Shusuke Kaneko will be on hand to discuss both DEATH
NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME. © 2006 [Death
Note] Film Partners

Official Site: Japan Society
Special Thanks to Johann Gambolputty

From July 5-15, “Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film” will take place at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street New York, NY 10017. The series includes a number of US and New York premieres, as well as personal appearances by directors Shusuke Kaneko (DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME), Miwa Nishikawa (SWAY), Naoko Ogigami (KAMOME DINER), and Shion Sono (EXTE: HAIR EXTENSIONS). The New York premiere of GAMERA THE BRAVE will be a special free screening for all ages.

Tickets for most shows are $10/$7 members and seniors/$4.50 students, and can be purchased online or from the Box office at (212) 715-1258.

Check out the complete feature film schedule and director Q&A sessions here on SciFi Japan.

The series starts this Saturday with a double
feature of 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and SON
OF GODZILLA. © 1957 Columbia Pictures

Official Site: Detroit Film Theatre
Special Thanks to Kyle Byrd

Starting this Saturday at 2:00pm, the Detroit Film Theatre in Detroit, MI presents seven consecutive weekends of monster and fantasy movie matinees on the big screen. The first half of each double feature will be a restored 35mm print of one of Ray Harryhausen’s classic stop-motion animation films, followed by a bonus second movie from Toho Studios. Among the films being shown are 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, GODZILLA, MOTHRA, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, and GODZILLA VS. MEGAGUIRUS.

For the complete schedule and ticket info, please go here.

The original Japanese version of MOTHRA plays Rochester, New York next month. © 1961 Toho Co., Ltd.

The Dryden Theatre presents two Toho kaiju films on the big screen this July
Official Site: George Eastman House

On July 27, Godzilla returns to Rochester, New York for the third year in a row as the historic Dryden Theatre hosts a Toho kaiju double-feature of MOTHRA and GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH. Both films will be shown in the original Japanese with English subtitles.
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Official Site: The Grindhouse Film Festival

Flyer for the Grindhouse double feature at the New Beverly
Cinema.

Every month, the Grindhouse Film Festival present screenings of rare 35mm prints of classic cult and exploitation movies at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. This month’s theme is “Grindhouse Goes to Hong Kong” with a double feature of the Shaw Brothers’ GOLIATHON (Xing-xing Wang, 1977) and INFRA-MAN (Zhong Guo Chao Ren, 1975).

GOLIATHON is the original US title for THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN as it was first released in 1980 by World Northal Corp. Produced to capitalize on the international hype surrounding Dino DeLaurentiis’ 1976 KING KONG remake, GOLIATHON is a bizarre and entertaining re-working of KONG’s man-woman-ape love triangle. The film stars Danny Lee (John Woo’s THE KILLER) as Johnny Feng, a young Indiana Jones type on an expedition to capture the beast, and barely-clothed Swedish beauty Evelyne Kraft as the ape’s stepchild Samantha.

The co-feature, INFRA-MAN, was first released in the US by Joseph Brenner Associates in 1976. The US version features a loopy English dub that adds to the film’s over-the-top greatness. Danny Lee is transformed into a cyborg to save the world from Princess Dragon Mom and her army of monsters.

Tuesday, June 19th, 2007: Grindhouse Goes to Hong Kong
7:30pm: GOLIATHON
9:30pm: INFRA-MAN

NEW BEVERLY CINEMA
7165 Beverly Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-4038
Admission: $8.00

New poster design for D-WAR announcing the latest
planned theatrical release launch. © 2006 Younggu-art
Entertainment Co., Ltd.

Distributor Announces August 2007 for South Korea and US
Author: Loomis (Kim Song-ho) and Keith Aiken
Source: Showbox/Mediaplex, MaxMovie, various
Official Site: D-War.com

The long-awaited South Korean fantasy/monster movie D-WAR will finally see the light of day. On June 4, Korean distributor Showbox (THE HOST) officially announced that the monster epic will be released in both South Korea and the United States this August.

Initially announced as DRAGON WARS for a 2002 release, D-WAR has been a long time coming. Filming finally began in December 2004 with a cast that included Jason Behr (ROSWELL, THE GRUDGE), Robert Forster (REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, JACKIE BROWN), and Amanda Brooks (FLIGHTPLAN). D-WAR was screened for the first time for foreign buyers at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA on November 4, 2006, and again at the Berlin Film Market on February 8, 2007. According to Showbox, additional tweaks were finally completed on May 18, 2007, after a long production period of 6 years.
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Packaging art for GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER and INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER. The DVDs go on sale tomorrow.
Photo courtesy of Classic Media. © 1964, 1965 Toho Co., Ltd.

Author: Sean Kotz
Source: Classic Media, Inc.
Official site: Godzilla on DVD

Godzilla fans have had a lot to be happy about over the last year. Short of a new film in the series, the next best thing is a quality DVD release and since September of 2006, beginning with an award-winning two disc set of GOJIRA, Classic Media has been delivering quality DVD releases. As a follow-up, in April of 2007, Classic Media unleashed GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (Gojira no gyakushû, 1955) and MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA (Mosura tai Gojira, 1964) for an appreciative fan base in attractively packaged and well-designed editions. On June 5th, two more highly anticipated DVDs will arrive— GHIDORAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964) and INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER (1965)—and they continue Classic Media’s recent trend of giving fans what they want.

These films, while released separately, are produced with a unified vision and should be seen as part of a set ultimately. Below is a more detailed discussion of each film and its DVD, but for those simply interested in whether these DVDs are worth the money, the quick answer is, “Absolutely.” There are imperfections here and there, the available film stock for reproduction of the movies was limited, there could be more chapter selections and there are fewer special features than the GOJIRA release. However, in many ways these discs match Criterion Collection quality and they belong on the shelves of sci-fi fans of all sorts. Godzilla fans should be especially happy to see this pair.
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GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN DVD cover. Photo courtesy of
Classic Media. © 1955 Toho Co., Ltd.

Classic Media Continues to Score with the Release of a Previously Lost Godzilla Film and One of the Greatest Godzilla Sequels
Author: John “Dutch” DeSentis
Source: Classic Media, Inc.
Official site: Godzilla on DVD
Special Thanks to Bob Johnson and Keith Aiken

Before last September, Classic Media was a company whose efforts at releasing Godzilla films on DVD had fallen far short of expectations. All that changed, however, when the company took to heart what the fans wanted and released the superior GOJIRA/GODZILLA TWO DISC SPECIAL EDITION DVD. Now, in 2007, the company continues its incredible line of Godzilla DVDs which put everything behind them to shame.
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ULTRAMAN MAX was a return to basics after Tsuburaya’s experimental Ultra N Project the year before. All photos © 2005 Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd./CBC

Author: Brad Warner, Tsuburaya Productions
Introduction by: Bob Johnson
Special Thanks to James Ballard and Oki Miyano

A SciFi JAPAN EXCLUSIVE

After trying an entirely new approach to the Ultra series with their ambitious Ultra N Project in 2004, Tsuburaya Productions decided to go back to basics and back to the Nebula M78 universe with their follow-up series, ULTRAMAN MAX (Urutoraman Makkusu, 2005). After the dark and serious style utilized for both the feature film ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (Urutoraman) and the television series ULTRAMAN NEXUS (Urutoraman Nekusasu), TPC took a more light-hearted, bright and colorful slant with MAX.

Join us now for a look back as Tsuburaya Productions’ Brad Warner relives the adventures of Max and Team DASH in this exclusive Official ULTRAMAN MAX Episode Guide!
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