Godzilla Heisei and Millenium Era Double Features DVDs to be Released

Original theatrical poster for GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991)

August Ragone, author of the must-have book "Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters" (available on Amazon) has some great news. On his blog, "The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla," Mr. Ragone confirmed the release of double feature DVD sets coming May 6th 2014.

The titles have already been listed on Amazon.com by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Below is the list of the four double features with links to Amazon.

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991) & GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1992)

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II (1993) & GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA (1994)

GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH (1995) & GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS (2000)

GODZILLA FINAL WARS (2004) & GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS (2003)

August Ragone notes, "Conspicuously missing are GODZILLA 2000 (1999), GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001), and GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002). It's unknown at this time if these will follow — I'll keep checking on sources..."

Thanks for the heads-up August Ragone!

MORE ABOUT AUGUST RAGONE

August Ragone was born in San Francisco and is the Rondo Award winning author of the highly regarded "Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters" (Chronicle Books, 2007). August has commented on Japanese film and popular culture on radio, television, in print, online, and at events for more than three decades. While still a teen, he served as "Japanese Film" & "Godzilla Expert" for legendary horror host Bob Wilkins at KTVU TV-2.

From his experience living in Tokyo and meeting Japanese filmmakers, August has written liner notes for numerous DVD releases, edited and authored over 100 subtitle scripts (so far), and has also contributed to periodicals such as the Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, Filmfax, Video Watchdog, Asian Cult Cinema, Henshin! Online, Oriental Cinema, G-Fan, Super7, Otaku USA, Monster Attack Team, and Famous Monsters of Filmland.

The Baghdad-by-the-Bay native has also been an event promoter, starting with the "Japanese Fantasy Film Faire" (1979), the first Anime event held outside of Japan, as well as producing live music and multi-media events including The Sleazefest, Incredibly Strange Wrestling, The Greaseball, Godzillafest, and Shock It To Me!.

Original Uncut Godzilla Coming to a Theatre Near You

The original uncut version of Godzilla coming to a theater near you

Thanks to August Ragone, author of  Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, for posting this on the Everything Kaiju Facebook Page.

Rialto Pictures is once again rolling out the uncut Japanese version of the original GODZILLA, boasting a 60th Anniversary DCP (Digital Cinema Package) Restoration, and is now being booked in theaters around the US of A — contact your local cinema to screen it! Now, here's a quick look at the first dates (as of Monday, February 17, 2014):

:: March 11: AUSTIN, TX • Alamo Ritz 1 (SXSW Film Festival)

:: April 18 – 24: NEW YORK, NY • Film Forum

:: April 25 – May 1: SANTA FE, NM • Jean Cocteau Cinema

:: May 2 – 5: PORTLAND, OR • Hollywood Theatre 

:: May 2 – 8: SEATTLE, WA SIFF • Cinema Uptown

:: May 13 - 14: ALAMEDA, CA • Alameda Theater & Cineplex

:: May 23 – 26 HOUSTON, TX • The Museum of Fine Arts

:: May 28: LEXINGTON, KY • Kentucky Theatre

:: July 17: COLUMBUS, OH • Wexner Center for the Arts

Stay tuned for more dates... And tell your local theaters that the film is available, as well as the new, paperback edition of my book, EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS will be out on April 8th from Chronicle Books — and I'm available to introduce the screenings (with a visual presentation on the making of the film)!

This news originated from a post titled, "THE REAL "GODZILLA" IS COMING TO YOUR TOWN: US Theatrical Screenings for the Big G's 60th!" from the website The Good, The Bad, and Godzilla, managed by August Ragone. 

Mythbusters Address the Darker Origins of Godzilla

Tested.com is a website with Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Norman Chan and Will Smith (pictured)

In an article posted today (Jan 2nd 2014) tested.com contributor, David Konow, reflects on the original darker origins of Godzilla. He talks to a few Godzilla experts on how the nuclear holocaust was a major theme in the original Godzilla movies.

Read a few excerpt below. First he talks to August Ragone, author of "Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters". this was one of the few book Godzilla 2014 director took with him when he started to film Godzilla 2014. 

As Japanese pop culture expert and special features producer August Ragone explains, “After returning to a defeated Japan from China as a POW, Honda passed through the ruins of Hiroshima, and thought to himself that this was surely a sign of Armageddon, the end of the world at our own hands. So this impression was in his mind in making the film, but it came from an overall anti-war stance, that if making kept waging wars, we would eventually commit global genocide.

“Godzilla was produced the year following the end of the occupation,” Ragone continues. “There was economic, social and political upheaval. All of the major cities were razed and were being rebuilt. There was abject poverty, war orphans…the Japanese were working out a lot more than just the horror of war. Director Hondo himself said that Godzilla was the corporeal embodiment of war itself.”

Then he talked to Jonathan Belles creator of an upcoming documentary "Godzilla and Hiroshima"

With Belles’s upcoming Godzilla and Hiroshima documentary, he wanted to tackle the direct relationship between the monster and the atomic bomb. “”Godzilla is represented in different metaphors and characters that make messages of peace, and messages against nuclear war.” Belles is also hoping that those who had never seen a Godzilla film, or find the monster silly, will look at him in a new light.

By the late sixties, Godzilla went through a big change. He was now a good guy, a protector of Japan instead of a threat. Belles says, “It was decided Godzilla should be good, and save the earth from various enemy attacks. This was mainly because Japan grew economically in the ‘60s, and the makers of Godzilla decided to give the younger generations a more optimistic view of their country. As a result, the Godzilla saga became infantilized, shattering the seriousness that permeates the first decade of the saga.”

After the dreadful 1998 American remake of Godzilla, there’s still hope that the big guy can be reinvented for long time fans, and make a nice introduction for new audiences. We also feel Belles’s Hiroshima documentary could make a nice companion piece for the new model Godzilla. “I feel the next Godzilla will be very faithful to the original model,” Belles says. “The director (Gareth Edwards) also said that he will respect the Japanese Godzilla.”

You can read the original article at Godzilla and The Monsters of Nuclear War