Gina Gershon and the Godzilla Series

In the latest edition of Criterion's "Closet Picks" series, actress Gina Gershon (Showgirls, Bound, The Insider) makes her selections, and at about the 2:35 mark in the video above Ms. Gershon chooses Criterion's Showa-era Godzilla Blu-ray set and offers the following comments:

I saw this, and I freaked out because I love Godzilla; I do. I'm just gonna say it -- I love Godzilla. [holds up the Showa Godzilla Blu-ray set] Look at this. Now these have all the originals, right? This is one of the greatest scores of all time, I think. It's one of my favorite scores -- you know, dun dun duuunnn . . . [does the Godzilla theme]

When I have to get going in the morning, I listen to the theme of Godzilla [laughs], and I love this. Thank you so much. [looks at the Blu-ray set cover] This is a great graphic. Whoever did this, you're a genius.

It's pretty fun to think that Gina Gershon has a Blu-ray of Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) at home, but at this point I'm sure a lot more people than you'd expect do, too.

Actor Makoto Akatsuka, Who Appeared in the Ultraman and Kamen Rider Series, Passes Away at Age 73

Makoto Akatsuka in November 2022. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Film and television actor Makoto Akatsuka passed away on July 4 at a hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture of esophageal cancer. He was 73.

Mr. Akatsuka, who was born on March 19, 1951, began his professional film career in 1967 with Toho, playing youthful character in a variety of productions. He plays Sangoro in the film Double Suicide (1969), Mamoru Watanabe in Wet Sand in August (1971), Chuji Saito in Yoji Yamada's The Village (1975), the grandson in the Tora-san film Tora's Pure Love (1976), a chimpira in The Yellow Handkerchief (1977), Otomatsu Kawase in Nomugi Pass (1979), Makoto in Tora-san Goes North (1987), a policeman in Tora-san Makes Excuses (1992), and Yazaki in the Oscar-nominated The Twilight Samurai (2002).

On television, he appears uncredited in episode 12 of Ultraman Ace (1972-73), episode 11 of Jekyll and Hyde (1973) as a toy factory worker, Fight! Dragon (1974) as Kojiro Musashi, the all-star TV movie Tokyo Earthquake Magnitude 8.1 (1980) as Hiroshi Sakaki, episode 28 of Kamen Rider Black (1987-88) as Tsunekichi Koyama, and Kamen Rider Black RX (1988-89) as the recurring character Shunkichi Sahara.

I met Mr. Akatsuka only once in November 2022. It was after a stage performance in Daikanyama, Tokyo. I approached him after the show to introduce myself and mentioned my interest in tokusatsu productions, specifically mentioning Ultraman Ace. He was very kind, and I enjoyed meeting him.

His acting resume was impressive enough that I did consider reaching out to him for an interview, but, given his recent health issues, it probably wasn't very likely, anyway. I'm sure he had many fascinating stories to tell.

Rest in peace, Mr. Akatsuka.