[GoldenXtreme]

I watched Godzilla vs Biollante last night. I see why this is one of the most fondly regarded entries in the series. The plot moves at a fast clip, has lots of interesting elements like ESP and spies. It also was a cool time capsule of the concerns of the era, with the focus on the potential dangers of genetic engineering and a dash of cold war fear seen in the tensions between various countries. Effects were also very nice looking and Biollante is even cooler looking than I expected. She's HUGE! I was watching the new Criterion release of the film, and while it was a good release I did have an unexpected issue with the subtitles... or rather a lack of them in spots. There are quite a few scenes where characters are speaking English, but due both some questionable audio mixing and strong accents, these scenes are really hard to understand. But Criterion left these scenes unsubbed, which was... not a good idea. Still, I think it was a good kaiju film that made a simple yet effective impact.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I watched Godzilla vs Biollante last night. I see why this is one of the most fondly regarded entries in the series.

For me, this film is the peak of Heisei's Godzilla. After it, popular monsters began to return and be reimagined, which was cool, but at the same time, the franchise itself seemed to have lost the idea. And Biolante is truly scary. And, since we have already noted the atmosphere of the Cold War, I will take this opportunity to praise the excellent Russian in "The Return of Godzilla". Considering that in Hollywood movies of that period (and even later, and even now) it was rare to come across speakers not only without an accent, but at least understandable, this was a pleasant surprise.

[GoldenXtreme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

For me, this film is the peak of Heisei's Godzilla. After it, popular monsters began to return and be reimagined, which was cool, but at the same time, the franchise itself seemed to have lost the idea. And Biolante is truly scary. And, since we have already noted the atmosphere of the Cold War, I will take this opportunity to praise the excellent Russian in "The Return of Godzilla". Considering that in Hollywood movies of that period (and even later, and even now) it was rare to come across speakers not only without an accent, but at least understandable, this was a pleasant surprise.

Yeah, there seem to be a few new monster debuts after this, but it became a lot less common. Nostalgia sells, no matter how much I wish it didn't sometimes! I actually haven't seen The Return of Godzilla yet, but I've heard it leans into the Cold War angle even more, so it's good they actually got some decent Russian speakers! When I watched Godzilla Minus One, I realized that I think Godzilla is at its best when it is addressing contemporary issues, as opposed to doing social commentary in a period piece.

[GoldenXtreme]

This time I watched a trio of kaiju anime. Guess who was given access to someone else's Netflix account?

Gamera Rebirth - This is probably my favorite of the three things I watched, though I wouldn't exactly call it good. It has an interesting combination of Showa and Heisei Gamera traits. The way things are emphasized from a child's point of view is very Showa (and I won't lie, there being a main character who was a kid from an American army family like there were in many of the old movies made me laugh.) But it also has a streak of violence and mysticism that are more like the Heisei films. Undeniably the show looks pretty awful, characterization is kept pretty light, and the later episodes kind of fell apart with their semi-coherent plot about kaiju being some kind of ancient population control measure and people on the moon. It wasn't great, but it was a clear passion project by the staff. On a personal note, I think Zigra was my favorite of the reimagined kaiju!


The Godzilla Anime Film Trilogy - This is writyen by Gen Urobuchi so the sheer edginess of off the charts from the very beginning. To the point it almost became funny from being so bleak. I don't think I *hated* this film trilogy to the degree many Godzilla fans do, but I don't really get why they exist. Kaiju are depicted so sparsely that it could really be any old space opera and while some of the philosophizing could be interesting at times, each movie got a bit worse than the previous one so I was hardly impressed by its grand plot in the end. The third movie in particular was a complete drag, with the world's most boring and dragged out kaiju battle and some bonkers ending where the protagonist does a suicide attack on Godzilla because apparently technology is so evil its worth abandoning your pregnant wife over. Characters themselves are also very flat and archetypical, which really interfered with how seriously I could take the plot. Probably would have been better as a single film experiment.


Godzilla: Singular Point - Oh my gosh, I have not seen such awkward dialogue and such endless streams of hard sci-fi technobabble in a long time. It was kind of funny, but ultimately resulted in a plot I could honestly only follow in broad strokes as things got progressively more reality warping. The subtitles would probably have been fine in a show with a more reasonable plot, but were awkward enough that they just undermined the comprehensibility of the plot even more. It certainly had more kaiju action than the anime film trilogy, but I'd say they were about the same quality overall. Why's it so hard to make a decent Godzilla anime? This should be the easiest thing ever, c'mon!

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Why's it so hard to make a decent Godzilla anime? This should be the easiest thing ever, c'mon!

So the best animated Godzilla is the '98 series? In fact, I think that both Urobuchi's films and Singular Point are overcomplicating the storytelling. It needs to be simpler, with one main idea to avoid becoming meaningless, and a lot of action to fully utilize the potential of the animation format.

[GoldenXtreme]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

So the best animated Godzilla is the '98 series? In fact, I think that both Urobuchi's films and Singular Point are overcomplicating the storytelling. It needs to be simpler, with one main idea to avoid becoming meaningless, and a lot of action to fully utilize the potential of the animation format.

They are definitely plagued by overcomplicated stories. I think most people would expect a wild visual spectacle that isn't constrained by physical props and actors when they hear the words "anime based on Godzilla". But it's like they were afraid of being seen as too juvenile and veered into making the plots absurdly dark and complex to overcompensate for that.

[SuperOne81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I watched Godzilla vs Biollante last night. I see why this is one of the most fondly regarded entries in the series. The plot moves at a fast clip, has lots of interesting elements like ESP and spies. It also was a cool time capsule of the concerns of the era, with the focus on the potential dangers of genetic engineering and a dash of cold war fear seen in the tensions between various countries. Effects were also very nice looking and Biollante is even cooler looking than I expected. She's HUGE! I was watching the new Criterion release of the film, and while it was a good release I did have an unexpected issue with the subtitles... or rather a lack of them in spots. There are quite a few scenes where characters are speaking English, but due both some questionable audio mixing and strong accents, these scenes are really hard to understand. But Criterion left these scenes unsubbed, which was... not a good idea. Still, I think it was a good kaiju film that made a simple yet effective impact.

That one is easily in my top 3 all time favorite Godzilla movies. It really knocked me out the first time I saw it. Well worth the watch for anyone who hasn't given it a try yet.

[GuardianAngel87]

I managed to finish my Gavan rewatch as of last night via my copy of the series on Blu-Ray as released by Discotek Media. Yes, I am planning to rewatch Sharivan and Shaider the same way somewhere down the line although I kind of wanted to take a break from the Space Sheriff sub-franchise for a little while as to not get a bad case of burnout once I start to revisit either one or both. I am also up to episode 29 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

[DreamSword]

For those unaware, Avalon is back! Just saw the latest episode and am still having alot of fun with this indie toku. I feel like the team has definitely stepped up a bit in terms of technicals. Rather liked those exhaust effects they did for the new enemy that debuted during this one.

And if you don't know what Avalon is, it's an indie toku that airs on YouTube. And by indie I mean like, "dude and his friends got together to film a toku" levels of indie. And if you're open to watching that sort of thing, I definitely recommend checking the show out.

[FairyKing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

For those unaware, Avalon is back! Just saw the latest episode and am still having alot of fun with this indie toku. I feel like the team has definitely stepped up a bit in terms of technicals. Rather liked those exhaust effects they did for the new enemy that debuted during this one.

And if you don't know what Avalon is, it's an indie toku that airs on YouTube. And by indie I mean like, "dude and his friends got together to film a toku" levels of indie. And if you're open to watching that sort of thing, I definitely recommend checking the show out.

Just watched the first episode, it's quite impressive!