Castle Bravo: A Godzillaverse Retrospective

The season three finale is here as we tackle one of the most infamous blockbusters of the 90s. It has loomed over our heads for several episodes, languishing in development hell, but the 1998 Tristar Godzilla is finally here. Hollywood Disaster Film magnates Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich bring their crew from Stargate and Independence Day to bring audiences a movie almost as big

We're back with Matt and Jayson one last time as we bring Mothra's 90s movie trilogy to a close. It's a movie that was unfairly kept from western audiences for an unreasonably long time, especially when you consider just how good this final entry retroactively makes the entire Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. Moths are good, actually. Yes, we have technically broken our conti

Mothra's standalone film series continues as our baby boy Leo fights an aquatic jet plane dragon that is also a starfish parasite factory that is also an ancient garbage disposal created by Not-Atlantis. A furby pees on people. Leo turns into an underwater X-wing. It's a weird movie, but more than that, it's a movie that feels like it was shotgunned through an edit bay

Godzilla is dead and signed over to Hollywood, but Toho still needs to make money, so they dusted off some old script ideas and set to make Mothra a solo star again. The first of a trilogy aimed much more squarely at kids and families, Rebirth of Mothra is often overlooked but not lacking in charm. Come for Mothra and a goth Ghidorah doing fighting game special moves, stay for an e

It's the end of an era, the end of several careers, and the end of more than a couple lives (not all of them fictional) as the Heisei period of Godzilla movies draws to a close. One of the most beloved entries in the franchise, Godzilla vs Destoroyah ties the end to the beginning by centering the legacy of the Oxygen Destroyer, Dr Serizawa, and the Yamane family. Also, Crab Sat

And so we're back! From outer space! It's a moment we have been dreading as the Heisei era finally loses the plot. Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla is a fun spectacle, and basically an early Dragonball Z arc in Godzilla form, but it's a case study in how good filmmaking can't overcome basic structural script problems. Derek does a script rewrite live even, a Castle Bravo f

No, it's not a sequel to Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. This entry in the Heisei era is the most interested in continuity so far, the most jam-packed with returning monsters, and the least thematically interesting (in that there is no real theme to speak of). But it's big, flashy, and fun, and they managed to make some version of Minilla that doesn't make me physically ill,

With the previous two movies barely managing to break even, the decision was made to Break Glass In Case Of Emergency; it was time to bring back Mothra. The resulting film was not only incredibly faithful to Mothra's original film appearances, but also more smartly reimagined elements of her story to fit into the modern day (especially in comparison to Ghidorah's radical re

In the wake of Godzilla vs Biollante's middling box office performance, Toho decided to break out a secret weapon that would ensure a box office draw: King Kong. Except that got messy and complicated quick, so they went back to the workshop and brought out Godzilla's most recurring villain instead: King Ghidorah. What follows is the dumbest, smartest, dumbest again, maybe s

Return of Godzilla was a critical and commercial success, so Toho wanted to strike while the iron was hot. The best way to do this? Find a talented director and force him to work with a script you got in a contest. A tumultuous behind-the-scenes story led us to a movie wildly beloved by fans: Godzilla vs Biollante. Starring a guest appearance by infamous Dragon Quest series compose