Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Hollywood is going to ass rape Godzilla again! Gareth Edwards (Monsters) is on board to direct and apparently that's an awesome film but still... NO! Bad Hollywood. Okay this will just devolve into people moaning "American re-makes are always shit" "why won't Hollywood leave well enough alone" etc etc but still...I got here first :p Source: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/01/the_american_godzilla_remake_has_a_director.php
Cube Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 I don't think there's a facepalm big enough for that announcement. This one will have to suffice.
Guy Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 In all fairness to the American Godzilla, the Japanese Godzilla is pretty dreadful too.
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 In all fairness to the American Godzilla, the Japanese Godzilla is pretty dreadful too. The original still stands up pretty well, particularly when you compare it to the Americanised version from the 1950's. Its a pretty good anti-nuclear film.
dan-likes-trees Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Just gonna throw it out there, Gareth Edwards is British so can't complain too much about Americanizations. Dunno though, Monsters was obviously brilliant but I'm surprised he's doing another monster movie straight after. Interesting to see what he'll do with it.
ReZourceman Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Well theres been a Godzilla planned for ages, its certainly good news that its got an awesome director on board. (I havn't seen Monsters, but I fully trust the hype)
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) Yes! I read this. Cannot wait to see what Gareth Edwards can do. I liked the American Godzilla. It was stupidly dumb and Jamiroquai's 'Deep Underground' is a fucking amazing song. The Japanese versions can suck it. I couldn't be less interested if I tried. All Godzilla is to me is special effects so Hollywood can have him. Also, American remakes aren't always shit. The Ring was a great remake. Soderberg's Solaris is also stunning. The Departed, another great remake. 12 Monkeys, another one. The Magnificent Seven. Insomnia. The Birdcage. Vanilla Sky (I hate both versions tbh). A Fist Full of Dollars. Isn't the 'Let The Right One In' remake meant to be good, too? So American remakes always being rubbish a load of utter shit. Edited January 6, 2011 by Daft Remembered more remakes.
Ellmeister Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 American Godzilla film was awesome when I was a kid from what I can remember. Should really get around to seeing monsters.
Happenstance Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 I do love that the American Godzilla has actually been used in one of the Japanese movies
ReZourceman Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Yes! I read this. Cannot wait to see what Gareth Edwards can do. I liked the American Godzilla. It was stupidly dumb and Jamiroquai's 'Deep Underground' is a fucking amazing song. The Japanese versions can suck it. I couldn't be less interested if I tried. All Godzilla is to me is special effects so Hollywood can have him. Also, American remakes aren't always shit. The Ring was a great remake. Soderberg's Solaris is also stunning. The Departed, another great remake. 12 Monkeys, another one. The Magnificent Seven. So American remakes always being rubbish a load of utter shit.
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 Just gonna throw it out there, Gareth Edwards is British so can't complain too much about Americanizations. American studio though, which is how I class things Jamiroquai's 'Deep Underground' is a fucking amazing song. Also, American remakes aren't always shit. The Ring was a great remake. Soderberg's Solaris is also stunning. The Departed, another great remake. 12 Monkeys, another one. The Magnificent Seven. So American remakes always being rubbish a load of utter shit. I agree with that. And I wasn't trying to suggest that, but it tends to be where these threads lead to, was trying to nip it in the bud.
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Yeah, I thought I'd just point out a few good ones because it's so much easier to remember the awful ones. Half of those I completely forgot they were remakes because the US version nails it so well. Which reminds me, one of these days I'm going to have to watch Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Guy Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) America did the best job they could with a terrible premise like Godzilla. I dunno how else they could have made ANY money from it. At least the blonde chick was hot and the rest of the cast utterly ridiculous. Also, fuck you Daft. You know why. Bastard. Hundreds of pounds on therapy wasted. Tonight I sleep with my eyes open. Edited January 6, 2011 by Guy
Cube Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 America did the best job they could with a terrible premise like Godzilla. I dunno how else they could have made ANY money from it. At least the blonde chick was hot and the rest of the cast utterly ridiculous. JJ Abrams made a very enjoyable film out of essentially the same premise.
Guy Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 JJ Abrams made a very enjoyable film out of essentially the same premise. Radioactive dinosaur waves his arms around firing lasers at a model city, the army and other giant monsters? Did you see a different version of Cloverfield to me?
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) America did the best job they could with a terrible premise like Godzilla. There's a brilliant quote in the original that I can neither find nor remember but its essentially some people on a train in Tokyo and they say something like "we've been through the war and now this". Its a brilliant anti-American (military) film. The numerous sequels may have just become monster movie stuff but the series, as a whole, is a fascinating look at Japanese culture. The original Godzilla was peaceful, awoken by nuclear experimentation then went on a rampage against Tokyo. Over the series it went on to become a friend and defender of Tokyo/Japan, allegorical to America. The original came during the occupation and while everyone played nicely on the surface there was still, unsurprisingly, some tension underneath and it expressed it brilliantly. Afterall, Honda did state that he witnessed the war in Tokyo and visited Hiroshima afterwards and that's what inspired the film. Furthemore, the rather lacklustre response the government in the film had to Godzilla could be said to be a rather strong criticism of Japan's government during the war. Particularly striking given the general, almost blind faith-like, belief in the government during the war and the American enforcement that films made during the occupation which “portray Japanese people with creative and progressive ways of dealing with postwar reconstruction” . Its amazing how much of a criticism they managed to get past the censors. And of course national insecurities, rewriting history through film and exploring the use of kamikaze pilots etc etc etc. Compare this to Matthew Broderick prancing about for 2 hours just because Godzilla is up the duff... I'm not saying the American film should try to be any more than bubblegum cinema but you can't say the original isn't a very important piece of film making. Edited January 6, 2011 by Ashley
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Just because the Japanese original had allegorical merit doesn't mean Emmerich's version doesn't have interesting undertones itself (Not just what the film was about but the context in which it was made).
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 Just because the Japanese original had allegorical merit doesn't mean Emmerich's version doesn't have interesting undertones itself (Not just what the film was about but the context in which it was made). I said that myself (essentially) in the last paragraph. What I was trying to say is "don't write the original off as guff". (well, I have said that now with the edit as I misspoke before)
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Huh? All I read was... Compare this to Matthew Broderick prancing about for 2 hours just because Godzilla is up the duff... Which is completely unfair. Saying something is 'bubblegum' doesn't make it void of meaning. Take Ugly Betty, utter bubblegum, but the social commentary it provides both implicitly and explicitly is pretty vast. Godzilla grossed almost $400 million. It wasn't an unpopular film.
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) That was my personal review. I wasn't trying to draw parallels but I'd admit that it was kind of badly placed. Ultimately I was trying, for the most part, to defend the original rather than really give in-depth feedback on the remake as its been 12 years since I've seen it. Edited January 6, 2011 by Ashley
Mokong Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Also, American remakes aren't always shit. The Ring was a great remake. ... The Departed, another great remake. .... The Magnificent Seven. So American remakes always being rubbish a load of utter shit. Lies... Lies and more Lies (IMO) [on topic] Are they still making Cloverfield 2? If so I don't see the point in doing a 2nd monster film, their both esentially the same film anyway.
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 They both have their place. They're also both wildly different. Made at different times for different reasons for different people.
Guy Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 To be honest, I never really looked into the original movie as deeply as that. There's obviously layers of stuff I didn't get when I saw the film as a kid. Will definitely pencil that in to be rewatched sometime. Cheers for alerting me to it.
Ashley Posted January 6, 2011 Author Posted January 6, 2011 Truthfully I only looked at it that deeply because I did an assignment on how he is an allegory for America but it is deeper (underground) than it first appears.
Daft Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 I only like the new film because of the creature design and because at one point Godzilla hides from some helicopter in a building and then bursts out from behind them. Was so stupidly cool!! Would be nice if someone decided to do a monster film that wasn't in New Fucking York.
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