Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 11, 2009 1:19:53 GMT -5
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster Japanese Title: Godzilla; Ebirah; Mothra: Great Duel in the Southern SeasInternational Title: Ebirah, Horror of the DeepRelease Date: December 17, 1966 Monster Roster: Godzilla, Ebirah, Mothra, and Giant Condor Ryota's brother has been lost at sea for months, and Ryota seems to be stuck cycling on the denial stage of grief. Instead of accepting possible inevitablity, he does the logical thing...he sees a psychic and begs her to tell him his brother's alive. Ryota won't go away, and for a time she considers smacking him and telling him his brother's dead just so he'd leave her alone, but the pay is good. Why pass up easy money? Convinced by psycho woman...I mean psychic woman...that his brother is still alive, he tries to obtain a boat by entering a groovy dance contest (hillariously done to the beat of what appears to be the theme of the 60's Batman show), but is too late to enter. Two dance losers take pity on him and take him out to look at some boats they can't afford. They stow away upon one. Why? Just 'acause, I suppose. Does anybody need a reason to just walk onto a boat that isn't their's? They weren't the first one, after all, for a bank robber comes out of hiding and catches them snooping around. Posing as the boat's owner, he allows them to sleep on board. What compells him to do this, and why the hell they wanted to sleep there in the first place, is left to inept logic, the easiest logic of them all. The two stooges and the bank robber wake up the next morning to find that Ryota has set sail with the boat, with them in tow, to search for his brother, stating that the boat was "a gift from the gods." So...by that logic...I can just walk up to anything I want that isn't mine and take it. Would that be "a gift from the gods?" Too bad the gods aren't always that giving. I could use a new car myself. :hint:hint:wink:wink: They travel many days and nights before a giant lobster claw pops out of the ocean and smashes the S.S. God-Loves-Me (the lord giveth and the lord taketh away). The group wakes up on shore of an island controled by a group of terrorists known as the Red Bamboo, and discover that the giant lobster is their pet guard dog, Ebirah. The Red Bamboo are developing nuclear warheads on the island, and are shipping in slaves from Infant Island to make a special juice that keeps Ebirah at bay. Of course, they could make the juice themselves, that would be easy, but they decided it would be easier to invade another island, protected by a giant moth of all things, and kidnap people to do their dirty work. Oh yeah, that's much easier. Meeting up with hottie Infant Island native Dayo, the group takes refuge inside a cave where they discover the mighty Godzilla inside, hopped up on sleeping pills and taking a major nap. Slightly desperate to seperate themselves from the monster, the group stupidly raids the base of the Red Bamboo so they can...take the tour? I don't know. Anywho...chaos ensues, resulting in one of them getting captured and Ryoto getting snagged in a balloon (don't ask). The bank robber, generic random guy #1, and hottie girl in skimpy outfit escape back to Godzilla's cave, where they decide their best course of action is to awake the beast so he can fight Ebirah and destroy the Red Bamboo. They make a lightning rod and wire it to the beast's head, as they hide behind a rock giggling like school girls. "This would be funnier if we put shaving cream in his hand!" The lightning strikes, and a very annoyed Godzilla takes it out on Ebirah, who just happens to be standing by. Godzilla then marches on to smash the Red Bamboo base, a bunch of jets, and some giant bird that some prop guy thought would be cool to throw in the movie. Meanwhile, by extreme eye-rolling coincidence, Ryoto's ballon lands on Infant Island where he discovers his brother alive and well (psychic chick's just as shocked as we are). While there he enlists the help of the Infant Island god Mothra to save the day and rescue the prisoners of the Red Bamboo. But we have to wait for him to finish his nap first. Mothra gets cranky. Can Godzilla hold them off in the meantime? It's a giant lobster and a bunch of guys with rifles. Of course he can. Review [/b][/center] Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is the seventh film in the Godzilla series, and I find it interesting to look at how far the series has come in the (then) 12 years it's been alive. It had spawned six movies and, while King Kong vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster can easily be considered underwhelming films, none of them were really bad. Maybe to a cinema snob, yes, they're lower class entertainment, but they were six pretty entertaining movies. But it was too good to last. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is the first truly poor film in the Godzilla series. I have tolorated many silly things in the series. The Godzilla films of the 70's, for example, alone could provide a very lengthy list. However, clump them all together into one lazy script, and I find it unacceptable. The script for this film is an unholy mess, full of contrived coincidence and questionable actions spawned by idiocy. Why does the bank robber let the strange trio stay on board the boat for the night? He's incompetant, that's why. Why does the group want to sleep on board in the first place? I don't know...their girlfriends kicked them out? Ryoto steals the boat for some of the flimsiest reasons I've ever heard, as well. Don't get me started on the point where Ryoto snags himself on a balloon and just happens to land directly on Infant Island right in front of his brother. Mothra's involvment in the film is as a contrived plot device, as she spends most of the film sitting motionless while natives pray to her, only to see her wake up in the nick of time and save the day. Perhaps the original concept of Mothra in this film was to have her in a cocoon stage, which would have made much more sense seeing how the last time we saw her she was a caterpillar and now she's a full grown moth. Unfortunatly, this more interesting route wasn't used, and Mothra is just taking a nap for no reason. With the fun and different island setting, some good monster action could have probably saved this script, however Godzilla doesn't wake up and kick some ass until 50 minutes into the movie, allowing the random stupidity happening onscreen to sink in until you just don't care anymore. The last half hour is definatly the highlight, since we get a gander at Godzilla brawling in the water for a change. We also see him take battle with airplanes in one of the funner sequences of the film. There's also some cool casual shots of G, as we see cool images of him asleep and even glimps him strolling around, just chillin'. Unfortunatly, the sloppy script takes it's toll on the monster scenes in just one brief minute of the film, in which a giant bird flies out of nowhere and starts pecking the hell out of Godzilla's head. An unfortunate product of an early draft of the script, in which King Kong was originally supposed to be in the Godzilla role, this moment if one of the oddest moments in Godzilla history. There's no explaination as to where this bird came from, and it's never mentioned again for the entire film. It's just there. On the brighter side, Masaru Sato, who previously scored 1955's Godzilla Raids Again, returns to the series with impressive results. This is perhaps Sato's best score of the series. Energetic, knarly, and wildly entertaining, it's a very fun listen. It's no Akira Ifukube, mind you, but Ifukube probably never could have come up with a score so quirky and fitting of this doofus of a monster movie. After helming four Godzilla flicks in a row, master kaiju director Ishiro Honda decides to step down from the series for the first time since Godzilla Raids Again. Maybe he was all Godzillaed out (though he didn't hang up his kaiju hat, since 1966 also saw the release of Honda's War of the Gargantuas). Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster was handed to Jun Fukuda, helming his first G movie. Fukuda went on to helm a total of five films in the series, which puts him second only to Ishiro Honda's eight Godzilla flicks under his belt. Unfortunatly, Fukuda's reputation isn't near what Honda's is. Fukuda never made a great Godzilla movie, and it's even arguable whether or not he even made a good Godzilla movie. Fukuda isn't the worst director in the world (though one can't deny the damage he did to the series with Godzilla vs. Megalon), but, to me, he always seemed like the guy Toho called up when they had a lackluster script and nobody else wanted to direct it (sort of a Japanese Renny Harlin, though nothing Fukuda put out was as mindnumbingly bad as The Covenant). The look of the film is nice, and the island setting looks very pretty in widescreen (if you have a widescreen TV, this movie will complement it well). If only the script wasn't so bad... Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is one of two Godzilla features that aired on the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show dedicated to mocking bad movies (the other was fellow Fukuda crapsterpiece Godzilla vs. Megalon). I don't blame them. I've heard many Godzilla fans praise this one as a classic, but I just can't get past how lazy it is.
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Post by reaperg on Aug 11, 2009 11:13:22 GMT -5
Just a quick rundown to catch up:
"King Kong vs. Godzilla": Obviously, better in its original Japanese form. This was clearly meant to be a comedy, and Ichiro Arashima delivers the most in his role. Much better than the unintentional comedy in the American cut.
"Godzilla: Final Wars": I have a soft spot for this one because I was at the world premiere in Hollywood. Yes, it has its faults (too much human fighting, and stolen from Hollywood films at that), but it's a nice throwback in its trying to be a fun romp. I disagree with you about Don Frye -- he was great in his role, even though he's more being himself than any real acting, and I also have a soft spot for him after seeing him on a drunken beer hunt at G-FEST. Akira Takarada really impressed me rewatching it, though.
"Godzilla vs. Destroyah": Bring a Kleenex. I feel it's the strongest of the Heisei films, with a nice tie-in to the first movie, and G's meltdown with Ifukube's score, going into the credits, can bring a tear to one's eye.
"King Kong Escapes": Good old fashioned fun. Hideyo Amamoto rocks.
GMK: My favorite of the Millenium films. Like Yoshimitsu Banno before him and Ryuhei Kitamura after, Kaneko brought something different to the table that was a nice change from the usual style. I wish that he'd been allowed to use Anguirus and Varan instead of the overused Mothra and Ghidorah.
"Destroy All Monsters": I actually feel this is overrated, especially since the scene where the SY-3 team is on the moon really drags. Obviously, of course, the big battle rules, and seeing Goji blast the U.N. building is fun.
"Varan the Unbelievable": Rather slow for a monster movie, but I always liked Varan's sleek, iguana-like design.
"Gojira": Still the best, and the most moving. KOTM is also worthy of praise, with Burr's performance and some clever editing. I saw Cozilla a few years ago, and that was really painful.
"Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster": I'm one of the ones who enjoys this. It's just a flat-out fun romp even without the monsters. Kumi Mizuno... ::drools:: Keep in mind that this was originally written for King Kong, so that's why G's a little out of character.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 11, 2009 22:16:14 GMT -5
"Godzilla: Final Wars": I have a soft spot for this one because I was at the world premiere in Hollywood. No foolin'? That's awsome. I really wish I could have attended, but back then, I was in no financial condition for traveling. I imagine it was a fun experience. Did the croud have any interesting reactions?
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 12, 2009 1:41:09 GMT -5
Godzilla Release Date: May 20, 1998 Monster Roster: Godzilla and Baby Godzilla Biologist Nick Tatopoulos is studying wildlife in Chernobyl, Ukrane, where the local radiation has made the local worms grow 17% larger than normal. Can you believe it? 17%! "I might as well be stealing that Nobel Peace Prize," he thinks to himself. "Al Gore and global warming can eat me." But caught daydreaming by the U.S. Army, he is recruited by them to help them study a new "sample." Dubbed "The Worm Guy" by his peers because none of them can pronounce his last name (little does he know the prase "Worm Guy" has nothing to do with his field of study, but rather to do with his...ahem...I'm sure that's a story for another time...moving on...), Nick discovers his sample to be a footprint large enough to fit an entire football team into. The creature leaving these tracks is believed to be behind the disappearance of several fishing boats off the Eastern Seaboard. Who can blame it? Tuna prices are outrageous these days. While Nick and company are playing with the prints, his reporter-wannabe ex-girlfriend Audrey gets an up close and personal look with the massive lizard that created them as it invades New York City. One of her more IQ-challenged friends, Animal, chases after the.beast with a video camera to tape some first hand footage. His closeup of the creature lands all over the news, proving there is a "dinosaur" on the loose in the streets. The media, internet bloggers, and Sean Penn immediatly blame George W. Bush for this (despite the fact that he was not yet elected in 1998, yet that still doesn't stop them). With the city being evacuated, Nick and his Army buddies set a street trap for the beast, luering it in with a pile of fish. Emerging from underneath the ground, where it has burrowed itself in, the creature comes up for his little snack. The Army shows the same train of thinking the Japanese military shows, and decides the right coarse of action is to shoot the hell out of it. After a lot of guns blazing and buildings that blow the s*** up, the creature returns underground. Nick discovers the blood of the creature at the scene, and does the logical thing...he goes out and buys a whole bunch of pregnancy tests. At the pharmacy, he bumps into Audrey. "The Worm Guy" feels himself grow 17% at the sight of the first woman he's seen since he's started playing with worms. Little does he know Audrey sneaked he way past the yellow tape and is charming her way into a news story to put her on top. Nick uses to the pregnancy tests to deduce that the beast is pregnant and nesting in New York, and yet even after directly asking for them still acts surprised when they come out positive. Was he just pretending to work so the higher ups didn't bother him and just shocked when he actually discovered something? While distracted by the test, Audrey steals a video tape of earlier sightings and decides to use the info for her big story. However, unfortunatly for her, the studio re-edits her tape for their top newsman, and his broadcast leads to the creature being dubbed with the name "Godzilla," mispronouncing the name of "Gojira," a mythilogical sea dragon of Japan. This news report proves disasterous for our neighborhood worm boy as well, as Nick gets fired for alegedly handing the press inside information, and they ignore what could potentially be vitol information because they don't want to believe it (hmm...maybe Sean Penn is right and this is a George Bush opperation). On his way to the airport, Nick is abducted by the French Secret Service, who confess to them that they created the creature (well, what do you know? For once the Japanese aren't responsible for a giant rampaging monster on the loose), and if there's any possiblity of a nest, they want to destroy it. Nick and a group of French soldiers head underground to find it, while the military prepares to lure Godzilla back up to the surface for what will hopefully be their final confrontation... Review I guess one of the hardest things about being a fanboy and interacting with your fellow fanbase is there will always be a film/episode/issue/volume/whatever to your obsession that you enjoy and others don't, or possibly vice versa. The ones who usually survive in this area are those who are vocally agressive with their opinions, who state their opinion as fact and often in a tone that suggests they're trying to get you to admit they're right and you're wrong. I'm more grounded in my opinion, in that I know what I like and the words of others rarely change that. I try to treat others in the same way, though I have ventured into agressive territory from time to time, against my better judgment. So, I might as well get this out of the way. I like Godzilla. *gasp*shock*awe* Deal with it. I've always felt the agressive backlash was somewhat this movie never really deserved. It's perfectly fine and watchable, and it's at the very least as unremarkable, yet enjoyable as Peter Jackson's King Kong or Michael Bay's Transformers (and definatly miles preferable to Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). Yet these films are highly praised as amazing thrill rides and this one was stuck with a decade of hatred. Does it have it's flaws? Definatly. The script is riddled with storytelling problems, a prime example being a scene that has puzzled me since the film opened, when Nick picks up pregnancy tests and then sounds surprised when they turn out positive and the title creature is discovered to be nesting. I've looked at this scene countless times since the film's release, and I can never quite figure out this semi-logic hiccup. Some of the humor is corny and obvious, especially a rather poor satirization on film critics Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel. But in spite of how corny the humor gets, it sets the spirit of the film very much in synch with Toho efforts such as King Kong vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Gigan. To me, that's not a crime. The character of Godzilla is well reimagined, though somewhat alienating the core of his character and turning him into something less intimidating. The Godzilla of the previous films was a territorial beast, yet the new Godzilla doesn't seem to mind sharing company with humans as long as he's left alone and allowed to do his thing. Filmmakers Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich (the duo behind quirky and fun offerings such as Stargate and Independence Day) said they wanted to take a more realistic approach with the icon, and decided to portray it as a trapped animal. To an extent, it's easy to see why fans rejected the idea, as the film often portrays Godzilla running scared instead of attacking head on. While I contend that the body design of Godzilla himself is bloody beautiful and the CG to create the character holds up well even by today's standards, the head of the creature looks nothing like the icon of old. It's an interesting concept design, but ultimatly it's a little too un-Godzilla-esque for the film's own good. Given the new design of the title creature, I think the Baby Godzilla designs come off excelent. Unfortunatly, they're in the shadow of a creature design most people were unhappy with, so they're left to be forgotten. The acting is spotty, to say the least. Once again, we're talking about the Godzilla series here, and the performances given somewhat fit straight in the tradition of most Godzilla sequels. Matthew Broderick has a child-like charm about him which gets him by well enough, however, for the most part, he just isn't strong enough to keep a film like this afloat. Maria Pitillo is a cutie, but her acting skills leave much to be desired. She does her best to come off meek and naive, but goes off into whiney and bratty. Unsurprisingly, I hadn't seen her before this film, haven't seen her since, and doubt I ever will. Jean Reno gives the best performance in the film as French agent Philippe Roache, and gives a fun, gung ho-ness to the last third of the film. Simpsons voice actors Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, and Nancy Cartright all secured roles in the film, mostly going for laughs. Azaria is the most prominant of the group, as the gutsy/thickheaded cameraman Animal, who doesn't mind puting himself in harm's way as long as he gets the whole thing on tape. Ultimatly, I think the only tragedy of this Godzilla's legacy is that the series never got to continue. While the American take on Godzilla had a few zits, it wasn't without intrigue. It was certainly superior to the film that eventually dominated the box office that year, Michael Bay's trashy Armageddon . There were rumors abound as to what follow ups Devlin and Emmerich had up their sleeves, which may or may not have included a second film featuring a brawl with King Ghidorah and a third film portraying a world overrun by Godzillas. It sounds like it might have been fun, but instead we got a mildly amusing animated series as a consolation prize. But...love it or hate it. I liked it then and I like it now. I doubt that's subject to change in the near future.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 12, 2009 2:17:53 GMT -5
Rebirth of Mothra Japanese Title: MothraRelease Date: December 14, 1996 Monster Roster: Mothra, Desghidorah, Fairy Mothra, and Garugaru Humans are hard at work knocking over the rain forest in order to build neccessities such as strip malls, nudie bars, and McDonalds. Unfortunatly, the oh so precious environment doesn't like it. Big deal. Live with it, Mother Nature. Bitch. However, during the land clearing, one of the crew members discovers an ancient seal stuck inside of a rock. He removes it, and instead of taking it to a pawn shop owner and discovering it's worth a small fortune, he puts a chain on it and gives it to his daughter (who cares about being out of debt, as long as your little girl gets a present). However, a small tiny fairy girl named Belvera hunts down the seal with the help of her pet cyborg, Garugaru. Putting a spell upon the girl, the two of them begin haunting the place, scaring the bejebus out of her mother and brother in the meantime. Hot fairy sisters to the rescue! It's the singing Mothra duo, Moll and Laura, and they have a pet Mini-Mothra in tow. After an epic and exciting areal battle in the middle of someone's living room, Moll and Laura retrieve the seal and team up with the family with the blown up house to stop Desghidorah, an evil creature bent on sucking the life out of world and leaving them dead. The seal in question was meant to contain Desghidorah inside of his prison, where he laid dormant for millions of years. But they're too late. Despite the fact that the hole created by the seal is two inches wide, Desghidorah escapes. Moll and Laura must call the Earth's protector, Mothra, via trippy, effects filled music video Mothra comes to the rescue, and as soon as humanity discovers the Earth's protector is a giant moth, there is sigh heard around the world as everyone wonders "That's it? That's the best we got?" Unfortunatly, it is. And not only is our savior a giant bug, but she's a giant bug who is near death as well. Mothra gives Desghidorah everything she has, but unfortunatly the only way she would have been less effective is if Desghidorah was equiped with a giant fly swatter. And if that wasn't pathetic enough, guess who comes to her aid? Her baby caterpilliar fresh out of the egg. Oi. *smacks forhead* The short of it is, baby Mothra gets the s*** kicked out of her, and adult Mothra's final moments are in agony as she dies squaring off against Desghidorah. Earth's only chance is if baby Mothra can transfrom into an adult Mothra in time to save the day. Which is exactly what happens. Whodathunkit? Review: Godzilla had just taken his supposed final bow the year before, as Toho stepped aside to let the American company TriStar to take their crack at the character. In the meanwhile, Deiei's character Gamera made his triumphant return, and the results were surprisingly respectable (compared to the s*** that Gamera used to churn out, anyway). Well, we can't have that. Toho decided to start another kaiju series in the meantime. From 1996-98, Toho created a Mothra trilogy which sort of killed their time before the Big G made his triumphant return in 1999. Both the Heisei Godzilla series and the newest Gamera series were much more mature in their storytelling, however the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy opted to appeal directly toward the kiddies. Compared to the latest Godzilla and Gamera films of the time, Rebirth of Mothra is a disappointment. Hell, even as family entertainment, The Lion King this is not. It's not even Cars quality. Rebirth of Mothra takes aim at every cliche in the book, from the good hearted, loving family all but broken up by their father's long hours at work to the environmental message about protecting the forests. Even the youngest of children could probably stay three steps ahead of this movie, guessing every turn before it happens. It's interesting that the film does not try and remake the original Mothra (1992's Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth took more cues from that movie than this one did) and reinvents it into a new story. Having Mothra square off against an opponant is quite cool, and her opponant, Desghidorah, is very well designed. Mothra's fairy girls are now Moll and Laura, and are given a third sister, the nasty Belvera, who acts as one rooting on the destruction of the Earth and often tries to keep her sisters from preventing it. Unfortunatly, we don't get much insight as to why Belvera wants this to happen. The fact that she dislikes humans is a bit of a given, but does she really want Desghidorah to turn the Earth into a barren wasteland? Why?Need I mention the "music video" sequences? The fairy girls were always known for their songs, calling out to Mothra. The filmmakers have taken that idea several notches higher, and choreograph the duo singing their song, and dancing against green screen backgrounds. Talk about an acid trip, and yet they're still the highlight of the movie. A part of me thinks that this movie may play out a little more tolorable in it's original Japanese language, but the only release here in the States is with a s***ty international dub that makes the film's annoying children even more mind blowingly intolorable, with shrill, high pitched voices of adults pretending to be children. The actresses playing Moll and Laura seem to be pretty good, for the most part. Througout the film they showcase an impressive range of emotion, and even through this nasty dub, they get their feelings off quite well. The actress playing Belvera is wildly overdone, and comes across as a main villianess the Power Rangers would square off against. There are worse kaiju films out there, but there are also much better ones. I have no doubt in my mind that if I were 8 I would love this movie. It's quite colorful, spirited, and easy to watch. Unfortunatly I was out of the target audience when it was released, and I was way out of the target audience when it finally got released in the US. I remember finding this movie in a video store a long time ago, completly unaware of it, and being excited that Mothra made another solo movie. Naturally I picked it up, and I recall my reaction after it finished being "Did I really just waste my money on that?"
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Post by reaperg on Aug 12, 2009 9:54:57 GMT -5
"Godzilla: Final Wars": I have a soft spot for this one because I was at the world premiere in Hollywood. No foolin'? That's awsome. I really wish I could have attended, but back then, I was in no financial condition for traveling. I imagine it was a fun experience. Did the croud have any interesting reactions? I know a guy who knows a guy. Director Kitamura, sfx director Eiichi Asada, Goji suit actor Kitagawa, and the main human cast (except, sadly, for Takarada and Mizuno) got on stage before the movie, and Keith Emerson was in the audience. It really was cool, and much of the audience gave a standing ovation, but I heard complaints and disbelief afterward. I'm not sure if it was an appropriate film for the Big G's 50th anniversary, but I like it.
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Post by reaperg on Aug 12, 2009 9:58:27 GMT -5
"Godzilla": It's not a bad remake of "The Beast from 20,000" fathoms, but it sure as hell isn't Godzilla. It's an okay popcorn flick, I suppose, but they got G's character all wrong, they didn't care about the source material, and that's a major sin.
"Rebirth of Mothra": Well, Belvera and Garugaru were cool, and Death Ghidorah made for a great Bandai figure, but other than that... ugh.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 12, 2009 12:39:48 GMT -5
Godzilla vs. Gigan Japanese Title: Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs. GiganAlternate Title: Godzilla on Monster IslandRelease Date: March 12, 1972 Monster Roster: Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Gigan, and Anguirus (and Shukra and Momagon?) Stock Footage Monsters: Rodan, Mothra, Kamakuras, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, and Minilla Usually this is where I tell the readers at home what this movie is about. However, this would be much easier if the movie actually had a story. My closest guesstimation of the plot would be what follows... Godzilla vs. Gigan chronicles down-on-his-luck comic artist Gengo trying to sell his hillariously uninspired monster designs: Shukra, the monster of homework, and Momagon, the monster of strict mothers. After comic publishers (rightfully) refuse his (idiotic) ideas, Gengo goes to a children's theme park specializing in monsters to sell his ideas to them. The men at Children's Land love his ideas! This of course means there's something shady about them. Gengo soon runs into the company of two hippies, who have stolen a tape recording and try to convince Gengo that his bosses are evil and bent on world domination. They play the tape recording hoping to hear proof of this, however, all they hear is an off-key screeching noise. Ugh...it's the latest Madonna album...these guys must be evil! While the humans struggle to understand the incoherant nonsense that is this plot, Godzilla and Anguirus somehow hear the recording many miles away on Monster Island. Cluing them in on an alien invasion, the duo prepare to counterattack... Meanwhile, our group of heroes are found out by the alien showrunners at Children's Land and take them into custody so they can brag about how their plan is perfect. They use the tape recording to call forth two monsters from space. The first is King Ghidorah, who, in his third alien invasion to date, is starting to look like the local alien invader whore. The second is a new monster called Gigan, a cross between a giant penguin and a Swiss Army Knife. Together, the set Japan ablaze. Then Godzilla and Anguirus come and kick ass in a half hour of butt-kickin' and stock footage. Oh yeah, and there's something about the good guys defeating the bad guys, but after reading the drivel I had to type out above, does anybody really care? Review I don't think I'll recieve much argument if I were to say straight out that Godzilla vs. Gigan is the most poorly made Godzilla movie of all time. Even worse than other lackluster efforts, such as Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and even the notorious followup, Godzilla vs. Megalon. While it can be contended that Godzilla movies have before been made for a quick cash in on a brand name, never before has one been stitched together with so little fabric. The only comparible feature I can think of in the kaiju genre is Super Monster Gamera. OK, it's not quite that bad, but when you look at what the filmmakers had to work with, the comparison is somewhat fair. But the bizarre thing about Godzilla vs. Gigan is that it's actually kind of fun to watch. The final battle in particular, while crawling with stock footage, is incredibly moody and surprisingly brutal. It's without a doubt a splended pay off for sitting through such a mind numbingly stupid movie. However, the film either doesn't know how dumb it is, or perfectly knows it and tries to keep a straight face in order to prevent the audience from figuring it out. This is a movie where the alien invaders are actually giant cockroaches disguised as humans, and none of the actors even look like they're thinking of breaking a smile when they state this fact. But despite the silly nature of the aliens in general, the human end of the story is a tremendous failure. Pretty much every one of the characters that I suppose we're supposed to call "heroes" isn't that bright. When they do something right, usually it's by accident. A late scene, for example, when the group is trying to escape the alien invaders, the aliens lock on to a car driving away from the scene and blow it up. While the car is in flames, our group of good guys pops up from behind a bush, with looks of "Glad that wasn't us" on their faces. Ah yes, nothing like a batch of dark humor were several innocents not involved with the plot get hopelessly murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time just so we can giggle at how incredibly lucky our heroes are. The performances are phoned in. In serious scenes, nobody seems to care. In comical scenes, they switch from neutral to over-the-top, to make it look like they're making an effort. This is a rare case where the dub actually kind of improves the performances in the film, as the voice actors actually sound like they're emoting. Not to mention that in the dubbed version, one of the most infamous scenes in Godzilla history is played out. Godzilla actually talks. Not in a traditional sort of way, though. In the original Japanese version of the film, Godzilla and Anguirus have a conversation using comic book style thought balloons (in keeping with the fact that the main character is a comic artist). In the US, those balloons were erased and Godzilla and Anguirus's roars were actually dubbed instead. While the final battle is a hoot, some of the minor technical aspects of the kaiju scenes are not. First and formost is the Godzilla suit, which had been used for 3 films prior. The costume is so old and beaten up that you can actually see chunks of it falling off on camera . The fact that Toho didn't shell out the money for a new one says a lot about the budget to this feature. In certain scenes of the film where they are featured flying, both Gigan and King Ghidorah had been replaced by little plastic models (honestly, these hokey things are actually kind of cute). The final battle is also laced with stock footage, which isn't that bad, however, the scene is set at night, and the majority of the footage actually takes place in the day. The footage is darkened for a (hopeful) night effect, but overall, it's not a very smart use of these scenes. However, the monster scenes are also where Godzilla vs. Gigan excells. Gigan himself, despite being a wild design, is actually a very cool and original monster. While the films he has starred in haven't been very good, he's actually one of my favorite Toho kaiju. The somber tone of the final battle is also cool, and marks the first time in his history that Godzilla actually bleeds. Given how many things were going against Godzilla vs. Gigan, it's amazing they managed to craft a film at all. Too bad it couldn't have been a coherant one. This one's for the cheese fans only. Where else can you see Japanese hippies using an ear of corn as a gun?
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Post by angilasman on Aug 12, 2009 12:47:40 GMT -5
The dub for Gigan inexplicably has a whole lot of memorable lines.
"I think it stinks!" "He must have thought it was a gun!" "Stupid, but at the same time cunning"
Also notable: voice actor dubbing an army guy manages to add an extra syllable to the word "Godzilla," making it something like "Godzilla-quee-er."
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 12, 2009 13:07:03 GMT -5
Godzilla 2000 Japanese Title: Godzilla 2000: MillenniumRelease Date: December 11, 1999 Monster Roster: Godzilla and Orga Millennium Timeline: Unknown. The film gives no indication as to where Godzilla came from or what he has been doing all these years. If the origin of the original film is still the same, the Oxygen Destroyer either was never used or ineffective. All we know is that Godzilla is just a resident giant radioactive superlizard that likes to annoy Japan every now and then. For some reason, a group of idiots known as the Godzilla Prediction Network decided it was a good idea to be chasing around the giant behemoth known as Godzilla. G.P.N. has taken on a new recruit, a whiney reporter named Yuri who just wants good photos of the monster, bringing their employee rate to an all-time high of THREE! The other two are Shinoda and his daughter Io, who, according to their high standards, dub their new reporter friend an "imbecile" (though, one would have to be in order to just drive toward the destruction of a rampaging lizard). They are not the only group hunting down Godzilla. The Crisis Control Istitute, led by Shinoda's nemesis Kataguri, works with the military to destroy the creature (at least these guys have the smarts to bring defense). While searching the depths of the ocean, C.C.I. discovers a meteorite well over 60,000,000 years old. They attempt to raise it, but something within it awakens and the giant rock bursts to the surface and heads straight toward Godzilla. Boy, G sure is popular these days. People want to study him, kill him, now even giant space rocks are hunting him down. Now that means your special! The military is already engaged with Godzilla, but the creature just walks straight through their defenses...just like he always does. Do the Japanese ever learn? At first you don't succeed is one thing, but to keep failing at something you've sucked at for 45 years is another. It's kind of like how Uwe Boll keeps making movies because he thinks he has talent. Anywho, the Japanese get s***canned again, and now it's the giant flying rock's turn. Surprisingly enough, it has better success, mostly because there's an uber-cool U.F.O. inside istalled with a kickass laser beam. Godzilla goes down for the count and retreats to the bottom of the ocean. As the sun goes down, the U.F.O. begins to lie dormant. While C.C.I. attempts to contain the U.F.O., Shinoda collects pieces of foam rubber...er...I mean, Godzilla skin tissue for annalysis. Shinoda strikes a deal with Kataguri to study the sample in C.C.I.'s labs, and discover Godzilla has a unique regeneration process (yeah, it's called Stitching-the-Suit-Back-Together), and is able to revive dead tissue in a matter of minutes. Shinoda calls the process Regenerator G-1, proving he should have no right to name things. Meanwhile, Yuri discovers an outside source has been hacking into her computer. Shinoda takes a look at it, and other than discovering tons of files devoted to lesbian porn (defensively she states "*cough* Yeah, that's not mine. Whoever hacked in there must have...um...uploaded it...or something." ::shifty eyes:: ), they discover that whoever hacked into it downloaded from her Godzilla files. The sun rises and the U.F.O. breaks free of it's constraints and the proceeds to rampage Tokyo (it's the hot place to destroy, baby!). As the sun sets again, the U.F.O. goes dormant once again atop City Tower. Upon annalysis of the craft, they discover that it is sucking information from the computers, solving the mystery of Yuri's computer ("They must have a thing for hot girl-on-girl action, am I right?" Yuri still persistantly states). Godzilla, like Rocky Balboa, is always ever so persistant for a rematch after going down once. He rises in Tokyo Bay and heads straight toward the U.F.O.. Godzilla shows the P.O.S. alien junker that he has a little heat beam of his own and blows the thing to poopie, but not before the U.F.O. steals samples of Regenerator G-1 from Godzilla's body in order to create it's own monster. Ladies and gentlemen, it's hot monster-on-monster action! "I'm not a lesbian!" shouts Yuri. "I'm not an imbecile either! Get off my back!" Review I've been a Godzilla fan since I was 3 years old, but the first and only time I have ever seen a G film in theaters (not including Godzilla 1998) wouldn't come until the ripe age of 16, on an August day in the year 2000 (a week after my birthday, incidentally). Godzilla 2000 became the first G flick to hit American theaters since Godzilla 1985, 15 years prior, and I'll be damned if I was going to miss it. My parents weren't the Godzilla freaks that I was, and after begging them non-stop, I finally got my father to take me (it was his turn, I suppose, seeing how it was my mother who took me to see Godzilla '98). I sat in awe in that theater seat during the runtime...meanwhile, my father fell asleep after 10 minutes. His loss. Maybe it's the fact that this is the only Godzilla film I've had the proud experience of going to the theaters to see that is clouding my judgment, but I love this movie. And even after nearly a decade of listening to indifference by the Godzilla fanbase, I watched it today and discover that I still love it. It's a flawed film, but an exceedingly fun one. The cast of characters is the most enjoyable the Godzilla series has had since the early Showa series. While the film does go through patches without giant monster action, these folks were more than entertaining enough for the scenes to just fly by. The story isn't fleshed out a whole lot, but it provides enough for the characters to be running around and trying to do something. I probably would have found this movie amusing had it not featured Godzilla. The new, reimagined Godzilla design is breathtaking. Toho takes cues from the TriStar films attempt and tries to make Godzilla more reptillian than he has been in most recent incarnations. However, the design is still destinctly Godzilla. His features are reminisant of an alligator, and his spines are considerably larger and impressive. Godzilla's opponant, Orga, is also quite cool. Looking like a shapeless lump of clay desperate for a form, the creature tries to clone itself into Godzilla (an in-joke, seeing how it's facial features are loosly based on the design of the American Godzilla). His prominant form in the film is ape-like, with massive forarms laying a beatdown on our green hero. Where the film flunks is that Toho is obviously trying to catch up with the visual achievements of not just the American Godzilla, but Deiei's recent Gamera films ( Gamera: Revenge of Irys had come out the same year as Godzilla 2000). Godzilla 2000 is overly ambitious in the visuals department, but it gets an A for effort. The film features a lot of blue screen work and CGI, which made the film a fresh visual feast for the Godzilla series back then, but as it ages, it's seams begin to show. The blue screen work, while attempts at some breathtaking looks at Godzilla's massive size, are largly unconvincing. The CG has it's ups and downs. Godzilla's atomic breath has never looked so amazing, and every time his spines blaze up, chiles run down my skin. However, the majority of the U.F.O. shots look pretty bad, and an all CGI scene of Godzilla swimming underwater, while it drove fans wild back in the day, is comparible to one of the 3D Godzilla models in the video game Godzilla Unleashed. The film has it's fair share of logic lapses as well. A scene at the end where Godzilla and Kataguri have a staring contest atop a rooftop takes the cake in WTF moments (Godzilla wins, in case you're wondering). So, Godzilla walked all the way over there just to face off with one of his human enemies, a tiny Asian man whom Godzilla has never seen before and all reasoning should imply he shouldn't know exists? It's one of those camp moments that is very hard to swallow. The Sony dub isn't that terrific either, and since this was before the time where including Japanese soundtracks on G-discs became an in thing with Godzilla DVDs, the dub is the only way to view it in the US. In defense of the dub, it's not as bad as Toho's international dubs which plague most of Sony's other G releases, it's just everybody is overacting it a bit. However, it could be argued that the people who pieced together the dub were hoping to recreate the charm of the old Showa series dubs, which were much similar. In that regard, they succeed. Stuff like this may suck a lot of viewers out of the experience, but Godzilla 2000 keeps sucking me back in. This movie is just plain fun. Pure, silly, escapist fun. A throwback to stuff like Godzilla vs. Monster Zero and Destroy All Monsters. After the tight continuity and stone serious face of the Heisei series, can you really blame me?
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Post by reaperg on Aug 13, 2009 9:39:25 GMT -5
The dub for Gigan inexplicably has a whole lot of memorable lines. "I think it stinks!" "He must have thought it was a gun!" "Stupid, but at the same time cunning" Also notable: voice actor dubbing an army guy manages to add an extra syllable to the word "Godzilla," making it something like "Godzilla-quee-er." Don't forget "You cheeky pig!" and "Somebody kick me, kick me hard!" This was the first G-film I saw in a theater, under the title "Godzilla on Monster Island". Now as an adult, it's Fukuda trying to be Honda and obviously not being successful. Still, Gigan's great, Anguirus is gutsy, and the battle is one of the best, even with stock footage. G2K: I rather like the American version, with tighter editing and some extra Ifukube thrown in for good measure, but the writer's Dr. Strangelove fixation is distracting. I do like how Japan deals with the monsters in a more realistic manner, with conventional weapons and "Godzilla chasers" instead of overly fantastic mecha.
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Post by angilasman on Aug 13, 2009 14:46:43 GMT -5
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 13, 2009 15:03:40 GMT -5
Yeah, I read about that. There are people on Toho Kingdom speculating that it could be Godzilla 3D to the MAX resurfacing, though I have my doubts.
I'm interested in hearing more as it developes.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 13, 2009 17:39:25 GMT -5
Systems check. Big ass guns. Hardcore metalic body work. Funky laser beams. Systems go. We're ready to take that damn lizard to hell.
ACTIVATE PROJECT: MECHA-THON
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Aug 13, 2009 17:41:17 GMT -5
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla Alternate Titles: Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster, Godzilla vs. the Bionic MonsterRelease Date: March 21, 1974 Monster Roster: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, King Ceasar, and Anguirus Stock Footage Monsters: King Ghidorah Our story begins with a young lady holding up some sort of giant pillow and singing off-key. All-ready the audience is annoyed, but let's stick with it and see where it goes. Suddenly she screams and falls down. Rather than admit she merely had a "womanhood moment," she makes up some bulls*** about a vision of a monster rising and laying waste to Japan. Of course, this happens to coincide with a group of civilians unearthing a statue of the great civilization protector King Ceasar, and with it a prophecy that tells when a mountain appears above the clouds, a monster shall rise, and when the red moon sets and the sun rises in the west, King Ceasar and another of Earth's monsters will do battle with it. On their flight home, they see a formation of clouds that look like a mountain. Yes, the script is that lame. Not long afterward, Godzilla arises, only very stiff and roaring like a sissy. Godzilla begins to stomp around in the countryside, leaving humanity utterly baffled as to why he would do such a thing (note to 1974, 1954 would like to have a word with you). Things become stranger when Anguirus shows up and attacks "his friend Godzilla" (note to 1974, 1955 would like to have a word with you). Godzilla and Anguirus brawl until Godzilla breaks Anguirus' jaw and Angiurus runs away. Godzilla gives another sissy bellow in victory and continues on his merry way. Our confused cast of characters mull things over for a while, yet have found traces of SPACE TITANIUM (it isn't enough that it's titanium, so they spiced it's branding up as SPACE TITANIUM for marketing purposes) that they insist are relevant somehow. Meanwhile, Godzilla attacks, and nobody seems to give a crap anymore, because SPACE TITANIUM is much more awsome. However, some heads turn with another Godzilla rises from the ocean and challenges the destructive Godzilla to a duel. Ten paces and BANG! SUPER SAURIAN RADIOACTIVE BREATH! In the ensuing battle, chunks of the destructive Godzilla fall off (it's like Godzilla vs. Gigan all over again), revealing him to be (surprise surprise) a big ass robot. Robozilla lets out a full arsenal of rockets and laser beams onto Godzilla, who falls into the ocean in a gusher of blood. All that's missing from this scene is a guntwirl and stiff one-liner from our cyborg: "You're move, creep." (cue RoboCop theme) Our heroes are stunned! Is Godzilla dead? Not until the box office dies, of course (which, coincidentally, isn't far off). They become convinced that the robot Godzilla is controlled by beings from outer space, because he's made of SPACE TITANIUM. Their logic is flawless! And it turns out to be correct, for space men are controlling him. The humans dub the cyborg "Mechagodzilla" (a name which is coincidentally used by the aliens as well. Great minds would think alike. To bad your minds are not as great as ours, puny Earthlings). Pretty much the rest of this movie is filled with monsterless contrived crap, as our heroes play spy games on the space men and doofus excuses for "the red moon sets" and "the sun rising in the west" are finally given, and humanity wakes up King Ceasar. The problem is, King Ceasar hits the snooze button, and is still asleep. He is desperatly in need of an alarm clock, so the singing girl from the beginning of the movie takes a cue from Mothra's book and starts screeching a song at him. It works, Ceasar wakes up, if only to get her to shut the f*** up. But the space men have launched Mechagodzilla to kill Ceasar, so we don't get the pleasure of seeing Ceasar crush her. Ceasar goes head to head with Mechagodzilla by himself...and promptly gets his ass kicked. Finally, the moment we've seemingly been waiting eons for, Godzilla arises from the ocean once again, refeuled by lightning and ready for round 2. But can Godzilla defeat a powerful opponant with a brawling partner that disappears for minutes at a time and barely does jack s***? Review Happy 20th birthday, Godzilla! Just another year, and you can get legally hammerred in the US. For Godzilla's 20th Anniversary Spectacular, Toho decided to do something that, quite frankly, I'm surprised wasn't done earlier in the series, the ever so nasty evil twin (an idea so good, the used it again for G's 40th Anniversary, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla). Looking like a prototype of the DragonZord from the first few seasons of Power Rangers, the ever-so-popular Mechagodzilla makes his debut in this fan-favorite movie. But, just because it's a fan favorite, doesn't mean it's one of my favorites. My god, this movie is boring. There are worse Godzilla movies out there, but even films like Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster can hold my attention to a decent degree, wheras Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla only succeeds in making me nod off. The only Godzilla movies that dull me half as much as this one are Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth, and even they have a certain underlining energy to them that helps keep me awake. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is director Jun Fukuda's final Godzilla film, and an overwhelming "Thank god" was heard across the globe. Having helmed the previous two films in the franchise, which also happenned to be the most stitched together and poory made, Fukuda seems to be desperatly trying to prove he's not the hack those films would lead you to believe. He and Toho opt to make Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla a return to form for the series, and desperatly try to make this project as serious and somber as possible. A noble jesture, I must admit. However , I have to say that if the movie your making is about a giant radioactive superlizard (who can, appearantly, turn himself into a magnet now, I might add) and a giant puppy dog with laser beam eyes doing battle with a giant robot controled by evil blue space-monkeys and your trying to make it with a straight face, you might want to rethink several aspects of it. I'm glad the project is not like Godzilla vs. Gigan or Godzilla vs. Megalon, but the elements that make movies like this fun have become lost in translation. The monster action is light, and even when it's onscreen, it's barely impressionable. There is a lot of laser beams and Godzilla falls down a lot, that's about it. The plotting of the film is horrible and about as contrived as a film can be. When the fake Godzilla appears toward the beginning of the film, the fact that it's not Godzilla is so incredibly unsubtle with it's drasticly mechanical sound effects that even the dimist of 3-year-olds can figure it out (that is, if the title of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla hadn't already tipped them off). The human plot is bland and uninteresting, as they walk around with a statue and discuss the plot with inane logic and dialogue. And yet another alien invasion plot surfaces in the series. You know...if there are really that many alien races in the universe, why can't they just invade each other and leave us alone for once? And finally, King Ceasar, who I despise with a passion. I hate his ugly giant head. I hate his shaggy costume design. I hate his vague mystical background. I hate the fact that he jumps around and tries and tackle Mechagodzilla for 2 minutes before Godzilla shows up and saves his sorry ass. I hate that he disappears and reappears constantly during the final battle, leading me to believe he's off hiding somewhere while Godzilla does the dirty work for him. To give credit where credit is due, this is indeed the most polished of Fukuda's Godzilla films (though I prefer the pretty island locals of Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla to the barren countryside of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla anyday), and he couldn't ask for more bang to go out on. The Mechagodzilla costume is slightly akward, but well-designed, none-the-less. It genuinly looks like a hunk of heavy metal and the suit actor moves pretty well in it. I realize this one is a favorite amung many, and I respect that. I just simply can't get into it. It's one Godzilla film I'm never in the mood to watch.
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