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Reviews
Godzilla (1998)
Entertaining
This is a very well made Godzilla film. It's far from the best and it lacks charm but I enjoyed the spectacle. The human story is pretty forgettable, Matthew Broderick actually is a horrible miscast in my opinion and sinks this film a bit rather than carry it. The effects are mostly good, especially for the time. The sets are really awesome in places. The production quality all round is very high. This also has the best sense of scale for a Godzilla so far, he actually looks huge. Shame they changed the design of Godzilla so much and it's just ugly now. I didn't like the whole plot of baby Godzilla, it felt like a bad Jurassic Park movie. At least the city smashing and finale was very exciting making up for the many shortfalls.
Fear the Invisible Man (2023)
Boring and lacking atmosphere
After the fantastic opening scene this quickly descends into total boredom. The first issue I noticed was that the dialogue quality was pretty terrible, especially for the invisible man which sounded like it was recorded in the bathroom and not at the location. The voice acting was good though. In fact overall I had no problem with the acting overall. The effects are 10% incredible, 50% adequate and 40% a bit of a mess. There are some minor plot holes and nonsensical character motivations like almost everything the detective does. The production quality is mostly very good, the locations and costumes are really excellent and the cinematography is faultless, if a little uninspired. Technically the only issue is the awful dialogue quality and some of the ADR is probably the worst I have ever heard in anything ever. The real issues that make this film so bad is that it lacks atmosphere and it's really boring. After the start nothing happens. Even the ending is a non-event. I'll end by comparing this to some other films: For similar story but with good pacing and characters watch Hollow Man (2000), for great practical effects and relatability watch The Entity (1982), for great atmosphere and mystery watch The Others (2001) and for a character driven story watch The Invisible Man (2020).
Color Out of Space (2019)
Great final 45
This is definitely overall one of the better Lovecraft films but it's certainly not the best. It has stunning cinematography and possibly the best music I've ever heard in a movie. The special effects are excellent but I couldn't help but think it would have been more lovecraftian if it had more practical effects. The characters and story are hard to engage with which leads me onto my biggest issue with this film, the first half is very slow. They could have easily taken 20 minutes out of the first half and ended up with a better film. Nicolas Cage very much carries the movie in terms of characters and really makes this entertaining, especially in the second half. The final 45 minutes really is excellent, I'm glad that I stuck with it like Hereditary (2018) as it's worth being bored for the overall experience.
Godzilla and Other Movie Monsters (1998)
Mistakes and boring
This is probably the worst documentary I've ever seen. It jumps around history without any reason. All this documentary does is reference other films but doesn't really explain history or the relation. It's pretty much just clips of other fantasy films without context. That is all this documentary has, stock footage without meaning. There are mistakes and inaccuracies like saying that The Return of Godzilla (1984) is a remake. It's a sequel to the original ignoring the previous sequels a.k.a. A re-sequel. It is pretty boring and reuses footage a lot, for example the catchy song is used 3 times, admittedly it is the best part of the documentary but did we need it 3 times? It's actually quite boring, there is no detail and it doesn't make sense. There are infinitely better YouTube videos covering the subject. Also the narrator can't pronounce dinosaur. It's not dinosar.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
Very average
This was actually better than I was expecting. It was certainly better than Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) but that is not a high accolade. The story is not original or imaginative but that doesn't matter as it serves its purpose of delivering some jokes and some action. If this was the first film then I doubt there would be anymore. It is not memorable but it certainly isn't bad. Just a very average film. This could have been a lot worse, just look at the third film in this series that killed the franchise for thirty years. That is a very bad film. This one is just average and that is okay I suppose.
Mosura 3: Kingu Gidora raishu (1998)
Disappointing end to the trilogy
This is easily my least favourite of the rebirth trilogy as it is much more serious than the previous two films. The story is just as silly as the previous films but this time they try to take it seriously which takes away from the fun factor. Even the kaiju action was quite repetitive. A disappointing end to the trilogy. So much as I didn't like this film, I also didn't hate it. It was just below average entertainment. And with that there is nothing more to say but I still have to write six hundred characters so I will waffle on about nothing just to get the character count up to the required level.
Mosura 2: Kaitei no daikessen (1997)
Crazy but fun
This is even crazier than the previous film. The characters are relentlessly mad. The story never slows down, always adding something unexpected. All of these factors add up to a very engaging and entertaining film although you would struggle to call it good. The special effects are nearly constant and consistently bad. They are so cheesy. This adds to the charm but takes away from the quality. Special highlights (or lowlight) are the caterpillar going down the teacher's top and the raft sliding down a waterslide. The new kaiju is interesting. This is more of an adventure film though like The Goonies (1985) rather than a Godzilla film.
Mosura (1996)
Fast paced fun
This is a very engaging but not classically 'good' film. It is very much a production of the nineties. It reminded me of all those eighties fantasy adventures like The NeverEnding Story (1984). It is really fast paced with lots happening so it's never boring. I didn't like the roar of the new monster, it sounded too much like an elephant trumpet. The cheesy effects, the crazy story, the silly characters and the kaiju all come together to make an undoubtedly entertaining film lacking depth. So it is worth watching so long as you are not expecting poetry, it's certainly entertaining, up there with mainline Godzilla films.
Sous la Seine (2024)
Forgettable at best
It has a really forgettable title, it should have been called En Seine. Anyway the production quality is high, especially the locations. It has nice cinematography, especially the underwater shots. The special effects are mostly good but towards the end as they get more ambitious it looks worse. The sound design and music is good but forgettable. The characters too are very forgettable. The film is a little pretentious. Generally shark movies are bad by nature but at least they are fun. This film isn't fun at all and that makes this one of the worst shark films I've ever seen as it is not entertaining in the slightest. Even the climax that brings more of the silly feels so out-of-place after all the serious before it. Right, I'll quickfire some other things I didn't like. Annoying jumps cuts for the first death. Unlikeable characters. Mixed messages. Forced romance. Stereotypical and predictable. Plot holes throughout. Incomprehensible character decisions. Overall it's probably my least favourite shark movie.
Gojira vs. Desutoroiâ (1995)
Favourite so far
This is an incredibly strong end to the era and is my current favourite Godzilla film. The only thing I didn't like about the film was that the Destoroyah story-arc wasn't fully resolved. These are my other favourites from this era: Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) and Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) with Biollante just about winning out of those two. Destoroyah almost certainly beats my favourites from the last era: Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) and Destroy All Monsters (1968). This movie has it all, lots of smashing, a new monster that is incredibly powerful, explosions, craziness, I cannot recommend this movie enough, certainly for a kaiju movie it has to be one of the best ever. Well I still have lots to watch so you never know.
In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
Good noir thriller
Much as this isn't as memorable or interesting and Dark City (1998) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999), it is certainly a lot better than most similar science-fiction detective stories. This has an engaging tone and story along with a beautiful noir style. The pace is good, the production quality is high and the acting is excellent. So why don't I score this higher? Hard to pinpoint really, the characters are suitably interesting, the story feels original enough. I don't know, I think it just comes down to it being forgettable. Nothing especially memorable happens but that doesn't stop it being a good film. As it's so forgettable I think that's a good thing as I can enjoy it again in a few years without realising I've seen it before.
Gojira vs. Supesugojira (1994)
Great era
This is quite possibly my favourite so far. There is lots of kaiju action and it has really cool action too. The old-school practical effects are awesome and make this so cool, I could see how they would benefit from modern compositing techniques though. The non-kaiju story is engaging. SpaceGodzilla is so awesome, probably beats Gigan in terms of coolness, he is just an unstoppable force. He's not big enough to get Godzilla's head in his mouth though so Biollante wins that one. This is becoming my favourite era although I am only comparing it to the previous and first Godzilla era at the moment.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Desperately unengaging
If you want to see something generic and forgettable whilst not being terrible then I think you have found your next film to watch! This is incredibly well made boredom. Utterly unoriginal and fantastically forgettable. There are some jump scares. It relies heavily on the impossibly wide open mouth to freak you out. The scares are relatively good but when you're so unengaged with everything else that is happening then what is the point unless all you want out of life is jump-scares. To be clear, I actually like jump scares and I like scary movies but this is just so generic and (dare I say) boring.
Chikyû Bôeigun (1957)
Not worth watching
This film is in colour! Ooooh. Well the first two Godzilla films weren't so I appreciated colour here. The effects are cheesy but actually more ambitious than Godzilla Raids Again (1955) and were quite good for the time. I was lazily watching the dubbed version of this film and this made it unintentionally funny, it was not good dubbing! You can really see how elements from this film inspired future Godzilla films but honestly not worth watching even for kaiju completionists. Moguera is barely in the film and almost unrecognisable to MOGERA when it returns in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994). This film on its own merits is too slow with too much repetitive action to be recommended.
Fallout: The Beginning (2024)
Excellent finale
This is a truly fantastic culmination of the series. It really hammers home how excellent the casting is across all roles. The effects are faultless and the cinematography is beautiful. Sound design is great. Creatively it is very similar to Westworld (2016-2022), unlike that though they have more than enough lore to draw from to make a second series, probably more lore than any other franchise in fact. I am sceptically excited for another series. Overall an excellent series that does the games justice. Looking forward to the next series but holding some trepidation in case it sucks like Westworld series 2.
Gojira vs. Mekagojira (1993)
Giant robot
Mechagodzilla looks absolutely incredible in this film, easily the best it's looked so far. There are lots of shots that give you context to the gigantic size and the amount of work to build it. The film also has plenty of monster action which makes it great, there is enough city smashing too! Although I did notice that they never really show the city smashing from the perspective of the people living in the cities as they are getting destroyed except for some scenes of them running away with a kaiju on the horizon. The human story in this film has some craziness although not as much as the more memorable stories in the franchise so far, that's fine though as the monster action is the winner here. There are some great shots showing the sense of scale even if the scale is sometimes inconsistent. Worth watching but not my favourite so far.
Blood Red Sky (2021)
Below average
I hate films that start with the ending because the start is boring, the timeline jumps around quite a lot throughout and I get that it's needed to reveal the story more dramatically but here it doesn't fit the story and feels disjointed. It reminded me a lot of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) but without the great characters and pacing. Virtually the whole film takes place on an aeroplane and they don't have the story or characters to support this. It is often slow. The film is well made but that just isn't enough when you don't have a concept that can support the production. Forgettable and ultimately not really worth watching but not terrible.
Gojira vs. Mosura (1992)
Forgettable entry
I enjoyed watching this but it is a step down again as the pace is slower and the crazy insanity isn't as prevalent. It's an entertaining kaiju movie but I couldn't help feeling a little bored at times. It sticks with the cheesy effects and style but not as silly or crazy so much more forgettable. It also does have the serious tone so it does fall short of all the other films in this era so far. Still, it's entertaining but my least favourite of the new era so far. Possibly I even preferred the original Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) but only by a tiny amount. Average film worth watching for completeness.
Extinction (2018)
Adequate
The action is quite good, the story is perfectly serviceable, the characters are really forgettable or uninteresting, the production quality is perfectly okay. The whole first act feels pointless at the time but hang in there as it makes sense later. The use of light is actually quite beautiful in places except that for a lot of the time it is too dark to tell what's going on. It's a one note action film with little personality. The main actor feels more suited to comedy acting, he really doesn't feel like a hero but that is probably casting at fault rather than the acting. The lead woman is really forgettable but that is probably the writing at fault rather than the casting or acting. It reminds me of Detroit: Become Human (2018) but that game is infinitely way better than this film and has a personality. This is probably more similar to Planet of the Apes (1968) but without the characterisation and with more explosions. The ending is frustrating. That was an especially meandering review, sorry.
Gojira vs. Kingu Gidorâ (1991)
Kaiju smash
This is probably the fastest paced and craziest Godzilla movie so far. To the point that it's sometimes hard to follow what's going on but it certainly holds your attention throughout. It brings back the utter silliness of most of the old sixties and seventies movies and it's not like the previous two films which were better. There wasn't enough city smashing and kaiju action in the first half but they make up for it with an incredible kaiju fight in the city near the end. Some of the monster fighting was a bit ridiculous like Godzilla body slamming Ghidorah with his tail, also it was shot more like the earlier films where the sense of scale is sometimes lost. The trees looked excellent this time though. My only real gripe was that I didn't like the story changing history so much. Overall worth watching for sure.
Rim of the World (2019)
Good but lacking charm
This is a very high quality production, a lot of effort has been put into it. So as you'd expect from a high quality production it lacks the charm and originality of lower budget films but it has excellent cinematography, sound design, special effects, acting etc. There are some moments that aren't 'perfect' like a car smashing into the ground looking a bit fake. The real issues are down to the production decisions. Much as the actors are good, the characters are pretty annoying but then again they are that special entertaining level of annoying. The story is fairly repetitive and predictable. The choice of doing all the action in long-takes takes away from the excitement, long-takes work well to build drama, not to make it more exciting so they come across as pretentious 'look at us and what we can do' moments. It is literally the same jokes in every other Hollywood film when they are doing action and trying to be funny. When the film is having fun and doing it differently it is far more entertaining but there isn't enough of it. It's certainly not bad but it is flawed. I loved how out-of-date the celebration references were only 5 years after release. At least it's better than Super 8 (2011) and Independence Day (1996).
Gojira vs. Biorante (1989)
Cool kaiju
This is a direct sequel to the previous film which was a re-sequel in my opinion. Anyway it has a pretty slow start with total nonsense science. The new kaiju is totally awesome, really next level in terms of cool. But also a little gross, not that I minded. There is some great city-destruction, some cheesy music and overall pretty similar to the previous film. I thought it could have done with more of Biollante to make it more awesome. I mean this really does have two great monsters and great monster action and the most ridiculous imaginary science yet, they just kept inventing more and more ridiculous things throughout the film. So it was very entertaining.
Das Privileg (2022)
Okay
Much as I didn't get bored, I also wasn't hugely engaged. The film is well made on every level and I really liked the core of the story. I just felt that they could have gone much further and this would have improved the pacing. The ending was a disappointment. The bad guys really seemed to make no effort to hide what they're doing and it was no secret, even though getting caught would have been bad for them. If it had been made in the eighties this would have been so much better, e.g. Society (1989) where they went to the extreme and it was so much more entertaining. It's okay but not worth the effort seeking it out.
Gojira (1984)
Best Godzilla action so far
This has a much more modern feel compared to the earlier ones but it's still dated. The special effects are substantially better, so is the cinematography, Godzilla actually looks huge now! The nuclear power plant scene is amazing and so is the city smashing. The opening is really gross, no way it should be a PG rating! This does have a serious tone. Sadly it suffers from a very boring middle section of endless political chatter. The story follows Godzilla (1954) and ignores all other sequels but also ignores that he died in the first film so to me it would have been better as a remake. I loved the life size Godzilla foot prop and the animatronic head. The music is mostly good music. Shame about the middle but easily the best Godzilla action so far.
Divergent (2014)
Watchable but unlikeable
This is very much the same as The Hunger Games (2012) but significantly more forgettable. It has a rich world that is missing vital details to make it feel more understandable. Some of the characters are not especially engaging, some are unlikeable and some are downright obnoxious which makes the film hard to watch. I very much realise that I'm not the target audience but it really feels like a joyless experience overall. The first hour is just setting up one of the factions which we already had explained to us during the film's introduction. All of these dystopian films seem to just split people off into groups, it feels like an unimaginative copy paste genre. When the revolution comes it should have felt epic but instead it feels expected because of this the emotional beats fall very flat. I thought this divergent thing would be like having special powers and not just about their personality. They could have just taken a Myers Briggs test. It's perfectly watchable, just not memorable and the characters are pretty unlikeable. Maybe the sequels will be more interesting especially if they talk more about the world outside their own one.