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Godzilla (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: "Godzilla," for those who don't know, is actually the Anglicized version of "Gojira," the original name for that man in the rubber monster suit that breathes fire, stomps on toy housing developments, and melts all the model tanks that Tokyo can throw in its way. "Gojira" itself (the word) is a coinage from the words "gorilla" and "kujira," the Japanese word for "whale," making Godzilla one whale of a gorilla. From 1954, when Godzilla, King of the Monsters first appeared, to Terror of Mechagodzilla, the 20th-anniversary film of 1974, there were 15 of these unforgettable fantasies of cornice-crushing building busters. The first 10, and the 20th-anniversary film, were all directed by Inoshiro Honda, the original and best of the Godzilla directors, who in his later years worked in one capacity or another on Akira Kurosawa's last five films (Kurosawa delivered the eulogy at Honda's funeral). Here we have five of the best of Honda's rampaging reptile flicks collected together, three of them with your choice of cropped-screen or the glory that is Tohoscope, the last with no choice but cropped, and the first with that cut-screen option or the correctly letterboxed 1.66:1 aspect ratio. All discs have your choice of Dolby Digital Mono (or Stereo) or Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. And there's a nifty 25-minute documentary on monster movies to be found only on the first disc, Godzilla, King of the Monsters. --Jim Gay

Godzilla Versus Monster Zero (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: In the darkness behind Jupiter there lurks a heretofore undiscovered planet, Planet X, boasting beings of superior intelligence. The Planet X-ers are forced to live underground because of the havoc wreaked on the surface by Ghidra, the three-headed monster. Once discovered by our astronauts, including the ultra-hip Nick Adams (spouting such phrases as "That's right, baby!" with innocent conviction), the Planet X-ers propose that they transport Godzilla and Rodan from Earth to their planet to help rid them of the Ghidra menace. Only, as it turns out, they have a dastardly plan to use the bipedal behemoth and his flighty friend to conquer the Earth, harnessing their destructive force with "magnetic waves." And it almost works, but for the ingenuity... well, you get it. There can be no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than watching monsters battle it out, while Nick Adams speaks in his accustomed English to others speaking dubbed English (really Japanese), like they all know what each other is saying. The DVD gives you a choice of cropped-screen or letterboxed in scrumptious Tohoscope, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or Mono, and some more extras. It is also available in a boxed set with four of the better Godzilla flicks by director Inoshiro Honda. --Jim Gay