Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Re: Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Postby silvermoonlight » Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:21 pm

Wow I just got to see king of the monsters and this is like the film I always wanted as kid but never thought I'd see in US film, I love that this takes cues from the canon and really runs with them like you can really tell they did there homework on this one and really sat and watched the Toho movies.

I like that they portrayed King Ghidorah as an utter asshole who gets off on killing people it makes him so menacing and the little details like the middle head being the smart one that controls the other two as that's in the canon as well. Mothra was really awesome in this like I wasn't expecting her to be so full on but she she really shines in this and I like the nod that her and Godzilla have a thing, because I've seen fanart on that for years but never thought I'd see it in a movie. Fire Rodan is also mean as hell in this though I was expecting him to be neutral, I still liked the story line though and how he fitted in to it.

On the human character note this really is better than the first, its not cookie cutter boring stereotypes its flawed characters, also kudos to the director for putting in men and women in the military and showing diverse characters as in the first that really annoyed me that every damn solider and commander was male and the only female nurse was never shown doing anything besides running and never shown healing people or getting her hands bloody so this movie really improves on this and it doesn't feel forced or like a piece of tokenism, because the characters have stories to carry them.

SPOILER: Show
I also like the female villain in this is not a stereotypy she's a woman who makes a bad choice thinking she is doing right and dragging her daughter along for ride she wanted her pound of flesh and revenge but wasn't thinking or caring about consequences. Its also and interesting subvert on motherhood because the film at first plays to the idea that she's the character we'd normally think would protect her child but as the movie rolls it becomes more and more clear she is in reality not a good parent and though both parents have issues she is the worst of two as she's to late to act and to late to see how she screwed up the only surprise to me was that King Ghidorah didn't eat her alive...like I fully expected that to happen.

I agree with what some people have said there is a moment in this where if it was a Toho movie people would have been killed by Godzilla but he lets them live I can only assume its because with the end spoiler being what it is we may see these characters again.
Last edited by silvermoonlight on Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:16 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Postby Clover » Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:59 pm

I haven't paid to see a Hollywood film since Captain America Civil War, but I've greatly appreciated this movie's score on YouTube. It runs laps around Sagisu's Decisive Battle remixes that were the Shin soundtrack (minus Who Will Know and Persecution). Each of the four Kaiju having a distinct theme creates a story within the music itself that one can vaguely follow, and reminds me of classic scores like Star Wars 77 and the more recent masterpiece that was How to Train Your Dragon 1's score by John Powell. Using original Toho themes is a cherry on top of all of that.

That kind of music excellence really stands out in modern Hollywood.

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Postby xtr00kvltcorex » Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:54 pm

KotM was gorgeous. Mothra was far and away the best part. Story is clunky, but way smoother than most of the Heisei and Showa plots.
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Postby Gendo'sPapa » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:03 pm

King of the Monsters should gross $100 million in the US this weekend. It's loosing theaters at a speedy rate - I was thinking of trying to catch it again but already the movie is only playing in theaters far away from where I live in the city and at weird hours of the day - and will probably have no screens left in about two to three weeks but it should be able to make it to $105 million domestically. Not great.

The movie as of June 21st was at $347 million worldwide - $20 million of that from Japan which Toho keeps all of that so it's really $327 - which is really bad for a film with a price-tag shy or north of $200 million. With the cost of marketing, distribution, overseas splits, etc deals Godzilla 2 needed to make a minimum of $550 million worldwide to break even so short of Godzilla Vs. Kong being a surprise billion dollar success that will likely be the end of the MonsterVerse.

The film has been doing well in China - $123 million and counting - and Legendary Pictures is a Chineses subsidiary of the Wanda Group so it looks like they've worked out a deal to give the film a rare theatrical extension - http://chinafilminsider.com/headlines-from-china-godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-gets-one-month-theatrical-extension/ - which is something that rarely happens to international films allowed to run in China. This most likely is being done in hopes the film can gross just enough in China so Warner Brothers and everyone involved can save face by saying the film made $400 million worldwide.

It's a bummer and there's a hundred factors why the film didn't deliver but I think Disney's aggressive branding - Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, Disney Remake - is doing the job they wanted it to do and is hurting the competition. The average person goes to the theater maybe 4 times a year. That number is probably down with the advent of streaming and shortened theatrical windows. If a person ends up going to see three Marvels and a Star War that's their movie year.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Mon Jun 24, 2019 2:27 pm

Shiiiii, I saw at least 5 movies at the theaters, some I’ve seen multiple times, and it’s not even the end of the year yet. (Got back from seeing Godzilla King of the Monsters for the third time yesterday, in fact.)

But anyway, I always forget that The Conjuring is a WB flick. Maybe studios would do better to simply try to NOT tie their branding so close to their productions like Disney does. John Wick 3 was another non-Disney runway hit, and I always forget that Lionsgate exists until their logo shows up before a movie I’m watching.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Fri Jun 28, 2019 8:24 am

I saw Gareth Edwards Godzilla (2014), and I'm here to tell you it's just as amazing as you think it isn't.

In an interview with Toho Kingdom, film historian David Kalat said that Godzilla (2014) is probably what a Godzilla movie would look like if it were directed by Akira Kurosawa. Having seen it again recently, I think he's mostly right. There have always been close industrial ties between Kurosawa and the works of Godzilla. (They are produced by the same studio, the two shared the same cast members throughout history, and most notably, Godzilla-defining director Ishiro Honda has had a close personal and professional relationship with Akira Kurosawa.) Kurosawa's laser focus on social turmoil would have fit well alongside Ishiro Honda's mostly politically-socially driven films anyway. (There's no way to convince me that the Japanese government requesting the assistance of the Shobijin isn't one of the best parts of the whole franchise.)

Edwards' Godzilla masterfully structures his themes from the best aspects of Ishiro Honda's monster works while restructuring them for a modern American audience. Just like Honda's works of the past, Edwards centers his film on the family dynamics and how they're effected by the world around them. Even in loving households, the parents spend a lot of the time separated (though not legally) not due to desires or the relationship otherwise "not working out," but rather because the circumstances of the world around them keep stretching the family structure further and further apart. Ford Brody's father is pulled away from his family due to him trying to uncover the circumstances around his wife's untimely death, and Ford Brody himself is pulled away from his wife a child due to his efforts in keeping the giant creatures at bay.

Also, like many of Ishiro Honda's best monster films, the reigns of control are quickly confiscated from the humans. People become powerless in the face of the monstrous existence of something greater. Any attempts to control the creatures quickly embolden them to live larger. Nuclear weapons don't even phase Godzilla, and are even traded for intimacy and reproduction in some of the more cruel monsters. The movie dethrones people, and by the end all eyes are fixed upon Godzilla.

The cinematography makes me so very jealous. Absolutely no shot is wasted. Edwards' exquisite control of his camera perfectly frames both natural vistas and intimate close-ups in "Cinemascope" 2.35:1 aspect ratio. His use of colors and light evoke primal fears as they flash behind creatures beyond comprehension.

I agree with critics in thinking that this movie is better than Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), though I'll admit that KotM was perhaps more fun to watch. I remember as a kid being introduced to Godzilla through the TV edit of Godzilla vs The Sea Monster on a VHS tape rented at the local Video Village (the name of a mom-and-pop video rental store in Elbridge, NY, a town accurately depicted by Google as being buried under 4 feet of snow). It was made me fall in love with Godzilla, and I single-handedly wore the tape out over the course of several rentals. Godzilla 1985 was next on the roster because it was the only other Godzilla tape for rental within 30 miles of the era. I found that film to be interesting and cool at the time, but not much else. Then my grandmother bought for me the 1956 Godzilla: King of the Monsters on video tape, starring Raymond Burr edited into scenes that involved Japanese people being stepped on by Godzilla. No matter how much fun I had with Godzilla vs The Sea Monster or the many other "Godzilla vs" films that my grandmother would bestow upon me as a child, it was the original black & white film that left the strongest impression of Godzilla. This Godzilla was different from he other ones. He wasn't approachable. Very few even tried to touch him, and the ones that did were quickly met with defeat or even death. Even victory meant a human sacrifice. This Godzilla was menacing, unrelenting, vicious, and merciless. It awoken existentialist fears that no other movie monster had done. I decided as a kid that, despite still living the sillier Godzilla movies, I wanted THAT Godzilla to fight other monsters. The name itself made me thing of something different than what it used to. I would see King Kong vs Godzilla and think "This is cool and all, but wouldn't it be cool if the 1950's Godzilla fought King Kong instead?" Gareth Edwards' movie is the perhaps best at depicted THAT kind of Godzilla fighting other monsters.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is a strong contender for showing some other kind of Godzilla fighting other monsters. It's a cool and fun Godzilla rebuilt with modern visual effects, but it's still a Godzilla that's we've seen fighting monsters a million times before, as the movie expertly mixes some of the more iconic stuff from the Showa Era with some of the niftier stuff from the Heisei Era. But it doesn't have the feel of the 1954 Godzilla fighting other monsters, and Godzilla (2014) accomplishes that flawlessly.

Okay, yes, the way the movie cut from the airport battle between Godzilla and the MUTO was kinda annoying, alright? Now shut up about it.

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Postby Chuckman » Fri Jun 28, 2019 8:40 am

Godzilla in the 2014 flick is just as much of a teddy bear. He shields a school bus full of kids from missiles and every time he does serious collateral damage he’s either fighting the mutinous or idiotic humans are shooting at him. The fight would sure have still leveled downtown San Francisco, but there would have been less damage if the military left him alone. Not to mention that he was willing to ignore humans trying to kill him with hydrogen bombs for sixty years and he only emerged because we fucked up and let another monster out.
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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:29 am

^ I remember a lot of people back in the day accusing Godzilla of endangering the bus, not protecting it. To be fair to those arguments, if Godzilla wasn't there, the military wouldn't be shooting. (The military wasn't on a war with school busses, after all.) I just find it interesting that both interpretations could be read from that one scene. Godzilla brings with him both protection and destruction. He's a natural force that both nurtures and devastates. He's not a teddy bear. He is not safe. He is not a "friend to children." But he will defeat other monsters. When he comes ashore in Honolulu he brings his own tsunami with him, and the implications of human deaths as a result is not shied away from. After this he fights a giant winged demon as a news report relays the devastation in the area. Godzilla 2014 takes the conceit of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel movie and places it in its proper context. Gods fight among mere mortals, wreaking havoc wherever they stride. When these creatures show up, people will die.

Aside from the recap at the opening to GKOTM, the 2019 film shies away from showing even accidental human violence resulting from Godzilla's existence. He's still not safe, he's still not a "friend to children," (or Red Sox fans,) but the film turns a literal blind eye to the human toll of Godzilla's existence. The only reminder we have throughout the film that Godzilla is a threat to humans is Kyle Chandler's character running around talking about getting revenge on the titans. The only human death to occur that's unique to that film that happens as an indirect result of Godzilla's existence is the self sacrificial one of Dr. Serizawa, nuking himself and Godzilla for the greater good. That scene has its own implications, but Godzilla himself being chaotic neutral isn't one of them.

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Postby Dr. Nick » Wed Jul 03, 2019 6:58 pm

Hot take maybe, but I think what contributed to KotM's lukewarm reception was that it kinda fails as a visual spectacle, and this is coming from someone who really wanted to like the movie. I liked many of the thematic things it does, I liked the music, and for what I've heard, the director seems to be a super nice guy, but what ruined it for me was the omnipresent, overbearing orange-teal-dark color scheme. And this was a 2D screening, so I can imagine what the extra layer of darkening by the 3D glasses would do to it. I'm not saying some "dAyLiGhT fIgHtS" magic bullet would have saved the film - it sure didn't help Pacific Rim 2 all that much - but I think there is a problem if I find myself thinking during the ending credits that, if asked, I couldn't tell what color Mothra was supposed to be. Mostly yellow maybe?

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Postby movieartman » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:05 am

On Kom...
Pros...
- Tone is just right for a full on monster battle royale, more humor then 2014 but far from 70s Godzilla. Still plenty serious and not cartoony in my book.The monsters and peril are still taken completely seriously when they need to be.
- Humor is fine, never intrudes during the battles thank god. Bradley Whitford's quips are aren't ever cringy or jarringly out of place as some feared from the tv spots. The Gonorrhea line is the worst joke/line in the film and thankfully nothing else comes close.
- Most of the cast does good in my book. Thankfully no one tries to be unflinchingly stoic like Aaron Taylor Johnson did in 2014 and I say that as a defender of him in that film. Farmiga is great, I have heard complaints about her character flip flopping, personally I think it made sense and flowed in the film.
- Opening with Mothra is great.
- Seconding Chuckman's praise of the ground level shots adding to the sense of scale. The shot of Ghidorah rearing back to annihilate Brown at the stadium is awe inducing.
- Film is a still a little dark and overly raining but is VASTLY better lit then 2014, especially 2014's blu-ray.

Cons/Nitpicks/Missed Opportunities...
- Charles Dance is underused.
- Brown could have been given a little more to do acting wise.
- Did not like Sally Hawkings being abruptly killed off and especially not in the manner we got where we could not even see who had been killed until we saw Watanabe mourning next to her image.
- Score was kinda unremarkable to me, the Mothra theme that played during the credits was solid.

Exterior issues...
- They showed too much in the trailers.
- I am saddened about people not liking the human story, I thought it looked really good in the trailers and felt it would rectify people's complaints about 2014. The people saying they don't ever go to monster films for the humans are grating to me, we can do both, 90s Gamera had great human material. vs Biollante had a good political message/spy plot. What we ended up getting was nothing special but far from a "hot mess" IMO.

Hopes for Godzilla vs Kong...
- Praying WB doesn't butcher it in editing/re shoots like they did to Justice League/Bvs's theatrical cut to "fix" whatever they think went wrong with this film.
- Doesn't add anymore humor then this film had.
- Charles Dance gets more to do and maybe backstory (flashbacks showing him encountering a smaller kajiu as a solider before going rogue would be cool)

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:The comparison to Honda/Sekizawa's Destroy All Monsters is an apt one, for sure, but my unpopular opinion among Godzilla fans is that it was one of the weaker movies by that creative duo anyway.

Agreed. That said I may be bias as it was one of the last Godzilla films I saw as a kid so it didn't stand out much.

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:1 - I saw Gareth Edwards Godzilla (2014), and I'm here to tell you it's just as amazing as you think it isn't.

2 - I remember as a kid being introduced to Godzilla through the TV edit of Godzilla vs The Sea Monster on a VHS tape rented at the local Video Village (the name of a mom-and-pop video rental store in Elbridge, NY, a town accurately depicted by Google as being buried under 4 feet of snow). It was made me fall in love with Godzilla, and I single-handedly wore the tape out over the course of several rentals.

1 - I applause your defense of 2014, I like it a great deal as well just not quite as much as 2019.

2 - Nice, Sea Monster was the second Godzilla film I saw after King Kong vs. Today I consider Sea Monster to be one of the most underrated movies of the series.
I really like the tropical setting of Sea Monster & Son of Godzilla.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:33 pm

^ Oh, 2019 is definitely more fun to watch in the conventional sense, I just think that the 2014 movie is a better overall film. It’s kinda like how I still believe that the 1954 film is the best Godzilla movie ever, but I still have way more of a blast watching Godzilla Final Wars. That’s what I find so interesting about the Godzilla franchise as a whole. Seeing how it’s the longest running film franchise, it’s had enough time to develop a different Godzilla movie for every season. There’s a time for somber Godzilla, and there’s a time for fun Godzilla. (Heck, I even think there’s a time and place for Godzilla’s Revenge.)

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Postby Gendo'sPapa » Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:25 pm

HOT!!!!!!!

For their 1000th release Criterion is celebrating with a GODZILLA: THE SHOWA ERA FILMS, 1954 - 1975 boxset!

Godzilla was already part of the Criterion Collection but the new release will also include - and given the juicy restoration and choice special features laden Criterion Collection treatment - Godzilla Raids Again, King Kong Vs. Godzilla, Mothra Vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, Godzilla Vs. Hedorah, Godzilla Vs. Gigan, Godzilla Vs. Megalon, Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzila and Terror Of Mechagodzilla!

I haven't seen most of these but I will be picking this up because it's just such a cool release and I will enjoy getting to know the early Godzilla in pristine quality!

Release is October 29, 2019.

It's pricey at over $200 but Barnes & Nobles has 50% off Criterion sales bi-annually every July and November so timed right someone could probably get the set at a price of around $100. That's a great deal!

Maybe one day if they can negotiate it Criterion will even do a Shin Godzilla release that would include Anno's on-screen typography.

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/2648-godzilla-the-showa-era-films-1954-1975

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Fri Jul 26, 2019 5:39 am

That November sale is gonna be sweet. I was impatient enough to almost preorder it, but seeing as how that sale officially starts at around the same time that the Blu-ray boxset is coming out, I'll refrain from the impulse buy.

I already have those movies in most of their various original and international edits, but the quality isn't that great for some of them. In the Classic Media release of Mothra vs Godzilla there are some pretty damaged frames in the scene where the Japanese characters visit Infant Infant, and in their release of Invasion of Astro-Monster (AKA, Godzilla vs Monster Zero) there can be a quiet, high-pitched whine heard throughout much of the film's soundtrack. I can't wait for these to be cleaned up and given a proper restoration.

Also, this is the first time we'll get an official U.S. release of the original version of King Kong vs Godzilla. The version available on Blu-ray in the U.S. is the American cut with added footage of English-speaking characters. It's bad and dumb, seeing as how they simply made all of the English-speaking cast members news anchors to exposition-dump all over the audience every 15 minutes or so. I bought with the original Japanese version on a Hong Kong DVD, I think, with English subs, but the picture quality is worst than most older movies transferred to DVD. It's a shame too, because that Japanese movie has a more biting commentary on run-amok Capitalism and sensationalism, and how its influenced Japan's television industry. (It's also funny as hell, with their casting of a TV exec as a Japanese Groucho Marx lookalike who hams up the physical comedy.)

There are a lot of movies in there that probably wouldn't get picked up by a lot of audiences if it weren't in a boxset. All Monsters Attack and Godzilla vs Megalon have awesome sounding titles, but the movies are rarely anyone's favorite, with the Megalon film (directed by Jun Fukuda) single-handedly being responsible for many Baby Boomer Americans only knowing of Godzilla as a series of silly and unimportant monster movies, lacking any of Ishiro Honda's typical narrative flare. They're still worth while movies to watch, in my opinion, as Ishiro Honda did return for All Monsters Attack for another criticism of the Japanese family unit falling apart in an impoverished and polluted 70's Kawasaki, Japan. On that level it's actually a rather compelling children's film even if the monster scenes are all reused from other Godzilla movies. And despite Godzilla vs Megalon falling flat for a lot of reasons (it originally wasn't even conceived as a Godzilla film and it shows), you can tell Quentin Tarantino grew up watching this film and borrowed some of his cinematic tendencies from this movie. There's even a shot where two monsters look over a fallen enemy, and it looks like a reverse "Trunk Shot" from a Tarantino film.

And I don't care what anyone says, Terror of Mechagodzilla is the most operatic sci-fi movie to have ever been made since Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Ishiro Honda had trouble keeping control over his story from the Toho executives, and it kinda shows in a few scenes, but everything really pays off nicely by the end of that film. That film is top tier despite its issues, and I'll probably just skip to that movie once I get my hands on this thing in November.

Criterion also picked up the licenses to other non-Godzilla Toho monster movies directed by Ishiro Honda. It was smart of them to keep this boxset focused on only Showa Era Godzilla, but it looks like I'll be waiting a little bit longer for their restoration of Rodan's standalone Showa Era film.

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Postby MuscleRobo » Fri Jul 26, 2019 7:24 am

The first thing I did was look for the Megalon art because of Jet Jaguar! As for the release itself I was hearing my wallet cry because October is when the Blu-Rays for Ultra Q and Ultraman were coming out as well but thanks for the heads up about the Barnes and Noble sale. I was surprised with all the different artists involved they didn't get Matt Frank who's behind the official Redman and Godzilla comics that are both excellent and have such strong followings in Japan they're coming out over there before here to do some art though. I would've loved to see him tackle the Hedorah cover which is pretty lack luster compared to a lot of the others.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Sun Jul 28, 2019 7:01 am

Hedorah’s cover reminds me of the cinematography of Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla film, so it gets points for that. But even then, no illustration for that film can top the Polish poster made up for that movie.

SPOILER: Show
Image


Also, Megalon’s cover looks like a Studio Trigger anime, which is fair since they both share the same sense of whacky action sequences.

This collection seems to be lacking the international cut to a lot of these movies. Some of them have English dub tracks, but the only movie that has an international edit is the original Godzilla movie. This means that I’ll probably keep the older versions I have just to have those edits, but this is still a great collection nonetheless. I’ve been wanting 70’s Mechagodzilla on Blu-ray ever since I’ve upgraded my system, and it’s nice to finally have it. And anyone really feels the need to have Universal’s horrible American cut of King Kong vs Godzilla on Blu-ray, it’s, like, $10 at Walmart.

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:02 pm

Criterion's Showa-Era Godzilla Box Set
(Just the technical review)

Pros:
All 15 of the original Japanese movies all in one place in HD! Godzilla vs Gigan even features the formally Japanese exclusive on-screen speech bubbles for Godzilla and Anguirus’ “dialogue,” which is important since the movie has a framework centered around comic book artists and explores the relationship between kaiju movies and their younger audiences.

American versions of Godzilla (1954) and King Kong vs Godzilla (1963) included.

Accurate English translations via subtitles and mostly clean visual and audio presentation. (Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla subtitles don’t replace techno jargon with “a???” like the Sony release did.)

English dubs for select titles, including the one with Nick Adams in Invasion of Astro Monster.

Bonus disc with unused special effect footage, and interviews with the Japanese directors.

Cons:
Only the Japanese and American versions of the original Godzilla movie were given the full Criterion restoration treatment (which Criterion did back in 2011 via a different licensing agreement that’s being extended to this box set). The rest of the Japanese films are simply digital scans done by Toho back in 2008 using equipment that was subpar even for the time, mostly because Toho is the “Disney” of Japan within terms of business practices. It’s been speculated that this is probably because Toho doesn’t want a superior version of all of their movies in the US where Blu-rays are more affordable than they are in Japan. (Both US and Japanese Blu-Ray discs being cross compatible complicates this issue as well.) Criterion was able to do some color corrections and some impressive de-interlacing to help enhance the Japanese digital source materials, but, due to the licensing agreements upon which Toho was insistent, it’s obviously not the Criterion quality we were expecting.

The Japanese version of King Kong vs Godzilla is on the bonus disc, while the American version is on the main disc set. This is probably due to the licensing agreements needed to get all of these titles in the same collection. Also, due to the original film materials being lost, a lot of the Japanese exclusive scenes in the film are obvious upscales of standard definition video.

The Sony transfer and restoration of Ebirah: Horror of the Deep (AKA Godzilla vs the Sea Monster) available with Kraken Releasing Blu-ray is overall a better looking product than the version of the film included in this box set or the Japanese Blu-ray.

Some of the titles don't have English dubs, which is bad if kids wanted to watch those titles. (Like how almost every English speaker was introduced to Godzilla.)

Over all:
One of the best things in my movie collection, despite its cons.

Still on my Wish List:
Criterion’s Blu-ray release of the rest of Ishiro Honda’s Kaiju movies that they’re currently streaming on Criterion Channel. (Including Rodan.)

The unaltered American version of Godzilla Raids Again, which was renamed Gigantis the Fire Monster.

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Re: Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Postby movieartman » Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:51 pm

Godzilla vs Kong has been pushed further away 8 months to November 20, 2020.
SPOILER: Show
SON OF A BITCH


My prayer seem less likely.
View Original Postmovieartman wrote:- Praying WB doesn't butcher it in editing/re shoots like they did to Justice League/Bvs's theatrical cut to "fix" whatever they think went wrong with Kom.

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Re: Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Postby Gendo'sPapa » Mon Nov 25, 2019 11:36 pm

Is the delay that surprising?
Warner Brothers know they have a financial bomb on their hands.
Now WB's move of DUNE: VOL 1 from Thanksgiving 2020 to Christmas 2020 makes much more sense.
Had the movie stuck with its March release date it would have had to compete against a new Pixar movie, the sequel to A QUIET PLACE & Disney's live action remake of MULAN. GvsK would have had one weekend to recoup it's profit before the world moved on to the next film.
Even at its new Thanksgiving 2020 release date the only hope is the longevity of the holiday season can allow it to play a little longer.
They went into the MonsterVerse all in & what they've learned is that there just isn't an audience across the globe big enough to support Kaiju movies made at the cost of $200+ million production budget & a marketing/global distribution budget of $200 million as well. The hope was these would be films that all come up to or surpass a billion dollars at the box office every film. So far the most successful has crossed 1/2 billion. King of the Monsters didn't even make $400 million worldwide & that movie is one of the most fan-pandering messes ever made.
Warner Brothers has supported the visions of the three filmmakers who have made MonsterVerse films so far & Godzilla: King of the Monsters was the movie Michael Dougherty wanted to make & it was bad & undoubtably lost the studio money. Even with inflation numbers KOTM made less at the box office than Godzilla 1998. I have it on authority Warner Brothers also supported Adam Wingard's vision on this next film.
The MonsterVerse is a noble experiment by Warner Brothers but it's also a failed experiment. Those happen. Godzilla Vs. Kong is getting released because the studio has already put over $200 million into making it but it's the end of the line for this "universe".


Also, I do laugh that people think Batman V. Superman was "butchered" by the studio & that there's a magical SnyderCut that can save Justice League out there. WB is the studio that supports filmmaker visions more than any other & they got in the mess with the DC Universe BECAUSE they gave Zack Snyder the freedom to make the trite & dull movie he wanted to make & it blew. The movie, like all of Snyder's moving wallpaper montages, has its fans but a Batman movie does not drop attendance at the box office by over 80% from week 1 to week 2 because it's "misunderstood". Snyder didn't have a story when he started and when it came to the edit HE edited HIS film down to 150 minutes. Justice League is a whole other mess that fell apart for real world reasons but the internet has made that too toxic to even want to talk about. Thankfully the DC Universe is back on track now that it's no longer adherent to Snyder's aesthetic & tone.

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Re: Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Sat Nov 30, 2019 3:42 pm

This is a good thing. WB hasn’t been doing too well competing in the summer screenings of their films. Waiting until fall/winter months is better. For example, this year Star Wars’ competition for ticket sales is Cats.

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Re: Godzilla & Kaiju General!

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Postby silvermoonlight » Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:09 am

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:This is a good thing. WB hasn’t been doing too well competing in the summer screenings of their films. Waiting until fall/winter months is better. For example, this year Star Wars’ competition for ticket sales is Cats.


I heard cats might be released a lot later like Sonic since they are doing CGI fixes on it due to the backlash, though I don't think it will make any difference since no one wanted cats as a movie to start with, unlike the Sonic fanbase which has always wanted movies.
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