Last Movie You Watched

What took you so long?

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 5, 2021, Original Post Date: Apr 5, 2021 ---

Hold on now, Brosnan's Bond films are all underrated..to an extent and he's actually the best James Bond!

 

Knives Out! I watched it with my mom and sister over at my sister's house last night - we were all in town for Easter service at my sister and brother-in-law's church. Dad had already gone to bed and my brother-in-law was studying...or playing games on his phone...the point is that he wasn't in the room. My sister loves mystery movies and thrillers and other (moderately) dark shows, but she hadn't seen this yet, so it was time. And she really enjoyed it! She called nearly every twist in the movie, and most of them pretty early on. It was hard to keep quiet at times, and my mom and I had to occasionally shush her just to try to throw her off track. There weren't many new details I caught from my third viewing, but I still enjoy it just as much as before.

 

Wait...first time seeing it???

 

I loved it, It's a very daft and fun film, just as I expected!

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 5, 2021, Original Post Date: Apr 5, 2021 ---

That is correct.

 

I

I like tommy lee jones

 

Godzilla vs Kong!

Going into this I was on Team Godzilla, my mom was on Team Kong (it didn't stop her from falling asleep though), and my dad was neutral.

At the end, my dad gave this an A-. He loved pretty much everything about it, especially the deaf girl Jia's role and Bryan Tyree Henry's role. His main critique was the score, composed by Junkie XL, stating that the movie's score wasn't very memorable. I tend to agree with him here. I was looking out for themes and leitmotifs, but it felt like I had to ignore everything else to hear the music instead of the music being a part of the scene. The music didn't feel like a character in this film, only a set piece.

My own feelings about this movie aren't as...accepting. They aren't too bad though! I'd give this movie a B- or a solid B. The main thing this movie needed to get right was the titular promise, and it did. The fights between Godzilla and Kong are creative, skilled, and fun. There's destruction everywhere* and the difference in fighting styles is as clear as day between the two. Kong is more tactical and agile, using locks, holds, misdirection, and agility to fight Godzilla. He's a giant glass cannon. Meanwhile Godzilla, while capable of a few moves himself, relies on scratching, biting, and his Atomic Breath more than anything. It's weird how little he uses his tail though...

Human Team Kong was also a high point. I liked how prominently sign language was used and how much more of a connection to Kong they had than what people do with Godzilla (I'll touch on that later). You really felt like they cared about Kong, and Kong cared about Jia. It's not necessarily a symbiosis, but a bond there that Godzilla really doesn't have (nor does he need to...again, a little more on that later).

Third is the acting. The acting was well done. Jia using sign language meant that the actress had to be more expressive and emotive than most child actors are, but it also meant we didn't have to deal with any stilted dialogue. It was a smart move and ultimately very effective.

EDIT: Kong himself. Kong's MoCap actor did a phenomenal job. We felt the weight of his emotions, the physicality in his actions, and the pain in his movements. Kong felt more human than several of the human cast did, and it was phenomenal.

The Apex plot was...serviceable. It reminded me of Canto Bight from TLJ in all the worst ways, but I wasn't terribly offended by it and I understand why it was there...even if I called all of the twists and discoveries five minutes into the movie...assuming they weren't the ones that I called before the movie started.

Spoiler: MAJOR GODZILLA VS KONG SPOILERS

Mecha-Godzilla was something I had called by the time the second trailer aired, and I wasn't surprised to see it at all. It was alright, but it wasn't the best either.

But that gets us into things I didn't like about this movie:

Human Team Godzilla. There was not a single person on this side that I actively liked. I didn't like Millie Bobbie Brown's character in the previous movie, and I didn't like her here. I didn't like Bryon Tyree Henry's character, as the "Conspiracy Theory Believing Leaker," while not new, makes me pretty uncomfortable due to the events we've seen these past few months in America. And the Best Friend was simply that. (My dad thought he was too similar to Ned from Tom Holland's Spider-Man movie.) Their plot really didn't have much to do with Godzilla as it did with unmasking our True Villains...who were so obvious that it wasn't even fun.

But that gets into a gripe and a boon I have with the Godzilla movies. In my not-quite-a-review talk about Godzilla: King of Monsters, I mentioned that I like the idea of the Godzilla movies rotating military and civilian protagonists in each film. Apparently they're throwing that out the window with the return of MBB and her father in this movie, but neither really feel important or connected to Godzilla. The dad had one good line about how sometimes "people change and change their minds," and I think that could have been an interesting through-line, but ultimately it was tossed out as an incorrect excuse. I think the person who had the closest bond to Godzilla as more than the "protector of humanity" was Aaron Taylor Johnson's character in the first movie, and if they were to bring anyone back for a sequel and put them on Human Team Godzilla (especially after how they treated Watanabe's character in the previous film), it should have been him. Godzilla isn't a stalwart protector of humanity, he's a force of nature - a balancer of the scales. To try to understand him on the same level as a human is a grave mistake IMO, but it's not unique to this franchise at all. It happened all the times in the old Godzilla movies. And when it did happen, the next one usually had Godzilla go on some sort of rampage just to prove that he's not necessarily our friend.

The film did have a new military guy for Human Team Kong I think (I haven't seen Kong: Skull Island). He went from being a joke of a professor to adept with technology that he has no business knowing, and was frankly pretty bland. But that's how all three Godzilla featured movies have been. You gotta have that white military hero, right? Because who else can save the day?

Next was the music. I mentioned how bland it was above, but that's how it sounded to me. It sounded like Junkie XL reused some of his ideas from the Man of Steel soundtrack (specifically General Zod's theme and "Arcade"), mixed them with his BvS score, and called it a day. The man knows his scores, but this one felt so uninspired.

Serizawa. The Japanese scientist in this film was named Serizawa, and was a complete 180 from the original interpretation. And a waste of a character. Dr. Ishiro (Ken Watanabe's character from the first two Godzilla movies) was a better Serizawa in a lot of ways.


Ultimately, Godzilla vs Kong delivers where it counts and fails where it historically has done so in the past. It contains some of the best Kaiju fights I've seen since Pacific Rim, but it's not my favorite of the Modern Godzilla movies. I feel like the modern movies are missing something key about Godzilla. I can't put my finger on what, but I guess it's the idea that Godzilla is as harmful to us as we are to him. Our interests may align, but that doesn't make him good. I stated above, Godzilla is a force of nature, like a flood, typhoon, or avalanche. There may be times where those things are beneficial, but not always. Fans of Godzilla, Kong, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Kaiju films will enjoy this.


If I was to rate them, it'd be:

Godzilla (2014) (mostly due to the style of the movie and tension, not due to the actual fights)
Shin Godzilla (2016) & Godzilla vs Kong (2021) (although mostly for Kong)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)


*I've found it amusing and a little bittersweet over the years how much my taste for wanton destruction in Kaiju movies has changed. When I was younger I loved the explosions and destruction. Now all I can do is flinch at the presumed death toll. Power Rangers is a nice escape, since the Rangers usually mention how the buildings are empty or have the Zord fights in a part of town where no one will get hurt.

 

Do you remember when Trainspotting was banned in a number of countries & US states due to it "glorifying and promoting drug use"? LOLz! Legislators had obviously not bothered viewing the film they banned...

(Requiem is rough, though! Oof!)

 

Look up the movie unhinged. Great movie about what happens in an event of road rage where one man takes it a bit too far. Very violent. Rated R. I think you can find it on Amazon. Amazon has a movie library I believe. Look it up. Great film. Recommend it. Its just very violent and bloody.

 

You like mortal combat huh? Saw another post of yours with mortal combat. It was a game

 

Yeah it's my favorite fighting game franchise and I'm all hyped up for the new mortal kombat movie coming out tomorrow

 

Nice nice, im gonna try to go out and see that actually. With some buddies too. Its gonna be a blast