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Review: ‘Godzilla: King Of The Monsters’ Is A Battle Of Titanic Proportions

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We are truly living in a time of gods and monsters, or in this case, monster gods. It’s been five years since the first Legendary made Godzilla film and two years since their ‘Monsterverse’ was further established with Kong: Skull Island. All building up to to what will stand as perhaps one of the biggest Kaiju movies ever made: Godzilla King Of The Monsters.

Image via IMDB

The story takes place five years after Godzilla’s destructive battle in San Francisco. The world is in a panic as more “Titans” begin to awaken from their primordial slumber. The no-longer covert organization MONARCH attempts to shield the public from these ancient beasts and keep them contained, but Alan Jonah (Charles Dance) and his eco-terrorist group are hellbent on unleashing them on the world and returning things to a ‘natural order.’ He kidnaps MONARCH scientist Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown) to further his goals, leading to the freeing of King Ghidorah, an ancient beast of apocalyptic power. Now, Madison’s father and Emma’s ex-husband Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) must team-up with MONARCH and Godzilla to put a stop to a war of colossal beasts that could destroy the world.

Image via IMDB

The set-up is pretty evocative of of the more classical Godzilla movies of the 1960’s and 70’s, most prominently Destroy All Monsters, featuring a united group of humans, in this case MONARCH, trying to stop the evil monsters and giving our hero, Godzilla a helping hand. The ensemble cast for MONARCH is impressive and engaging, with returning characters/actors such as Ken Watanabe as Dr. Serizawa and Bradley Whitford as Dr. Rick Stanton. There’s a lot of fun banter between characters, cheesy sometimes, but it gives the film some dialogue and humans to root for.

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters delivers in what any kaiju fan wants: lots and lots of monster fighting action. Particularly, Godzilla and King Ghidorah throw down a few times over the course of the film along with volcano bird Rodan and ‘Queen Of The Monsters’ Mothra. Considering the kind of budget this movie has, they look spectacular and inspire awe at seeing god-like monstrosities throw down in mortal combat. Of course, they’re all-but entirely CG as opposed to the classical ‘man-in-suit’ style of the Toho films, which does make it feel different. There is some clunkiness in pacing and dialogue between these epic battles and some deaths happen a bit too fast to digest (even when characters get eaten), but per the franchise, it’s par for course and in many ways the cheeziness adds to the charm.

Image via IMDB

Michael Dougherty really outdid himself as a director/co-writer on the movie and it shows he has a lot of heart for Godzilla. Having helmed such genre favorites like Trick r Treat and Krampus it should come as no surprise there are plenty of horror references and homages hidden about. For example, pay attention to the number of the Antarctica MONARCH Outpost. As well, there is some pretty good build-up to next year’s Kong VS Godzilla coming to us from Adam Wingard.

I was fortunate enough to have seen Godzilla: King Of The Monsters in two different formats: Imax and 4DX. Of course, if you want as epic a screening as possible, Imax will be the way to go. When Godzilla gives his signature roar, it will blow you to the back of the auditorium. If you want a full-on immersion experience, 4DX is loads of fun and adds to the action. When Rodan did a barrel roll, it felt like I was spinning with that fire demon. The water, smoke, and air effects also adding details that put you into the heat of the action, especially as these monster gods duke it out.

So, if you’re a fan of Godzilla, giant monsters, and the like, Godzilla: King Of The Monsters is one kaiju movie you’ll want to see in theaters with the biggest screen and the loudest sound possible.

Image via IMDB

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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