Happy Godzilla Day

 

On November 3rd, 1954, Gojira premiered in Japan.  

Let's all celebrate Big G and 72 years of stomping and being a real problem for trains.

G-Watch: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Watched:  11/02/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Ishiro Honda

This movie I may have seen too many times.  

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) is 90 minutes that feels three times longer than that.  I always forget that when I put it on.  

Ostensibly the movie is about how King Ghidorah comes to Earth after devastating Venus, but the movie is 80% about a princess of a country where people dress like they raided a Shakespeare festival getting possessed by the ghost of a Venusian and the problems it causes.  There's a cop who is supposed to help her and his goofy sister who works for a publication that is basically In Search of....

Godzilla doesn't make an appearance until about the 39th minute.  And then disappears again for way too long.  He is goofy and does a "my butt!" jump when Ghidorah stings his butt with Ghidorah-lightning.  I am fine with this, but that's the sort of Godzilla we've got here.

Eventually we get Rodan, Godzilla, Mothra the Faeries, etc...  but holy god is it a long walk to get there.  I did enjoy this movie at one point, but I've seen it too many times, I guess.

We don't even really get how much fun King Ghidorah is as a boo-able villain until Invasion of Astro Monster, a plainly better and more entertaining movie.  

RomCom Watch: The Love Hypothesis (2026)

a movie that fully endorses faculty sleeping with students

Watched:  11/02/2026

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  First

Director:  Claire Scanlon

Jamie reads.  A lot.  Like, tears through books at a clip I admire but also - I only know what she's reading maybe every 1/3rd book.  This was an adaptation of a book she'd read, and she wanted to check it out - and already had.  

As your foremost guy who will put on a Hallmark movie as background noise or to nap to, Jamie was curious about my reaction to what is a modern romcom that hits a lot of Hallmark tropes but allows its characters to exist in a world far closer to our own.  People swear and take off their shirt to do sports.  Gang, there is sex!  With a butt in view!

I mostly know star and Executive Producer Lili Reinhart as the girl who played Betty Cooper on Riverdale on the CW.  She plays Olive, a RomCom trope with legs.  Olive is (a) brilliant but lacks confidence (b) and adorably clumsy.  She's (c) hot but not in a way that will threaten our primary audience (and obviously doesn't know it).  Somehow (d) against all odds, no one seems to ask her out. (e) Of course she doesn't make enough time for herself, she's so dedicated to her work and has no time for love.

This isn't a criticism.  This is like being surprised a cop in a 1980's movie is divorced, drinks too much, is a loose canon, and is partnered with their seeming opposite.  It's how these movies work.  

And it is here I am going to stop my discussion.  This movie was essentially what you think it will be.  It's safe to say, this is fine for streaming as part of the package I already have, but it was not theatrical ready.  And it's good there's a home and market for romcoms that is not Hallmark.

I do think Reinhart was better than the material and she shows signs she could be a thing.  I'd like to see her in some more interesting material.

G-Watch: Godzilla (1954)

Watched:  11/01/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  Not sure

Director:  Ishiro Honda

Well, it's Sunday and on Thursday, we're going to see Godzilla Minus Zero.  To prepare, we're watching this movie, Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, and then Godzilla: Minus One.  It shall be a mini-Godzilla Gauntlet.  

It's been a while since I last watched this one.  In fact, I am unclear on when I last saw it.  It may have been in the 2010's.  Give me some grace, there's a lot of Godzilla I've seen over the past few years.

Hallo-Watch: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Watched:  10/31/2026

Format:  4K disc

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Well, we managed to get in a viewing.  It wasn't easy, but we did it. 

Still top-tier for me, not as a sequel, but as a movie on its own.  

I've been watching this movie for Halloween every year since at least 2015.   Maybe earlier.  I've lost track, and in ye olden days, this blog wasn't exactly a film-watching journal.  So.  I don't know beyond 2015.  I do suspect I've seen this movie at least 20 times.  More likely, something like 25-30 times.  I don't believe I saw it until 2003 when Universal put out a crate of horror movies, so it's been a lot of catch-up.

As mentioned whilst discussing this year's viewing of Frankenstein, it felt like that movie left a lot of gaps in the conversation.  Bride of Frankenstein picks up saying directly to the audience "oh, we weren't done.  That's only half the story," and starts addressing those questions artfully and with pathos and a huge helping of humor.

Hallo-Watch: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Watched:  10/30/2026

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing: First.  Ha.  Just kidding.

Director:  Frank Oz

James F. watched this and we had a bit of a convo about it in his comments, so I found myself watching Little Shop of Horrors (1986).  Again.  

I highly recommend checking out James' blog.  Dude is crushing it over there, and had some interesting thoughts on this film.  I don't always line up exactly (that would be boring), but I always get his point.  Get over there and check him out.  

So, read his post.  My comments I'll limit.  We've all seen the movie.

First, my crush on Audrey (if not Ellen Greene) continues on uninterrupted since a screening in 1986.  Well done.  We wrote about our crush 18 years ago at the old blog.

Frank Watch: Frankenstein (1931)

Watched:  10/30/2026

Format:  4K Disc, kids.  Yes, I bought a 4K disc so I could see film grain, I guess.

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  James Whale

Uh...  I have watched this movie a lot, and written about it a lot.  We do watch this movie every Halloween, which happens almost every year, from what I'm told.

Think, me, think.  What's our angle this time?

So, I think it's worth talking about the movie in non-poetic terms and just what actually happens.  

Henry Frankenstein creates his human, and clearly shows why he should never be asked to raise a puppy.  One, he mostly leaves his creation in the care of his helper, Fritz (you think his name is Igor.  It's Fritz.) who is a malicious bastard and tortures the monster.   Two, rather than initially being horrified, it seems Henry Frankenstein just gives up on the creature because he's too much work.

Sir Patrick Stewart Merges With The Infinite

Well, I've already pushed back some tears about this one.

Sir Patrick Stewart, our captain, has passed.  He was 86.

Prepare for a few generations of people to be really broken up about losing one of the bright stars of our firmament.

I had seen Stewart in one or two things before I came to know him as Captain Picard with the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot, Encounter at Farpoint.  I was, originally, a bit thrown.  But, within a few episodes, I understood what Stewart was bringing to the screen.

By the time I left for college it was with a poster that was just Picard, and so it was that Patrick Stewart - in the form of Jean-Luc - watched over me my freshman year.    

It turned out that Sir Patrick, out of character, was an immensely interesting person, who seemed to embrace life and the world around him with more warmth with each passing year.  After Star Trek, he made a tremendously good version of A Christmas Carol, he became Professor Xavier - a character I held dear from my X-Men reading days, and helped create the comic book movie as it exists now - one that demands the material find a truth to it.  And during COVID, he read us Shakespeare.  

He was outspoken about gay rights, about equality domestic abuse and other causes, and seemed, above all, a good man.  

Among his Star Trek comrades, he truly did seem to be the Captain - the British-trained actor who expected the most out of everyone, and the love the cast showed for him on and off screen was apparent.  And I knew during that final season of Picard, we were seeing a terrific gift given to us by that cast and crew.  One final mission for a man who was aging and meant much to all of them.

If you can find it, this coming Christmas season, either find his version of A Christmas Carol on television or the audiobook he narrated of Dickens' book.

Fair sailing, Captain.  You'll be missed.

Happy Birthday, Elsa Lanchester

Happy Birthday, Elsa.  

Today marks Lanchester's 124th birthday.

Thanks to Elsa for marrying Laughton and giving hope to dumpy dudes who hope their sparkling personalities will make up for everything else.

Walter Koenig Merges With The Infinite

Sorry to hear about the passing of acting Walter Koenig.  

Whenever one of the cast of Star Trek passes, it feels like you're hearing someone you knew in high school or college has gone to their reward.  And surely Koenig is no different.

As part of the main Star Trek crew who appeared across the series and into the movies, he's been a staple in my life since I was 9 years old.  Of course seeing him appear outside of Star Trek was always welcome, but without his Chekov accent, it was always a little odd.

We don't have much of the original crew left.  He'll be missed.