"Godzilla Minus One" - Review

Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a kamikaze pilot in the latter days of World War 2. He turns his plane around to get unnecessary repairs on an island, rather than face the enemy, only for something monstrous to attack. Though he freezes and flees, he survives the event, haunted by his survival and what he saw that day... Returning to Tokyo to find his family dead and his city in ruins, he tries to move on and live with the guilt, the pain and the crippling PTSD. But then the beast rises once again, and Shikishima must confront his past, and that of his nation...

Honestly a triumph, swinging out of the gates to show the world how it's done.
The central character piece is stirring, fantastic work, and anchors the whole affair wonderfully. It is a strong throughline, and the payoff is outstanding. It's a sense of dread and trauma, collectively experienced, throughout. The supporting characters back it too: the always welcome and incredible Sakura Ando plays a neighbour who lost everybody she loved in the bombing raids, for example, and the film has a few things to say about the war, Imperialism, the government and other things... I found myself a bit choked up towards the end, particularly with a plotline about closure with a limping mechanic... The movie has fun, actually pretty tense moments on a boat with some mines early on, very reminiscent of "Jaws" and actually a tad creepy and sinister, and when the big beast you've been waiting for shows up, it's spectacular.
The finale more than earns its key beats, the supporting characters are lovely, it's all I've come to want and expect from a "Godzilla" movie (when that classic theme kicks in? Fuck yes), and comes to a tight, satisfying conclusion and finale. It doesn't lose momentum, and tosses aside annoying comic relief, in favour of a streamlined love of carnage, trauma and the futility of war.
Godzilla's a fucking dick in this too.

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" Review - From the Vaults

So the first part of tonight's double bill was "Godzilla: King of the Monsters". I apologise in advance, as I write this whilst listening to my new CD.

No "MechaGodzilla" or Eborah. 0/10

Go into this as a fanboy of the original Godzilla movies and you'll be okay: Mothrafucker, Rodan (who in this version is just a dick, seriously, it's kind of amazing: he eats pilots when he's already taken out the plane, and takes out planes through dickish moves, he's a fucking Chris Jherek level dick, he's great) and KING MOTHRA-FUCKING GHIDORAH are great. There is a lot of personality put into the monsters, who each get moments to shit and have a good time; and the final act is fucking great.

But the movie as a whole is just not great.

If it had embraced the B-movie dialogue (Charles Dance as Captain JONAH says the line "God has nothing to do with this.", and Bradley Whitford is fucking great as borderline alcoholic cynic dude) which included such pre-electirc breath lines as "Awwwwwwww shit!" and Tywin Lannister (because of course he's the villain in this, Game of Hype has just ended after all) saying:

"LONG LIVE THE KING!"

Then it would have been great. As it stands, there is no real reason to care about dudes besides the actors: Ken Watanabe comes back and is awesome by virtue of being Ken Watanabe, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown are  at the usual top of their game with what they are given, a bored Vera Farmiga is still a highlight in ANY movie. If they had even gone the route of "Black Guy! Nerd Guy! Hero Guy! Ken Watanabe!" B-movie stereotype (which they come close to with Whitford) it would have been "Skull Island" levels of great.

As it stands it's a fucking GORGEOUS  monster movie with AWESOME shots of our titular Titans in the skies, where you wait for the next stupid fight. Unplug your brain and you'll have a god time, but not as good a time as "Independence Day: Resurgence" or "Kong: Skull Island".

"Shin Godzilla" Review - From the Vaults

 "Shin Godzilla"

Off the coast of Tokyo, something is in the water...

Prime Minister Sieiji Okochi (the late Ren Osugi, who has 445 CREDITS!) and his cabinet are initially perplexed by this. But as the data floods in, and the creature begins to move, it becomes apparent that this is a hereto unknown, horrifying beast from the depths of the ocean, and it has made its way onto land and is rampaging throughout Tokyo. As the government scrambles to figure out what to do, whose jurisdiction this falls under, how to respond and how best to fight this creature; we follow three middling members of government and their colleagues and teams as they contend with the logistics and infuriating bureaucracy of dealing with this creature, and the realisation that they may not be able to stop it at all...

My love affair began... This woman is the most memable part of the movie.

This movie is fucking great, and especially pertinent in the midst of a global pandemic. Shot with frequent names and place locations on screen to give it the look of a documentary, it's razor sharp.

Early on there is footage of Godzilla emerging from the water, captured on film and on the news, and when The Deputy Director of the Nature Conservation Bureau Hiromi Ogashira (confined to the corner and played by my home girl Mikako Ichikawa) points out that it's going to step out onto land and begin moving, she is brushed off and dismissed without question. In the very next scene it begins to step on land. Even experts are reticent to offer thoughts and theories for fear of damaging their reputations, the Prime Minister puts on a performative act of requesting a "uniform" of a HAZMAT suit for his speech, there are frequent press conferences; evacuations of city districts are broken down into their GDP and profitability, and even amongst the team of ragtag experts assembled (solely because they are good but no other departments want them, due to being misfits or disrespectful or not playing into the political games) Ogashira is laughed at and there are arguments and pounding of fists against the fenceposts of red tape and holdups from higher ups - the team predict methods to defeat Godzilla but are made to channel it through Rando, then through his buddy Hideki Akasaka (Yutaka Takenouchi) who is an aide to the Prime Minister but still concerned about public response and perceptions to the crisis, as well as his own position. That is not even getting into Kayoco Anne Patterson (Satomi Ishihara), Special Envoy to the United States, whose country withholds help until they get something in return, despite possibly knowing what caused this creature...

There's a scene where a van tells people to evacuate, whilst they run past to get a closer look at Godzilla in crowds.

The Chinese government only offer supplies when they are bought from them.

The government departments plan for future cabinets and positions as a result of their actions here.

It's a savage movie, and rattles along at an electrifying pace, without even getting into how America wants to NUKE JAPAN AGAIN to kill Godzilla, or the excellent shots and effects which evoke old school Godzilla fun. The ending shot is a chilling one.

It's a great movie, and a TAD important to watch in these trying times. It's my favourite Godzilla, tied only with "Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla".