Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Beaumont, Therese, Adrian, Cicely

Write Up.

This time at IMAX 3D. The sound. All the roar.

The King

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler

Write Up.

Love this film so much. Such understated evil. Delicious and so dark.

The Lifeguard

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Kristen Bell does a nice little indie drama about umm, a female quarter life crisis I guess? Starting over after a failed first step into the world, moving back home, taking an old job, catching up with old friends who are now doing different things with their lives and forming an odd relationship with a local gang of kids a decade younger than her.

Some alright acting/drama. Perhaps a little obvious with some writing. But it was okay.

Zardoz

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

Wow how have I never seen this one? Completely baffling and yet amazing. I really loved the story and the world, the tone and the ideas. Some of the more absurd elements (mainly costuming.... ) distract a little, true, but man I had a fun time discovering this films wonders. I have a fondness for 70's apocalyptic existential sci-fi anyway.

I don't know why Sean Connery was in this, why he was in a red diaper the whole film or who though that moustache and ponytail were a good idea, but I can't unsee that now. It's too late for me. The rest of the film though, wonderful.

Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Aaron, Kate, Jess, Jim, Clint, Ant, Tom, Xoe, Andrew, Tyler, Shane, Erin, Karli, Rob

The new Godzilla from Gareth Edwards is a very fun movie. It's a nice re-introduction to the character and they've stuck with using him as a defender. It means we miss out on him being truly terrifying but it also means we can band together and cheer him on as he fights MUTO.

The way the monsters are shot play out very similarly to his low budget feature debut Monsters, usually obscured, often with people in the foreground giving scale, shot from found views and seen fleetingly. At least until the final battle where things kick up a notch.

The humans are foregrounded in the story as well, namely Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing one of those guys that happens to find himself at the centre of all the action. As much as they try it's hard for it not to continually feel like a big series of coincidences. The start of the film was very promising, right up to the MUTO's introduction. Then things started to feel like going through the necessary motions to get through the plot. The character work from the beginning is gone and there's not much to get invested in after that but hoping to see more of the monsters.

The MUTO do remind me of Edward's creatures in Monsters as well, with their spores and flashy purple pink lights. If the character work in this film was as consist an as in that one it would have been a smash hit home run. As it is it's still a very enjoyable return for the character and I hope a good set up for further instalments, unlike the last Hollywood effort...

Godzilla: Final Wars

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Kate

So far, the last in the Japanese series. And it's a doozy. Much like Destroy all monsters, aliens come to earth to destroy us using monsters, and Godzilla battles them all. Along with some mutant humans that do some crazy superhero fighting. Again, the human scale side feels like the majority of the film. At least there's crazy superhero vs alien action, but it still gets boring hah.

However the kaiju fights are on another level. Suddenly jumping to 2004 from the 70's there's a big difference in action capabilities. Sure it's essentially the same technology of man-in-suit, but the compositing and lighting and integration with people is far more ambitions. The introduction to the monsters and the final battle are all amazing. They parade out the iconic characters from Godzillas past and best of all, Japanese man-in-suit Godzilla fights American CG "Zilla." And he gets the crap beaten out of him.

Some good crazy fun, despite the long winded mutant struggles.

Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Kate, Andrew

I enjoyed this film as a kid. I didn't love it but I just wanted to see giant creatures on the big screen that made use of that new fangled computer graphic technology that was still so new and fascinating to me at the time. Also, I didn't really know anything about Godzilla.

It's hard to watch this one now. They really took quite a few liberties with the character. I guess that's their prerogative but the film is pretty stupid. Roland Emmerich makes a lot of cheesy big loud disaster movies and this is much the same. Some terrible dialogue. Some cartoonish 90's character acting. The end of Maria Pitillo's career.

There's a lot of real incompetence on display. The military in this film is a joke. The politicians, the media, the scientists... Perhaps it's some amazing satire that we all just missed. Maybe it's genius. More likely it's just bad writing.

But having watched films like Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla You can hardly complain. If the first American Godzilla was as absurd in its premise as some of the Japanese Godzilla films we might forgive it those transgressions.

But this film just really wants to be Jurassic Park on steroids. And it fails.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Kate, Andrew

Ok we jump ahead to the 70's now. I've never seen the robot version of Godzilla, he's pretty nifty, with a few tricks up his sleeve. But more importantly this film introduced me to King Ceasar, the adorable lion-dog guardian. I love him.

Again there's aliens. And the human segments drag things out. But the aliens are humanoids that turn into rejected extras from the Planet of the Apes series. And they have kung-fu fights with interpol agents. It sounds fun but just goes on way too long for a movie where we really just want to see the monsters fight.

Again, once the final fight kicks off I enjoy the spectacle. And this is the first Godzilla film I've seen where he's purely used as a guardian and defender of earth. So we can gleefully cheer the big guy on now.

Destroy All Monsters

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Kate

This was one I had seen before. The first big round up of a kaiju in one film. With aliens taking them over to destroy the world. So we get to see a bunch of different monsters destroy miniature monuments from around the world, which is great fun. The whole story with the aliens and the earth astronauts becomes very dragged out and tedious but there's some funny stuff there too. Perhaps it would have been funnier with the old english dub. But all the monster action is wonderful.

Mothra vs. Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No
Watched With: Andrew

Skipping ahead a bit to what is widely considered the best of the original run of Godzilla films. And out of all the Japanese Godzilla films I've seen so far, this one easily has the best pacing. It keeps the story moving and has enough fun sequences throughout to break up the human stuff, which is kind of fun itself.

At this stage Godzilla is still a badass who just pops out of the ground one day and starts smashing stuff up. It's up to Mothra, fresh off her own solo film, to stop him and protect her last egg. Now I did not know this about Mothra, but she is flanked by two tiny telepathic twins, that sing a lot. Not expecting that. I suppose it would have helped to have seen the Mothra film first. There's a whole other island of crazy stuff in that, and it makes a brief appearance in this one.

There's also a subplot about an evil businessman trying to make a tourist attraction out of Mothra's egg. So the film had a human villain too.

But the important stuff here are the kaiju fights, firstly the titular Mothra vs Godzilla and then Godzilla vs the two Mothra larvae. They are both pretty funny. Mothra dragging the big G by the tail was a site to behold but nothing can top when one of the little larvae gets his pincers latched onto the thing. Amazing.

I enjoyed this one, makes me really want to watch more of the classic run. I'll have to go back and fill in the gaps after this brief sampler marathon.

Godzilla

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Kate, Andrew, Jess, Jim

The original classic, before America chopped it up and filmed a whole bunch of new scenes to make an american the protagonist. Watched it on my big screen from the restored criterion bluray. Looks great! And the only way to kick off a Godzilla Marathon.

This film is completely different to any of the other Godzilla films I know about. I've only seen 3 or 4 but they were very much aimed at kids and families, with a bunch of kaiju fighting each other and humans cheering on.

This film is not fun though. It's positively grim. From beginning to end. Godzilla, an ancient forgotten creature has been awakened by hydrogen bomb testing and the only way to stop the devastation on Japan is to unleash an even deadlier weapon that will destroy the whole of Tokyo bay. This is a creature born of the fear created by the powers science was unlocking at the time. And it's still as relevant today as ever. That fear is palpable through the final act. More so than the fear of the monster himself.

The destruction is anything but fun. It's only 10 years after the war and Japan is still coming to terms with just exactly what happened. There's a real sadness, a sense of loss that is not in any of the other films. That short scene with the mother comforting her two kids hiding amongst the rubble is unbelievably dark, especially if you are only aware of the latter films.

It's also very slow moving. Not just the monster. The melodrama in between the destruction is a little tedious. And a little overly long.

But it's a joy watching the old-school effects and nice matte paintings. And hearing that iconic score too. Much in need of a refresher with this one, so really great to catch up with again.

Frozen

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Kate, Andrew

Write Up.

The bluray has the most frustrating making of feature I've ever encountered. Fun, but for anyone hoping for a decent making of it's a real kick in the teeth. And there's not even a commentary to make up for it. I'm guessing a special edition is around the corner. I can only hope.