See what I did there? No? Well then!
In 1954 the Toho film Gojira was released to a Japanese audience. In 1956, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was released to an American audience. It was cut up, re-edited and starred Raymond Burr(yes, Perry Mason himself!). For the longest time the only version you could find was the Americanized one. But in 2004 Toho released a DVD set containing both, and that’s what I watched.
Just recently I’ve completed a little bit of a dream. I am now in possession of all the Godzilla movies released, and it’s my goal this year to watch them all and report to you, my trusty readers.
It’s a little lofty, with there being 28 films(not including the American Godzilla), but I think I can do it. Hell, that’s less than 1 a week, I should be able to squeeze that time in right? Right!? We’ll see.
So for today, we’re going to start at the beginning and watch Gojira and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Gojira(1954)
When most people think Godzilla, they think of a guy in a rubber suit, trampling Tokyo, with cheap special effects, totally camped out. They’re not serious films, just silly popcorn movies. Gojira is not that film. Yes, there is a guy in a rubber suit stomping on Tokyo, and by todays standards the effects are cheap(but hey, it won a Japanese Oscar for Best Effects but lost Best Picture to Seven Samurai, but who wouldn’t) but there is no intentional camp here. This, by all accounts, is a serious film. It was released less than 10 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and just a couple of months after the Daigo Fukury? Maru incident(Japanese fishing boat that caught radiation fallout from a US H-Bomb test).
The film starts with the sinking of a fishing vessel and two rescue ships under the same mysterious conditions. It then skips to Odo Island, where the legend of Godzilla, the great sea monster, is revealed. The village on this Island is later partially destroyed by another mysterious force, and an investigation is launched. During this investigation Godzilla is spotted and they determine that, he’s both from the cretaceous period and dosed with a high level of radiation, from an atomic bomb!
The movie has all the tropes(or did it start them all?) of giant monster movies:
- genius scientist with a terrible discovery that he doesn’t want used as a weapon
- fleeing people
- buildings toppling
- ineffective military might
- passionate scientist that just wants to study
But what you won’t find here, as I mentioned, is the camp of a lot of monster movies. And if you’ve seen some of the later films before this one, it’s going to have a very different tone and feel to it. There is real suspense here, real drama and the feeling of hopelessness that comes with any unstoppable force. Most of all, there’s sadness. In the final scene, when Godzilla is finally defeated, you actually feel sad for the monster.
Overall, Gojira is a near retelling of the bombings at the end of WW2. Same devastation, same fallout, same scientist using a discovery as a weapon. The aftermath scenes show depth and despair, and yet a hope for peace and happiness.
For a giant monster movie, it’s really very touching.
“I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species. If we continue nuclear testing, very soon, another Godzilla might appear, somewhere else in the world, again…”
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
This is the Americanized version. At first mention, you might think that it would be re-edited to be more action like and less meaningful. But it’s just as meaningful as the original. While the movie is chopped up and some scenes are moved around, the majority of the movie is still there. Only the perspective has changed to that of a field reporter from the States. Yes, there’s a lot of Fake Shemp moments for the Japanese characters talking to Raymond Burr, but overall the effect works. It also adds a little something as he narrates what he’s seeing and how he’s feeling. It’s like he’s the voice of the music(if that makes any sense).
While I would suggest you go watch the original, the Americanized version is good in a pinch. And, as mentioned, it doesn’t actually change the movie(unlike Godzilla 1985, but we’ll get to that later).
Next time it’s Godzilla Raids Again. I’ve never seen this one, at least, not to my knowledge, so it’ll be a real treat 
And now for some fun stuff:
Powered by Twitter Tools
Powered by Twitter Tools
Powered by Twitter Tools
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Liam was sleeping, quiet as a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the fireplace with care, in the hopes that Santa would soon be there.
This year Tara, Liam and I are spending Christmas with Tara’s family in Vancouver. It actually marks the first time I’ve ever been away from my family for Christmas. It’s a happy and at the same time a little sad. But we all promised to share 
Tonight we attended a very nice local candle light service at the church up the street from Tara’s mom’s place. It was lively and very Christmas like, which is good for a Christmas service
It’s been raining here, and will be a very green Christmas, but it’s not just about snow, it’s about being together. Tomorrow we’re going to Skype my parents so that they can see Liam, and the rest of us I suppose. 
Then, for the rest of our trip we’ll putter around town, visiting people and generally just having a good time.
So Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope your New Year brings you all wonderful things
Powered by Twitter Tools
Today we had the whole gang over for our Christmas party. It was a good opportunity to see everyone in one place. It’s not something that we really get to do that often. There was a fair amount of work put in to get it all sorted and done, but it’s effort that’s well worth the….effort. Hmm.
People started showing up at 1 and the party pretty much just started itself. It was good to see people catching up with each others lives, seeing what’s new and generally just getting along like no time has passed at all. That has to say something about people that have been friends for so long. No matter what, time just doesn’t matter. But you can’t let too much pass by. Which reminds me, I have catch up with some long distance people.
Everyone brought food, and we made food, so there was lots of food to be had. And people didn’t eat as much as they should have, and we actually had to send some home with people, as we didn’t want to eat all the remaining stuff before we head to Vancouver. I would be a peach on the plane if I did…
Once everyone caught up, we dove into the gifts. And boy was there a pile of them to go through. It was a lot of fun watching the kids just dive into these gifts. The paper was flying and the giggles were abundant. Even the adults got a few things. Steph made everyone some ornaments; either angry birds or star wars. Both were very cool.
We had planned to make Ginger Bread houses, and just never got around to it. Mind you, by this time all the kids were hopped up on sugar and probably wouldn’t sit still enough to actuallty make it through. But they were having a ton of fun regardless. Tara and I set up this play area for the kids in the guest bedroom, of which Alice and William spent the most time. In fact, the were even in bed together. And if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re 3 and 2.5, we would be worried. But really, they spent the most of their time giggling. It was really fun to listen to, and partake in.
In the end, everyone left with gifts, food, and excellent memories.
Powered by Twitter Tools
Powered by Twitter Tools
Another indie title this time around, makes me wonder if I’ll just be doing indies, not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s a thing.
Hard Reset is an action packed FPS from Flying Wild Hog, and it’s currently selling on Steam for about $30.
As far as FPS’s go, it’s pretty typical. You have a gun, you run around shooting things, and those things go boom. But if I didn’t already know that this was an indie title, I wouldn’t have believed it if you told me. The graphics are gorgeous, and it really sets the mood and tone of the game. It’s very dark and run down, what you would expect from a cyberpunk theme. And the overall interface is really well done. In the game you can run around and collect credits, which you can then use to upgrade your two guns(but really more than two) or your combat enhancements. That upgrade interface is something that I want for my computer now! Unlike most games where you have to click an action key to start using things, in Hard Reset you just have to get close enough and your gun disappears and the interface pops up. Then it pretty much surrounds you with options, and reminds me a lot of the Minority Report interface. But cooler.
It’s too bad the official site doesn’t have a screen shot of it, I don’t think my description is going it justice. But the game is more than just a couple of pretty interfaces.
The overall plot is that the city you occupy is the last hold out for humanity, and the machines want to take over. So all the enemies(at least in the demo) are robotic in nature. This drives another cool part of the game where there are ‘energy’ kiosks that you can destroy to injure the bots. These kiosks are all over the place, and it’s a good thing because these bots tend to swarm on you. Also, most things have a tendency to blow up, and that also works to your advantage. I don’t know why you would plan a city with so many explody bits, but whatever, it works 
As mentioned before, the upgrade system let’s you upgrade one of two weapons; your machine gun or plasma gun. But they are really a ton of guns rolled into one…two. The machine gun will also house a rocket launcher, combat shotgun, grenade launcher and have other upgrades. The plasma will also do a grenade thing, an EMP burst, area effect shock cannon and other upgrades. You switch back and forth with the Q and E button, and then get more detailed with the 1-5 keys(or mouse wheel). It takes a little while to get used to but is pretty effective as you only have two kinds of ammo to worry about. The personal interface is in the bottom left and it shows the usual, including your rechargeable shields.
Blue ammo is Plasma, red is bullets. They have these little symbols that tell you the kind of gun/version you’re using, but I didn’t find that nearly as helpful as the actual title of the gun/version.
The demo is pretty fast paced and ends with a nice swarm attack that took me a couple of tries to get through. It has an autosave feature, but I didn’t notice a proper save feature(maybe not in the demo).
So would I buy it?
If I had the extra cash, I would. No problems there. As I don’t have the extra cash, and it’s $30, I might even save up my pennies for a later purchase, or wait for a sale on Steam.
But the demo, as always, is free, and if you have the time, I would grab it and go 
