I watched the back half of Crash (2004) last night because a streamer I like was doing commentary. I cried laughing when Sandra Bullock’s character abruptly slipped and fell down the stairs. 10/10 legitimately hilarious film
1 Like
So, this week I finally watched Shin Godzilla, then went to the theater and saw Godzilla Minus One, and what a world of difference there is in those two films. I’m not going to blur spoilers, so this is your warning that I’ll be spoiling things about both films.
Shin Godzilla is… dull. I get what they were going for in the movie, the themes are the inadequacies of government bureaus to act fast enough and competently enough to help the people they are supposed to be caring for. That message got across really well. But that’s pretty much the film’s only positive. Godzilla himself is hideous, slow, and ineffective at basically anything except walking forward. This was the response after Japanese audiences said that the Legendary Godzilla of the Monsterverse was too fat and plodding? This one’s worse! I do like how they get around some of the usual stuff about how a creature that size would be impossible by specifying that Godzilla is not made of flesh and bone as we understand it, but entirely new elements being created in his nuclear reactor of a body. His atomic ray is appropriately devastating in the extreme, although I did notice that after he blasts a huge portion of the city, later in the film in that exact same spot, he ends up destroying buildings that were already destroyed when he blasted them. Overall, a movie with a message, but a Godzilla so ineffectual, I could never see him taking on Ghidorah.
Godzilla Minus One, on the other hand, is a whole different animal. Essentially a remake of the original film, this movie had probably the best human story found in any Godzilla movie, ever. It truly paints a picture of the horror of war, the consequences of guilt and shell shock on those who survive it, and the desperation of a nation to rebuild itself after a war is over. You really feel for the main characters in their struggles. One commenter I’ve seen even pointed out that it’s also a genuine positive movie for men. It shows a realistic depiction of men who must live up to their responsibilities in a male-dominant society like 1940s Japan. These aren’t fearless action heroes, nor are they good ol’ boys belittling the women around them while they waste time drinking instead of doing what they need to do. These guys are afraid to face Godzilla and admit it, and their reasons are understandable because they all know what was already lost in the war and they don’t want to go through that again, some even admit they can’t do it and leave. Others gather their courage by working together and supporting each other, cooperating instead of competing, for the sake of their families and their country, and do what they can on their own, without relying on the government or scientific superweapons to save them from Godzilla and the common people save themselves for a change. The main hero must overcome his crippling fear and guilt while wrestling with the notion of whether it’s more cowardly to live when you’re expected to die, or die for a cause you know is lost. By far the most interesting humans of the franchise.
Godzilla himself in the film is an absolute beast, in every meaning of the word. Pre-mutation he’s already attacking humans, seeing them as intruders on his territory, making this one of the few versions of Godzilla who is actively aware of and hostile toward humans. After his mutation from the H-bomb tests, he gets even more pissed at humans and starts attacking viciously any humans he comes across, and the depths of his rage are easily felt. His atomic ray has never been more devastating over such a wide area on impact, and that it even damages him in firing it is testament to its power. His regenerative abilities have also never been so explicitly shown, demonstrating how indestructible he is. Indeed, the only things I didn’t like about this Godzilla was how far he seems to be leaning back as he walks, like his spines are too heavy, and how his spines pop out of his back before firing his atomic ray.
The movie is definitely worth all the buzz, and may even be seen as the best Godzilla movie of all time, if it can surpass the original. If it can’t, it’s a decent runner up.
3 Likes
Saw the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie at the behest of my sister.
It was very fun!
I wouldn’t consider myself a Taylor fan after this, but it really showed me how she’s definitely an icon, a next-level artist with immense star power, holy shit. She’s such a cool person. Fuckin’… 3-hour concert show?? Wow
5 Likes
She’s a bonafide rockstar for sure. I dunno if you like The 1975 but when she was dating their lead singer she showed up mid concert once and was fantastic. She pretends to drink on stage (which their lead singer is known for) and plays AntiHero and then covers one of their older songs. Lots of fun to see.
3 Likes
I’ve heard The 1975 is pretty popular, but wow. She shows up at their show, plays one of of her own songs, and everyone sings along to the lyrics. Crazy stuff lmao
3 Likes
Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire
A pretty good looking movie with some obvious Zack Snyder-isms (like a loooot of slomo), and at times decent action.
The story and characters aren’t involving. The world building is insufficient. Acting spans from bad to ok-at-best. Terrible decision to put Sofia Boutella in a position where she needs to carry the movie, because she simply cannot.
I like other music by Tom Holkenborg, but this just sounds anonymous to me.
Not as abysmally bad as Army of the Dead, but not good either.
4 Likes
Just saw The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. A worthy prequel that actually feels like a prequel without the need to rely solely on dropping references to the original work, but also feeling like its own standalone story. Seeing how Snow went from a privileged but open-minded member of Capitol society to the cynical, bitter, sadistic dictator we saw in the previous films was handled far more believably and satisfying than seeing how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, or how Hannibal Lecter became a cannibal, or how Cruella Deville became a fur-obsessed, animal-killing fashion queen. Definitely a must-see for any Hunger Games fan.
4 Likes
Right, so! Godzilla Minus One, very fun and great film!
If you’re looking for some monster action, be aware the beginning of the film serves as setup to the protagonist’s sad story and life leading up to Godzilla’s full iconic reveal.
But man! The human story in this film is very depressing and heartbreaking.
A kamikaze pilot who failed to do his duty in WW2 is wracked with guilt and shame over having survived when others died in his stead.
After taking in a random woman and child off the streets due to feeling responsible to help them, he eventually manages to help them live with him and get a job on his own – and it’s at this seafaring job that he encounters Godzilla, a constant presence he crosses paths with after that wreaks destruction and leaves very little in his wake.
And at fear of sparking tensions with other world superpowers, it is up to the Japanese people to work together and figure out a way to take down this monster terrorizing them all.
It’s got great special effects, one massive godzilla, a very touching story about honour and war, just a great watch all around. Definitely reccommend.
Now I’m imterested in how the Americans handle Godzilla since I don’t remember anything from that first movie, other than a really cheezy moment where GZ gets knocked down at the same time as the human protagonist in a fight, and they have some sort of bonding moment I guess idk
9 Likes
Welcome to the cult, son! Now watch: Godzilla '54 (Japanese Cut), Godzilla vs Biollante, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs Destoroyah and Shin Godzilla - no particular order, they’re all great.
9 Likes
I’d recommend skipping Godzilla vs King Ghidorah; the time travel aspect is an absolute mess and that version of King Ghidorah, while looking imposing, is a complete wuss who does nothing without being under someone’s control and whom Godzilla basically just shot to death, twice.
Try instead Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs Megaguirus, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack, Godzilla: Final Wars, and then, back to back, King Kong vs Godzilla and Godzilla vs Kong.
5 Likes
@MrOchoa with the release of Godzilla: Minus one. Do you have a favourite Godzilla film? A lot of people are calling Minus one their favourite.
4 Likes
Yeah Minus one is pretty fantastic. Personally I think the original from 1954 is the absolute best, followed by vs Biollante and vs Destoroyah.
I really like Spacegodzillas design but the movie itself is just alright.
Shut up, the movie is worth watching just to see M-11’s impression of the Linkara Running GIF! 
1 Like
Aaaand now that you’ve posted that here, no need to see the movie. Or, at least, no reason to have it on a list of priority Godzilla movies; everyone should see every Godzilla movie at least once.
1 Like
I’ve been on a survival film kick the past couple of weeks, I’ll give brief rundowns.
Everest (2015): A somewhat loose depiction of the 1996 Everest disaster (Into Thin Air), where 13 people died on descent from summit. They filmed in a couple of different mountain regions for authenticity, so the presentation is pretty solid despite some noticeable cgi in a couple spots. It was a good, straightforward breakdown of what happened with minimal fluff thrown in.
In the Heart of the Sea (2015): Ron Howard film based on the Essex whaling ship disaster, where a whaling ship was stoved by a whale and the crew were forced to cannibalize each other at sea in order to survive. It’s a brutal, rough story that they unfortunately weigh down by putting too much emphasis on the whale that downed them, along with a really loud and sort of obnoxious Hollywood score. I would have preferred a more grounded take on the story, which is arguably one of the most harrowing survival stories of all time. Still not bad and worth watching since it’s the only full-fledged film based on this story, it does follow the general timeline of events well enough even if it throws in way too many dramatic flourishes for my taste.
Thirteen Lives (2022): Another Ron Howard movie, this one based on the Thai cave rescue from 2018. This was very good, no bullshit really it’s just a grounded depiction of an unprecedented rescue that everyone involved thought was near-impossible. What they collective rescue effort accomplished, specifically the divers and the doctors, is just one of the most incredible human achievements in recent history and this film is absolutely worth seeing just to witness it portrayed so realistically.
The Wave (2015): Film about a hypothetical landslide-induced-tsunami occurring in Norway, an area that apparently does have some concerning seismic activity that very well could lead to an event like this. It’s centered on a meteorologist trying to predict, and ultimately survive, an impending tsunami. Great movie, it’s grounded, scientific and emotional with really convincing effects.
The Quake (2018): Sequel to The Wave following the same protagonist, similar in concept except this is about a larger-magnitude earthquake hitting a major city directly instead of a landslide. Not quite as strong as The Wave, but it hits a lot of the same notes and takes some respectable chances beyond that. This film sort of solidified this duology as a new genre I want to call “meteorology superheroism”, it can be a little goofy at points but the way it all plays out is quite gripping.
Alive (1993): Centers on the 1972 Andes plane crash, and what the survivors had to endure for 72 days in order to make it out alive. Not much fabrication if any which is nice, it’s blunt and sort of shocking in certain areas, but it does leave out a lot of the more lurid details from the real story which does leave it feeling somewhat sanitized. There’s a new movie coming out on Netflix literally tomorrow called Society of the Snow which will be another straight depiction of this story, it’s getting great reception so I think that it’ll be worth checking out.
All is Lost (2013): Fictional story about an older man (Robert Redford) who gets his hull breached while sailing in the middle of the sea. While not based on anything specifically, it shares strong elements with many real stories of people in situations exactly like this. There’s almost no dialogue, you spend the film watching this man just try to work his situation out the best that he can.
bonus: Frozen (2010): This is not a good movie. It’s about a group of teens who get stuck on a ski-lift after closing hours. It’s a story that could have been captivating, getting stuck in a situation like that would be mind-bendingly terrifying and the chances of making it out alive really aren’t high. But the dialogue is really bad, the characters are annoying in a way that seems unintentional, and the movie treats wolves like they’re rabid murder machines rather than cautious creatures that attack humans very, very rarely. Watch this if you want something funny-bad, it is genuinely a good time in that sense.
Deliverance (1972): I’ve always known that this film was notorious for a certain shocking scene that occurs about halfway through, but that was my only exposure. Up until recently, I only knew this as “the movie where that happens” because everyone who spoke to me about the movie made such a big deal about this one sequences. And yes, it is brutal and ugly, but the film itself is excellent. It’s about four guys who go up-river on a boating trip in the southern states, and after a violent encounter with a pair of locals out in the middle of nowhere they find themselves forced to make tough decisions and fight for their survival. It’s sort of fascinating to watch, because of the extremely clear influence that it’s had on so many survival-horror movies that I’ve seen over the years. There’s a movie that came out in 2018 that I really love called Calibre that basically takes a version of this concept, twists it and stretches out the final ten minutes into something gripping and feature-length. I highly recommend both movies.
1 Like
I like the Studio Ghibli films, and I sought out to watch/ rewatch several of them on Netflix throughout the later half of last year. The tremendous detail in each scene, the characters with relatable problems, even the melancholy-but-hopeful tone the films strive for, they all make for wonderful watches.
This was no exception.
The story centres around Mahito Maki, who, after losing his mother, starts to act dismissive and resentful of his Dad, Shoichi, especially as they move on with their lives and find another woman, a woman expecting to give birth soon too. Mahito learns of a tower on the grounds of his new home that he mustn’t go near. A Grey Heron actively taunts him about wanting to find his mother again, and the Heron claims that she’s still alive inside the tower. And that is all I’m saying; saying anymore and it’d be spoiling it.
I watched the English dub of this, primarily because I’m at the cinema – I want to keep reading to a minimum when not in the comfort of my own home. There’s still translation captions, of course, but nothing more than that. The dub is very well done though, like the rest of Ghibli’s films, and feature a bunch of familiar names too (Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Mark Hamill to name the most famous names). Everyone’s performances are top-notch. Bale and Pattinson are basically unrecognisable as Shoichi and the Grey Heron respectively.
I also got to watch this on what I believe was the date of the UK’s cinema release. Safe to say, I was fairly alone and got to watch with nine other people.
It’ll probably end up on Netflix at some point, as Ghibli have exclusive rights to distribute their films there, but if this sounds like something you’ll be interested in, then you’re in for a treat. If you like any of the Ghibli films, then this is a must-watch.
4 Likes
the boy and the heron, saw it in japanese with english subs. wow, what an excellent fucking movie, and that’s all i’ll say on it. loved it. probably my 3rd favorite ghibli film but we’ll see how it holds up after recency bias fades
5 Likes
Ferrari. It’s fantastic. Driver is so so good, but I think Penelope Cruz was even better as his wife.
Good show! A true Michael Mann film; it is more about the relationships between the characters than anything else. Go see it!
5 Likes
Watched To Live and Die in L.A. , the late William Friedkin’s 1985 thriller about an adrenaline-junkie Secret Service agent’s (William Petersen) obsessive pursuit of the counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed his partner, endangering just about everyone he encounters along the way.
The parallels to The French Connection --complete with spectacular, brutal car chase–are apparent, even to those of us who haven’t seen it in 20 years, but L.A. is tense and fantastically acted, with massive gritty 80s vibes.
Probably not quite the classic that The French Connection is, but good enough that I’m surprised I hadn’t heard much about it before Friedkin’s death.
Plus, Wang Chung composed the sweet 80s soundtrack. 
4 Likes
Blues Brothers.
Despite being shot in Chicago, I hated it. I just can’t figure out how funny it was supposed to be. Sure it has a few laughs but it’s mostly just silly. Dan Akroyds Chicago accent is spot on which adds a few chuckles.
4 Likes
Godfather marathon!!! 1 done; I’m on part 2 now. 3 is in the queue. I’m one of those weirdos who likes 3 better than 2.
6 Likes