Godzilla Cinematic Universe Thread

[TolkienSS 407]

Kind of looks like any other Godzilla movie. I don't see anything new in this.

A bit dissapointing after Shin.

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Naoki Sato's score is available.

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/godzilla-minus-one-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1713188955

 

[Erik Woods 555]

I've been listening to the score all week, and it's easily the best score of the year!

The opening few cues blur the lines between music and sound effects. I don't like it when scores do this, but what Sato is doing is more musical than trying to completely mimic a sound effect. I can hear basses sounding like air raid sirens and/or Godzilla's roar/growl. A there's something electronic as well that sounds like an atomic charge before Godzilla breathes hell's fire over everything!  

The score is perfectly mixed with the rest of the atmospherics so that Sato isn't confusing sound effects/sound design and music. The "bending" of certain sounds is cool to hear as well. This is shit lesser composers try to do and fail at miserably.

The cue "Divine" is Goldenthalesque goodness!  Again, the low end in this recording is beautiful!!!! Clean, deep and powerful! I can't recall anyone else but Zimmer who uses basses this prominently in a film score. I love hearing them at the beginning of "Elegy" as well. 

There's also stuff in here that reminds me of the unsettling and conflicting emotions of calm and horror in Bobby Krlic's brilliant score to MIDSOMMAR. The cue "Pain" is heartbreaking in it's simplicity. And John Adams' influences are felt in the brilliant cue "Resolution". Actually, nothing can really prepare your emotions for the one/two punch of "Pain" and "Resolution."  Holy F__k was all that came to mind while I was listening to them, so hold tight. It's a wallop! 

The only downside are the irresponsibly placed Godzilla suites, which absolutely kills the tone of the rest of the score. They are completely unnecessary and should really be deleted from the play list. If you want a true and proper first experience with this score, skip those suites.  Actually, never listen to them. They aren't needed! They are far too jaunty and whimsical for this score. This score is dark, bleak, foreboding, and deeply emotional.  It's a serious, dramatic score unlike anything you've ever heard in the Godzilla film. If you come to this score expecting to hear an Ifukube clone, then you'll be greatly disappointed!

Naoki Sato has always been one of my favorites (BATTLESHIP YAMATO, HEROIC AGE, MASQURADE HOTEL. MORIBITO: GUARDIAN OF THE SPIRIT,PRICELESS, etc) and his quality hasn't diminished. This is easily one of his best scores, and that's saying a lot because he has so many incredible, timeless scores attached to his name. I hope you all enjoy this score as much as I do and I cannot wait to hear this score in context when the film comes out!

 

-Erik-

[Edmilson 7,466]

2 hours ago, Ollie said:

New trailer for US release. 
 

 

 

I only know Godzilla from the American movies, but my gosh, this trailer looks great! The visual effects are more impressive than most Hollywood movies from these days, despite being produced by a fraction of the budget.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

 

[Ollie 1,059]

Main Title from Monarch

 

Meh….

 

 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

So far I've always found that the worst the score is the better the movie is (best movie IMO is Skull Island > Godzilla > Godzilla v King Kong > King of the Monsters while best score is King of the Monsters > Godzilla v King Kong > Godzilla > Skull Island) so we might get a really good show.

[Giftheck 916]

According to ViewerAnon, an original divine kaiju that appeared in Godzilla X Kong was changed because it did not test well with audiences. The kaiju it was changed to, which did test well, is

 

Spoiler

Mothra

 

SOURCE (nitter.net because Twitter doesn't allow thread view to unregistered users)

 

Score talk: how's Junkie XL going to deal with that?

[Ollie 1,059]

Spoiler

There was a rumor that 2 Godzillas would appear in Minus One. One of the reasons was that Bandai teased another figure being released. Well here it is, we get to see Godzilla in the film prior to his mutation via the atomic testing. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Faleel 5,355]

On 07/11/2023 at 2:39 AM, Giftheck said:

Score talk: how's Junkie XL going to deal with that?

Same way as he deals with anything else

[TolkienSS 407]

On 03/11/2023 at 8:13 PM, Ollie said:

Main Title from Monarch

 

Meh….

 

 

 

You know these tracks where you listen to them and you think you can hear a theme in there that is better than what's actually there? This is one of those.

On 03/11/2023 at 2:43 PM, Erik Woods said:

I've been listening to the score all week, and it's easily the best score of the year!

The cue "Divine" is Goldenthalesque goodness!  Again, the low end in this recording is beautiful!!!! Clean, deep and powerful! I can't recall anyone else but Zimmer who uses basses this prominently in a film score. I love hearing them at the beginning of "Elegy" as well. 

There's also stuff in here that reminds me of the unsettling and conflicting emotions of calm and horror in Bobby Krlic's brilliant score to MIDSOMMAR. The cue "Pain" is heartbreaking in it's simplicity. And John Adams' influences are felt in the brilliant cue "Resolution". Actually, nothing can really prepare your emotions for the one/two punch of "Pain" and "Resolution."  Holy F__k was all that came to mind while I was listening to them, so hold tight. It's a wallop! 

The only downside are the irresponsibly placed Godzilla suites, which absolutely kills the tone of the rest of the score. They are completely unnecessary and should really be deleted from the play list. If you want a true and proper first experience with this score, skip those suites.  Actually, never listen to them. They aren't needed! They are far too jaunty and whimsical for this score. This score is dark, bleak, foreboding, and deeply emotional.  It's a serious, dramatic score unlike anything you've ever heard in the Godzilla film. If you come to this score expecting to hear an Ifukube clone, then you'll be greatly disappointed!

Naoki Sato has always been one of my favorites (BATTLESHIP YAMATO, HEROIC AGE, MASQURADE HOTEL. MORIBITO: GUARDIAN OF THE SPIRIT,PRICELESS, etc) and his quality hasn't diminished. This is easily one of his best scores, and that's saying a lot because he has so many incredible, timeless scores attached to his name. I hope you all enjoy this score as much as I do and I cannot wait to hear this score in context when the film comes out!

 

-Erik-

 

My god, I've never seen a professional film score critic (whatever that means) displaying such horrible, horrible taste as you do.

The pair "Pain" and "Resolution" sound like demo tracks for a new Spitfire Ambient sample library. 

To refer to the Godzilla themes as "whimsical" is frankly from the same idiotic rhetoric cloth that Hans Zimmer uses every time he comes on board to "modernize" another franchise.

What you call "whimsical" is actually CHARACTER. 

The original score to this is characterless, safe, and dull.

If you love long, ambient, repeating, drawn out chords, very little melody and barely a musical arc, this is for you.

 

[Giftheck 916]

5 hours ago, Presto said:

Same way as he deals with anything else

 

Write a rip-off theme that's just shy of the real theme because Adam Wingard thinks using the original theme is 'disingenuous'?

[Erik Woods 555]

13 hours ago, TolkienSS said:

My god, I've never seen a professional film score critic (whatever that means) displaying such horrible, horrible taste as you do.

Thank you for the input! 

[Tallguy 3,398]

I haven't heard much this year that's stuck with me. So, GM1 could be the best.

 

In any event I'm really liking it.

 

I can't quite figure out what the Monarch show IS. It was such a weird thing putting Skull Island in the 70's and then never going back to those characters. It would be like doing Captain America: The First Avenger and then you never heard about him again in the modern MCU. Which would have been fine but then they put Hiddleston and Larson in the post credits Godzilla tease and... What?

[Edmilson 7,466]

17 hours ago, Presto said:

Same way as he deals with anything else

So a lot of drumming and horn of doom? Maybe mixed with a bit of synth choir that would make teenage Zack Snyder fans to go "wow this is so BADASS and EPIC!"?

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

How many films in the GCU have there been?

[Faleel 5,355]

GarethZilla

Bearzilla

Henry Kongman Jack Island

JunkieZilla

 

 

[Tallguy 3,398]

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

I'm personally hoping the next Godzilla movie & Barbie 2 come out the same weekend so we can have Barbzilla.

[Edmilson 7,466]

22 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

I'm personally hoping the next Godzilla movie & Barbie 2 come out the same weekend so we can have Barbzilla.

Both franchises are from Warner Bros, so this would be unlikely... Unless Legendary sells the Monterverse to someone else because it wouldn't be a surprise if Zaslav came to the conclusion that this franchise is too expensive and the return is too little.

[Ollie 1,059]

Saw Minus One tonight, what a fantastic film.

 

The acting and characters make this more than your typical Kaiju film.  The influence of Jaws on this film is carried throughout the picture. Godzilla’s first appearance is a brutal sequence. 

[Ollie 1,059]

After watching Minus One this looks…. Well it looks bad…. Apparently Godzilla went on a slim fast diet.

 

Each film has gotten a bit worse since the 2014 film.

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Haven't seen Minus One yet.

 

That new trailer looks absolutely ridiculous, so I'll see it. Hahaha

[Edmilson 7,466]

Wow, that looks bad. 

[Giftheck 916]

I swear, they make Godzilla move faster with each film.

 

Also, as I have an affinity with the KOTM design, I do not like what they've done to Godzilla.

 

 

EDIT: I'm seeing people saying 'this is Showa as hell'. So... was the Monsterverse supposed to be grounded in realism, or not? I feel like the whole thing has become tonally confused.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

20 hours ago, Ollie said:

Saw Minus One tonight, what a fantastic film.

Going tomorrow! Excited by all the great buzz around it. Toho's showing Hollywood how it's done.

 

I couldn't get through the whole trailer for the new Godzilla/Kong, which doesn't bode well.

 

On 14/11/2023 at 3:30 PM, Tallguy said:

 

We miss you, Rodney!

[Dr. Rick 1,157]

Wow that trailer is absolutely horrible 😂 

[Edmilson 7,466]

1 hour ago, Giftheck said:

I swear, they make Godzilla move faster with each film.

 

For the next movie they'll make him do some kung fu moves 

[TolkienSS 407]

Seems like this will be the first time where the most recent Legendary US Godzilla film looks better than the most recent Toho Godzilla.

As far as traditional fun Kaiju Godzilla goes, Godzilla x Kong fits the bill far better, and Toho fell for the western gloomification disease.

 

If some average western folks go "that looks stupid" about a Godzilla movie, that means It’s getting the vibe right.

If a Toho Godzilla is to the liking of western "critics" and the conditioned US movie audience, that's a bad sign.

After all, there seems to be a great number of people that think the painfully cliche and pretentious 2014 film is the best US Godzilla film.

 

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

I want my Godzilla somewhere between the 1954 original—which was itself gloomy and sober in its approach—and the goofiness of the 1960s, when he did his "victory dance" after thrashing King Ghidorah.

 

Yeah, Toho's on-trend and gone gloomy, but I'm just hoping to see a more energetic monster than we got in Shin Godzilla—which was certainly menacing in appearance, but didn't move too fast. I guess it was to give those even slower-moving bureaucrats time to deliberate on what to do!

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,718]

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

If some average western folks go "that looks stupid" about a Godzilla movie, that means It’s getting the vibe right.

 

I think the new Legendary Godzilla looks stupid.

 

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

If a Toho Godzilla is to the liking of western "critics" and the conditioned US movie audience, that's a bad sign.

 

I think the new Toho Godzilla looks cool.

 

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

Toho fell for the western gloomification disease.

 

You should definitely write the Japanese about this and tell them what they're doing wrong.

[Mephariel 451]

GxK looks fun. But more and more, this is turning into Transformers. The last scene with Godzilla running looks ridiculous. Like he is Barney or something.

 

[Edmilson 7,466]

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

After all, there seems to be a great number of people that think the painfully cliche and pretentious 2014 film is the best US Godzilla film.

 

Which movie do you consider the best US Godzilla film?

[TSMefford 1,509]

[Giftheck 916]

7 hours ago, TolkienSS said:

Seems like this will be the first time where the most recent Legendary US Godzilla film looks better than the most recent Toho Godzilla.

As far as traditional fun Kaiju Godzilla goes, Godzilla x Kong fits the bill far better, and Toho fell for the western gloomification disease.

 

If some average western folks go "that looks stupid" about a Godzilla movie, that means It’s getting the vibe right.

If a Toho Godzilla is to the liking of western "critics" and the conditioned US movie audience, that's a bad sign.

After all, there seems to be a great number of people that think the painfully cliche and pretentious 2014 film is the best US Godzilla film.

 

 

If that's the case, they fell for 'Western gloomification disease' in 1954, when they did the first film. Godzilla wasn't originally 'campy kaiju fun' - it was originally dark and gloomy. People died of radiation sickness. One of the characters literally melted himself when he killed Godzilla.

 

I was never a big fan of the Showa films, so this doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm glad it does to some.

[Ollie 1,059]

7 hours ago, Giftheck said:

 

If that's the case, they fell for 'Western gloomification disease' in 1954, when they did the first film. Godzilla wasn't originally 'campy kaiju fun' - it was originally dark and gloomy. People died of radiation sickness. One of the characters literally melted himself when he killed Godzilla.

 

I was never a big fan of the Showa films, so this doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm glad it does to some.

 

I do enjoy some of the Showa films but most are silly, campy films that appealed more to the younger version of myself. 
 

I do prefer the more serious approach but I also take into consideration Toho didn’t have the budget American films do. So there are things in the Heisei and Millennium series that come off silly that probably weren’t meant to be.

[Edmilson 7,466]

Apparently Godzilla and Kong now will destroy Rio.

 

 

Can't wait to see the two of them dancing funk and pagode and watching a Flamengo match on Maracanã!

 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

Maybe they'll team up with Vin Diesel to rob a bank

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

What the hell? Is this a perfume ad for "Eau de GxK"? The art of movie poster design is truly dead...

[Edmilson 7,466]

[TolkienSS 407]

I like the cheesy "alien" design in GxK.

Reminds me so much of the silly fun aliens in Godzilla vs Megalon or Invasion Of Astro Monster.

[Tallguy 3,398]

Did G-1 really only cost $15 million?

[Dr. Rick 1,157]

Yep!  Disney / Marvel could stand to learn a thing or two...  or 100...

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

There must be some strange accounting practices going on at Disney, and people are lining their pockets.

[Giftheck 916]

Budget includes paying for actors.

 

For context, Robert Downey Jr. was paid $75 million just for Avengers Endgame.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

Contrast that with Paul Rudd's "paltry" 8 million salary, out of a reported budget of almost 200 million for 'Quantumania', and you might wonder where the money went.

[Tallguy 3,398]

The G-1 effects were interesting. There were parts where they didn't feel... Perfect? It was like you were watching really fantastic television FX. But they had so much WEIGHT. They never looked fake. They just didn't always look real.

 

The Big G was scarier than any Godzilla I've ever seen.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

6 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

The G-1 effects were interesting. There were parts where they didn't feel... Perfect? It was like you were watching really fantastic television FX. But they had so much WEIGHT. They never looked fake. They just didn't always look real.

 

The Big G was scarier than any Godzilla I've ever seen.

For 15 million I'll take less-than-perfect, but I like what you're saying about Godzilla having weight and presence. Really excited to see it this weekend, and how scary he is. Again, while the design of Shin Godzilla was the stuff of nightmares, he wasn't menacing enough in his movements. He was like a huge statue just slowly moving through the city.

[Tallguy 3,398]

3 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

For 15 million I'll take less-than-perfect, but I like what you're saying about Godzilla having weight and presence. Really excited to see it this weekend, and how scary he is. Again, while the design of Shin Godzilla was the stuff of nightmares, he wasn't menacing enough in his movements. He was like a huge statue just slowly moving through the city.

 

Heh. Let me know what you think. The Jaws homages are not subtle.

[Ollie 1,059]

Godzilla's first appearance reminded me of the T-Rex sequence in Jurassic Park. 

 

I love that it was basically framed and shot from the human perspective. Plus it was brutal. It puts the Godzillasaurus sequence from Godzilla vs King Ghidora to shame. 

 

 

On 08/12/2023 at 10:59 AM, Tallguy said:

Did G-1 really only cost $15 million?

 

 

Apparently Takasshi Yamasaki said he wishes it were that much.  https://x.com/14_kaiju/status/1733310495988609433?s=20 

 

Of course he handled the SFX thru his company so that probably kept a lot of the costs down instead of outsourcing it.