King Of Monster Movies

Godzilla, King Of The Monster Movies

godzilla movies

(Warning: Contains several spoilers.)

On the morning of March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat named The Lucky Dragon became the unintended victim of the Bikini Island Atomic Bomb Test, when the vessel drifted into a cloud of radioactive fallout from the explosion. One crew member died and millions of Japanese citizens began to panic over the possible contamination of the fish supply. The incident caused a massive wave of angry demonstrations in Japan and inspired Toho Studios producer, Tomoyuki Tanaka, to create a film that would illustrate the horrors of nuclear war and probably one of the best movies of all time.

Instead of shooting a traditional war movie to make his point, Tanaka decided to use a giant radioactive monster as a metaphor for the Hydrogen Bomb. The film was directed by Ishiro Honda and in the fall of 1954, Godzilla premiered in Japan.

Over the many decades since Godzilla made his debut, the city crushing behemoth has undergone three distinct incarnations. His reign began with the Showa Series (1954ñ1975), during which Godzilla was portrayed as an unstoppable force of destruction, intent on eliminating the human race.

In the early 1970’s, Godzilla began his slow, but steady transformation into an ally of humanity. By the beginning of the Heisei Series (1984ñ1995), Godzilla was saving mankind on a regular basis, fighting against legions of fearsome creatures, and pushing back wave after wave of invaders from outer space.

The final phase of Godzilla’s evolution was the Millennium Series (1999ñ2004). Once again, the creature was an uncontrollable force of nature and he reduced human beings to helpless spectators, desperately trying to avoid becoming collateral damage. Toho did an effective job of updating the look of the films for the new century, while restoring all the traits that made the original Godzilla the most terrifying monster of the nuclear age.

Today, the Toho Godzilla franchise consists of 29 full length movies. Here is the complete list of all the Toho films and a brief description of six of our favorites:

Showa Series:

showa

Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Godzilla, King Of The Monsters (1956)
King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962)
Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964)
Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero (1965)
Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster (1966)
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
Godzilla’s Revenge (1969)
Godzilla Vs. Hedorah (1971)
Godzilla Vs. Gigan (1972)
Godzilla Vs. Megalon (1973)
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Heisei Series:

hesai

Godzilla 1985 (1985)
Godzilla Vs. Biollante (1989)
Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
Godzilla & Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
Godzilla Vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)
Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah (1995)

Millennium Series:

millenium

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (2000)
Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus (2000)
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

1. Gojira (1954) – The first Godzilla movie is considered a classic of Japanese cinema. The monster is terrifying, Tokyo is demolished in a spectacular manner, and film offers a stunning depiction of humanity’s destruction by a force that is simply beyond the control of mere mortals. If you are only able to watch a single Godzilla movie in your lifetime, this should be the one you choose.

2. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) – In this early classic, Godzilla picks a fight with Mothra, an enormous flying insect from Infant Island. After the peace loving lepidopteran (a winged insect with characteristics both of butterflies and of moths) is killed by the enraged lizard, Mothra’s children join the battle and actually manage to defeat Godzilla.

3. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) – Godzilla dukes it out with a monster from outer space. Former enemies Rodan and Mothra team up with the big guy to take out Ghidorah before he can destroy the earth.

4. Destroy All Monsters (1968) – A true battle royal of giant monsters, this epic film features Godzilla, Anguirus, Baragon, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, Manda, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan and Varan in a no-holds barred fight to the death with King Ghidorah and a devious group of technologically advanced invaders from the Planet Kilaak.

5. Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) – This gem takes the award for the strangest monster movie in the history of the modern cinema. Godzilla goes to war against a gigantic creature cloned from a rose, infused with the spirit of a mad scientist’s dead daughter, and mixed with anti-nuclear bacteria made from Godzilla’s cells.

6. Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus (2000) – The second film of the Millennium Series introduces the audience to time travel, black holes and pre-historic dragonflies the size of a 747. Godzilla is pushed to the limit by an angry Anisoptera with an attitude and relentlessly pursued by a special military unit called the G-Graspers. In the end, Godzilla turns Megaguirus into a smoking cinder and as usual, much of Tokyo is reduced to rubble.

Godzilla has enjoyed a 60 year long career as the undisputed champion of Japanese Kaiju (giant monster) films. Born on the wings of a terrible tragedy and inspired by Tomoyuki Tanaka’s heartfelt desire for nuclear disarmament, Godzilla will always be the one and only King of the Monsters.

Here is also a great article I found on the top 100 movies of all time http://www.lifed.com/top-100-best-movies-of-all-time I can’t believe they didn’t include Godzilla in the list but its still a great list and well worth going through – they seem to have captured each movies essence and opened my eyes up to other angles of the films I didn’t think of before.

Pulse Pounding, Heart Stopping Action Movies

Some Of The Best Action Movies Of All Time

terminator

 

(Contains some spoliers)

Who can resist the thrills and spills of a great action movie? There are few film fans who do not enjoy settling into a comfortable seat in a dark theater with a giant sized hot buttered popcorn and a jumbo Coke as the opening titles begin to roll on the latest Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger epic. Join us as we examine a selection of fast paced films that feature heroic men and women, armed with the latest military hardware. Enjoy their antics as they do their best to overcome impossible odds in a desperate struggle to save the day or die trying.

1. Die Hard – As a hard charging, foul mouthed, angst ridden cop named John McClane, Bruce Willis manages to fight his way barefoot through flames and piles of broken glass as he takes on an army of heavily armed terrorists in the Nakatomi Tower. McClane curses up a storm, kills all the bad guys, frees the hostages and wins back his estranged wife; all in less than two hours. He emerges from the wreckage bloody, battered and unbowed. Yippie, Ki Yay MotherFu**er!

2. The Terminator – In a long overdue change of roles, the hero of this film is a slightly paranoid woman named Sarah Conners, who teams up with a man from the future to stop a killer android with a bad attitude. The movie stars a youthful Arnold Schwarzenegger in all his muscular glory as the terminator robot sent to the past to kill the unsuspecting heroine, played to perfection by Linda Hamilton. Michael Biehn joins the fun as Hamilton’s doomed would be rescuer and love interest.

3. Raiders Of The Lost Ark – Combining Biblical stories and pre-World War Two bad guys, director Steven Spielberg partnered with producer George Lucas to create the first chapter of a hugely popular and financially successful action film series. Modeled on the classic film heros of the golden age of Hollywood, actor Hamilton Ford plays college professor and treasure hunter, Indiana Jones. The erstwhile Dr. Jones is pursued by savage native headhunters, mysterious women, and angry Nazi archaeologists who want to use the Ark as a radio to talk to G*d.

4. Aliens – James Cameron directed this outstanding sequel to the all time great horror movie, Alien. The second film in the series, Aliens took the franchise in a completely new direction as an action movie set in outer space. Sigourney Weaver returns to portray the no nonsense heroine, Ripley, who must overcome a planet full of deadly xenomorphs and survive the manipulations of the all-powerful corporation that wants to convert the acid blooded monsters into weapons. Loaded with creepy crawly creatures, and greedy corporate executives who will sacrifice anyone who gets in the way, Ripley becomes the ultimate female action hero as she leads a squad of jumpy space marines in a desperate battle for survival.

5. Lethal Weapon – Not only is Lethal Weapon a great action movie, but it is a highly enjoyable buddy film starring the ultimate odd couple of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Mel steals the show as a suicidal, crazy cop teamed up with a veteran detective and family man played by Glover. Bullets fly everywhere as Gibson constantly throws himself in harm’s way and Glover tries desperately to keep up. Loaded with shootouts, torture scenes, chases, and evil villains, Lethal Weapon is a thrill a minute action classic.

These are just a few of the dozens of great action flicks. Most of these films are available from several sources, including DVD, Netflix and Google, which allows you to view them from the comfort of home. What could be more fun then curling up on the sofa with a close friend and enjoying one of your favorite pulse pounding, heart stopping action movies. Popcorn is optional.

Best Action Movies Of All Time

You're in the Movies

You’re in the Movies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since time immemorial, fans of movies have enjoyed seeing plenty of action on their screens. People enjoy watching actors who are heroes fighting to win over the bad people. Over the past few decades, the film industry has experienced tremendous advances as far as the quality of pictures and stunts are concerned. While this has changed how movies are made, it by no means has affected people’s love for some of the best action movies of all time. The list of these movies keeps on changing as many more are being made. However, there are those action movies that will always make it to the list no matter who compiles it and which demographic is surveyed. This can probably be attributed to the story being told, that appeals to people of all lifestyles and age.

No list containing the best action movies of all time would be complete without having the Terminator movies in them. These movies featuring a hero who fought to save earth from invading robots make for some of the best graphics movie fans have ever seen. The terminator movies redefined how movies featuring aliens and cyborgs were made. So popular were the movies that they ended up sparking off a few series that acted as either prequels or sequels of the main story. You should always include them as part of your action movies list.

The Bond movies should also be included in all action lists. The number of movies made to date has been quite many with most fans of the British spy agent 007 touting Casino Royale as one of the best Bond movies ever made. The appeal of this hero does not seem to fade. If you want to enjoy all these movies, you would do well to clear your calendar and have a marathon viewing session. It will definitely be overwhelming, but well worth your time.

Almost all Batman movies would qualify to be included as part of the best action movies of all time. The movies, featuring a self-made extremely rich hero in the form of batman have appealed to countless of movie fans of all generations. The enigma that is batman seems to appeal to people who want a hero whose struggles they can identify with.

The list of action movies that have their place in the history of the cinema is quite long. The three examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Getting a list of the best action movies of all time that suits your preferences is something that only you can do by using various movie related websites and blogs as your guide.

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