this is a thread about Godzilla movies. And the ole gorilla-whale himself.

Get over it.

Godzilla (1954)

4/5



This is a first time watch for this version, but I have watched the American cut/dub Godzilla King of the Monsters. The original version is better. The drama, tension and excitement are much more coherent and complete, and it's a fun monster movie, with several dark moments. Also, all the prints I've seen of GKOTM are really terrible, and this print was better.

The best parts are obviously Godzilla stomping around, done mostly by a guy in a rubber suit, but there's also a little stop-motion here and there to show the tail moving and smashing buildings.

The dark part are little snippets concerning ordinary people suffering, and the agony of the main scientist over his 'oxygen destroyer' weapon.

It does slow right down in the last 30 minutes, with very little Godzilla and a little too much agonising scientist, but overall it's a pretty fun flick.

Godzilla (1998)

1/5



Appropriately, this film has a level of sucking that could be described as born in the fire of atomic annihilation.

There's maybe one good thing I get from this, I thought the Godzilla creature design was good, but, hey man, that's like just my opinion.

The rest isn't good. We have comedy actors who cannot deliver the terrible comedy lines in any way close to amusing, we get dramatic missteps at almost every 'dramatic' scene (the couple start getting lovey-dovey as they report the potential onslaught of hundreds of 9-foot tall killing machines), we get ridiculous actions sequences where the CGI looks weightless and there are pauses for 'comedy moments' that realistically would give the lizards time to tear someone's head off.

And that's the biggest irritation - they treat Godzilla like a non-thread, a fool, a fall-guy. None of his damage seems to have consequences, being chased by him has no threat and you know they'll treat him like a buffoon for either a cheap gag or to get out of some otherwise inescapable situation by some cheap shot. And then they try and play him for sympathy, rather than fear. This is not Kong, this is Godzilla, people!

Oh, and I hate them for destroying the Chrysler Building too

Godzilla 2014

4.5/5



Rather fine, and I was surprised that there were a few surprises in this spoiler-filled era. I did feel a little frustrated that we only got snippets of monster fights until quite a way into the movie... but the final fights were just fantastically satisfying. And there was at least two genuine fist pump moments.

Shared more than a little with Dark Knight Rises, surprisingly

189 Godzilla Raids Again (1955)



Goofy follow up fun to the rather fine original. I saw the subtitled version, and it was decent enough. There's a heck of a lot more monster fights, but I didn't expect the thing between Godzilla and Angurus to resolve so early on in the movie.

This is still a relatively serious Godzilla movie compared to later ones, and we get at least on of the actors from the original taking part.

Enjoyable.

I watched a lot of Godzilla movies as a kid. My favorite was King Kong versus Godzilla. I would love to see that one remade with current CGI technology.

Godzilla's size varies from movie to movie. King Kong would have to get way bigger or Godzilla way smaller to make it work. The most current Godzilla would have about a 400 foot height advantage on the most current King Kong.

The most current Godzilla is probably the biggest one yet. I was surprised how much they made him look like a very realistic version of the original rubber suit Godzilla. 1998 Godzilla looked different like he had been working out or something.

I love the Blue Oyster Cult song, but my exquisite cinematic taste is way too high brow to watch that type of movie.

Oh no, there goes Tokyo!

A couple of months ago I watched Godzilla versus King Ghidorah. It was really a low budget affair with a complex time travel plot and plenty of monster fights.

I'm going to have to go back and watch the MST3K send-up of Gamera now.

IN!

Watched Godzilla: King of the Monsters this afternoon for the first time in over 30 years. Enjoyed it! 50's scifi/monster is one of my favorite genres.

I will watch along as well with any Godzilla movies I can get from Netflix or on-demand

New Godzilla is a blast. Very true to all the elements of the original franchise that the kid in me loves.

Did anyone else notice the Mothra easter egg? It's a blink-and-you miss moment near the beginning of the movie.

Yeah I caught it. In their old house.

This afternoon I watched Godzilla versus Destroyah (1995)



This movie is super cheesy. A lot of references to the original including a couple of spliced in clips. Basically Godzilla is overheating with nuclear fission and will soon melt down which will kill all life on earth. There is also a Godzilla Junior involved. There is a lot of talk of micro oxygen which is similar to the original oxygen destroyer thing. I think (?) that's where this Destroyah thing comes from. I guess this movie could be good if you were drunk with a bunch of friends making fun of it.

2-/5

I heard a rumor that Toho studios is licensing out the Mothra character, which suggests that a Godzilla vs. Mothra sequel is in the works!?!

Today I watched Godzilla versus Space Godzilla (1994)



These 90's Godzilla movies go from bad to worse. They could almost qualify as being so bad they are good depending on your alcohol intake. Ridiculous plots and special effects that would make Ed Wood snicker. This one did have tons of action though with both leads getting plenty of screen time.

The 3 90's ones I have watched so far are King Ghidora, Destroyah, and now Space Godzilla. But I think I'm done with this era and prefer the 50's and 60's.

Mothra never fought Godzilla, if I remember. But they did fight on the same side.

Yeah they did. I'll be doing it in a few weeks.

Never watch a Godzilla movie past 1969... unless you watch Mechagodzilla (1975).

everything else past this period and Honda's Direction is pretty bad. that give you 10 or 11 fairly good movies to watch.

Mix in War of the Gargantuas, Gamera (Gamera vs. Gyaos is classic) and Rodan movies and you're set for a while.



War of the Gargantuas had some of the best sets and special effects of all the monster movies.

Doing Rodan next.

I bought War of the Guarantuas. I should get to it in 4 or 5 weeks.

War of the Gargantuas is definitely my favorite.

Just watched the Criterion Collection version, thought it was good.

nice...

of special note would be Destroy all Monsters and Monster Zero (Invasion of Astro-Monster)... both of which were directed by Ishiro Honda and have music by Akira Ifukube

It does seem like I have some treats coming in these watches. Good stuff!

Kennnnnyyyy!

"Abandon Ship? To where?"