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When I closed my eyes and pictured the greatest villain costumes in sci-fi movies, I was surprised how often hair -- and headpieces -- come into play. That makes sense for those of us who are not costume purists because we're thinking of the character as a whole, and in movies we're very often looking at close-ups of villains. We want to get up close and personal, to study the sneer, to examine the evil eyes, to absorb the dismissive scowl, to observe the raised eyebrows.

Isn't it the whole package that sells a character as a villain? The actor makes all the difference in the world, no matter if he's buried under a ton of makeup or becomes nearly unrecognizable, but the costume plays an important role. In honor of all those who will sally forth this weekend in costumes that are good, bad, and ugly, we salute the designers of the top ten (plus a couple of bonus selections) greatest villain costumes in sci-fi movies, and the actors who wear them.

The Emperor Ming (Flash Gordon)

It takes a truly evil villain to pull off this particular outfit. Arrayed in varying shades of deep red and gold, Ming (the always game Max von Sydow) threatens to steal the show when those eyebrows are raised. Somehow Ming looks both sartorially forward-thinking -- what is that raised cowl doing back there except to frame his bald head -- and ridiculously, gloriously silly.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

Movie music has certainly changed over the years. What was once the domain of an orchestra and studio musicians is long gone, and now the top-40 soundtrack reigns supreme. Sometimes it works, like in the case of Martin Scorsese's use of pop music, and sometimes it really doesn't -- and that's where today's list comes in. SPIN has compiled what they say are the worst movie songs of all time, so make sure your earplugs are handy because we're about to look back at the Top 10 Worst Movie Songs, Ever!

So let's get right to the list, shall we? Grabbing the top spot for the worst of all time was P. Diddy and Jimmy Page's Kashmir update for Godzilla, Come With Me. But if you thought that song was bad, wait till you get a load of the other nominees, including Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap, Limp Bizkit's Take a Look Around from Mission Impossible II, and Nickelback's Spider-Man song, Hero. Judging by SPIN's list it seems like 'geek' movies took most of the hits -- although how Evanescence's theme for Daredevil escaped I'll never know. But rather than complain about what wasn't included in SPIN's list, I've decided to make my very own list of great and not-so-great movie songs.

After the jump: My Top 10 Favorite (and most hated) songs from the movies...

Believe it or not, I wasn't yet a full-blown movie geek in 1998. I didn't even start saving my ticket stubs until the summer of '99. In all fairness, I hadn't been quite old enough to go to the movies by myself yet -- not much younger than any of my colleagues in the summers they covered, but young enough to spare you the math.

Every third weekend, my younger brother and I spent with our father, and a reliable way to spend time together was often to go to the movies or rent something and stay home. So by only (probably) going to the movies every third weekend, I only saw maybe six movies theatrically over the course of those eighteen weeks. I'll bold those that I remember going to see as I go along, and then touch upon the rest of the releases in between.

(By the way: the weekends in the summer of 1998 happen to line up with those of this summer. Let's see just how far we've come...)

My imagination was caught by the title of the upcoming movie Monsters vs. Aliens. I've seen a lot of monster movies and films with aliens in them. I wondered how would some of these characters fare in battle against one another. How would the gentle aliens from Galaxy Quest be able to stand up to vampires? Could Superman defeat the monster from The Host? How would Ford Prefect deal with Noah Cross?

So I decided to stage a smackdown event featuring some of the best-known monsters and aliens in film in one-on-one combat. Instead of matching up characters with similar (or notably different) abilities, I paired them up the old-fashioned way: pulling names out of a hat. Two hats -- I filled one with the names of every alien creature I could think of from movies, and another with every conceivable monster. Here are the results. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

When we think of the long Thanksgiving weekend, usually a couple of key things come to mind: Lots of food and ridiculous lines at the mall, with people fighting, breathing fire and trampling one another for that next great deal. Thus, check out this fan-created image mash-up featuring the gang from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory flick and Godzilla. I'm not sure where in the world the thought came from to mash these two fantastical properties together, but there you have it. One less sequel you have to dream up. Apparently the image was created for Kaiju Monster Invasion, Miami Beach Fine Art Show, which takes place December 3rd through January 4th. Here's their MySpace page. Check out a larger version below. Freaky, right?



[via Superpunch]

As one giant monster is celebrated for destroying Manhattan, another is taken to court. Cloverfield stomps on DVD shelves in North America today (Erik Davis got an early look), and there's no question that the large, rampaging creature in that film was inspired by Godzilla. But the beast only bears a superficial resemblance to the Japanese Lizard King, and his urban rebuilding program was limited to Gotham City. What if he dared to destroy a Japanese city and more closely resembled Godzilla?

The Subway sandwich chain recently aired a new commercial that stepped over the line, in the eyes of Toho Co., the Japanese studio behind the original Godzilla movies. Toho filed a complaint in Los Angeles, according to The Japan Times, alleging that Subway "not only intentionally created a character that closely resembles Godzilla in its physical appearance, but placed the character in a setting, a Japanese city under attack, that is widely associated with Toho's Godzilla films."

Glenn Erickson, AKA DVD Savant, commented: "A big monster attacking a city isn't automatically Toho's private property -- or is it? Is Toho saying that another film company cannot make a movie about a giant monster stomping Tokyo?" He linked to the ad on YouTube; after watching it, I agree that the suit seems "really ridiculous." The monster appears for about four seconds and looks pretty generic. But you be the judge. Take a look at the video and decide for yourself: Does that monster look like Godzilla?

It's Thursday, which means the more rabid among you have already devoured Monika's New DVD Picks of the Week and/or my suggestions (Indies on DVD) and you're thinking: What's next? Well, my DVD fiend friend, may I suggest a trip to Asia?

We'll start with the one that probably has the broadest immediate appeal. Latitude Zero comes to us courtesy of Japanese director Ishirô Honda, the man behind Godzilla and Rodan, among many others. He also made Atragon in 1963, the tale of a renegade atomic submarine whose crew becomes involved with a colorful pagan tribe that lives under the sea. Latitude Zero appears to be semi-related; it revolves around a secret city under the sea (also named "Latitude Zero"). When the film was released Stateside in 1970, the New York Times commented: "The real virtue of the film lies in its charming and careful models, its ingenious special effects, its fruity interior décor, its elaborate network of television screens ... and in Dr. Anne Barton," played by Linda Haynes. (Free registration required to read the complete review.) Joseph Cotten and Cesar Romero star. The two-disk special edition DVD from Tokyo Shock features the US and Japanese versions, deleted scenes, crew interviews, and a trailer gallery.

The more adventurous might wish to check out Evil Dead Trap 2 (DVD from Unearthed Films, with photo gallery and trailers), described as a "surrealistic sequel" about a projectionist; "in her spare time, she's completely insane and bloodily guts prostitutes with a knife." (!) Along similar extreme edges, Raw Summer (DVD from Pathfinder Home Entertainment with a "making of" feature and biographies) follows "a salaryman [who] obsesses over a pretty teenage schoolgirl in first-time filmmaker Keisuke Yoshida's darkly comic tale of a man consumed by a truly twisted love." The cover looks exploitative (and is NSFW) but has positive quotes from Andy Klein of LA CityBeat; Klein is an experienced critic of Asian films, so this may be worth a rental.

For the record, I'll mention that Suffocation, whose import DVD proclaimed it was "China's first Psycho Film," has arrived on Region 1 DVD via Image Entertainment. I've tried to watch this twice, but have been defeated each time by the glacial pace of the proceedings and the lack of any spookiness. Potential renters, consider yourselves forewarned.

Can Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. survive if it doesn't feature New York City either under water, under ice or being attacked by aliens and/or giant lizards? That's the question I had after watching the first teaser trailer for 10,000 B.C. -- Emmerich's latest epic, effects-laced extravaganza. From the guy who brought us Independence Day, the updated Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow comes a film that ... I don't even know what to say. It's like Apocalypto, but extremely Hollywood-ized. Once you get past all the running and animal-fighting, the first question you'll probably have is ... what language will this film be in? I can't answer that for sure, but since it's coming from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures (300), I assume everyone spoke English back in 10,000 B.C. I mean, the Spartans did, so why wouldn't these prehistoric mammoth hunters?

It's a no-brainer; I really can't see a major studio like Warners taking a chance on a big-budgeted flick that either doesn't have dialogue or is in a different language. It just wouldn't make sense. But we're used to seeing the historical facts smudged a whole lot when it comes to huge Hollywood flicks, so I won't hold that against the film. That being said, this is only a teaser. Does it look cool? Yeah. But that's as far as I can go. All of Emmerich's films "look" cool, but I've always found the stories are told on a third grade level. Hopefully this one will carry a bit more substance, instead of two hours worth of half-naked men chasing mammoths around with spears. I have no problem checking my brain at the door for certain things, but I'm getting tired of people using that excuse for every other film that gets released. But perhaps I'm in the minority on that one. Who knows. 10,000 B.C. arrives in theaters on March 7, 2008.

I trust all of you out there had a wonderful Fourth of July; one that included catching at least one showing of Transformers, as well as a preview for that secret J.J. Abrams-produced Blair Monster Project Movie. I've written a couple posts about this mysterious project before ever having seen the much talked-about trailer, but that's now changed. I caught a screening of Transformers with a group of peeps for my friend's 30th birthday on Tuesday (yes, he wanted to see Transformers for his 30th, and I fully supported him in that decision). I thought the trailer (which followed a group of partygoers onto the streets of Manhattan -- via handheld camera -- as a bunch of explosions slowly begin to cripple the city) was pretty damn rad. And I'm impressed that more information about the film hasn't leaked online ... yet. Kudos to Abrams, his team and Paramount for keeping a tight lid on this thing -- the marketing on it thus far has been pretty damn entertaining.

And it continues today with a brand new teaser website for the film. 1-18-08.com will apparently be the flick's new home, and the domain was registered by Paramount wayyy back in March before anyone knew a thing about "Cloverfield" (or whatever it's called). Right now all that's up there is a photo of two awestruck faces and a time stamp in the lower right-hand corner that reads 01/18/2008 12:36A. I believe the two faces in the pic belong to females, and their mouths are open as if to say, "What the hell is happening right now" or "Did a giant robot really just take a piss on John Turturro?" I have a feeling they'll try to keep this one a secret for as long as they can, although there's a good chance we'll see some sort of promotion for it later this month at San Diego ComicCon. In the meantime, we do know that Abrams is producing, Drew Goddard wrote the script and, from what we hear, Matt Reeves is directing. Is it another Godzilla movie? Does it have something to do with Lost? Or, could it be entirely new ... and we're just conditioned to immediately think everything is either a remake or sequel?

Guys in rubber monster suits beating the tar out of each other? It doesn't get much more b-movie than that. While the Japanese kaiju (giant monster) genre has produced scads of films of widely varying quality, Gojira no gyakushû or Godzilla Raids Again, just now making its first appearance on DVD from Classic Media, is one of the best. Produced in 1955 as a quickie sequel to 1954's Gojira (released stateside in a heavily edited form as Godzilla: King of the Monsters), this first of many Godzilla sequels was the last to be shot in black and white and began the long standing tradition of the Big G battling other monsters. This DVD release carries both the original Japanese version, and the greatly altered U.S. release version.

In the original Japanese cut, a pilot named Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) scouting schools of tuna for a fishing company runs into trouble and is forced to ditch his plane near a remote Japanese island. Kobayashi's friend Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi who also appeared in 1974's Godzilla Vs. the Cosmic Monster, Godzilla 1985 and 2003's Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.) flies to the rescue, and finds his colleague safe and sound. Before the two men can leave the island, they witness two massive creatures battling ferociously, and they recognize one of the monsters as Godzilla. Despite the limitations of the time, the scene in which we first see the monsters is an impressive effects shot, giving a convincing sense of scale to the beasts. The two creatures go tumbling into the ocean and the men fly home and report their findings. It is determined that this second Godzilla (the first having been destroyed in the previous film) is a member of the same species as the original, while the other monster Anguiras, a nuclear age version of the ankylosaur, was obviously awakened by the same hydrogen bomb tests that roused the Godzilla creatures. With the exposition out of the way, it isn't long before the two creatures come ashore in Osaka and wreak havoc, at least sparing Tokyo this time.