Still More Blasted Godzilla

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

Okay, okay... sorry. But what else can we do? It's topical.

To start, however, I'll mention that I saw Bulworth and loved it. Truly it rekindled the flow of McGovern-era liberalism that was imparted into my bloodstream while I was still in my mother's womb. As reported before, Ennio Morricone's score is combined in many places with rap and hip-hop but the whole thing works well. It's an outrageous movie that has the misfortune to tackle political issues in an off-year election-wise. Warren Beatty is very good and darn it, it takes a leftist in a high place like him to make such a bold statement.

In the spirit of Bulworth, I want to make something perfectly clear. I don't give a rat's ass about Godzilla, the new movie. I was not looking forward to it, and when I did see it, I thought it was appalling. It will die and be quickly forgotten, and hopefully its incompetence will be a turning point in the extinction of these horrendous movies. I find it astounding that anyone over the age of 14 would have cared about this movie.

To this end, I ask the readers: were kids movies always this bad? Seriously... the sci-fi/adventure I watched when I was 12 was Star Trek, Star Wars, Robotech, Twilight Zone, Superman, the Apes movies, Indiana Jones... time has not been kind to things like Logan's Run or Tron but they still retain interest today. They're colorful, at least. It was through the music of these films and TV shows that I became interested in soundtracks. Do 12-year-olds still watch these things and like them? Or am I just being a cynical bastard, who is just getting warm fuzzies for the junky cinema of his youth, while dissing the equivalent output for today's kids? We want to know: MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com.

From: Larry Jakubecz <pasoup@hotmail.com>

Read your combo review. I produce some shows at KSJS radio in San Jose, and on Tuesday's "PrimeAudio Soup" show (sci-fi/pop culture interest), I, too, stuck it to the big guy.

As far as the movie goes, it exceeded my lowest expectations; better we shouldn't get into ALL the dumb gags (the Ebert/Siskel was pukey), the ludicrous "plot" developments (so Matthew Broderick's character is the ONLY lizard expert in the world?), or the fact that this flick has absolutely nothing to link it to the familiar Godzilla icon we know and love (yes, it's true: the guy in the rubber suit had more personality than this overgrown komodo dragon). And so on. The best stuff isn't Godzilla, but the destruction caused by the inept military! Now THAT's entertainment!

As for David Arnold's score, well, even he wondered if, given the time constraints, he'd produce something that would stick in the mind. I, for one, found it to be wholly undistinguished-- boy, could it have used a Big Theme! (But I'm glad he eschewed Ifukube's famous Godzilla theme... why taint our memories completely?). AND, wandering over to Pet Peeve Land, not only must we endure the ever-popular, barely-related-rock-song soundtrack, now we get such teeny snippets as to be all but unheard by the record-buying public. Sheesh!

In the end, if the tagline, "Size Matters", is to be believed, then "Godzilla" is the biggest piece of crap to land in theaters so far this year. Armaggedon ready for the next Big One...

From: "Pat H. Mooney" <phmooney@flash.net>

I don't essentially agree with Mr. Bond, Jeff Bond (I'll bet that one's been used before), but I liked the movie, which I saw Tuesday night. The only thing is... it wasn't really a Godzilla movie. Maybe I liked it once I realized that it wasn't one. As you say, you shouldn't really expect much from a Godzilla movie (reviews on the 'Net have pointed to the thin plot, for example, but what plot do you expect?) and that may be part of the problem. Rather than accepting that premise and going from there, the producers may have felt that they had to find a way to appeal to a broader market. They may have succeeded better than you think, but the comparisons with Jurassic Park are inevitable. I hope, though, that, it doesn't suffer quite the fate of The Lost World, to which it owes more than it does to Toho, and than which it is in many ways a better movie. Whew! What a tortured sentence!

Anyway, I will comment also that I don't necessarily agree with Bond as to what makes a Godzilla movie. The best one for me is still the first, which was played straight, and had a sincerely felt, if heavy-handed, message. But then I guess if anyone has a right to be somewhat shrill about the horrors of nuclear bombs... I grew tired of them, though, after Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. Having defeated the "villain", Godzilla heads out to sea, turns, shakes his finger at the camera, and roars in reproach. I will not be lectured by either a monster or a man in a rubber suit. I left the theater with an enormous--but not uncontrollable--urge to litter.

When I was watching Godzillla movies, I enjoyed the other monsters, but it was always better for me when Godzilla was stomping Tokyo. I came to feel that these interlopers were distracting him from his purpose. It should have always been him or us in as many different ways as scriptwriters could come up with. This sounds like Johnny-One-Note, but how much different is Godzilla vs.. Monster-Of-The-Week? Having said that, though I must admit to a joy whenever Mothra showed up. I liked the little ladies. What can I say?

But back to the current Godzilla. Other than Jean Reno's character, whom I really enjoyed, the best part for me was when Patillo screamed at the TV: "It's Gojira, you idiot!" That, and the dedication of the film at the end to Tanaka are the only nods to a forty-year tradition. Many will see this film, but only a relative few will realize how much better it could have been. I'll throw one idea at you that would have been a great cameo for those that knew. Why not have Steve Martin do a walk-on playing a reporter named Raymond Burr?

I liked it, but it wasn't a Godzilla movie. And, though I suspect it'll make money, I don't think we'll have to worry about either of the two sequels mentioned in Time magazine.

From: "Shold, Kyle" <kyles@humongous.com>

I'm surprised. Just when I think that I understand FSM's likes and dislikes of movies you go and print a bunch of bad reviews of Godzilla. Sure it wasn't a great flick. Sure it's not a groundbreaking film. But it wasn't THAT bad. Jeff Bond's review and your preceding comment along with Jason Comerford's score review make this out to be the absolute worst flick of the decade while pushing ID4. A very stupid and poor film experience. I think that the FSM staff got a little too taken with the Godzilla hype that has been flying at everyone for months and felt just a little let down when they saw that the movie itself wasn't the second coming of Christ. Especially after publishing an issue of FSM with Lost in Space on it's cover and a Bruce Broughton feature. LIS and it's score were extremely bad. Everything about that movie was ill-conceived including the trashy score. Yet your magazine writes a cover story praising it's thematic inventiveness. What? Along with Alien 4, LIS was one the worst scores to come out in a while. Yet you praise it and condemn a perfectly fun monster movie. I for one didn't go to see Godzilla expecting Matthew Broderick and his co-stars to deliver Oscar caliber performances. Also, everytime you publish different reviews of the same score or movie that are conflicting (example: Jeff Bond overriding Andy Dursin) it somehow weakens your magazine's credibility. It's as if FSM is just a school yard with kids fighting over what's better (FSM message board?). Please choose one universal voice for your publication or at least don't publish reviews that make one writer look stupid. I believe that to be very unprofessional.

For the record, my wife and I both enjoyed Godzilla and Starship Troopers. Two silly movies that are fun. Yet one of them you praise and the other you trash. Interesting.

We're sorry if the variety of opinions presented in FSM are sometimes contradictory, but we prefer to showcase different points of view. In the case of Lost in Space, I thought that movie was a waste as well, and the score had a few good moments but was largely overmatched. Personally I am not into all of the things we cover in FSM, but we feel it's our duty to document impartially the creation of these high-profile film scores, as well as review them (which we do very partially).