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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Godzilla (2014)
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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.
Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004
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posted 05-17-2014 05:23 PM
CINEMA: AMC Council Bluffs 17, Council Bluffs, IA
AUDITORIUM: 1
PRESENTATION: AMC Recline-O-Vision, Mystery Meat Digital
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Fucking chatty asshole and his three chatty kids sitting next to me
RATING: Two stars (out of four)
THE PLOT: We're up all night to get lucky. Wackiness ensues.
With a dark tone that seemed to draw from the 1954 Japanese classic and a plot that seems to draw more from the campy color films most are probably more familiar with, this version seems to want the best of both worlds, but doesn't really accomplish either.
I agree with Lyle on the movie setup. That was fine. But everything after that was a mess. The action sequences often seemed abbreviated, like the monsters would start fighting, then suddenly in the middle of it, we'd cut back to human drama. The monsters just look out of place in the middle of all the high tech effects. And who destroys Las Vegas without actually showing the destruction? We just cut to the aftermath?
It's certainly better than Roland Emmerich's 1998 debacle, but what isn't.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 05-18-2014 06:46 PM
The room I've seen in it had all the modern gizmos enabled:
✔ Extra large unmasked silver common-height screen.
✔ Extra loud Dolby Atmos.
✔ Dual projector 3D.
✔ Irritating *EXIT* lights bouncing off the huge silver screen.
✔ Irritating roto-scan spotlights projecting Dolby Atmos logos on the walls and in your eyes.
✔ LED strip decoration with rotating colors, reminding me of the new lightning scheme of the local pita shack.
✔ Screwed up transition between single-projector 2D and dual-projector 3D.
I guess this movie delivers exactly what you ought to expect, especially compared to the ill fated attempt of 1998 by one-trick-pony director Roland Emmerich.
If I go see a movie named "Godzilla", I would expect:
✔ At least one monster destroying tons of stuff, like big cities all over the world and at least one big city in the U.S.
✔ Some more or less credible back-story involving nukes.
✔ Some more or less melodramatic side story.
✔ A bunch of gaping plot holes, some filled in with movie science glue.
Nothing really new has been tried here, like the Cloverfield "found footage" approach and as such, the thing is more true to the original than the last attempt with the same name. The somewhat cartoonish look of Godzilla actually distracts a bit from the otherwise serious tone of the movie.
Although they already gave it away in the trailers, I liked the little twist on the atomic tests in the pacific, which didn't create Godzilla, but were done to destroy it.
The fact that those monsters ate nukes for breakfast was a bit dull though, even with most of your brain's logic functions disabled.
It seems that destroying Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge is out, destroying San Francisco and the Golden Gate is totally it. Also, the U.S. suddenly has a fully functional long term nuclear waste/monster storage facility, great!
The Dolby Atmos mix was OK as was the 3D. They didn't stand out, but also didn't distract.
What was distracting though, was the acting performance of especially Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I liked his role in the first Kick Ass but his performance in this one is lacking. Also, why does he look like a discount Shia LaBeouf?
The not-so-high expectations surely helped, but all in all, I wasn't disappointed.
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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!
Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 05-18-2014 11:21 PM
Japan doesn't get this Godzilla until 25 July - Toho is the distributor over there and they will hold opening it until the summer school break starts. But in the mean time lots of online chat based on the trailers and promo stills saying the American Big G is too fat... Godzilla is being fat shamed! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
quote:
The Hollywood Reporter - Hollywood's Godzilla Is an 'American Fatty,' Say Japanese Fans
While initial reaction to the Hollywood update has been mostly positive, some say the iconic Japanese monster has become too Americanized in one key respect: its waistline.
TOKYO -- Some Japanese film fans think Gareth Edwards' Godzilla character has put on too many pounds in all the wrong places, and they have been making their feelings known on the Internet.
The name "Godzilla" is a combination of "gorilla" and "kujira," the Japanese word for whale. For many Japanese lovers of their country's original monster, the upcoming Hollywood re-creation is not enough muscular primate and too much blubbery cetacean.
"Whichever way you look at it, he's an American fatty," posted one fan after promo images and trailers went online in Japan.
"He got fat in America on cola and pizza," tweeted another fan.
A common Japanese image of Americans is one of expanded waistlines - and not without some justification. Obesity levels in Japan are below 4 percent, versus around 36 percent in the U.S.
Comments have been rolling in all over social media, film fan sites and chat rooms this week.
"He's couch potato Godzilla"; "It's got no neck"; "He Supersized"; and "Marshmallow-Godzilla?" were just a few of the reactions from fans.
Some were less harsh about the new Godzilla but still unimpressed: "It's chubby and cute," wrote one.
"It looks like a seal," said another.
Others were simply more forgiving: "I'm looking forward to this. Well, everyone gets middle-age spread."
There was positive reaction too: "It looks better than the last Hollywood Godzilla," said one fan, while another observed, "He looks stronger than the original."
Godzilla turns 60 this year, having appeared in Ishiro Honda's original film in 1954, the first of 28 movies made by Japanese studio Toho featuring the monster.
The upcoming Legendary and Warner Bros.-backed Godzilla opens in the U.S. on May 16, but Japanese fans will have to wait until July 25 for the film to open in the land that birthed the beast.
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Dave Macaulay
Film God
Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-19-2014 08:07 AM
As a Godzilla fan, I went in with middling expectations. The last USA made Godzilla was ... well, not a Godzilla movie at all.
This one hits the mark. If you don't like Japanese monster movies you won't like it.
The 'story" blends some "King of the Monsters" with a lot of the later "Godzilla VS" Toho movies. The tie-in with nuclear science is there, the incomprehensible/ludicrous back story explaining the "vs" monsters is there (but more than usually comprehensible, slightly) and some stuff with scientists, generals, and soldiers arguing. Finally you get to the the new monsters wrecking cities and trains (wrecking trains is absolutely required), screaming crowds running away, eventually Godzilla arrives to smash some more city and have an epic multi-round battle with the other things. The outcome is predictable - any plot spoilers wouldn't be spoilers to anyone who's seen the Toho movies.
All in all, a good Godzilla movie. What else can one want from it?
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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-19-2014 02:09 PM
In 3D and Dolby Atmos at the AMC Garden State Plaza 16, Paramus, NJ.
Godzilla hasn’t fared very well on the big screen in quite awhile. Nobody was happy with the 1998 Devlin/Emmerich version, and Toho’s own Millennium cycle wasn’t much better, ending with the foolish Godzilla: Final Wars. So I had high hopes for this one, but they didn’t pan out. While this picture may have 100% less Mathew Broderick, it has also has 100% more Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson, two wooden and uninteresting actors just going through the motions. The only really good performers in the movie have barely anything to do; Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche are both gone within fifteen minutes, and Sally Hawkins just plays a disposable background character (and frankly the star of the show, the Big G himself, makes what amounts to little more than a walk-on appearance). Even the monster beat-down that everyone wants to see is underplayed, what little action there is winds up hidden by smoke and soot, or taking place on TV monitors that everyone is sitting around gawking at. It’s all deadly serious as well; I wish they could have come up with even a moment of fun or humor, but no such luck. If you look closely and don’t blink there is a nice little Mothra tease, though. Maybe he will appear in the sequel with the two little sisters, and maybe it will be a little less leaden. We can hope.
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 05-20-2014 06:47 PM
I did not like anything about this version.
Not. One. Thing.
SPOILER ALERT -- I'm gonna ruin this awful movie
Agreed with the comment about the first half-hour feeling like it was from another unrelated draft. All that setup ultimately becomes irrelevant. To a lesser extent, the sailor's "family back home" doesn't serve much purpose either. If they edited out all of his "family" scenes, it would have no impact on the plot.
Heck, while we're at it, we could probably edit HIM out of the plot. He doesn't even disarm the damn bomb.
Another stupid thing is that the scientists start out in "we don't know what's going on" mode, and then jump suddenly into "we will now explain everything" -- including making assumptions about the genders and thought processes of supposedly-hitherto-unknown monsters.
And, really, after 14 years, would that "Happy Birthday" banner still be intact?
Bull. Shit.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 05-20-2014 09:46 PM
quote: Dave Macaulay
This one hits the mark. If you don't like Japanese monster movies you won't like it.
Totally agree, Godzilla hits the mark. I don't really like summer movies all that much but this one delivered the goods IMHO. I can't think of a summer popcorn movie in the last few years that delivered like this one.
quote: Dave Macaulay
The 'story" blends some "King of the Monsters" with a lot of the later "Godzilla VS" Toho movies. The tie-in with nuclear science is there, the incomprehensible/ludicrous back story explaining the "vs" monsters is there (but more than usually comprehensible, slightly) and some stuff with scientists, generals, and soldiers arguing.
I haven't seen the original movies, but I want to now. So perhaps this version did the trick.
quote: Dave Macaulay
Finally you get to the the new monsters wrecking cities and trains (wrecking trains is absolutely required), screaming crowds running away, eventually Godzilla arrives to smash some more city and have an epic multi-round battle with the other things.
I thought the trestle bridge sequence was good and the battling in the city was a lot of fun.
I thought it was cool that the names Brody were modeled after the Jaws characters and it was wise that we did not see our buddy Godzilla until about 60 minutes into the movie (kinda like the shark in Jaws).
I would like to call out the sound as I thought it was a good mix and they made good use of sound for this movie. My presentation was not overly loud or ear piercing which was good.
quote: Dave Macaulay
What else can one want from it
The only thing I want for a sequel would be for them to film it in flat. It would make the monsters look taller.
I can't wait till they make a sequel.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-20-2014 10:01 PM
Cinema: Harkins Theatres Bricktown 16, downtown Oklahoma City
Screen: Cine Capri
Format: 2D, Dolby Atmos - $8.00 per ticket
+ $1 online purchase surcharge.
Still a lot cheaper than any other
premium priced big screen concept.
Presentation Problems: Nothing very serious
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
My girlfriend, two of her daughters, a son in law and myself checked out Godzilla this past Saturday afternoon. Overall, I thought it was an "okay" movie. It wasn't nearly as derivative as the blatantly Jurassic Park inspired Godzilla movie from 1998. But it didn't feel all that original either.
My positive comment: this version of the Godzilla monster felt 100,000 times more authentic than the version that hit the screen in 1998. The creature seemed a lot more true to form. I did laugh a bit at the end when he was departing San Francisco to go swimming in the bay -he was a pretty damned fat lizard. But he still looked right in terms of how Godzilla is supposed to look.
Unfortunately the "film-makers" were trying to follow the Jaws formula of not showing the monster until the end of the movie. They didn't realize this is the year 2014. Movie presentation is a little different than that now. We had Pacific Rim in theaters last year -that movie showed a HELL OF A LOT MORE big scale robot vs. monster vs. city smashing spectacle than this movie. It was an 8 year old boy's wet dream, as if kids that age could have such things. No, their spazz out fantasies would be more along the lines of Pacific Rim. And that movie was even mixed in Dolby Atmos as well.
I can't help but wonder if Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and the other production companies involved chose to hide Godzilla just too damned much as a means of hedging their bets and cutting costs. At least 60 minutes of this movie should have been giant lizard on colossal june bug smack-down. But maybe that would have cost too much money in terms of CGI animation, compositing and 3D conversion fees.
This movie obviously looked like a 2K movie to me. The Dolby Atmos mix was decent, but not really outstanding. I think the best Atmos moment was when the soldiers ventured into the giant June bug's nest and all its swimming lizard eggs were making squeaking frog noises all over the place. The room was just about as alive as it was during the Dolby Atmos "Unfold" trailer.
I'm pretty concerned this year old push for "open standards" in next-gen surround sound has pretty much killed advancement of better surround sound installations. Auro 11.1 is getting a lot more installs due to its agreement with Cinemark/Century. But title support for Auro is still just plain shit. There's nothing on the horizon in terms of DTS' MDA sound format. Nothing in terms of hardware for sure. Nevertheless, Dolby Atmos still has far superior title support. Auro is a distant second in terms of Atmos' use in big event movies. Atmos just needs more theaters. The pressure is definitely on Dolby to bring down the crazy cost of Atmos to make it more practical for a lot more movie theaters.
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