AKA: Godzilla on Monster Island Director: Fukuda Jun Cast: Ishikawa Hiroshi, Umeda Tomoko, Hishimi Yuriko, Takashima Minoru, Fujita Zan, Nishizawa Toshiaki, Nakajima Harou, Satsuma Kenpachiro Running Time: 89 min. By Ian Whittle Godzilla vs Gigan generally doesn’t get a good reception from G-fans, who dislike the Scooby Doo-ish human characters, the recycled music score, the frequent stock footage from earlier films, and the fact that the Godzilla suit (this particular … Continue reading →

AKA: Godzilla: King of the Monsters Director: Ishiro Honda Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Fuyuki Murakami, Sachio Sakai, Ren Yamamoto, Toyoaki Suzuki Running Time: 96 min. By Woody Ishiro Honda was a great director. As Akira Kurosawa’s assistant director and right hand man, Honda no doubt learned a lot from the man, and it shows, particularly in this 1954 effort. Gojira is a stark and uncompromising film, filled with nightmarish imagery, but, … Continue reading →

Director: Jun Fukuda Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka Cast: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita Running Time: 81 min. By Woody My fondest memories of Palmdale, California are of visiting my Grandma Mary, eating TV dinners, and sitting in the guest room to watch the weekly Japanese monster movie on channel 5. It was the high point of my week. Living in Palmdale in the early nineties was … Continue reading →