this week on 100 Films

A new month means a new monthly review over at 100 Films in a Year...





And there were 3 new film reviews, too...


Godzilla (1954)

more than just the blockbuster entertainment of its day, Godzilla is a serious-minded work. A giant monster stomping on cities — or, if you prefer, a man in a rubber suit stomping on models — may have soon become fodder for the kind of movie fans who enjoy pulp entertainment, but, in its original incarnation, it’s an analogy for the terror of the nuclear bomb. Released just nine years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it’s one of the first films to deal with that scar on the Japanese national psyche

Read more here — including my thoughts on the US re-edit: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!


Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

feels like a combination of the two previous MonsterVerse films. As a direct sequel to Godzilla (2014), it brings in plot threads and a couple of supporting characters from that movie. It also adopts the dark visual style of Gareth Edwards’ movie, eschewing the colourfulness that was part of Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ contribution in Kong: Skull Island. But what director Michael Dougherty does retain is that film's pulpiness in the storyline.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.