In a change from previous Ultraman movies, this one takes place in our own universe, in which Ultraman is just a popular kids' TV show. A young boy (and Ultraman addict) named Tsutomu finds a mysterious glowing ball that tells him it can make wishes come true. The one thing Tsutomu wants more than anything else is to meet Gamu, Ultraman's human counterpart, so he can give the boy some pointers on standing up to the school bully. Unfortunately, the bully finds the wishing ball and wishes for a giant monster to appear and start stomping around their suburban Tokyo neighborhood. Gamu and the Science Patrol team must then find a way to open a gateway between the two universes to stop the monster and try to help Tsutomu with his personal problems.

The members of the Super GUTS force, one of whom is secretly Ultraman Dyna, are in the middle of a losing battle against an enormous monster on the surface of the moon, when suddenly a spaceship appears and saves them by zapping the beast. The crew of the ship claim to members of the world peace force that originally created the Super GUTS force, and they invite the GUTS members to enter their brainwave patterns into the ship's battle computer so it can be a more effective fighting system. It sounds like a good idea, but could they have some other plan up their sleeves?

A young boy is protecting a Hindu temple in Thailand when robbers arrive, stealing goods and shooting him in the face. The Mother of Ultra fuses him with the monkey god Hanuman. The Ultra Brothers, Zoffy, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Ace and Ultraman Taro, team up with Hanuman to fight five evil monsters. They are Gomora, Dustpan, Astromons, Tyrant and Dorobon, which were accidentally awakened by a rocket test gone terribly wrong.

After the devastation of Godzilla's resurgence, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. The cells are obtained by the middle eastern nation of Saradia, where geneticist Genichiro Shiragami is tasked to study them. However, the cells are sought by various groups leading to a terrorist attack that kills Dr. Shiragami's daughter Erika. As Shiragami retreats into isolation, the Japanese government sets it's sights on developing a bio weapon countermeasure against Godzilla should the monster ever be freed from its volcanic tomb. They enlist the aid of Dr. Shiragami, who's experiments result in a monstrous new mutation.

In the Japanese mining village of Kitamatsu, miners ares starting to disappear deep inside shaft number 8. Some of the men sent to investigate are killed but one who has managed to escape brings back a tale of a giant insect. Soon, the giant prehistoric insects are attacking the village. Not long after, something traveling faster than the speed of sound is found flying in the sky. It is Rodan, a giant flying prehistoric reptile that has come to life. It spreads terror throughout Japan and is seemingly invincible to any weapon they may throw at it.

Shipwreck survivors are found on Infant Island, which was presumed uninhabited due to Rolisican atomic tests. Investigating the case is reporter Zenichiro "Snapping Turtle" Fukuda and his photographer Michi. The castaways attribute their survival to a special juice created by the natives of the island which leads to a joint expedition of Rolisican and Japanese scientists. Fukuda stows away on the expedition, which is headed by linguist Shinichi Chujo and Clark Nelson, an exploitative Rolisican businessman. The group encounters two tiny twin girls that Fukuda dubs the Shobijin, who worship the island's mythical deity named Mothra. After Nelson kidnaps the tiny fairies and beings to exploit them for profit, Mothra sets out on a journey to rescue them.

A nuclear explosion in the far north unleashes Gamera, the legendary flying turtle, from his sleep under the ice. In his search for energy, Gamera wreaks havoc over the entire world, and it's up to the scientists, assisted by a young boy with a strange sympathetic link to the monster, to put a stop to Gamera's rampage.

The underground kingdom of Seatopia sends out Megalon, a giant beetle, and Gigan to destroy the above ground dwellers. In an attempt to stop them, an independently thinking robot brings Godzilla into the fight.

Koji Kobayashi, a spotter for a Japanese fishing fleet crash lands his plane on a barren island. His best friend, Shoichi Tsukioka, manages to find him and lands his plane next to his so he can be rescued. The two pilots are shocked when they encounter two giant monsters and race back to Japan to inform the authorities. One of the monsters is recognized as a new Godzilla while the other creature is identified as prehistoric monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original Godzilla, countermeasures are developed in an attempt to divert the monster away as it makes landfall in Osaka. Japan can only brace for tragedy as they have to suffer through the horror of Godzilla once more.

1955 Japanese film directed by Motoyoshi Oda

Aliens intend to take over the planet and, just in case Godzilla tries to interfere, have built a mechanical version of him to put an end to his interference. The Earth humans summon the legendary King Seesar to assist Godzilla in the battle.

When seventeen vessels blow-up and sink nearby Odo Island, Professor Kyohei Yamane, his daughter Emiko Yamane and the marine Hideto Ogata head to the island to investigate. Soon they witness a giant monster called Gojira by the locals destroying the spot. Meanwhile Emiko meets her boyfriend, the secluded scientist Serizawa, and he makes she promise to keep a secret about his research with oxygen. She agrees and he discloses the lethal weapon Oxygen Destroyer that he had developed. When Gojira threatens Tokyo and other Japanese cities and the army and the navy are incapable to stop the monster, Emiko discloses Serizawa's secret to her lover Ogata. Now they want to convince Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer to stop Gojira.

Ryota is a young man searching for his missing brother Yata. He joins up with Nita and Ichino as they sneak on a ship supposedly belonging to Yoshimura, a career criminal escaping from the authorities. As the group sets sail, they are caught in a storm and attacked by a monstrous crustacean creature. Shipwrecked on Letchi Island, they find that the natives of Mothra's Infant Island have been enslaved by a terrorist organization called Red Bamboo. The terrorists force the natives process a juice that holds off the crustacean monster, Ebirah. The men meet up with a native escapee named Daiyo as they stumble upon Godzilla sleeping on the island. The groups sets up a plan to awaken Godzilla to defeat Red Bamboo terrorists and liberate the natives.

Aliens from space plan to conquer the world using space monsters Gigan and King Ghidrah, which they control from their secret headquarters inside the head of the Godzilla-replica building at a theme park. The only thing that can stop them is the combined efforts of Godzilla and Anguirus.

(Re-edited US Version) Eric Carter, a reporter for the United Nations, reports on a submarine which collides with an iceberg and frees Godzilla. The news of this soon leads to Mr. Tako, the chairman of a pharmaceutical company, to seek a monster of his own to generate publicity. He sends out an expedition to Farou Island where they discover the god of the island in the form of King Kong. The giant ape is capture and returned to Japan, upon which it escapes and heads off on a collision course straight towards Godzilla. The two rivals soon clash in a giant climatic battle.

Time travellers from the 23rd century return to 1992 to warn Japan that Godzilla will cause a catastrophic nuclear incident in the 21st century and suggest a way to rid the world of him forever. They intend to go back to 1944, to Ragos Island, where a dinosaur was exposed to radiation from the Bikini H-Bomb test and became Godzilla. Upon completion of this task, King Ghidrah appears in 1992 and the visitors' true plan is discovered. They wish to destroy Japan so it will not become the dominant economic force. Luckily for the Japanese, Godzilla was still created and will now fight Ghidrah.

Japanese B-Movies

movie

Niko Aiello

I guess I’m more of an arthouse snob than I thought

1979 American war film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Best of All Time

1987 American science fiction parody movie directed by Mel Brooks

Sci-Fi and/or Horror 

2014 film directed by John Michael McDonagh

Watchlist 2.0

Books to Read

Fellini = fantasy/baroque, Pasolini = sexuality, Rossellini = war, Visconti = decadence/decline of nobility

Italian Neorealism

1970s Italian crime/action films. Born out of the French gangster film resurgence of the late 1960s-1970s, as well as the cultural turmoil in Italy at the time. Violence, vigilantism, corruption, “greatness of the working class protagonist over the corrupt bureaucracy”

1973 poliziottesco film directed by Sergio Sollima

Poliziotteschi Films

Post-Colonialism, nostalgia, modernity and youth culture, and the ultimate cultural identity of Hong Kong

Hong Kong New Wave

German films, 1962 - 1982, born out of the Oberhausen Manifesto. Disillusionment with post-War Germany, rejection of mainstream German cinema and art, socially critical. Would go on to influence Italian Neorealism, Nouvelle Vague, and British New Wave

1979 film directed by Volker Schlöndorff

Neuer Deutscher Film

Italian Comedies from the 1950s to 1970s: lots of satire, lots of "socially taboo" subjects, usually to the background of the working class with some sprinkles of social criticism