Shin Godzilla

i feel like most people don't fully appreciate how fucking fantastic this movie is. it's like watching someone come back from the dead. i thought that hideaki anno would never again make something to live up to his greatest works, but i was wrong. the scene of godzilla destroying the city halfway through the movie had the unique feeling of the swathes of mass destruction shown throughout neon genesis evangelion. i've missed anno greatly. he's my favorite director. i'm glad he's back. read more

an atmospheric boardroom allegory of disaster response bureaucracy -- it's like the first half of an ultraman episode with all the kaiju's urban carnage, but without the superpowered hero -- except each common person who's willing to bravely step up and lend a helping hand. read more

i've read some excellent reviews right here, which said everything i wanted to. kudos. i am incoherent now, basking in the "this. this is it!" feeling. this movie is everything the hollywood ones were not - even though the second tried to be, on some level... on a personal, heartstrings-pulling-bullshit-slinging level that was completely the wrong choice. there is no main character here, and especially no main character's family(!), and no heroics. like train to busan, but overtly and nuanced, this is a movie that is critical of bureaucratic reaction to disaster. but it's a much, much better... read more