If I want to watch hours of Japanese political meetings I'll watch C-Span. What ever their equivalent is, J-Span?
Actually the political meetings were the most interesting part of the film. The problem for me was everything else sucked. Godzilla sucked, the action sucked, the music sucked, the story sucked.
Fyi GODZILLA 2014 cleverly integrated Fukishima into story line.
I thought the depiction of Japanese politics was very realistic and added that much more substance to the film. Godzilla was properly shown to be an uncontainable force of nature, made all the worse by a governing body that can't get anything done because of its own bloated bureaucracy. I admit I laughed out loud when the PM's chopper was obliterated--a bit of poetic justice there.
In order for even just the premise of a Godzilla film to work, it has to be done in a completely serious tone and, more importantly, it has to feature G on his own. A film where suddenly there's a bunch of monsters running around kills the concept from the get, because there is no way to make it seem remotely realistic if they all happen to appear at the same time--it can be explainable (as in the 2014), but not believable.
When the googly-eyed iteration first appeared, I sat there in disbelief. I thought it had to be a joke. Then when it started going through its mutation cycles (especially that disgusting radioactive goo venting from its gills), I understood what the movie was going for--a rapid and ever-increasing threat. Its final appearance was nightmarish--just what it should have been.
And as I've said before, that final shot is stunning...humanoid/Godzilla creatures emerging from the tip of its tail--no doubt its next mutation cycle. It helps to remind the audience that this isn't over, it's just a temporary reprieve.
So all in all, it wasn't perfect, but I think it was a great step in the right direction.
The aliens can be too disgusting to look at at times, however this is a good movie with a strain of welcome humor to it. Without this humor it would have been a very grim movie indeed I think...even the implied allegory here is done well, and is far less obvious than the humor. A good balance imo.
The Prawn from D9 is one of my fav cinematic aliens. The father/son 'lookout' combi is a complete riot that works within the film's context. Vickers Vunda Dog.
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) – 9/10 Watched it last night on AMC, hadn’t seen it in a few years. I went to see it when it came out in 1964 at the ripe old age of nine and loved it then, mainly for The Beatles, of course but there was/is so much more to enjoy. Obviously so much of it is British humor, sarcasm, self-deprecating wit, etc., but even us non-Liverpudlians can find much to relish. I especially love the scene with George Harrison and Kenneth Haigh. Haigh’s “Simon” was so dismissive and condescending to “this kid”, yet clueless himself about George’s status as a rock star. Poor “Adrian” whispering to Simon to let him know “That’s George Harrison!” and being slammed with “Don’t breathe on me, Adrian!” for his troubles. For many of us, “Simon” was much like our parents or folks of their generation. At the end, when he finishes speaking, he turns and gives a puzzled look as if someone said something he missed though no one did. My dad often did that sort of thing, as if you’d said something when you hadn’t.
The Quick And The Dead 7/10. A fun & quirky western with a great cast, a young & thin Russell Crowe & Leonardo DiCaprio looking about 12 years old, & just a fleeting cameo by the great Woody Strode. I looked up Alan Silvestri's score on Amazon, it was on Varese & it doesn't look like it's ever been reissued, so it's going for about a million quid.
I haven't seen Covenant yet, but the shift towards the dire effects of AI meddling are what it is supposed to be all about. What that has to do with the Engineers has been left dangling, unfortunately.
But, true, wasn't there some recent statement from Sir Ridley along the lines of the perils of interfering with a winning formula?
Nothing in either film makes very much sense. The writing is truly awful. Covenant was supposed to be an apology for Prometheus but it manages to be even worse.
Not sure Scott had any interest in the aliens at all in these. It would be better off as just a story Zbout Fassbender and AI. As dire as the films are, he is highly watchable and there are some nice effects. The alien aspects of the films are confused, muddled, onsensical, add nothing good to the "mythology" and are in danger of taking away from the original because they're jnsisting on linking them.
But they're east to ignore but maybe not forget. I watched them once and that was it. I won't watch another.