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It is quite a feat to dethrone Gojira that King of Godzilla and Kaiju features but in my personal opinion that is exactly what 2023’s Godzilla -1.0 achieved. To justify this position I will have to spoil some of each feature.

Toho Studios

1954’s Gojira, known in the US primarily by the 1955 re-edit Godzilla; King of the Monsters, is an outstanding piece of cinema ruminating on the atomic age and the trauma of the atomic warfare unleashed on Japan and its civilians. (We will not discuss the moral, ethical, military, or political aspect of the twin atomic bomb attacks. That is not the purpose of this essay.) From its opening scene with the hapless fishing trawler blasted by the unseen Gojira, deliberately reminiscent of the ill-fated tuna boat Lucky Dragon 5 and the terrible radiation poisoning its crew suffered from the first hydrogen bomb test, to the film final moments depicting Godzilla reduced to a skeleton by another monstrous super weapon, Gojira is about the atomic age and its ramifications. Co-inhabiting the film with this theme is the story of a love triangle between two men, Ogata and Dr Serizawa and the woman they love Emiko. There simply isn’t enough screen time to develop the triangle into a powerful story line nor does it tie in directly with the theme of the film. Only Serizawa’s research and development of the ‘Oxygen Destroyer’ which provides the means to end Gojira’s rampage provides thematic connection and resolution to the separate storylines.

Gojira (1954) is an amazing feat of budget constrained film making that invented a new genre and that remains thematically relevant 70 years later. It is a great film and until 2023 rules undisputed as the best of the franchise and the entire Kaiju genre.

Toho Studios

Godzilla Minus 1 opens with our main character, Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who has abandoned his suicidal mission. Landing on Odo island with ‘mechanical troubles’ he witnesses the first appearance oof Godzilla and along with a single mechanic, Tachibana, survives the monsters rampage but earn the wrath of Tachibana. With the war’s ending Shikishima returns to a Tokyo destroyed by firebombing and the contempt of his neighbors for having survived the war. Years later, still suffering from survivors guilt for not pointlessly dying in the war and with an assembled found family, Shikishima’s life is thrown into chaos when Godzilla reappears, even larger than before, and devastates the area. Drawn into the plots and plans to destroy the monster he sees the opportunity to ‘fulfill’ his kamikaze mission in the intricate plan to deal with Godzilla. Reunited with Tachibana to restore an aircraft for the attack Shikishima receives absolution from the mechanic for his action on Odo island and ‘permission’ to live.

Throughout Godzilla Minu 1.0 the theme is about survival, the waste of lives in war, the importance of the government to respect the lives of its people. Shikishima’s emotional arc is tied directly to the ‘war’ against the monster. At its heart this film is the story of one man, his terrible burden surviving where so many others did not, and his finding of peace, love, and absolution. A powerful story with a single compelling character to drive it make Godzilla Minu 1.0 simply the best Godzilla movie ever.

Toho Studios

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In the nearly 70 years since the very first film the Godzilla has ranged from the very serious thematic representations of Atomic Age fears to wildly chaotic affairs aimed at children. The brainchild of filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki who wrote, directed, and served as Visual Effects Supervisor on the film Godzilla Minus One is a return to employing the legendary monster as a thematic metaphor exploring serious adult topics.

Eschewing the lore of the previous movies in the franchise this film can be considered essentially a remake of the original 1954 classic Godzilla, but with an entirely new set of characters and subtextual intentions. Covering the period from just before the end of World War II until the late 1940s Godzilla Minus One speaks powerfully to the destruction, stupidity, and waste of war.

After an encounter on Odo Island that left his deeply traumatized Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lives in disgrace and poverty while being generally despised by his neighbors for surviving the war. Thrown together in the ruins of firebombed Tokyo with Noriko (Minami Hamabe) Koichi is unable to escape the nightmares of his past and only through confrontation with Godzilla might he possibly excise the unwarranted guilt and shame he has carried since the war.

Yamazaki has crafter an excellent film. As a screenwriter he cracked the difficult problem of combining a deeply human and dramatic story with a plot that finds a monstrous Kaiju leveling destruction on a recovering Japan essential. As a director he possesses a keen eye and understand that keeping the camera mostly at human eye level injects terror rarely experienced when a kaiju is photographed level with their own head. The visual effects of the film are utterly fantastic. While there are bits and pieces where the seams show, naval vessels that aren’t quite perfect in the rendering, the same for some trains, Godzilla itself always is perfectly depicted. Production design has captured the feel of devastation that encompassed Tokyo following the horrors of the Allied bombing campaign.

The film’s score uses movements from the original film’s composition, notably the marches for the Imperial Self Defense forces and Godzilla’s theme. The recording and performance of these pieces is simply epic.

Unlike previous serious Godzilla movies, this film is not concerned with minister and generals, keeping it story focused on civilians and veterans, the people on the ground who lived through a war in which their government too often decided that their lives were something to be lightly tossed away in futile gestures.

I cannot recommend enough that Godzilla Minus One needs to be seen in a proper theater. The movie is epic and grand in every way save for it tightly focused human story. While I could quibble about some aspects of the story final resolution, those issues are not enough to devalue any of my admiration and love for this piece of art.

Godzilla Minus One is playing in theaters in Japanese with English subtitles.

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Adam and his wife Margo are throwing a housewarming party with the guests principally Adam’s co-workers and employers. However, one couple, Tom and Sasha, professing to be neighbors has crashed the party and linger well after the other guests have departed. As the two couples, with drinks and drugs, get to know each other Tom and Sasha’s presence inflames lingers issues for Adam and Margo. It becomes clear that Tom and Sasha are not what they claimed and are manipulating the rising tension for some hidden agenda.

Who Invited Them? falls into the genre of horror that is suspense/thriller without any supernatural elements. Suspense/thriller is very script and character dependent and without relatable characters behaving in understandable ways it very easy loses its suspension of disbelief. This movie doesn’t completely fall apart but neither did it fully engage me, and I was always at a bit of distance from the Adam and Margo never really invested in their relationship. Still, I was curious enough to keep watching and see how the entire plot unfolded and what coming reveal might twist the script into a new direction.

Sadly, the reveal when it was presented turned out to be precisely what I had suspected with Tom and Sash’s goal proved to be underwhelming. Perhaps more damaging to the film overall success as a story is that in the final resolution Adam and Margo turned out to be far too passive as characters with happenstance and chance playing far too great in the movie’s climax. Still at a scant 80 minutes Who Invited Them? plays quickly and for some it is a thrilling psychological horror, just not for me.

Who Invited Them? is streaming on Shudder.

Neon Pictures

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Enys Men (Pronounced In-es Main) is a 2022 cornish Folk horror set on the windswept desolate island of Enys Men. Set in 1973 the film follows an unnamed naturalist as she repetitiously records the ground temperature and her observations of seven flowers growing on the island while fascinated by a tall, weathered stone figure looking out over the sea and with lichen growing upon it. Amid the repetitive actions of the naturalist the film often intersplices unsettling sequences and imagery. The film’s narrative is nearly non-existent, doing away with such traditional conventions such as character arcs or any sort of act structure, relying upon imagery to convey emotional meaning.

Enys Men is more akin to poetry than narrative film and its sedate pacing will task many viewers. The film is reminiscent of the works of David Lynch but not as lyrical nor as impactful. I think that there is a quite small audience for Enys Men and sadly I cannot be counted among them. It lacks both the weird factor of something like Mulholland Drive and a stronger narrative nature of hold on it, leaving it, like its unnamed naturalist, trapped between worlds.

Paramount PIctures

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Released in 1933, 90 years ago, Murders in the Zoo is playing as part of the Criterion Channel’s ‘Pre-Code Horror’ selections. While some of the scenes, particularly one at the front are gruesome and would have been stripped once the production began serious enforcement this film is less transgressive than many pre-code classics.

Eric Gorman (Lionel Atwill) is big game hunter, millionaire, and philanthropist with an inflated ego is and murderously jealous of any man showing attraction to his wife Evelyn (Kathleen Burke.) Gorman murders his victim by staging animal attacks and accidents.

With a running time of just 62 minutes this movie is clearly a traditional B feature. Atwill has appeared in several early horror films and as a ‘second banana’ performed quite well, however hampered with a lackluster script and second-rate dialog he proved inadequate as a lead to carry this movie.

Murders in the Zoo has none of the sacrilegious flair of Paramount’s better known pre-code horror The Island of Lost Souls and wastes far too much time with a bumbling secondary character meant for comic relief. A few scenes are effective and unnerving, particularly Gorman dispatching a rival in the jungle on a hunt, but over all this movie is dull, plodding, and scarcely worth anyone’s time or attention. Viewers concerned with animal welfare and cruelty are advised to skip this feature as in the climax of the story big cats are forces to attack each other and no production justifies such cruelty.