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Quite possibly the most complete-feeling superhero film ever made, and that thought only just recently entered my head. The hours I've spent since watching this have been spent fucking spinning around in circles about how thoroughly Anno and Higuchi understand the source material, to a degree only matched by their previous work on Shin Godzilla. I was practically nodding in agreement the whole time. This thing still has the bite and the musings on international politics and the way Japan's bureaucracy fits into all of that, but here it serves a minor note to the greater theme of genuine silver-age Science Fiction optimism and wonder for the universe and how far we can go. We're in trouble, we always are. Sometimes we're protected, sometimes god is dead. We're all we have forever. The way this movie is able to condense all of its plot into its runtime without feeling like a Greatest Hits album or a bunch of episodes smashed together is going to roll around in my head for years. It's a fucking feat of structure about a world constantly thrown in unknowable chaos.

Delightful. I know Anno had so much fucking fun filming all those showa-era Kamen Rider flips.

If I was assassinated like Lincoln during any one of the dream sequences in this movie I'd be extremely chill about it.

A documentary that falls short of providing the fullest most detailed picture, but makes the important point that this is a band that sprung forth from a small town and progressed so rapidly both as people and songwriters that the language to describe them, their illnesses, and their artistry is still being developed.

tezuka moment

I'm sorry I just really love the way Rian Johnson makes movies. This thing is fiery, clever, and feels truly considered in the way that it lives within our own stupid reality. I don't think I'm ever left wanting for the humanity in Johnson's work.

Saw this for the first time in middle school and I ended up watching it again. Gonna be honest, kinda sucks lol. Mean but not in an interesting way. Has like, wafts of conservatism too. Not into it

The amount of times I gasped in delight. A tight, human comedy designed to give warmth in cold times. However it isn't cloying nor does it have the odious stink of a megacorporation on it. It's just a thing that feels astoundingly human. That can be rare for Christmas.

Hara, in his signature unflinching direction, paints a portrait of a man so enraged with the wrongdoings of his country that it sets him free of inhibition. He holds those able by the shirt collar and attempts to shake loose their ugly truth. However the portrait could also be looked at like a sort of optical illusion. At the same time depicting a man so trapped in the prison of his country's cruelties that he begins to trace over his own, pacing back and forth in his cell.

Absolutely nothing worse than when you're watching a band and one of the guys pulls out a prepared speech and goes "Y'know... I got a little something to say"

Honestly kind of astonishing how sloppy this feels compared to basically every other Heisei Godzilla film, even 1984. The title should write itself! Hugely disappointing

Watched on Saturday December 3, 2022.

Art is love and the pursuit. Art is the real and the unreal. Art is memory and the living craft. It's everything and also none of it, endlessly. This movie is a beating heart.

Fuck it, man. It has problems but I sincerely dont give a shit when the ambition is this space-high. Full points for that, tbh. Movies like this are The Dream of every tokusatsu fan, I think. Or it should be. Should've been 4 hours long.

Watched on Sunday November 13, 2022.

Fourth of July came late this year! Or early! Depending on who you ask!

Brother it's some damn fights. There's usual themes here about Man's Arrogance and stuff but from where I'm standing on this one, that stuff takes a pretty definitive backseat in service of furthering the momentum of the larger Heisei Godzilla project and just having a lot of fun blowing shit up and making monsters fight. There's a new Minilla in tow that kinda feels more like Actual Animal Baby and less Bobby Hill. These are weaknesses in my opinion, Godzilla movies are often more than this and I really like Minilla as Bobby Hill! but today... on this day... I had a lot of fucking fun.

Eiji Tsuburaya would be proud of the big cool Garuda jet in this movie.

I'm honestly kinda stunned by this thing, I feel like I know what to expect with movies like this but this one surprised and delighted me on several levels and manages to sort of bleed into being like, actually canon to the manga. (Forgive me, One Piece is like one of the handful of things I nerd out about to this level lol) The additions feel really good, the fanservice cameos and stuff actually make sense and don't go overboard. Miraculously. and it's gorgeous! and the music is fantastic! Ado should do some One Piece opening themes! Ahhh! I loved it I really loved it. I'm surprising myself with the degree to which I loved it lol

I get why this is an overlooked part of Mel Brooks' filmography but holy shit I can't believe people don't talk about this one way more!! Genuinely one of the most consistently funny movies I've ever seen. Slapstick really works on me lmao, the Liza Minnelli scene oh my god

This is so great, def one of my favorite found footage/mockumentary movies. It killed me every time the guy looked back to lock eyes with the cameraman

Everyone is just so goddamn good in this movie, absolutely stacked

I'm going to be thinking for a long time about Yokozuka, who spends a lot of his time in the film taking pictures of ersby. He notes that no matter how hard he tries, he can't get on eye level for his pictures. They always look away.

Watch this if you want to spend 80 minutes recognizing a Real One.

I'm not gonna kid you even for a second, this movie had a profound effect on me and served me wonder and horror simultaneously in a fashion I was unprepared for. I had tears streaming down my face for half the runtime. It's important that you see this movie and respect every animal that crosses your path.

I'm up in here man.

"Somebody go back and get a shitload of dimes!" makes me fucking wheeze laughing every single time

My heart was swelling at all the special effects slapstick in this thing. Great time, contains maybe the greatest title drop ever

Rock-solid film in the series, a great spin on the original Mothra vs Godzilla with heisei flair, including a genuinely fun and engaging human dynamic. Mothra rules.

Lmfao I had such a good time, I laughed basically the entire time. Dolph Lundgren plays jesus and Henry Rollins is here completely unchanged except for some silly thick rim glasses. Beat Takeshi is completely and utterly wasted. Wonderful film. It sucks. See it with as many people as possible.

Gene Wilder was maybe the funniest man who's ever lived

This movie is complete and utter chaos, a whirlwhind of schlock and fury and bold imagery that eventually collapses into a thematic and special effect ultradensity that shines brighter than most movies in this genre, let alone this series. Not even joking a little bit.

Watched on Sunday September 4, 2022.

I think this movie is a giant mess and also that every human on the planet should watch it. I just wish there was a nice blu-ray of it though smh.

My favorite arc of Dragonball is the Red Ribbon Army arc, Piccolo and Gohan are my favorite characters, and I fucking love Toriyama's modern art style and simple, retro superhero character design. This is a movie sent from heaven to make me, Nicky Austin, happy in particular. and wouldn't ya know it, it made me VERY happy.

Also this one's a kaiju movie too.

Makes sense that this movie would make people fucking ballistic. Fuck off though lol, this really really really worked for me.

Jesus fucking christ. They really went all the way insane mode with this one. It's honestly kinda cool to see what is probably a lot of people's dream Shonen Jump movie here. It's a combination of smart fanservice *and* a canonized adaptation of the Dragonball Minus stuff, add on top of that some truly staggering animation and you get something that I think a lot of fans were dreaming of for decades. Something kinda fun about that, even if I feel like I want a bit more from my movies personally.

Also if you squint, this is totally just a kaiju movie lol.

Massive step up from the previous film. If that was a sort of trial run, this feels like the true Godzilla reboot that Toho needed to get the series back on track. Amazing dissonance between pulp action and morose drama here too. Add on top of that some of the best visuals in the series and a really unique, almost unfitting soundtrack by the Dragon Quest guy and you get one of the highlights of the entire franchise.

This whole movie rocks so fucking hard that I felt like I ascended when the credits rolled. Utada take me home...

All the ingredients for a home run, genuinely lacking in execution.

At like 15 minutes in, there's a romantically charged spinning car crash. I leaned over to my brother and said "Wow I think this movie is Stupid" and then the movie showed me something twice as stupid every successive 15 minutes. It kinda fucking rocks, but I was missing the moody double-crosses of the first movie.

Watched on Wednesday July 27, 2022.

Probably one of the best paced action movies I've ever seen? This shit fucking goes.