Godzilla King Of The Monsters (2019)

Well I'm just a bubble of emotions right now!

See all I want to do is just write this movie is awesome, and amazing, and you should really go see it but I can't do that! I have to talk about it, but I want to talk about every single little thing and I can't do that either because I firmly believe in no real spoilers until at least a movie is out on video. So what the hell do I write? I'm still riding out that fangasm adrenaline and my mind is blank because it was so awesome! Well I really liked the story, it had some twists here and there, payed loving tribute to Toho's flagship series in many many ways, with lots to keep you not only interested but invested, and even if you weren't a major fan of the 2014 movie you'll probably enjoy and appreciate this one a lot. The new characters have interesting dynamics to the story and are gladly welcomed against the three alumni of the 2014 movie. The kaiju themselves have excellent designs and the fact that they throw some things only fans would notice showed that Toho actually had some weight to the production beyond just licensing Godzilla. Now that I think about it, this is the second Toho movie I've done in the theater, so hey great year for them and me! The action is well shot and gets you all kinds of fired up, with never a dull moment even in the human scenes. I'm not sure how this will segueway into Godzilla Vs. Kong, but I am even more interested and excited for that movie now! It's a really good movie, I personally just loved it, but Godzilla is a very niche market even in Japan. He has his dedicated fans all around the world, and I hope this movie creates more. There was a lot of love in the theater for the other monsters than Godzilla, especially Mothra and that makes me very happy and proud of all these creative minds that came up with such fantastic creature, their look, their personalities and history, and the practical effects that made them become reality for people of every nationality and language to love and enjoy. Despite what people may tell you, Godzilla is for everyone and it just takes an open imagination and a big heart for monsters to make you a die hard fan. 65 years running strong, long live the king.

GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

Well hell's bells, I guess I got so excited for today I forgot to post the damn review yesterday!

Yeah we'll just call it GMK so I don't have to spend 40 years writing this review, because this title is absurd.

You wanna know the whole title? Godzilla, Mothra, And King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack....just rolls off the tongue. It must be a thing in Japan because I remember another title, for a Castlevania game and the full title was Devil's Castle Dracula X Rondo Of Blood. Jesus. But long ass titles aside, I love this movie! I absolutely love this movie from beginning to end and everything in between, this is a fantastic Godzilla movie! It takes such a different approach to the Godzilla series in just about every way and yet it works so well. The story takes a much more mystic quality to it, with the appearance of Godzilla as a malevolent force of the past which they essentially explain as the souls of the dead that were subjugated by Japan during World War 2 so it's basically a ghost or phantom Godzilla. But hey the japanese sure do their ghost stories a little too well so I don't mind it. And pretty soon other monsters appear as guardian forces of Japan who fight Godzilla, and these include the monsters Baragon, Mothra, and...King Ghidorah. Wait, what? Ghidorah is like the ultimate Godzilla villain, it's like if Gotham City had the Joker protecting the city from Batman. Yeah. Weird. But they integrate a new mythology around these monsters so it's not the same world destroying space dragon we know and love, they've been guardian spirits of Japan for millenia and I really dig that! Japan is deeply rooted in religion and more supernatural myths and stories, so it makes sense they would take that approach and hell I'm surprised they haven't done it sooner! So it's three on one for the Big G but he ain't going down without a fight and it gets good I can tell you that much. I could spend all day just praising this movie, so I'll try to keep it brief. The special effects are great, they still use suitmation and models but even the instances of CG are done really well, and with such modern looking sets you could argue it looks better than ever. The designs for the kaiju are excellent, Godzilla has a more stocky hunched over physique with blank white eyes that give such menace to him, Mothra has a sleek and colorful design and is the best Mothra design I've seen yet, Baragon hasn't changed that much from the 60s but he still looks great and even a bit cute, and Ghidorah has also not changed much but all the characters have such a stylized look to them that works incredibly well. The music is a little too good if I'm honest, you know that one brief music piece from Godzilla 2000 that I just loved to death? Well this is that magnified by 1000, this soundtrack is stellar, I love it to the moon and back, you don't even hear the traditional Godzilla theme until the end credits but the new themes work and each one is memorable and awesome! I really love the human story too, though that might slightly be because our main character is a total massive cutie pie yumness! But I digress, all the characters are interesting and fun and just the fact that the story focuses on a young girl and her single father is just so new and different, just....ugh love it!! 10/10! 100/100! Best film! BEST FILM. I haven't been this pumped for a Godzilla movie in a long time and what better way to go out before Godzilla King Of The Monsters! If I have to guess, I would say the new Godzilla movie would be a combination of both Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster and GMK, but we shall see. Until then G-Fans, stay strong.

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!

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.

Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964)

Ohhhh yeahhhh!!

You knew it was coming, there's a new Godzilla movie out Friday it's time again to dive into the kaiju action! And we start with one of the shining films of the early Showa era, a beloved fan favorite, and it deserves the credit. Godzilla Vs. Mothra is a great movie in the Godzilla series, with excellent production design, a good human story, a pretty good share of both monster and military action, with the return of the winged goddess herself Mothra and one of the best designed Godzilla suits ever made. This does have sentimental value for me cause waaaaay back, before I was even 9 years old I owned this movie and three other Godzilla movies on DVD, so watching it again not only put a smile on my face but brought back good memories. It has a simple story but it's more about execution than really anything in a kaiju movie, a massive monster eggs gets swept away in a typhoon and lands on japanese soil, and a greedy buisnessman takes possesion of the egg even after he's made well aware it's the egg of Mothra. People all over the city wonder what the egg could contain and that's where our main characters come in who are reporters, but soon Godzilla emerges and causes devestation in his wake while our heroes try to get Mothra to fight him. So it's one of the good entries of the series where the humans have a significant stance on the story and it doesn't feel like filler. The monster side of things is exemplary, with better production value after Toho gained major financial results after King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the Godzilla suit itself has one of it's best redesigns already after a great design in the last, and the sets and miniatures are greatly done and most of them are in broad daylight with little to no faults in them. Mothra herself is a formidable opponent for Godzilla and isn't a pushover, with a lovely design and as far to my knowledge the first instance of her theme which is wonderful and only got better in the Heisei series in my opinion. Plus you can't bring up Mothra without mentioning her twin fairies that she guards, and the way they handle the special effects of their mini size must be commended, and I wonder if they will take some shape or form in the new Godzilla movie. It's a fan favorite and highly regarded for a reason, it does everything right in all aspects and entertains everybody regardless of age. You can obtain a copy of the movie easily on Amazon, or you can rent it, or if you know the right places watch it for free and it's worth it. The copy I reviewed was the japanese version, though I had the english dub way back in the day and I think both versions are very good. The next one we talk about however is one even I haven't got to which is surprising because it is the movie that introduced not only Godzilla's archnemesis but also the monster rumble we would see in many other future sequels. Until next time G-fans!

I Despise The Living....

Yeah this has been coming for a while. So I got a new job that pays really well, I had a great place to work with decent hours. I could wake up, go to work, and still have time to either come home or go to the movies and write reviews, so that's why most of the new movie releases had their reviews posted much later in the day. I am always about seeing movies bright and early, not only for price but also seat convenience and other pros. It worked. But something that was out of my power and control went down, and they had to move me. Still have the job, still have the good pay, but now the hours suck. After I wake up I have 2 to 3 hours to watch a movie and write the review, I get to my job just a bit after noon and don't get home until about 11:00 at night. It is a time waster of epic proportions. Now everything in life is a time waster, it's just that some things are actually worth wasting time on specifically stuff you love to do. Read a book, go see a movie, play a game, if it matters to you and you really love it then it's not a time waster. Thankfully I have weekends off but you can see the toll this will take on seeing new movies, the earliest showings for any new movie is about 10:00 in the morning, and that's totally fine if I had reliable transportation. Hopefully I can get a car but I don't have one now, if I did I'd probably be okay but it just sucks. I wanted to see just two movies over the last week, Booksmart and Brightburn. I have no idea when I'll get to them. Cause I need to dedicate the weekend for something special next week! I'm very excited for it and it will take the whole week to do, hopefully I can get Friday off or most of Friday off so I can actually go to the movies. And after that we're back on a decent schedule for reviews but Booksmart and Brightburn will have to wait until mid-June if they're even still out . It's just aggravating that I have no time to do what I need to do here. It's a very special thing because it's not a job, not really, it is but I watch movies for crying out loud. It's pretty awesome so I don't feel like there's this classic work vs. fun dynamic here because it's both. I just feel I'm wasting countless days of my life for absolutely no reason, and if there is one thing I despise in this world it is the wasting of time! And all due to nonsensical humans. To quote one of my favorite cartoons, "I despise the living, curse them all.". Ugh, hopefully it gets better next week with a more open schedule, I just felt it was important to tell everybody because it is something that affects the reviews. Thank the Endless I plan ahead at least one month in advance, so I'm not grabbing at straws every week on what to review. Just bare with me for a tiny bit and we'll get back on track, no matter what it costs me. Thanks for listening to me rant I guess, you know how much I appreciate you, and I can only hope that life gets better for everybody. See you guys next week.

Rilakkuma and Kaoru

Best show. BEST SHOW!

No show has the right to be this good! Rilakkuma And Kaoru takes three great loves of my life and makes something amazing with it, you got stop motion animation, japanese culture, and a unique take on the slice of life genre. It's such a pleasant, nice, even comforting series that you can watch on Netflix and the only bad thing I could ever say about is that it is too short. Literally every episode save the finale is barely over 10 minutes long and there's only 13 episodes, meaning you can watch the whole show in the span of a 2 hour movie. And you know what? I don't think there is a better enjoyment of 2 hours of your life. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this series. The animation is excellent, with at least one incredible atmospheric shot in each episode that's....oh! It's sublime! The characters are all memorable and very lovable, Kaoru is a middle aged woman who works at a company in Tokyo and inexplicably lives with a bear in a big blue apartment, actually two bears and a bird, and they just live their life. The whole season takes place over the course of a full year from the cherry blossom festival in springtime all the way to the winter season and then back again. Kaoru is just your average person, she works at an office most of the day and life kinda gets her down but she finds solace and love in her home with her roomates. Rilakkuma is a big ol' bear with a penchant for sleeping and eating, and I'm going to be real with you, if you ever wanted to know what I am like in my day to day life almost to the letter, it's Rilakkuma in this show. Like 95% of what he does and what he is like is me. In fact it's kinda scary how accurate it is to be really honest. Are you watching me japanese creators? Cause I love what you're doing. Then we have a slightly smaller bear named Korilakkuma who is kinda like the baby of the group and is absurdly adorable. And last but not least we have Kaoru's bird Kiiroitori who has been with Kaoru the longest and is an energetic bird who loves to clean and wander about. All these characters are immediately lovable and held very dear, and none of them act rude or be little brats, they all get along well and live their lives as friends. I also like how it's kind of it's own thing and there are little odd things and peculiar traits but you roll with it anyway. Like how no one bats an eye that a woman is living with two bears, or how she can understand the bears and her bird even though we never really get a translation of what they're saying, or why there's a zipper on the back of Rilakkuma I mean he's a real bear he just has changeable fur suits. Just little things like that do so much for the charm of the show. And that's what the show is, charming. I am so charmed by this show, I love how it balances sort of fantasy and reality because some things happen that happen in real life, like friends moving away, having to find a new home, how work can drain you, how sometimes you need to find work in order to live, but it's not you know crushing reality setting in and the more fantastical elements go away. It's just life, there's good, there's bad, there's outstanding victories and crushing defeats, but if you have more good memories and good days more than the bad then you come out on top when all is said and done. I could think of much much worse things to do with two hours of your life than watch this show. It is sweet, loving, charming, and a very good reminder that life isn't always that bad. It made me cry in the last episode but I assure you that it was tears of bittersweet joy. I am begging that somebody, anybody, everybody not only watches this show but wants more just as much as I do. I will no doubt be watching this show many, many, many times in the future. I give this show a sterling 12/10.