Sunday, October 22, 2017

GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE! Viewing This Heisei Classic with a Couple of VIPs!

In between director Kazuki Omori (left) and suitmaker Fuyuki Shinada.

Today, I braved a typhoon to see Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989). Well, the typhoon really hasn't hit Kanto yet, but it sure rained pretty hard today. Still, I didn't let that stop me. How often do you get a chance to see Biollante in 35mm? The was my first opportunity, and I was determined to take it.

 Fuyuki Shinada and Kazuki Omori study the new Godzilla design. Photo by Brett Homenick.

It'd been years since I last watched Biollante in its entirety, and I was surprised by a few things I'd forgotten over the years. It was a great experience, and Biollante still ranks as one of my favorite Godzilla movies in the last 30-plus years. 


In attendance were Kazuki Omori (Biollante's writer-director) and suitmaker Fuyuki Shinada. What are Shinada-san's credits? Funny you should ask.

Fuyuki Shinada built Biollante in Godzilla vs. Biollante, Godzillasaurus in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Legion in Gamera 2 (1996), Irys in Gamera 3 (1999), as well as the monsters in GMK (2001), though these credits just scratch the surface of his entire body of work. Suffice it to say, if there's been a cool monster you've seen in a kaiju movie since the beginning of the Heisei era, there's a good chance Shinada-san made it.


And that's all! I'm back home now, waiting for the typhoon to hit Tokyo in full force. We'll see what happens. Stay dry, folks!

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