Torgo
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Post by Torgo on May 6, 2014 23:16:19 GMT -5
Finished skimming the Sony discs. I'll be able to watch them more in depth later this week when I get to these movies in my G-marathon (I'm up to Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla).
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II has the worst transfer of the bunch. It's very grainy and there are white spots all over the place. I suspected it was the same transfer they used for the DVD until the very end...it actually has end credits! So this is something new, I think.
SpaceGodzilla and Destoroyah both look a bit soft, however I suspect it's the way they were made. They're new tranfers though, since the opening credits are much different and they actually include the end credits. I've always wanted the see Destoroyah's end credits so this worked out well for me.
Of the Millennium films, Final Wars fairs the best. The transfer looks pretty smooth for the notorious 50th anniversary film. Megaguirus looks fine but I'm disappointed in Tokyo SOS. With visuals that gorgeous the movie deserved to look as pristine as possible. Unfortunately it looks like an upscale, and certain aspects look fuzzy.
Overall the upgrade is worth it for the Heisei releases. Unless you want the wackiness of Final Wars in hi-def then you might want to wait for budget releases of the Millennium films.
Now the waiting game begins for that Megalon blu-ray.
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Post by dph on May 11, 2014 16:32:59 GMT -5
I decided to try the Blu Ray of Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster just to see for myself if the picture quality was better than the Sony DVD I have. HOLY COW is it ever! The picture quality on this one is amazing. I'm definitely sold now on BluRay, gonna have to shell out the dough for the other releases and the Gamera films.
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on May 11, 2014 18:51:44 GMT -5
Those Kraken discs are great, aren't they? I think the only G movie that was given a better hi-def transfer than Sea Monster was G98.
Though the "Most Improved" award definitely still goes to Criterion's disc.
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Post by dph on May 12, 2014 5:26:45 GMT -5
Yes, but when it comes to commentary on the original movie, I prefer the ones on Classic Media disks.
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Post by angilasman on May 13, 2014 11:34:14 GMT -5
Been watching a whole bunch of new Blu-Rays in preparation for the new Godzilla: Mill Creek's Gamera sets and Kraken's three Godzilla releases (all excellent Blu-Rays!).
And I saw Gojira in a theater Sunday!
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 24, 2014 6:47:25 GMT -5
I'm a little late with letting you all know about the new King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes releases, but Amazon picked a hell of a time to use a new delivery service (OnTrac or something) and they couldn't find my house, so I got my package a week late.. Ontrac is a nightmare who employ liars and idiots... they lost several of my MST3K orders, lost a TPB order, their customer service gave me a lot of double talk, and were caught in out right lies. I told Amazon that if they didn't go back to UPS for me, then they wouldn't be getting my business. Which they did... at first. Of course the first time they went back to Ontrac, I lost another order. Zon did issue me a refund and I cancelled all my pre-orders (my comic TPB are cheaper at other places now anyway, and I'm perfectly happy to spend the extra $$ at Hastings for my MST3K sets if it saves me stress and the hassle of playing phone tag with Ontracs brain dead customer service department. (and getting my order a month later in 2 cases) Be wary of them. They are the devil incarnate Anyhoo... I just heard of these BDs, so I'm heading over to Hastings this weekend to see if they have the Heisei stuff, as I remember really loving those to death way back when. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla 2, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, are all on my wish list.
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 26, 2014 15:50:13 GMT -5
I had a Heisei series marathon this weekend. I haven’t seen these since my friend lent me his imports way back when (his copy of Mothra didn’t even have subs or dubs, so that made for interesting viewing.) Though I enjoyed them, I didn’t find them as wonderful as I did then. They are a lot goofier than I remember. Ghidora, Mothra, Mechagodzilla were pretty much the same quality wise, none stood head and shoulder above the rest. Though Mechagodzilla earns points for one inspired plot point… where we figure out the way to defeat Godzilla is to give him a lobotomy in his ass. Apparently he has a second brain near his back, leg, tail…somewhere around that vicinity. Wherever that brain is, it made me laugh when they’d target the area. Spacegodzilla was the weakest and I think they blew the budget on the costumes because the rest of the FX were pedestrian, and they limit the final battle to one set. What happened to the score? No Zilla themes, and how did they get away with stealing music from “You Only Live Twice", I can't imagine the Bond people allowing it to fall into public domain. I like that these were all connected, and you had some cast members who were seen throughout, primarily that psychic girl with the big ears. I like that the series had a beginning, middle and end. A pretty heartfelt end to be honest… and one that manages to use the painfully adorable Baby Godzilla to good effect. In fact, for me, Destroyah stands head and shoulder above the rest, and is one of my favorites of the entire series and is probably the reason I had such fond memories of the Heisei era. It’s a little more serious, it is connected by plot threads to Gojira, and had much better production values than Spacegodzilla… it just looked good on all phases, sets, costumes, the fights. Random Thoughts: They hired some of the absolute worse American actors. These folks made Anthony Cardoza look Oscar worthy. In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) the Navy leader with the slight lisp who decides not to investigate when his men on the Island fail to respond to radio calls, was a hoot… that whole scene was a bit of a shot at America, so I wonder if the bad actors were intentional, to make us look and sound even more like boobs. Heck, the blond who helped operate Mechagodzilla could barley deliver the one line she was given. Not that I have a problem with that, it’s your country, your monster. Go ahead and tease the American’s. (God knows I’ve laughed when MST3K teased you) Monster motivations are hard to fathom? Mothera and Battra are combatants, but then they team up… and then we discover Battra was there to save the Earth all along (so why didn’t he just go and do that, instead of farting around and blowing stuff up? Dickweed). And for some reason Zilla and Rodan are in some kind of custody fight over Baby Godzilla in Mechagodzilla. Baby is afraid of each, but keeps calling them or helping them. Pick a side kid, for Christ sake. I wish these had extras. I’m not a Zilla expert like some of you here, and don’t have the urge to do much online studying, so I like having history and commentary relayed on DVD and BDs. All told it was a fun marathon. These were double feature discs so it’s too bad they didn’t have the rights to Biolante, so that they all would have come from the same era. As it is, Destroyah is paired with another movie from a different era in Godzilla lore, Megaguirus.
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Post by Mighty Jack on May 31, 2014 18:29:43 GMT -5
King Kong Vs. Godzilla (Japanese Version) So what's the scoop on the rights on this movie, why can't we get this version in the States? Anyway, I'm old and I decided not to wait any longer for Toho to work it out, so I found and picked up Japanese versions for this and Godzilla 85.
While I didn't hate the U.S. cut, the newscasts did interrupt the momentum. The Japanese version is a smoother narrative, and it's funnier. You still get laughs in the US cut, but the Japanese cut is a hoot. Not the kid centered, "oh that's funny is a stupid way", but true comedy. We get more with Mr Tako and the theme of rampant commercialism gone mad. More with the couple and the brother, etc.
I don't know that I'd rank this among the toppermost.... but it is an improvement, and an entertaining movie.
Also: I like that we have two Bond girl's from the later released "You Only Live Twice" in this flick. And well, okay, the crappy Kong costume is really crappy. But it is a riot (especially the close up costume, when he drinks the berries). It definitely added more laughs to the production.
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Post by dph on Jun 1, 2014 14:33:17 GMT -5
MJ, it's funny you mention the lack of Godzilla's Theme in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. I was just watching the trailers and it appears in the trailers, but not in the actual movie. I know it's a common practice for the trailers, but if they were going to go through all the trouble of adding an Ifukubian score in the movie, which they did near the beginning, It makes you wonder, why not that one.
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Post by Skyroniter on Jun 1, 2014 16:10:45 GMT -5
The original Japanese (not dubbed and no Raymond Burr) Godzilla stands up as an extremely scary and disturbing flick. Godzilla was like the monster version of the atomic bomb. Memories still vivid for the Japanese.
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Post by dph on Jun 1, 2014 20:18:51 GMT -5
Just finished the Heisei series. Even with it's problems, this series CAN be fun in the right mood. Even though Godzilla vs. Destroyah is not one of my favorites, it definitely has it's moments. One moment that always sends chills down my spine is when Miki, after sobbing over Junior's death, says "I think this will be Godzilla's last fight." and the Godzilla theme begins to blare as Godzilla rises to his feet to counterattack Destroyah.
My favorite of the Heisei series still has to be Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 1, 2014 20:40:00 GMT -5
Phew I'm exhausted... just finished my Millennium Series marathon And it was much, much better than I remember. Well except for Final Wars, that one still disappoints. They spent too much time farting around with that Mutants vs. Aliens malarkey. I got so sick and tired of watching those idiots posture, and pose and fight and whatnot. And they really threw in the kitchen sink on that one. With nods to Star Wars and The Matrix (there's even a Japanese looking Keanu Reeves in the cast). When they FINALLY got to the Godzilla vs everyone it was an hour and 10 into the flick.... and then they kept jumping back to the stupid mutant fights. Grr.
But Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack was rock 'em sock 'em ass kicker. Now that's how you film an all out monster fight, with a human story that adds, rather than detracts. Man, that's easily top 5 material.
I also enjoyed the 2 part Mechagodzilla flicks. Godzilla 2000 was good. Megaguirus was a mixed bag. Started off all right, but it fell a part down the stretch, the CGI was pretty weak.
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Post by dph on Jun 2, 2014 5:29:50 GMT -5
And I'm the minority when it comes to GMK. With all the talk about boring characters and holding back monsters in the new LP Godzilla, that's actually the way I feel about GMK. The human characters are just boring to me. While it's got some amazing effects, the final battle is a big let down. The monsters spend most of their time in the water and we get a lot of our boring humans. To me it's similar to Gamera 3. The effects are fantastic, but there just isn't enough of the monsters. The most interesting fight is Godzilla vs. Baragon. But even with the excellent effects, like Gamera 3, I really have to coax myself to watch this one.
All that "monsters infused with the spirits of the dead" nonsense may work for Gamera, but I don't feel it works for Godzilla.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Jun 2, 2014 15:14:45 GMT -5
Na, I loved the human story. I though Chiharu Niiyama as Yuri did some top notch acting as well. And I like that we got something different with the mythological aspects. Very compelling through and through.
I went back and listened to the U.S. commentary track on Godzilla 2000. It was an interesting track, while I prefer to see and hear the Japanese versions of these films, it sounds like they didn't chop it all up to hell and put some thought into changes they did make (adding clarity to back stories, etc)
So, after these recent viewings, my favorites of the right now are
1. Mothra vs Godzilla 2. Gojira 3. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack 4. Godzilla vs. Destroyah
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Post by dph on Jun 5, 2014 5:27:16 GMT -5
Finished Tokyo SOS last night. This one is still my favorite of the Millennium series. I love Michuru Oshima's scores, a great successor to Ifukube to score Godzilla movies. The monsters all make grand entrances in this one. One thing that sets this movie apart is that it's a direct sequel to the previous movie. At the beginning Kiryu is still in bad shape, Shinagawa is still in ruins, and the country is still freaked out about where Godzilla is. The Mothra prop is well made, a lot bigger than the GMK (I noticed the other day just how small that one was).
One of my favorite moments (out of many) is when Mothra shows up, and one of the commanders is worried that both Mothra and Godzilla are about to attack. To me that's more of a reaction to expect when two monsters show up, not that one is there to save you.
Even though Godzilla is the villian, I really have to feel sorry for him near the end. That is one hell of a brutal wound that MechaGodzilla puts in him. I used to not think too much about the ending theme, but after watching the whole thing last night, it is a very nice way to end that chain of two movies.
Finishing off my Godzilla Marathon with Godzilla Final Wars. Bleh!
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