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Post by Shonokin on Feb 11, 2005 14:24:46 GMT -8
I really liked it a lot. There are some moments of really weird editing that made me scratch my head and some sections of the music is terrible, but otherwise I thought it was very exciting and fun.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Feb 11, 2005 14:41:09 GMT -8
i'm looking forward to it now, so that's nice again. i think i can wait for the R3 now.
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Giganzilla
Jungle Patrol
Giant chickens with scythes, unite!
Posts: 11
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Post by Giganzilla on Feb 15, 2005 10:59:05 GMT -8
Even with all the annoying ranting at MZ, I'm still looking forward to it as well. Someone was kind enough to send me the clips from Tokyo Monsters, and everything I saw looked like a load of fun.
My only real gripe came after hearing the soundtrack - good God, some of it sounds terrible! Whatever scenes use the bad points of the soundtrack had better be nice and quick, so I don't have to deafen myself to enjoy the rest of the film.
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Post by Gwangi on Jul 3, 2005 12:28:52 GMT -8
Well, finally saw the much debated “Final Wars.” I actually liked it, but wasn’t in love with it. Here is what I liked and did not like (No spoilers included):
The positives:
1. The Godzilla suit. One of the best since the hey days of the 1960s. Why they didn’t use this suit to start out the Millennium features is beyond me.
2. Monster revivals – so many creatures and some of them were great incarnations. The Kimikaras (Gimantises) looked fantastic! And it was finally great to see the return of Rodan as we know him and not that sorry looking pteranadon that was in name only in 1993.
3. Familiar faces. I heard one reviewer saying that Akira Takarada’s character was over-the-top. Maybe so, but it was still great to see him, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. Seeing both Akira and Kumi together in the same scenes was quite fitting and their appearances were significant and not just glorified cameos.
4. Two beautiful leading actresses! During Godzilla’s Walk-of-Fame Star Ceremony, I did notice one of them dressed in traditional Japanese style. And you definitely could not take your eyes off of her!
5. The return of Minya, because it drives some die-hard Godzilla fans crazy!
Negatives:
1. The human action scenes tended to drag. And plus the fact that once again, everything is being seen through the eyes of the military. Whatever happened to using the everyman?
2. Too many things going on which muddies the plot.
3. The music score. For this one, I guess it all comes down to personal tastes. I’m so use to hearing an orchestral score for these movies, that Keith Emerson’s music felt out of place.
4. Lack of character in the monsters. While it was great seeing the return many familiar creatures, we really didn’t know much about their characteristics. I’m assuming that since we are all Godzilla fans, we know of these monsters’ history so they just left it as that.
5. And the greatest fault for this movie, was that it borrowed from way too many Hollywood features like “The Matrix”, “X-Men”, “Independence Day” and even a nod to John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, which actually, I thought came out the best.
Other intangibles. Well, Don Frye for a non-actor was not bad. Not great, but not bad either. Director Ryuhei Kitamura was influenced by the G-films of the 1970s, and that clearly reflects on some of the monster battles. I actually prefer to see that rather than two stiff, bulking creatures shooting beams at each other for about an hour!
This is just my reactionary critique. For some movies, you actually have to see them more than once to finally get a feeling you are comfortable with. I definitely need to see this again sometime.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Jul 3, 2005 13:24:22 GMT -8
good review, without acting like you have to be a moron in order to like this movie. i'm looking forward to seeing it someday!
David
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Post by Giganfan on Jul 7, 2005 10:38:12 GMT -8
I hear Gigan pretty much steals the show. Is this true?
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Post by Shonokin on Jul 7, 2005 11:50:16 GMT -8
Yes, very well put together and even-handed review, Gwanji.
I saw it on the big screen in San Francisco with a very enthusiatic crowd and I really enjoyed the movie and the whole experience. My only complaint would be that there were some very funky edits to the point of being jarring. Strangely two of the worst instances both had to do with Gigan's deaths. Other than that I thought it was a lot of fun, as it should be. The Matrix/Neo mutant evolution into a higher being thing was a real groaner though. There's not much wrong with doing homages to other movies if it is done well, such as in The Returner, but the instances in GFW were ham-handed. And yeah, some of the human fight stuff is a bit much but it didn't slow down the overall momentum of the movie for me.
It's a problematic flick and certainly isn't perfect, but it's not the Great Satan of G-movies that a lot of fans seem to think it is.
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Post by Gwangi on Jul 11, 2005 12:43:26 GMT -8
Thanks Shonokin!
I'm only now getting around reading the reviews that were published in the last G-Fan. It got mixed reactions, which doesn't surprise me, but some of the more negative reviews...my goodness, they talk as though civilization itself is about to collapse! I didn't realize one Godzilla movie yielded that much power!
Certainly, the movie does have it’s flaws and we are entitled to nitpick at it (which I even did), and I expected bad reviews, but not this harsh. For those who think it was a bad movie, well all I can say is that Godzilla will survive, he will go on. For me “Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla” was the bottom of the barrel, but the big guy continued and went on. He even survived GINO. Godzilla always comes back!
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Post by Giganfan on Jul 19, 2005 16:14:14 GMT -8
Well, as much as I don't like it, I suppose the radical new revamp of Gigan was imminent. Oh well. I can get used to it, that is if they retained his original roar/metallic shriek.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Jul 19, 2005 17:44:45 GMT -8
well, he only appeared that way once, so the original still has more clout.
David
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 28, 2005 20:54:49 GMT -8
i am about 40 minutes into this movie so far, and i really have enjoyed it. granted, i have VERY low expectations, and so far, they have been easily surpassed. i do wish the camera would slow down during some scenes, but aside from the poor fight scene between the mutants at the beginning it's been pretty good.
the monsters look great and even the music is fun. i'm no fan of ELP, but Keith has seemed to be a better music composer than prog-rock inflictor.
more as i finish the movie.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Aug 28, 2005 23:33:41 GMT -8
yes yes. still not quite done (i'm 1:48 into it, counting the two trailers) so i do think it's a little long, but i have no idea what these whiners and crybabies are complaining about. sure, some of the monster battles are short, but most of these people like the uber-powerful Godzilla, then complain when he is.
i'm really surprised at the music, as i have not minded it a bit. much better than Ko Otani's score for GMK, who would have thought that?
the suits are really cool, except perhaps for the one i want to like the most, King Shisa. he just looks weird to me, not nearly as good as 1974.
i really like this movie. the fights did get better, but still are not as good as anything the JAC has ever done. too bad!
more final thoughts tomorrow.
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Post by Shonokin on Aug 29, 2005 10:12:54 GMT -8
I agree with all of your points, including about King Shisa. He looks like a Sid & Marty Kroft creature in this. And I think most of the BGM is decent, but there's just some parts of the music that make me want to cut my own head off. Like at the beginning just before the main credits, when the camera zooms out to show the whole planet Earth and there's this Casio keyboard sounding stuff. Just too bizarre.
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Post by hman on Oct 10, 2005 7:02:25 GMT -8
I finally watched it last night. My wife stayed up until 1:20 am to watch it with me. I enjoyed it, but it was definitely...different. I'll have to watch it again before I write a long, pretentious review of it.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 10, 2005 13:47:35 GMT -8
well that should be fun. i'm gonna wait til this actually comes out on legit DVD to watch it again, i think.
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Post by RoadWarriorYajuta on Oct 11, 2005 6:36:35 GMT -8
I still want to see it.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 11, 2005 10:26:24 GMT -8
i think i can arrange that...
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Post by hman on Oct 24, 2005 8:04:20 GMT -8
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Post by RoadWarriorYajuta on Oct 25, 2005 5:29:59 GMT -8
Good review, and I agree with you. I am a Star Wars fan and it seems like diehard fans of that genre look for stuff to gripe about too. I am all for movies just being fun and liking them because you do.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Oct 25, 2005 8:03:39 GMT -8
that is true, but when so many people give movies a pass because they are "only" Godzilla movies or "only" Star Wars movies, that's wrong as well. poor movie-making should be pointed out in big budget movies or small budget movies. a big budget movie, like a Star Wars SHOULD have a great script, acting, effects, etc- it's far more forgivable for a small budget movie to lack some of those things.
anyway, FINAL WARS is pretty fun. don't know if i could call it great, but it's very enjoyable.
check your mailbox, Chad...
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Post by hman on Oct 25, 2005 17:23:01 GMT -8
My general experience with movies is the following: if I have a lot of fun with it and it keeps me involved, it's quite easy to overlook most faults. If it bores me or disappoints me in any way, than the flaws become so much perceptible. Nostalgia also makes it easier to forgive a movie's artistic flaws. I'm very lenient(sp.) with Godzilla on the whole because it is my true cinematic love (so to speak).
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