Giant Thread for Giant Monster Movies (New Godzilla Film)

[GSZX1337]

EDIT: I saw Godzilla 2014 last night and thought I'd bump this thread. I'll post my thoughts on the film when I'm feeling less lazy.

I figured that since we have an anime thread, we should have a thread on Japan's other great export: Giant Monster Movies! This is a movie genre that I started getting into. I've mostly stayed with Toho watching Gojira and its sequel, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster, The War of the Gargantuas, and Rodan. The only non-Toho Kaiju film I've watched is the original Japanese Gamera. With the exception of King Kong vs. Godzilla, I've enjoyed each of these movies.

Does anyone here have Gojira on Blu-Ray? I saw some stills and it looks really good.
I've seen a combination of original and American dubs. Should I watch the American versions of the films I watched in Japanese and vice versa? I've read a bit about the differences between film versions on Wikipedia. Sometimes the different versions sound almost like entirely different movies with liberties narration, adding/deleting scenes, etc. Am I correct in this thinking?

Looking forward to seeing who else on this forum enjoys Kaiju films.

[flojocabron]

My cheap ass hasn't found any movies at the fleamarket yet. But when I do....

I remember as a kid going to the library and renting out VHS tapes of various stuff.

My brother and I would really enjoyed watching Library rentals of Monster movies.

Those cheesy dubbed or plain old subbed cassettes.

the one I remember most fondly (getting flashbacks now that im youtubing it ) Is Godzilla 1985

http://youtu.be/9L0pzdr2KLw

I think its the same one where they brought back Raymond Burr? It was the one from the 80's where they put some US actors into the story?

When you are a 10 year old kid and you see a godzilla movie, its nothing but pure awesome!

I think I need to get back and see more of these.

[jinx]

Grew up collecting Godzilla VHS tapes. We would go to our SunCoast videos and I would buy both the American and the Japanese imports just so I could have them. My next door neighbor would come over and we would do marathons. I've always stuck close with Toho as well, and never ventured much farther. I would also collect Trendmaster toys, as a lot of stores would clearance them off every so often. You couldn't even walk into my room without stepping on a Godzilla or Anguirus spike.

Some of my earliest films were "Godzilla: King of the Monsters!", "Rodan", "Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla" and "Godzilla vs Gigan". I remember the first time I watched The Return of Godzilla (1985), the Shockirus scared the crap out of me. I think it's supposed to be some sort of mutated Sea Louse? I was obsessed with all the movies after seeing that (I liked being scared). My grandfather loved the Showa era, but the Heisei (Vs.) films will always have a special place in my heart. Those are the ones I grew up with, and those are the ones I spent my allowance money on. I remember when I bought both Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah movies. My friend and I watched every Vs. movie back-to-back. No sleep. That was the best weekend ever.

Now-a-days I don't take as much time to watch these as I should. Part of the reason is that Toho still hasn't released one big ultimate collection on DVD or Blu-Ray. I have all the movies I can find in digital format on a hard drive, and I have the Gojira Blu-Ray. We were actually planning on watching some this weekend, as Kit still hasn't experienced the wonders of Kaiju. We're both really excited to go see the new film next year though. There's no way I'm passing that up, as I've been waiting a long time to go see it.

[3DSStrider]

I watched my first Godzilla movie (Vs. Monster Zero) on Netflix last year. What I don't understand though, is why there are only four Godzilla movies on there. Other than that, there's Gargantuas and Rodan. No Gamera, no Mothra, not even something like Ultraman. Your only other choices for giant monsters are (shudder) Zilla or Power Rangers. I like Power Rangers/Super Sentai, but it's not exactly something I would file under kaiju.
Speaking of which, does anyone think we should start a general tokusatsu thread?

[jinx]

I watched my first Godzilla movie (Vs. Monster Zero) on Netflix last year. What I don't understand though, is why there are only four Godzilla movies on there. Other than that, there's Gargantuas and Rodan. No Gamera, no Mothra, not even something like Ultraman. Your only other choices for giant monsters are (shudder) Zilla or Power Rangers. I like Power Rangers/Super Sentai, but it's not exactly something I would file under kaiju.
Speaking of which, does anyone think we should start a general tokusatsu thread?

Crackle frequently has several of the Godzilla and Mothra films on there. I just watched the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy earlier this year. Full of cheesy goodness.

[ExedExes]

I saw Pacific Rim this summer

Back on *topic*, me being a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 means you got exposed to not 1, but *5* Gamera films. Gamera, vs. Gaos, vs. Zigra, vs. Barugon and vs. Guiron.

Also, growing up in NJ, the WOR-TV Holiday Movie Special was *the* place to see Godzilla films on Thanksgiving weekends in the 80s. In this promo from the early 80s, this year's offerings were going to be Godzilla vs. Megalon (another MST3K classic), Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster and Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. After that on this video, a classic commercial jingle for anyone growing up in the New York City area, and the end of King Kong, another movie shown during the holiday weekend.

[GSZX1337]

the one I remember most fondly (getting flashbacks now that im youtubing it ) Is Godzilla 1985

I'm watching the Godzilla films in order so I have a bit of a ways to go before I reach that one. I'm looking forward to viewing it, though.

When you are a 10 year old kid and you see a godzilla movie, its nothing but pure awesome!

Hey, Godzilla movies are nothing but pure awesome when you're an adult, too!

What I don't understand though, is why there are only four Godzilla movies on there.

Well, in the US there are several different distributors for the Godzilla films. I'd imagine that because of this, it can be a real challenge to get the streaming rights due to having more companies to deal with.

I saw Pacific Rim this summer

Heheh, not too far off.

Back on *topic*, me being a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 means you got exposed to not 1, but *5* Gamera films. Gamera, vs. Gaos, vs. Zigra, vs. Barugon and vs. Guiron.

I've been meaning to get into MST3K for the longest time. Nice to see they riffed Gamera five times.

[brunoafh]

As a pretty big fan of 70s monster of the week anime, I've been thinking that Godzilla and giant monster movies in general are probably going to be right down my alley. I've got very little exposure to this stuff though, and am more or less thinking to just start with the original Toho Godzilla and go from there.

[ExedExes]

I've been meaning to get into MST3K for the longest time. Nice to see they riffed Gamera five times.

Actually, ten times. In what is known as "Season Zero", back when it was on local Minneapolis station KTMA before it was picked up on cable, they did the first round of Gamera movies. Season Zero episodes are known for not being as good as the later seasons due to this being a local program at the time, but are still fun to see how the series really started. Links are here --

Episode K04 - Gamera vs. Barugon

Episode K05 - Gamera

Episode K06 - Gamera vs. Gaos

Episode K07 - Gamera vs. Zigra

Episode K08 - Gamera vs. Guiron

In Season 3, they revisited many of the old Season Zero episodes including all 5 of the Gamera movies they first watched, and these are of a much better production quality overall. It was as if they watched these movies again, so even the stuff they say is different as well as the host segments.

Episode 302 - Gamera

Episode 304 - Gamera vs. Barugon

Episode 308 - Gamera vs. Gaos (movie is intact but beginning host segment is cut out)

Episode 312 - Gamera vs. Guiron (again, movie intact with beginning segment out)

Episode 316 - Gamera vs. Zigra (movie intact, beginning cut out)

Other monster movies they did -

Episode 212 - Godzilla vs. Megalon

Episode 213 - Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster

Those links would fit the thread well, but check out www.club-mst3k.com for links to view and/or buy any of the episodes.

[Nemoide]

I love giant monsters, especially Godzilla. Mecha-Godzilla and King Ghidora are personal favorite non-Godzilla monsters within that universe.
I have the Criterion Blu-Ray of the original Godzilla and while it's as good as the movie will ever look, there are issues with the original film elements that prevent it from looking ULTIMATELY FANTASTIC.

I also really like Rodan (aka Radon) - one of Toho's best.

On the American side of things, has anyone else seen the original Mighty Joe Young? I'm probably committing cinephile heresy but I think it's a way better movie than King Kong.

ROOOOOAAAAAR! MONSTERS ARE AWESOME!