Weekly Kaiju Movie Viewing Thread #4 (6/2-6/3)

[MekaGojira3k]

Since it's Monday evening and we've had no post, Benjamin has given my the task of suggesting films for this week.

Previous Viewings:
Weekly Kaiju Movie Viewing Thread #1 (5/12-5/13) - Son of Godzilla
Weekly Kaiju Movie Viewing Thread #2 (5/19-5/20) - Gamera vs. Gyaos
Weekly Kaiju Movie Viewing Thread #3 (5/26-5/27) - Godzilla vs. Hedorah

[canofhumdingers]

I voted for GRA. I really like it, it's been a while since I've watched it, and (most importantly) I'm supposed to finally be done with this month-long work trip & go home on Thursday (yay!) so I might actually get to participate in this viewing.

EDIT: I was also tempted to vote Daimajin, but I kinda want to save that for the new bluray set that's coming...

[gila-monster]

Atragon! Those are all nice choices, but out of those (excluding Daimajin as I haven't seen it), Atragon is the one that's been the longest since I've seen it. I think I've seen the other three all within the last 12 months or less.

[MekaGojira3k]

I'm glad the choices were okay. I was just trying to make it varied and not retread my last poll.

[Alpha OTS]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Alpha OTS]

Yonggary in the lead! HEE-HAW!

Amazon finally delivered my copy of Dogora. No Latitude Zero yet.

[TripMasterMunky]

Daimajin rocks.

[Henry88]

[MekaGojira3k]

[The Real McCoy]

[MekaGojira3k]

[jellydonut25]

[MekaGojira3k]

[Thomas]

Voted to get off the beaten path and went for Yongarry.

[MekaGojira3k]

This is about the turnout for last week's thread, but who knows? Mothra and Godzilla Raids Again could get some more votes.

[Benjamin Haines]

I voted for Mothra because it's one of my favorites of the Showa Era and I haven't watched it in a while.

I don't own nor have I ever seen any of the Daimajin movies. In hindsight, I should have picked up the first movie when ADV released it in 2005, but knowing that they released the sequels with bizarre titles and at least one with a stretched image transfer, I ended up just shrugging off all of them.

[MekaGojira3k]

I bought the Daimajin dvds like, 2 years ago for 30 bucks off of ebay. I still haven't made it through the third film. XD

Though, that's how I am anymore, I stagger the way I watch the Toho movies I haven't encountered yet. Make the experiences last longer. lolz

Mothra is, to me the 2nd best Toho kaiju film. I still hold Godzilla in slightly higher regard, but Mothra is such a well done/beautiful film it's hard not to love it.

[MekaGojira3k]

Well it was a tie between Mothra and Yonggary, Monster from the Deep. As the thread starter I break the tie by choosing.....MOTHRA!

Woo!

[MekaGojira3k]

Heck Yeah! MOTHRA!!! I reallllyyy love this film. Like the original Godzilla it manages to take a lot of familiar conventions of the genre and turn them on their head. Island Adventure, sure. Man brings back something from island, sure. Monster diety, sure. But not in the ways you expect. It's also beautifully shot and has a great score by Yuji Koseki. It's not Ifukube but it's still pretty good.


So here's Jerry Ito, THAT CROOK NELSON, being awesome and effectively adding a billion greatness points to the film.


I was watching this film for the first time after returning from a night football game. I had bought the tape prior to going to the game. I stayed up to watch it, and I was like ZOMG VAMPIRE PLANT!?! I initially thought it was going to be a full fledged kaiju reveal, but it wasn't. I was still sleepy enough to be jarred by the sudden attack.


THE FAIRIES! Not only are there natives, but the key to the exploitation isn't the monster. Oh no, it's the tiny full grown women who speak to people telepathically. You know, that old tale.


Mothra is swimming.


The scene of Mothra making her cocoon and the Atomic Heat Gun Ray Doohickey being fired at it has always been cool to me. I even love how Senichiro barely gets his sunglasses on at the last second.


And Mothra is unleashed! I really love this film. Rodan is another favorite of the other toho monsters. It does some unique things, but nothing quite as impressive as Mothra.

[Alpha OTS]

[MekaGojira3k]

[gila-monster]

[Alpha OTS]

Icons of Sci-Fi Toho Collection! I always disliked that this didn't come in a dvd case that could comfortably seat all the dvds.



I was going to watch the dubbed American version, but the title screen on the dvd says that it's been edited from the Japanese version.

Infant Island! "We're sandwiched between a typhoon and radiation!"

I love the actor who plays the reporter Zen "the snapping turtle". He has such great facial expressions that makes him fun to watch. The actor that plays Nelson, the bad guy leading the expedition, is just as great. He just exudes smarminess that you feel just as frustrated with him as the other characters do. Actually, great casting all around, but these two in particular really stand out.


The real stars of the movie!

The mold mutations! I just love the looks of this scene for some reason.



"I understand", "Let them go". Yikes, that english speaking guy on the expedition team really sticks out like a sore thumb whenever he talks.

Oh, you fools! They're not entertaining you, they're singing that song as an SOS! I really like this scene with the closeups as Chujo and Zen recognize the word "Mosura" in their song.

And I found the perfect perspective shot that is one of the best moments in the movie.


And it happens 46 minutes in! That's a credit to the movie that I don't mind that I haven't actually seen a kaiju yet until this point.

Mothra just feels much larger in this movie than in any other movie where she's portrayed as the diminutive counterpart to the other larger kaiju in the cast. There's a series of scenes where she's tearing up the countryside, and she's taking up a large part of the screen. You never get the feeling of how immense she is in the Godzilla movies like you do here.

Maser time! Hey, don't shake each others hands just yet, fellows. I'm still amazed how good Mothra looks in flight.

Wait,the guy in the black hat and suit carrying the suitcase with the fairies after Nelson is killed, that's the secret diamond guy from Dogora! Wait, and he's speaking english? Why did they dub over him in Dogora?

This is simply a great kaiju movie. The story's tight and imaginative, the cast is perfect, the sets are colorful, and the effects are great. I'm having difficulty thinking of something that doesn't work. The scene with Shinji(kid in red hat) trying to rescue the tiny beauties initially seems a little tacked on, but then you consider this is time that the shield isn't on the the faeries cage, giving Mothra a stronger homing beacon, which naturally is followed up with scenes of Mothra tearing through the countryside.

This kaiju viewing thread has been an easy exercise so far. Every movie's been great. I'm not up to doing GvKG just yet, but maybe we could do with something a little less well revered in the future?

[MekaGojira3k]

Well another reason we don't see Mothra being so massive is because they scaled her down for Mothra vs. Godzilla, unless I'm mistaken.