Godzilla (2014)

Honestly all the trailers so far have done nothing but make me even more excited for this movie. I have a feeling this is what the Godzilla franchise needs in order to start off again.

Does it seem that the new Godzilla is fatter than the previous incarnations?

First Fat Elvis, now Fat Godzilla?

After crushing the competition this past weekend (pun intended), looks like there's talk of a sequel: Warners, Legendary Plan "Godzilla" Sequel

kongisking said:

Well, damn! Can Mr. Brody please regale us with tales of his exploits combating radioactive monsters? Pretty please?

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No such tale here but I do have a quick aside about a locale in the film.

Last week I was in Manila and out for an early run. I'm running along a busy street and come up on a big line waiting to be served at a breakfast cart under some scaffolding (in Manila for some high rise construction massive scaffolding covers the whole road, like a viaduct, with supports on either side). I have no clear path through the crowd or around the supports and I'm making like Jason Gordon-Levitt in Premium Rush trying to figure a way through without breaking stride. In the middle of the line, a tall clean shaven Asian guy looks back and sees my predicament. Loudly he calls out "On your left!" (even though I was coming up on the right of the line).

The people in the line looked where he was looking and saw me coming and they obligingly grouped closer together to give me clear passage. I gave the guy a nod and thanks and kept going.

Pretty cool moment (which I attribute to Winter Soldier) to have in a city that just saw anti-Americana protests the week before.

As for Godzilla, even though this Joe Brody was a big fan of (i) Ultra-Man, (ii) the original films (loved those singing twins), and (iii) the short-lived Marvel Godzilla comic from the late '70's, I can't be called a fan and haven't followed the film but I'm glad to see it's doing better than the last one.

I got a few small naps in during "Godzilla." But it's okay: I was awake for the 10 minutes "starring" Bryan Cranston, and the 10 minutes featuring the titular lizard.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson played an underwear model that is mistaken for being a lead in a major motion picture.

"You know there was no Godzilla, right?"

The People Who Think ?Godzilla? Is Based On A True Story

By Josh Kurp / 05.20.14

The original Godzilla movie came out in 1954, less than a decade after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This wasn?t a coincidence: according to producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, ?The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind.? In a sense, Godzilla was inspired by a true story, but no, a giant nuclear lizard didn?t stomp around Toyko while men in hats screamed, ?Gojira!?

As Jimmy Kimmel Live! found out, not everyone knows this.

Godzilla made $93 million during its opening weekend here in the United States. So we went out onto Hollywood Blvd and asked people this question: considering Godzilla is based on the true story of the giant lizard attack on Tokyo that killed more than 100,000 people in 1954, do you think it is wrong that Hollywood glamorizes this event for entertainment? (Via)

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As always, Kimmel could be TOTALLY PRANKING US, BRO, but I choose to believe it?s real, like when King Kong climbed the Empire State Building. That actually happened.

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http://uproxx.com/tv/2014/05/meet-the-people-who-think-godzilla-is-based-on-a-true-story/

I dunno, people, I really loved this. The 'foreplay' element didn't bother me. And that's likely because I actually did like the human characters and their story. I don't get the hate for Taylor-Johnston here. He was in no way wooden. He's playing a character who is 1) a soldier, and 2) likely emotionally repressed from his past trauma. Made total sense for him to be more reserved than his co-stars. I don't think his less-flamboyant acting made him boring. His actions spoke louder than his words. Dude's a straight-up hero. He won my respect with his actions on the train. It's probably just me feeling starved for truly noble heroes nowadays, so I actually liked this dude. And his dramatic moments were all well-played.

Cranston is, well, Cranston: excellently hammy. And the scene in the opening with his wife both reminded me of Wrath of Khan and was fantastically performed. Truly tragic **** there. Ken Watanabe is enigmatic and interesting as Serizawa, and I don't think he's overtly in favor of the monsters like some say: he's just in awe of them, and respects them as forces of nature that we have ZERO business trying to manipulate. And yet, I also sympathized with the military trying to save innocents. Good grey areas there. Elizabeth Olsen probably gets the least to do, but she can cry well (yes, make whatever gross sexual jokes you guys want).

And when the monsters do appear, its tremendously awe-inspiring and scary. The scene at the Golden Gate bridge with Godzilla...that was ****ing visceral. And I was very pleased by the Mutos. I feared they would be too generic of enemies, but Edwards gives them a few nice moments showing that they are intelligent creatures too. And yes...that climax was incredible. Especially the atomic breath's reveal. One of the greatest moments in Godzilla history.

Overall, very well done. Took itself seriously and treated this like the epic horrifying event it would be. Good cast, amazing effects, and I even liked the back-story of the creatures in the movie. It all meshed very nicely. This was great, folks.

For anyone curious, here's my proper review of the movie from my YouTube channel (its also a pilot video to try out a new concept for a review series to supplant Minnesota Anthony, which is proving too time-consuming to be made regularly):

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kongisking said:

I dunno, people, I really loved this.

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It was pretty good. In some ways better than I expected

kongisking said:

And the scene in the opening with his wife both reminded me of Wrath of Khan and was fantastically performed. Truly tragic **** there.

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That opening scene really set up the seriousness of the situation, and the direction the film was going to take. The struggle to save his wife with time running out, and those final moments were harrowing, when you consider that that is what real horror is.

From then on it felt like a disaster movie with genuine peril rather than a kooky monster movie. For me, the opening earned itself a reality for all the death and destruction that followed.

kongisking said:

And when the monsters do appear, its tremendously awe-inspiring and scary. The scene at the Golden Gate bridge with Godzilla...that was ****ing visceral. And I was very pleased by the Mutos. I feared they would be too generic of enemies, but Edwards gives them a few nice moments showing that they are intelligent creatures too. And yes...that climax was incredible. Especially the atomic breath's reveal. One of the greatest moments in Godzilla history.

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Monsters were definitely good. Everything I liked about Cloverfield, but without the constantly swaying camera. The scene with the atomic breath, at first I thought Godzilla was going to pay homage to King Kong and break the MUTO's jaws. Might have been a nod to it, before going for a different kill.

kongisking said:

Overall, very well done. Took itself seriously and treated this like the epic horrifying event it would be. Good cast, amazing effects, and I even liked the back-story of the creatures in the movie. It all meshed very nicely. This was great, folks.

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What also set up the seriousness were the credits at the beginning. The newspaper clippings, the archive footage, and those censored messages. They disappeared so fast it took a while going frame-by-frame to read them all.

I'm really glad you liked it, Smiffy. I too thought Godzilla was going to tear a page from Kong's book with the MUTO there. What he did instead was...better.

kongisking said:

I'm really glad you liked it, Smiffy. I too thought Godzilla was going to tear a page from Kong's book with the MUTO there. What he did instead was...better.

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He went where Kong couldn't follow.

If you buy into the concept of the film, as I quickly did, there were some awe-inspiring moments. Even simple moments such as Godzilla seen from above passing under the ship. Reminiscent of the terror I felt as a child seeing Jaws for the first time!

Those news captions at the end declaring Godzilla to be "King of the Monsters" would make a potential Godzilla vs. Kong awkward. Which hero to back?