Godzilla & Kaiju Movies: the most fun a man can have in a rubber suit

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Godzilla & Kaiju Movies: the most fun a man can have in a rubber suit

«‹›3 »

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

He has to walk slowly, he can barely see out of those googly eyes.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2016 01:22

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Jul 13, 2025 17:55

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I just wanted to pop in to say how wonderfully apeshit crazy Final Wars is. I don't know if I'm watching a Kaiju film or a Matrix sequel half the time, and it's glorious.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2017 22:47

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I bought this mega-set from Amazon that had seven movies for twelve bucks. I think I�ve seen all of them at one point or another but one of them, which was GMK.

Man, I thought that movie was loving awesome and I cannot believe I�d never seen it!

I thought the effects were spectacular, I really dug the idea of Godzilla animated by the spirit of war dead, and seeing Ghidorah teaming up with the good guys was a trip.

I think I shall have to put it in my top five and I am frankly ashamed as a G Fan to have missed it for so long.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2018 07:30

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

e: doubleposted

MrMojok fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jan 30, 2018

# ¿ Jan 28, 2018 07:32

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

LesterGroans posted:

https://vimeo.com/146985673

Maaaan that film had one of the greatest advertising campaigns I have ever seen.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2018 18:42

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I am just stunned by this trailer. I feel like I�m six years old again. This can�t come soon enough!

# ¿ Dec 10, 2018 21:50

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Are there any decent Godzilla figures that don't cost $70-$100+ like all the SH MonsterArts stuff seems to?

# ¿ Dec 13, 2018 23:22

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Are these comics like, good? I�m not being snarky, I�ve never seen any of them.

# ¿ May 30, 2019 15:57

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

DC Murderverse posted:

14 also does scale much, much, much better (the defining feature of that movie, IMO) because it comes at it from a human perspective, whereas Godzilla was very much the Big Hero of KotM instead of a giant unknowable force of nature.

I haven�t seen the new one yet but man, you are 100% right on how G2014 got across the sheer idea of scale, with these giant monsters. I think 2014 really did this better than any of the films that came before it.

# ¿ May 31, 2019 16:49

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I thought this movie fell short in a lot of ways, but man I was practically on my feet cheering the last twenty minutes.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2019 06:25

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Someone in this thread posted a fascinating article about the 1998 Godzilla film, that described the creature designer and I believe Emmerich unveiling their proposed design for the creature in front ofToho execs. Followed by one minute of total silence.

I though I had bookmarked this but now I can�t find it. Does anyone know what I�m talking about?

e: found it

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2015/05/31/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-4-of-4/

MrMojok fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Jun 9, 2019

# ¿ Jun 9, 2019 21:08

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Can anyone recommend a good Godzilla podcast? I see there are a few out there, anyone have a favorite?

# ¿ Jun 12, 2019 03:11

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Sacrilege I�m sure, but I actually thought this was the first movie ever where Ghidorah looked good. The two-legged, two-tailed, no-armed, three-headed thing just never played very well for me with suit and wires.

I loved the way he walked on the ground using his wings, like Vermithrax in Dragonslayer.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2019 04:44

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzZiiHgOpBM

# ¿ Jun 15, 2019 20:42

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Wait, Godzilla is my Dad?

# ¿ Jun 17, 2019 04:46

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

McSpanky posted:

Giant Monsters All-Out Conference Call

# ¿ Mar 21, 2020 04:45

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Maxwell Lord posted:

It's even more complex than that. Universal went to court over the rights, and the courts sided with de Laurentiis. So they decided to instead argue that, since the novelization of King Kong hadn't had its copyright properly renewed, it was in the public domain and they could make a movie based on that. And they were right! It is! The key was they had to make sure not to use anything that was in the movie that wasn't in the novelization.

But the market would only really bear one version of the story, so it was down to who went into production first, and De Laurentiis started shooting in January '76. (Yeah they started shooting ten months before the movie came out, the movie was rushed as gently caress.) Universal did make a deal, they'd abandon their production in exchange for first refusal on any sequel (hence they distributed King Kong Lives) and some other considerations, and they spent the following years buying up associated trademarks related to the movie. Hence the ride.

(The delay on a sequel was down to it not doing incredible, but also because shortly after this Universal and De Laurentiis were at odds over Orca.)

This actually got them in trouble when they tried to sue Nintendo over Donkey Kong, because they'd already argued King Kong was public domain. Judge was not happy with them about this.

The main thing from childhood I remember about the Dino Kong was all the stories in the press about how they'd actually built a giant mechanical ape that was going to be in most of the shots, and I believed it.

Despite the thing only appearing on-screen for about five seconds, I still loved the film.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2020 04:49

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

You may not like the film and you may not agree with his ideas, but you absolutely cannot deny that he's a true G-fan, with a ton of love for the franchise.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2020 03:45

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

If they actually have a scene where the two face off on an aircraft carrier and it's not sinking and bobbing like a surfboard I will go MENTAL

e: it should actually be breaking up under their feet

# ¿ Jul 21, 2020 10:59

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Godzilla vs. Biollante was a movie I had looked for and could never find. I've never seen it and have heard good things about it. I think there were a few copies available on Amazon but they were ridiculously expensive.

Then, if I am remembering this correctly, someone in this thread spotted it on Amazon for only like $12, blu-ray. I jumped on it and ordered. That way back in May.

I periodically get a message saying "this is not available for shipping yet, do you still want it?" and click yes, and keep waiting. I don't know if it will ever come in, but my fingers are crossed.

MrMojok fucked around with this message at 01:34 on Aug 6, 2020

# ¿ Aug 6, 2020 01:26

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Timby posted:

I really should have done that way back when. I still can't recall the last time I saw the original Japanese version of The Return of Godzilla.

I have this one. It's got a nice price.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2020 05:20

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Was Q: The Winged Serpent a kaiju?

# ¿ Mar 16, 2021 09:23

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

If Legendary Pictures had any balls at all, every Kaiju would have gigantic loving tumors growing on it, or be suffering from stomach or bowel cancer, or both, from feasting on so much radiation and furthermore

# ¿ Mar 31, 2021 10:43

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

On the Emmerich Godzilla, I can�t remember if this has been posted ITT before, but it�s a funny story. The article I had bookmarked appears to be gone or has moved, but luckily I pasted some text from it into a Godzilla discord a couple years back:

quote:

��With the studio�s blessing, Emmerich and Devlin began developing their take on what an American Godzilla should be. Once that was decided on, the duo would make their pitch to Toho. �We had been warned by Jan De Bont that if you want to make the slightest change to Godzilla, you meet enormous resistance [from Toho],� Devlin said. �That�s been part of the problem with getting any of these films done. And Roland and I didn�t want to do slight changes, we wanted a complete overhaul.�19 But the producer was confident they would win Toho over, stating, �So whatever direction we go we�re going to have to get approval from them. But we are very optimistic they�re going to like the direction we�re going.�20

Emmerich believed that the design for the Toho Godzilla �didn�t make sense�.
�The Japanese want to have it looking exactly like Godzilla because they own the trademark,� Roland Emmerich explained.21 But the director wasn�t interested in that, saying, �The original, how Godzilla looked, didn�t make sense to me.��

Now this part is about Emmerich and his art designer going to Tokyo for a meeting with Toho execs, to show them their new concept of Godzilla:

quote:

With Emmerich�s introduction out of the way, Tatopoulos unveiled his Godzilla artwork and maquette. It was met with a gasp from the Toho execs, followed by stone silence. �After designing my last Godzilla, the one that wound up in the movie, I felt very secure and I believed we had something great. But the day I sat in front of the Japanese I thought, �what have I done? Am I crazy? They�re not going to go for it�,� Tatopoulos worried.

�They were speechless,� Emmerich recalled. �They stared at it, and there was silence for a couple minutes, and then they said, �Could you come back tomorrow?� I thought for sure we didn�t have the movie then.�

�It was so different we realized we couldn�t make small adjustments,� Shogo Tomiyama disclosed. �That left the major question of whether to approve it or not.� That night, Tomiyama visited Godzilla co-creator Tomoyuki Tanaka, whose failing health had prevented him from attending the meeting, to bring him up to speed. Tomiyama wasn�t allowed to remove any design art or photos from the studio premises, and found himself at a loss when describing the Tatopoulos Godzilla to Tanaka. �I told him, �It�s similar to Carl Lewis, with long legs, and it runs fast�

AHH, I found the article. This links goes to part 4 but the whole thing is worth a read for G-Fans:

https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzilla-unmade-the-history-of-jan-de-bonts-unproduced-tristar-film-part-4-of-4

e: I feel like I ask this about once a year, but is there any news about Toho rereleasing Vs Biollante? I just did my every-few-month check on Amazon, and if you want it on BluRay there are still just three vendors to purchase from and the lowest is $189 plus shipping.

If you settle for DVD it�s $50

MrMojok fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Sep 15, 2021

# ¿ Sep 15, 2021 01:00

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I�ve been a big G-fan since grade school, and I love giant monster movies in general.

So this isn�t really the thread for this, and it�s more than a little embarrassing, but I had never seen Cloverfield, until tonight.

I�d heard a lot about it, but for reasons I can�t explain, I just never watched it.

Man, I was really impressed. I got pretty burned out on the found footage thing way back, but it really worked in this.

Can�t believe they did this with a $25 million budget.

What were everyone�s thoughts on this film? And also, I understand the sequels are pretty much unrelated to this, and not very good?

# ¿ Sep 22, 2021 06:42

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I know this has already been touched on several times ITT but it�s always a good time to say that the sheer scale of these creatures has never been shown better than it was in the 2014 Godzilla.

Never.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2021 04:11

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Nodoze posted:

As far as books go, I'd recommend the Critical History and Filmography of Godzilla

Can confirm, this one is great.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2022 21:18

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

Looking at a chunk of the final battle and i remember why i love this movie so much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDFk_c3_bI

The scale. The sense of scale is so good. Every shot of the monsters is either framed directly from a soldier/human point of view or when it�s only the monsters being shown the shot doesn�t move from the human POV shots that it tends to sandwich them. Look at the atomic breath sequence:

- Closeup on Brody�s face which lights to
- closeup on MUTO with Brody still visible to see the change in scale. The camera movement is slow and deliberate at this point as it pans out and reveals Godzilla. Godzilla attacks and immediately we go to
- soldier POV from a rooftop
- soldier POV from the ground
- Inside a building looking out
- Muto crashing down and we�re back to Brody/human level

Even the immediate show after which is the flying Muto attacking Godzilla frames itself by showing just enough of a building roof as if the camera was setup there. This level of groundless in the shots keeps you from freely showing the entirety of the monster at all times because they�re massive loving monsters that go beyond our scope but it�s why I was ALL IN. The movie, start to finish, respected the size of Godzilla and the MUTOS.

In the sequels, the camera essentially adopted the Kaiju POV and never came back down.

All of this. I can say it over and over, G2014 did scale as well or better than every other film in the history of the franchise. And really there are only maybe a couple of others that for me did it even close to as well as 2014.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2022 02:46

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

This YouTube channel might be of interest to G-Fans ITT

It is not my channel. I just came across it this morning, when a three-hour video where he reviews every film in the franchise popped up in my recommendations and I enjoyed it. I've watched some of his other videos, and it's a cool channel.

He does videos on other Kaiju films as well.

https://www.youtube.com/c/UpFromTheDepths88/videos

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 01:25

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

Sorry for the double post, but just watch this short review of KOTM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr0GBJ7VJsI

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 04:46

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

This is pretty neat:

https://twitter.com/psychotronica_/status/1515513633937272836?s=21&t=7PDgPvkTNmQozfo5y1_FFQ

# ¿ Apr 17, 2022 06:48

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

https://twitter.com/kylecorbett29/status/1523108794771083264?s=21&t=n_omSEhNFFRFI-8eH-4Xqw

# ¿ May 8, 2022 21:47

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

I will not loving put up with this slander

https://twitter.com/lurie_john/status/1525234935702880259?s=20&t=VnAAelNXiIh95RN68fKHJg

# ¿ May 14, 2022 05:59

MrMojok: Jan 28, 2011

The Godzilla Rules

�Terminology such as radioactive, nuclear, or atomic are not to be used with relation to Godzilla�

https://twitter.com/driscoll23jack/status/1536745406285107201?s=21&t=13HfkSQwpE16KrVFdoGtKg

# ¿ Jun 15, 2022 18:14