What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

So my late summer Kaiju obsession continues...

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (not to be confused with Godzilla Versus Mechagodzilla or Godzilla Versus Mechagodzilla II or Terror of Mechagodzilla) was definitely one of the better Millenium era G pictures. It's sort of regarded as a middle-tier entry, but I don't really know why. I thought it was top-notch all the way through, with a human story that was actually decent (albeit fairly juvenile) and some really awesome battles. The only thing I didn't really like was the G suit- the face isn't good on this one. It was also sort of doofy that Mechagodzilla has a name ("Kiryu"), but he was awesome. The story is that this woman that drives one of those Maser trucks (the big, forever ineffectual radar dish things that shoot lightning) causes an accident, is shamed in a very Japanese way, and later becomes Kiryu's pilot...and Kiryu promptly fucks up the first time out because they built it using...get this...a base 4 programming system or something based on DNA rather than binary code. WTF. So when G meets Mecha G for the first time, his roar triggers like these genetic memories or something of the 1954 G and he goes haywire. Bananas. There's also a dude in it that has got to be Japan's version of 80 year old Shatner.

But yeah, Mecha G's weapon systems and all are great, fun anime-style mecha stuff. And he's armed with this Absolute Zero freeze thing in his chest. It's also cool that the JSDF have these sort of escort planes that go out with him.

Tokyo SOS is the direct sequel, but it doesn't really have much connectivity. I liked it almost as much. It's usually billed as being geared toward younger audiences, but that works for me- I'd rather see a grandpa and his kid run around than a bunch of Japanese dudes in an office building talking about what to do about Godzilla (Shin Godzilla notwithstanding). So in this one, said grandpa is actually the same actor from the original Mothra, which was kind of neat, and Mothra herself shows up (along with the fairies) and does her usual things including chirping dire ecological warnings, shaking glitter everywhere, dying, and having babies that shoot silly string at G. It plays out as pretty much more of the same that was in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, but since I liked that I was fine with that. There's some hoo-ha about how mankind has done wrong by forgetting about Godzilla's soul in the bones that they used to make Mechagodzilla, but I forgot what that was all about.

Same G suit in that one, still didn't care for it.

But DAMN, there is this part that is one of the most brutal things I've ever seen in a G film...Mecha G's hand turns into a drill and he just grinds it into G's chest. Chunks of rubber go flying. THEN they shoot the bored out hole with some kind of SUPER Maser. Good grief.

Next up is probably Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Monsters All Out Attack (title says it all, I assume) and Godzilla 2000, which I actually saw in the theater but remember nothing about it other than that Orga thing trying to eat G.

One of my first posts on F:AT was to rave about Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and I was bewildered that this film didn't get the love here it deserves. I think it is a better film than Tokyo:SOS, but the latter has the better action sequences.

Colorcrayons wrote: Which is probably why we will never see a competent Lovecraft film made either. Because if it is good enough for Lovecraft fans, everyone else watching it will wonder why there are no tits in it and why the good guy lost in the end.
They wouldn't get it, and never will.

You're right, of course. Still, for fans, there's these: www.hplhs.org/mpcoc.php

Black Barney wrote: Should I see Wonder Woman or Spider-Man next?

www.Netflix.com

Colorcrayons wrote: Which is probably why we will never see a competent Lovecraft film made either. Because if it is good enough for Lovecraft fans, everyone else watching it will wonder why there are no tits in it and why the good guy lost in the end.
They wouldn't get it, and never will.

Interestingly enough there's a Spanish Lovecraft film and I know they lose in the end. So there's probably a Lovecraft film with tits AND the protagonists losing.

I'm told it's terrible, though.

Does this count as Lovecraft? www.imdb.com/title/tt0101550/?ref_=nv_sr_3

I saw it way back when. H.P. Lovecraft as a hard-boiled private eye, IIRC.

Did you ever see this Lovecraft film that was released in 2005? It's watchable.

I just saw Valerian. I actually liked it.

There were only two things I hated about it: both the lead actors. They had zero chemistry. They also felt 10 years too young for the parts. It was hard to believe they'd had so many adventures and a long history together when they both looked fresh out of college. I'm not sure who would be the right age now, but I kept picturing George Clooney from about seven years ago. Literally any actress would have been better than Delavinge. She was the worst. Is she a model or something?

The story was goofy, original, and fun. You guys were absolutely right that it felt straight out of Heavy Metal (minus the gratuitous nudity). They probably could have shortened some of the action sequences, but I know that's the modern taste. Anyway, I'm glad I saw it in the theater.

On a related note-- Do you guys ever find the screen projection too dark? I've read that this is a common problem with most theaters, but I also know that we've become biased because of the typically over-brightness of home TVs. I can't tell whether it's me or the theater to blame when I think a film is excessively dim.

yeah she's a model and she has eyebrows like Emilia Clarke meets Bert.


I've never noticed a film being too dim but I certainly prefer that over too much brightness. Directors use darkness and light very intentionally and it's important to not mess around with that stuff as it was intended to be seen.

Ever play Dead Space or Resident Evil will full brightness turned up? Not as scary.

IANA projectionist, but one of my coworkers was one way back when. He tells me, "The amount of light from a bulb is adjustable, because it gets dimmer as it gets older. So every so often you have to measure the bulb's output, and bump up the voltage accordingly. But house owners and managers know that if you turn the voltage down, the bulb lasts longer. Studios hate that, because it affects their films."

I've read that Stanley Kubrick used to run light level checks in some theaters, to make sure that his films weren't being hosed like that. It could be an urban legend, though.

Are they still using incandescents in theaters?

The Big Sick blew me away with how great it was. A bunch of genres I'm not that into either. It wasn't content to be just one thing, which was awesome.

Everyone should see it.

Sagrilarus wrote: Are they still using incandescents in theaters?

Xenon and carbon arc were mentioned. I have a primeval DLP tv that uses a xenon bulb.

Films seen for the past seven days include:

West of Zanzibar (1928)
The Dark Tower
Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Frances Ha (2012)
Mistress America (2015 or 2016 can't remember)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Misery (1990)

Only one of these movies was terrible.

Unicron wrote: Films seen for the past seven days include:

West of Zanzibar (1928)
The Dark Tower
Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Frances Ha (2012)
Mistress America (2015 or 2016 can't remember)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Misery (1990)

Only one of these movies was terrible.

My guess is Dark Tower.