Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah

And yes I do pronounce it the Cinemassacre way.

Well crap, this is the end. It's such a strange thing to see this series end, I think it has the most definitive ending of all the era's and to think it ended not too long after I was born. It was Godzilla's 40th anniversary and Toho decided to let the king of the monsters end seemingly for good. Needless to say this was a huge deal, even here in the States where we weren't even getting any of these movies until a bit later Godzilla's end made world news. The impact of the film is certainly monumental, but how's the actual movie? Very very good, it's not my absolute favorite of this era probably cause it just puts me in a downer mood but I can't deny the quality. I've heard tale that the production for this movie specifically for the special effects side, which was rushed and had to be completed quite quickly yet I hardly glimpsed any faults. The suits, animatronics, miniatures, all that good jazz looked pretty great. But onto the story, a massive nuclear test has occured making Godzilla become oversaturated with nuclear energy and his body is basically on it's way to meltdown, now you know why the burning Godzilla was such a show stopper in King Of The Monsters, and he only has a few days before he literally Death Stars the entire planet. Meanwhile an organism mutated from the actual oxygen destroyer from the original film starts running amok, now you know why I had to point that out in Biollante, and I find it appropriate that Godzilla has to face a creature born from the weapon that killed the first Godzilla. We get waaaay more than that though to tie it in, Emiko is back for a brief bit once again played by Momoko Koichi who sadly passed away 3 months after the film was released, we see the son of Koichi the boy who was adopted by Professor Yamane and wow what a trip to see a picture of Takashi Shimura in this, they flat out show footage from the 54' movie and spoiler alert it's great. So really this is the book end for the entire Godzilla series, further hammering the point that it truly is the end. And it does strike that hard and true, the ending is amazing and when credits roll it showcases footage from other Godzilla movies, practically pulling an Endgame about 20 years before Endgame. I can't even fathom how much this would affect a Godzilla fan, in Japan, in the year 1995 watching the hero you've seen since you were a wee child end with no possible way to know if it would continue at all. That is the only good thing the 1998 film did, it shit the bed so hard that Toho immediately took back the rights and got a new Godzilla series started up in 1999. Thank God things are better now, not only in terms of american produced Godzilla movies but just the ability to watch these movies. Exactly two Godzilla movies got a theatrical release in my lifetime, Godzilla 2000 and Shin Godzilla. The only way you could see these movies was on TV, either cable or if you were lucky like me satellite, or if by the grace of the cosmos you could find tapes of the various movies only two of which I know of in this series, 1985 and Biollante. Beyond that you were screwed. Granted I had a decent collection of Godzilla movies on both VHS and DVD, but my lord man the fact you can get all the Showa movies on one incredible collection by the Criterion Collection shows how far we've come. And I genuinely have not seen many of the Showa movies so if I have the opportunity and get that collection, we may have a month of Godzilla movies. Christ I should probably get it cause it would include King Kong Vs. Godzilla, which I have to review before the new movie, so be on the lookout. The hero from the land of the rising sun might just be on the horizon. I give this movie 4 stars, another 8/10, great ending to a series and you know what's coming next.

Godzilla Vs. Space Godzilla

That was mighty good I must admit.

Yet another entry of the Heisei series I never watched much. However I think this is one of the best of this series, both the monster story and human story are done great, with the military still on a giant robot binge as they craft Mogera a classic kaiju from the 60s in The Mysterians with a great updated look, while somehow Godzilla's cells somehow traveled into space where they mutated into a space monster. Now full truth, Space Godzilla looks super rad! I think he has an awesome design and the way the effects are handled are sometimes jaw dropping. This film showcases Miki the most out of all the Heisei series so far, I mean before she was always a witness to the destruction but after her stand in the climax of the last movie they give her more attention. And I am all for that, I think she's class and I love what she did with her hair. Plus the baby is back, and somehow I don't know how he is 1000% cuter than he was before. I didn't think it was possible for me to love him more but here we are. The poor kid gets kidnapped too which you better believe sent me over the edge, I emmited a very dramatic and moderately loud "Nooooo!!" when he was taken. You do not touch the baby and if you do then I will marshall all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide. Not my wee boy. So you bet your ass I was strapped into this plot something fierce when Godzilla and Mogera go to beat Space Godzilla and rescue the baby. And maybe I just never noticed before but when the climax kicks off there's like roughly 45 minutes left of film and the movie is close to 2 hours, so you get a truly spectacular boss battle. I'm telling you the final fights for each subsequent movie from this series has only kept improving each time. The effects they do with the crystal spires, Mogera, the explosions are a feast to the eyes and easily made my jaw drop. I have zero clue how they pulled this off so well. What a great movie. It kind of breaks my heart we only have one left and it no doubt will put me in a mood but it must be done. 4 stars, 8/10, fantastic work by all those involved! See you tomorrow for the end.

Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II

Don't worry about the 2, it's not really a sequel.

Full disclosure, I have never seen this Godzilla movie before, the closest I got was when I was probably 11 or 10 and I happened to catch it on satellite late one night but I was a lightweight then just as much now and fell asleep before I even got 20 minutes in, so that means I had to find a copy so once more we have an english dub. And I find that a shame as I consider this one of the strongest entries for the Heisei series. Sure the plot isn't too involved, the government salvages the head of Mecha-King Ghidorah and uses it as a template to craft Mechagodzilla to protect Japan from the big G, and meanwhile an egg is discovered after a sighting of Rodan which leads to a much needed update for Godzilla's son. And that's pretty much all you need to know, it's so straightforward and yet has enough action and personality to the humans to keep you fully engaged all the way. The effects are pretty spectacular in terms of the miniatures and the creature suit for Godzilla Jr. or as everyone affectionately calls him Baby, and sweet heavenly snow....I want him. The internet has failed me for the last time, you had this precious little one in your midst for decades but little Grogu was the first on your radar. Get off my planet. I love him. I'd destroy worlds for this wee babe, he means more to me than you will ever know. Pretty much all the designs are really really damn good. Rodan looks pretty good, Godzilla looks awesome as usual, and Mechagodzilla while I do like this design it couldn't top the 70s one for me. But that's okay, he gets a lot of action screen time in this, hell it's easily the most action packed entry of the entire series thus far, you really get your money's worth. I have no real idea why it took me so long to finally sit down and watch it but I am thrilled that I did. One of the best finales in the Heisei series, decent human characters, easy yet enjoyable plot, excellent effects, you really can't go wrong with this. One bit I want to throw out before we wrap this up is even though this is an english dub, they pronounce Rodan the japanese way not the american way, they call him Radon and I'm not sure why but I very much like that. It's just not often you get real japanese in international dubs. But moving on, 4 stars, 7.5/10, a very strong entry but we only have two left. And I sense great sadness in the future.

Godzilla Vs. Biollante

That time again, and no doubt will occur again in the future.

Like I said, I'm backing my corner so I will be finishing up the Heisei series of Godzilla films this week before Godzilla Vs. Kong hits theaters. Since I already reviewed Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah we'll take this in roughly chronological order of the series starting with the underrated and at one point most fan popular Godzilla film ever, Godzilla Vs. Biollante. Now me personally I have nothing against this movie. I think it has a lot of creativity and is one of the most unique Godzilla films to date. Do I consider it underrated? No. Good yes, but not underrated. The film's plot I must say is one of the most involved plots of the Godzilla series, taking place 5 years after 1984 with a scientist who for some inexplicably and no doubt insane reason has combined his deceased daughter's DNA with plant cells which come into making the kaiju of the movie later on, meanwhile a foreign nation is trying to get it's hands on Godzilla cells for their own economic purposes and the Japanese government not only trying to prevent that but mount a defense when Godzilla eventually returns. Now on one hand I could moan about how the plot really isn't Godzilla focused and how he almost seems to take a back seat in terms of plot in his own movie, and yet I don't mind. I was interested in everything going on, I wasn't bored or checking my watch to see when the monsters would pop up, now that might not necessarily be what a new fan of Godzilla wants but I consider this movie more for the seasoned fan. The plot goes off in an entirely new and interesting direction than what you would see during the Showa era, and even I must admit there is still plenty I have not seen during that era. Also considering this movie series has very strong continuity between films when even a direct sequel to the first Mechagodzilla movie was loose at best, you appreciate it much more. It was just not normal to have continuity and recurring characters in any movie series, now sure it's damn near expected and will be criticized if it doesn't, so you have to acknowledge that kind of story telling in that corner of time and place in the world. The effects are much improved over 1984 which already had great production values, Godzilla looks even more amazing, the ingenuity and production of Biollante in all it's forms is incredible I dare even say she is one of the all time best designed monsters in this entire series, the miniatures look grand, the battles though more sparse still entertain, and again I have to give credit to the plot for doing something completely different and in my eyes succeed at. It's a really good entry, it's no masterpiece but I couldn't say it was a waste of time. Now I will point out one thing before we wrap up because this swept my legs clean out and I just wanna know, why the hell was there the oxygen destroyer from the 1954 film sitting in the corner of a side character's room? Either that was some hardcore foreshadowing of this series, or just a nice little nod to the original. You decide. 3.5 stars, 7.5/10, you can go back and read my King Ghidorah review and tomorrow Mothra will be joining the party.

Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah

Ah, memories.

Yes the Heisei fan favorite is quite possibly my most watched Godzilla film, way back when I was a kid I had the fortune of having this new thing called satellite cable and I had access to many movie channels beyond HBO and back then Starz and Encore had a fair share of Godzilla movies and this was one I taped along with the Super Mario Bros. Movie and Clue, I still have the tape and it's something I still treasure. This movie along with Godzilla 2000 were the big ones I watched when I was younger. So it's no surprise I really love this movie and it hasn't lost any of it's appeal or entertainment value in the subsequent 15+ years. The story is one of the most unique in the Godzilla series where a UFO sighting leads a group of national government authorities to make contact with not aliens but people from the 23rd century who seek to wipe Godzilla out from existence through time travel. The movie gives an interesting new take on Godzilla's origins where he was originally a dinosaur on one of the islands in the Pacific that were used for the H-bomb testing grounds, and future installments take some of that to heart, even the 2014 movie a little bit. So they reverse the polarity of the neutron flow and travel back to 1944, teleport Godzilla to the then present day of 1992, but shocking twist the humans from the future are bad guys and create King Ghidorah in Godzilla's place which they use to level Japan and our heroes have to find a way to revive Godzilla and deal with the evil doing humans. There's more twists and turns but I want you to see them for yourself. So you have an interesting and original plot, very good characters which we will talk about in a bit, quite frankly awesome special effects, and a bunch of other good things I could spend hours gushing over. I really like the characters in this movie, surprisingly though they range from a writer to government officials to humans from the 23rd century they feel very relatable. And I have to admit upon watching this movie again, I just realized that the guys from the future kinda look like Rick Astley and Donald Trump which kinda makes the movie better strangely, and if you've ever wanted to see either of those guys get their asses kicked you gotta watch this movie! I also have to applaud the continuity, not only do they bring back a few actors from Godzilla Vs. Biollante who stick around for the rest of the Heisei series but they specifically mention Biollante by name and that Godzilla is still resting from that fight. Awesome! The special effects are Heisei quality with great miniatures, fantastic monster designs, but it also doesn't skimp out on the human scenes either especially now that you got time machines and other far out future tech, it's really a great Godzilla movies even for younger kids. Yeah, it's a great movie in my eyes, the special effects are outstanding in all areas (for the most part but eh whatever), good characters, great story, and a must see for any Godzilla fan. And tomorrow we look at one more from the Millenium series before the big day!