creative unique work of art, tongue-and-cheek but heavy handed and dark all at the same time. In some ways, it’s brilliant and in others it is groan-inducing. Impossible to take seriously, it is very underrated. It tried to take Godzilla away from the kid’s only audience, but it wound up pissing Toho’s producer off (he was in the hospital and didn’t edit it). It’s weird…it’s strange…it’s dark and light…I liked it for the originality and message. I dug the allegory, daring directing, and style. I think this is a hidden gem underneath all of the psychedelic crap and bad costumes.

Posted in Review, entertainment, godzilla | 8 Comments »

Review: Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965)

Invasion of Astro-Monster; AKA Great Monster War AKA 怪獣大戦争 AKA Kaijuu Daisensou AKA Monster Zero AKA Godzilla vs. Monster Zero AKA Invasion of the Astro-Monsters is the sequel to Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. I gave that movie a pretty bad review, and this movie is only slightly better.

Monster Zero Trailer (misleading as usual…you’d think this was an action packed movie, but these scenes are actually the ONLY good parts):

Plot

Two astronauts- an American and a Japanese- explore Planet X, which is located after Jupiter. The aliens on Planet X ask for help because their planet has been ravaged by “Monster Zero” (they said they use numbers for everything)- Ghidorah. The aliens want Monster One and Monster Two (Godzilla and Rodan) to be transported from earth to Planet X to stop Ghidorah. Remember, in the last movie Godzilla became a good guy. In exchange, the aliens will give earth a cure for all disease (in the Japanese version: cancer).

The subplot features a romance between the American astronaut and an alien spy. Another subplot features the Japanese astronaut’s sister’s romance with a Clark Kent nerdy inventor.

Of course, the aliens turn out to be bad. After Godzilla and Rodan are on Planet X, the aliens wind up controlling all three monsters and set out to destroy earth.

Thankfully, the aforementioned nerdy inventor, the astronauts, and the alien spy team up to break the mind control.

Keep in mind, that’s the long story short.

The Good

• As usual, I love the sound effects and destruction Ghidorah makes.
• The American actor Nick Adams is unique for Godzilla films- he’s a stark contrast to the polite, reserved, and respectful Japanese actors. He is cliched, of course, but a pretty interesting character for Toho.
• The Japanese actresses were pretty cool.
• The actual battles between Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidorah were okay, although it looked like stock footage was used from Rodan and Ghidorah’s previous appearances.

The Bad

• Planet X had bad special effects and scenery.
• The aliens turning bad was pretty predictable.
• Plot holes the size of…I don’t know what! This movie was just MADE for Sunday morning syndicated TV. It’s pretty bad sci-fi…bad Flash Gordon stuff.
• The focus of the movie was on the aliens and the astronauts, not the monsters.
• What’s the lesson of the movie? Don’t trust aliens offering a cure for all disease (Japanese: cancer)?
• There’s no Godzilla fear factor from the general public. Granted, he’s a “good guy”, but the characters aren’t afraid.

The Ugly

• Godzilla is a background character here. He’s like a doll. This is barely a Godzilla movie…he’s clearly making a cameo. It’s like someone wrote the whole “aliens deceive and conquer earth” script, and then added Godzilla, Rodan, and Ghidora in it.
• Godzilla does a….dance. You can see the dance at the end of the trailer.
• The last movie featuring the four masters teaming up from the original Gojira: director Honda, screenplay writer Sekizawa, SFX Tsubaraya, and composer Ifukube…and ultimately they went out with a flutter.

Conclusion: This movie is overrated by Godzilla fans simply because it’s better than Ghidorah. Godzilla’s screen time is so short, you’d be hard pressed to realize this was a Godzilla movie. In fairness, Godzilla isn’t even in the Japanese movie title, which shows how Godzilla’s box office appeal was pretty bad in 1965. Heck, why isn’t Ghidorah or Rodan in the movie title in Japan? Why the whole “Astro Monster” and “Monster Zero” bit?

Posted in Review, entertainment, godzilla | 4 Comments »

Blackzilla (Godzilla parody)

With a special appearance by the Chronic.

Submitted by CCB3, who is coming down this weekend.

Posted in godzilla, parody | 4 Comments »

Review: Godzilla vs the Sea Monster (1966)

Toho made some budget cuts (!) in 1966. That’s bad news for me in 2008 as I had to suffer through this horrible movie to review it. After Godzilla became a good guy in the last movie Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Toho didn’t use original director Honda or composer Ifukube for this one to save money. This movie was so bad, that it was released directly to syndication in the U.S. and eventually made it to a low-budget home video distribution company.

Plot

Hey, it’s 1966, so it’s grooooooovy man. Neat-O. We have Japanese teenage dance contests and stuff. The teens and a robber accidentally sail away to look for one teen’s brother who is stranded on Infant Island (of Mothra fame). A giant shrimp lobster monster (Ebirah) wrecks them, and they wash ashore to another island. It’s run by terrorists (Red Bamboo) straight out of a low-budget James Bond rip-off movie. They have been enslaving natives from Infant Island while Mothra has been sleeping. Red Bamboo uses the free labor to build nuclear weapons. Red Bamboo also uses Ebirah to guard the waters. The teens and the robber meet an escaped Infant Island native (the female star of the movie). They team up and stuff. Godzilla also happens to be sleeping on this island. They decide to wake him up (at around the 50 minute mark) with electricity. Godzilla fights Ebirah and wins. While resting, Godzilla is attacked by a mutated condor Ookondoru and defeats him in the shortest Godzilla monster fight at that time. The Twin Fairies wake up Mothra after one of the teens parachutes on Infant Island (I guess it’s close) to rescue the natives on the terrorists’ island. Godzilla destroys the terrorists’ plant, but they rig the island to explode. Godzilla also defeats the giant lobster again. Mothra saves the natives, and the heroes warn Godzilla to jump off the island before it explodes. He does.

The Good

• Well, this is the first Godzilla movie with no military, reporters, photographers, or scientists. So it’s different.
• The lobster costume wasn’t that bad.

The Bad

• Everything.
• The music is dated, and sounds like “Wipe Out” or when Adam West starts to dance in the old Batman TV shows.
• To save money, the battle scenes were short, so the Godzilla wait time was the worst. The movie relied to heavily on the actors and plot…which were mindbogglingly terrible.
• Godzilla’s costume was bad. The giant condor which lasted a under a minute with the big G was the worst puppet you’d ever seen before.
• Godzilla on a tropical island. A cheesy James Bond plot, and a terrorist with an eye-patch. Godzilla playing volleyball with a giant shrimp. No wonder Mystery Science Theater 3000 ripped this movie to shreds.
• Booooooooooorrrring. You would be hard-pressed to even realize this was a Godzilla movie if you just saw bits and pieces of the first 50 minutes.
• I was shocked to find some hardcore Godzilla fans saying how this movie “isn’t that bad” because “it’s lighthearted and a change”. This was the worst Godzilla movie to date! There are no redeeming qualities of this movie. Run away from this movie!!!

Fun Facts

• The script was originally supposed to star Toho’s King Kong. That’s why Godzilla acts like King Kong in this movie and his opponents are weak.
• Godzilla looks like the cookie monster in this movie.
• The Japanese title is Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra: Big Duel in the South Sea
• This continues the dark era of the Godzilla Showa Era. I find it ridiculous that some fans have fond memories and overate this movie, while nitpicking the vastly superior Mothra vs Godzilla. No wonder all of these movies were erased when Godzilla Returns (1984) rebooted everything.

Here it is: after 1 hour we finally get some action:

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Review: Mothra (1961)

In 1961, Toho combined fantasy, comedy, and a heroic monster as an alternative to the raging beast known as Godzilla. (Besides Godzilla’s sequel bombed.) Mothra features the first appearance of Mothra, the Twin Fairies, Infant Island, and the Egg. Japan’s favorite giant moth went on to be in many more Toho movies, second only to Godzilla. This is a solid movie, so it’s no surprise.

Plot (from Wiki)

An expedition to an irradiated island brings civilization in contact with a primitive native culture. When one sensationalist entrepreneur tries to exploit the islanders, their ancient deity arises in retaliation.

In waters off Infant Island, a presumably uninhabited site for Rolisican atomic tests, the Daini-Gen’you-Maru is caught and run aground in the turbulence of a typhoon. A rescue party following the storm finds four sailors alive and strangely unafflicted with radiation sickness, which they attribute to the juice provided them by island natives. The story is broken by tenacious reporter Zenichiro Fukuda and photographer Michi Hanamura, who infiltrate the hospital examining the survivors.

The Rolisican Embassy responds by co-sponsoring a joint Japanese–Rolisican scientific expediction to Infant Island, led by capitalist Clark Nelson. Also on the expedition are radiation specialist Dr. Harada, linguist/anthropologist Shin’ichi Chūjō, and stowaway reporter Fukuda. Chūjō has studied the cultures of islands in the area and ascertained that one of the key hieroglyphs in their written language, a radiant cross-shaped star, translates as Mothra. There the team discover a vast jungle of mutated flora, a fleeting native tribe, and two minuscule girls. These “small beauties“, as Fukuda calls them, wish their island to be spared further atomic testing. Acknowledging this message, the team returns and conceals these events from the public.

Nelson, however, returns to the island with a crew of henchmen and abducts the girls, gunning down several natives who try to save them. While Nelson profits off a “Secret Fairies Show” in Tokyo featuring the girls singing, both they and the island natives beseech their god Mothra, a giant egg, for help. Fukuda, Hanamura, and Chūjō communicate with the girls via telepathy; they express conviction that Mothra will come to their aid and warn that “good people are sure to be hurt”. Meanwhile, Fukuda’s newspaper has accused Nelson of holding the girls against their will; Nelson denies the charge and files a libel suit against the paper. Meanwhile, the island egg hatches to reveal a gigantic caterpillar, which begins swimming the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The caterpillar destroys a cruise ship and survives a napalm attack on a beeline path for Tokyo. The Rolisican Embassy, however, defends Nelson’s property rights over the girls, ignoring any connection to the monster.

Mothra finally arrives on the Japanese mainland, impervious to the barrage of weaponry directed at it, ultimately building a cocoon in the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Public feeling turns against Nelson, and he is ordered to release the girls. He flees incognito to Rolisica, where Mothra, newly hatched in an imago form, immediately resumes her search. Police scour New Kirk City for Nelson as Mothra lays waste to the metropolis. Ultimately Nelson is killed in a shootout with police, and the girls are assigned to Chūjō’s care. Church bells begin to ring, and sunlight illuminates the cross atop the steeple with radiant beams, reminding Chūjō and Hanamura of Mothra’s unique symbol and of the girls’ voices. Chūjō hits upon a novel way to attract Mothra to an airport runway. The girls are returned amid salutations of “sayōnara”, and Mothra flies back to Infant Island.

The Good

• Special effects- specifically the city design, action scenes, and Mothra’s larvae form are excellent, and better than 1956’s Rodan, which had great scenes.
• Deep message: Filmed during Japan’s postwar economic boom, the bad guy of the movie was a Western corrupt capitalist. It’s all his fault Mothra attacks because he is exploitating the Twin Fairies. However, the cross and the church bells at the end symbolized that not everything from the West is bad.
• Mothra: She is a loyal and caring monster, who is a “justice bringer”. Buildings, cities, and the army just get in the way of her path.
• The reporters actually try to help Mothra, and understand her concerns, rare for a 1960’s monster movie. That’s why this is not a typical B-movie, even though it was released as such in the U.S. [double-billed with The Three Stooges in Orbit].
• Mothra’s theme, sang by the Fairy Twins (actually Peanuts) is great, as was the rest of the soundtrack.
• A monster finally won!

The Bad

• Too many human scenes…it feels like 90% of the screen time are reporters, photographers, evil capitalists, the military, natives, or the group of heroes. Oh, and goofy humor is now inserted into Toho movies.
• The whole multi-colored giant moth visual may not sit well with most Americans.
• The non-action scenes have poor pacing, and the movie probably could have been cut by 15 minutes.
• No monster enemies for Mothra means that there wasn’t a whole lot of suspense when she fought the military.

Fun Facts

• This Mothra would make her next appearance in Mothra vs Godzilla, and would die, as she sacrificed herself so her egg would hatch.
• The Fairy Twins don’t speak Japanese at first in this movie.
• The fictional country of Rolisica = the U.S., with a little U.S.S.R. aspects.
• Godzilla is not mentioned in this movie, but this movie was cited in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964).

Conclusion
A solid effort by Toho to create a different type of monster movie. The plot formula in this movie has been copied in other movies. However, a bit too much focus is on the humans for this to be better than the original King Kong or Gojira, but is still a monster movie classic and heavily underrated by United States Godzilla fans.

Original Japanese trailer:

Posted in Review, entertainment, godzilla | 2 Comments »

Review: War of the Gargantuas (1966)

Because you demanded it! Toho gives you the long awaited (a year!) sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World… War of the Gargantuas!

Plot/Synopsis

Well, Frankenstein['s monster] was swallowed up by the earth and lava in the last movie, yet the movie opens up with a green-furred Frankenstein-looking beast fighting the giant octopus from King Kong vs Godzilla (Oodako, which is never mentioned onscreen, so you have to be a geek like me to know its name). The octopus was killing the crew of a ship, and it looked that our misunderstood monster from the last movie would save them from this sea monster. Instead, it destroyed the ship and killed the seamen.

The military and press questions Dr. Paul Stewart (who is clearly supposed to be Dr. James Bowen from the last movie, but it looks like Toho couldn’t get the same actor back) and his assistant Akemi (who is clearly supposed to be Sueko Togami from the last movie, but it looks like Toho couldn’t get the same actress back) about it since they raised a child gargantuan in the past (obviously Frankenstein in the last movie, but the flashback scenes are all different). The doc and his main squeeze assure everyone that their monster was peaceful (he was???) and had escaped into the mountains, not the sea.

The green monster goes on a violent rampage, and the military uses its Masers (electric microwave lasers or something..oh, it’s their first appearance, too) to disable the monster. Then he is saved by….a brown Frankenstein- the one that the doctor raised, who saves his green version.

Remember, Frankenstein can’t die…apparently his cells still lived and went into the sea and grew into two monsters: Sanda (the mountain monster that was raised in captivity, and may have been the lead monster in Frankenstein Conquers the World) and Gaira (the evil green version that lives in the sea, and hunts on land, too). So these monsters pretty much spawned off Frankenstein’s DNA, maybe his hand that was seen in the last movie, or maybe from skin droppings. [It's not 100% clear, because I really think the brown monster is supposed to be Frankenstein, but they maybe legally can't say it in the U.S., so they call him Sanda now.]

ANYWAY, to make a long story short (yeah, right), Gaira doesn’t want to save humans- he wants to eat them and destroy, while Sanda is clearly a good guy. He gets frustrated with his evil “brother”, and they wreak Tokyo and the shipping yards while fighting. The fight is taken to Tokyo Bay, while the military fires at both gargantuans (the woman Akemi loves the Sanda, and doesn’t want to see him get hurt) and they both apparently die during a volcanic eruption at sea.

The Good

• Action. From start to finish, this is a rare Toho movie in which the monsters are truly the stars, and the humans don’t get a ridiculous amount of boring screen time.
• Akira Ifukube’s musical score sounds like a rearranged Godzilla military theme, which was pretty cool to hear.
• Kids from that era (and their adult versions that they grow into) love a mindless rampage like this, and the special effects are better this time. For example the trees are much better and rooted into the ground.
• Having furry costumes actually helped. In the last movie, Frankenstein’s monster was bare-skinned. At least fur made these gargantuans look more like traditional kaijū (fictional Japanese monsters).
• Gore. Gaira ATE an airport employee.

The Bad

• Well, uhm….there’s truthfully not a whole lot of bad if you like monster movies (if you don’t, or if you are a snobby movie critic, you’d give it one star). It’s a classic Toho monster movie without worrying about ruining Godzilla’s character. I guess its only weak spot (within the genre) is characterization.
• I guess the U.S. title is a but misleading- I was expecting more monsters!

Fun Facts

• The English version does its best to eliminate all references to “Frankenstein”. (In fact the Japanese title is actually Frankenstein’s Monsters: Sanda Versus Gaira).
• My intuition says that Toho wanted to do future movies with Sanda and Gaira, so made them clones of Frankenstein’s monster and gave them new names and fur to make them fully Toho-ized, and to prevent any future litigation for using “Frankenstein” in movies.
• The fight scene at the end is considered a classic among kaijū fans.
• Is this movie part of the Godzilla universe? Again, no mention of Godzilla in this movie (just like he wasn’t mentioned in Rodan, Mothra, or Frankenstein Conquers the World) but it is implied and feels like the same earth. These Gargantuas were actually seen in a clip in a modern Godzilla movie, so it seems as if everything is in cannon. I will cover all the Toho movie continuity next year, and attempt to make everything fit and also make separate timelines.

Conclusion

This movie stands out in terms of Toho’s production and direction, and was a great effort for all the crew to put this together. Of course, the acting and very nature of monster movies places this movie for Saturday afternoon romps for kids. However, Japanese sci-fi monster fans rate this much higher, and I believe the movie accomplishes what it set out to do. It’s also equal to or better than the some Godzilla movies that came out around that time.

Posted in Review, entertainment, godzilla | 3 Comments »

Review: Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

The 1960’s truly is the Silver Age of sci-fi movies and TV shows. And then there’s Frankenstein Conquers the World, produced by Toho, the makers of Godzilla. Okay, it wasn’t that bad…or was it? I don’t know, I was watching this pretty late at night. Why don’t you find out with me during this review. First…

Plot (from Wiki):

The prologue is set in World War II, circa 1945. Nazis break into the laboratory of Dr. Reisendorf and confiscate the heart of the Frankenstein Monster, on which he is busy experimenting. The Nazis travel by submarine to the Pacific. The Allied Forces then bomb their submarine, but not before the Nazis pass the heart (contained in a locked chest) to the Imperial Japanese Navy, who take it back to Hiroshima to be experimented on. But just as they are about to begin, Hiroshima is bombed by the Allied Forces, and the heart is lost.

Fifteen years later (1960), a savage boy runs rampant in the streets of Hiroshima, catching and devouring small animals such as dogs and rabbits. This comes to the attention of American scientist Dr. James Bowen and his assistants Sueko Togami and Ken’ichiro Kawaji. A year later (1961), they investigate and find the boy hiding in a cave on a beach, where a mob of outraged villagers has almost caught him. While the strange boy catches media attention and is taken care of by the scientists, another astounding event evades the public’s eye. Once the boy is taken to the hospital, it is discovered that he is caucasian and his body is building a strong resistance to radiation rather than getting sick from it.

The Former Naval Captain Kawai, who brought the Frankenstein heart to Japan in WWII, is working in an oil factory in Akita Prefecture, when a sudden earthquake shakes the factory and collapses a tower, beneath which he saw the ghastly face of a giant floppy-eared reptile with a glowing horn.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bowen and the scientists find that the strange boy is growing due to intake of protein. Afraid of his strength, the scientists lock and chain the boy in a jail cell, and Sueko, who really cares for him, feeds him some protein food to sustain him. Meanwhile, Dr. Bowen is visited by Kawai, who tells him that the boy could have been mutated from the heart of the Frankenstein Monster, as the boy was seen in Hiroshima more than once before. At Bowen’s advice, Dr. Kawaji confers with the aging Dr. Reisendorf in Frankfurt. Reisendorf tells Kawaji of the story of the Frankenstein Monster and its noted virtual immortality, due to the intake of protein. Reisendorf recommends cutting off the monster’s arm or leg, speculating that a new one will grow back. When relating this to his fellow scientists upon his return to Japan, Sueko strongly objects to this method, fearing that nothing may grow back. Even when Bowen suggests that they wait a little longer to think it over, Kawaji tenaciously attempts to sever one of the now-gigantic monster’s limbs. He is interrupted by a TV crew, whom Kawaji allows to film the monster, though they it enrage by shining bright studio lights at its face. The monster, heretofore known as “Frankenstein,” breaks loose and is on the run from the Japanese police. He even has a tender encounter with Sueko on the balcony of her apartment before he has to run away.

While Frankenstein is on the run, he travels to many places, from Okayama (where he eats more animals) to Mount Ibuki, where his primitive childlike activities (throwing trees at birds and trying to trap a wild boar) end in disaster.

But unbeknownst to Bowen and the scientists, Baragon, the monster Kawai saw earlier, goes on a rampage. Tunneling under the earth, he pops out and ravages villages, eating people and animals and leaving destruction in his wake. People believe this is Frankenstein’s doing, and the misunderstood monster is wrongly hunted down by the military, though narrowly escaping. Before Bowen and his assistants have no choice but to dismiss Frankenstein, Kawai returns to tell them that Frankenstein may not be responsible for the disasters; it could be the monster (Baragon) he saw in Akita! He tries to convince the authorities, but to no avail. Kawaji still wishes the scientists luck in finding Frankenstein.

Bowen, Sueko, and Kawaji then form a search party and venture into the forest in which they believe Frankenstein is hiding. But Kawaji, to the shock of Bowen and Sueko, then proceeds to attempt to kill him, believing that Frankenstein could be dangerous by his very nature, and not even Sueko could possibly tame him! He intends to blind him with chemical grenades and capture him to recover his heart and brain. Kawaji presses on to find Frankenstein, and instead finds Baragon! Kawaji and Bowen try in vain to stop the monster with the grenades, but it is about to eat Sueko, until Frankenstein comes to the rescue! The cataclysmic battle between the two giant monsters then begins.

Ending of course, with Frankenstein killing Baragon before being swallowed up by lava. However, since Frankenstein was revealed to be immortal, we know he’ll be back.

The Good

• I give credit for Toho thinking up a way to get Frankenstein’s monster to become Toho-sized, and linking up the monster to the perils of the atomic bomb.
• Toho actually tried something a bit different here (a giant monster without the rubber suit) and had a much deeper plot than the Godzilla movies of the same era. Toho’s production standards are a bit higher in this movie, also (not saying much, but it plays more like an American movie).
• There are many creepy and gory scenes (we finally find out what Toho monsters eat: farm animals and people!)
• The acting is good for a monster movie- the famous American Japanese actor Nick Adams and Kumi Mizuno.
• The Hiroshima angle at the beginning was great- it was a place where the Godzilla movies did not officially go to. In fact, there were great (fictional) Hiroshima hospital scenes 15 years after the bombing.
• Whereas Toho was making Godzilla a funny cheesy monster at the time, this movie is dark and serious (although it may not look like it from watching clips, it was very dark).
• Pretty wicked and long fight scenes.
• Composer Akira Ifukube is great at monster themes!

The Bad

• Like Toho’s King Kong, Toho’s Frankenstein just is similar in name to the version you’re most familiar with. Yes, of course they reference Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, but this clearly is not the same character.
• There’s a reason why Toho and other studios use rubber costumes for “giant” monsters. I didn’t see the illusion most of the time in this movie; I saw an actor running around ripping plants out of the ground that were supposed to be trees.
• I just didn’t feel an emotional attachment to Frankenstein. I actually wanted Baragon to win at the end.
• Speaking of Baragon, its body costume is great, but the face and eyes look cheesy.

Fun Facts

• Obviously the correct name is “Frankenstein’s monster”, but…well, it’s the movies.
• This is a “cult” movie for many monster fans outside the Godzilla fan club. It is consistently rated higher by monster fans than by movie critics.
• Was originally supposed to be Frankenstein vs Godzilla, but Toho became concerned about how goofy that would look. [ha]
• Of course, there were some legal issues with using Frankenstein’s monster.
• Baragon went on to appear in Godzilla movies…so…was this the same earth as Godzilla’s? Just like Rodan, Toho doesn’t come out and say it, and no character mentions Godzilla. Baragon’s subsequent appearances seem to show that he comes from a race of creatures, since this one died.
• Baragon’s origin is similar to other Toho monsters- he was a prehistoric dinosaur that was hibernating underground before being awakened (usually by atomic testing).
• This movie has an alternate ending featuring an octopus monster (maybe the same one from King King vs Godzilla), and different titles (Frankenstein vs Baragon, Japanese translations).
• This was an American and Japanese production crew.

Conclusion

Not as bad as you’d think, given the title and premise, but the theme and acting is all in earnest. At the end of the day, though, it’s just too weird to be taken seriously like the original Gojira or King Kong movies. I would only recommend this to freaky old-time monster fans or if you saw this movie when you were 6 years old and want a dose of nostalgia.

Trailer (English-dub, I saw the movie in sub-titles):

Posted in Review, entertainment, godzilla | 4 Comments »

Review: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Along with Mothra vs Godzilla, this movie was Toho’s 10th anniversary celebration of Godzilla on the silver screen. Although this movie is known for its famous firsts in Godzilla’s continuity, it also happens to be one of its silliest.

Plot

This is a mind-numbing plot…

A princess from Selgina, becomes possessed by the spirit of a Venusian and escapes a plane just as it explodes in an assassination attempt. A meteorite falls from the sky containing the space beast King Ghidorah (first appearance), who destroyed Venus ages ago. Godzilla (5th appearance) and Rodan (2nd appearance) emerge from “hibernation” and attack Japan and each other. [Rodan had been buried in Mount Aso since the 1956 Toho movie. The Venusian says that the volcanic gases resurrected him. Godzilla was last seen falling over a cliff after Mothras beat him.]

Mothra larvae (3rd appearance), along with her twin mini fairies (3rd appearance) [the faries said on nationwide TV that the 2nd larvae from the last movie passed away, thus there is only one Mothra larvae now], convince Godzilla and Rodan to stop fighting each other and to team up to fight Ghidiroh who has awakened and is destroying Japan. [Mothra actually TALKS to Godzilla and Rodan during one of the most ridiculous and cheesy fight scenes ever. Godzilla and Rodan TALK back and initially refuse to help defend humanity. Godzilla gives his reason: Humans BULLY him, and attack him for no reason! That's what The Hulk says, too!]

The princess, who has been acting as a doomsday prophet after being taken over by a spirit from Venus, is being hunted by a group of assassins for the whole movie. When the only living assassin is about to kill the princess (she is helped by a policeman and his reporter sister (nice)- the stars of the movie), King Ghidorah crushes him. Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra drive King Ghidorah off thanks to the Mothra larvae’s SILK WEBS!! Yes, the Mothra larvae beat Godzilla with it in the last movie, AND she beat King Ghidorah with it in this one! Spider-Man would be proud!!! The princess goes back to her country (she no longer is a Venusian) and Godzilla and Rodan watch Mothra swim back to Infant Island with the twin faeries.

The Good

• Well, King Ghidorah is awesome- the ultimate Godzilla villain, and it seems as if all of the budget went into his suit. He is hyper-active and destructive- three breath attacks and flight!!
• The Mothra larvae (a puppet) really showed emotion by charging King Ghidorah by herself to motivate Rodan and Godzilla, who were arguing.
• The movie wasn’t a total loss. Anytime I see my little faeries again and see King Ghidorah decimate cities, I’m happy.

The Bad

• Well it starts off as a sci-fi serious 1960’s movie, albeit strange (UFO’s and paranormal talk), but then becomes a joke. Godzilla and Rodan’s special effects are laughable. Godzilla and Rodan actually dance and play catch with boulders during their fight (which based on Rodan’s 1st appearance should have been a main event). One again, Godzilla’s tail is grabbed. His breath attack looks like and was a spray can. (Damn.)
• The sub-plot of the princess who was taken over by someone from Venus was distracting, and her assassins were bumbling. Total time killer.
• In one of the most anti-climatic battles at the end, after the “good monsters” beat up on King Ghidorah, he just…. kinda flies away.
• Truly a dark age for Godzilla in this era (called Showa Era). I never knew how lame the idea to turn him good was, and how poorly executed it was.
• The music- cool theme as always, but it was totally repetitive, and the rearranging did nothing to help give some variety to the score.
• Godzilla’s worst performance to date- was this a kid’s movie?…and Rodan- who was seemingly fast and invincible in 1956- is……..a rubber chicken.
• If 4 monsters are tearing up the world, don’t you think the assassins would fear that more than their master? Well, if they don’t fear Godzilla, than neither should we.

Fun Facts

• This movie is often sited for having some famous firsts in the Godzilla universe: it’s the first appearance of King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s nemesis; the first movie where Godzilla turns good; the first appearance of 4 monsters in one movie; the first time an outer space plot device was used; and it featured the 1st dream fight and team-up of Godzilla and Rodan.
• So…Rodan’s back, huh? After I spent all that time in my Rodan review showing that there was no evidence that Godzilla existed on Rodan’s earth…here he is…or she…because there were TWO Rodans buried in Mount Aso, remember? And they both fell into lava and died. Why would gas bring one back to life and not the other one? What happened to his super-sonic flight? What earth is this?

Conclusion

Overrated by many because it is a turning point in for the 1960’s Godzilla, and gets referenced so much, it drops the ball at so many levels. The first half, Mothra, and entrances of the monsters are enjoyable, but the cheese and comedy once the action gets going is insane. Godzilla turns good, but is totally weak in this movie.

An actual trailer which shows most of the boring subplot!!! (Another famous first?)

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Review: Godzilla GMK 2001 (Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack)

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is as close to perfect as a Godzilla movie can get. If not for some character changes, history revisions, and having spiritual explanations instead of strict sci-fi, this may have been better than 1954’s Gojira.

Plot:
On this alternate 2002 earth, Godzilla was defeated and killed by an unknown weapon as seen in 1954. However, in 1998 a monster attacked New York (an in-joke to the U.S. version). After a submarine disappears, with a giant animal attacking it, it looks like the past is coming back to haunt Japan. Admiral Taizo Tachibana (who lost his parents in the 1954 attack) is in charge of operations. His daughter Yuri Tachibana is filming a paranormal (X-Files-ish) documentary near Mt. Myoko, where a tremor struck. She spotted an old man in robes, who disappeares.

With a tunnel collapsing and rowdy teenagers getting killed, it seems as if monsters are here. Yuri chats with the old man-Professor Isayama- at a police station, who claims to be a prophet. He explains Godzilla’s return, and his TRUE ORGIN: although Godzilla was the product of nuclear weapons, he was also the collection of tormented souls from World War II. He also said that Japan has three guardian beasts, who have been resting after being defeated ages ago.

Eventually, Baragon, one of the guardians, and Godzilla fight fiercely. Godzilla kills him with his atomic breath, and rampages Japan.

To make a long story short and going from memory (sorry), Godzilla kills the newly awakened King Ghidorah and Mothra. Mothra’s spirit goes into Ghidorah, and creates a super version of each other. Godzilla defeats it, and then all three spirits (Baragon, Mothra, and Ghidorah) go into Godzilla. Weakened by this attack, Admiral Taizo Tachibana takes advantage and flies his D-03 down Godzilla’s throat. Boom! But Taizo lives and celebrates with his daughter at the end.

The last scene is ominous: Godzilla’ heart is still beating (no body) at the bottom of the sea.

The Good

• Technically, the best special effects and graphics of any Godzilla film.
• The admiral is a great character, and so is his daughter.
• Director Shūsuke Kaneko imprinted this movie with his creative vision.
• Godzilla is vicious, not silly, and this is a dead serious movie. Godzilla has no mercy- he took down a hospital after it appeared he would spare an injured woman who was in a bed.
• Godzilla is in his most powerful form.
• The movie seems fresh and new because this is only Godzilla’s 2nd appearance on this earth.
• The movie has deep parts- Japan’s youth of today has tried to forget or never know about the 1954 Godzilla attack (a symbol of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Godzilla is forgotten and not talked about by civilians. So, through analogy, some social problems of modern day Japan are expressed.
• The fight scenes are well-choreographed and not cheesy.
• Mothra really looks great, and she sacrificed herself twice!
• Ko Otani’s musical score.
• Pre-Cloverfield, we see the affects of monster’s rampages on the civilian populace. Very Astro City like.

The Bad

• King Ghidorah being a good guy and earth’s defender is offensive and insulting to me, even though this was an alternative earth. I can’t root for that dragon against Godzilla!
• Baragon looks like a giant dog. All of the other monsters look intimidating, but he looks like Clifford stomping around Tokyo.
• There was never a sequel to this (the other movies were set on different earths), and it seems unlikely Kaneko will try to fully bring Godzilla to its full potential in the future.

Fun Facts

• The spiritualism. In my opinion it has no place in a sci-fi movie like Godzilla. I realize this movie is an Elseworlds tale (out-of-continuity, giving the director freedom, and a new take on the character) but having Mothra’s spirit used for resurrection, power-ups, and as an attack was outside the bounds. I mean, here is Godzilla destroying the military and killing his 3 greatest enemies with relative ease, but they use magic allow the Admiral to blow him up.
• I still don’t get the “WWII souls” fueling Godzilla aspect. It felt like Akira or Legend of the Overmind- my Western mind doesn’t get it logically. I mean, my first reaction was they went the innocent civilians who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were powering and fueling Gozilla’s rage, but they didn’t quite say that in the movie. They said it was about anyone who died due to Japanese aggression during the war (both sides, I guess). So shouldn’t I be sympathizing with Godzilla if he’s a spirit of vengeance? Godzilla’s eyes are white, and he’s pretty mindless, and a killer. He breathes his atomic breath everywhere, just like 1954. So we weren’t supposed to root for him, and we pretty much wanted him to die…but I couldn’t.
• Although an in-joke claims that the 1998 U.S. Godzilla is in continuity with the 1954 movie, they are, in fact, incompatible. You’d think Mathew Broderick in 1998 would have mentioned that Godzilla brought Tokyo down previously, right? Perhaps when I review the 1998 TriStar movie, I can see if it can fit with the 1954 movie, but I don’t think so based on my memory.
• The director didn’t want to use those monsters as the guardians, but Toho insisted on using them for the box office names.

Conclusion

If not for the changed premises, which make this Godzilla too different than the original, this could be the perfect Godzilla movie. I highly recommend this movie to anyone, because I know many people aren’t interested in seeing the original 1954 black and white movie. This makes a great sequel to it, and for not having an outrageous budget, Toho and Kaneko make a smooth and technically great movie. Many people online peg this to be the best Godzilla movie ever, and I can see why.

A fan-produced trailer (starts at 0:20):

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Review: Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)

I saw this movie several times in my life from ages 5 to 18, and had found memories of Mothra’s Twin Fairies. When I was younger many “grown-up” Godzilla fanatics told me it was their favorite movie, and I saw the Mothra models in many comic books stores. However, many newer fans rip this movie to shreds because of Godzilla’s portrayal, and call it overrated. So let’s get to the bottom of this, DailySkew style.
Plot: A reporter (Sakai), female reporter (Junko), and professor (Miura) investigate a giant egg that washes onto shore after a typhoon. The entrepreneur of Happy Enterprises named Kumayama (kinda reminded me of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man) claims jurisdiction of the egg because he (kinda) bought it from the fisherman on the beach. He chases the three away, and says he wants to create an amusement park around the egg.

Mr. Torahata is the financier behind this project, and is even more corrupt than Kumayama. The three good people try to spy on them talking in the hotel. The Shojobin (two tiny fairy twins) explain to Torahata and Kumayama that they must return the egg to Infant Island, because it belongs to the natives’ god Mothra. The two evil guys try to capture these mini-girls but are unsuccessful. The Shojobin eventually find the three good people and explain their story, including the fact that if the egg hatches much destruction would occur, because the larvae will look for food.

Unfortunately, a reporter, photographer, and professor aren’t the law, and all they can do is sway public opinion. The fairies leave with Mothra, disappointed.

Meanwhile, Godzilla suddenly pops out of Kurada Beach, where (it is assumed) that he had been blown ashore by the typhoon and buried under mud for a while. Godzilla attacks Nagoya.

The editor of Sakai’s newspaper sends Sakai, Junko, and Miura to Infant Island to plead humanity’s case to get Mothra to fight Godzilla by defending her egg. Although the natives (the island is a wasteland due to atomic bomb testing) and fairies refused, Junko makes a passionate plea to change their mind, and Mothra agrees. However, the Shojobin explain that Mothra is on her deathbed and only has enough energy for a one-way trip.

The next day the two villains get into a fistfight over the money (since the amusement park is obviously a losing venture with Godzilla heading toward the egg) , and Torahata shoots Kumayama while Godzilla eventually destroys the hotel they were in, killing the evil Torahata as well.

Godzilla tries to destroy the egg, but Mothra comes to defend it. Mothra actually defeats Godzilla until Godzilla shoots his atomic breath ray directly at Mothra’s face. She had already poisoned Godzilla, and it seemed as if Mothra would still able to hold on to victory, but already run out of energy, she rests by the egg and dies. The twin fairies sing.

The military hit Godzilla with 300 million volts of artificial lightning, and bombarded him with missiles…and failed to stop him! The Shojobin continue singing and the monster egg finally hatches with two Mothra larvae! Both larvae follow Godzilla to Iwa Island (which had been evacuated except for schoolgirls and their teacher).

The larvae use their cocoon spray on Godzilla to wrap and blind him in a cocoon. The three heroes rescue the schoolgirls and their teacher. Godzilla manages to use his breath ray, but he struggles as he becomes fully wrapped up and plunges into the ocean, defeated. The Mothra larvae celebrate, and swim back to Infant Island with the fairies. The three heroes wave goodbye, and everyone celebrates Godzilla’s defeat.

The Good

• Pretty much everything. It’s all about expectations: at this time in 1964, Godzilla was in two straight movies that had bad reviews, and lost in both of them (Godzilla Raids Again and King Kong vs Godzilla).
• The pacing is great: the plot advanced within each scene and the characterization was funny.
• Akira Ifukube’s score is one of his finest. Many future movies reuse the themes in this movie. A++++

The Bad

• The reason why younger Godzilla fanatics hate the movie (or downgrade it) is because Godzilla seems drunk and is defeated by two worms shooting webs at him. Godzilla also doesn’t seem to have any motivation as he falls into buildings. Fanboys hate Godzilla being portrayed in such a poor manner. Of course, taken in historical context it makes sense: this was Mothra’s movie, so how could it be Godzilla’s best movie?
• Anytime another monster pulls Godzilla’s tail, I smell Swiss cheese after I left the plastic bag open in the fridge. Godzilla’s eyebrows were also corny.
• At this point the citizens in Godzilla’s universe are used to monsters and there’s not a whole lot of true fear of Godzilla anymore. Case in point: One of the villain’s lackeys says he’s more afraid of his boss than Godzilla.

Fun Facts

• This is Mothra’s 2nd movie (the first was her own feature film in 1961).
• When released in U.S. theaters, the advertisements kept Mothra’s identity a secret and it was retitled Godzilla vs The Thing, which created unrealistic expectations.
• In a future post I will go into Godzilla movie continuity more, but let’s see if it makes sense: 1) Godzilla 1954 dies; 2) A 2nd one fights Angilas and is buried under snow on an island.; 3) Godzilla breaks free from an iceberg and is weak against electricity; he falls into the sea with King Kong victorious; 4) Godzilla pops out of a beach after a typhoon. It could be argued there are 2-4 Godzillas in the first 4 movies.
  
• The 1960’s was a very creative and experimental era, and so I deduct no points for special effects ( a lot of hard work went into them) or the two little fairies.

Conclusion: There’s no shame to have this be your favorite older Godzilla movie; it’s fun and enjoyable. Remember folks, it’s MOTHRA vs Godzilla in the Japanese title, not the other way around. As long as you go into the movie with the right expectations (this was a movie with Mothra as the lead star, Godzilla is an evil monster who will take the dive, it takes 45 minutes or more before Godzilla pops out) you can sit back and enjoy the plot and fight scenes.

Japanese trailer (no sub-titles):