If you have any inkling that you might like any Godzilla movie, go see Godzilla Minus One
I knew it would be good, probably amongst my top Godzilla films, but damn if Yamazaki didn't just f*cking knock this one out of the park.
I watched it last night, and it's almost impossible for me to try to cover everything I feel and think about this movie. It's important to note that I have had a special place in my heart for Godzilla ever since I was a little kid and saw the original Gojira. I honestly don't even remember where I saw it or with whom, I just remember how absolutely entranced I was.
And that was just the spectacle of it all. Over the years as I learned more about history and human nature I started to learn all the layers of meaning built into the whole godzilla myth, and that just made me appreciate the character all the more, as well as how important the human characters could be to the deeper meanings of the films.
So anyway, Minus One... Scattered thoughts in no random order, I'll try to keep the spoilers minimal.
- Holy shit, they actually made Godzilla scary. Odo Island was way more intense than I expected for his first appearance in the film, and created a level of fear and tension I've never experienced with any previous Godzilla movie. Even the next few big scenes in the first two thirds of the film were impressively tense.
- The stories of the people were truly, genuinely compelling and heartfelt. Even characters who could have been borderline throwaway characters proved to be important elements in the story. For example, very minor spoilerSpoiler:
Sumiko's growth from traumatized, angry, and resentful of Koichi - for good reason! - into a valued part of their informal family by the end of the film was genuinely affecting. She was able to heal over time not just for her own trauma, but grew to love Koichi and Noriko and ultimately wanted Koichi to live and heal himself too.
Quite frankly, I would have enjoyed the film even without any Godzilla, replacing him with some other natural disaster instead, because the characters were well crafted and I genuinely cared about all of them -- a first for me in a Godzilla film (though the original Gojira and Shin Godzilla come very close in this regard too)
- The soundtrack was utter perfection. And the moments when the original Gojira suite were used were done just right so it didn't feel like pandering or cynical nostalgia-tugging. When the suite kicked in at key moments in the finale, it was just... chills down my spine and an urge to cheer!
- Sound design was also incredible, and the star of the sound design was not Godzilla's roar this time. I was blown away by the big sound moment in the film, and unless you have a truly fantastic sound system at home, you'll miss out if you don't see this in a theater. Wow.
- The way the movie repeatedly called out Japan's disregard for the lives of its own servicepeople during WW2 was a bit shocking to me, in light of recent efforts to whitewash that part of Japan's history (among other parts). Shin Godzilla was impressive in its criticisms of how difficult it was to fight against Japan's ingrained bureaucratic inertia, but Minus One just straight up called out Imperial Japan for its callousness. It's a shame they didn't push this a bit further into perhaps relating Godzilla to represent retribution for Japan's war crimes as well, but at the same time that would dilute the central metaphors of the film so I can see why they didn't. But still... damn. If an equivalent event movie with this sort of criticism of the "greatest generation" came out in the US, there'd be conniption fits all throughout the media.
- I saw Napoleon last week, and Minus One was overall a better Period Piece film despite the presence of a giant sci-fi monster.
I have so much more rolling around in my head. I can't praise this movie enough. Definitely my favorite Godzilla film (though, again, the original and Shin Godzilla are both phenomenal in their own rights, and I have a special fondness for the 2014 Legendary rendition of Godzilla as well), and even an excellent movie without the Godzilla element. Easily my personal favorite movie of 2023, though I think Barbie may still be the more objectively best movie this year (and probably my second favorite of the year).
I saw The Boy and the Heron yesterday and I just don't know what people are smoking but it was pretty crappy. Not so much bad but more muddled, wandering, unclear, and generally poor. I have loved his other movies but this one was a huge miss for me.
I think the only other Godzilla movie I've seen is the American one with Brian Cranston from a few years ago. Godzilla Minus One this weekend was an incredible experience. The characters are so well done, and the special effects and big scenes with Godzilla itself were stunning. I haven't been shocked or horrified by disaster movies in a long time, but this one managed to do it a couple times at least. Highly recommended.
I saw The Boy and the Heron yesterday and I just don't know what people are smoking but it was pretty crappy. Not so much bad but more muddled, wandering, unclear, and generally poor. I have loved his other movies but this one was a huge miss for me.
You’re not alone. My wife and I walked out. I found it pretty boring and ultimately decided we should just step out and see something else, so we did.
I might finish it someday on streaming, but it didn’t grab me at all and I LOVE some of the slower Ghibli films like “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “From Up on Poppy Hill”, “Only Yesterday”, and “Whisper of the Heart”.
I just didn’t sense any theme at all to grab on a good hour+ in so I decided to call it.
Glad it wasn't just me. The closest I can compare it to is Spirited Away - child who goes to another world/reality but the characters in SA were so much better it makes me sad.
It took me a few watches to appreciate Spirited Away, so I suspect the same will be true for The Boy and the Heron.
Glad it wasn't just me. The closest I can compare it to is Spirited Away - child who goes to another world/reality but the characters in SA were so much better it makes me sad.
Well, and in "Spirited Away" in the short period of time when she first gets to the bath house there are a largely number of heady ideas that the film plays with. I honestly couldn't tell you more than maybe 3 ideas "The Boy and the Heron" is interested in halfway through the film. And definitely nothing where you could easily tell someone "this is what the movie is about".
I just came back from The Boy and the Heron and liked it a lot, but I would agree that it doesn't reveal what it's actually about until the very end.
It's basically a less harsh "What have I done with my life" than The Wind Rises. Partly because the Miyazaki analogue is the mad great-uncle, not the protagonist.
Most it was just great to see such fantastic, impeccable hand-drawn animation in a cinema, and I was just loving how patiently the movie played out scenes like the boy waiting for his dad to come home, and then quietly sneaking back to his room.
Wonka was perfect. Best movie-going experience in awhile. I love every creative choice they made.
Godzilla minus one is arguably the best kaiju film since 1954. Absolutely worth your time no matter how much you have abbhored watching Tokyo tower be destroyed in the past Two thumbs up from
Mini bbk too.
Weighing in on Godzilla -1. Went to see it with McChuck and he said, and I wholeheartedly agreed, it might be the first Godzilla movie where you actually want to see what the people are doing rather than the kaiju. Show me that family unit growing and overcoming trauma. Even in the other three "serious" Godzilla movies the people are having debates on how or if they can or should destroy Godzilla, making metacommentary on the Cold War from an outside perspective, or complaining on how the bloated and corrupt Japanese government is more harmful to its people in an escalating series of meetings. While those may be compelling in their own right, they still pale in comparison to a giant gorilla whale firing its atomic breath. -1 makes you care more about Shikishima and his little found family than whether or not the cadmium missiles on the Super X attack plane will stop Godzilla mid Tokyo-stomp. That's saying something, folks.
I went to my local cinemapub for The Boy and the Heron, and to our shock and delight, they were showing the subtitled version. Pretty cool treat.
Weighing in on Godzilla -1. Went to see it with McChuck and he said, and I wholeheartedly agreed, it might be the first Godzilla movie where you actually want to see what the people are doing rather than the kaiju.
Over 2 weeks later and I'm still thinking about it. I'm not really a Godzilla fan so much as I'm a fan of experiencing the movies with friends who are. I thought I knew what a good Godzilla film looked like. It looks like me sitting there, enjoying the company of friends, and intellectually appreciating the monster designs and the metaphors. But this one... this one I felt.
Godzilla Minus One Is Getting a Glorious Black and White Re-Release
Grenn wrote:Weighing in on Godzilla -1. Went to see it with McChuck and he said, and I wholeheartedly agreed, it might be the first Godzilla movie where you actually want to see what the people are doing rather than the kaiju.
Over 2 weeks later and I'm still thinking about it. I'm not really a Godzilla fan so much as I'm a fan of experiencing the movies with friends who are. I thought I knew what a good Godzilla film looked like. It looks like me sitting there, enjoying the company of friends, and intellectually appreciating the monster designs and the metaphors. But this one... this one I felt.
Ditto. I really can't get this one out of my head. I still think this part of my impressions after I saw it is a big core of what made the movie so compelling:
Quite frankly, I would have enjoyed the film even without any Godzilla, replacing him with some other natural disaster instead, because the characters were well crafted and I genuinely cared about all of them
Especially when you consider that other previous films, they either specifically compared Godzilla to a force of nature within the movie's dialogue (Godzilla, 2014) or the film was outright set up to treat Godzilla as a metaphor for a natural disaster (Shin Godzilla). But this time, we truly felt the effects of the compounding tragedies through the main cast.
And still, the shared trauma of surviving WW2 and enduring the post-war recovery, that's the heart of the story about these characters.
Such a damn good movie.
Holy crap Poor Things!
Brilliant
Bent
Powerful
Funny
Grotesque yet captivating
Beautiful
Shocking
Brain food
Heart felt
And probably 20 other descriptors.
Took the kid to see Wonka over the weekend and enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Star studded cast of British comedic actors.
Not a great week to watch a new movie.
Unless maybe you're a Sydney Sweeney megafan.
or care what others think
I care. I don't have time to watch everything so I need to care to "filter" things out.
It's February. Half a year past Halloween horror season, past Oscar-bait season, past Christmas family movie season, still a long way from summer blockbuster season, still not even quite to "maybe kids need something to watch during Spring Break?" season. This is where studios send the movies that aren't quite bad enough to scuttle completely for the tax writeoff but aren't quite good enough to have any particular faith in to make whatever they're going to make and die quietly.
or care what others think
I care but don't care for reviews from random people. It is like playing games with random people, its to be avoided at all cost unless you care what racists and and sexist think about movies with women and POC.
Go and watch "All of us strangers" instead. Everyone loves that.
I'm a bit disappointed Lisa Frankenstein isn't better - that actually looked fun
Go and watch "All of us strangers" instead. Everyone loves that.
I'm a bit disappointed Lisa Frankenstein isn't better - that actually looked fun
The audience score for that is 82%. I usually don't go by review scores but if I did I would definitely not go by "critic" scores. They definitely are usually looking for something different then me in a movie.
I really want to watch Lisa Frankenstein, but only because I have a crush on Katheryn Newton and it was directed by Zelda Williams. I'm more than a little tired of Diablo Cody, though, so I might skip that until it's on a streaming service I subscribe to.
One Love looks like it might be a good watch; I know Bob Marley had a pretty interesting short life, but I've never looked into the details of it, so maybe this is a good way to learn about it (plus or minus some dramatic embellishments). I know I'll like the soundtrack at least. I'm sure the poor reviews are biopic fatigue. We've already had two major biopic movies in the recent past (Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon), Hollywood should probably space them out a little better.
Madam Web looks like it will be in the almost good enough to miss out on being so bad it's good side of things (aka a Sony Marvel almost tie-in not named Mobius). I'll see it, because I'm a child, and my expectations are low, so hopefully I can enjoy it. At a minimum, the cast is attractive...
Took the kid to see Wonka over the weekend and enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Star studded cast of British comedic actors.
I found out last week that it was written by the same team that wrote Paddington and Paddington 2
I’m annoyed I didn’t see it now.
I enjoyed it. I think it may be streaming now.
Lisa Frankenstein has some good word of mouth. Several reviewers I follow liked it.
Watched All of us Strangers. I thought it was fantastic up to the last bit, and now I'm very angry at the film. It would be massive spoilers to say why.
Destroy All Neighbors on Shudder is pretty fun and stupid, it’s an homage to over-the-top late 80’s/ early 90’s B-movies, with a timid musician spiraling out of control after accidentally killing a nuisance neighbor.
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