Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 12, 2014 Member Share Posted May 12, 2014 The general consensus (The Michael Bay crowd): It was too slow, the characters are not that interesting. General film snob: It's everything I've ever wanted in a Kaiju film with some great tension and build up Kung Fu cinema members: It was better than Emmerich's version but I like the Raid 2 better Ronald Emmerich: Hey, at least I did it first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 12, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 12, 2014 Kung Fu cinema members: It was better than Emmerich's version but I like the Raid 2 better Or: I wish I had seen The Raid 2, at least it didn't sound bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Noelle Shadow Kick Posted May 12, 2014 Member Share Posted May 12, 2014 I've actually seen extremely positive reviews for the most part. Fangoria, IGN, Vulture, Hollywood.com, and many more are all giving it excellent reviews. I hear they hold back on the Godzilla....but isn't that what all Godzilla movies do? I'm trying not to read too much to avoid knowing everything, but the general consensus is that the monsters are mostly teased throughout, it's an atmospheric movie, the characters are slightly more 2-D than they'd hoped, but that the action at the end is really impressive. Honestly? Sounds like a damn good time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DiP Posted May 12, 2014 Member Share Posted May 12, 2014 Extremely positive responses at IMDB as well. I'm in! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/reference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted May 12, 2014 Member Share Posted May 12, 2014 Not enough character development in the humans in a Godzilla movie! No! You don't say! Does this really surprise anyone beyond the original? Speaking of the original it's playing this weekend in Miami, I've seen it on the big screen around 12 years ago but I'm not missing seeing it again. I'm digging what i'm reading on the reviews though, shame I thought this would be Cranston's movie, and it sound like Watanabe doesn't have much to do in it. Still I'm going to prime myself with the original and open my arms to this bastard American version, Godzilla does look mean and nasy so if he lays waste and beats the shit out of some mutant insects I think I'll be happy:xd: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator thekfc Posted May 13, 2014 Moderator Share Posted May 13, 2014 Is the 16th here yet so I can comment? I do not want to post any spoilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 14, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 14, 2014 Coming out today (May 14th) in France. Will probably go see it in a few hours - we didn't get Police Story 2013 or The Raid 2 (or I totally missed them), but we get this one in advance. Bringing up PS2013 cause I'd really like to check this one out - obviously, same goes for The Raid 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member inframan Posted May 14, 2014 Member Share Posted May 14, 2014 Saw the restored print of G 54 last night, it looked great. I was hoping the alamo would have more kaiju flicks along with the release of the new movie, they went all out last year when Pacific Rim came out. http://drafthouse.com/blog/entry/beasts-vs-bots-is-coming Better than nothing I guess. Will probably check out the new movie this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 14, 2014 Member Share Posted May 14, 2014 Saw the restored print of G 54 last night, it looked great. I was hoping the alamo would have more kaiju flicks along with the release of the new movie, they went all out last year when Pacific Rim came out. http://drafthouse.com/blog/entry/beasts-vs-bots-is-coming Better than nothing I guess. Will probably check out the new movie this weekend. Dude are you going to the old skool kung fu weekend next month at the The Marchesa Hall and Theatre? They'll be showing 6 pre 1982 35mm print of Kung fu films running from June 20-21 Friday and Saturday. Check out the thread I made earlier: http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21776 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 14, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 14, 2014 Dude are you going to the old skool kung fu weekend next month at the The Marchesa Hall and Theatre? They'll be showing 6 pre 1982 35mm print of Kung fu films running from June 20-21 Friday and Saturday. Check out the thread I made earlier: http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21776 Damn, when I see this, the 1954 Gojira screening and the Kaiju/science-fiction screenings for the release of Pacific Rim, I wish I was in the US. Back on topic, got back from seeing the original and to put it (very) simple: it's INCREDIBLE, even better than the already amazin... Captain America movie (haha, got it ?). (FYI, if you see blanks, it's spoilers that I wrote in white so that they can't be read at first glance - feel free to see them or not) TBH, I went in with low expectations and trying to curb my enthusiasm (though I wanted this to be the best Godzilla film since Godzilla vs Destoroyah - having not seen any movie released after that except for the 1998 abomination and the pretty nice Tokyo SOS film from 2003 that had Kiryu (the new Mechagodzilla) and Mothra, that's not saying much, but again, I loved the last Godzilla title in the Heisei series), but the credits (which are pretty cool and give a sort of vague backstory already) were way enough to make me crazy already (seriously, the music is epic though very different than Akira Ifukube's epic march-like theme though towards the end, you may hear a nice take on a familiar tune). Concerning the most interesting part of the film now: the monsters (the humans act the way you'd expect them to act in this kind of films: you have the people who tell the reality of the situation and can more or less foresee events but nobody wants to listen to them (and you also have the Japanese guy explaining that dinosaurs were radioactive beings - not sure which is the more hilariously stupid: that or the explanations on the dinosaurs given in Godzilla Raids Again about Godzilla and Angilas), the stubborn soldiers, the people who are separated because of the events and whenever they can get together, something gets in the way... They aren't as annoying as I expected though, you may even sympathize with them for once). But back to the monsters: they really could have called this film Rodan, for the main focus here is on a couple of gigantic bat-like creatures (though one seems unable to fly, which must have misled some reviewers to believe it was a creature of a different species) that had been dwelling underground for ages (until being discovered by a mining crew) that can create shock waves that mess up everything around them and the one that can fly is able to (slightly) lift up Godzilla and (slightly) move him - however, they may also be reminiscent of Destoroyah because of their claw-like legs ( also the 2 are different because of an age and gender difference apparently - like Destoroyah (or Hedorah from Godzilla vs The Smog Monster) this kind of creature seems to evolve with time and change (unless the difference is just because one is a male and the other a female, like many real-life animals); also I doubt the gender thing is a spoiler, seeing I made it clear these monsters' story was a rip-off of the original Rodan film) - basically, they seem to have taken elements of Rodan (both the solo film and the monster who was seen in a bunch of Godzilla vehicules in the 1960s), Destoroyah (especially the claws), mixed these 2 with a gigantic bat (DC Comics' Man-Bat ? We're in a Warner film, remember ? ) and made its head look sorta like that of the Alien from the famous franchise (and as a fan of Rodan, Destoroyah's only movie, DC Comics and sci-fi cinema in general I can't say anything but "great job guys, it's one fine new monster here"). Speaking of bat-like monsters, I said the closest was Rodan, but perhaps Gamera has fought a bat-like creature that could be a more accurate description ? Not sure, just asking it out here... I must say though I wish the "giant cockroach" thing I read somewhere was true. I'd have loved to see Megalon (if a Godzilla film has a "giant cockroach", it HAS to be Megalon, right ?) in a dark and gritty world (cause this film, if you couldn't tell by the trailers, is dark and gritty - like in the original 1950s movie, the monsters are only seen in the dark or by night and also while it rains, which turns Godzilla's arrival in San Francisco for the last third into a laughably obvious rip-off of the T-Rex entrance in the first Jurassic Park. And last but not least, THE star, the "hero" of the film (though he's pretty destructive and I'd even say cruel for a hero): the one and only King of Monsters (is it a spoiler to say he gets called "King of Monsters" in the film, or is it way too obvious they HAVE to make the reference ?), Godzilla. And while the 1998 abomination looked more like a retarded CGI Varan (no atomic breath, skinny, hurt by simple bullets), the beast we have here is nothing BUT Godzilla: the guys who created him were obviously influenced by the Japanese versions, but I can't tell if it's more the Heisei Godzilla or the Millenium one we have here - towering (he's way bigger than the other 2 monsters who are described as pretty big already), the roar gives you chills and the final battle in San Francisco will give you a pleasant element you thought you wouldn't see after nearly 2 hours of waiting for it (no, it's not Godzilla dancing of joy like in Monster Zero, flying like in Godzilla vs Hedorah or doing the infamous kick from Godzilla vs Megalon) (speaking of which, there's a point where he kills a monster by using his breath in the monster's mouth - which Millenium movie was referred to in that part ? I think it's Godzilla 2000, but I'm not sure. Not a spoiler per se, but look closely when the main human character is in Japan with his father - you may see something interesting on the wall of some old abandonned house (little clue: famous flying monster from the Toho universe). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG Posted May 15, 2014 Member Share Posted May 15, 2014 Godzilla needs more Godzilla The big guy's too small a part of his own movie A A A Comments (2) By Stephanie Zacharek Wednesday, May 14 2014 <i>Godzilla</i> needs more Godzilla Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures In Ishiro Honda's 1954 extravaganza Godzilla, our hulking, scaly friend embodies the kind of existential rage most of us never dare to express. Bigger than life, sadder than the sea, he's a being created by man's mistakes: Nuclear radiation has made him what he is, an origin story with an all-too-vivid real-life parallel. And so he stumbles through the city on a mindless bender, thrashing at power lines and crushing tiny houses beneath his mighty clawed toes. Clumsy, unreasonable, and disconsolate, he is us on a very bad day. That first Godzilla, and that first Godzilla, spawned dozens of spin-offs, including an overblown 1998 Roland Emmerich epic; for a time he was ubiquitous and unstoppable. But if he was irritable in 1954 Tokyo, Gareth Edwards's new desecration of his legend should make him want to eat Hollywood for lunch. This latest Godzilla features lots of actors you might really want to see — people like Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, and Sally Hawkins, not to mention Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, and David Strathairn — fumbling around in a story that hits all the wrong beats. To boil the plot down to its essence — a radiation-eating sub-H.R. Giger-type creature arises from the depths of the Earth, and Godzilla may be its only match — makes it sound so much more cogent than it is. The action jumps from the Philippines circa 1999, where a scientist investigating some weird formations in a cave helpfully observes, "This one looks broken, like something came out of it," to Japan around the same time, where some very bizarre things are happening in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor, to the present day, where we might be in Hawaii, San Francisco, or anywhere in between at any given time. It's hard to keep track, or to care. If you're a Breaking Bad fan, and specifically a Bryan Cranston fan, you should know that he appears in the film for approximately 20 minutes, beating out Binoche by about 15. Their few brief scenes, particularly Cranston's, make for the best dramatic moments in the movie: Cranston plays one of those dogged, half-unhinged nuclear science dudes who knows something is wrong with the Earth, though no one will listen to him. It's your stock crooked-glasses role, but somehow Cranston makes you feel the sorrow and anxiety thrumming inside his chock-full-of-knowledge cranium. The fact that he's lost his wife in a nuclear accident — she's played with admirable breeziness, rather than nobility, by Binoche — makes his crackpot urgency easy to buy. GD Y-Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted May 15, 2014 Member Share Posted May 15, 2014 That review is terrible. It's ironic that she talks about actors only appearing for fifteen minutes when her points only last one sentence before moving onto the next. It's at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes right now and, from the reviews I've read, not seeing all of Godzilla until late in the film is a good thing. It adds tension and scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 15, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 15, 2014 That review is terrible. It's ironic that she talks about actors only appearing for fifteen minutes when her points only last one sentence before moving onto the next. It's at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes right now and, from the reviews I've read, not seeing all of Godzilla until late in the film is a good thing. It adds tension and scale. Agreed, that review is terrible (and you gotta laugh at the "hard to keep track" comment - yeah, like it's easy to tell who is a good bot and who is a bad bot in Transformers... But one doesn't need to have basic notions of geography to follow, cause it's all set somewhere in Africa or in America...). The whole point of the movie is missed too. Godzilla gets built up over the first 2 thirds of the movie, and when you (finally) see him, you freak out (that was my reaction when I saw the film, and it was in 2D... That film must be even better in 3D). The pattern followed here is not the pattern from your typical American film where the big stuff is shown all the way through - it's that of a classic Kaiju movie, with the big G appearing in the end to kick the other monsters' asses (even the first film had Godzilla being built up for most of the film and an appearance that comes rather late in the film). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 15, 2014 Member Share Posted May 15, 2014 Well I'll be watching it tonight. I will be back with my take on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 15, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 15, 2014 Well I'll be watching it tonight. I will be back with my take on it. Enjoy the show, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted May 16, 2014 Administrator Share Posted May 16, 2014 Really liked the first 15 minutes of GODZILLA... Then a power surge destroyed all the projectors in the theater! Damn you power surge! Got back to my car, opened it, and discovered a scary stowaway! Then realized that all the oil had leaked out of my car. On top of that, my back is killing me today (thank you for the permanent spinal injury drunk driver Jonathan Flint, you wretched piece of garbage!) and it all happened on the first really nasty humid day of the summer. Not fucking pleased... I was definitely "having a bad moment", but returned home to my loving wife and instantly felt better. About to watch Big G lay a beat-down on King Ghidorah (via the new Blu-ray my son got me as a gift ) in the safety (and air-condition) of my home. Did I mention... Damn you power surge! We will return to the theater in the morning for a second try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 16, 2014 Member Share Posted May 16, 2014 Enjoy the show, man. Really liked the first 15 minutes of GODZILLA... Then a power surge destroyed all the projectors in the theater! Damn you power surge! Got back to my car, opened it, and discovered a scary stowaway! Then realized that all the oil had leaked out of my car. On top of that, my back is killing me today (thank you for the permanent spinal injury drunk driver Jonathan Flint, you wretched piece of garbage!) and it all happened on the first really nasty humid day of the summer. Not fucking pleased... I was definitely "having a bad moment", but returned home to my loving wife and instantly felt better. About to watch Big G lay a beat-down on King Ghidorah (via the new Blu-ray my son got me as a gift ) in the safety (and air-condition) of my home. Did I mention... Damn you power surge! We will return to the theater in the morning for a second try. I'm sorry to hear that, hope you feel better kungfubob. Okay I just got done watching Godzilla and I must say, I quite enjoyed it, even more than Pacific Rim and I liked Pacific Rim. People will complain that it wasn't enough of Godzilla and it's his movie but the director Gareth Edwards is brilliant at pacing this film, and those 140 mins plus flew by pretty freaking fast. The human elements was okay I didn't have much of a problem with it and again, Gareth Edwards is a technician at building tension and suspense all leading up to the main star of the movie and that is Godzilla. Godzilla owns all you bitches, this is his hood, earth belongs to Godzilla! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Lionclaw Posted May 16, 2014 Member Share Posted May 16, 2014 Just saw this movie and while it was solid, I didn't think much of it. The character I cared most for exits early and I did not feel like the ending payoff was worth the build up. I've never been a huge Godzilla fan but I felt like the ending battles only had a few "money" or stand out scenes. While Pacific Rim had it's problems, I enjoyed it a lot more. A new power rangers or Ultraman movie would be more up my ally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 16, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 16, 2014 OKFC: glad you enjoyed it. On a sidenote, I think I really should give Pacific Rim a try, especially since I often bump into DVD copies of this one these days. Lionclaw: I get your point with the "early departed character". I found this guy was one of the most interesting humans in this film - the rest either didn't do anything or annoyed me. Really liked the first 15 minutes of GODZILLA... Then a power surge destroyed all the projectors in the theater! Damn you power surge! Got back to my car, opened it, and discovered a scary stowaway! Then realized that all the oil had leaked out of my car. On top of that, my back is killing me today (thank you for the permanent spinal injury drunk driver Jonathan Flint, you wretched piece of garbage!) and it all happened on the first really nasty humid day of the summer. Not fucking pleased... I was definitely "having a bad moment", but returned home to my loving wife and instantly felt better. About to watch Big G lay a beat-down on King Ghidorah (via the new Blu-ray my son got me as a gift ) in the safety (and air-condition) of my home. Did I mention... Damn you power surge! We will return to the theater in the morning for a second try. Damn, sorry to hear. Looks like it was one of those days where everything goes wrong... Hope you had a blast with the Blu - BTW, which movie was it ? It's not like old Ghidrah appears in half a dozen Godzilla movies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 16, 2014 Member Share Posted May 16, 2014 Just saw this movie and while it was solid, I didn't think much of it. The character I cared most for exits early and I did not feel like the ending payoff was worth the build up. I've never been a huge Godzilla fan but I felt like the ending battles only had a few "money" or stand out scenes. While Pacific Rim had it's problems, I enjoyed it a lot more. A new power rangers or Ultraman movie would be more up my ally. glad you enjoyed the film as well. One reason why I liked Godzilla more is the pacing was done better and................ The fight scenes were just so epic and Godzilla is such a badass, I mean baddest dude on planet earth. The robots in Pacific Rim were controlled by humans and the humans in that film were not that special to me. Godzilla as a character is just so much more to give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator thekfc Posted May 16, 2014 Moderator Share Posted May 16, 2014 ................ The fight scenes were just so epic and Godzilla is such a badass, I mean baddest dude on planet earth. The robots in Pacific Rim were controlled by humans and the humans in that film were not that special to me. Godzilla as a character is just so much more to give.I concur. I saw it a couple of days ago at a private screening here in NYC. I didn't saw anything as I didn't want to post any spoilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted May 16, 2014 Member Share Posted May 16, 2014 I watched this tonight, loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted May 16, 2014 Administrator Share Posted May 16, 2014 Damn, sorry to hear. Looks like it was one of those days where everything goes wrong... Hope you had a blast with the Blu - BTW, which movie was it ? It's not like old Ghidrah appears in half a dozen Godzilla movies Yeah, a rare stinker among days. It was GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991) Now, on to GODZILLA (2014)... Okay, I wanted to love it. But I just didn't. I liked it a lot, but I had a big problem with it. Not enough of Godzilla. I was impressed with the tease/build-up, but then I started getting pissed off every time they would show a few seconds of him, then cut away to something else. And it felt like they really skimped on showing him enough in the end. And this is going into the film after having already heard this criticism about it, and being ready for it. Perhaps if the film had been called SCRAMBLING HUMANS I would've said "Decent film with some incredible monster sequences." But it's called GODZILLA! So I damn well want to see Godzilla! And when we are finally getting some epic Big G action they cut away to show a guy hot-wiring a vehicle. Are you f*&%ing kidding? I almost shouted "No! We don't care about him. Go back to the fight!" The human element was soulless. I hardly felt anything for these characters, their pain, terror, or loss. Great actors, but basically wasted here. The monster stuff was simply fantastic though. No complaints about the quality, only the quantity. There were several times when people burst into applause and cheers, myself included. But these were brief moments. At that point we were starved for creature mayhem and may have cheered if we saw Cookie Monster eating a grape! I'd guess that if you edited together every shot of Godzilla in the film it would amount to about 8-10 minutes out of 123 minute running time. Am I wrong? And for me, that was simply not enough. 7/10 P.S. For another opinion- my son thought it was excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted May 17, 2014 Member Share Posted May 17, 2014 I see where your coming from Bob, I kind of went into the movie knowing Godzilla would have limited screen time so I wasn't too surprised or disappointed when thats exactly what happened. The one thing that I must admit I didn't really like was that the two other monsters looked a little too alien like for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 17, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 17, 2014 I get your issue, KFB. The people in this film are kind of annoying and not very engaging. Also, skipping from the action to show the pretty random things people do may be a bit disappointing. But personally, I don't care. I still loved the film and I enjoyed it way more than the 1991 film with King Ghidorah - TBH, it is one of my least favorite Godzilla films along with Son Of Godzilla (which at least has some camp value) and the 1998 abomination, though Mecha-King Ghidorah looks damn cool (saving grace). The one thing that I must admit I didn't really like was that the two other monsters looked a little too alien like for me. Yeah, it really bugged me. I immediately thought of Alien upon seeing their heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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