moana

godzilla vs biollante criterion

I am slowly becoming something of a Godzilla superfan. I’ve always loved that giant, nuclear, lizard monster but I’ve always enjoyed him more or less randomly. I’m still pretty random in my viewing if I’m being honest, but I’m now paying attention to the different versions and eras of the famed beast.

Godzilla vs Biollante is the second film in what is commonly called the Heisei Period of Godzilla films. That’s a sort of reboot of the series in the 1980s. The effects work was updated from the original films and there was a new reliance on Godzilla being a terribly destructive force (at least at first, I think he becomes more friendly in later films).

This one features Godzilla fighting a genetically modified plant (imbued with Godzilla’s own DNA and some psychic powers from a girl). It is a bit of a mess but a lot of fun.

The Criterion Collection also seems fascinated by Godzilla and they’ve done their usual awesome-looking job with this disc.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Moana 2: I quite liked the original film. It had a good story, some great animation, and at least a couple of inescapable earworm songs from Lin Manuel Miranda. The sequel was a huge hit (making over a billion dollars at the box office) but for whatever reason I never got around to watching it. From what I can tell the story is basically the same (Moana has a big adventure on the sea, along for the ride is the demi-god Maui) but there is no Lin Manuel Miranda this time which is disappointing.

Wolfman (2025): Director Leigh Whannell previously helmed a really good adaptation of the old Invisible Man story so it seems like he’d be a great fit for a new wolfman adaptation. But the previews looked dumb and the reviews were bad. Still, I am a horror nerd and I love a good wolfman movie.

The Last of Us – The Complet First Season: A fantastic adaptation of a popular video game finds a man and a teenage girl trying to survive a world full of zombie-like creatures.

The Penguin – The Complete First Season: This series is a continuation of the film The Batman and follows Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) aka The Penguin as he tries to conquer Gotham.

Forbidden World 4K UHD: Shout Factory presents this Roger Corman-directed Alien rip-off that’s actually pretty good. You can read my Friday Night Horror Movie take on it here.

Deep Blue Sea 4K UHD: Arrow Video presents this silly-sounding film about some genetically mutated sharks that grew super intelligent and, you know, started killing people.

Thirst 4K UHD: Powerhouse Films brings us this 1970s horror film about a descendent of Elizabeth Bathory who is abducted by a blood cult.

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I thought I had previously posted a bunch of my Five Cool Things articles, but it appears that is not true. So, I thought I’d return to the beginning and post the first one I wrote. Before I started writing these articles for Cinema Sentries I had a separate blog where I was writing about the things I was enjoying every day.

It was just for fun, like I said earlier it was a way of bringing a little joy into a dark world. I did it enough that I wanted to bring it to a larger audience, hence Cinema Sentries. The owner of the site liked the idea but we struggled with a title for it. I knew I wanted to do more than just one cool thing per article and somehow we landed on five things and then we added the “And…”. As a joke my friend decided the first article should be And…a Larch (don’t ask me why.)

And here we are. It is fun reading these old articles and see the things I was enjoying back then. This first one was written in January of 2017. That seems a lifetime ago. You can check it out here.