Godzilla 2014

[MFB]

See, shit like that is astounding! "Break even" to most people means, "Hey, I made my money back so I didn't gain anything but I didn't lose anything either. I'm ...EVEN" but to them (The movie industry) - break even means double their investment, which is just 100% profit after they recoup what they spent to even make the thing so it's all gain, not "even."

 

[flint757]

Welcome to corporate america. A few places I've worked at were like that. They'd set an arbitrary projection as their 'break even' point and if they didn't reach it then no bonuses and whatnot for employees. Mind you they still profited. Every year the companies would raise that bar because a company isn't successful after all if it isn't constantly improving. So basically costs stay the same, but somehow they need to make more and more each year. If they don't then they 'failed'. Makes no ....ing sense at all.

 

[ghostred7]

Break even amt = cost to make the movie + cost to promote the movie, which Legendary CEO says is closer to $450M. all those tv spots + crew, posters + creative team, standup promo stuff, trailers "on tour" with other movies, etc....all costs $$

 

[flint757]

From what I'm reading they received 450 million in funds. It did not state that they actually used it all. If a movie broke even, even at that level, studio exec's would still call it a failure even though everyone got a paycheck from the deal. No matter how you slice it the notion is ridiculous.

 

[ghostred7]

Gareth Edwards to Direct Godzilla 2 and Godzilla 3! | Godzilla 2014 Movie News

 

[wankerness]

Jesus, that guy has to have one of the biggest jumps in careers of anyone ever. Zero budget indie movie to 4 absolutely massive effects movies in a row.

 

[kevdes93]

Saw it yesterday and loved it. i was a bit disappointed with bryan cranstons role, the trailers made it seem like he was a main character

 

[Alberto7]

Talk about escalating quickly, damn. Two sequels already planned barely a week after the release of the first one. Not sure how often this happens, but it blows my mind.

 

[wankerness]

I think it will have rapidly diminishing returns money-wise cause it seems like so many people were upset with how little CGI action they got here, it felt like a real movie instead of an Amazing Spider-Man II. I think the sequel will have to have a different marketing approach, like one that convinces people "hey, maybe you thought the last one was too slow, THIS ONE WILL BE DESTRUCTION ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!!," it wouldn't even really need the style of the movie itself to be substantially changed. But, I'm happy about it in any case, cause I want to see them no matter how badly they flop. I went to Godzilla 2000 in the theater, I'm a fan to the end (as long as it's not like the 98 one)!

 

[ghostred7]

Edwards said a while ago that if he ever got to do a sequel, he wanted to do something like Destroy All Monsters, even if it has a shred of action that one does, i think people will be a lot more pleased. WAAAYYYY too early to tell.

 

[Gothic Headhunter]

Saw it last night, I ....ing LOVED it! There wasn't a lot of action, but when there was, it was massive. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a movie that made my jaw drop like it did at the "fatality" scene. I've never cared about Breaking bad, so I didn't care that Cranston was only in it for the first 30 minutes. The plot wasn't amazing or anything, but it was good enough to keep the movie going and keep the people tied into the action. I also really liked the Easter eggs for King Of The Monsters. If you're thinking about seeing it, just go for it. It was great all the way through.

 

[Captain Shoggoth]

Film was the worst kind of disappointing-mildly disappointing (IMO)

Byran Cranston was misadvertised regarding his screentime and Ken Watanabe was woefully wasted. The Hiroshima reference was cringe-worthy, let alone attempting to be subtle they actually out-and-out used the friggin H-word. The advertised/hyped super serious/scary tone and constant thematic allusion to man-vs-nature/original Godzilla was not delivered upon, it was almost cheesily non-intentionally non-serious at points (that soundtrack, especially at the very end...)

and yet despite this the expected flipside would be that the fight scenes would deliver and they just didn't. I didn't mind that Godzilla was unseen for the first half of the film with only about 20 minutes screen time, it built hype. I could even live with the absolute dick-tease of his first appearance, provided the big climax provided payoff... but you only saw him for 15 seconds at a time in the final fight before cutting to Ford or worse, his wife.

tl;dr film was decent and when Godzilla WAS on-screen he was fucking AWESOME but the tone of the second half of the film was completely from as advertised, Godzilla never got any true extended visual payoff and the best actors (by NO means a dig at Taylor-Johnson or Elizabeth Olsen, both fine actors who were serviceable in this (less so the latter)) were egregiously underutilised.

tl;dr tl;dr go and see it but without any expectations

 

[setsuna7]

the next Godzilla should be titled The Way of All Flesh;Adoration for None. Gojira do the score..

 

[asher]

Saw it on Saturday, popping off some thoughts before reading the full thread later:

Was okay. Mostly enjoyable, but definitely not great (maybe not good), but not bad. For the most part, it had the good sense to not pull a Transformers and linger in one place too long when monsters weren't around, staring at hoomans... which probably saved the film. I did really like most of the Hawai'i stuff though.

Oh, too many damn kids turning to be the first ones to look at things. Also, characters in a survival/horror movie not being pants on head retarded all the time (excepting the actual big plan) was a nice change.

The action scenes themselves were alright, not great, though Godzilla got some pretty bitching fatalities.

I think this sums it up though: I got home and just wanted to watch Pacific Rim again

ed: also, yes, agreeing: sound design and production was completely excellent, and the HALO jump scene was gorgeous.

 

[mcd]

Saw it today. I hated it more than I can express.

Here's a few take aways:

The kid from Kick-Ass looks like Toby MacGuire and Elisha Wood had a love child. Said love child got no acting talent.

An Olsen sister as a mother? Or medical Professional? I'd believe Superman was a Documentary easier

Oh ran out of money due to over the top special effects? No worries guys, make Godzilla look like a drunk uncle at a kids party in a dinosaur suit. Then screw a score, steal left overs from the walking dead. Did that roar sound familiar? Well that's because we stole it from Jurassic Park.

TL;DR

Drunk burnt Barney, Olsen sister doctor, awful movie

 

[Alberto7]

Jesus Christ on a pogo stick! dat be some good bashin', son!

 

[wankerness]

Saw it today. I hated it more than I can express.

Here's a few take aways:

The kid from Kick-Ass looks like Toby MacGuire and Elisha Wood had a love child. Said love child got no acting talent.

An Olsen sister as a mother? Or medical Professional? I'd believe Superman was a Documentary easier

Oh ran out of money due to over the top special effects? No worries guys, make Godzilla look like a drunk uncle at a kids party in a dinosaur suit. Then screw a score, steal left overs from the walking dead. Did that roar sound familiar? Well that's because we stole it from Jurassic Park.

TL;DR

Drunk burnt Barney, Olsen sister doctor, awful movie

That Olsen is a fantastic actress, should never be compared to her awful sisters, and was completely wasted in this movie. Go watch Martha Marcy Mae Marlene and re-evaluate her, she's a really damn good actress when given proper material, I'd put her about on par with Jennifer Lawrence in the best young actress category. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is fine too in things like Nowhere Boy, Savages, and even the first Kick-Ass, again he's pretty much playing a cardboard cut-out here and can't really be blamed for the material.

Not much else you said made sense either, though. I'm not hearing a similarity to the walking dead score in any way other than it didn't consist of a bunch of bass drops ala a transformers movie or something. The dino noises in jurassic park came from animal noises mixed together, these all came from recording mechanical noises with some weird mic. And I'm pretty sure godzilla's design wasn't the result of a budgetary limitation, though I do agree he looked pretty stupid. Far better than he did in the 98 one, though.

I just watched it again today. I was more pleased with it the second time, the way it frames a lot of the action scenes through windows (especially the gigantic explosions in Nevada and Hawaii) and shifts the perspective to TV screens is pretty cool and I appreciated it a lot more when I wasn't reacting with "HEY I WANTED TO SEE BIGGER EXPLOSIONS AND CLEARLY SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THAT FIGHT SCENE!" There's either too much emphasis on the humans in the first half or too LITTLE in the second half considering how useless they all turn out to be, I think, and it does get tiresome with Lt. Brody narrowly avoiding death about 15 times in the last act. I think the pacing's much better than the average blockbuster and I appreciate its restraint in the first half and how it attempted to film things in different ways than most movies about big CGI things smacking each other. I definitely look forward to the sequels.

 

[mcd]

That Olsen is a fantastic actress, should never be compared to her awful sisters, and was completely wasted in this movie. Go watch Martha Marcy Mae Marlene and re-evaluate her, she's a really damn good actress when given proper material, I'd put her about on par with Jennifer Lawrence in the best young actress category. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is fine too in things like Nowhere Boy, Savages, and even the first Kick-Ass, again he's pretty much playing a cardboard cut-out here and can't really be blamed for the material.

Not much else you said made sense either, though. I'm not hearing a similarity to the walking dead score in any way other than it didn't consist of a bunch of bass drops ala a transformers movie or something. The dino noises in jurassic park came from animal noises mixed together, these all came from recording mechanical noises with some weird mic. And I'm pretty sure godzilla's design wasn't the result of a budgetary limitation, though I do agree he looked pretty stupid. Far better than he did in the 98 one, though.

I just watched it again today. I was more pleased with it the second time, the way it frames a lot of the action scenes through windows (especially the gigantic explosions in Nevada and Hawaii) and shifts the perspective to TV screens is pretty cool and I appreciated it a lot more when I wasn't reacting with "HEY I WANTED TO SEE BIGGER EXPLOSIONS AND CLEARLY SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THAT FIGHT SCENE!" There's either too much emphasis on the humans in the first half or too LITTLE in the second half considering how useless they all turn out to be, I think, and it does get tiresome with Lt. Brody narrowly avoiding death about 15 times in the last act. I think the pacing's much better than the average blockbuster and I appreciate its restraint in the first half and how it attempted to film things in different ways than most movies about big CGI things smacking each other. I definitely look forward to the sequels.

I'll give the Olsen another try.

Glad you liked it, I just found nothing redeemable as a form of entertainment from the movie.

 

[TemjinStrife]

This movie was ....ing terrible. Boring, poorly paced, and with far, far too little time spent on the monsters.

 

[MikeH]

I liked it a lot, but I agree that the monsters didn't get enough screen time.

Also, what the hell was up with the score near the end? Those scenes would have been incredible, had they not been accompanied by some cheesy-ass victory song. The omniscience was ruined.

Other than that, .