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Awix (3310 KP) rated Godzilla Vs Biollante (1989) in Movies
Feb 8, 2018 (Updated Feb 8, 2018)
The Rise of the Rose of the Risen Dead
Toho Studios held a competition to find the plot for their next Godzilla movie after the semi-reboot of the series in 1984, and this is the film that resulted from the winning idea. Heaven knows what the losing entries must have been like, because this is a tale dripping with utter insanity of a kind you just don't get in conventional western movies.
Scientists hoping to grow extra-resilient genetically-modified wheat give some harvested Godzilla cells to a brilliant scientist who has been left unhinged by the death of his lovely young daughter in a terrorist attack. The scientist promptly decides to use the G-cells to create a new form of hybrid rose (as you would), which starts to exhibit worrying Godzilla-ish tendencies (demolishing the greenhouse and heading off across country, for instance). It transpires the new creature is possessed by the spirit of the scientist's daughter. 'I think now I may have made a mistake,' admits the scientist, in one of the great movie understatements.
Not to worry, for Godzilla himself erupts from the volcanic prison he was stuck in at the end of the previous film, and the new creature (Biollante, in case you haven't already figured it out) may be able to lend a hand in sorting him out. There is also a slightly dull subplot about evil American corporations and spies from the desert nation of Saradia (i.e. Saudi Arabia) which sometimes gets in the way of the monster action.
Well, if you've ever wanted to see cinema's most famous mutant nuclear dinosaur battling a botanical semi-clone of himself which has been possessed by the ghost of a young woman, this is the movie for you. Actually, this is a cut above most Godzilla movies of this period, being filled with (admittedly mad) ideas and actually keeping Godzilla at the centre of the plot. The monsters look good and it treats them with a welcome seriousness. Unfortunately, the poor box office for this outing led Toho to adopt a policy of bringing back old favourites in subsequent movies, rather than new monsters, but this is a refreshingly different and rather well-made Godzilla film.
Scientists hoping to grow extra-resilient genetically-modified wheat give some harvested Godzilla cells to a brilliant scientist who has been left unhinged by the death of his lovely young daughter in a terrorist attack. The scientist promptly decides to use the G-cells to create a new form of hybrid rose (as you would), which starts to exhibit worrying Godzilla-ish tendencies (demolishing the greenhouse and heading off across country, for instance). It transpires the new creature is possessed by the spirit of the scientist's daughter. 'I think now I may have made a mistake,' admits the scientist, in one of the great movie understatements.
Not to worry, for Godzilla himself erupts from the volcanic prison he was stuck in at the end of the previous film, and the new creature (Biollante, in case you haven't already figured it out) may be able to lend a hand in sorting him out. There is also a slightly dull subplot about evil American corporations and spies from the desert nation of Saradia (i.e. Saudi Arabia) which sometimes gets in the way of the monster action.
Well, if you've ever wanted to see cinema's most famous mutant nuclear dinosaur battling a botanical semi-clone of himself which has been possessed by the ghost of a young woman, this is the movie for you. Actually, this is a cut above most Godzilla movies of this period, being filled with (admittedly mad) ideas and actually keeping Godzilla at the centre of the plot. The monsters look good and it treats them with a welcome seriousness. Unfortunately, the poor box office for this outing led Toho to adopt a policy of bringing back old favourites in subsequent movies, rather than new monsters, but this is a refreshingly different and rather well-made Godzilla film.
Dean (6927 KP) rated Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in Movies
May 21, 2021
Great Sfx (1 more)
The big fights
Not the Monster Mash I hoped for
Finally back in the Cinema last night to see this. I've not thought much of the last few Godzilla films compared to the old '98 one or even the old Godzilla vs films. This is better than the recent ones just by a small margin. The SFX are great, very detailed and the fights are very good. Just wish they lasted longer and were more of them. The plot stringing them together is rather silly though and by the end almost forgotten about.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) in Movies
Feb 22, 2018
Planet X marks the Spot
Sixth Godzilla movie, third for Rodan, second for Ghidorah, if anyone's counting. Not really a proper monster movie, if we're honest, more a sort of Japanese take on a flying-saucer B-picture. Aliens from Planet X ask to borrow Godzilla and Rodan to help deal with their local monster problem (King Ghidorah); evil plans are naturally afoot.
Almost wholly mad; still quite entertaining, but the lack of actual monster action (the three big beasts get very little screen-time) is inevitably quite disappointing. Rattling pace makes up for a lot of the film's flaws, and the basic idea - aliens try to conquer the world using monsters - would be endlessly recycled in future proper Godzilla films. Easy to dismiss this movie as quaintly dated 60s tosh, but surely a film where the forces of evil are driven off by the power of rape alarms has something to say to the #time's up generation.
Almost wholly mad; still quite entertaining, but the lack of actual monster action (the three big beasts get very little screen-time) is inevitably quite disappointing. Rattling pace makes up for a lot of the film's flaws, and the basic idea - aliens try to conquer the world using monsters - would be endlessly recycled in future proper Godzilla films. Easy to dismiss this movie as quaintly dated 60s tosh, but surely a film where the forces of evil are driven off by the power of rape alarms has something to say to the #time's up generation.
Nickg24 (492 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Aug 15, 2019
The King Deserved Better
Was looking to forward to this next chapter in the Godzilla movies but alas bar one or two good things about it the majority of this film was poor.
My main criticism is for the human characters all fell flat.You couldn't really care about them,it seemed their only purpose in the film was to go on about their scientific theories or make crass jokes (can't pronounce one of the monsters names so let's call it gonorrhea instead) and is it just me or was millie bobby brown just plain annoying.They could have made Charles Dance bad guy a little more bladder,he just seemed to polite for my liking.
The CGI was good in parts with the final showdown between godzilla and ghidorah being the best of the titans fighting each other.
I really hope they improve things for the next installment in the series when godzilla faces kong.
My main criticism is for the human characters all fell flat.You couldn't really care about them,it seemed their only purpose in the film was to go on about their scientific theories or make crass jokes (can't pronounce one of the monsters names so let's call it gonorrhea instead) and is it just me or was millie bobby brown just plain annoying.They could have made Charles Dance bad guy a little more bladder,he just seemed to polite for my liking.
The CGI was good in parts with the final showdown between godzilla and ghidorah being the best of the titans fighting each other.
I really hope they improve things for the next installment in the series when godzilla faces kong.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in Movies
Apr 2, 2021 (Updated Apr 7, 2021)
Epically corny monster mash. When Godzilla suddenly seems to become hostile to the human race, Monarch recruits Kong to lead researchers to the hollow earth in pursuit of a new energy source that will allow them to defeat the giant lizard. But just what has got the Big G so riled?
Scores extremely heavily on the garish spectacle front, with monster rasslin' aplenty and some eye-catching visuals (although it does feel like the earth's core is next door to the uncanny valley). However, the film is often critically under-exposited and many of the plot devices and developments are frankly nonsensically. Various actors do their best not to get overshadowed by the special effects, usually to no avail, Kong gets more screen-time than Godzilla, the new design of a classic Toho monster is rather decent, and the various fights are thumpingly effective. Not as good as either the last Kong or Godzilla standalone movie, but reasonably effective goofy blockbuster fun nevertheless.
Scores extremely heavily on the garish spectacle front, with monster rasslin' aplenty and some eye-catching visuals (although it does feel like the earth's core is next door to the uncanny valley). However, the film is often critically under-exposited and many of the plot devices and developments are frankly nonsensically. Various actors do their best not to get overshadowed by the special effects, usually to no avail, Kong gets more screen-time than Godzilla, the new design of a classic Toho monster is rather decent, and the various fights are thumpingly effective. Not as good as either the last Kong or Godzilla standalone movie, but reasonably effective goofy blockbuster fun nevertheless.
AT (1676 KP) rated Godzilla Awakening in Books
Jul 26, 2019
Kevin Phillipson (10069 KP) created a post
Mar 23, 2021
Lenard (726 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Jun 2, 2019
Oh no there goes Boston?
Four years ago, Godzilla awoke and destroyed San Francisco. A small boy was trampled. While the mother worked on a way to communicate with monsters, the father ran away and went into wildlife photography. Now, working for Monarch, the monster hunting secret organization, mom is captured and her Orca device is being used to wake up all the monsters (I refuse to call them Titans). Plot twist: mom wants the monsters to destroy everything so the Earth can rebuild itself. Yes, another ecoterrorist plot. There is also some lesson about symbiosis and invasive species but that is for ecology class. Anyway, a few times, Godzilla shows up just in time to save the puny humans who have tried for 65 years to kill him. Why are all these doctors and professors so dumb in these Godzilla movies? Everything they do leads to another problem like they never consider the consequences of their action if it alleviates the present predicament.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) in Movies
Feb 11, 2018 (Updated Feb 11, 2018)
Rather atypical Godzilla movie with the focus very much on the human characters and a much stronger sci-fi element than usual. When a new Godzilla appears, a widowed scientist and a young pilot both find themselves working on a project to develop Mechagodzilla, a cyborg weapon built from the remains of the creature from the 1954 movie. Needless to say, Mechagodzilla turns out to be unexpectedly ornery - can our heroes turn things around in time to save Tokyo from Godzilla (again)?
Unusually well-characterised for this genre, with a plot that distinctly anticipates that of Pacific Rim. The downside of this is that Godzilla's off-screen or off in the distance for most of the movie, but you can't have everything. Not exactly profound or loaded with subtext, but it does have rather glorious widescreen scenes of indiscriminate property damage, extremely good monster suits, and bags of energy and fun - you can see why the next film in the series was a direct sequel to this one.
Unusually well-characterised for this genre, with a plot that distinctly anticipates that of Pacific Rim. The downside of this is that Godzilla's off-screen or off in the distance for most of the movie, but you can't have everything. Not exactly profound or loaded with subtext, but it does have rather glorious widescreen scenes of indiscriminate property damage, extremely good monster suits, and bags of energy and fun - you can see why the next film in the series was a direct sequel to this one.
Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) in Movies
Apr 2, 2021
All of the Kaiju Battles (2 more)
Any Scene Featuring King Kong
Jia Since Her Silence Is So Appreciated
The Entire Conspiracy Angle is Incredibly Boring (3 more)
The MechaGodzilla Design is Pretty Wonky
CGI Seems Off During Underwater Battle
People Are Even Dumber Than They Were in King of The Monsters and Somehow Still Get Rewarded For It
Monkey Good, Humans Bad
Godzilla vs. Kong suffers from what other versus films such as Freddy vs. Jason or the Alien vs. Predator films also suffered from. These films put too much value in humans when the audience just wants to see more of the on-screen monsters they either paid hard money or chose to stream to see. That’s why if Legendary chooses to keep this franchise going they should do All Monsters Attack or something involving Monster Island next where humans can be spectators at best and monsters wreak havoc for up to two straight hours. Stop feeding fans unbearable human excretion and trying to pass it off as Godzilla gold.
Full review: https://godhatesgeeks.com/godzilla-vs-kong-review-monkey-good-humans-bad/
Full review: https://godhatesgeeks.com/godzilla-vs-kong-review-monkey-good-humans-bad/
