GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019) Review [Spoiler Free]

Godzilla King Of The Monsters by Legendary Pictures
Directed by Michael Dougherty 
Review by Kyle Yount

It’s been almost exactly five years since Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla (2014) stomped onto screens across the globe. Five long years of which kaiju fans have been somewhat patiently waiting for the sequel.

That wait is over, and in this fan’s opinion, the wait was worth it.

Is it a perfect movie? Of course not. There are flaws, and I’ll get to those in a bit, but when I walked out of the theater after my first viewing, I was filled with was a strange mixture of relief and elation.

Bringing Godzilla back to the big screen is a tricky thing. Because the King has played so many roles over the years, who’s to say his origin can’t be rewritten or retooled as needed  — as Legendary has done in this modern series. Let’s be clear. This is not the Japanese Godzilla. Neither is this a Japanese-style Godzilla movie… and thank goodness for that, right? I don’t think that’s what I want from Legendary Pictures’ Monsterverse anyway. This is a Hollywood blockbuster film with giant monsters and while there are many, many nods to the original series and elements of the plot are even derived from the Japanese originals, Godzilla King of the Monsters is an American movie with big budget Hollywood style to it.  Read the rest of this entry »

05.31.2019: Godzilla King of the Monsters News Roundup

Oh man, so much news I don’t even have the time to write a catchy intro paragraph – follow those links people!!

MUSIC:
1. Last Shot by Alexander Desplat from Godzilla (2014)

SUGGESTED VIEWING:
International Posters
Cinerama Dome
Chinese Premier Photos (giant Godzilla statue and displays)
Toho at the Licensing Expo (coming up June 4-6; I was wrong about the dates)
Japanese Press event at Toho
SciFi Japan Directory of all Godzilla King of the Monsters Merchandise
Chibi Godzilla toys from China
SH Monsterarts Godzilla King of the Monsters Figures
Marmit Exclusive King Ghidorah
Marmit Exclusive Godzilla ’91
Godzilla Defense Force Mobile game
PUBG Mobile Godzilla Tie-In
Godzilla vs Evangelion Tie-In at Universal Studios Osaka
Duffy, if you were wondering…
Shinpei Hayashiya REIGO & RAIGA films getting US Distribution
Mill Creek Entertainment to release Mothra (1961)
– Scifi Japan’s article about the release
Ultraman Archives Project – Episode 14 “Tokyo Ice Age”
BOSS Coffee Godzilla Commercial
– and the teaser for that commercial!!!

CATASTROPHIC EVENTS
Get out to these events if you can!
5/31 Summit Kaiju Godzilla Charity Fundraiser in Denver, CO
5/31 – Godzilla King Of The Monsters Tailgate Party at COMIC BOOK JONES in Staten Island, NY
5/31 – 6/1 Richmond Galaxy Con with Gamera vs Viras actor Carl Craig & King Kong Escapes Actress Linda Miller in Richmond, VA
6/1 – 65 YEARS OF GODZILLA: Godzilla Invades New Hartford, NY!
6/13 – 6/16 Anime Matsuri in Houston, TX with THE GODZILLA STORE and much more!
6/28 GODZILLA-PALOOZA in Lehighton, PA
7/5 – 7/7 Days of the Dead Indianapolis with Godzilla actor Kenpachiro Satsuma
7/12 – 7/14 G-FEST XXVI in Chicago, IL
8/16 – 8/18 Japan World Heroes in Pasadena, CA
8/23 – 8/25 GodzillaFest in San Francisco, CA
8/30 – 9/1 Days of the Dead Louisville with Mizuho Yoshida in Louisville Kentucky

NEW KAIJUCAST CONTEST

We’ve launched the Kaijucast Godzilla Meme of the Monsters Challenge and we want to LOL at your meme-ery! Make sure to check out the contest page for more details on how you can win one of our Godzilla King of the Monsters prize packs.

DAIKAIJU DISCUSSION
We are handing out the final homework assignment for the daikaiju discussion segment and it’s for the brand new Legendary Pictures Monsterverse epic, Godzilla King of the Monsters. We know that just about every Godzilla fan is going to get out there and see this as soon as they are able, and we expect a lot of you to send in your homework – here’s some extra credit for you: what was your favorite moment from the movie? Side note: Dave wanted to make sure you all know that the film wants to be seen on the biggest screen possible! Please have your homework turned in by June 21st to have it included in the episode.

CONTEST: Meme of the Monsters Challenge!

SHOW US YOUR MEMES

That’s right, people – it’s contest time again!!

One of the best things about Godzilla movies is how fun they can be, so we’re inviting our listeners to send in their best, funniest and funnest moments of their own kaiju-filled lives – or from the legacy of Godzilla’s films, in the format of the classic meme.

We don’t care how you make the meme, (either thru your own app/software or one of the online meme generators out there) but we all want to LOL at your creation.

Below are some examples – and NO, Clancy will NOT be allowed to enter the contest ?

This contest runs from Friday, May 30th thru Monday June 30th. The winners will be announced on the podcast, immediately followed by social media posts.

Don’t forget to go see Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla King of the Monsters, opening in theaters everywhere on May 31: SUMMER STARTS NOW

Head over to the contest page now for all the details!

05.14.2019: The Ultraman Anime Episode

With all of this Ultra-coverage happening around here, we decided that we should strike while the iron is hot and this episode of the Kaijucast is covering the 13-episode Netflix anime series based on the 2012 manga, Ultraman!

Gretchen and Kyle are essentially sitting down to chat about the strengths and weaknesses of the series, and while we would love to have made this an insanely deep dive into this series, it seems the the Ultra historians haven’t unpacked all of what the show has to offer – it was only released a month and a half ago, after all.

Regardless, this series is a lot of fun and, while it is not really even close to being perfect, we measure its success against other rebooted anime and pop-culture properties from recent years. Probably the most important takeaway (please do listen to the full episode too!) is that we’re excited to see the story continue.

M78 ULTRA-MUSIC:
1. Dan Moroboshi’s Theme by Nobuko Toda & Kazuma Jinnouchi from Ultraman (2019)
2. English language trailer for Ultraman (2019)
3. Hero Battle by Nobuko Toda & Kazuma Jinnouchi from Ultraman (2019)

SUGGESTED VIEWING:
Ultraman Anime Official Website
Ultraman (2019) On Netflix
Ultraman Manga via Viz Entertainment
Ultraman The Adventure Begins

CATASTROPHIC EVENTS:
5/21 Portland Horror Trivia Massacre vs Godzilla in Portland, OR
5/28 PhilaMOCA’s Tokusatsu Tuesday May Edition in Philadelphia, PA
5/31 – 6/1 Richmond GalaxyCon in Richmond, VA with Gamera vs Viras actor Carl Craig
6/13 – 6/16 Anime Matsuri in Houston, TX with THE GODZILLA STORE and much more!
7/5 – 7/7 Days of the Dead Indianapolis in Indianapolis, IN with Godzilla suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma
7/12 – 7/14 G-FEST XXIV in Chicago, IL with too many awesome things to list in one line!
8/16 – 8/18 Japan World Heroes in Pasadena, CA with Shinji Nishikawa, Tsutomu Kitagawa, Carl Craig, Linda Miller & many more!
8/30 – 9/1 Days of the Dead Louisville in Louisville, KY with GMK suit actor Mizuho Yoshida

 

CURRENT MERCH RUNS:
Don’t miss out on our 10th anniversary poster designed by Mondo artist Tom Whalen now in stock and available until we sell out (limited run of 100) and starting this month, we’ve opened a preorder for the 10th anniversary design for our T-Shirt Of The Month club — and we’re offering it on two different styles: on plain white -or- a Baseball-style raglan shirt with blue sleeves. Don’t delay; the pre-order window closes on May 31st!

 

04.30.2019: The Ultraman Episode

You wanted it, you got it! Or, maybe I should say that I wanted it, so I made it. That’s right, Ultra fiends, we are talking about the 1966  television show, created by the same special effects director that brought Godzilla to life, Eiji Tsuburaya. We are covering Ultraman (1966) and it’s about freakin’ time, right? Originally, I was planning on putting this together for Ultraman’s 50th anniversary, but the Godzilla has his own plan for it. Here it is, almost three years late – but hopefully you’ll agree it’s worth the wait.

In this episode, we welcome back the author of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, August Ragone to tell us about the genesis of the Ultraman. Make sure to check out his book (as mentioned above) and some of the links below.  Additionally, I asked several co-hosts to take part in this episode’s discussion segment.

This discussion features Rachel, who we all know loves Pigmon, and Dave who lucky enough to watch Ultraman as a kid, but when Charles who’d never seen Ultraman, voiced interest in joining the episode, I welcomed the opportunity to have the newbie reaction.

Similar to our Ultra Q episode, we cannot cover all 39 episodes of Ultraman in one episode of the Kaijucast. We’ve each chosen two episodes to highlight  – thankfully two of the episodes overlapped! The episodes covered in this episode are as follows:

Episode 2: DEFEAT THE INVADERS/SHOOT THE INVADERS featuring Alien Baltan
Episode 8: LAWLESS MONSTER ZONE featuring Red King, Chandlar, Magular & Pigmon
Episode 11: RUFFIAN FROM OUTER SPACE featuring Gyango
Episode 13: OIL SOS featuring Pestar
Episode: 28 HUMAN SPECIMENS 5 & 6 featuring Alien Dada
Episode: 35 MONSTER GRAVEYARD featuring Seabozu
Episode 37: THE LITTLE HERO featuring Geronimon, Pigmon, Dorako & Telesdon

ULTRAMUSIC:
1. Ultraman Theme Song performed by Animetal from Animetal Marathon 3: Tsuburaya Edition (1998)
2. Theme of the Science Patrol (Vocal Version)by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966
3. Ultraman’s Color Time audio clip from the English dub of Ultraman (1966)
4. Go Go Go Ultraman by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
5. Kaiju Booska Theme by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Kaiju Booska (1966)
– Plus the episode wouldn’t be the same with out the following (used as background music)
6. Shoot the Invader by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
7. Lawless Zone of Monsters by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
8. Rogue and Magic Stone from Spaceby Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
9. Theme of the Science Patrolby Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
10. Little Heroby Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
11. Human Specimen 5 and 6by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
12. The Monster Graveyardby Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)
13. A Little Hero by Kuniyo Miyauchi from Ultraman (1966)

SUGGESTED VIEWING:
Tsuburaya wins victory in court to sell Ultraman overseas
Our Ultra Q Coverage with August Ragone (in episode 16)
Our Ultra Q Coverage with August Ragone (in episode 258)
Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters (August’s book)
The Good, The Bad and Godzilla (August’s Blog)
August Ragone on Twitter

MERCH HAWKING:
T-shirt Of The Month Club for May: Tom Whalen’s design
Kaijucast 10th Anniversary Poster by MONDO artist Tom Whalen