King Kong Vs. Godzilla

I find it so bizzare that the Criterion Collection release has the english dub and not the original japanese release. Cause every other film is in native japanese so it's the black sheep of the set.

However I found out, 45 minutes into the american dub by the by, that it does include the japanese cut. On the bonus disc. And I will state right now I am so happy I watched the japanese version, now obviously I don't have a stigma toward english dubs of Godzilla movies, they practically introduced me to this genre, nor am I a snob and say, "Well the japanese version is obviously better." but I had way more fun and got more enjoyment out of it in the japanese cut. Like I said, I haven't seen most of the Showa era films so I have no nostalgic ties to english dubs, and I mainly want to experience it how audiences in Japan would have. So that's my whole tangent on that, how's the movie? Absurd but highly entertaining, a classic in it's own right, not only the most attended Godzilla film ever but one of the most succesful box office films in japanese cinematic history. The story involves a pharmaceutical company who hear of a specific berry found on an island, and quickly find out the island is home to King Kong. Meanwhile the iceberg that contained Godzilla for 7 years melts away and the king of the monsters does what he does best. Somehow, I don't know or never will know how, they craft a raft for Kong and bring him to the mainland and pretty soon the bets are on to see who wins the fight of the century. There's more to it of course, even a fair amount of satire produced by Ishiro Honda concerning television programmes and their sponsors which is pretty sad to say it still holds up all this time later. I dare you to say television companies wouldn't capitalize on two monsters brawling. But despite it's more outlandish moments like Kong being transported via weather balloon, or the fact that when the, and I want you to pay attention here, pharmaceutical company meets the natives of Kong's island and gives them cigarettes including to a child, or that electricity powers King Kong up and I quote, "Like Popeye with his spinach", it's still a very good and greatly entertaining film. The effects look great, from the octopus attack that literally was done by a real octopus, to the miniatures, this Godzilla suit is my third favorite from the Showa Era, and while Kong looks like ass it still works for me. And I wasn't twiddling my thumbs waiting for the human scenes to end, I thought the human plot was quite good and I do like these characters. It's a hit for sure, but I think maybe even more so than the 70s Godzilla movies, this is the movie where it depends the most on how far you can stretch your suspension of disbelief. If you can't roll with even a smidge of what I disclosed to you here, you're not gonna like it even a bit. If you can, oh boy you gonna have a real grand time good buddy. I loved it, truthfully and fully, I can't wait to see what they do with it in the new one, I'm so happy I own it. 4 stars, 8/10! Rematch, here we come.

You Only Live Twice

It's sort of a toss up between this and Goldfinger as my favorite Connery film.

You Only Live Twice is a amazing entry in the series despite the behind the scenes drama and this being the last we'll see of Connery in the role...kinda. The story follows Bond as he fakes his death for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, and starts working more undercover to find out exactly how and why several spacecraft from both America and Russia have disappeared which leads him to Japan to face off against SPECTRE one more time. The film already gets brownie points for being in Japan but regardless the story is one of the finer early entries in the series, with very good pacing, characters, and a true sense that it attempts and succeeds the climax of Thunderball. Before we talk performances this has to be brought up, Sean Connery gives a very muted performance and it was during the production of this film that he decided not to return again as James Bond. He became very disillusioned with the role and hated he didn't have any privacy during the shoot in Japan, which I can fully understand and I hold no grievance or ill will towards him for his decision. Even when you can tell his heart is not really in the performance this time around, he still has good shining moments and as his currently last bout as 007, he still does very fine work. We have a double dose of Bond girls with Akika Wakabayashi as japanese agent Aki, and Mie Hama as Bond's wife (more on that later) with both actresses doing very good work despite not being fluent in English at the time and work very well alongside Connery. Tetsuro Tanba as Tiger Tanaka is another highly welcome addition to the list of allies in this series and is a joy to watch bantering with James. We have another Fiona Vulpe-esque villain this time played by Karen Dor who while not having much screentime is still memorable and fun to watch, with special love going to her acting with a certain white cat loving mastermind. Yes, this is the movie where we finally come face to face with SPECTRE #1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played to perfection by Donald Pleasence, and it sort of further pushes the fact that this feels like a finale to the series in some ways as we finally face off with the villain that has been plaguing James since 1964 and I love everything about it. What I do not love is the filmmaker's decision to make Bond undergo plastic surgery to look like a japanese fisherman. I can't even believe what I just wrote. Why?? It serves no purpose, he has plastic surgery done to him which apparently comes right off after a dip in the ocean, takes a "wife" who is just Kissy another agent working for Tanaka, it makes less than zero sense and it's filler if I've ever seen it. However on a more positive note, the film looks great as we sample both urban and rural areas of Japan, with plenty of little touches of their culture throughout. Apparently Ian Fleming grew quite fond of the country and had a great curiosity and affinity for japanese culture while he was writing the novel of the same name, and you get a good sense of that in this film which of course I love. Plus it doesn't hurt that not only does this film have one of the most incredible sets ever produced in cinematic history but the volcano lair siege is most likely the best and most large scale climax we'll see for the entire series. Everything about that set was real, no matte paintings, no models, no trick photography, just a legit massive set with working monorail, simulated rocket takeoff, and control center that cost one million pounds then but would cost lord knows how much if they did it the same way. It is astounding, and I feel it was a crime tearing down Ken Adam's remarkable set after filming wrapped. The script was written by Roald Dahl who some might know for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James And The Giant Peach, who I felt did incredibly well and the director Lewis Gilbert knew how to shoot this movie with both excellent action sequences and gorgeous scenery. Excellent movie with only two hiccups in the grand scheme of things, and despite Connery's clear lack of caring at certain points his performance is really good. A slightly flawed movie that still rivals the gold standard. 4 stars, 8/10! So this was it for Sean Connery, the man who countless individuals claimed IS James Bond, so what do you do after the star has left to pursue other parts? Well we'll find out next time with the one hit wonder James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster

I love this week.

Ghidrah The Three-Headed Monster set a massive precedent for the series, not only giving us the ultimate villain to Godzilla, not only slowly making Godzilla a hero, but also giving us the monster bash formula. This isn't a verus movie where it's one on one, we have 4 monsters just going at it in awesome and unique ways which I'll get to later. The plot is a more interesting tale than usual, with a Princess of...some nationality, I'm not quite sure what that's about because, Japan is a parliamentary government much like Great Britain and though they do have an Emperor it's more for ceremony, and they keep bringing up that she's japanese, so I have no clue how that works. Then again, I'm trying to bring logic in a movie where men fight in rubber monster suits so maybe I shouldn't think about it too hard. Even more evidence to that fact, the Princess is soon taken over by an alien host I...think, it's kinda hard to tell, who can predict the future and says a world destroying space dragon is soon to arrive in Japan. Some more reporters take notice of this and try to get Mothra to help again to defend the Earth since both Godzilla and Rodan have no real love for humans. Oh it gets weirder! It's a lot of weirdness to digest but I swear to you what I write next is not a joke, with nary a drop of exaggeration or comedic intent, it is the hard truth. Mothra's twin fairies appear on a television talk show and not only do they have the whole audience go on a mental journey unlike Ace Ventura in When Nature Calls but also pals around with our reporters and agrees to call Mothra in to help team Godzilla and Rodan together. This. Is. Amazing. Yet it works, like my biggest hold up was the whole talk show thing like why, how, are they Mothra's managers, what is happening?? But the human story isn't half bad and is original if nothing else! The monster side of things mostly doesn't kick off for awhiles but they spend their time wisely on each monster, Godzilla and Rodan fight for a bit like bickering siblings before Mothra comes in and gets them to play nice. But I like it, it's entertaining and even kinda got me pumped in a few instances! Rodan does a spectacular literal flying body slam and that was the highlight for me. Rodan alone is pretty badass in this movie, floors Ghidrah's ass, takes some atomic breath to the face and doesn't even blink, he's pretty awesome. Mothra is still a larva in this movie so she isn't really a match for Ghidrah on her own, but I surprisingly find her flipping adorable in this movie. I don't know, but just the fact she kinda gets carried up a hill by Godzilla and piggy back rides on Rodan just puts such a huge smile on my face, it's the sappiest most outrageous thing ever but I just love it. Godzilla also plays a mean game of volleyball with Rodan but I'm getting off track here. And Godzilla's design is still very good, riding the edge of hero of Japan and symbol of nuclear destruction, and it works quite well. And then we have our title character Ghidrah who is one of the most impressively designed both in art and execution kaiju ever, and a perfect antagonist to Godzilla for decades to come, golden scaled, massive size, devastating gravity beams, and the noticeable inclusion of three heads make this monster world known. There's also some other things I wanted to point out before we wrap this review up, we actually are given a new song by the fairies and it's an awful nice song and honestly could be covered today in Japan and be played on the radio but that's something I expect from the Ito sisters who were popular singers in Japan during this time and it kinda saddens me how this was their last Godzilla movie. We also have a Toho alumni, inbetween appearances of Kurosawa's movies Takashi Shimura! I was stunned to see him again in a Godzilla movie though he doesn't play the same character in the original and Godzilla Raids Again, I didn't care it was just great to see him again! So yeah Ghidrah is one of the more out there entries but it's hard not to enjoy, it has an interesting story, good characters, and some creative and great monster rumbles. Again I saw this as the original japanese version, I had to get a free weekly trial of Starz to review it and they actually have a very good selection of the Showa era and is only missing 5 out of the first 15 so it's worth it. Next time we jump all the way to 1991 with quite possibly my most watched Godzilla movie of all time.