Aliens Among Us Were Godzilla real, conspiracies would follow. That’s human nature. As Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster opens, UFO watchers sit on a rooftop, hoping for an intergalactic …
No Banana Oil Here Godzilla Raids Again’s opening act captures a snapshot of post-war Japan. Rather than Godzilla representing an actual nuclear force, Godzilla Raids Again positions the beast …
Floundering On Repeat Viewings Note: The following essay contains spoilers. Our original theatrical review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters is safe, although different in conclusion. The Oxygen Destroyer …
Giant Moth Stomps Capitalism Beside Godzilla, Mothra stands as director Ishiro Honda’s most accusatory giant monster film. Borrowing from the lineage of King Kong, Honda makes Mothra Japan’s own, …
Earning the Crown Dropping Gareth Edwards’ 2014 near arthouse take on giant monsters, the follow-up concentrates on national anxieties. This sequel engorges on desperate American feeling and dialogs. Godzilla’s …
Not This Again Home studio Toho made mistakes with Godzilla. Born from radioactive fire and analogizing nuclear war, by the ‘70s, Godzilla actively defended the use of nukes. Luckily, …
Enjoyment Eater Science failed in defeating Godzilla. A nanometal city – a stand-in of sorts for popular monster Mechagodzilla – was obliterated in the last chapter of this anime …
On the Edge of Boredom Unlike The Happening, where trees became sentient and began killing people, City on the Edge of Battle finds the entire Earth becoming empathetic to …
In the late ‘60s and throughout the ‘70s, Godzilla became Earth’s defender. It’s assumed Godzilla protected humans as much as the planet, battling alien cockroaches, mechanized space weapons, and …
Stirring Critical of its home government but still riled up by nationalism, this smart take on an over 60 year-old screen monster is striking. Shin Godzilla offers spectacle alongside …
Ferocious Screaming with satirical energy and widening into a spectacle of international urgency, Japan’s returning film export brings about a muscular, cultural film. As often iterated by the series, …