Long-time readers and those who know me personally know I’m a lifelong Godzilla fan (Showa era only; I don’t care all that much for the others, except 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, which I’d argue is the most Showa-like of the modern Godzilla films). I have all the Showa Godzilla films on video (all VHS tapes, originally, then DVD) and even ran a Godzilla Film Club in college. Giant monsters were my thing. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to make Godzilla movies. Not movies in general — Godzilla movies.
With Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla coming to movie screens this weekend, now is the best time to be a Godzilla fan. My favorite giant monster is getting press everywhere, even respectable newspapers like the New York Times. Godzilla: he’s not just for articles in Starlog anymore! (Okay, I’m dating myself, but still.) Here are some great examples of Godzilla in the mainstream media recently:
CNN.com has a great slideshow of Eiji Tsuburaya, who did the visual effects for the classic films, posing with his rubber-suited creations.
The New York Times is running a retrospective on Godzilla’s different designs over the decades.
This one’s one of my favorites: The New York Daily News interviewed Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Bruno, among other government and military personnel, about whether New York City could withstand a Godzilla attack. It’s a fascinating and hilariously deadpan read.
I’m sure you can find plenty more with a little Googling. In the meantime, I’m so excited about the new Godzilla movie. Judging from the trailers I’ve seen, it looks phenomenal. Edwards knows his giant monsters; his previous film, 2010’s Monsters, was the best recent giant monster movie until Pacific Rim. And now this! I can’t wait to go see my favorite giant monster return to theaters!
I haven’t been this excited about going to see a movie since the last Lord of the Rings!!! (Yeah, The Hobbit just isn’t doing it for me.)
After the first Hobbit movie, we decided we were done. We didn’t bother with the second, and won’t with the third. When the 1970s cartoon version is much better than the modern, big budget extravaganza, you know something has gone terribly wrong.