All Things Godzilla

[Angilasman]

- also, remember the '70s was a time of economic crisis and contraction of the Japanese film industry. So effects in things like the Godzilla films of the time are interesting once you get into how these films are made because you see them try to figure out how to make interesting looking stuff while using vastly less resources then before. One if the solutions was to go all in on pyrotechnics! The chemicals were cheap and effects director Teroyushi Nakano fiddled with the formulas to get just the right smoke for the visual. That's why Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is a movie that's 50% stuff blowing up!

[BeastieRunner]

A question for Godzilla fans. I grew up watching all the Kaiju movies. Godzilla, Rhodan, Mothra....Watched then many times, even going to the Saturday Matinee at the local theater. (that was a thing when I was growing up, 2 movies for 50 cents) But as fun as they were, they were always people in rubber suits stepping on miniature buildings and toy trucks and tanks. The FX wasn't believable like a Ray Harryhausen movie. It was part of the fun, marveling at the complex sets and small vehicles. As I said, they were fun movies to watch, but we didn't take them seriously.
So for the Big G fans here, what was your experience watching these. I am not questioning your love of them, just wondering what you thoughts about them were.

I grew up on Ray Harryhausen movies, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, and Star Wars. Ultraman, Godzilla, giant creatures smashing buildings will always appeal to me as serious fiction as well as MST3K bad fiction. It is just a genre that I will enjoy, guilt free!

[sunofdarkchild]

It depends on the movie. The original 1954 Gojira has amazing effects for its time and can still look good in many shots today. Mothra vs Godzilla also looks surprisingly good. The way the green screen blurs Godzilla a little in that movie makes it look like he's really far away, so it really captures his size. On the other hand movies like Godzilla Raids again and Godzilla vs Megalon look like crap. By the time we get to the Heisei era things were much better and much more consistent. The effects in Godzilla vs Biollante hold hold like a dream today.

[Kirby101]

Thanks for all the responses.
I agree with Golgo that when they made them more kid oriented, they were hard to watch. Godzooki is an abomination.

[The Darknight Detective]

It depends on the movie. The original 1954 Gojira has amazing effects for its time and can still look good in many shots today. Mothra vs Godzilla also looks surprisingly good. The way the green screen blurs Godzilla a little in that movie makes it look like he's really far away, so it really captures his size. On the other hand movies like Godzilla Raids again and Godzilla vs Megalon look like crap. By the time we get to the Heisei era things were much better and much more consistent. The effects in Godzilla vs Biollante hold hold like a dream today.

Basically how I feel. The early films still do it for me, while many of the others, while still entertaining for nostalgic reasons, look crappy. Of course, those later ones were aimed more at kiddies than the '50s films, so that probably doesn't help any.

[CosmiComic]

Thanks for all the responses.
I agree with Golgo that when they made them more kid oriented, they were hard to watch. Godzooki is an abomination.

I can't really stand most of the kid-oriented Godzilla movies. They basically give the series, and the genre as a whole, a poor reputation. And they're so annoying. No matter how far Godzilla sinks, he'll probably never sink to that depth again.

[The Darknight Detective]

I can't really stand most of the kid-oriented Godzilla movies. They basically give the series, and the genre as a whole, a poor reputation. And they're so annoying. No matter how far Godzilla sinks, he'll probably never sink to that depth again.

I do have a soft spot for Minilla, though. My brothers and I, always forgetting his name, nicknamed him Smiley for obvious reasons.

[PCN24454]

Plus he's just obviously more powerful

In the way the Hulk is. If he's going to lose, his power will be inflated so that he'll win.

[Vakanai]

I know the old effects don't stand up to modern CGI...on the other hand, even the worst of the campy era of Godzilla never felt like it dumbed things down as much as GvK did for all its spectacle. It's become the only Godzilla (or King Kong) movie that I legitimately hate. I think the thing with the old rubber suits and the miniatures is it made the filmmakers try harder to sell it. There was effort put into all aspects of the films back then I think, even if they didn't always land. Now, after this latest film, I fear that sometimes the only ones putting forth effort are the guys behind the computers cranking out the digital effects.

[Kirby101]

I think Shin Godzilla, hit a modern G movie perfectly. I am sorry the Legendary Movies got in the way of making more Shin movies.

[Vakanai]

I think Shin Godzilla, hit a modern G movie perfectly. I am sorry the Legendary Movies got in the way of making more Shin movies.

This is about where I'm at too now. I mean, I was excited for the Legendary films after 2014 and Kong: Skull Island - those were legitimately good films. But I never expected those would be the last of Legendary's good kaiju films. After an "it's okay I guess?" King of the Monsters I still felt hopeful that they'd put out all the stops for Godzilla vs Kong, and I guess they did if we're only counting the CGI spectacle and fights and action of it all, but they didn't do a single solitary thing to make a "good" movie. It felt like they went out of the way to make everything outside of the monster fights a brainless mess.

And then I look at Japan, at what Toho is doing. Shin is legitimately on of the best Godzilla films ever made, the CG comes close to Hollywood and matches it at times, and it's well shot, acted, and scripted. It's not Shakespeare, but for a kaiju movie it works. It elevates the whole darn genre. And sure, the anime film trilogy is dull, but at least they tried. And the Singular Point anime looks great. Even their Godzilla CG theme park rides are impressive. And I can't help but think, what might I have gotten if Toho could've made more live action films after Shin? Doesn't need to be a Shin 2, could have been something else. But whatever it could've been...it couldn't have been worse than what the MonsterVerse has degenerated into.

And Legendary was so full of potential after their first two movies. It's like they just gave up on the good writing front for no reason at all...

[CosmiComic]

I know the old effects don't stand up to modern CGI...on the other hand, even the worst of the campy era of Godzilla never felt like it dumbed things down as much as GvK did for all its spectacle. It's become the only Godzilla (or King Kong) movie that I legitimately hate. I think the thing with the old rubber suits and the miniatures is it made the filmmakers try harder to sell it. There was effort put into all aspects of the films back then I think, even if they didn't always land. Now, after this latest film, I fear that sometimes the only ones putting forth effort are the guys behind the computers cranking out the digital effects.

Really? Any of the stock footage Godzilla movies with lazy plots and annoying kids were terribly worse than GvK.

I think Shin Godzilla, hit a modern G movie perfectly. I am sorry the Legendary Movies got in the way of making more Shin movies.

I'm not. For all of fans complaining about the Legendary Movies' human characters, Shin's were awful.

[Godzilla2099]

I think Shin Godzilla, hit a modern G movie perfectly. I am sorry the Legendary Movies got in the way of making more Shin movies.

Not me. King of the Monsters is my personal favorite Godzilla Movie. If I got my own movie theater and could only pick one movie to watch on it, it'd be King of the Monsters

- By far my favorite designs for Ghidorah, Rodan, and Godzilla
- Ghidorah was scary, Godzilla was a true warrior, Rodan was Starscream
- Pacing was great
- Most G Movies I complain too much human focus, not enough monster time. KoM had that Balance I wanted
- Most humans were tolerable
- Monster fights top notch
- Music was flawless
- Action scenes superb
- Amazing Ending
- No cons I can think of

I don't know why some didn't like this movie. I personally give it an 12 out of 10

[EmeraldGladiator]

Not me. King of the Monsters is my personal favorite Godzilla Movie. If I got my own movie theater and could only pick one movie to watch on it, it'd be King of the Monsters

- By far my favorite designs for Ghidorah, Rodan, and Godzilla
- Ghidorah was scary, Godzilla was a true warrior, Rodan was Starscream
- Pacing was great
- Most G Movies I complain too much human focus, not enough monster time. KoM had that Balance I wanted
- Most humans were tolerable
- Monster fights top notch
- Music was flawless
- Action scenes superb
- Amazing Ending
- No cons I can think of

I don't know why some didn't like this movie. I personally give it an 12 out of 10

This, I love King of the Monsters I thought it was fan service at it's finest a near perfect Godzilla film. I was wishing the creative team behind it got to do GvK and the future U.S. Godzilla flicks.

[CosmiComic]

Not me. King of the Monsters is my personal favorite Godzilla Movie. If I got my own movie theater and could only pick one movie to watch on it, it'd be King of the Monsters

- By far my favorite designs for Ghidorah, Rodan, and Godzilla
- Ghidorah was scary, Godzilla was a true warrior, Rodan was Starscream
- Pacing was great
- Most G Movies I complain too much human focus, not enough monster time. KoM had that Balance I wanted
- Most humans were tolerable
- Monster fights top notch
- Music was flawless
- Action scenes superb
- Amazing Ending
- No cons I can think of

I don't know why some didn't like this movie. I personally give it an 12 out of 10

The humans were tolerable but not great. A lot of them could've been cut. The best one, Dr. Serizawa, died. Plus, too many fights were in the dark.

Otherwise, it was pretty good, due to all those things you pointed out. Except Mothra dying again for the 1000000th time, and Rodan getting whooped too easily and never actually teaming up with Godzilla