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WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

Maxwell Lord posted:

The first and third are okay, the second is hideous. There's this weird orange and green color scheme (though the Toho Kingdom review says it's partly a problem with the BR transfer, I don't recall it looking any better on video), most of the running time is given over to really cheap and uninteresting Indiana Jones stuff, there's an orange fluffy furby thing whose urine has magic healing powers, it's very unpleasant.

That makes sense. I've definitely heard the third one kicks rear end, more specifically than the first two.

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Dylazodelan
Nov 9, 2009
From what little I've seen, which is some of the monster fights on Youtube, they seem to have many of the same issues as the 90s Godzilla films, e.g. lots of beam fights that go on for forever until one of the monsters falls onto a building or whatever.

Beeez
May 28, 2012
That's absolutely right, but also Mothra has more powers than Superman.

Fossilized Rappy
Dec 26, 2012
If nothing else, the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy gave us the Cretaceous King Ghidorah design, which I'm rather fond of.

Schwarzwald
Jul 27, 2004

Don't Blink
I read that as Crustaceous King Ghidorah and imagined some kind of three headed alien Baltan.

K. Waste
Feb 27, 2014

MORAL:
To the vector belong the spoils.
it's kind of sad that the rebirth of mothra movies call to mind a lot quicker than, you know, Mothra. i managed to snatch that up on DVD on an 'icons of sci-fi' set that included Battle in Outer Space and The H-Man, the latter of which is actually basically just a noir film with tokusatsu elements.

but Mothra is loving dope. it's really a fairly revolutionary film with regards to the godzilla films. for one, it kickstarts the trend of the monster living to the end of the movie. in movies before that point, monsters either got the shitstick at the end of man's 'superior intellect,' or, like, the wolf man finally really cured himself or some dumb poo poo. with mothra is was like, "okay, now the island jungle god really is an island jungle god, the paradigm of anthropocentrism is over, and after wrecking poo poo it just flies away righteously never having to answer to any of it. this immediately gets carried over into King Kong vs. Godzilla, followed of course by the one-two punches of Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, The Three-Head Monster in 1964.

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012
Mothra just flying through wrecking everything is so good, I don't know if it's still the case but it & a bunch of related stuff used to be on Crackle (the streaming service every1 ignores) for free.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Hey, if you have some Crackle recommendations, feel free but it sucks rear end!

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

Hey, if you have some Crackle recommendations, feel free but it sucks rear end!

No it's definitely 95% garbage, but the ads used to error out and auto skip on the Xbox 360 app so that was sick.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

Maxwell Lord posted:

The first and third are okay, the second is hideous. There's this weird orange and green color scheme (though the Toho Kingdom review says it's partly a problem with the BR transfer, I don't recall it looking any better on video), most of the running time is given over to really cheap and uninteresting Indiana Jones stuff, there's an orange fluffy furby thing whose urine has magic healing powers, it's very unpleasant.

I completely agree with this review 100%

WeedlordGoku69
Feb 12, 2015

by Cyrano4747

K. Waste posted:

it's kind of sad that the rebirth of mothra movies call to mind a lot quicker than, you know, Mothra.

Mothra is dope as hell, but it's kinda one of the ur-kaiju movies and I'd be shocked if anyone in this thread hadn't seen it, whereas the Rebirth movies are a good bit more obscure (and, thus, fun to talk about). Also, that set with Battle in Outer Space and The H-Man owns.

GhostofJohnMuir
Aug 14, 2014

anime is not good
All this Godzilla history talk has me curious, I've only seen the 1954 movie, Final Wars and 2014. Can somebody give me a short list that I should definitely check out?

Bob Quixote
Jul 7, 2006

This post has been inspected and certified by the Dino-Sorcerer



Grimey Drawer

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

All this Godzilla history talk has me curious, I've only seen the 1954 movie, Final Wars and 2014. Can somebody give me a short list that I should definitely check out?

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

Godzilla vs. Gigan

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla

Godzillas Revenge

That ought to get you up to speed.

Kilo147
Apr 14, 2007

You remind me of the boss
What boss?
The boss with the power
What power?
The power of voodoo
Who-doo?
You do.
Do what?
Remind me of the Boss.

Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster

Detective No. 27
Jun 7, 2006

Everyone's lists are gonna be different, but you can't go wrong with

Godzilla vs Biolante

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II

Godzilla vs Megagurius

Godzilla vs Destroyah

Mecha Gojira
Jun 23, 2006

Jack Nissan
Godzilla vs. Mothra, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs. Monster X make up a cool little trilogy, and I'd highly recommend it.

Check out Mothra and Rodan's solo movies too. The original 1960's Mothra might be my all time favorite Kaiju film. The model work is amazing.

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Anything directed by Ishiro Honda + Smog Monster.

Uncle Boogeyman
Jul 22, 2007

Godzilla vs Mothra is probably the greatest monster movie ever made

K. Waste
Feb 27, 2014

MORAL:
To the vector belong the spoils.
i can't believe i have to be stoop this low: Mothra vs. Godzilla is the '64 film, Godzilla vs. Mothra is the '90s one with Battra. The former is superior and, as Boogeystein says, probably (one of) the best giant monster movie(s) ever made.

Vintersorg
Mar 3, 2004

President of
the Brendan Fraser
Fan Club



Start with the 90's stuff - which I think begins with Biollante. Then go from there up until Destroyah. It's normally called the Heisei era.

Shift back to the 70's for some more goofy stuff but cool monster on monster action. Pick from anything - it's all good.

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

Honestly I disagree. Showa era is much more fun and probably closer to what you expect/want out of a Godzilla film. Hesei movies feel like bad anime if you watch them as an adult.

Uncle Boogeyman
Jul 22, 2007

K. Waste posted:

i can't believe i have to be stoop this low: Mothra vs. Godzilla is the '64 film, Godzilla vs. Mothra is the '90s one with Battra. The former is superior and, as Boogeystein says, probably (one of) the best giant monster movie(s) ever made.

but, like Italian horror movie titles, kaiju movie titles have a lot of variants floating around. This is the VHS tape i and i'm sure a lot of others of my generation had:



(yes i still have it)

my way of differentiating them is that the '90s one is Godzilla vs. Mothra: The Battle For Earth.

it kinda falls right in the middle of the Heisei movies, quality-wise. Battra is very cool.

SuperMechagodzilla
Jun 9, 2007

NEWT REBORN

GhostofJohnMuir posted:

All this Godzilla history talk has me curious, I've only seen the 1954 movie, Final Wars and 2014. Can somebody give me a short list that I should definitely check out?
Keeping things 'in continuity' is a good way of narrowing things down. For example:

Mothra -> GxMG -> Tokyo S.O.S.

Godzilla x Mechagodzilla is the film Del Toro ripped off for Pacific Rim, so here's a version of that that doesn't suck. After 1954, these three films are not only among the best, but tell a perfectly self-contained story of Godzilla's rise and fall.

Mecha Gojira posted:

Godzilla vs. Mothra, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs. Monster X make up a cool little trilogy, and I'd highly recommend it.

Check out Mothra and Rodan's solo movies too. The original 1960's Mothra might be my all time favorite Kaiju film. The model work is amazing.

This is truth also. The five here form a sprawling, Avengers-like narrative centered around Godzilla's evolution into a hero. Unlike The Avengers, though, the entire thing is actually great because each entry was directed by Ishiro Honda himself.

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm

Mantis42 posted:

Honestly I disagree. Showa era is much more fun and probably closer to what you expect/want out of a Godzilla film. Hesei movies feel like bad anime if you watch them as an adult.
To me a big difference seems to be that the Showa movies were not self-conscious about Godzilla being a dude in a suit. He's quite agile and is able to hand-fight and punch his opponents. In the later ones they tried making him more inhuman with those massive legs and really limited the mobility overall. I saw Godzilla vs Destroyah recently I don't remember him having much successful offense other than his atomic breath. In Gigan, on the other hand, he's punching the poo poo out of that weirdo and judo-throwing King Ghidorah all over the place. It's basically pro-wrestling in elaborate costumes.

I can't imagine the one from Shin Godzilla doing much of anything with those comical arms of his, but maybe the addition of CG will allow greater freedom of motion overall to make up for it.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

Keeping things 'in continuity' is a good way of narrowing things down. For example:

Mothra -> GxMG -> Tokyo S.O.S.

Godzilla x Mechagodzilla is the film Del Toro ripped off for Pacific Rim, so here's a version of that that doesn't suck. After 1954, these three films are not only among the best, but tell a perfectly self-contained story of Godzilla's rise and fall.


This is truth also. The five here form a sprawling, Avengers-like narrative centered around Godzilla's evolution into a hero. Unlike The Avengers, though, the entire thing is actually great because each entry was directed by Ishiro Honda himself.

Using the Millennium costume for the MG films makes me think they were trying to tie it into the earlier two films' continuity (whatever there is of it).

Also, regarding the Mothra through Astro Monsters continuity, I always felt like Destroy All Monsters was a capper to that. It's placed right in between films in the "island" trilogy which are arguably the low-point of the Showa series yet has all the feel of the Ghidorah saga (including 3G himself).

You could argue also that the first three films share continuity at least in that Raids Again is a direct sequel, obviously, but at the end of it, they trap Godzilla in a glacier, and sure enough that's where he pops out of in King Kong Vs. I'd like in my head to think that vs. M follows directly too, but they clearly gave zero fucks about explaining Godzilla's return, and we're all the better for it, as it's probably one of his best entrances.

Beeez
May 28, 2012
Why would you need to explain Godzilla's return? He falls into the water fighting King Kong and he washes ashore with Mothra's egg during a storm.

The Worst Bear
Jul 25, 2012

Do I look like a reasonable man to you, or a peppermint nightmare?
^Exactly. Was there anyone anywhere that really thought Godzilla died at the end of GvsKK? My kid mind just always took it as pretty obvious that that's what happened since it went Godzilla in ocean -> Godzilla on beach after a storm.

Beeez
May 28, 2012
Yeah, I definitely never thought Godzilla was supposed to be dead in King Kong vs Godzilla.

SuperMechagodzilla
Jun 9, 2007

NEWT REBORN

Choco1980 posted:

You could argue also that the first three films share continuity at least in that Raids Again is a direct sequel, obviously, but at the end of it, they trap Godzilla in a glacier, and sure enough that's where he pops out of in King Kong Vs. I'd like in my head to think that vs. M follows directly too, but they clearly gave zero fucks about explaining Godzilla's return, and we're all the better for it, as it's probably one of his best entrances.

There's certainly plot continuity bridging the films, but Raids Again and King Kong Vs. Godzilla are extremely skippable.

K. Waste
Feb 27, 2014

MORAL:
To the vector belong the spoils.

SuperMechagodzilla posted:

There's certainly plot continuity bridging the films, but Raids Again and King Kong Vs. Godzilla are extremely skippable.

King Kong vs. Godzilla, i still love it to death, but it's exactly what you get when everyone except the director gets on board with this idea that giant monsters are no longer 'scary,' but funny pro-wrestler types. honda eventually made the transition pretty smoothly in due time, but the battle scenes are so slowly paced, you see the learning curve of a guy who's really trying this pioneering kind of spectacle for the first time.

even the american version is superior just because it's faster paced, has a more lively score, and has the benefit of racist americans doing a meta-commentary on a spectacle of destruction that they themselves are responsible for.

DLC Inc
Jun 1, 2011

King Kong isn't even that big, it's non-canon

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



Beeez posted:

Yeah, I definitely never thought Godzilla was supposed to be dead in King Kong vs Godzilla.


MinibarMatchman posted:

King Kong isn't even that big, it's non-canon

But electricity makes Kong stronger!

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Raids Again is really, really, really bad.

Mantis42
Jul 26, 2010

I kind of like the big sequence in Raids where Godzilla destroys Osaka. Its pretty much a lesser version of the similar scene in the first movie, but its still pretty neat.

DLC Inc
Jun 1, 2011

Davros1 posted:

But electricity makes Kong stronger!

Don't forget getting wasted as gently caress on berry juice. I feel like we learned so much about Kong in that movie

Detective Dog Dick
Oct 21, 2008

Detective Dog Dick

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

Raids Again is really, really, really bad.

The scenes they accidentally speed-ramped are pretty cool, but yeah.

sethsez
Jul 14, 2006

He's soooo dreamy...

Mantis42 posted:

Honestly I disagree. Showa era is much more fun and probably closer to what you expect/want out of a Godzilla film. Hesei movies feel like bad anime if you watch them as an adult.

If you're going to watch the Heisei era you might as well just watch the 90s Gamera trilogy instead to see that sort of thing done right. It's amazing what a bit of ambitious direction can do to really sell the enormity of the monsters; even though the Gamera trilogy had tiny budgets compared to the Heisei Godzilla movies, they look far better.

As for Godzilla, I'm a Showa guy through and through, with Monster Zero and the first Mechagodzilla movie being my two favorites. Hedorah is also an insane masterpiece.

Beeez
May 28, 2012
The Gamera trilogy is the main reason I'm excited for this new Godzilla even more than the base level of excitement I would normally have for any Godzilla movie.

Maxwell Lord
Dec 12, 2008

I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.


:smith:

Grimey Drawer
The Gamera movies are better than the Heisei Godzillas, but there are some very good films in that series too and the average quality is pretty solid. Godzilla and Mothra is the weakest (others say Space Godzilla but that has a certain look and atmosphere that I like) but even that's pretty good.

One advantage the Gamera trilogy had- apart from Kaneko just having a great visual sense in general- was that the monsters were all about half as large as the ones in the Heisei Godzilla series (a 50m scale vs 100m.) This meant the miniature buildings and such could be larger and more detailed, and it made it easier to have scenes where the humans interact with them. Kaneko is fond of ground-level views of the monster stuff, which also is a big part of what makes GMK effective.

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Beeez
May 28, 2012
Shinji Higuchi is the one who does the monster scenes in the Gamera movies, but otherwise you're right about the strengths of those scenes compared to the 90s Godzilla movies.

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