The Big Picture: Go Go Godzilla - Hoping for Better Blockbusters

[Novuake]

Bob. I am not used to you talking so slowly... Must be the meh you feel for the movie.

 

[LobsterFeng]

We live in the age of Brands, Bob. We better get used to it; especially with the "Peeps" movie being green-lit.

Good Lord, this is happening? Get ready for a billion "Where my Peeps at?" jokes in the marketing alone.

I just cant agree with the idea that anything within Guardians of the Galaxy is original...

I didn't realize there were other live-action blockbuster movies with machine gun wielding racoons.

OT: Great episode Bob. I agree with you when you say it's kind of nice to see that ASM2 is kind of failing comparitively and it's dropping in the box office already. I'd much rather have Godzilla succeed.

There's a very thin line between originality and absurdity, and the closer you get to that line, the weirder things get. The fact that it's a raccoon is superficial. What matters is what kind of character it is. And so far, I have not seen anything unique or original about it. In other words, the fact that it's a raccoon is a simple esthetic cop-out; it's lazy writing 101.

But the fact that it's a high budget Hollywood summer blockbuster film that's willing to embrace such absurdity that obviously comes from this niche comic series and bring it to a mainstream audience isn't something you see often.

 

[daxterx2005]

I was hoping for more US Kaijus not just another Godzilla.

Like a Mothra film, yeahhhh! Mothra!

 

[Chaos Marine]

This movie would have been far better if Joe Brody had been taken out of it. I would have had his character and Serizawa be the same person. Without being killed obviously. It always struck me as unnatural or absurd to have Americans in the Japanese nuclear power plants. I'm pretty sure Japan would have no shortage of nuclear engineers. But then I remember that the American majority will refuse to entertain anything that doesn't star Americans as the primary characters and I feel sad. Had I been given the script, I'd have started the whole thing in Japan with Japanese actors and language. Since it would have to go to America because America is the centre of the universe, I'd have had the monsters rampaging across the states to get to it's utterly massive stockpile of nuclear bombs and that being the ultimate target of the MUTOs. Then you could introduce the white-as-the-driven-snow American soldier/marines whatever.

 

[MrBaskerville]

Director's cuts are all the rage nowadays, so I'm holding out hope that we might maybe get something a bit more interesting on DVD. Maybe some character development for the human characters?

Personally i think the problem is that the lead character is played by somebody who seems to lack charisma and screen presence, he´s just boring and i don´t think they can save it with more depth. Same goes for Elizabeth Olsen, which is weird considering how good she was in Martha Marcy May Marlene. What they need to do is switch roles, Bryan Cranston needs to be the son and his wife needs to replace Olsen, everything worked so much better in that intro.

I kinda liked the movie, atleast i liked parts of it, but damn that main character is as bland as it gets. He could easily be a character in a video game.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I was hoping for more US Kaijus not just another Godzilla.

Like a Mothra film, yeahhhh! Mothra!

But there´s allready two US Kaijus in there, i think that´s a lot more than we could have ever hoped for. It´s a miracle that they didn´t just make a movie about Godzilla vs the military.

 

[Tim Chuma]

Also this list of "worst" films for sale at Cannes this year came up, cynicism rules all these days aparently.
http://imgur.com/a/3oq9o

WolfCop already has a guaranteed cinema release, I only found out about it when they had a crowdfunding project for an action figure.

I know someone who has a documentary at Cannes but not in competition (at least I don't think so), is about Weng Weng from the Phillipines.

 

[Aikayai]

If this movie encourages a bigger budget for Pacific Rim II, I'll buy a ticket to go watch this afternoon.

 

[Ishal]

You know Bob, I really liked your tone and approach to this episode. It sounded subdued and different. The slower pace was nice. Maybe you didn't have a lot to say, and so could take your time. Or maybe you were tired. I dunno, but it was nice.

 

[Piorn]

...Is it just me, or does Bob sound a bit... slow, in this episode?

I was about to ask the same thing, glad I'm not the only one! He sounds just so weary and disappointed in the movie business.
Can't really blame him.

 

[SNCommand]

Personally I thought the 1998 Godzilla movie was better than this new one, having it not competing with two other monsters for screen time meant more Godzilla, which should be required for a first installment

And I don't particularly enjoy the whole "Godzilla is an anti hero" plotline, he should be an animal, a force of nature like in the original movie, neither good nor bad, with the new one we were given no real motivation for why Godzilla does what he do, while in the 1998 movie it was made clear it was nesting and collecting food for its young

 

[vid87]

I believe honestly and fervently that not only do blockbusters NOT have to suck, we live in a period of our culture where enough of potential audiences are savvy and hungry for good stories that blockbusters not sucking can legitimately become the norm. Further, if we really are living in the "pre-brand" era, then creative license can breathe new life into old franchises, stories, and characters, rectifying plotholes or unpleasant viewpoints or infusing them with new meaning and depth beyond one-note action montages (not everyone liked the IronMan 3 Mandarin, but damn if that wasn't one of the ballsiest moves in modern cinema). It's just hard to tell what the backroom compromises are between art and business that the directors and writers can have just enough control to make something unique and meaningful while pleasing the out-of-touch corporate overlords.

I haven't seen Godzilla, but I get the feeling that the success of what can be seen in terms of influence as interesting dramatic pacing by critics like Bob is going to come off to the studios as "MAKE IT DARKER! PEOPLE WANT IT!" Not looking forward to it.

 

[CH_Gorog]

I still enjoyed the Hell out of The Amazing Spider-man 2 and thought it was very well done (for the most part), MovieBob, but I respect your opinion on the matter.

 

[andersgeek]

I don't have anything to add to the content/message of the video [other than "I agree", I guess], but MovieBob for once in what feels like forever not pulling a Yahtzee, i.e. speaking 25 words per second, is very nice.

 

[Cybylt]

I only hope that the success of Godzilla will make Lionsgate think harder about Pacific Rim 2. I... I just need that movie to happen, okay guys? I sat through 70 minutes of your boring Godzilla movie (And the, admittedly awesome, last twenty minutes), so you owe me!

That's how studios work, right?

Del Toro expressed interest in a cross-over. Imagine it, campy 70's style monster brawl Godzilla with Jaegers instead of Jet Jaguar.

 

[Kahani]

Might be a bit late to be thinking about Godzilla 2. Here's hoping Godzilla... 33ish?* turns out decent though.

* MovieBob's last intermission article says 29 previous, but Wiki lists 32 including this most recent one.

 

[medv4380]

Might be a bit late to be thinking about Godzilla 2. Here's hoping Godzilla... 33ish?* turns out decent though.

* MovieBob's last intermission article says 29 previous, but Wiki lists 32 including this most recent one.

Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_(franchise)] lists all 28.

The 32 includes Godzilla 1956 which is Gojira 1954 with Perry Mason spliced in. 1985 which is The Return of Godzilla with Perry Mason spliced in. Godzilla 1998 which no Godzilla fan counts. 98 was an OK monster film, but an atrocity to Godzilla's name. To be counted it must be an original film, and include Godzilla. The first two are not original, and 98 doesn't include Godzilla. Only a monster people call Godzilla.

Only 2014 could be counted out of the American set to put the list at 29.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Yeah, hopefully Hollywood will actually hear what the negative word of mouth was about Godzilla. We loved the monster, but absolutely hated the romance. More of the former, none of the latter.

 

[Bertylicious]

I too hope that success for Godzilla will lead to a new monster movies with extra dinosaurs and Mechagodzilla.

 

[MarsProbe]

I don't really understand why, but for some reason while the internet seems to be "meh" about Godzilla, all the word of mouth I've heard in person both at the theater and from people I know is overwhelmingly positive. I don't know, could just be a Canadian thing, but as a fan of Godzilla I actually liked the movie. Sure it's not the best Godzilla movie, but it's sure in the higher side of the scale in terms of storytelling.

That's because it's the internet. Everything is either just ok, bad, or racist (like Far Cry 4). OK, so that's a broad generalisation, but still. All the actual human beings I know who have gone to see Godzilla have only had good things to say about it. I've not seen it yet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it.