2021 has been a difficult year to say the least; having had a serious stroke in September of 2020 this entire year thus far has been an arduous process. If I’m not having trouble walking, I’m having trouble thinking. Daily brain-fog rolls in making it hard to accomplish much of anything. This has made any writing progress extremely difficult. The amount of times I’ve had to bow out of this column alone has been disheartening. The recovery road is long, so this week I thought it would be interesting to do a series of smaller reviews chatting about what material I’ve been consuming during this difficult time.
BOOKS
How to Have an Adventure in Scotland by Raffael Conoelli: The second entry in Raffael’s travelogue series is just as outstanding as the first and despite being far away from Japan he crams in a healthy heaping of monster insights. I read this one completely in one night because it was that captivating. If you want to take a day trip to Scotland then this is a great summer read. Raffael captures time and place extremely well.
Kong: King of Skull Island by John Michlig, Joe DeVito, and Brad Strickland: A really fun sequel to the original King Kong in book form that bypasses the 1933 sequel Son of Kong. Outstanding illustrations and a fascinating plot. Have not finished this one as of yet.
UltraMega and Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors: Follow the link here to find my thoughts on these two comics’ first issues. As they have continued Godzilla has remained consistently thrilling whereas UltraMega has lost some of my enthusiasm the longer it goes on.
The Trials of Ultraman 1-3 by Kyle Higgins and Mat Groom: The latest miniseries for Marvel’s Ultraman comic continues on from the prior series and for me has a lot of the same issues. I have been a fan of Higgins’ writing in the past; however this series has not grabbed me at all. The kaiju seem to lack all personality and none of the characters interest me. The sense of scale seems off as well. Hopefully as the series continues on I will finally become more invested. Until then I will just keep reading.
Zorro in Land that Time Forgot by Mike Wolfer and Alessandro Ranaldi: This four issue miniseries crossing over Zorro and Dinosaurs is a must read. It is captivating in its plot and its action. A unique take on both stories with a real knowledge of why classic versions of “Land that Time Forgot” and “The Lost World” have suffered; colonialism. This series not only touches upon this idea, it focuses upon it. Great characters round out this surprising gem of a comic. Zorro duels a Dino, need I really say more?
Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks Volume 1: Beginnings and Endings by Mike Hankin; An animated life by Ray Harryhausen, Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema by Vanessa Harryhausen: These trio of books have been sending me deep into the world of cinema’s greatest effects artist. These three books were picked up for research purposes but their worth has far surpassed that singular usage. Of the trio Titan of Cinema is the easiest to track down and if it is anything like the other two books here it may soon be incredibly hard to find; grab it while you can.
TV
The Terror: This AMC original features a fictionalized retelling of The Ross Expedition, a disaster which left The HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus stranded in the Arctic during a particularly harsh winter. The book by Dan Simmons is a must read and unfortunately my love of that book took a bit away from this adaptation. It is hard to really capture the harrowing nature of the book without having to put your actors through some seriously dangerous body modifications so while understandable it took away from feeling the desperation felt in the book. The show didn’t convey as well the sense of sheer indescribable cold that the book devotes so much time to. Well acted and still worth watching it’s just hard to compare to the bleakness of the book.
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous: The third season of the dino-filled Netflix show continues to be entertaining. The next few Netflix shows are really built to be binged but the sheer nature of binging means many of these shows leave your mind shortly after they’re over. Camp Cretaceous is definitely aimed at kids but has a shocking amount of darkness and depth. If the art style puts you off, give it a few episodes and you’ll soon get used to it.
Pacific Rim: The Black: An anime of an English property set in Australia. Despite that weird hodgepodge it works extremely well. The story is top notch and the action is high intensity. One of my favourite entries into the Pacific Rim universe, taking the best elements from both films whilst doing something new. My only complaint is similar to Trials of Ultraman in that the kaiju really don’t have much personality especially when compared to their cinematic counterparts.
Love Death + Robots: A few of the shorts in the second season feature giant monsters and giant humanoids. The second season is a lot less sexist than the first and as such is an enjoyable watch. A few of the shorts hit exceptionally well; neither of those are the giant monster ones unfortunately.
Ultraman Ginga: An odd entry into the Ultraman series as it has a lot smaller scope than I’m used to. A treatise on the beauty of dreams with plenty of kaiju action to coincide it.
Godzilla Singular Point: I guarantee this will warrant an extensive article once it is finished as this is shaping up to be the best Godzilla entry since GMK in 2001. Incredibly interesting, full of big ideas with a huge cast. The human and the kaiju have a really tight knit story that ensures whoever the story is focused on in a given scene it is bound to be captivating. When this goes wide on Netflix in June you need to watch it.
SSSS. Dynazenon: The sequel show to the similarly full of S’s SSSS. Gridman Dynazenon is a blast so far. Trigger continues to be an anime studio to watch. A love story to super sentai and the mechs found within.
MOVIES
Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls: The budget is as low as the cast is charming; which is to say it’s a shoestring budget with an absolutely lovable cast. Seeing a movie made in 2021 with stop-motion warms my heart.
The Lost World and Return to the Lost World: The 90s super Canadian versions of the iconic Lost World story are interesting. The cast is pretty stellar but it doesn’t escape the issues that have long plagued this iconic story. Cool dinosaur puppets though.
The Beast of Hollow Mountain: I may be the only person to unabashedly adore this oft-maligned stop motion dinosaur schlockfest. It is nowhere near to the level of The Valley of Gwangi (1969) but the film is still worthy of rescuing from obscurity.
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend: The puppetry on display is outstanding; the racism that weaves itself so strongly into this plot is not.
Godzilla vs. Kong: The title says it all. If you want to see the two titan clash you will get it in spades, just don’t expect much else. I for one had a great time.
War of the Colossal Beast and Earth vs. the Spider: Bert I. Gordon is the king of the b-movie. Mr. Big does not disappoint in these two fun giant monster romps. Gordon will no doubt be explored in detail in a future article.
Kong: Return to the Jungle: This CG animated movie based upon Kong: The Animated Series is weird as hell. The CG is incredibly rudimentary and the plot is laughably bad, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t entertain the hell out of me.
Mighty Joe Young: The 1998 remake was incredibly sincere which will either bring you to tears or cause you to roll your eyes so hard that they fly out of your head. I found it extremely charming because I’m a sap. Quite possibly the best Gorilla suit ever to grace the silver screen.
Journey to the Beginning of Time: A dinosaur movie in the criterion collection? HELL YEAH. This film honestly feels like an extended interactive museum exhibit in all of the best ways.
Warning from Space: A standout entry in kaiju eiga with extremely interesting characters and a harrowing plot. A unique tale which benefits from going in knowing very little.
War Of the God Monsters: A true trashterpiece. Incredibly entertaining with very few moments of lucidity. Best watched with as many friends as possible with whatever vice suits your fancy.
Winterbeast: The American version of War Of the God Monsters (1985), however Winterbeast is full of stop motion and made all of its creatures as opposed to God Monsters which is mostly filled with Ultraman stock footage. Despite all of this it may actually make less sense that God Monsters.
