Huge Summer Blockbuster

Godzilla delivers monster movie experience with pulse-racing storyline

The prospect of seeing another movie about Godzilla, especially for those unfortunate enough to have witnessed the 1998 Roland Emmerich fiasco, wouldn’t seem to be at the top of most moviegoers’ lists.

Now fully 60 years old, the nuclear-mutated monster had long been overtaken by a new breed of action movies. And yet, perhaps because the last American version was so bad, making Godzilla fearsome again still holds a certain appeal. That’s precisely what the new Godzilla does, although the way the film restores the creature to his former glory is unexpected, making it all the more thrilling.

Even though Godzilla causes great destruction, it never boils down to a strictly “mankind vs. monster” kind of movie.

The film establishes itself via Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), a nuclear scientist who barely survives the destruction of a power plant in Japan. Fifteen years later, he’s still after the truth of what happened, and he’s joined in his quest by his son, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy lieutenant who’d rather be at home with his wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and his son.

Their search puts them into contact with Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe), who knows what they don’t: That the oceans hide a great beast he calls Gojira, and that the creature is not the only gigantic monster in the world that is a threat to humanity.

The filmmakers, led by director Gareth Edwards, do a lot right in this version of Godzilla, but the best thing they do is treat the material seriously. That’s not to say that the movie is a drama by any means, but it also doesn’t fall prey to the need to have secondary comic relief characters or the like. As much as I loved Pacific Rim, that quality was its one big flaw.

Edwards and his team understand that in a movie like this, tension is their best friend, and the groundwork for that is laid from minute one. In fact, they take so long to get to the action we think we came for that they could be accused of being teases. But by holding out until just the right moment to unleash hell, they guarantee that the audience is lathered up into a proper fervor.

The story also works because even though Godzilla and other creatures called M.U.T.O.s cause great destruction to several cities and are a real threat to humanity, it never boils down to a strictly “mankind vs. monster” kind of movie.

The humans want to take out the monsters because of the danger they pose to the humans’ very survival, but the monsters never seem consciously bent on destroying the world. It’s only due to their sheer size and innate ability to plow through anything in their path that they do so.

And unlike many apocalyptic films that came out in 2013, the massive damage the monsters cause is given the import and context it deserves. Large swaths of cities are destroyed, undoubtedly causing thousands of deaths. Even though we don’t see every single one of them, the film never takes those casualties for granted, either.

On the visual side, the filmmakers do wonders in translating the scale of Godzilla and the other monsters. Godzilla is literally larger than it’s ever been, and Edwards showcases its immensity with awe-inspiring close-ups and long shots. Not once does Godzilla or the M.U.T.O.s feel cheesy or anything less than terrifying.

The one glaring blemish on the film is the need to include Ford in nearly every big set piece. No matter where in the world the action goes, or in what extraordinary circumstance, Ford is there. Maybe it’s because Taylor-Johnson still has some Kick-Ass 2 stink on him, but his popping up anytime something big happened got a bit ridiculous.

Godzilla delivers on almost every level one expects of a summer blockbuster movie — and on several levels you don’t. The big guy is back, better than ever and ready to take on all-comers.

Godzilla is back and bigger than ever.

Godzilla

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Godzilla is back and bigger than ever.

Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."

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