Legendary’s MonsterVerse Godzilla TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is set to premiere on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on Friday, November 17, followed by one episode every Friday through January 12. (You can read our own Alex Maidy’s review of the first batch of episodes HERE.) In anticipation of the show’s premiere, we’re taking a look back at several of Godzilla’s previous adventures to see how they stack up against each other. For the sake of keeping it as lean as possible, we’re focusing on his earliest days, going all the way back to the original Showa era, consisting of his very first outing in 1954, his first clashes with the likes of Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah and his cyborg counterpart, Mechagodzilla, before concluding its run in 1975. So don’t look for the likes of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), or Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), with its time travel shenanigans. To add more familiarity to the pot, we’re also including his string of American blockbusters, from his 1998 debut to his recent makeover for Legendary. That’s well over a dozen movies ranked from worst to best, with enough kaiju brawling – ranging from epic to grad-A ham – to satiate your appetite if you’re looking for more to watch after Monarch premieres.

19. Godzilla (1998)

As I’ll explore with the rest of the entries on the list, most Godzilla movies range from genuinely fantastic to at-least-okay-for-simple-fun (maybe with the help of some substances). Not Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla, which easily bottom-outs this ranked list of Godzilla movies. No amount of reflection after 23 years could make this movie seem better in context, nor all the drugs in the world make it seem entertaining. More interesting for Matthew Broderick’s worm obsession than anything Godzilla does, this fiasco with a criminal runtime of 139 minutes has none of the smarts, fun, or welcome weirdness that made the original movies classics – nor any originality to make it its own beast.

18. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

The zenith of the “these movies are for children and children only” vibe, Godzilla vs. Megalon feels like it was written by a children’s book writer in their twilight years, has given up, and just wants their check. An underwater civilization called Seatopia hijacking an amateur inventor’s fully functioning flying robot to aid them in taking over the world? For as awesomely odd as that sounds, everything about this one feels listless and routine, as if made with the mindset of “fuck it, they’ll still pay to see it.” It tries to cram new junk in there, like a robot superhero in the (albeit dope) Jet Jaguar, and some Italian Job driving for adults — and yet — none of it is enough to stop it from being the low mark of the series at that point, with Godzilla himself feeling like a tack-on in the final 30 minutes, easily putting it towards the bottom of our ranked Godzilla movies. 

17. All Monsters Attack (1969)

Much like Megalon, All Monsters Attack also feels made with the “hey it’s for kids, who gives a damn!” mindset, but at least director Ishiro Honda tried to play into that angle by giving it themes kids could actually benefit from. A boy travels to MonsterIsland in his dreams and hangs out with a talking Minilla, Godzilla’s son, and together they find their own strength to stand up to bullies. That’s a cute message, but also the movie’s only saving grace. Between the infamous amount of reused footage from past movies to make up the action scenes and a 69-minute runtime, and it seems no one involved cared about making this an actual movie, and instead opted for an after-school special that can’t help but be placed towards the bottome of our Godzilla movies ranked. 

16. Son of Godzilla (1967)

Two Minilla-centric movies in a row, and for good reason. The spawn of Godzilla is only so cute before becoming terrifying, which always goes hand-in-hand with whatever cuteness comes from this father-son tale that is Son of Godzilla. The series in full slapstick mode, there’s some playfulness to come from Big Poppa teaching the little guy how to blast his atomic breath – which comes in handy against some gnarly creatures, namely the big spider Kumonga, which was operated with some impressive wirework. A moronic human-level story about weather-changing tech – and an equally stupefying ending (even the little guy is frozen?) – stop SoG from skating by as harmless fun aimed at kids, so anyone’s appreciation of this one entirely depends on how much baby Godzilla hijinks they can stomach.

15. Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

With Invasion of Astro-Monster, Godzilla leaped into the campy territory from which there was no return – literally. Godzilla, after repelling Ghidorah on Jupiter, does a leaping dance like a giant, scaly ballerina. That level of goofiness mixed with the schlocky, retro sci-fi effects and storyline can make for a fun night with like-minded friends, but take that away and you have an often dull alien-invasion story that lacks a proper amount of kaiju action, and perhaps is only as good as the viewers’ tolerance for cheap sci-fi filmmaking. 

14. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

After coming out of retirement, Ishiro Honda’s Terror of Mechagodzilla (the final Showa era film) is his attempt to get back to the grounded, more doom-laden tone of his first movie, having grown tired of what he felt were sequels aimed only at children. The story is indeed more focused than previous installments, taking on a more dramatic, tragic approach to what the characters are going through. And yet, Honda still had to contend with latent silliness that was pretty much inescapable, meaning his approach can be undermined by unintentionally funny moments. The action is also a bit of a downgrade from the previous entry (see the next slot), even though it continues a solid trend of Godzilla getting his ass kicked before rallying and going gonzo on monster asses. There’s a lot working both for and against Honda’s vision, but it’s a decent entry with a perfect final shot of Godzilla wading into a sunset-covered sea, leaving the Showa era behind him. Not the best, not the worst, but perfectly placed towards the middle of our Godzilla movies ranked.

13. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

While it may introduce one of Godzilla’s more iconic foes, it’s a shame that Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla itself isn’t a better movie. Sure it’s a step up from Jun Fukuda’s Godzilla vs. Megalon, but that’s because it’s “humans vs. ape-like aliens” story is mildly better than that one’s “humans vs. sea-people” angle. No, if Mechagodzilla is worth remembering it’s for its absolutely banging final act, which pits Godzilla (alongside an ape-lion guardian named King Caeser) against his robotic alter-ego. With perhaps the most explosions and pyrotechnics than any entry before it, the clash finds Mecha unloading rainbow laser beams and finger missiles at the big lizard, giving him a run for his money and making him have a full-on blood geyser spew from his neck. Makes it all worth suffering through one of the dumber, more poorly written stories just to get to. 

12. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

There’s not much that Godzilla vs. Gigan does differently than previous entries: Aliens are once again back to conquer the world (a story approach director Fukuda would bring to the next few movies) and once again Godzilla is needed to fight them off. But despite all that feels similar, Gigan manages to walk away as one of the better movies simply because it’s so purely enjoyable. The monster Gigan is designed like an interstellar robot chicken with a buzzsaw in his tummy; King Ghidorah is always a plus; the alien invaders are roaches disguising themselves as dead humans — which is dope and; the action as some weight to it, with Godzilla and Angurius getting their asses handed to them before a big win. Even when it’s failing it’s either kind of adorable or at least entertaining, earning it solid placement as one of Godzilla’s more reliable adventures. 

11. Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Godzilla Raids Again reminds me a lot of Rocky II in that it’s not quite as good as the first movie, but is still a good movie on its own, and it’s come out the other side as a solid, if almost forgettable, entry in the series. Many of the smarts from the original are there with an increase in action, teasing the first of many kaiju clashes that would define the series. However, nothing about it stands out among the rest of the series. Not as interesting as others, but still smarter than most; not as exciting as others, but sporting some relatively good fights. Solid kaiju moviemaking from top to bottom, which in the case of this series, isn’t too shabby at all.

10. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Of all Godzilla’s early adventures, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is the one to likely split fans down the middle. It’s the outlier of the bunch, with director Yoshimitsu Banno looking at much of what came before and saying, “Nah, not gonna do that.” After the last few entries dialed up the ham, Hedorah gets back to more grounded roots with a villain that reflects anti-pollution themes, and the movie itself feels like a reflection of the changing cultural shifts Japan was going through at the time, making it feel bizarre in ways all its own. Like Godzilla mixed with The Blob and a bit of Creature from the Black Lagoon, there’s even a horror movie vibe to it all as Godzilla fights what is, essentially, a trash monster. Yeah, there are still some issues with the storytelling, and it can’t completely escape the campiness of past movies, but still, Hedorah a fascinating, unique entry in the series that rearns this upper-tier placement of our ranked Godzilla movies.

9. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)

After a really rocky start that sets up the ensemble of incredibly thin characters, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep soon establishes itself as one of the most purely enjoyable entries in the series. Taking a cue from colorful spy movies of the era, we’re whisked away to an island featuring a syndicate of villains who are exploiting the native population, and as the crew tries to save the day, Godzilla goes toe-to-toe with a giant monster crab in some of the goofiest, most intricate fights of the series thus far. Plus, it brings back beautiful, winged Mothra to help save the day as a harbinger of peace, while Godzilla gets some added dimension as a being who simply wants to be left alone. Throw in some jammin’ surfer tunes when the monsters throw down, Ebirah is Godzilla at some of his colorful best.

8. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

For the second entry in this rebooted series, Warner Bros. and Legendary decided to go all out and give folks who felt their thirst for kaiju spectacle went unquenched from the 2014 Godzilla exactly what they want: chaos and lots of it. Godzilla: King of the Monsters brings in classic Toho characters  – Mothra, King Ghidorah and Rodan  – and director Michael Dougherty lets us awe in the catastrophe they wrought (well, not wonderful Mothra. She’s an angel). But more doesn’t equal better, and while the spectacle is truly tremendous and a feast for the eyes, that means well-written characters and a story for them are thrown in the bin. By the end, you could be as easily blown away by the destruction as you could be bored of it, but either way, King of the Monsters provides a level of spectacle befitting of these massive titans.

7. Godzilla (2014)

Modern audiences love dunking on Gareth Edwards’ reboot of Godzilla, calling out the slow pace, lack of kaiju fighting (until the climax), and the killing off of Bryan Cranston’s character far too early. But over the years, I’ve grown a deeper appreciation for what Edwards was trying to do in crafting a story about how utterly at the mercy of nature we humans are. The mad-dash to figure out what’s going on and the uncertainty of it all may come off as a thread-bare story filled with equally thin characters, but it’s all about showing humans having to come to terms with accepting  – via a monster showdown  – that the Earth is not our playground; it’s theirs. Edwards takes the time to let the gravity of it sink in with some stupendous visuals and cinematography, and blending in an excellent Alexandre Desplat score, and some fine performances all-around (even if none can top Cranston), Godzilla demands another look if you haven’t given it one since 2014. 

6. Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

The rematch that was nearly fifty years in the making! Legendary’s version of Godzilla and the version of Kong that they introduced in Kong: Skull Island clash in this neon-soaked monster mash, battling a couple times – almost to the death – and then teaming up to take down another popular Godzilla enemy, Mechagodzilla! The story is… eh, whatever, but there’s a lot of fun in getting to see Godzilla and Kong share the screen again after so many decades, and having Mechagodzilla in the mix just makes it even better. Plus this movie offers viewers the chance to see Kong wield a battle axe made out of one of Godzilla’s dorsal plates. That alone was enough to make sure Godzilla vs. Kong wouldn’t be ranking too far down this list.

5. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

A key entry in the Showa series, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is the film where it all turned around for the big guy, turning him from a villain of immense destruction into a hero of…mass destruction. With a prophesy story building up the arrival of King Ghidorah, director Ishiro Honda does an excellent job establishing the stakes, so that when the three-headed space monster arrives, you’re fully invested in watching Godzilla become the hero and whoop some golden ass. The shift forever changed the perception of Godzilla, but Honda ensured it didn’t feel cheap or random, wrapping it in a story of unity against an incoming threat, and once again proved Mothra will always be the voice of peace and reason.

4. Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Fit with a paper-thin story about invading aliens using mind control to take hold of a bunch of monsters (now all living on MonsterIsland  – like Jurassic Park if we actually just left the dinosaurs alone) and unleash them on Earth until humans submit, Destroy All Monsters is among the best old-school kaiju action you’re likely to see. The plot moves quickly to get to the awesome set pieces, which make unique usage of each monster, giving the movie a sense of scope these movies don’t always have. It also doubles down on the teamwork angle of Three-Headed Monster and finds Ghidorah getting the absolute ass beaten out of him by Godzilla, Rodan and the rest. Pure, colorful, simple (but not totally dumb), Destroy All Monsters is some of the best Showa ever offered.

3. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

After getting her own non-Godzilla movie from Toho, the Queen of the Monsters, Mothra, got the chance to give the still-villainous lizard a run for his money. A condemnation of consumerism and the exploitation of nature, Mothra vs. Godzilla, finds director Ishiro Honda still using these movies to explore the state of then-modern Japan, with the effects of the nuclear bombings having an impact on Infant Island, Mothra’s home turf. What sets MvG part is how much reverence and mythos Honda gives these big beasts, building up Mothra as a beautiful, divine presence, which clashes with the stomping, crushing Godzilla. Their battle is superb, with Honda doing great work establishing a pure good vs. evil story. Even though the baby Mothras that eventually take Godzilla down are horrifying to look at by the end, Mothra vs. Godzilla earns its place as one of the very best in the whole series.

2. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

The third Godzilla movie takes a wild leap from the black-and-white, serious takes of the first two, pitting him against another one of the most popular giant monsters to ever rampage across the big screen. This monster clash is as silly as it can be when it gets the chance. It’s not perfect – for example, Kong looks like a Cabbage Patch doll covered in fur and then thrown in the microwave – but the negatives are outweighed by how entertaining the movie is. It embraces the fun of the concept of pitting these two famous characters against each other. Kids were going to want to see these monsters duke it out, and this movie is playing to the kids (of all ages) in the audience. It was also made to mark the 30th anniversary of Toho, and truly feels like a celebration. The fighting is bonkers, and scenes with humans trying to get Kong from Point A to Point B are just so, and it signaled Godzilla’s path into his future of zaniness.

1. Godzilla (1954)

Was there ever any doubt as you scrolled through the list? Of course not. The 1954 classic, the original Godzilla, stands tall not only because it’s the first, but because as more sequels came out that defined the series as kaiju fights with simplistic stories everything that made this first outing great stands out even more. The storytelling and rich thematic elements are more palpable; the visuals and action, though cheap, have layers of fear and doom that give them more weight. As the series got more colorful, louder and hammier  –  and all about keeping that cash train flowing  –  the original manages to stand out from the pack completely unscathed, and even looks better with age, solidifying it as the true king of them all, topping the list of our Godzilla movies ranked.

The post Godzilla Movies Ranked: The Showa era & American films: worst to best appeared first on JoBlo.

The JOBLO YOUTUBE NETWORK of channels has been growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years, most recently surpassing the 10 BILLION views mark across all of our channels combined and today we are looking for someone young, enthusiastic and YouTube-friendly, to join our team!

The position is a freelance gig as the ADMINISTRATOR/MANAGER of our JOBLO MOVIE NETWORK YouTube channel which focuses primarily on the latest movie trailers being posted online, as well as some of our exclusive movie content.

The main requirements are that you should be in front of your computer Monday to Friday, during regular hours, as that’s when most trailers tend to drop. You should also looooove movies (and trailers) and if you are great with Photoshop, then you’ve hit the trifecta! See all of the specifics of the job below and apply if you think you are the best person to join our growing team.

WHAT IS THE JOB?

You would be the main administrator of our JOBLO MOVIE NETWORK YouTube channel (2.3M subscribers) which means uploading the latest movie trailers every day (maybe 3-4 videos per day, but it depends), titling them, entering a description and tags, as well as creating the THUMBNAIL for the video in question.

IS THERE TRAINING?

There is definitely some basic training as we’ve been doing the “YouTube thing” for about 12 years now and we can definitely show you the ropes, but we can’t really teach you about photo altering programs like Photoshop (or the like) so you should have some basic training about that, on your own.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN SKILLS REQUIRED FOR THE JOB?

• Ideally you are in front of your computer between 9am (EST) and 3-5pm EST. 
• High speed internet and a proper internet connection are required. Speed is an asset!
• Thumbnail editing skills (with Photoshop experience preferred) and (this is IMPORTANT) the ability to make engaging thumbs quickly.
• You should know how to EDIT videos as we will also be posting TV spots, clips and other promotional material, and editing might be required for some of those videos. We can show you the basics at the start.
• Last but definitely not least….you need to LOOOOOOVE movies and ideally already be a big fan of movie trailers and clips. You should have a good idea of what movies are coming out, what’s hot, who’s hot and basically be aware of the latest movie news and upcoming film talk.

IS THERE ROOM FOR PROMOTION, HOW DO WE GET PAID, ETC….?

This is a freelance job so you can determine your own hours, although the most important thing is that you are available when a trailer first drops, because getting a video upload done quickly is very important.

JOBLO has always hired online and promoted from within, so if you love movies and want to grow with one of the few independent movie fansites left in the world….this is the place for you!

We pay you via cheque or PAYPAL, whatever is your preference.

I’M INTERESTED, WHAT DO I DO?

If interested, please send an email to us at yt-movies@joblo.com and let us know WHY you think you’d be good at this job. IDEALLY you already have some experience running a YouTube channel, and if so, please share details of your previous gigs (only if they’re relevant – i.e. we don’t want to hear about that summer job at Baskin Robbins, for example or about your term paper on the history of bow building in the Baltics).

To note, if you write in, attach your CV and simply say “I’m interested, hire me!”, we won’t even look at your application. You need to show us that you UNDERSTAND what we’re looking for. You have to be able to sell us on you….and your skills to do the job properly. What experiences and abilities do you possess, that would make you the best candidate for this gig? Let us know and good luck to one and all!

The post JoBlo Hiring: YouTube Channel Admin/Manager wanted! appeared first on JoBlo.

UPDATE: It was nice to see Deadline gave us a mention shortly after our announcement went out. Pretty cool!

MONTREAL, CANADA – JoBlo Media Inc has announced that after a decade of success on YouTube with 13 channels, over 10,000,000 subscribers and over 6 billion views, it will be expanding its business model to include the distribution of completed full-length motion pictures across a handful of specific channels on its YouTube network. To help with this development, JoBlo has promoted John Fallon to Director of Original Content & Acquisitions.

JoBlo.com was founded in 1998 by Berge Garabedian out of his parents’ garage. Since then, JoBlo has grown in popularity, even being mentioned in Time magazine as a “Hollywood taste-maker” and “loved” by director Steven Spielberg back in those early days. John Fallon has been with the company since the year 2000, managing the very popular Arrow in the Head horror section, but also writing, producing and starring in film productions himself, even directing the 2015 film The Shelter, which was co-produced by JoBlo Movie Productions.

“We believe that we’re in the perfect position to take advantage of all the streaming options around the world today. Both John and I have been in the industry for over 25 years now, we know the movie part of it as well as anyone, but we also know the web and YouTube parts as much as anyone out there as well, so this was a no-brainer for us”, said Mr. Garabedian.

While JoBlo Media will continue to promote big studio films across its YouTube channels, as its grown to become one of the most popular movie trailers & clips networks on all of YouTube, and produce its own original content series across five of its own channels, this new direction will add actual ‘full-length movies’ to several of its channels primarily focusing on genres such as comedy, action, horror, sci-fi, documentary as well as animation. The duo will also be looking to acquire exclusive original content for their YouTube channels.

JoBlo generated over 2.2 billion video views across its YouTube network during 2021 and also managed to increase its revenues by 130% over that same period.

The post JOBLO MEDIA to distribute full-length feature films on YouTube appeared first on JoBlo.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE HISTORY OF JOBLO.COM

To that end, as we used to do in our early years (although that’s when I used to code the site myself as well), we figured with the pandemic “down-time” in the movie industry, why not take this opportunity to update our main hub and make sure that we continue to compete with all of the newer blogs and such popping up every other day. We’ve always believed in keeping up with trends in this industry, always evolving as does the movie business so today we present you with a more up-to-date infrastructure for JoBlo (based in WordPress) as well as an updated JoBlo logo created by renowned artist Chris Uminga, as well as a number of shake-ups in the sections of our site.

Most of the main elements will remain the same, of course, as we will continue to churn our DAILY NEWS updates in various parts of the industry including movies, television/streaming, horror movies as well as anything else we believe would interest our audience. On our homepage, you will now be able to access articles under 4 top sections including: MOVIES, TV, HORROR and VIDEO. Our secondary emphasis will always be on REVIEWS including all of the latest theatrical releases but also reviews of the hottest TV properties, as well as the coolest horror flicks. And as per our main core business on YouTube, we will continue to promote the latest and greatest MOVIE TRAILERS as they start being released by studios again.

Some of the lesser popular sections will still remain on the website but they have changed places, although you should be able to find movie posters, release dates, box-office and interviews within other parts of the site (try the MORE drop-down menu at the very top, for instance).

As per usual, we continue to thank you, our loyal fans for the past 23 years as we remain an independent company (yes, still owned by one dude…me) and rely on the love and support of movie fans from around the world in order to keep churning out the best in movie fandom, year-in and year-out. THANK YOU for continuing to support our many efforts over the years, for sharing whatever you deem necessary and for continuing to visit us every day. We wouldn’t be here without you and thank you for the bottom of our hearts. Oh, we also just launched a new MERCHANDISE shop, if interested.

Just for shits and gigs, here are some of the earlier incarnations of JoBlo.com from 1998 to now. Fun times!

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

(click to enlarge)

June 1998	December 1998
February 2000	September 2000
November 2000	April 2001
April 2002	June 2003
2004 – 2008	2004
2013	2015
2018

The post JoBlo.com Refreshes Its Look As It Nears 25 Years Of Existence! appeared first on JoBlo.

The JoBlo YouTube Network has had tremendous success since we established ourselves over there in 2011, with over 3.9 billion views and over 6 million subscribers across our 10 channels…and growing! We want to continue that growth and success with your help.

We are currently looking for VIDEO EDITORS for specific shows that we're running on our JOBLO HORROR VIDEOS YouTube channel which we launched last year and which already has close to 20,000 subscribers!

1) WHERE IN THE HORROR ARE THEY NOW? Ever wonder what happened to certain horror actors, movie directors or memorable characters from our favorite films from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s? This new series will choose 1 person for each episode and research their lives, where they came from, what they did and most importantly….where the heck they are these days! As an editor, we will hand you the finished SCRIPT and NARRATION (audio) for each episode, so all you would need to do is match your video to the script/narration via a nice mix of appropriate scenes from their films, still images, and (where possible) behind-the-scenes footage. Somewhat similar to the WTF HAPPENED TO THIS CELEBRITY series. Between 10-15 mins in length.

2) HORROR TV SHOWS WE MISS! Similar to our sister site JOBLO'S "Gone but not Forgotten" series, this show would focus on all of the awesome horror/sci-fi based TV shows that we miss from yesteryear. As an editor, we will hand you the finished SCRIPT and NARRATION (audio) for each episode, so all you would need to do is match your video to the script/narration via a nice mix of appropriate scenes from the TV shows in question, still images, and (where possible) behind-the-scenes footage. Between 10-15 mins in length.

3) MYTHTERIES: A new series for our new PARANORMAL NETWORK YouTube channel which would showcase various myths and connections from around the world, while shining the light on incidents that have rocked history and can still not be explained like vampires, water creatures, witches, Krakens, etc… As an editor, we will hand you the finished SCRIPT and NARRATION (audio) for each episode, so all you would need to do is match your video to the script/narration via a nice mix of video and still images. About 10 mins in length.

REQUIREMENTS:

• You have to be able to hit deadlines. We have a monthly schedule of original videos ready to roll, so everyone needs to be able to get theirs done on time. Consistency is key! If you can't deliver stuff on time, don't bother to apply.
• You should be able to edit videos in a professional and quality manner. If you're able to create on-screen graphics, that's a plus! You also need to be able to connect the words/narration to most of your images/clips on-screen.
• Even though we can guide you in the right direction when it comes to finding movie clips for your videos, it would be ideal for you to be able to find high quality movie clips yourself.

In return, you will see your work appear before millions of people on our popular YouTube channel and our website, get paid on a quarterly basis per video created for us and be a part of the growing JoBlo.com family and all future opportunities that come with that.

HERE'S HOW TO APPLY:

If interested, email us with the gig that interests you the most and let us know WHY you think you are qualified for it, with links to any of your work that would be relevant, of course (i.e. don't send us a link to some random short story about vegetation you wrote in 2006, for example). Email us at: joblovideos@joblo.com.

The post Arrow in the Head is looking for video editors for JoBlo Horror Videos! appeared first on JoBlo.

ARCADE DREAMS Kickstarter campaign RIGHT HERE!

I thought I’d take this opportunity with Thanksgiving taking place in the USA, to look back at my professional life thus far and be grateful for everything I’ve received to this point and share some of my story with others, in the hopes that it possibly inspires some of you in regards to your own goals.

When I was completing my MBA in my mid-20s, all of my classmates were applying for business jobs in the fields of finance and pharmaceuticals, pretty much a bunch of stuff that didn’t interest me all that much. One day, I remember one of my teachers saying something that stuck with me: “You guys will have top-end degrees after this. If you want to live a happier life, try to apply to companies whose main engine is a product/service that interests you. If you like flowers, try applying to a flower company. If you like movies, try applying to movie companies, etc…”

Since I was very much into movies at that point in my life (I watched 30-40 a month), including the fact that I had written 4 full-length original screenplays during my two years at McGill, his statement lit a lightbulb above my tiny brain!

I spent my last semester in Rotterdam, Holland as part of the exchange program and one of the things I did in my spare time was to visit Cannes, France, as I’d never been there before. While there, I sent myself a postcard back home in which I said “I will come back here one day in a professional capacity, mark my words!” This was before the Internet even existed and JoBlo was nowhere to be found. I also wrote my parents a postcard asking for more money but that’s another story altogether (see that letter HERE).

During my time at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, I had to do a presentation about what “We wanna do with our lives” and I basically stood up and said that I wanted to be a MOVIE PRODUCER. Needless to say, mine was a different kind of presentation as everyone else in my class but thanks to my teacher at McGill, he allowed me to look past the tip of my nose and follow my passions, even via my career. 

After I graduated around 1996, I sent out around 200 applications to movie studios in Canada and the USA. I was hoping to get in on the lower levels and work my way up but instead, I received hundreds of rejection letters. Seeing as I couldn’t get a job in the field that interested me the most, I decided to get a dinky job at a local computer distributor in Montreal, in the meantime.

Within a couple of years, this thing called the “world wide web” was all the talk and as per my usual style, I threw myself into it personally, learning about how it all worked, even teaching myself HTML code so that I can create my own fun “personal page” on the so-called 'information superhighway'. I still remember the name: Berge’s Rippin’ Page. Yeah, just go with it…

That page ultimately evolved into JOBLO’S MOVIE EMPORIUM (you can see one its earliest incarnations above) whereby I designated myself as “JoBlo” (I had already started to write movie reviews in our weekly MBA newsletter at McGill and the feedback from folks had been positive) and started to write movie reviews under that pseudonym (your “every day” kinda guy) and it wasn’t long before the site became successful and I started to add more sections and more people to it.

One of my greatest moments was early on when I wrote one of my favorite film critics an email, the late (great!) Roger Ebert, and not only did he email me back, but I ultimately ended up conversing with him over the years and I even sent in an “audition tape” to guest host on his SISKEL & EBERT show when his partner, Gene Siskel, passed away. You never know unless you try, kids!

Part of the full circle of this story is that years later I would return to Cannes in a professional capacity — as JoBlo.com was one of the first online websites to cover the Cannes Film Festival — and lo and behold, I even got to meet, sit down and jab with Roger Ebert himself!

I wrote all this because even though over 20 years ago my “goal” was to become a movie producer, even though I tried my best early on and it wasn’t successful, I kept myself close to the industry that I loved, wrote over 1,500 movie reviews in the meantime (which led to a book, with a foreword by Kevin Smith, another very supportive person in the industry early on), got back to Cannes various times in different professional capacities but over the years, I also managed to help finance some of my best friend John Fallon’s movies including one of the ones I’m most proud of, starring Michael Pare, entitled THE SHELTER.

But most recently, my life came even more “full circle” when I ran across a documentary about arcade games/pinball machines entitled ARCADE DREAMS, which ultimately led to me backing the film as executive producer, which was astounding to me since I spent most my teen years either watching movies or playing arcade games.

ARCADE DREAMS is currently completing its final days on Kickstarter and has around 80% of the funds required, but if you are interested in this topic and want to support the home team, please check out the TRAILER below and the Kickstarter campaign RIGHT HERE.

The post JoBlo: From movie fan to film critic to movie producer… appeared first on JoBlo.

It’s not every day that you get to live out the dreams of your own childhood but here I am today, proudly announcing on the site that I founded in my parents garage back in 1998, my financial involvement in the creation of a very awesome documentary series entitled ARCADE DREAMS which focuses on the 100-year history of arcade games!

For those people who don’t know anything about me, I’m an immigrant kid raised from Armenian parents who happened to be living in Amsterdam, Holland when I was born. They brought me to Canada before I turned 10 and my life since then has been engrossed around all things pop culture, including my initial love of comic books, arcade games and movies, all of which led to the creation of the website that you are on right now.

The first comics I ever read were TMNT by the original masters themselves, Eastman & Laird, as well as Judge Dredd from Eagle Comics. It was around the same time that I spent a lot of time in arcades that were just popping up all over the place. My favorite game there was Donkey Kong no doubt but I loved them all…the lights, the sounds, the camaraderie hanging out with friends and having a good old time. The beers. Uhhhhm, okay…beers were probably a few years later, but in Canada, we can drink alcohol at the age of 18, eh?

Flash forward all these years later and in my ripened life, I’ve become a fan of pinball machines. Go figure! I rarely ever played them as a teenager but nowadays, I can’t get enough of them. My love affair started with an Austin Powers pin just for shits and giggles, but that was apparently just a gateway drug as I quickly moved on to Deadpool, Metallica, Elvira, Judge Dredd (natch!) and the holy grail of them all: Indiana Jones!

My passion for pins led me to meet many people from the hobby (all great folks) and if you’re wondering why I’m rambling on about all this, it’s because it was through an exchange in one of these pinball forums that I was able to meet some very awesome like-minded folk who were putting together this awesome historical documentary about arcade games (also console games, pinball machines, VR and much more) and the next thing you know….well, just read the press release below. Pssst, they’re the guys behind Viva Amiga: The Story of a Beautiful Machine on Hulu.

It’s to note that the documentary series (which we’re hoping makes its way to Netflix one day…one can dream) will also be launching a Kickstarter campaign on October 21st (today!!), so if any of this interests you as a fellow gaming enthusiast (or just someone who likes to support cool projects), check out their website and you can also be a part of it.

From my end, this documentary series feels like ‘full circle’ as I can look back at my 15-year old self and tell him that even though I’m still playing games at my age, I’m also a so-called grown-up who is now spreading the gospel about how wonderful these awesome electronic machines can be. Just remember kids…never grow up, it’s a trap!!

JoBlo Movie Productions teams up with Emmy-winning filmmakers to bring Arcade Game History Documentary Series to Life

For Immediate Release

Philadelphia, PA, USA – October 8th 2020 – Even during a global pandemic, movie deals are still being made. JoBlo Movie Productions, a tent-pole movie fansite, has partnered with production house Rock Steady Media to complete Arcade Dreams, an ambitious multi-part documentary series covering the 100-year history of arcade games.

Rock Steady Media is best known for their debut documentary Viva Amiga: The Story of a Beautiful Machine, which premiered on Hulu in 2017 and soared up the iTunes charts in multiple countries.

To bring Arcade Dreams to life, Rock Steady Media assembled a dream team of experts, including director Zach Weddington (Viva Amiga), and Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Winters (Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee). Everyone on the team is a passionate fan of arcades, video games and pinball.

A chance encounter in a pinball forum (where else?) connected Rock Steady with Berge Garabedian, CEO and founder of JoBlo. He immediately gravitated toward the project, since he was a lifelong arcade game fan, pinball player, and collector.

“What drew me in was the film’s teaser trailer, I was like ‘Oh…my…God! This is my life!’ and I immediately wanted to be a part of the production team. It also feels like now is the perfect time for this project, as retro gaming and nostalgia from the 80s are uber-hot,” said Garabedian.

A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Garabedian founded JoBlo.com in his parents’ garage in 1998, after graduating with an MBA in Montreal, Canada. JoBlo has since grown into a powerhouse in the movie community, offering movie news, reviews, trailers, release dates, as well as thousands of celebrity interviews and set visits from around the world. TIME magazine once called Berge “one of the most powerful taste-makers in Hollywood.” His JoBlo YouTube network has more than 5 million subscribers and nearly 4 billion views.

“We’re thrilled about partnering with JoBlo! Berge has built such an awesome brand and he immediately clicked with our vision after our first phone call,” said director Zach Weddington.

Rock Steady Media has already filmed hours of interviews with industry greats along with stunning, high-resolution footage of classic pinball and arcade machines. The team has reached out to fans, collectors, restoration experts, and game developers. The reaction from arcade game fans around the world to the early footage has been ecstatic.

The success of the recent gaming documentary High Score on Netflix proves that audiences are hungry for these kinds of stories. “There are so many more stories that haven’t been told,” Weddington explained. “And we know gaming fans have been waiting to hear them.” Rock Steady Media plans to launch a Kickstarter this month in order to bring community involvement in the project to a new level.

“We’re hoping that this project will help a lot of people smile during these surreal times in the world. Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety so when you mix that with a fun history lesson in arcade games, we believe our project is poised for success,” said Garabedian.

To find out more and to sign up for updates on the Kickstarter, visit:

https://arcadedocumentary.com/

Kickstarter –   https://bit.ly/ArcadeDoc
Trailer  –         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-s7thpmdIA
Homepage –   https://arcadedocumentary.com/
Facebook –     https://www.facebook.com/ArcadeDreamsDoc/
Twitter –         https://twitter.com/arcadedreamsdoc
Instagram –    https://www.instagram.com/arcadedreamsdoc/

For more information, please contact:

Alex Beech:                alex@biggamesmachine.com
Big Games Machine:  www.biggamesmachine.com

About Arcade Dreams:

Arcade Dreams is a multi-part documentary series that tells the story of arcades. It’s an exhilarating tale, told by an array of historians, collectors, industry legends, and arcade fanatics. This is the first documentary to tell the complete story — from the penny arcades of the early 1900s, through pinball’s glory days and the video generation, to the virtual reality rooms of today and beyond.

We aim to put viewers inside the games and the arcades of every era. You’ll be transported through time as we show you the games, the arcade environment, and the stories of people who were there. We've already begun to uncover the rare and the forgotten, machines rumored not to exist and tales that few people have heard. Arcade Dreams will bring these stories to life like you’ve never seen before through unique animations, rare archival footage, and reenactments.

About Berge Garabedian:

Berge Garabedian is a serial entrepreneur with an MBA from McGill University who founded popular movie fansite JoBlo.com in his parents’ garage in 1998. Time Magazine included Mr. Garabedian as “one of the most powerful taste-makers in Hollywood” during his first decade online. With his production company, JoBlo Movie Productions, he has also executive produced five movies while the JoBlo brand has flourished on YouTube with nine channels totaling over 5M subscribers and 4 billion views. Most recently, he has become a pinball fanatic.

About Rock Steady Media

Rock Steady Media was founded by director Zach Weddington in 2012. His early love of video games and computer graphics led to a career in film and television production that's been going strong for 20 years. Rock Steady Media has assembled an incredible group of talented individuals to bring its vision for Arcade Dreams to life. The crew includes Emmy Award-winning filmmakers, 3D animation experts, famous sound designers, brilliant graphic designers, award-winning writers, and encyclopedic arcade historians. But more important than all these accolades, is that it is a team that is passionate and dedicated to its love of arcades and video games.

The post Arcade Dreams documentary releases new trailer with JoBlo involvement appeared first on JoBlo.

With most of us are stuck at home these days (and for the unforeseable future) and many of our staff watching movies and binging shows like they're going out of business (and sadly, many businesses may be done after all this has passed), we thought it might be a cool idea to provide you our JoBlo.com audience with 'out of the box' shows/series that we are following these days, if only because some of us are "running out of movies" to watch at this point. Different members of our staff will offer their 2 cents in this column, and we ask that you share with others if you dig and feel free to offer us some of your suggestions in the COMMENTS section below.

Our first recommendation is a dude on Twitch who plays pinball, Monday through Friday around 6pm CT (he's based out of Chicago) named Jack Danger (aka Deadflip). You can check out his Twitch channel right here, where you can see archives of his previous videos. Jack is a great ambassador for pinball, loves to play the games, but also teaches you as he plays. He's also a cool dude who likes to drink while he plays (he actually plays better when he's drunk) and has a great personality and also tends to play a lot of cool music playlists from time to time as well. Each of his nightly sessions usually goes for 3-4 hours and he's streamed many of the latest pinball releases including such movie and TV titles such as RICK & MORTY, JURASSIC PARK, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, STRANGER THINGS, DEADPOOL, ELVIRA and many others! You can also check out his YOUTUBE page for some archives of his previous videos although you can't find them all there because of YouTube's stricter copyright restrictions. 

RICK & MORTY

PLAYING PINBALL WITH ELVIRA HERSELF!

ALIEN

STRANGER THINGS

JURASSIC PARK

The post What we’re watching – Jack Danger / Deadflip pinball on Twitch! appeared first on JoBlo.

We’re happy to present a new addition to the JoBlo.com website and that is the ‘Invisibles’ trivia quizzes. Basically we will show you a picture from a movie between 1980 and today, without the people showing in the image (hence, the term…invisibles), and you have to guess what movie that picture is from. That’s pretty much it. You have the option of playing a shorter game featuring only 50 images or the longer version featuring 100 images. You can always access this new trivia quiz via our drop-down menu. The same image will not come back in the same game, but if you restart another game, you might see the same pic again, as they are chosen randomly and we only have about 250 of them in our database at the moment. Which reminds me, we’d like to thank the website with whom we partnered for this, the OG if you will, FilmWise.com! (home of the Invisibles since 2001) A specific thank you to the man behind that website, Brian Kirk, who is now a board game designer! In fact, he created this one based on friggin JAWS!!

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about below.

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

In the actual game, we will only show you the right answer, if you get it right. Keeps you guessing.

As you go, you will see your score at the top right hand corner of the screen. Once you complete your game, we will identify the type of movie fanatic you are (depending on your score, of course — no cheating!), for example:

Oh and one last thing, as soon as you start typing your guess for the name of the film, we will automatically “auto-show” you options under the form that start with the letters you typed in. This helps resolve any “spelling mistake” issues that might have popped up otherwise.

But enough talk, CLICK HERE to start or click on any of the pictures below.

ALMOST FAMOUS

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

So how well do you know your movies?!?

The post How well do you know your movies? Play our ‘Invisibles’ Movie Trivia Quiz! appeared first on JoBlo.

The JoBlo YouTube Network has had tremendous success since we established ourselves over there in 2011, with over 3.2 billion views, close to 4.5 million subscribers across our 9 channels…and growing! We want to continue that growth and success with your help. We are looking for video creators who can create cool, original ongoing "video shows" for our JOBLO VIDEOS YouTube channel which we launched in 2017 and already has over 330,000 subscribers! In terms of what "type" of videos we're looking for, you can pitch us anything you want, as long as they're between 6-12 minutes (we're willing to listen to shorter or longer than that, but on average, we prefer around 10-minute videos) and interesting to our audience.

SCHEDULE: Bi-Weekly or Monthly
THEMES: Anything movie-related, TV-related or comic book-related.
LENGTH: 6-12 MINS on average

We already have several ongoing "video shows" including WTF HAPPENED TO THIS MOVIE, THE BEST MOVIE YOU NEVER SAW, THE UNPOPULAR OPINION, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BADASS, THE KILL COUNTER, AWFULLY GOOD MOVIES, MOVIE ENDINGS EXPLAINED and MOVIE MISTAKES.

REQUIREMENTS:

• You have to be able to hit deadlines. We have a monthly schedule of original videos ready to roll, so everyone needs to be able to get theirs done on time. Consistency is key! If you can't deliver stuff on time, don't bother to apply.
• You should be able to edit videos in a professional and quality manner. If you're able to create on-screen graphics, that's a plus!
• Even though we can guide you in the right direction when it comes to finding movie clips for your videos, it would be ideal for you to be able to find high quality movie clips yourself.
• There's no need for you to appear on-camera if you don't want. In fact, the last thing we want is videos of people sitting in front of their camers and just talking.

In return, you will see your work appear before millions of people on our popular YouTube channel and our website, get paid on a quarterly basis per video created for us and be a part of the growing JoBlo.com family and all future opportunities that come with that.

HERE'S HOW TO APPLY:

If interested, email us a basic overview of why you are qualified for this, but more importantly your PITCH and ideally hyperlinks to some similar videos already created or your own. Or alternately, you can create a video that you think might work for us and send that along as well. We're pretty open here. We just want to see HIGH QUALITY work (it really needs to look professional) with our well-known JOBLO style and humor integrated within. Email us at: joblovideos@joblo.com.

EXAMPLES OF OUR CURRENT SLATE OF VIDEOS….

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