Terror Of Mechagodzilla

Excellent ending shot for the entire Showa series.

It's a real shame that this is the most least succesful Godzilla movie to this day, cause it is a decent ending to it all. The year is 1975, Godzilla has been on screens for over 20 years, and the energy crisis has hit Japan leading Toho to make just one more Godzilla movie. And in that time and place in the world it was the last, the Heisei series didn't pick up until 9 years later so for all intents and purposes this was the final Godzilla film. It was the final film of the series directed by Ishiro Honda, and was also the final appearance of Akira Takarada playing one more scientist role. The story follows a marine biologist who is sent to investigate the appearance of a dinosaur named Titanosaurus, while Mechagodzilla is rebuilt and both forces start to take on Japan. The strange part is this film is the first and only entry to focus on a romance, sure there have been couples and young people going out but it's never been this prominent and in the foreground, with our biologist Ishinose falling in love with Katsura the daughter of the scientist who discovered Titanosaurus. It's not a terribly good romance, Ishinose just seems completely whipped for this lady with little provocation and the story of Katsura is quite tragic and apparently this was only one of two Godzilla movies that had a female who wrote the screenplay, and had a good amount of the story focused on Katsura. So the human story is decent, I don't like it as much as the first Mechagodzilla movie but it does work. Seeing the opposite of what happened in the last movie with Godzilla in a big handicapped match against two other monsters is really good stuff, though the monster action isn't very abundant. It does however have the best Godzilla entrance ever, fight me this is no hot take, I'm right. It never fails to get me pumped and ready, it is all the awesome and greatness. And while the box office was lacking big time, the production is very well done and does not feel like just another average Godzilla movie to cap off the series. It truly was great fun to go through all of these movies, and I'm kinda sorta tempted to do a ranking list just for the fun of it tomorrow, I just really loved talking about all these movies. But for this one I'd give it a solid 3 stars, 7/10! And now that I have done over a month of talking about nothing but Godzilla it's time to move on, but very much like the ending of this film it's just a break before we return again to the empire of the rising sun with the king of the monsters surveying all in his domain. And it has come to my attention today that a certain movie just hit theaters and to apologize for my lateness, get ready for a week of MORTAL KOMBAAAAAT!!!!

All Monster's Attack

One of the most attacked entries in the series, and was my personal favorite when I was young a long time ago.

I have a lot to explain and unpack. As I stated before, I haven't seen a lot of the Showa series. Before I started the Criterion set I only saw maybe seven, and you may know of this DVD set when I talk about it but when I was very young, I can't have even been 9 at the time I begged my Nan to buy this Godzilla set. It included Godzilla, Mothra Vs. Godzilla, Godzilla's Revenge, Terror Of Mechagodzilla, and as a bonus included Rodan. I was a big Godzilla fan and watched those DVD's countless times, but my absolute favorite was Godzilla's Revenge or All Monster's Attack as it's known in Japan. It's been nearly 20 years since I have watched it and it brought back a lot of memories, and I want to go on the record and say the japanese version is not bad. Not with a capital N. The english dub...is trash. Turrible, it's turrible. Stick to the original. The story follows a young boy named Ichiro who is a huge kaiju fan and is pestered by a group of bigger kids, he doesn't have many friends and spends time daydreaming about Monster Island where he can hang out with Minilla and Godzilla. Ishiro Honda directed this surprisingly, but brings his analytical eye to a rising thing that was occuring in Japan at that time that is still felt today. In the movie Ichiro doesn't spend a lot of time with his parents, his dad is a train conductor and his mom is a hostess, and most days after school he's on his own. Looking back that says a lot about why this was my favorite, it was very relatable to my life. I did have bullies, I did spend lots of time alone, I was a Godzilla fan, I did spend days after school on my own at the house even at such a young age. It wasn't a problem at all and I certainly don't hold grievances with my mom about it, nothing bad ever happened, but it was the way it was. Plus this had the most monster fights, sure now I know it's blatant stock footage from Ebirah and Son Of Godzilla but I had no idea those movies existed until later so this was my first exposure to Ebirah, Kamacuras, Kumonga, even that condor thing. I thought it was awesome! So I truly cannot hate on this movie even now after my own tastes and sensibilities have changed, because I remember it in such a positive light. I like the real world stuff with Ichiro, just seeing life from the perspective of a child at that time and place in the world is so damn interesting. The new monster stuff isn't bad though it is very scarce in this barely over 1 hour movie. Yes, you read that right. The total runtime is 1 hour and 9 minutes. But let me tell you, it did not feel that short back then. I did miss that wild ass jazz intro for the opening titles, but no matter which version you see that song will get stuck in your head for a minute, and the lyrics contain a subject that will be explicitly abundant in the next film. This movie, believe it or not, has a lot of thought provoking stuff, more so about social situations than anything. The film brings up bullying in a less intense fashion, and you could see the resolution of it in either a positive or negative way. Personally I was just thinking how much the world has changed since this movie. Parents whether single or married were working more, leaving kids to themselves at home, that's probably more prevalent now than ever. There's a throwaway line about a computer that could do homework, back then it was wishful thinking but now? Holy f*** how far we have come! The fact that Ichiro is looked after by a neighbor who actually invents toys is so different, I mean around that same time when I was that age I think the notion hit America that you need to keep a closer eye on your kids in that day and age especially if you were in a big city like me, I don't think I could trust my neighbors to look after my dirty laundry let alone a child. Geez, watching this movie has brought a plethora of different thoughts and memories to me, and I can't lie and have to admit I did enjoy my viewing of it after all this time. It's no masterpiece, but a pivotal part of why I am a Godzilla fan to this day, and I must pay it my respects for that. 2.5 stars, 5.5/10, and now we start winding down with only five entries left to review. Walks down memory lane is the only exercise I get.

Destroy All Monsters

Yes the "final" entry in the Godzilla series. Short but sweet I'd say.

I mean would Destroy All Monsters be the grand epic finale if it really was? Eh, it does a good job but it's no surprise that because this movie did so well the studio did a 180° and started cranking out more Godzilla movies. It's the last dream team entry of the entire series from Showa to Reiwa, Tanaka is producing, Honda is directing, Ifukube composes, and Tsuburaya does effects, and it really does show. I know some people give this movie a bit of flak because it's not the monster royal rumble but in all seriousness the pacing was excellent, for an hour and a half movie it barely feels like an hour long. You do get a good moderate amount of Kaiju action, from military scenes, to city destruction, to the big fight, so they got their bases covered and all is done very well. The story takes place in the futuristic year of 1999 where mankind has set a base on the moon, technology is pretty close to where we are now, and all the monsters have been rounded up (Somehow?) on Monsterland. But all goes to hell pretty quick when the Monsterland outpost is attacked, in such a fashion I was half expecting Cesar Romero or Frank Gorshin to be behind it, but no an alien species known as the Kilaak's have plans on what else? Taking over the world. OF COURSE! They quickly take control of the monsters and start an international attack on major cities, Rodan in Moscow, Mothra in Beijing, Godzilla in New York yes it's way better than the 98' version, leading the humans to thwart the aliens once more. Again, not a horrible plot though heavily similar to Invasion Of The Astro Monster, but I am happy the series continued on past this. The plot focuses more on the human aspect but it's not at all dull, there's always something going on whether it be shoot out's, new developments on the human's plans, space travel to the Kilaak base, it keeps you engaged. The monster stuff is handled very well too, with a greatly improved Godzilla suit, you get all new monsters added to this series that have been in other Toho movies like Varan and Baragon and Manda, the destruction scenes are good but of course the major highlight is the fight against King Ghidorah near Mt. Fuji and for good reason. The kaiju have their own unique attack styles, the fight goes for a decent length, it's hardly fair for Ghidorah and he gets curb stomped to death, it's good stuff. This movie easily has my favorite of all the opening titles so far, which is just an excuse for me to say Akira Ifukube is a master of his craft. Though the plot is familiar there's enough there to not just dismiss it as old hat, and you can tell every aspect got some serious attention in production. Some people say just watch the end, but I very much advise against it because it is a solid entry. I give it 3 stars, 7/10, and we are more than halfway there. 6 to go, and another step towards a lifelong goal will be accomplished.

Invasion Of Astro Monster

Or pick whatever title you want, Monster Zero, Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero, it's a dime a dozen for these Godzilla movie titles.

Out of the Showa era, this is probably my favorite of the King Ghidorah entries. Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster was good, do not get me wrong and you could argue this could be a remake of that movie with a lot more sci-fi in it. The year is 196X, yeah back when movies had to be vague and stuff like this could actually happen, two astronauts voyage to a previously unknown planet orbiting Jupiter brilliantly named Planet X, we get one more and this will be the first Godzilla movie with a XXX (hoo-hoo), where an alien species makes first contact with Earth and requests their assistance. The aliens are attacked by Monster Zero or the kaiju formerly known as Ghidorah, and they want both Godzilla and Rodan to defeat it in exchange for the literal cure for cancer. We're not science fiction we are in fact, science fact over here at Toho. This movie was released in 1965, man had not yet landed on the moon but we're taking manned flights to Jupiter. I would be 86 years old and we still wouldn't have gotten to that point. Hell Star Trek wasn't even out yet, those 60s was the space age man. I was very happy to rewatch this movie again and to see it in it's native japanese was really nice. One curious thing to note is an american actor, Nick Adams was put in the movie for better international releases yet this is the only occurence at least in my memory that such a thing has occured in a Godzilla film. And even more so strange, he was dubbed in the japanese version which okay fine this is the edit for audiences in Japan, but that's never occured in another movie. I expected english audio with perhaps japanese subtitles, like when I watch something like Shin Godzilla with the japanese audio but english subtitles. Huh, how about that. I watch these to fully experience the performances sans dubbing, and yet I get dubbing in the original version. Blows my mind man. But enough of that, how's the rest? Pretty good, performances are really good, I like the designs of the spaceships and aliens, it's really friggin' cool to see Godzilla fight in outer space, I mean this is the movie that gives us the Godzilla victory dance for crying out loud, it's just a fascinating entry. And while the alien invaders plotline will get so dull even you'll want me to say something else happens, and this is where stock footage is first used albeit sparingly, I can't give this movie any good grief. It's solid, they play their cards right and still make a entertaining, special effects heavy, monster movie that doesn't go too weird or too quick. Keep in mind, weird is highly relative when it comes to this show. 3.5 stars, 7/10, and the directorial chair will be swapped out for Jun Fukuda next time.

King Kong Vs. Godzilla

I find it so bizzare that the Criterion Collection release has the english dub and not the original japanese release. Cause every other film is in native japanese so it's the black sheep of the set.

However I found out, 45 minutes into the american dub by the by, that it does include the japanese cut. On the bonus disc. And I will state right now I am so happy I watched the japanese version, now obviously I don't have a stigma toward english dubs of Godzilla movies, they practically introduced me to this genre, nor am I a snob and say, "Well the japanese version is obviously better." but I had way more fun and got more enjoyment out of it in the japanese cut. Like I said, I haven't seen most of the Showa era films so I have no nostalgic ties to english dubs, and I mainly want to experience it how audiences in Japan would have. So that's my whole tangent on that, how's the movie? Absurd but highly entertaining, a classic in it's own right, not only the most attended Godzilla film ever but one of the most succesful box office films in japanese cinematic history. The story involves a pharmaceutical company who hear of a specific berry found on an island, and quickly find out the island is home to King Kong. Meanwhile the iceberg that contained Godzilla for 7 years melts away and the king of the monsters does what he does best. Somehow, I don't know or never will know how, they craft a raft for Kong and bring him to the mainland and pretty soon the bets are on to see who wins the fight of the century. There's more to it of course, even a fair amount of satire produced by Ishiro Honda concerning television programmes and their sponsors which is pretty sad to say it still holds up all this time later. I dare you to say television companies wouldn't capitalize on two monsters brawling. But despite it's more outlandish moments like Kong being transported via weather balloon, or the fact that when the, and I want you to pay attention here, pharmaceutical company meets the natives of Kong's island and gives them cigarettes including to a child, or that electricity powers King Kong up and I quote, "Like Popeye with his spinach", it's still a very good and greatly entertaining film. The effects look great, from the octopus attack that literally was done by a real octopus, to the miniatures, this Godzilla suit is my third favorite from the Showa Era, and while Kong looks like ass it still works for me. And I wasn't twiddling my thumbs waiting for the human scenes to end, I thought the human plot was quite good and I do like these characters. It's a hit for sure, but I think maybe even more so than the 70s Godzilla movies, this is the movie where it depends the most on how far you can stretch your suspension of disbelief. If you can't roll with even a smidge of what I disclosed to you here, you're not gonna like it even a bit. If you can, oh boy you gonna have a real grand time good buddy. I loved it, truthfully and fully, I can't wait to see what they do with it in the new one, I'm so happy I own it. 4 stars, 8/10! Rematch, here we come.

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster

I love this week.

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster set a massive precedent for the series, not only giving us the ultimate villain to Godzilla, not only slowly making Godzilla a hero, but also giving us the monster bash formula. This isn't a verus movie where it's one on one, we have 4 monsters just going at it in awesome and unique ways which I'll get to later. The plot is a more interesting tale than usual, with a Princess of...some nationality, I'm not quite sure what that's about because, Japan is a parliamentary government much like Great Britain and though they do have an Emperor it's more for ceremony, and they keep bringing up that she's japanese, so I have no clue how that works. Then again, I'm trying to bring logic in a movie where men fight in rubber monster suits so maybe I shouldn't think about it too hard. Even more evidence to that fact, the Princess is soon taken over by an alien host I...think, it's kinda hard to tell, who can predict the future and says a world destroying space dragon is soon to arrive in Japan. Some more reporters take notice of this and try to get Mothra to help again to defend the Earth since both Godzilla and Rodan have no real love for humans. Oh it gets weirder! It's a lot of weirdness to digest but I swear to you what I write next is not a joke, with nary a drop of exaggeration or comedic intent, it is the hard truth. Mothra's twin fairies appear on a television talk show and not only do they have the whole audience go on a mental journey unlike Ace Ventura in When Nature Calls but also pals around with our reporters and agrees to call Mothra in to help team Godzilla and Rodan together. This. Is. Amazing. Yet it works, like my biggest hold up was the whole talk show thing like why, how, are they Mothra's managers, what is happening?? But the human story isn't half bad and is original if nothing else! The monster side of things mostly doesn't kick off for awhiles but they spend their time wisely on each monster, Godzilla and Rodan fight for a bit like bickering siblings before Mothra comes in and gets them to play nice. But I like it, it's entertaining and even kinda got me pumped in a few instances! Rodan does a spectacular literal flying body slam and that was the highlight for me. Rodan alone is pretty badass in this movie, floors Ghidrah's ass, takes some atomic breath to the face and doesn't even blink, he's pretty awesome. Mothra is still a larva in this movie so she isn't really a match for Ghidrah on her own, but I surprisingly find her flipping adorable in this movie. I don't know, but just the fact she kinda gets carried up a hill by Godzilla and piggy back rides on Rodan just puts such a huge smile on my face, it's the sappiest most outrageous thing ever but I just love it. Godzilla also plays a mean game of volleyball with Rodan but I'm getting off track here. And Godzilla's design is still very good, riding the edge of hero of Japan and symbol of nuclear destruction, and it works quite well. And then we have our title character Ghidrah who is one of the most impressively designed both in art and execution kaiju ever, and a perfect antagonist to Godzilla for decades to come, golden scaled, massive size, devastating gravity beams, and the noticeable inclusion of three heads make this monster world known. There's also some other things I wanted to point out before we wrap this review up, we actually are given a new song by the fairies and it's an awful nice song and honestly could be covered today in Japan and be played on the radio but that's something I expect from the Ito sisters who were popular singers in Japan during this time and it kinda saddens me how this was their last Godzilla movie. We also have a Toho alumni, inbetween appearances of Kurosawa's movies Takashi Shimura! I was stunned to see him again in a Godzilla movie though he doesn't play the same character in the original and Godzilla Raids Again, I didn't care it was just great to see him again! So yeah Ghidrah is one of the more out there entries but it's hard not to enjoy, it has an interesting story, good characters, and some creative and great monster rumbles. Again I saw this as the original japanese version, I had to get a free weekly trial of Starz to review it and they actually have a very good selection of the Showa era and is only missing 5 out of the first 15 so it's worth it. Next time we jump all the way to 1991 with quite possibly my most watched Godzilla movie of all time.

Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964)

Ohhhh yeahhhh!!

You knew it was coming, there's a new Godzilla movie out Friday it's time again to dive into the kaiju action! And we start with one of the shining films of the early Showa era, a beloved fan favorite, and it deserves the credit. Godzilla Vs. Mothra is a great movie in the Godzilla series, with excellent production design, a good human story, a pretty good share of both monster and military action, with the return of the winged goddess herself Mothra and one of the best designed Godzilla suits ever made. This does have sentimental value for me cause waaaaay back, before I was even 9 years old I owned this movie and three other Godzilla movies on DVD, so watching it again not only put a smile on my face but brought back good memories. It has a simple story but it's more about execution than really anything in a kaiju movie, a massive monster eggs gets swept away in a typhoon and lands on japanese soil, and a greedy buisnessman takes possesion of the egg even after he's made well aware it's the egg of Mothra. People all over the city wonder what the egg could contain and that's where our main characters come in who are reporters, but soon Godzilla emerges and causes devestation in his wake while our heroes try to get Mothra to fight him. So it's one of the good entries of the series where the humans have a significant stance on the story and it doesn't feel like filler. The monster side of things is exemplary, with better production value after Toho gained major financial results after King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the Godzilla suit itself has one of it's best redesigns already after a great design in the last, and the sets and miniatures are greatly done and most of them are in broad daylight with little to no faults in them. Mothra herself is a formidable opponent for Godzilla and isn't a pushover, with a lovely design and as far to my knowledge the first instance of her theme which is wonderful and only got better in the Heisei series in my opinion. Plus you can't bring up Mothra without mentioning her twin fairies that she guards, and the way they handle the special effects of their mini size must be commended, and I wonder if they will take some shape or form in the new Godzilla movie. It's a fan favorite and highly regarded for a reason, it does everything right in all aspects and entertains everybody regardless of age. You can obtain a copy of the movie easily on Amazon, or you can rent it, or if you know the right places watch it for free and it's worth it. The copy I reviewed was the japanese version, though I had the english dub way back in the day and I think both versions are very good. The next one we talk about however is one even I haven't got to which is surprising because it is the movie that introduced not only Godzilla's archnemesis but also the monster rumble we would see in many other future sequels. Until next time G-fans!

Godzilla (1954)

Well I did say I wanted a monster movie, so how about the original King of the Monsters, Godzilla!

The original Godzilla made in 1954, directed by acclaimed Japanese director Ishiro Honda is a not so typical monster movie focusing more on human emotions and their consequences on testing nuclear weapons. The story of the movie follows mysterious disappearances of fishing boats and the subsequent investigation soon discovering a giant prehistoric monster mutated by testing of underwater atomic bombs, and the destruction that this famous monster wreaks on Japan and the humans efforts to try and destroy the beast once and for all. The main shining point of this movie besides the incredible special effects of Eiji Tsubaraya and the King of the Monsters himself is the outstanding cast of characters. We have Takashi Shimura as our main lead who is father to a young woman played by Momoko Kochi, who has been engaged to a strange and mysterious scientist played by Akihiko Harata who has actually developed a weapon that could kill Godzilla but because of it's terrible power of destruction he is hesitant to use it, thinking it could be used as a weapon more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. Suprisingly, there is lots of human conflict in this movie but only once is it physical. It's more of an internal conflict based on how the characters are dealing with the situation and what they should do next. It's a very well made film, with great acting, outstanding effects, memorable music by Akira Ifukube, gritty cinematography, and an overall foreboding mood. The film is very dark, treating it's subject matter completely seriously, we see Godzilla trample through several cities but after that we see the disturbing aftermath of it all. We see hundreds of people in a hospital, people dying, families embracing knowing that their lives will end soon, a memorial chorus for the dead, and so very much more. It is nothing like the Godzilla movies made in the 60s and the 70s where they were more campy and made for kids. This is the best Godzilla film ever made, and if you have never seen a Godzilla movie before, this is the one you need to watch. And if you don't even know what he looks like, it makes the movie even better because you don't see him at all until past the twenty minute mark, and it builds this suspense as to what this creature looks like. I love it. This is a truly remarkable film that many more people should see. And here's a fun fact: This movie premiered in the United States on April 27th, 1955. 40 years to the day before I was born! That makes me proud! So if you want to buy this movie, buy only one version which is The Criterion Collection. Best version you can buy, worth every dollar, go see this movie. See you next time.