Happy Mothra's Day!

Kill Zilla?

The original teaser for Kill Bill Vol.1 is one of my all-time favorite movie trailers. Not only is it practically a music video for Tomoyasu Hotei's song "Battle Without Honor or Humanity," but it kicks off with Uma Thurman's plane flying over a Tokyo cityscape made up of leftover miniatures from Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. 

I have high hopes for the 2014 Godzilla movie directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters) and scripted by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade), but like a David Lynch Return of the Jedi, I can't help but wonder what a Quentin Tarantino Godzilla would have been like. This is how Tarantino described his idea while being interviewed about Death Proof:

"I have an idea for a Godzilla movie that I've always wanted to do. The whole idea of Godzilla's role in Tokyo, where he's always battling these other monsters, saving humanity time and again. Wouldn't Godzilla become God? It would be called Living Under the Rule of Godzilla. This is what society is like when a big fucking green lizard rules your world."

Rodan minus Fields

I watched Rodan (1956) last night on Netflix Instant. It reminded me that I made the graphic below last week after I got tired of getting Rodan + Fields results in my "Rodan" internet searches.

Coincidentally, io9 published an article today called, "What would life be like if pterosaurs were alive today?" Although it conspicuously fails to mention Rodan (which would've been my one-word answer to the question in the title), it still contains lots of cool scientific information.

H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon

This weekend is the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

Some of the films being shown include It's In the Blood with Lance Henriksen:

...and The Whisperer in the Darkness, based on a classic Lovecraft short story:

You can watch the trailers here.

Another promising Lovecraft-inspired movie is Transcendent, written and directed by Mars, the founder of Dead House Music. It should be finished in time to screen at the next H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival being held in Los Angeles in October. More info at Dread Central.

Frankenstein: Big in Japan

This poster popped up on my Pinterest feed shortly after I finished my Frankenstein post. So in defense of Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE and other comic books that take liberties with Mary Shelley's creation, I would like to point out that at no point in these comics is the heart of Frankenstein's Monster cut out by the Nazis, transferred to the Japanese fleet, taken to Hiroshima, nuked, and then mutated into a creature that grows to the size of Godzilla and fights a dinosaur that fires a heat ray out of his mouth.

Nor does the DNA from Frankenstein's Monster's severed hand spawn two more giant monsters, a good brown one and an evil green one, who proceed to wreak havoc in and around Japan, and fight a giant octopus. So, no offense to the awesome Steve Niles, but by these standards, it makes any image of Frankenstein's Monster "riding a horse" and firing "a Thompson submachine gun" seem downright tame by comparison.

I'm just sayin'.

This is not part of the stuff on my desk, but it should be.

Frankenstein, on the Stage and the Page

In 2011 Danny Boyle, best known to geeks as the director of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, directed a stage production of Frankenstein at the Royal National Theatre that ran from February 5th to May 2. It was broadcast in movie cinemas by National Theatre Live in March 2011 and, in case you missed, there will be encore showings in the United States on Wednesday, June 6 and Thursday, June 7, 2012. You can check out the trailer here. It stars Benedict "Sherlock" Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee "Sick Boy" Miller from Danny Boyle's earlier movie Trainspotting, who alternate playing the roles of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

USA Today has a preview of Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson's new comic book miniseries, Frankenstein Alive, Alive! from IDW, which I'll be picking up this week as soon as I can make it over to Paper Heroes.

This is an awesome creative combination, written by Niles, creator of 30 Days of Night, and illustrated by the legendary Wrightson, co-creator of Swamp Thing.

(If you click that link to Wrightson's Wikipedia entry, you'll see they're using the picture I took of him at the 2006 Dallas Comic Con, where he signed my copy of Treehouse of Horror #11. And that he was wearing a Frankenstein t-shirt).

Frankenstein Alive, Alive! picks up the story where Wrightson's 1983 adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel left off.

Also arriving in comic shops this week is DC's Frankenstein:Agent of SHADE #9. I can't help but think that this series is what Steve Niles is referring to in the USA Today article when he says:

"Whenever I see people doing Frankenstein comics, nine times out of 10 he's riding a horse and has a Thompson submachine gun. There's this leap from the Mary Shelley (character) to a superhero. Bernie and I, we talked a lot about it and we are trying to follow the bread crumbs of the past laid out by Mary Shelley and try to see it through to some sort of logical conclusion."

Left to right: Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein, Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #11, Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE #9. Click to enlarge.

While I've been collecting Agent of SHADE, I have yet to read an issue, so I can't give my opinion on it yet. When I get to around to checking it out you'll be the first to know.

Beastie Boys, Burger Chef

deviantART

Of all the online tributes to Adam Yauch I've seen, Christopher Elam's OWARI provides what is by far my personal favorite. Seriously, how I was I unaware of the existence of a Beastie Boys video about a giant space robot fighting Cthulhu? Seems inconceivable.

And while we're on the subject of OWARI and my mental lapses, how could I have forgotten about Burger Chef? Especially when I specifically remember having this Burger Chef droids poster on my wall, and some of these King Kong glasses? Incrediburgable!

Sir Charles Barkley vs. Godzilla II

More Barkley vs. Godzilla stuff...

Nike Blazer Barkley vs Godzilla

Rusty Shackles

 

So is anyone surprised to learn that as soon as I hit "Publish" on the previous Barkley vs. Godzilla post, I headed over to eBay to look for a Charles Barkley figure to add to the collection of stuff on my desk?

Gigantor

You should check out all of Laurent Durieux's posters at his Flickr stream. I'm posting these 2 for my buddy Troy, the world's largest Gigantor fan:

And while we're on the topic of giant robots, here is Durieux's Mondo poster for the Alamo Drafthouse screening of Iron Giant.

Mondo Kong

Another awesome Mondo poster for the Alamo Drafthouse screening of King Kong:


Laurent Durieux