Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel is just as impressive as ‘Godzilla Minus One.’ PLUS: ’The Rings of Power’ release schedule, ‘SNL’ spirals deeper, and has Marvel met with a future Wolverine actor?
Just in time for the holidays, there’s a winter-themed new flavor of Snackology’s best candy of 2025.
‘You’re gonna wear it?’ Marcello Hernandez asked. ‘And you’re gonna do the voice?’ If you know, you know.
Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel is just as impressive as ‘Godzilla Minus One.’ PLUS: ’The Rings of Power’ release schedule, ‘SNL’ spirals deeper, and has Marvel met with a future Wolverine actor?
Hey there, Popculturology pals. Welcome to the Friday newsletter.
It’s been a wild week, but I need to take a moment to wish an early happy anniversary to Arrival. This upcoming Wednesday is the tenth anniversary of the film hitting theaters. Seeing that film just a few days after the 2016 election is etching into my memories, so this week’s news feels like an appropriate bookend as we celebrate Arrival’s milestone anniversary. It’s a perfect movie.
Bill Kuchman
I love the Godzilla movies. And I love that there are currently two concurrent Godzilla franchises.
The American version of the, um, titan began in a hey, this is serious manner with Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla before quickly spiraling all the way to Godzilla and Kong teaming up and being buddies in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. (Kong legit rides on Godzilla’s back at one point in this movie. It’s absurd.)
The version of Godzilla out of Japan approaches the kaiju in a very different manner.
Godzilla Minus Zero, Takashi Yamazaki’s sequel to the acclaimed Godzilla Minus One, hit American theaters on Thursday night. Like its predecessor, Godzilla Minus Zero restores Godzilla to a force of nature. He’s not a loyal protector of humanity, but instead a weapon that can hopefully be pointed in the right direction. I even hesitate to call Godzilla Minus Zero’s Godzilla “he” since the characters in the movie often refer to Godzilla as “it.”
Much has been made of Godzilla Minus Zero being the first Godzilla movie to earn an R rating. No, it’s not because of any Godzilla nudity or even profanity from the human characters. Yamazaki doesn’t shy away from the fact that Godzilla is at its core, and from its beginning, a response to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Godzilla Minus Zero doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war, whether at the hands of humans or from the destruction of a kaiju.
Godzilla Minus Zero is also the loudest movie I’ve ever seen. Do you know how many times my Apple Watch has ever given me a decibel warning in a movie?
Zero.
Do you know how many times my Apple Watch alerted me that I was in a loud environment when I saw Godzilla Minus Zero at the Airbus IMAX?
My thoughts on Godzilla Minus Zero and all the week’s pop culture news are for Popculturology+ and The Omnicosm+ subscribers. To read this edition of Popculturology, please upgrade your membership or sign into your account.
This is your golden opportunity to add Netflix’s animated phenomenon to your Blu-ray collection.
The Elizabeth Holmes documentary snagged the top spot at the box office after back-to-back No. 2 finishes.
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I’m looking forward to this movie more than I am ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’
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