Kaiju VS Heroes Take Over Little Tokyo

by Jonathan Bilski

Roarrrrr! Pew!! Bam!!! The sounds of monsters (kaiju) and Japanese heroes were heard in the minds of those vising Little Tokyo this weekend. We were there, the opening day of Kaiju VS Heroes. Longer version of the exhibit, Kaiju vs Heroes: Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys. This brand new exhibit just open at the Japanese American National Museum and will be there until into next year.

The exhibit shows the heroes of Japanese culture, not even that much of the predecessors of Power Rangers, but heroes that came from Toho who set the stage for battling giant and strange looking monsters. It all comes from the collection of artist Mark Nagata. His real life toy collection is in front of you and it can fill shelves and shelves of graphic artist's offices. You have your giant growing Ultra Man and some dude with a lion for a head on one side of the exhibit.And on the other side all the monsters that you would beat up with said heroes.

There's such a huge strange take on design. Monster make up the most interesting shapes. Monsters of all sorts and good ol's Godzilla or shown in the ancient art of vinyl toys or really sofubi toys. Sofubi meaning: made of soft vinyl and the process done to make soft vinyl. It's still done today to make toys you can pick up and play with.

One of our favorite monsters at the exhibit is Eyezon, a supposed mutated potato. The gift shop has a great t-shirt of him for $25. He was created by Mark Nagata as were many of monsters you"ll see at the exhibit.

Mark Nagata will give you "Goosebumps" as he did a bunch of covers from the series you grew up on from Scholastic. Yeah, all those monsters Mark grew up helped him come up with creepy designs for grad school kids reading R.L. Stine.

We would have liked to have seen even more toys, maybe even gotten some more collections in the mix as the exhibit does feel a little small. There's a lot to get lost in and look at. While there, they were even running VR of a short look inside Mr. Nagata's collection at home. And they had a little monster simulator. There's many monsters and heroes to look at and a wonderful video playing of Japanese commercials for toys to view for a little bit, but we want more. More monsters and heroes, please!

Kaiju vs Heroes: Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys
Now- March 24, 2019
Japanese American National Museum

100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012

$ Admission

In conjunction with Kaiju vs Heroes, JANM will present a free outdoor screening of the original Japanese version of Godzilla (Gojira) on Thursday, October 25, at 7 p.m.

Beyond Fest Tickets Go On Sale At Noon 9/14

As of writing this if you want to see the great selection this year including the new Halloween and Suspira then you"ll have to look it up here or at the LA Times as the Beyond Fest web-site is down due to traffic. Tickets will be available still through Brown Paper Tickets. So you"ll have to search the name of the film or beyond fest to find tickets for what you want.

Update:

Suspira won't go on sale until next week and it's free and at the Cinerama Dome.

For tickets, everything is on @BPTickets. Search "Beyond Fest" for all titles on sale at noon. We'll announce @suspiriamovie tickets next week for both free Cinerama Dome screenings. @deathwaltzrecs @SidGrauman

— Beyond Fest (@BeyondFest) September 14, 2018

Looks like the hype train is going full force and things could sell out mighty quick.

Oh, looks A24's Slice isn't part of the selection.

Super Kind Is Back

The Japanese super hero and for some reason Danny Trejo our featured in a new round of Metro Manners short videos telling passengers to not act like jerks. Super Kind has a death metal ballad on not playing loud music. Sends here enemies into orbit for breaking etiquette. And, Danny Trejo just shows up to tell us stuff too. There is Super Kind merch and posters are suppose to be popping up around the Metro, but we wish they were selling those posters.

LA Film Festival September 20-28

We've already gone over The Portal, the new VR initiative from The LA Film Festival that takes place nowhere near the screenings. It is free and probably very artsy.

Now, we're going over our top picks for the festival. For the full guide of all that's going on look here.



LA Film Festival
Sept 20-28
Multiple ArcLight Theaters
Tickets $
Passes Start at $249

Docs

Behind the Curve

Sep 22 2018 9:30 PM

ArcLight Hollywood, Los Angeles

 

It's a documentary on the people who think the Earth is flat, it already seems like solid gold to stream on Netflix.

Nighfall Series-Shown late at night with possible horror elements

Deep Murder

Sep 25 2018 9:15 PM

ArcLight Culver City, Culver City

 

"Set in an alternate reality in which everyone is a cliché from a tacky soft-core porn film, a group of increasingly self-aware stock characters are up against a mysterious killer offing them one by one."

Spell

Sep 23 2018 9:00 PM

ArcLight Culver City, Culver City

"Following the unexpected death of his fiancé, an American illustrator travels to the Icelandic countryside to seek solace. What he finds instead is a blurred line between reality and fantasy as magical things begin to shake his very foundation—unless it’s all in his head."

Head Count

Sep 26 2018 9:55 PM

ArcLight Culver City, Culver City

"During a weekend getaway to Joshua Tree, a group of teenagers find themselves under mental and physical assault from a supernatural entity that mimics their appearances as it completes an ancient ritual."

Buzz

Jonathan

Sep 26 2018 9:00 PM

ArcLight Culver City, Culver City

 

*Chose it mainly because it's my name and if I ever want to get a name-tag for Doug Loves Movies, I can get a poster for this.

"Every day, a man leaves work at noon, goes home to sleep, and wakes up to breakfast and a video telling him about the second part of his day."

 

Indie TV Pilots

 

2 Kawaii 4 Comfort

Sep 24 2018 7:00 PM

ArcLight Culver City, Culver City

 

 *Come on, we love anime on this site.

"A near-fatal car crash on a trip to an anime convention causes four hyper-dysfunctional fans to confront everything they were hiding from at the one place they go to escape reality, Kotakon 2015."

Adult Swim Festival Oct 5-7

It's new and it's freaky, the Adult Swim Festival will be setting up shop this October in downtown LA. Other than some well known musical acts the real draw to fans will be all the cool stuff there that comes from Comic-Con. You'll have plenty of fun stuff to entertain you in-between musical acts.

From the press release:
"They can take a trip on the DREAM CORP LLC Virtual Reality Eggs, play a round of Rick and Morty Mini Golf; ride a giant Hot Dog Ride; soak in six minutes of air-conditioning in the immersive Meatwad Dome 4D Experience and climb everyone favorite feline on Smack Up My Uvula.  Fans far and wide will also enjoy live broadcasts by Adult Swim’s FishCenter & Friends, featuring the best of the streams."

Then you have the totally strange Rick & Morty musical Ricksperience.

"Rock out with Rick and Morty like never before when the Rick and Morty Musical Ricksperience goes live with a 37-piece orchestra at the highly anticipated Adult Swim Festival at ROW DTLA Los Angeles, October 5-7th. For the first time ever, see composer Ryan Elder (The man behind Rick and Morty’s music) and some very special guests bring your favorite Rick and Morty songs to life in melodic harmony in sync with an episode. There’s going to be an actual orchestra, with trombones and stuff."

"Buy tickets before Saturday, September 14th for the opportunity to enter the Adult Swim Festival Fan Sweepstakes and get a chance to watch your favorite band from the soundboard, get 50% off all Adult Swim merchandise, go home with a limited-edition Rick and Morty vinyl and other autographed exclusives, free food and drink vouchers, custom Adult Swim bike, plus many more prizes!  Already bought your ticket?  Don’t worry fans who purchased tickets between March 16th and September 14th are also eligible to enter the sweepstakes when they register their admission wristbands at AdultSwimReg.com.  One registered wristband per person.  Visit AdultSwimReg.com to view full rules and restrictions."