Tubi Thursday: Godzilla vs Space Godzilla (1994)

 After a disappointing (but not terrible) Film last week, I wanted someone more reliable.

As such, let's jump back one Film from my last Godzilla Review and see how he battles a threat...from SPACE...Space...space...

This is Godzilla.

He's living on an Island, but G-Force wants to take him down.

A man named Yuki is really wanting him dead, even going so far as to make a 'magic bullet' to stop him!

This is Space Godzilla.

He's a crazy monster formed from Godzilla's cells exposed to radiation in space and combined with space cyrstals.

I have no follow-up questions.

After spending a bit of time setting up Yuki and Godzilla's rivalry (and the other Characters, I guess), the first match-up takes place.

Due to Space Godzilla's high reaction rolls, it injures Big G with his own blasts!

He also takes Little Goczilla (or Jr) away for maximum pathos.

Why it has a tractor beam is never quite explained.

Things are so bad that they bring out MOGERA, a Mech last seen in 1957's The Mysterians to battle it.

If you know the Band that based its name on said Movie, I hope you're enjoying your Medicare Part B Plans.

It all leads up to a prolonged showdown between the two creatures in a crystal-filled Tokyo.

Godzilla needs help, so Yuki and the others use MOGERA (split and together) to help turn the tide and the creature is defeated.

Yuki is (mostly) over his hatred now.
The End.

A pretty enjoyable Godzilla Film all around.

To be fair, some of the digital effects and use of a green/blue screen are...not always great.  Most work fine though.

Watching Space Godzilla fly around like a kite was unintentionally funny too.

I like the design of Space Godzilla.  How did he miss out on a return in Final Wars?
The bad guys were literally Space Aliens, after all!

The Human Plot was pretty interesting as well, with a newer focus on the lady having mental powers like telekinesis and Yuki's whole Arc.  It's not a letdown and it doesn't leave you wanting an immediate return to the Kaiju Action.

My only real critique, I guess, is that the fight between the two title Characters is mostly just blasting and standing still surrounded by crystals.  There must have been a way to make that more dynamic.

I think that maybe Godzilla's suit was getting worn out though, as shown by the tail in many Scenes.

Regardless, I still enjoyed this one a lot and now I need it on the best format ever- Laser MFing Disc!

The semi-finale to the middle run of Godzilla Films still holds up.  We need more of this two-horned Godzilla foe!

Tubi Thursday: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

 We're at an interesting point in time for the Godzilla Franchise.

We have a Sequel to Minus One, another MonsterVerse Film and about 70 crossover Comics.

Let's take a trip back to 1995 and see how the Heisei Era ended...

Godzilla is on the rampage and he looks quite different.

It turns out that his heart/nuclear generator is working towards a meltdown!

The Japanese Government knows that this is trouble and seeks out a young Scientist (the brother of the one from Godzilla vs Biollante).

He initially says 'no,' but quickly says 'yes' when he hears who is working there.

Elsewhere, a Scientist has created something called Micro-Oxygen.

It can be a helpful too, but the Widow of Dr. Serizawa (the Creator of the Oxygen Destroyer in the OG Godzilla) is nervous.

Her fears turn out to be somewhat founded as small creatures exposed to remnants of the Oxygen Destroyer and the new Micro-Oxygen form.

They become walking crabs/tanks for a while and wreaking havoc.

The Government is desperate to stop Godzilla, fearing that his meltdown will destroy the World.

From inside of what looks like Gizmonic Institute, they come up with a plan to freeze him and stall for time.

Despite seemingly being dead/missing, Little Godzilla (aka Little) appears and is unharmed.

He's grown to look like his Dad, only much smaller.

He's the key to getting the melting down Godzilla to Tokyo.

Why?

Because the big crabs/tanks have now formed Destoroyah (often called Destroyer).

Can Little and the soon-to-blow Godzilla save Tokyo?

Yes, but at what cost?!?

To find out, stream it now.

A dramatic, powerful and exciting conclusion to the Heisei Era.

It was actually meant to let the Series rest until 2004, but Roland Emmerich's work changed plans.

The Plot works well in isolation, but even better as a Series Finale.  Characters and Actors from the Past return here, from a Psychic to Momoko Koichi returning as Serizawa's Wife from the 1954 Film.

That said, if you don't watch these in order, it is still quite good.  You just lose some subtext and pathos.

Godzilla has a unique look here with his meltdown appearance.  When you see things get worse and his fins actually melt, it is a sight to behold.

Like most of these Films, the usual things come up- miniatures not always looking real, Godzilla disappearing in the middle of the Film and some technical limitations.

Knowing all that, the Film is great.
It only actually ended the Series for about 4 years, but it is still straight fire!

A Film that is full of finality, even behind the Scenes.  If you enjoy these for what they are, this is a real delight!

Mondo Bizarro's 2024 Year End Awards!

I really debated internally about making a Best of 2024 List.
Simply put, I still haven't seen MANY that make most of these Lists.

As such, why not do it a bit different and have some fun?

Instead of just 'Here's the Best Films,' I want to give Special Awards to each one that makes the cut.

Enjoy!

1) 'Thank You For NOT Being in The Dark Universe' Award

Winner- Abigail

This one is bizarre, violent and fun.  It's clearly a riff on Dracula's Daughter (a vastly underrated Universal Film).  It has been spared any of the world-building that would have come with being part of the Dark Universe.

No Russell Crowe Cameo?  Yes, please!

2) 'You've Still Got It!' Award

Winner- Furiosa

A great Film by a great Director.  Notably, a Director who's been working longer and more prolifically than his colleagues.

I don't know how many more like this Miller has in him, but I welcome them all!

3) 'This One Is Fun and I Make No Apologies' Award

Winner- Godzilla x Kong- The New Empire

Godzilla Minus One is great.  This one is also quite good.

This one is a pure Summer Blockbuster with big moments, good Writing, fun visuals and some neat ideas.  It can also exist in the same year as a Japanese Classic.

4) 'Striking the Right Balance Between Reverence and Fun' Award

Winner- Ghostbusters- Frozen Empire

I'm a big fan of all of the Ghostbusters Films.  Yes, all of them.
Afterlife was a very good Film too and really built up reverence towards the 2 Films.

This one is a nice balancing act between that and making a quirky Film that connects both generations of Characters.

5) 'Back in the Funky '70s' Award

Winner- Late Night with the Devil

On its own merits as a pseudo-Found Footage Film with a paranormal theme, it is quite good.

It gets extra points for fully committing to its 'Era' and all of that, making it feel extra real.

6) 'They Really Committed to the Premise' Award

Winner- In a Violent Nature

This one is a fascinating Film to study as it takes a singular premise- you only ever follow the killer- and commits to it.  No cheating really.

Said commitment will definitely turn off some people, as will the random spurts of horrific violence.

7) 'I Love Everything, But...That Choice' Award

Winner- Alien Romulus

Fede Alvarez and company delivered a really great Alien Film.  It fits into the timeline, does its own thing and still works in that sweet, sweet nostalgia.

As noted, I'm really put off by one choice...but the rest is really great.

8) 'All I Wanted and More!' Award

Winner- Deadpool and Wolverine

This Film is fun, violent, ridiculous, full of Cameos, introduces new Characters and sort of slots into the MCU.

On top of that, it also features a surprisingly deep performance from Hugh Jackman (not that Ryan Reynolds is a slouch).

9) 'The Most Burton Film of the Year' Award

Winner- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Tim Burton is a Director I tend to really like.  His early stuff- from Batman to Sleepy Hollow- is what I love.  Some of his choices later- like Planet of the Apes- less so.

With him stepping away from safe, Disney Films here, I'm excited again.

10) 'Do I Not Hate These Anymore?!?' Award

Winner- V/H/S Beyond

My general disdain for Found Footage Films should be obvious to anyone who's read a few of my Reviews- especially ones by the older, saltier version of me.

That said, I tend to find more that I like than don't in the recent V/H/S Films and this is no exception!

Let me close with an Honorable Mention for Madame Web.

It's not a Top 10 Film for any metric, but it's also not terrible and has more going on than Morbius did!

I do plan to catch up on many of the big or notable Films from 2024, but they won't be added here.

Immediate Response: Godzilla x Kong- The New Empire (2024)

Very late to the party here, but it is still in Theaters.

Should you catch this on the big screen?

The Good

* This is a blast!  You get to see giant monsters of many varieties do battle across the World.

* Like the previous Film, Kong gets a bit more focus and as much of an Arc as you can give a Giant Ape that doesn't talk.

* A mix of new and old Characters keep the dynamic fresh, not just relying on callbacks or familiar beats.  Dan Stevens is a welcome addition!

* The human really do add plenty here, from Drama to Comedy.

* The new villain is not just another familiar kaiju, so this one feels more like worldbuilding than nostalgia.  Plus, he's a pretty mean character!

* They play with gravity to make the Action Scenes- especially in the finale- interesting and with a unique dynamic.

The Bad

* No Mid/Post Credits Scene.  This is more about me saving you time, if you don't want to read the 4,003 names in the Credits.

* There is a striking similarity between Kong later in the Film with the smaller Ape and a big-name game franchise.  Why not copy what works though?

* The Film does require a lot of buildup, getting everything and everyone in place for the big battle.

* The Film tries its best to recap the previous ones, but I could see someone being a bit lost at certain points.

* This is far more of a Kong Film than a Godzilla one, if that's an issue for you.

All in all, a big, fun Action Film with lots of big, fun Characters.  It might be a bit slow of a buildup for some, but I'm looking forward to enjoying it at home in, what, a month.

Buy the DVD!: Godzilla- The Animated Series' 'Lost Episodes'

 I don't know why I didn't talk about this before.  Let's amend that...

In 1998, a TV Show based on the Roland Emmerich Godzilla Film came out.  
It was actually good.  Not amazing or lifechanging, but good.

However, it had to compete with a boom period for Anime in America, especially on its own Network.

It had to fight for air time against Shows like Digimon, which would get double-episode blocks or Marathons.

As such, 2 Episodes were bumped from Airing.  At all.

As such, you need the DVD Set (which I got from Dollar General) to see them.

In Tourist Trap, a man is trying to make a buck filming the HEAT Team catch/battle Monsters.
He's voiced by the same Actor who played Earl (The Dad) on Dinosaurs and it is 100% that voice.

A deep-sea fish has wandered into our area and is eating up the place.

They have to stop the man from interfering, while also stopping the biggest of big mouth bass!

In The Ballard of Gens Du Marais, a strange creature is on the loose in New Orleans.

It can shoot oil and seems to be attacking places owned by a rich magnate.

A local man shows up and explains that he 'summoned it' with 'his hate.'

The magnate was polluting the land and he seems to be able to influence, just not fully control, the creature.

It, of course, ends in a big battle.

This one, however, does not go in Godzilla's favor.  Instead, the creature's attack exposes the bad guy and the local man gets it to leave.

Two 'lost' Episodes that thankfully live up to expectations.  I know that there's not a massive fanbase for this show in 2024.

Even so, it deserves some praise here.

I previously covered the one where they go to the Future (of 2022) and it was good.  Having watched more Episodes since, it keeps a good mix of Plots- even if they all involve a giant monster or two-, locations and Themes.

Yes, they all amount to 'They go to X to stop Creature Y,' but they managed to have Character Arcs, a good variety of ideas and the battles don't always go the same.

They also did a neat 3-Parter that I should rewatch and review where we get a neat riff on Mecha-Godzilla.  Remember that one, Future Me.

Even just these two manage to have a bad, boisterous Villain who isn't really all that similar.  Even the creatures- while sticking to water- aren't identical.

If you get it where I did, the whole Show is like $7.  That's a good deal for 40 Episodes and, to my knowledge, it isn't Streaming anywhere.

Amusingly, the one identical thing here is that one of the Crew has the same last name as our Hero- Nick Tatopoulous!

Honestly, this Show is a hidden gem, held down by its connection to a very, very divisive Film.  Check it out, folks!

Immediate Response: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

 After being busy last Friday (my only day off), I made the time to see this one before it left US Theaters.

Am I hyped?

The Good

* The Film tells a really good tale about a man seemingly cursed by fate based on one choice he made.

* Godzilla is a big, scary threat in this Film.  They look great.  They look scary.  More of this.

* The Action and Set Pieces are really good.  They give you the scale and scope of things.

* The Film hits you 'in the feels.'  That's rare for a Godzilla Film.

The Bad

* The Film is really intense, especially in the first Action Scene.  It is not for kids.

* They pace out the Godzilla appearance to truly give you Plot and Characters.  Just be patient.

* A late-Film twist is super-obvious thanks to a pretty obvious Edit.  Oh well.

A really, really good Film.  A great follow-up to Shin Godzilla.

See it while you can on the big screen.

My Crazy Youth: The Time That 'Godzilla' Traveled to the Dark Future of...2022?!?

 A Show I remember from back in the day is Godzilla: The Series.  Even as a teen, I didn't love the American version of the Japanese Monster.  As an Adult, I learned why.

That said, the Show is way more in line with the premise of the Series than that big-budget Film.  It was also part of a slew of '90s Films with mostly-forgotten Shows- Men in Black, The Mask, Jumanji, Wing Commander, Ace Ventura, etc.

Now that I own the Complete Series Set (which has 2 Unaired Episodes), I can cover it better.

To begin, we go late in the Series for Future Shock.

The HEAT Team chases a Monster out into the Ocean alongside Godzilla, but a strange storm strikes the ship!

They return back to NYC and find their home all smashed up.  Insert 'Guns & Roses smashing Hotel Rooms' joke to be properly-'90s here.

What is the Story?

They find NYC wrecked as well- thankfully, the Disc has no Subtitle Track, so you're spared a line about someone 'playing Ping Pong with the World Trade Center' visible here- and something else is strange.

What's up with this Marquee?

They are in the dark Future of 2022, where their normally-asthmatic/hypochondriac Scientist buddy is now a buff John Connor-esque resistance fighter.

The source of this peril- DARMAs, a group of hard to kill (except when it is dramatic) monsters that in the last 23 years killed Godzilla and most of the world's population.

In a rare Plot Device, their absence had *no* effect on this timeline happening, so they go back into the Storm (that waited politely all day for them) and return to 1999.

Aside from a DARMA chasing them, there's no issue.

Back in the Present, they track down the guy who is working on said creatures now and stop him.

Thankfully, they have 2022's laser weapons (good thing we don't have those now!) and Godzilla (absent since the first few minutes) to set things right.  The End.

A fun, if obviously silly premise for an Episode.  

As a Cartoon Show, you'd better believe that they checked all of the boxes for Story ideas in 40 Episodes.  They go to every climate, every Continent, travel inside of Godzilla to cure him from the inside and, as you just read, went to the Future.

The future stuff is fun- a relative statement given that it is supposed to be bleak, of course.  They give you a good reason for it and really revel in all of the 'Future has gone bad' Tropes/Visuals.  One gripe though- they don't show Godzilla battling the DARMAs at all.  Nope, they just say he saved a bunch of people and died.

Was it too dramatic for a Kid's Show?  You can just describe it?

The Pacing of this was not what I expected as usually the 'come back to fix things' part is pretty short.  It's not quite half the Episode, but it is longer than a few minutes.  

They do make the most of that time, of course, paying off a setup earlier and continuing to tease a long-term story of romance.  I'm not sure if those ever properly paid off, of course.

Future Shock is a fun Episode that breaks the normal setup of 'Go here, find Monster and defeat Monster.'  It plays with that a bit in a nice way.  

As for the dark Future, at least they got Cyborgs in THEIR 2022!

Godzilla: The Series is not exactly the most complex Show of its time, but it sure is fun.  I've got more highlights in the near future (also of 2022).

Compare/Contrast: 'King Kong vs. Godzilla'- US Version to Japanese Version

 Awhile back, I re-watched the classic Toho Film that pit King Kong against Godzilla.
Of course, that was the US Version.

Let's compare and contrast...

and

Like the original Godzilla, there was a bit of a delay between the 2 Films coming out.  It's not like today where they just make a Subbed or Dubbed Version quickly- it was a Year.

Instead, a US Company 'made' a Version of the Film that became the predominant copy around the World.

Ishiro Honda was apparently not great about preserving the original copy, supposedly Editing from the Negative!

In 2019, the Criterion Collection Version featured a good copy of the Japanese Version.  Here's what's different...

The Japanese Version has this guy appear in the beginning (and never again) to start pushing the idea of picking sides in the fight.

In the US Version, this guy at the UN appears to brief us on Godzilla (figuring that we'd all forgotten about the last 2 Films released in the US just a few years earlier) and King Kong (who was last seen in a US re-release in 1952).

In a weird addition, they will sometimes mention and show an 'International Space Station' (that has no bearing on the Plot).

It is Stock Footage from The Mysterians, a different Toho Film.  Weird.

Oh and this guys pops up WAY TOO MANY TIMES.

Him and another guy (some sort of Science Expert) pop up between big Scenes to explain what is happening, since I guess they think the American Kids are too dumb.

They even show up at the Finale to tell us about Kong swimming away...which is on-screen.

There's also one Scene which is played straight- in which one of the Characters is nervous about catching Kong- that is then re-dubbed comedically to have him 'complain about the corns on his feet.'
Huh?

The Soundtrack was also replaced with lots of good (but stock) Music from Universal Films like The Creature from the Black Lagoon and others.  Necessary?

They also cut Scenes of people betting on the fight.  Why?

Lastly, for the finale, they didn't think that there was enough going on, so they inserted disaster footage from, again, The Mysterians to heighten things.

Lastly, the final shot has Kong swimming away, while Godzilla is absent.  
In the Japanese Version, we hear both roars to end the Film.
In the American Version, we only hear Kong's.  I guess 'our guy' won more?

***

The American Version- the predominant version even in 2021- sure is different, huh?

Were these changes necessary?  No.
Were they all bad?  I guess not.
Should you check out the Japanese Version?  Yes.