Plants vs Godzilla

Poster from Godzilla Vs. Biollante

More Flying Death

Like I wasn't going to post this (wish it was bigger though)

Return of the (the other) King

[Enlarge Here]

Can't have a moth of monsters(and others) without the god of them all.

Monster Mash-Kaiju Style

[Enlarge Here]

Admittedly, this artwork is sorta shoddy, but in an endearing way, and its sheer kitsch and sentimental attachment (ah, gojira) more than makes up for it.

The American Godzilla that never was

[Enlarge Here]

Perpetually in production between 1983 to 1985, this Americanized film (called Godzilla: King of the Monsters) came close to, but didn't due to budget concerns.

Of course it's impossible to judge a movie that was never made, but are there any indications? Would it be worst than the 1998 remake(Personally, I'm pretty sure that hit the bottom of barrel).

[Enlarge Here]

Well, as usual for an 1980's production, the art side credentials are impeccable. First and foremost, the great William Stout (who did concept art work on Conan the Barbarian[film], Return of the Living Dead, Pan's Labyrinth, Invaders from Mars[1986 remake]) was assigned for the conceptional designs and storyboards. Famous special effects wizard Rick Baker [Star Wars, Videodrome, An American Werewolf in Paris) did work on an expressive animatronic head. And finally stop-motion expert David Allen(who already did convincing reptile movement for Q:the winged serpent, as well as Robot Jox, and the Stuff) was brought in for animation.

[Enlarge Here]

The script was a big maybe: Fred Decker(co-writer of both Monster Squad and Robocop 3) designed an idea strikingly similar to Gorgon, where Godzilla is a monster looking for its child, this time the location being San Francisco. It would ravage the golden gate bridge, before meeting for a showdown on Alcatraz Island.

[Enlarge Here]

But the real buzzkill was Steve Miner who, in my opinion, is a a poor director; responsible for trash the likes of Friday the 13th II-III,Halloween H20, Lake Placid, and the absolutely terrible Day of the Dead remake[2008]. All of which are poorly directed and lack any real punch. However, he did direct the decent House[which involved Dekker and Stout] around the same time as this proposed movie, so at least he knew how to leave good art direction alone.

But that still leaves the question of cinematographer(something very important to the believability of the film) and the fact it was to be in 3-d(which made Allen unsure if the motion would translate well to the 3rd dimension). Maybe it was for the best that it never got made. The word will never know.

All art above by William Stout

Note: I forgot that Miner did the quite good Warlock, but that is more attributed to the writing of David Twohy, who wrote and directed Pitch Black, amongst other good genre fare.

A big thank you to Be still my Blog of war !

Edit: Now, a Godzilla film that keeps all the art staff, but tosses Miner and replaces him with say. . . John Carpenter and have Dean Cundey as dp, that would be a Godzilla film worth watching!

Polish posters for all

Polish movie posters

Wonderful site full of odd little posters for foreign films, in an attempt o make exotic goods appeal to natives. The above only represent one of my favorites, find yours.

Caught by the tail

Great use of perspective.

When monsters collide

[Enlarge Here]

While not the best Gojira film, it is certainly one of the most enjoyable. Just short of Godzilla vs. Mothra (its successor).

Trains are apparently very tasty

Above art by Noriyoshi Ohrai

Done for a new box set by Toho coming out in Japan. Will we ever see it? Probably not. But at least Rodan and War of the Gargantuas are coming in new bi-lingual dvds. Gorath being released would also help.

Bonus:
Pictures/filmography of many Japanese rubber suit monsters(and King Kong):
Monster Index

What a sight

John K says the best examples of construction and form for cartoonists are toys, not humans(too many details). What better place to start than the greatest non-cartoon cartoon character, Gojira--and the original version too--. Someday you'll see my version when my art blog gets started.

More from John K.

Picture from Wondercon, the ridiculous con from that ridiculous country, Japan. That said, I still wish we had one like this.

More pics:
Part I
Part II
Part III
and complete with video...
Part IV

Challenge: If you could only watch films by five directors

They would be(in no order):

Werner Herzog
Dave Fleischer
Stanley Kubrick
Ishiro Honda
Buster Keaton

Admittedly, my list is pretty gut oriented. I need my dose of

Aguirre,

Gojira/Godzilla,

Betty Boop,

Sherlock Jr.,

and Alex.