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I'm going to give this a shot, but with Godzilla films. Currently my list is the 29 films made in Japan. I've seen about half of them but did so in a haze where I was consuming 3-4 films a night and don't remember a ton about each one. It would be nice to write down my thoughts while they're fresh. List: https://boxd.it/22YmY I'm going to skip the American films, and add The X From Outer Space and Daimajin to get it to 31 films. I'm also open to recommendations. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Sep 14, 2018 |
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Sep 14, 2018 21:44
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Choco1980 posted:The Gamera movies are worth a watch. The 60s/70s "Showa" run are insane in all sorts of ways. The Heisei trilogy from the 90s is some of the best kaiju cinema of all time (made by the same guy who made GMK later). I can't speak for the 00s Gamera movie as I've not seen it. Sweet, thanks for the recommendations! I'm excited to look into these. I definitely agree that the 90s Gamera trilogy is some of the best kaiju content out there. I haven't watched any of the earlier ones so if I get through my current list they're probably good ones to add. Do you have any thoughts on the Rodan and Mothra (60s or 90s) stand-alone films?
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Sep 15, 2018 01:28
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Well, I no longer have to feel great shame about not having seen this one. 1. Godzilla (1954) What a wonderful movie. I found it technically impressive, with wonderful special effects (that honestly age pretty well due to being b/w and night scenes), chilling sound effects, good camera work and a brilliant soundtrack. This was one of the more scary Godzilla films with some scenes that must have been extremely shocking for post-war Japan. I went in thinking that it would have a straight up nuclear technology is bad message, which is present, but I left with a more complex, ambiguous take on the benefits and dangers of powerful science. Godzilla is an important film that laid the blueprint for nearly every monster movie to follow. e: thought seeing all the posters was neat, added one CRAYON fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 06:40
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 2. Godzilla Raids Again (1955) This was kind of a mess. It felt rushed and not nearly as well constructed as the first film. The battles were a rather small portion of the overall runtime, and that isn't a bad thing when the human element is executed well. This was unfortunately not the case as we were presented with a weirdly paced tale with which I had a hard time connecting. The most interesting part was getting to see the first attempt at Godzilla fighting another monster, Anguirus. The fight scenes had little impact or punch, other than when Godzilla bites the neck of Anguirus and he lets out a series of shrieks which made me feel sad for the spiky monster. This fight caused city wide destruction, but the main characters just party in a bar afterwards and joke about one of their impending marriages. Disappointing movie that I probably would have liked more if I hadn't watched it directly after the original. Anguirus is sweet though.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:17
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 3. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) Quick aside, I'm watching this before Kong Kong vs. Godzilla as I don't have access to that film at this time. After having just finished Godzilla Raids Again this instantly feels like a giant step up. Most of the runtime is spent with a fun story about 2 reporters and a scientist trying to protect a giant egg from a couple villainous businessmen. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed watching the trio plus their colleagues work through this problem. They have really great chemistry that makes for some really fun scenes. One of the side characters, a reporter that is always eating eggs in some form really cracked me up. The story gets more serious once we learn from two tiny singing ladies that the egg belongs to Mothra, a giant moth who has been helping an island on the brink of death due to nuclear testing in the area. Not giving a poo poo about any of this, Godzilla emerges from underground and starts wreaking havoc. The trio, despite having previously failed all attempts at returning the egg, must ask the island and their protector Mothra for help. The culminating battle is really fun and the special effects were very well done for the time. I really enjoyed this one, it got me excited for more after the Raids Again speed bump. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Sep 16, 2018 |
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Sep 16, 2018 07:28
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 4. Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) This movie is a ton of fun. Japan is experiencing some craziness in the forms of extreme heat in winter, encephalitis outbreaks, and meteor showers. A princess is possessed by an alien entity from Venus, turning her into a prophet barking about the Earth's impending destruction. The princess has no memory of her royal past and is being hunted by criminals that want to take her throne. Our heroes, reporter Shindo and detective Shindo must work together to protect the princess. Meanwhile, one of the meteors mentioned earlier causes volcanic gases to awaken Rodan. Rodan drops Godzilla crotch first onto an electricity tower, which doesn't make him too happy. While Rodan and Godzilla are bickering the other meteor awakens into King Ghidorah, the alien monster responsible for destroying the alien civilization on Venus. Mothra joins the fray to convince Zilla and Dan to help her destroy Ghidorah in order to protect the Earth. I really enjoyed both the human stories and the monster battle royale. Both subplots work well to keep the story moving forward, and it never felt stale. This seems to be a jumping off point for the series, introducing telepathic aliens, 4 monsters on screen, and Godzilla being a heroic figure. My favorite parts of these movies has always been insanity so this one was right up my alley. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Sep 16, 2018 |
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Sep 16, 2018 17:33
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Hollismason posted:6) Rampage 2018  5. Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) Dubbed version. This is a Godzilla flick that is just dripping with retro future design. I really loved all of the technology, vehicle and set designs. It just fit in so well with the giant monsters and jumpsuit wearing aliens running around. The suit work doesn't usually jump out at me but I really liked the way Godzilla was portrayed in this film. It definitely feels like a progression from Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster. Godzilla has a very whimsical feel (he even does a dance after fighting Ghidorah) that I really enjoyed. The plot is pretty out there and I can understand why it might not connect with a lot of people. It features aliens from Planet X negotiating a trade of Godzilla and Rodan for a miracle drug that will cure all human illness. Sounds like a great trade right? When the humans leave Godzilla behind on Planet X and you see the pain in his face you might have second thoughts. Maybe it was the overall design of everything but I was onboard from the jump, it pulled me right in and never let go. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Sep 17, 2018 |
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Sep 17, 2018 00:17
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 6. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Just got the blu-ray so I can do this one now. Unfortunately I only had access to the heavily cut up American version of this film. There seemed to be a decent movie in there somewhere but I feel like it was butchered by American editors. One of the things I've grown to enjoy is how Ishirō Honda can weave good human stories into kaiju action in a way that flows, and rarely becomes dull. The added scenes with the UN Newsroom absolutely obliterate the pace of this movie and I found myself constantly checking when it was going to be over. They would also narrate over dialogue scenes and just tell the audience the conclusion of the scene, because I guess we wouldn't have possibly been able to figure it out. The actors in the dub pronounce Hokkaido wrong constantly! Why did no one correct them!? Uhhg, I'm very disappointed. I had heard the edit butchered the film, but I thought maybe people were just overreacting. I would definitely avoid this edit. Hopefully at some point I can checkout the uncut version and experience the self-aware, goofy, fun movie people talk about. I do have to mention, this film has large amounts of blackface, and it's horrible. I'm not going to spend too much time on it, but it sucks. Films can be a window into the past and this movie offers a glimpse into an awful part of filmmaking.
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Sep 17, 2018 15:33
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 7. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [REWATCH] As much as I enjoy Ishirô Honda's work on Godzilla films I have to say that it is really nice seeing a fresh set of eyes on the Showa era films. Jun Fukuda injects a very energetic and colorful set of sensibilities into Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. The way the camera moves around the fight scenes puts you right in the action. Specifically the over the shoulder shots were just awesome. When I say that the film is colorful, I mean it literally as in there are a lot of very colorful sets that just pop off the screen. I also mean that the film has a sort of youthful flair with surf rock songs finding their way on the soundtrack, and a set of young protagonists that have found their way in a dire situation. The plot reminds me of a GI Joe story and features way more human action and espionage scenes than big monsters fighting. I think this was my original issue with this film, but now that I have gotten older I quite like the goofy Red Bamboo terrorist plot. Apparently this film was originally supposed to be a King Kong film and I can see that. It's heavy on action/adventure and all takes place on an island, so don't expect a ton of Zilla rampaging through miniature buildings. The change from Kong also means that we missed out on him and Mothra in the same film. Ebirah isn't the most engaging opponent, and its design is literally just a big lobster, but I think that the final battle is lots of fun. Overall good movie that I think gets too much flack. It's cool if you don't want to count it but I hit preview reply and this fits Fran Challenge #1 so I'll elaborate a bit. When I was younger I thought Ebirah was dull because all I was looking for was Godzilla stomping through cities and fighting cool monsters, both of which don't happen much in this film. Now that I've gotten the monster stomping lust out of my system and I can look at Godzilla films separated from that I'm actually pretty fond of Ebirah.
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Sep 18, 2018 19:00
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 8. Son of Godzilla (1967) Jun Fukuda's followup to Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is an even goofier, more child friendly take on the Godzilla franchise. The plot revolves around a group of scientists that are trying to alter weather on the remote island Sollgel. It was hard for me to connect with the scientists because I thought their goal was pretty stupid. I was correct, as it eventually caused a massive heatwave that made the already giant insects on the island to grow to epic proportions. Fortunately, the group of scientists were joined by a reporter, Maki and an island local, Saeko who I quite enjoyed. They had great chemistry that made their scenes fun and interesting to watch. Part of me wishes they would have been the only human characters. After the praying mantis on the island grow to building size they uncover a giant egg at the center of the island that turns out to contain one of the weirdest looking kaiju I have ever seen, a baby Godzilla. While in distress from being attacked by giant insects it calls out to Godzilla and he joins the fray. This leads to some pretty insane scenes of 'Zilla being a mentor to the baby. As well as some awesome scenes of him fighting giant praying mantis, and another local of the island, a giant spider named Kumonga that awakens toward the later part of the film. The puppetry on the insects is really good, and was definitely my favorite part of the film. It makes me wish more movies today still had the guts to construct puppets. Otherwise, I just had a hard time connecting to the scientist's story and the father son bonding scenes, probably because how insanely goofy the son of Godzilla looks. This is a definitely a light-hearted comedy at it's core, and the movie knows that. I think it would be neat to show the film to my child, whenever that day comes. Hopefully the baby zilla doesn't scare them to death. 
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Sep 19, 2018 17:02
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 9. Destroy All Monsters (1968) There were a lot of things about this film that I really enjoyed, but overall I came away kind of disappointed. I thought that the design of the space vehicles, weapons, and bases were all really cool. Specifically, the Moonlight SY-3 was a badass spaceship. The sheer amount of monsters that you get to see is great, and I even learned about some that I had never seen before. I believe my problems with the film stem from the expectations that it lays in the opening. It kind of lulls you into feeling like a kid a again by showing you a bunch of monsters, you can't help but think that the movie is going to be full of battles and monsters stomping through cities. While there are some parts like that, overall the movie is about a space team thwarting invading aliens. Usually I am totally on board for the weird sci-fi shenanigans in Godzilla films but I felt like this one was weirdly paced, and tonally had no clue where it wanted to be. There were some pretty shocking scenes involving gunshots to the head and suicide that felt a little out of place. Now that I think of it the entire movie was kind of a tonal mess. The culminating battle was extremely brutal but also mixed in shots of the baby Godzilla dancing. It's weird, as I am typing this review out all of the stuff I've described sounds like stuff I would enjoy. I definitely did not hate the film, but maybe Destroy All Monsters would benefit from a more informed rewatch in the future.
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Sep 20, 2018 18:09
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 10. All Monsters Attack (1969) This movie is full of recycled footage and completely skippable, but I will say I believe that you should watch it for a couple of reasons. One, the main character Ichiro is awesome, he has a wonderful imagination and learns to stand up for himself by imagining hanging out on Monster Island. Two, you get to see Gabara punch Minilla in the face. Seriously though, it's a bummer this used so much recycled footage because I genuinely think this could have been a good movie. The idea was solid and the main actor that played Ichiro was really charming.
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Sep 21, 2018 21:38
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 11. Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) [rewatch] This might be my favorite Godzilla film. It's a psychedelic public service announcement about how we are killing the planet. Hedorah is the monster we made, it's feeding on our garbage and pollution to become powerful enough to kill us with it's own waste. Godzilla is the hero, the one that can clean up, with our help of course. The group effort is lead by the Yano family. Through the collaboration of the imaginative young boy Ken and the scientist father Dr. Toru they figure out how Hedorah ticks and how it can be defeated. This all sounds pretty straight forward for a Godzilla film, but everything about how it's constructed is weird and experimental. It uses a ton of different techniques to blast you with it's message that Hedorah is disgusting and we're feeding it. The movie never lets you get comfortable by always throwing something new at you, either to make you think or to just make you squeamish. That is the main success of the film, keeping us on our toes, making the viewer uncomfortable. Scenes of sludge melting flesh, cats covered in muck, Godzilla being scarred and bloodied all reinforce that what we're doing to the environment is not okay. Another thing I love about Godzilla vs. Hedorah is way the they portray Godzilla. He's introduced as a folk hero with "Godzilla's Fight" blasting while his silhouette marches to face the pollution. Godzilla also seems a lot smarter than usual, by taking time to think about how to solve problems and not just smashing through every situation. It's interesting to me that a lot of Godzilla fans seem to not think too highly of Godzilla vs. Hedorah. I think it's because of it's tone and unrelenting thematic assault on the viewer. Definitely check this out if you like weird, unapologetic films. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Sep 22, 2018 |
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Sep 22, 2018 07:07
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 12. Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Aliens from a far away Earth-like planet come to our planet with the goal of finding a nice place to live, but first they must establish absolute peace. It was an interesting idea, that the last surviving lifeforms from an Earth-like planet wouldn't actually be humans. Unfortunately the interesting concept isn't enough to elevate the human elements of the plot to an above average level. All the other characters, besides Tomoko (she has a black belt in karate) are just a bit too dull. Fortunately once it gets there, the kaiju action is done pretty well and features Godzilla and Anguirus teaming up to battle the cyborg reptile Gigan and the ultra-destructive King Ghidorah. The bloody (quite a bit of it actually) battle fills up the later part of the movie and is full of miniature buildings being destroyed, kaiju wrestling and was definitely pretty awesome. It's a slow movie overall but I think there is a pretty good payoff. I do wish that the producer didn't hate Godzilla vs. Hedorah so much because I really found myself missing the surreal and experimental feel that Banno brought the that film. This one just feels so straight-forward after that.
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Sep 23, 2018 17:01
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 13. Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Subterranean nuclear testing pisses off the underground dwellers of Seatopia so they send the giant monster Megalon out to destroy Tokyo. Luckily an inventor has finished work on his robot, Jet Jaguar who must team up with Godzilla to defeat Megalon. Seatopia is upset that Megalon is outnumbered so they call in the help of Gigan from Nebula M (which I thought was already on the brink of destruction in the last movie). This film is pretty similar to the last one, Godzilla vs. Gigan, and it's use of recycled footage really annoyed me. I know recycled footage is present in almost every one of these films but they used stuff directly from Gigan, which was still very fresh in my mind. Fortunately Jet Jaguar was sweet and makes up for a lot of the shortcomings. The final battle was super cool with Jet and Zilla tag teaming the two evil monsters in some very fun ways. Overall I enjoyed this one despite the flimsy antagonists and recycled footage. I have two more films left in the Showa era of Godzilla films, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla. After I watch those two I'm going to take a break from Godzilla to checkout some or all of the following: Matango The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms The X from Outer Space Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell The Living Skeleton Genocide Daimajin Mothra Rodan After I'll pick back up with the Heisei era Godzilla films.
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Sep 23, 2018 18:59
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 14. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) What a ride. This movie seems like what Jun Fukuda was trying to do with his past couple films but maybe didn't have the budget. The human plot is definitely a rehash but with an apocalyptic omen thrown in for good measure. Once the first villain reveals it's true nature you either forget everything and buckle up for the ride or contemplate shutting the movie off. For me, this movie seemed like a culmination of Fukuda style and storytelling. He doesn't pull punches with the way the action is shot or the wackiness in which he delivers the story. The main monster is a mechanized version of Godzilla that leads to some surprising doppelgänger scenes and some action packed battles. The last one in particular might be the coolest one in the entire Showa era of films (haven't watched Terror of Mechagodzilla yet). If you're into laser beams, explosions (lots of explosions), villainous aliens, and the occasional blood fountain then this movie is definitely for you.
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Sep 24, 2018 05:24
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 15. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) Ishirô Honda's last Godzilla film is a much more somber, plot driven affair than the last few entries in the series. Honda is great at taking Godzilla and his enemies and using them to make you think about much larger questions. While asking these questions he chooses to leave a lot of the camp and well.. fun at the door. This isn't to say that Terror doesn't have giant monsters battling, it actually has quite a bit of that, it just chooses to do it in a much more self serious way. Ishirô Honda brings a feeling of consequence that I think Fukuda chooses to leave out in favor of fun, whacky adventure stories. Terror of Mechagodzilla is definitely a good closer to the Showa series. It's one that I really look forward to rewatching in the future, separated from this marathon I've been doing, so that I can experience it without thinking so much about the craziness that came before it. Okay, the Showa era is done. What a tonal rollercoaster that has been. From serious horror to whacky sci-fi romps to psychedelic environmental warnings, I've enjoyed most of them and feel even stronger in my love for the big green atomic lizard. But now I'm going to divert from Godzilla to checkout new to me horror/kaiju before I start the Heisei era of films, most of which will be rewatches.
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Sep 25, 2018 15:15
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drat, now I feel bad for just ignoring this one whenever it was on a list.
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Sep 25, 2018 19:26
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Choco1980 posted:This is one of the handful where I can say safely that the Japanese and American cuts are dramatic enough that one should seek out the different edits (and I don't say that solely because of the bare breasts). You thought the US cut was somber and dark, the Japanese cut is downright bleak, with a super duper downer ending that just leaves you feeling bad. Pretty sure I watched the Japanese cut, it was the Classic Media DVD. As soon as she got the implant I kinda saw that coming so that took some of the impact away but yeah it was definitely 
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Sep 25, 2018 19:37
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I didn't plan it but I ended up having a death by spores double feature. 16. The X From Outer Space (1967) This silly monster movie is boosted to enjoyable levels by a few interesting things. The multi-cultural cast makes it sort of feel like an episode of Star Trek. The idea of explorers bringing back something unknown, alien spores in this case, that turn out to be a hyper destructive force is always intriguing to me. A monster grows from the spores resulting in the kinda cute Guilala that acts like a child throwing a tantrum bull rushing through everything to get to any energy source it can find. The music in the film was baffling, ranging from goofy to super eerie, but then they just keep repeating the same short looping song over and over whenever the monster appears. I was ready to praise the music and then that song just kept drilling a hole into my head. I have a theory that this movie is a metaphor for sexual frustration but I only have a few pieces of evidence and need to think about it more.  17. Matango (1963) Matango is a bleak and atmospheric horror film from Ishirô Honda, that like a few of his other films asks the audience some tough questions. It's doesn't seem to be too worried about answering these questions, rather it just makes you think about them. In particular I found one of the common threads to be human desire and the effects succumbing to it can have on ourselves and those around us. It's a story about a group of friends and a couple hired hands getting shipwrecked and trying to survive. Their psychological fortitude is tested as they run out of food on an eerie island lush with dangerous mushrooms and not much else to eat. My only gripe is the motivations of some of the characters were downright baffling and ultimately their characters "switch" flipped way too abruptly. One character in particular, who seemed like the anchor of the entire group lost all of his strong attributes from one scene to the next. I highly recommend this movie if you go in not expecting "Attack of the Mushroom People" and are on board for a somewhat slower psychological horror film. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Sep 26, 2018 |
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Sep 26, 2018 16:34
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 18. Rodan (1956) A prehistoric flying dinosaur is awoken by nuclear testing. That may sound familiar to you if you seen a handful of monster movies from this era. Rodan starts off pretty grim, telling the story of a mining operation where people keep going missing. Turns out the titular character has nothing to do with it and the miners are being killed by giant bug creatures underground. This was pretty interesting to me and kind of made me forget about Rodan, making it more surprising when it eventually appeared. In Rodan you can see a pretty obvious jump up in special effects detail and it was a lot of fun to watch. The creature Rodan is a pterodactyl that can fly at supersonic speeds. It does damage by going so fast it creates sonic booms that make things explode. Such a fun concept that was a joy to watch. Being a flying creature meant that their were a few dog fights, and they were done surprisingly well for the time period. The finale of Rodan is something to behold. The action packed movie is book ended with some serious emotional weight. It's like it was made for people that teared up at the end of Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  19. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) A prehistoric dinosaur is awoken from it's 100 million year slumber after scientists complete a nuclear test in the arctic. Yeah, this is a plot device that has be reused so many times, but I believe this was it's first appearance. The dinosaur that awakens is put to life by the stop motion effects of Ray Harryhausen, and I have to say, it still looks pretty sweet in 2018. We get to see the fictional Rhedosaurus pretty early on in the movie, but then kind of sparingly up until the finale. The sprinkling of creature scenes should be enough to propel the viewer to the end, but I think that the scenes in between these can get kind of dull. It's mostly just a couple of scientists trying to convince other people that the dinosaur is real and the main character is not crazy or hallucinating. Overall The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is an excellent film that has inspired so many of my favorite films and creators, I wholly recommend checking this one out.
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Sep 27, 2018 16:35
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Franchescanado posted:I'm looking for three wildcards. Only one suggestion per poster. I'll take the first three that are posted. They have to be from this list. I was going to say Possession. So, how about Under the Skin
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Sep 27, 2018 20:14
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M_Sinistrari posted:
I just watched this on Tuesday and I haven't stopped thinking about it. The giggling and other background noises were seriously haunting. Matango is good movie.
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Sep 28, 2018 16:16
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 20. The Living Skeleton (1968) Well that was a really cool movie. Technically excellent, with beautiful photography that used contrast to make some absolutely beautiful compositions. A haunting soundtrack that did an excellent job of setting the mood. The bulk of the plot was an interesting supernatural horror revenge story. The opening scene on the boat was pretty damned shocking and sets up the group of bandits we get to see being murdered throughout. Unfortunately, I think that the finale kind of goes off the rails and betrays the mood in favor of shlock. The shlock is done well though, and it doesn't take enough away for me to not recommend this movie.
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Sep 28, 2018 18:05
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Still watching stuff, got kinda behind on write ups.. 21. Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968) The premise of this movie is really strong. A plane, carrying an assassin, politician, and potential terrorist crashes after brushing up against something alien, putting the surviving crew and passengers to the test of staying alive. Unfortunately for them the alien has other plans. The design of the alien was kinda meh but the way it snatched bodies was super sweet. My problem with the movie comes from everything that happens after the alien gets it's first human vehicle. I just didn't find it that engaging and felt pretty bored. The ending was pretty cool and didn't pull any punches, but I don't think it was enough to make up for the middle parts.  22. Genocide (1968) Really not sure about this one. It's a weird movie with a lot going on and ultimately I don't think I enjoyed it. The ending has stuck with me though, definitely shocked me. I would still say that you should check this out if you like Japanese horror. It's really weird and definitely worth giving a shot, and apparently some people really love it.  23. The Boxer's Omen (1983) The Boxer's Omen is a surreal occult horror masterpiece. I seriously think this might be one of the best uses of mysticism I have ever seen in film. Yeah it's over the top and insane, but it's so over the top and insane all the time that it sucks you into the world, and weirdly feels believable. A lot of the effects are frankly awful, but it never hurt the viewing experience. In some ways the seemingly bad effects made it seem even more like some guy had a weird experience with the occult and just needed to make a movie to warn people about it. Like, don't dabble in this stuff, be willing to sacrifice, be willing to suffer for enlightenment/protection from evil. Nothing comes for free, your actions have loving consequences, like having to pull needles out of your eyes for the chance to be invincible. drat, I really liked this movie.
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Sep 30, 2018 17:58
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Franchescanado posted:11. Under The Skin Glad you liked it! Loved the write-up, makes me want to watch it again thinking about some of the things you mentioned. I wasn't super hot on it and wanted to hear some thoughts about it and you shared some very interesting points.
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Sep 30, 2018 19:33
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 24. Daimajin (1966) This was sweet film that gives fans of both samurai and kaiju something to find interest in. It's mostly a period drama about a village getting overthrown and forced into slavery by an evil lord, but is capped off by an angry mountain god helping the oppressed villagers. The design of Daimajin is awesome, he's a stone samurai golem with human eyes that just smashes his enemies. I really liked the movie, but I could see where someone could be disappointed if they came in expecting a ton of samurai action, or a ton of giant monster action. It's more of a slow burn with the conflicts tension as the driving force. With that being said, I fully recommend checking this one out.  25. Return of Daimajin (1966) This is a children's adventure movie with incredibly high stakes. Four young boys set out to save their fathers from a slave labor camp and experience plenty of hardships on the way. I was surprised at the amount of violence, even towards children, that was present in this movie. Some of it doesn't hit very hard because of the acting from the main group of kids. One scene in particular I couldn't tell what actually happened because I felt that the boys reaction just didn't fit the situation at all, seemed like a robot responding to something painful happening. The finale with the titular mountain god wasn't quite as exciting as the first film, but it's good and I liked the whole package.  26. Wrath of Daimajin (1966) For the shortest film in the series it felt the longest to me, probably because I watched it as a triple feature with the first two, and it's plot is quite similar to the first film. The finale in this one has some absolutely awesome shots of Daimajin mimicking Moses, and holding a giant crucifix. Overall, I was pretty happy with the entire Daimajin series, but I think the character could have been used a bit more throughout. This one in particular felt like he was only around for maybe 5 minutes, which is kind of a bummer for such a fun to watch vengeful mountain god.
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Oct 2, 2018 15:00
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Darthemed posted:Wanna throw out some love for Tubi.TV, as I've used it for all of my entries so far this month. It's a free streaming service, and the movies in their catalog include Suspiria (1977), Peeping Tom, Deep Red, The Tenant, Spider Baby, May, Blood Feast, Shadow of the Vampire, A Field in England, The Stepfather, Alice Sweet Alice, Pieces, Simon, King of the Witches, High Tension, Prom Night, Honeymoon, Dagon, and more. If you have a taste for trashy horror, they've got that too, with a bunch of Ted Mikels and Troma. Quick PSA about TubiTV: TubiTV is supported by the popular youtube/streaming scraper youtube-dl, which happens to come baked into some media players. This means that you could, for example, use MPV or IINA to watch TubiTV streams without commercials. It also means you can just download the file directly with youtube-dl and watch it in whatever media player you would like. This method also works with all of these sites: http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html
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Oct 2, 2018 15:10
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Guy Goodbody posted:I love the Daimajin movies. They all have the same plot, but it's a good story so it's OK. The way the costume is all stone, except for the eyes, his human eyes that are full of hate, is so loving good. And the scale, where he's only like 40 feet tall, makes the action seem a lot more personal than with a Godzilla size monster My favorite moment in the trilogy is I think in the first one, where Daimajin pushes a guy through a wall. It's not gory, but he doesn't throw him through the wall, he pushes him through, so it takes a couple seconds. Nightmarish Yeah that was my favorite part from the first film. Looks like Daimajin Kanon is on youtube.
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Oct 2, 2018 19:06
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 27. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977) Well that was really stupid. I mean, it's a movie about a bed that eats people so you can't expect a whole lot. It did kind of surprise me how seriously it seemed to take the concept, providing quite a lot of lore about how the bed got so hungry. There were two really funny moments, and some enjoyment can be had in watching the seemingly sedated actors show zero emotion, but overall it was just boring. I watched this one for FRAN CHALLENGE #3: Hometown Horror. This was shot in the Gar Wood mansion on Grayhaven Island in Detroit, MI, which was supposedly the home of a hippie commune where some artists and musicians lived. It was shut down after cops raided the place and found 25 kilos of weed. I may have had more fun reading about the Gar Wood mansion than watching Death Bed.
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Oct 3, 2018 04:56
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 28. Mothra (1961) Mothra, while not being devoid of any meaning or message, sets out first and foremost to be a fun movie. I think all of the actors did great, making you either love or hate them depending on their role. The lead, played by Furankî Sakai was just awesome. He was funny, charismatic and heroic when he needed to be. For a kaiju movie with a fairly long runtime (101 minutes) it flew by thanks to the interesting human story and excellent pacing. The action scenes and miniature effects look great. Mothra's puppet moves well and looks cool tearing up the city. There was quite a lot of blue screen that definitely hasn't aged well, but you should expect that from a 60s monster movie. Overall Mothra really surprised me, it's definitely one of my new favorites.
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Oct 4, 2018 05:58
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These are both rewatches, and mark the beginning of the Heisei era of Godzilla films for my challenge. 29. The Return of Godzilla (1984) The Return of Godzilla is a reboot of the series that ignores everything except the first one from the Showa era of films. Right from the beginning it sets the dark tone of the film with tense scenes that are shot like a horror movie. It does a great job of blending this dark tone into various aspects of the story, like the political board rooms that are heavy with the weight of impending doom. I feel like Return is a pretty openly critical of American and Russian foreign policy. Also it considers us extremely naive for our nuclear stockpiles, when we should be looking for safer solutions to defense. Godzilla moves slowly throughout the film, like an inevitable force of destruction. It's really quite interesting how the tension of the approaching monster slowly builds up as it progresses. Once he shows up we're given some extremely cool scenes of destruction, and battles with Hyper Laser Cannons plus the brand new Super X vehicle. These battles were done so well, with great camerawork and effects. There were really only a couple things I want to complain about. One was the characters, they just aren't all that interesting. Nearly every actor was solid (American diplomat was ehh) it's just the characters they played didn't really bring much to the table. Another was that some of the scenes felt a little too long, a bit of editing would have helped. The Return of Godzilla is a great reboot and has me psyched to watch the rest of the Heisei era of films.  holy gently caress look at this poster 30. Godzilla vs. Biollante There is a ton going on in this movie, scientists developing bio-weapons, terrorists trying to steal the bio-weapons, government agents trying to steal the bio-weapons from the terrorits that are trying to steal them, children with ESP having collective dreams about and communicating with Godzilla, and that is just some of the places this movie goes. There is a lot of pieces of the story I found quite interesting, but the breadth of plot strings may be the movies main weakness. It takes away from one of the greatest monster designs I have ever seen, Biollante, who is just not on screen nearly enough. When we get to see Godzilla and the Human/Godzilla/Plant DNA mash up monster Biollante fight it's just excellent. The action is slimey and wet, with some gnarly close-ups of the dripping special effects. It's the first monster battle in this era of Godzilla films and it brings with it a sense of weight, or consequence. Both monsters do considerable damage to each other. I dont want to spoil specifics, but some of the "weapons" or "moves" that Biollante uses were borderline disgusting, and caused real pain to 'Zilla. Overall, I really loved this one. Yeah the plot can be scattershot and half-baked in some areas, but it moves at a fairly quick pace and will take you on quite the ride if you let it. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 15:18
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Spatulater bro! posted:Biollante is sorely underappreciated. She's a top 5 Godzilla villain, and Godzilla vs Biollante is the best Godzilla film that isn't Shin. Yeah it's weird to me that so many Godzilla fans really don't like the film, but I think word is spreading that they are wrong and it's one of the best (not ready to rank them, might do that when I'm finished watching them all). I forgot to note that those were both rewatches, I'll do that so people have better context.
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Oct 5, 2018 15:41
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q != e
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Oct 5, 2018 15:43
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King Vidiot posted:Is there some rule that we can't watch movies we've already seen? Or is that just some personal thing that some posters are abiding by? Nope, one of Fran's challenges is to rewatch something. Some people just like to only watch new things as part of their challenge. CRAYON fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Oct 6, 2018 |
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Oct 6, 2018 01:34
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So it's cool if I do write ups for the Scream Stream movies right? Just surprised none have popped up in the thread.
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Oct 6, 2018 14:38
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 31. Dagon (2001) Dagon kind of starts off in a bad way, feeling cheap and kind of boring. But the slow start ultimately helps build up a creepy and compelling atmosphere. The main character was annoying at first but actually became pretty interesting. He gives you this vibe of incompetence but turns out to be quite strong and able to handle himself well. There are definitely some silly moments, and not in the self-aware sense of other Stuart Gordon films. The laughs usually come from poorly aged CGI or just iffy performances. Despite it's flaws I would definitely recommend checking out Dagon for it's interesting atmosphere and story.  32. Demonic Toys (1992) Demonic Toys is one of those movies that is best watched with a group of friends and some drinks. It's stupid, full of bad acting and silly ideas, but it's good because of all that dumb. Definitely check this one out if you like B-horror films, but try to bring some friends and good vibes.  33. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) This is a slow movie, and that is fine. Slow movies can be wonderful at building up an atmosphere and tension. The thing with slow burns that I usually like is that the build up leads to something, the tension snaps in a climactic moment that leaves you breathless or makes your hair stand on end. This film never did that for me. When the climax eventually happens I was wondering if I missed something and honestly felt pretty annoyed, like I had wasted a bunch of time. It was a bummer because I was totally on board for the first 3/4ths of the film. It was shot well, acted well, and the build up felt substantial. It just went nowhere and really left cold.  34. Nail Gun Massacre (1985) Holy crap this one cold opens with a horrible rape scene. Probably one of the worst ways you could possibly open a movie, but if you give this piece of crap a chance it will reward you with a lot of laughs. Terrible acting and utterly stupid kills make this one hell of an experience.
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Oct 8, 2018 23:45
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 35. Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) The third film in this era of Godzilla films takes a turn from the dark, horror inspired elements in favor of a very campy sci-fi aesthetic. It's a huge tonal shift from the Retun and Biollante films. The plot revolves around UFO flying time travelers coming back to help Japan get rid of Godzilla in order to prevent their future destruction. This should sound somewhat familiar if you've watched Invasion of the Astro-Monster, and just like that film the benevolent helpers aren't so benevolent. The idea of time travel lets them do some interesting things throughout the film. They have an android helper that is the main focal point of quite a few goofy scenes. It's mainly the way the thing runs, either floating atop the ground or just sped up footage while bionic man sounds effects play. Another thing from the future are "bio-engineered pets" that just sort of look like cute Ghidorah head stuffed animals. Along with stuff from the future we get a glimpse into the past, specifically World War II, where we get to see a new origin for Godzilla. Time travel definitely brings some interesting elements but it also brings its fair share of problems. It makes the plot feel sort of disconnected and leaves the viewer thinking about plot holes far too often. To me it sort of came off like they wanted to just remake Invasion of the Astro-Monster but felt they had to change some things to "update" the plot, ultimately leaving us with a mixed bag of ideas. Overall there is a lot of good in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, it just doesn't feel near as strong as the previous two from this era.  36. Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) So far most of the Heisei era films have included human based plots that are genre films quite heavily inspired by American cinema. This one is no different. It starts like an Indiana Jones movie and features quite a few adventure film elements. Throughout the story we follow a sort of antihero protagonist on his journey of becoming a better person. Early on he is hired by a company that his ex-wife works for and they have to team up. This leads to some funny moments and some heartfelt moments. I thought their relationship was done quite well and I got pretty invested in the outcome. The relationship drama is weaved into an environmental tale staring Mothra and Battra. It's pretty openly anti-capitalist and paints corporations as destructive forces that are slowly murdering the Earth, who in this film is an entity that created the giant flying creatures to protect itself. All of this is explained by the new tiny stewards of Mothra, named the Cosmos. It kind of bummed me out that they aren't twins and aren't called Shobijin (little beauties) anymore but they still have cool songs. I haven't really mentioned Godzilla all that much because he actually isn't that central to the plot. He just kind of shows up to mess things up while the real conflict is between Mothra and Battra. This isn't really much of a problem because the scenes featuring all three monsters are really fun. Definitely check this one out if you like Godzilla, but if you like Mothra you should be racing to watch it.
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Oct 10, 2018 20:36
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Franchescanado posted:
Haha, 31/36 of the films I have watched were made outside of the USA.
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Oct 10, 2018 20:51
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FRAN CHALLENGE #7: The World Is A Scary Place
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Sir Kodiak posted:Godzilla (1954) [Criterion Blu-ray] I am watching all the Godzilla films for my challenge. I'm a big fan of kaiju and tokusatsu style films so know that when reading my thoughts on the others in the series. Here are all of my posts from this thread. There are quite a few Godzilla films that have a lot to say, they just don't do it as elegantly as the original. 1954's Gojira is truly something special, there is definitely a reason it wouldn't be out of place on a list of best films of all time. One of my favorites is Godzilla vs. Hedorah. It has a message and aggressively attacks you with it in a psychedelic, surreal way.
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Oct 11, 2018 23:09
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