Why I love FINAL WARS and thoughts on absurdity in G-Films

[John Schuermann]

[eabaker]

[metal_bryan]

I'm generally OK with absurdity in my G-films, so that wasn't my problem with Final Wars OTHER THAN in one aspect: monster battles. The absurdity (and brevity) of the monster battles makes me hate the movie. Hate it.

GvsGigan is one of my favorites though, so who am I to really judge?

[eabaker]

[kiryugoji04]

[MouthForWar]

I still think the late great Guy Tucker wrote the best review of GFW that I've ever read.

http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/tucker/gfw.htm

[kiryugoji04]

That's actually a pretty fair assessment of the film. Geharha's still twice the film this one aspires to be.

I also still think a Godzilla film by Kitamura seems like a great idea. Shame it didn't pan out in practice.

[king_ghidorah]

I can't agree with that review, no matter how thoughtful and well articulated. I can't understand anyone thinking Tokyo SOS is inferior to FW. I mean, I know a lot of people do, but when I view these films I don't even remotely feel that way.

[eabaker]

[king_ghidorah]

Megaguirus and Final Wars are the only two Godzilla films that I've seen once, and only once with no plan to ever change that.

[eabaker]

^The Megaguirus hate never makes total sense to me. I mean, it's definitely among the lesser Godzilla movies, but I have some fun with it, and just about every problem I see in it I also see in Godzilla Against Mechgodzilla, only the latter film has even less done well to balance it out.

What exactly is it that makes Megaguirus worse than Tezuka's other two Godzilla movies - which, as I indicated above, I consider to be pretty much completely devoid of entertainment value?

[king_ghidorah]

[Alpha OTS]

[jellydonut25]

[king_ghidorah]

[eabaker]

[kiryugoji04]

[king_ghidorah]

[kiryugoji04]

In all fairness, I think this is the first time we've discussed the notion of "post-modern monster films," which, as an art major and filmmaker, gets me oddly excited.

[MekaGojira3k]

[MouthForWar]

[king_ghidorah]

I totally get Eabaker's side of things. I'm not trying to attack him (dude has already established a thoughtful, friendly presence here) I'm just trying to explain why I'm not really going into more detail.

I think that's also why I try and discuss 50's American Sci Fi movies and Ultraman stuff because I really haven't talked about either of these things all that much. So while these two genres are hardly new, they're still new enough to me to have some sense of novelty attached to them. A lot of Godzilla films have just been discussed to death, and honestly, I generally prefer Toho's non-Gozilla films, Gamera or Ultraman to the Big G's stuff anyways. I've felt that way since high school and it's only gotten stronger. The Big G got me into this genre and I'm thankful, but I feel like I've kind of outgrown (not in a maturity kind of way, but in that a lot of the series no longer interests me) most of his films. I never watch any of the Hesei era after 85, and the same goes for the Millenium era. Honestly, there are like 5 Godzilla movies I still watch on a regular basis:

Godzilla KOTM
Raids Again
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Ghidrah (though I'm enjoying it less and less each time for some reason)
1985

and I actually watch Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla on a semi-regular basis as well.

I watch...

Toho-Rodan, WOTG, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Mothra, Mantango, King Kong Escapes (yes!)

Non-Toho-the Daimajin trilogy, The X from Outer Space and The Great Yokai War (original version)

...way more than I ever watch most G films.

Same goes for Gamera...I watch Barugon, Gyaos, Guiron, the 90s trilogy and Brave more than most Godzilla films.

Then, getting into TV series, there's Ultraman, Kikaider, Garo and Kamen Rider.

Godzilla's just a part of the buffet now, he's not the whole meal for me anymore, and frankly, he's a little like a good cheeseburger. It's good, solid food, but I don't want to talk endlessly about what it did right. It's just a good cheeseburger. I'd rather talk about some other sort of food that I haven't experienced much before.

[kiryugoji04]

[king_ghidorah]

[John Schuermann]