Let's all go to the movies~

[Mothra]

Godzilla was weird.

I was pretty consistently entertained the whole way through, but there was very little about it that was memorable. Oddly enough, it was great at all the things Godzilla movies are terrible at, and it was terrible at all the things Godzilla movies are great at. The result was a decent movie that is kind of the opposite of what you're probably looking for going into a Godzilla movie.

The first quarter of the movie is awesome. Brain Cranston really really should have been the one and only main character. His story is the most interesting and the most grounded, and they follow it right up until the monster appears. Then they jump ahead 15 years. We're now in America with Cranston's generic army-guy son and his generic army-guy family. The movie then becomes about the military trying to contain or kill the monsters, which I suppose is fine for a Godzilla movie, but they just spent all the time building up a vastly more interesting plot.

I hear tell this was one of those movies like Transformers 2 where the director was allowed to use real military planes and vehicles, so long as he depicts the military in a positive light. That feel about right with what goes down for the last three quarters of the movie, where Godzilla is all but besties with the military and would never dare hurt these little bug things shooting him with fire. At one point, the general orders a nuclear bomb to destroy all of San Fransico, hoping to kill all three monsters at once, and he's painted as this sympathetic military figure making The Hard Call When Things Get Tough. Ken Watanabe's character briefly tells the general his grandfather was in the Hiroshima bombing, and the general is just totally understanding while doing absolutely nothing differently. It's really weird and kind of terrible.

Ken Watanabe's Dr. Serizawa is cool, but he doesn't do anything the whole movie. He just sort of stands around and makes that face he made in the trailer at various things. Why this movie isn't just Ken Watanabe and Cranston is beyond me.

For all the buildup to the final battle, it's short and pretty bland. Godzilla bites and shoves, then uses two other, slightly sexier moves. The muto's fly around and grab at his back. It's strangely dull.

I honestly wonder if it was always planned this way, or if there was a much better movie in place, then it was changed dramatically by the studio or by money.

[Büge]

Ken Watanabe's Dr. Serizawa is cool, but he doesn't do anything the whole movie.

[Thad]

Jurassic Park: still pretty fucking great.

[Caithness]

Wow, I never realized the car was also CG in that scene.

[Mothra]

Just a quick note that the only 3D movie I've ever seen that was straight enhanced by having it was Jurassic Park 3D. Iiiit was awesome.

[Joxam]

I feel that way about the original How To Train Your Dragon. It was the first (Hugo being the second) movie I saw that used 3D as an element of the film and not a WOOOOOAAAAAH THINGS ARE FLYING OUT OF THE SCREEN WOOOOoooOOOOoOOOOO gag throughout the show.

[Lottel]

Normally when I go see a 3D movie, I basically have to take myself out of the film and go "Yeah, that looks 3D." Oddly enough, I like 3D movies more because of the glasses. See, with everyone in the glasses, everyone focuses forward at the screen. There's no looking around at other people, there's no talking, everyone is just staring and immersed because they have a physical object on their face that compels them too.
I ALMOST think that's worth the price difference.

[Thad]

[Brantly B.]

[Mothra]

YES

[MarsDragon]

I AM PREPARED FOR MORE ROBOTS

[fanboymaster]

I had prepared myself for the notion of no more Pacific Rim so this is a very good surprise.

[Thad]

[Disposable Ninja]

[Classic]

Am I the only one who was kind of hoping for a completely unexplained setting where everyone was kind of a cat person? Some kind of Rock and Rule schtick?

[Thad]

Short film, but I'm still putting it here.

[nosimpleway]

Am I the only one who was kind of hoping for a completely unexplained setting where everyone was kind of a cat person? Some kind of Rock and Rule schtick?

The vague impression I get is sort of "Avatar but with Taoist elements instead of Socratic ones". If that's the case, it looks like the black-furred cat people are the wood-elemental nation, and the lion people are the fire nation. Best guess for the elfy dudes with the blue motif is water nation, since they look like they have watercraft sort of vehicles. Not sure where the dudes riding wolves work in, but eh. It's pure conjecture anyway.

[Thad]

Looks good, and Evanier says it's good ("and I say that not because I'm in it here and there but because it's just plain very good.").

The biggest weakness of The Ten-Cent Plague was that it didn't have many pictures (just a small section in the middle IIRC) -- lots of time spent describing images instead of showing them. I love the cover montage here; very promising.

[Thad]

Gilliam's movies are, at worst, fascinating, unique, and pretty, and, at best, brilliant, entertaining, and thought-provoking.

[Mothra]

I got a really good feeling about this one.