James Hong Is Everywhere All at Once!

Yours truly with James Hong in June 2010.

At the 95th Academy Awards, 94-year-old actor James Hong took to the Oscar stage after Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was announced as the Best Picture winner, celebrating the victory with his fellow cast and crew from the film. Naturally, Mr. Hong's acting career runs the gamut of decades, and his legendary list of credits even touches the Godzilla series. In particular, he provides the voices of Ogata and Dr. Serizawa in Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956).

James Hong writes a congratulatory message to Akira Takarada. Photo by Brett Homenick.

In June 2010, Mr. Hong wrote a congratulatory message on the back of a receipt at the Corner Bakery Cafe (see the above photo) in Los Angeles to Akira Takarada, whose performance he dubbed in 1956, who would be presented with a fan award the following month. I asked him to write the message, as I couldn't think of anyone better to congratulate Mr. Takarada than the man who helped bring his performance to the attention of international audiences. Besides, Mr. Hong's legacy speaks for itself, and (as the Oscars showed) it has only grown in leaps and bounds since then.

Seeing James Hong onstage at the Academy Awards after Everything Everywhere All at Once won the Best Picture Oscar was extremely gratifying, as he is a heck of a nice guy who deserves all the attention and success he's currently getting. I wanted to share this happy memory of the first time I met the legend himself in person. Here's to your continued success in Hollywood, good sir!

George Rohrs, One of the Last Veterans of 'Godzilla King of the Monsters,' Passes Away at 90

Film editor George Rohrs, who worked on the American version of Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956), passed away on August 30 of natural causes. He was 90 years old.

Mr. Rohrs was born on April 29, 1930, in Oak Park, IL, but moved with his family to Southern California during his teenage years. After serving in the Army for a couple of years, Mr. Rohrs joined the film industry in the 1950s, leading to a career in the entertainment world that lasted more than 30 years. More information about his life can be found in this obituary.

One of Mr. Rohrs' best-known credits internationally is Godzilla King of the Monsters. In a 2006 interview with Terry Morse, Jr., Morse would say, "Two other editors worked on the team. George Rohrs was the number-one assistant and sound effects editor." 

Godzilla fans around the world owe a debt of gratitude to George Rohrs for helping to make the Godzilla series a worldwide phenomenon. Rest in peace.

Out and About in Shinjuku!

 The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building as seen in the distance. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I walked around Shinjuku, and aside from taking in Godzilla: King of the Monsters again (which I still found enjoyable), I visited some familiar haunts, including Toho Cinemas and the nearby Godzilla Store. Here's just some of what I saw.

Another Titan Comes to Tokyo!

A poster recently caught my attention on the way to work. A temporary exhibit called "The Mammoth" is being held at Koto Ward's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation through November 4. On display will be frozen mammoth specimens and other related items.

The timing of "The Mammoth" couldn't have been any better, given that the mammoth-like Behemoth was a featured in Godzilla: King of the Monsters as a Titan. I do wonder if the frozen mammoth specimens will come back to life and go to the Godzilla head in Shinjuku in order to bow before it. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Godzilla in the Subway!

Signage for Godzilla: King of the Monsters in the subway in Osaka. Photo by Brett Homenick.

When I was in Osaka at the end of May, I saw this great ad for Godzilla: King of the Monsters in the subway. But given how much there was to do after I returned, I completely forgot to post it on the blog. I'm a little late, but here it is.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Conquers Osaka!

Just part of a huge Godzilla: King of the Monsters ad campaign in Osaka's Umeda Station. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Part of the fun for me in seeing Godzilla: King of the Monsters in Osaka was being surrounded by all the ballyhoo (but no pyro) for the film. There was a mini poster gallery in Umeda Station that featured all the Godzilla movies (minus the anime ones), a statue just outside the Toho Cinemas just across the street from the station that played Bear McCreary's interpretation of Ifukube's Godzilla theme from a speaker, a Wendy's promotional tie-in, and of course signage inside Toho Cinemas itself. All of these can be seen below. Enjoy!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla: King of the Monsters ballyhoo outside the Toho Cinemas near Osaka Station. Photo by Brett Homenick.

How's this for a headline? Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is the best Godzilla film since Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).

Granted, that in and of itself isn't a major accomplishment, as everything else released after Final Wars with Godzilla's name on it has been terrible. But King of the Monsters is genuinely entertaining, and I'd give it a full-throated recommendation.

The movie just works. I was interested in the story, I laughed in the right spots, and I enjoyed the references. (Not only are there the obvious Godzilla references, but there are more than a couple to John Carpenter's The Thing.) What's more, the scope of the movie is truly outstanding. The filmmakers used the worldwide locations to their fullest potential. What can I say? I'm not sure I enjoyed a summer blockbuster so much since the late '90s. 

That said, the movie isn't perfect. The biggest flaw is that the monsters are, for the most part, just big monsters. You get very little sense of personality (though they certainly tried with Ghidorah's three heads). I wish more would have been done with Mothra and especially Rodan. Also, the CGI battles seemed a bit generic and basically what I would have expected. 

I have to admit that my moviegoing experience was probably helped more than a little by the clever marketing campaign. It's been a lot of fun seeing all the signage and assorted ballyhoo all over Japan. (In contrast, when the 2014 Godzilla came out over here, I remember seeing a few posters in the subway and not much else.) When I walked out of the movie, I was able to buy Godzilla socks in the theater lobby. Who wouldn't want a pair of Godzilla socks?

In summary, Michael Dougherty got it right where Gareth Edwards got it so woefully wrong. The 2014 Godzilla was one of the driest, dullest, and blandest movies I've seen in a while. The most interesting characters (to the extent there were any) were killed off far too soon. The marketing campaign was oddly misleading, making it seem as if it were Godzilla (and not the MUTOs) sending us back to the Stone Age. Suffice it to say, Legendary Pictures and Michael Dougherty took note of the many ways in which the previous film failed and made a winner. 

Oh, and Bear McCreary knocked it out of the park with his versions of Akira Ifukube and Yuji Koseki's music. Again, this team just nailed it.

By the way, there's a nice tribute to Yoshimitsu Banno and Haruo Nakajima at the end of the credits (right before the obligatory post-credits sequence). It's well worth seeing.

My verdict: It's the Godzilla movie we've been waiting for since 2004.

Spotted on the Train...

I saw this advertisement on the train as I was coming home. Yup, I'd say the ballyhoo is in full swing. Will the pyro be too far behind?

Godzilla: King of the Monsters!

The ballyhoo (but not pyro) for Legendary Pictures' upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters has hit Tokyo, and the construction site for Tokyo Tokiwabashi 2027 is its latest victim. When it's all said and done, will we be Godzilla's pet? Or will Godzilla just be an Internet pet sensation, whatever that might mean? See the movie and find out!

Toho: Old and New!

Teruyoshi Nakano with Legendary's Godzilla. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Saturday, May 11, I attended yet another dinner event with Teruyoshi Nakano and Takashi Naganuma. As often as they happen, they're always a lot of fun.

I spent the bulk of the evening chatting with Naganuma-san about his career. He has numerous credits of particular interest to me, and I plan to learn a lot more about his career very soon.

Naturally, those in attendance are anticipating the release of Legendary's upcoming Godzilla movie at the end of the month. It'll be a hot topic of discussion once it comes out.

Godzilla in Shinjuku

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. The hype for Godzilla King of the Monsters continues to build. I look forward to seeing it at the end of the month.

I'd imagine this is not how King Ghidorah looks in the new Legendary Pictures flick, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Raymond Burr on 'Godzilla King of the Monsters!'

Raymond Burr (with Warren Kemmerling) in a publicity still from Godzilla 1985. Photo courtesy of Raymond Burr Vineyards.

While going through some of my old files, I came across a short memo I wrote in mid-2007 that I ultimately didn't know what to do with. I contacted Raymond Burr's longtime companion, Robert Benevides of Raymond Burr Vineyards. I phoned Mr. Benevides to ask if Mr. Burr had ever shared any stories about the making of his two Godzilla movies (Godzilla King of the Monsters and Godzilla 1985) with him.

It turned out that Mr. Burr indeed had, but, given that Mr. Benevides' memories were brief, I couldn't turn them into an article. So what to do? Unfortunately, indecisiveness got the better of me, so I simply didn't do anything with Mr. Benevides' comments. But, having rediscovered them in my files, I quickly realized they'd make a rather intriguing blog post. My memo, as written in July 2007, is below:

Robert Benevides, Raymond Burr‘s longtime companion, remembered what Burr had told him about his working on the first Godzilla film: “He worked on it for two days in a telephone booth, basically, and they cut him into the film. He loved to tell that story about how, during that period, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood by the hour because he had gotten so much money for those two days, that if you [extrapolate] it over the time period, he would have been the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. That‘s what he used to tell me.”

“The first one, he always said that he worked two days to do all those shots in the phone booth.”

James Hong, King of the Monsters!

James Hong signs an autograph for yours truly.

After visiting Ib Melchior, I ate lunch with legendary actor James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China, Chinatown, Blade Runner). This was my second lunch with the famed actor, however, it was even more enjoyable than the first.

Hangin' out with James Hong at Dupar's Restaurant in Los Angeles.

What made this lunch even more memorable was that James and I recorded a couple of videos, which are posted below. His sense of humor really shines through in them. Enjoy!