Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974) Not Bad But Not Great Either

  By K. L. Zolnoski | February 24, 2014 - 3:48 am | Movie Reviews
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Godzillavsmechagodzilladvdcover

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 1974 Director: Jun Fukuda Writers: Jun Fukuda, Masami Fukushima, Shinichi Sekizawa, Hiroyasu Yamamura In 1974 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla became the fourteenth installment in the Godzilla franchise. This movie had four writers and you can tell. There were easily four different plot lines woven together with varying amounts of success. There was an alien plot line woven in with a secret agent plot line mixed merrily with a legend about a royal family that involves a princess and a prophecy and a scientist whose daughter is held hostage by the aliens. Oh and the giant robot, let us … Continue reading →

Godzilla vs. Megalon A Surprising Success

  By K. L. Zolnoski | February 8, 2014 - 12:54 am | Movie Reviews
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Godzilla vs. Megalon DVD cover

Godzilla vs. Megalon Director: Jun Fukuda Writers: Jun Fukuda, Takeshi Kimura and Shin’ichi Sekizawa 1973 brings us the next movie in the Godzilla franchise: Godzilla vs. Megalon. In every way this was superior to the previous two Godzilla movies and while it is tempting to pan it as an awful movie I think that misses the intent of this movie. In the late sixties campy movies and television shows became extremely popular in the US and Ishiro Honda began experimenting with humor in Godzilla movies. I don’t know, nor do I expect there is a correlation, just that these two … Continue reading →

Godzilla vs. Gigan: Not Quite The Worst Godzilla Movie Ever

  By K. L. Zolnoski | February 2, 2014 - 4:54 am | Movie Reviews
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Godzilla vs. Gigan DVD cover

Godzilla vs. Gigan Director: Jun Fukuda Writers: Takeshi Kimura & Shin’ichi Sekizawa Starring: Hiroshi Ishikawa In 1972 director Jun Fukuda brought us Godzilla vs. Gigan. This is the twelfth movie in the Godzilla franchise. I sat down to watch this movie, having forgotten most of it in the time since I last watched it. Likely my brain blocked it out. Since I had previously watched and claimed that Godzilla’s Revenge was the worst Godzilla movie ever made, I sat down for a pleasant evening watching an old Godzilla movie. Oh sure, probably a cheesy one but the worst was behind … Continue reading →

William Shatner & Stan Lee at the Portland Comic Con

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 28, 2014 - 3:57 am | Comicons
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The Portland Comic Con boasted an incredible line up of stars. Stan Lee, William Shatner, Ron Perlman, Bruce Campbell, Adam West, Burt Ward, Nicholas Brendon, Cassandra Peterson and so many others I don’t even remember. Of course with a line up like that and less than infinite funds some tough choices had to be made. For example, I could get Adam West’s autograph OR have my picture taken with Stan Lee. I could get Nicholas Brendon’s autograph OR have my picture taken with William Shatner. Sorry Batman and Xander, truly I am sorry. I did get my photograph taken with … Continue reading →

Cosplay & Ron Perlman at the Portland Comic Con

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 27, 2014 - 4:37 am | Comicons
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Captain America cosplay Portland Comic Con

I’ve been busy having fun at the Portland Comic Con and as a result have not been good about blogging about it. Which is disservice to an excellent con. There were some rocking cosplays, quite a few in point of fact. I saw a fabulous I Dream Of Jeanie for the first time at a con. There were a bunch of Doctors, mainly the fourth Doctor, the tenth Doctor and the eleventh Doctor. I even saw a weeping angel get into a stare down with a mop-toting, fez-wearing, bow-tie clad eleventh Doctor. One of my top favorites was a fantastic … Continue reading →

Jason Raines at Portland Comic Con

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 25, 2014 - 7:13 pm | Comicons
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Artist Jason Raines Promotional Flyer

That’s right, gentle reader, this weekend is the Portland Comic Con. I know I haven’t hyped this event like I should have and for that I apologize. I’d like to start off my reporting on the event with this experience I had on Friday. I had the distinct pleasure and privilege of being present at a discussion Jason Raines had with another aspiring artist and was able to interview him informally at the Portland Comic Con this weekend. What caught my eye on his table was an absolutely stunning and temporally impossible two-page spread of dinosaurs ridden by barbarians arrayed … Continue reading →

The Valley of Gwangi Ray Harryhausen’s Last Dinosaur Movie

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 20, 2014 - 2:08 am | Movie Reviews
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Movie Poster for The Valley of Gwangi

The Valley of Gwangi 1969 Director: Jim O’Connolly as James O’Connolly Writers: William Bast, Julian More, Willis H. O’Brian (earlier film Gwangi uncredited) Starring: James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Richard Carlson Stop Motion Animation: Ray Harryhausen **Spoilers–whoop, whoop–Spoilers*** I enjoy watching old monster movies. Not only are they fun to watch, they usually contain very little gore. They are by nature violent and yet the kind of violence one sees in an old monster movie is somehow not as terrible as the kind of violence we see today in movies, and not even horror movies but such offerings as Gangster squad … Continue reading →

The Horse Brass Pub Is Fantastic

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 19, 2014 - 6:07 pm | Uncategorized
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Picture taken inside the Horse Brass Pub

The Horse Brass Pub in South East Portland is an English themed pub that specializes in draught craft beers and English comfort food. The special the day we went was Bangers and Mash. Bangers and Mash is a traditional English dish of sausages and mashed potatoes. When done right it is quite delicious. I did not try the bangers and mash when I was there. I ordered the fish and chips. I was pleasantly surprised when, upon ordering the fish and chips, our waiter, Justin, brought malt vinegar along with ketchup to the table. I love malt vinegar on fish … Continue reading →

Godzilla vs. Hedorah A Good Idea Lost In A Sea Of Awful

  By K. L. Zolnoski | January 18, 2014 - 4:32 am | Movie Reviews
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Godzilla vs. Hedorah aka Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster

Godzilla vs. Hedorah Director: Yoshimitsu Banno Writers: Yoshimitsu Banno, Takeshi Kimura Starring: Akira Yamauchi 1971 brings us Godzilla vs. Hedorah. There are people who consider Godzilla vs. Hedorah a.k.a. Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster to be the worst Godzilla movie made. I respectfully disagree. While there are some unbearably bad parts of Godzilla vs. Hedorah it is not unrelentingly bad from start to finish like Godzilla’s Revenge. The opening credits give us the first clue that this movie will not be kind to Godzilla. The music is 60′s and there is an awful night club that we keep seeing. Dissatisfied … Continue reading →