Godzilla

Godzilla
by Roland Emmerich

Godzilla

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DVD details

Actor: Hank Azaria, Jean Reno, Kevin Dunn, Maria Pitillo, Matthew Broderick
Director: Roland Emmerich
Brand: BRODERICK,MATTHEW
Writer: Roland Emmerich
Producer: Cary Woods
Producer: Dean Devlin
Writer: Dean Devlin
Producer: Kelly Van Horn
Writer: Ted Elliott
Writer: Terry Rossio
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-11-03
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures

DVD Reviews of Godzilla

DVD Review: The image is sharper, the story is not.
Summary: 3 Stars

I think this film gets a bum rap. It's not good, but it's not super bad. It's at least a chance to put your brain in a jar and eat popcorn. Also it re-invigorated an international interest in Godzilla which led to the old movies having western DVD releases.

This is a modern day B-Movie, and more a take on "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" than "Godzilla". The creature (or 'GINO' aka: 'Godzilla In Name Only') looks cool, but he's no Godzilla. The human characters work with what they've got. For all that's apparently going on, all Godzilla does through-out the film is run. Then maybe walk, or at one point crawl, but then it's back to running. There's no real city destruction bar one or two buildings he walks through (which we don't get to see much of). In fact the military does more damage to New York than he does! Or 'she' does?

This is off-set by the "summer blockbuster" feel of the film where you have to stop thinking and let the barrage of visuals overwhelm you. The Blu-Ray release captures this very well. The CGI looks old, but still good. I was surprised to find the sound impressing me more with lots of lovely bass. GINO sounds heavy with each footfall and your speakers will get put through their paces during the chase scenes.

There are extras on the disc, but a lot of it is recycled from the DVD release. These include a very short making of video, a music video, and visual effects commentary. New material includes a video featuring some of Godzilla's greatest fight scenes, but this is more of a trailer for other Godzilla DVDs. An announcer talks over each battle explaining the story, but gets his facts wrong in places.

There is a quiz about the film, but it's not very good. On my first try, the first two answers were New York. Finally there's a `movieIQ' feature. This means during the film it can list details of characters and actors as they appear. I suppose this would come in handy if you forgot an actor's name and wanted to be reminded of the other film they were in which you remember.

If you have a PS3 there is a Digital Copy of the movie available. You download to your PS3 and can then transfer it to a PSP for portable stomping. This is pretty neat, and makes portable transfers of movies a little easier for people who don't want to have to rip and compress a DVD. You just need to own a PS3 and a PSP instead!

The extras on this Blu-Ray aren't great, but at least they're trying new things, and that's better than nothing! Similarly, while the film isn't great, it's not terrible either. If you don't expect much, you might even enjoy it!

DVD Review: Godzilla?? Nah, but a good flic none the less.
Summary: 5 Stars

I actually really like this film, but there are two glaringly bad things about it.
One, it shouldn't be called Godzilla... it's got nothing to do with the Japanese monster so why steal the name? Godzilla fans won't like it, and people who don't like Godzilla movies won't see it.
Two, while I really like Matthew Broderick... he was the wrong guy for this. It should have gone to someone like Jeff Goldblum or such.
And I guess I must point out that while CGI bits in movies tend to look like they're a higher resolution, in Godzilla... they look lower. I actually noticed how much sharper the picture went every time Godzilla went off screen.

DVD Review: One of my favorite 'relax' movies, comes with some SERIOUS Blu-ray features and freebies
Summary: 5 Stars

THE MOVIE

I will admit, THIS Godzilla is one of my favorite 'thoughtless entertainment' movies. The kind I watch when I'm exhausted and all I want is to relax with a cocktail or a cup of cappuccino and not worry about world peace or possible cosmic disasters for a while. Sure, it's not the Japanese Godzilla - it's an American movie after all - but I can't see why we shouldn't have our own Godzilla the same way the Japanese can have their own baseball and rock and roll.

I will not do a full critique of the movie - there are hundreds of excellent reviews published already so I am going to be brief. I will only state that I love Godzilla because:

- it has Matthew Broderick (Bueller?)
- it has Jean Reno (The Specialist, The DaVinci Code)
- it has (a lot of) humor
- it has most excellent visual effects, quite impressive even by 2009 standards
- it has one of the better sound tracks in a monster movie

Sure, it's not the Japanese Godzilla but, come to think of it, the Japanese Godzilla has none of the above.

THE BLU-RAY RELEASE

Of course, it's 1080p and it's an easy to notice improvement over the DVD release - I've bought both the VHS and the DVD releases prior to this one. More impressive than the picture is the sound track. The DTS-HD Master Audio it's literally a blast. It will rock your house with the proper sub-woofer.

The extras are mostly those found on the DVD edition but there are a couple of Blu-specific additions.

The Godzilla trivia game is actually fun - multiple-choice where the time it takes to pick the answer is factored into the score. A multi-player option is available for players with an Internet connection. To my surprise, this actually worked and I could play Godzilla trivia online with someone who was trying out this exotic feature at the same time I was.

The Movie-IQ option is another BD-Live powered option. It checks some online database and provides up-to-date information about the movie while watching the movie. I immediately learned, while watching the movie, that Godzilla grossed $350 million and it was released in 1998 and that, since its release in 1954 there have been 28 Godzilla/GOJIRA movies.

BD-Live also facilitated the printing of a ticket for the '2012' movie (up to $10). Be VERY careful and do NOT throw away the wrapping. The back of the sticker has a code that, when typed in in a BD-Live session will have Sony email you a PDF that can be printed and becomes a 'ticket' that's valid until Dec. 31 2009.

Finally, the disk - not a second disk - includes a digital copy for the PSP. You first copy it to your PS3 hard drive and then you download it from there to the PSP - it comes with full instructions on how to proceed.

MY RATING

5 stars as a movie and 5 stars as a Blu-ray release. If you happen to own a PS3 and a PSP and you happen to want to watch '2012' before the end of 2009 this is an incredible bargain.

DVD Review: Godzilla
Summary: 5 Stars

This is not one of the best Godzilla movies ever made but it's still pretty good. i liked it alot and i hope you will to. I Recommend it for everyone

DVD Review: BAD STORY, GREAT DIGITAL SOUND !!!!
Summary: 3 Stars

for the story , they mess with the Japanese legendary monster , different shape , at least they kept the same roar fx , as for the sound quality , this movie was made for the digital theater systems , now on blu ray yes the sound will be great , the dvd contains DTS system , now with true HD it may look better for a popcorn movie .

Description of Godzilla

Born of the atomic tests in the 50's, Godzilla travels from a French atoll to New York City, where the usual havoc occurs while both American and French officials try to stop him/her.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 23-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD

As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a shameless, uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers. There's really no other way to approach it--you just have to accept the fact that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. The widescreen Special Edition DVD includes a wealth of bonus materials--audio commentary by the film's special effects supervisors, a "making of" featurette, the Wallflowers' music video "Heroes," a photo gallery, and a variety of features related to this and all the classic Godzilla films from Japan. --Jeff Shannon

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