The B-Masters Cabal

24 Comments

• #1 by Chad R. on June 8th, 2008

  

  Great review as always, but there’s one thing that’s always nagged me about Gojira. Why is the Oxygen Destroyer considered such a dangerous weapon? It only works under water after all, and barring Atlantis there aren’t too many cities down there. I suppose you could use it to kill lots of sea life and this would be a disaster for a country as dependent on fishing as Japan, but they make it sound like this thing is a doomsday weapon that rivals the A-bomb. I haven’t seen the Japanese version in a while so it’s possible I’ve forgotten a vital piece of exposition that would make things clear.

• #2 by lyzard on June 8th, 2008

  

  I think the point is, this is what it can do in its rawest form; Serizawa hasn’t developed it at all when he uses it against Godzilla. The implication is that it can and will be turned into the basis of a new bomb, capable of doing on land what it now does in the water.

• #3 by Chad R. on June 9th, 2008

  

  I’ll buy that. Nagging doubt terminated.

• #4 by JessicaR on June 9th, 2008

  

  I’m so oddly relieved when you review a good movie. Mandroid can’t be good for your health.

• #5 by Baron Scarpia on June 9th, 2008

  

  You know, I really was wondering when this would turn up in the roundtable. I would have been so disappointed if one of you hadn’t covered it.

• #6 by Ed on June 9th, 2008

  

  Always nice to see a Godzilla review. Any plans on doing more? Maybe updating the ones you did in the early days of the site?

• #7 by hman on June 9th, 2008

  

  I can’t wait for Liz to do “Godzilla Raids Again” (american dub) and see her comments on that magical, all-knowing book about Angilasaurus. But until then, good review.

• #8 by houseinrlyeh on June 9th, 2008

  

  Great review. I’m glad to see how much time you spend on the emotional reaction the film still provokes. That’s something that is (to my bewilderment) often ignored when people talk about Godzilla.

• #9 by lyzard on June 9th, 2008

  

  If they wanted an emotional response, they sure got one: I bawl for about the last twenty minutes of this one. Kind of embarrassing, really….

  I may as well ‘fess up and say that this was the film I had in mind when I proposed this Roundtable topic in the first place. My original plan was to do both Gojira and Godzilla, King Of The Monsters, but circumstances intervened; which perhaps isn’t a bad thing. Watching GKOTM close to Gojira certainly doesn’t do it any favours.

  And yes, I think I can safely promise more kaiju in the not-too-distant future.

• #10 by lyzard on June 9th, 2008

  

  I can’t wait for Liz to do “Godzilla Raids Again” (american dub) and see her comments on that magical, all-knowing book about Angilasaurus.

  Ooh, I haven’t seen that yet! Is it as good as The Big Book Of Dinosaurs in the American King Kong Vs Godzilla? Is it the same book!?

• #11 by hman on June 9th, 2008

  

  This book is pretty fatalistic for what appeared to be an ordinary book about dinosaurs. It’s like a dinosaur book written by 1950s sci-fi screenwriter and not an actual scientist.

• #12 by El Santo on June 9th, 2008

  

  “Watching GKOTM close to Gojira certainly doesn’t do it any favours.”
   
  Perversely, I have a very slight preference for the US edit. I tire very rapidly of watching the Japanese version’s parade of press conferences and public hearings, and I lose all respect for Yamane when he sits there sulking in the dark and moaning “Why can’t we use him for science?” as Godzilla levels Tokyo. I mean, leaving aside the whole “tens of thousands dead and millions more homeless” thing, the question of how exactly one studies the physiology of such a creature seems even more obviously unanswerable than that of how one attempts to kill it. At the very least, you wouldn’t see me volunteering for the job of shooting Godzilla in the ass with a dart and rushing over to take his vital signs.

• #13 by hman on June 9th, 2008

  

  “This book is pretty fatalistic for what appeared to be an ordinary book about dinosaurs. It’s like a dinosaur book written by 1950s sci-fi screenwriter and not an actual scientist.”

  Let me compliment this by saying that said scene is followed by a movie projector sequence (I miss those) that contains stock footage from not only 3 – 4 other films, but contains some of the most ludicrous geology/paleontology ever committed to celluloid.

• #14 by lyzard on June 9th, 2008

  

  But Yamane doesn’t say anything more about that once G. starts knocking things over; his last protest is when the frigate fleet is sent out. Anyway, the point is pretty much moot after that.

  But yeah, how exactly you *would* study something like that is a fair question (they might initially have been envisioning chunks being blown off him, I guess).

• #15 by Matthew Fudge on June 10th, 2008

  

  The US edit is good only in the sense that it actually tries to be sympathetic to the film, unlike say King Kong vs Godzilla where they sliced it to pieces, changed the plot and generally made all efforts to insult anyone who remembered the previous 2 movies.

• #16 by The Rev. D.D. on June 10th, 2008

  

  I waited a whole day to read this. One of my favorite movies, reviewed by one of my favorite reviewers…I knew some great stuff awaited.
  I underestimated what I was getting into.
  That is easily one of the most well-thought-out analyzations of this movie I’ve ever read (and I have read a lot of ‘em, due to my love of it), with an clear understanding of all that went into it, and all that came out. Your analysis comes with a deep and obvious respect and affection for the movie (highlighted by your lack of funny photo titles.) Your recognition of some of the more obscure hints and notes in the film speaks volumes. Most of all, you touched on a lot of things there, but with a perfect flow and ease of writing that I am a bit envious of.
  Maybe I’m biased due to the content, but frankly I think you’ve set the bar insanely high with this one, and put out what may very well be your best piece to date.
  Domo arigato gozaimasu.

  I kind of wondered about you crying so soon before the end, since I usually make it until Gojira’s death throes.
  Then I remembered when I finally saw the original version during its limited theatrical run…and discovered that, for all these years, I’d never seen the little postscript to that scene with the mother and her kids (apparently cut from the copy of “Godzilla” I had been watching since jr. high.)
  Suddenly “the last 20 minutes” sounded just about right.

  And I’m not ever going to be embarrassed about it.

• #17 by hman on June 10th, 2008

  

  I almost cried at the end of Godzilla 1985 (american version). The music, Godzilla’s last cry as he plummets into the volcano, and Raymond Burr’s narration hit all the right chords with me.

• #18 by lyzard on June 10th, 2008

  

  Oh, Rev, wow…. I don’t know what to say. (Nuts, we don’t have a ‘blush’ emoticon here, do we?) Anyway, I *do* love that movie, and I’m glad that came across. Thank you!

• #19 by The Rev. D.D. on June 11th, 2008

  

  h-man: Same here, but only the first time I saw it as a wee lad in the theater. The next time I saw it I was a bit older, and as I realized it wasn’t nearly as nifty as my younger self had remembered, I think it kind of deadened me to that final scene. Still a powerful one though.
  I do tend to tear up at the end of G vs. Destroyah though. And despite having watched it dozens of times…despite steeling myself every time since the first and trying to hold on…I absolutely cannot stop myself from breaking down at Dr. Serizawa’s last words to Ogata and Emiko. Hell, just thinking about that scene now is choking me up a bit.

  Ms. Kingsley: I think it stands out because of the gravitas it shows. Your pieces tend to be light-hearted and full of humor, and you’re very good with it. This shows a different side to your writing, one I’m hard-pressed to remember seeing before. It’s a revelation, and highlights how far you’ve come as a reviewer, that you can still create a hilarious piece like the one for Robot Monster, but then turn right around and give us something like this.
  I think it’s up there with Mr. Begg’s Jaws piece, or Mr. Laughin’s Fulci ruminations (House by the Cemetery in particular)…your own Plan 9…the one we (or at least I) remember you for.

  Anyway, you’re quite welcome.

  I promise to stop gushing in an embarrassing fan-boyish fashion now.

• #20 by Dave Causey on June 11th, 2008

  

  Lyz,this is my new favorite of your reviews.

  I really want to buy ‘Gojira’ next pay period,but your review reminded me how moved I was watching even ‘King of Monsters’.The awesome power of Godzilla as he smashes Tokyo…….and the scene with scores of wounded and dying people so clearly evoking the War only 9 years past.

  I agree with previous posts,in that you don’t have to be funny to give us an excellent review!

  -Dave

• #21 by The Rev. D.D. on June 11th, 2008

  

  It is totally worth the purchase (although, lucky me, I got it for Xmas, along with the GREATEST STOCKING EVER…I should get a snapshot of it and put it in this thread, it’s totally relevant). Those ClassicMedia guys are all right by me. They’ve got seven of the movies out so far, each one including the English versions as well as the subbed originals, one or two well-thought-out featurettes on some aspect of the films, and an audio commentary (haven’t listened to any yet so I can’t comment.)
  I missed a chance to snag a copy of Gigantis a while back due to finances (although I plan on tracking it down soon), but got Invasion of Astro-Monster for my birthday. I want to get Terror of Mechagodzilla next, as from what I understand it was one of the most heavily editted ones. A lot of stuff involving Katsura getting the ax, if I recall.

• #22 by lyzard on June 11th, 2008

  

  Thank you, Dave.

  Yeah, I cry at the end of Destoroyah, too. Sue me. (At the BMMB, was it? – that someone was saying they’d unknowingly let their kid watch that, and then had to get him trauma counselling.)

• #23 by The Rev. D.D. on June 12th, 2008

  

  I think it’s a combination of “he’s really dying…something he hasn’t done in decades…” and “Junior’s alive!!” and “That final roar…it’s like he’s saying goodbye to us.”

  I no-a cry when Bambi’s mamma die. But I cry when-a Gojira die.
  And I laugh-a when Bambi meet Gojira.

• #24 by supersonic on June 13th, 2008

  

  Excellent as always, Lz…

  “Perversely, I have a very slight preference for the US edit. I tire very rapidly of watching the Japanese version’s parade of press conferences and public hearings…”

  I’m one of those who never saw the original before the 50th anniversary DVD. And I can’t agree — the original film has a Kurosawan flow that makes the Raymond Burr version feel by comparison like trying to drive a car with two square wheels. For me the original is far more effective.

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