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CRITERION REVIEW: #594 GODZILLA (dir. Ishiro Honda) 1954 CRITERION CORNER RELEASE OF THE MONTH!  THE FILM: If this Criterion Collection release of Ishiro Honda’s enormously formative film has accomplished anything, it’s that many of us will never again be surprised to rediscover that Godzilla is a genuinely great film. Its allure diffused by the the cultural detritus that the atomic-breathing post-nuclear icon has left in his path of destruction, (not to mention the cottage industry of kaiju films for which Honda himself would eventually be responsible), Godzilla doesn’t need to be rescued from its own appeal, but rather re-appreciated for its art.  The monster movie that perfected the formula, Ishiro Honda’s earth-shaking introduction to the scaly, pre-historic scourge of post-war Japan is a sublime piece of entertainment, mitigating its layers of accrued kitsch with the undeniable force of its storytelling. The opening twenty minutes, which begins with a fishing boat meeting a violent end and follows as all of the vessels sent to investigate vanish into the same stretch of sea, succinctly nails the pace and scale by which an unseen terror matures inside of our collective imagination, providing someone like J.J. Abrams with the template from which he and Matt Reeves would extrapolate Cloverfield some 50 years later. The horror that Godzilla visits upon the shores of Japan and, later, the neon streets of downtown Tokyo is actually enhanced by the archaic effects — the miniature work is nearly immaculate, and the visual of a monster who is obviously just a man in a latex suit (man in suit! man in suit!) carries a discomforting thematic heft of which animatronics and CG have deprived contemporary disaster films. The horrors of the atomic age that Godzilla so obviously represents are man-made, emblematic of the pivotal moment at which humans wrested control of our species’ fate away from powers beyond our understanding.  Of course, Ishiro Honda (who served as both friend and assistant to Akira Kurosawa), used giant monsters to become one of the cinema’s great humanists. For Honda, Godzilla was merely a warning for the kind of problem that’s able to be ignored only because it’s so big — the enjoyably facile slideshows that paleontologist Kyohei Yamane (world’s greatest actor Takashi Shimura) uses to explain Godzilla’s existence are all the more damning as a result of how hilariously childlike they appear to modern audiences. Violence begets violence, and the extent to which Honda charts Godzilla’s transition from folklore to apocalyptic threat imbues Godzilla with a gripping suspense, the Japanese psyche effectively becoming the film’s true protagonist. In fact, Honda so skillfully aligns the viewer’s perspective with that of an entire country that the canned individual dramas feel completely superfluous, and the film stops dead in its tracks whenever it pauses to check in on the woefully undercooked love triangle that he uses to contextualize the story’s forward lurches. Perhaps the film’s most memorable scene finds a troop of radio reporters broadcasting the impossible terrors they’re witnessing — as Godzilla heads towards them and their deaths become imminent, they’re helpless to do anything but narrate their own destruction. Their only legacy is to narrate the horror, and hope that their message is heard. That ethos has endured to this day — a few years ago I visited Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bombing, and there I encountered no talk of right or wrong, no attempt to cast blame or wallow in victimhood. Instead, the day was devoted to a future free of such evils, to a world in collective agreement that the destruction dropped onto Japan must be a lesson and not a precedent. Standing under the A-Bomb Dome, surrounded by families who will continue to suffer from the fallout for generations to come, it was reassuring to see that Godzilla was gone but not forgotten. THE TRANSFER: The Godzilla negative has seen better days, and Criterion has definitely inherited a number of scratches and artifacts, but fortunately they don’t prove to be all that distracting (the commentary track assures that the presentation here is very similar to how the film looked when it premiered in 1954). Overall, the visuals here is stellar, clear and precise enough to launch a thousand reconsiderations of this classic film. To Godzilla’s immense credit, the details revealed by this Blu-ray don’t mock the effects work, but actually call attention to the supreme craftsmanship responsible for them. Fans of the film will be in heaven. THE SPECIAL FEATURES: Criterion didn’t mess around with this one. This thing is stuffed to the gills (does Godzilla have gills?) with extras, including exclusive interviews with several of the film’s surviving actors and special effects technicians, an interview with the man responsible for that unshakable theme music, an interview with film critic Tadao Sato, a much-needed new subtitle translation, and a 10-minute featurette on the visual effects that makes it that much easier to appreciate the meticulous model work required to create the film’s pivotal scenes of destruction. THE BEST BIT: I can’t imagine that Criterion would have ever released Godzilla without including Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the film (the only version of film to play in American cinemas prior to the 2004 re-release of the original), but they’ve gone above and beyond, completely restoring the bastard cut and providing it a dedicated commentary track. The re-edit, which cuts in footage of Raymond Burr as an American reporter, unquestionably defuses the film’s power, but it’s a vital chapter of Godzilla’s legacy as well as a fascinating example of the cinema’s malleability.  Film historian David Kalat also provides an exclusive commentary track for Ishiro Honda’s official cut of the film, an animated, impassioned oratory that nicely compliments the tone of the film. Kalat loves this stuff, and though I imagine he might be grating to some, I think he provides some of the most engaging Criterion commentaries in some time. THE ARTWORK: Criterion had a bit of fun with this one, dumping austerity and opting for a sea of fire and a maximalist bid to reclaim Godzilla’s badass cool. It works. And in an unprecedented move for the company, the package goes 3D when you peel it open and the city-stomping monster sticks his head out of the cardboard. Sure, it’s an iteration of Godzilla that wouldn’t appear until decades after Honda’s original film (oops), but whatever, it’s an awesome touch. THE VERDICT: 90 / 100 Head on over to MOVIES.COM to read reviews for all of Criterion’s new January releases!

CRITERION REVIEW: #594 GODZILLA (dir. Ishiro Honda) 1954 CRITERION CORNER RELEASE OF THE MONTH!

 THE FILM: If this Criterion Collection release of Ishiro Honda’s enormously formative film has accomplished anything, it’s that many of us will never again be surprised to rediscover that Godzilla is a genuinely great film. Its allure diffused by the the cultural detritus that the atomic-breathing post-nuclear icon has left in his path of destruction, (not to mention the cottage industry of kaiju films for which Honda himself would eventually be responsible), Godzilla doesn’t need to be rescued from its own appeal, but rather re-appreciated for its art. 

The monster movie that perfected the formula, Ishiro Honda’s earth-shaking introduction to the scaly, pre-historic scourge of post-war Japan is a sublime piece of entertainment, mitigating its layers of accrued kitsch with the undeniable force of its storytelling. The opening twenty minutes, which begins with a fishing boat meeting a violent end and follows as all of the vessels sent to investigate vanish into the same stretch of sea, succinctly nails the pace and scale by which an unseen terror matures inside of our collective imagination, providing someone like J.J. Abrams with the template from which he and Matt Reeves would extrapolate Cloverfield some 50 years later. The horror that Godzilla visits upon the shores of Japan and, later, the neon streets of downtown Tokyo is actually enhanced by the archaic effects — the miniature work is nearly immaculate, and the visual of a monster who is obviously just a man in a latex suit (man in suit! man in suit!) carries a discomforting thematic heft of which animatronics and CG have deprived contemporary disaster films. The horrors of the atomic age that Godzilla so obviously represents are man-made, emblematic of the pivotal moment at which humans wrested control of our species’ fate away from powers beyond our understanding. 

Of course, Ishiro Honda (who served as both friend and assistant to Akira Kurosawa), used giant monsters to become one of the cinema’s great humanists. For Honda, Godzilla was merely a warning for the kind of problem that’s able to be ignored only because it’s so big — the enjoyably facile slideshows that paleontologist Kyohei Yamane (world’s greatest actor Takashi Shimura) uses to explain Godzilla’s existence are all the more damning as a result of how hilariously childlike they appear to modern audiences. Violence begets violence, and the extent to which Honda charts Godzilla’s transition from folklore to apocalyptic threat imbues Godzilla with a gripping suspense, the Japanese psyche effectively becoming the film’s true protagonist. In fact, Honda so skillfully aligns the viewer’s perspective with that of an entire country that the canned individual dramas feel completely superfluous, and the film stops dead in its tracks whenever it pauses to check in on the woefully undercooked love triangle that he uses to contextualize the story’s forward lurches.

Perhaps the film’s most memorable scene finds a troop of radio reporters broadcasting the impossible terrors they’re witnessing — as Godzilla heads towards them and their deaths become imminent, they’re helpless to do anything but narrate their own destruction. Their only legacy is to narrate the horror, and hope that their message is heard. That ethos has endured to this day — a few years ago I visited Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bombing, and there I encountered no talk of right or wrong, no attempt to cast blame or wallow in victimhood. Instead, the day was devoted to a future free of such evils, to a world in collective agreement that the destruction dropped onto Japan must be a lesson and not a precedent. Standing under the A-Bomb Dome, surrounded by families who will continue to suffer from the fallout for generations to come, it was reassuring to see that Godzilla was gone but not forgotten.

THE TRANSFER: The Godzilla negative has seen better days, and Criterion has definitely inherited a number of scratches and artifacts, but fortunately they don’t prove to be all that distracting (the commentary track assures that the presentation here is very similar to how the film looked when it premiered in 1954). Overall, the visuals here is stellar, clear and precise enough to launch a thousand reconsiderations of this classic film. To Godzilla’s immense credit, the details revealed by this Blu-ray don’t mock the effects work, but actually call attention to the supreme craftsmanship responsible for them. Fans of the film will be in heaven.

THE SPECIAL FEATURES: Criterion didn’t mess around with this one. This thing is stuffed to the gills (does Godzilla have gills?) with extras, including exclusive interviews with several of the film’s surviving actors and special effects technicians, an interview with the man responsible for that unshakable theme music, an interview with film critic Tadao Sato, a much-needed new subtitle translation, and a 10-minute featurette on the visual effects that makes it that much easier to appreciate the meticulous model work required to create the film’s pivotal scenes of destruction.

THE BEST BIT: I can’t imagine that Criterion would have ever released Godzilla without including Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the film (the only version of film to play in American cinemas prior to the 2004 re-release of the original), but they’ve gone above and beyond, completely restoring the bastard cut and providing it a dedicated commentary track. The re-edit, which cuts in footage of Raymond Burr as an American reporter, unquestionably defuses the film’s power, but it’s a vital chapter of Godzilla’s legacy as well as a fascinating example of the cinema’s malleability.  Film historian David Kalat also provides an exclusive commentary track for Ishiro Honda’s official cut of the film, an animated, impassioned oratory that nicely compliments the tone of the film. Kalat loves this stuff, and though I imagine he might be grating to some, I think he provides some of the most engaging Criterion commentaries in some time.

THE ARTWORK: Criterion had a bit of fun with this one, dumping austerity and opting for a sea of fire and a maximalist bid to reclaim Godzilla’s badass cool. It works. And in an unprecedented move for the company, the package goes 3D when you peel it open and the city-stomping monster sticks his head out of the cardboard. Sure, it’s an iteration of Godzilla that wouldn’t appear until decades after Honda’s original film (oops), but whatever, it’s an awesome touch.

THE VERDICT: 90 / 100

Head on over to MOVIES.COM to read reviews for all of Criterion’s new January releases!

REVIEWS OF CRITERION’S JANUARY 2012 RELEASES! What do Godzilla and Catherine Deneuve’s character in Belle de Jour have in common? They’re both controlled by men in suits (hold for laughter). You know, try not to think about that one, too much. Criterion likes to start the year off on the right foot, and in 2012 that foot is stomping all over Tokyo. Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla kicks off this year’s roster in a big bad way, presenting a gloriously deluxe package of a film that some viewers might be surprised to discover is extremely worthy of the Criterion name. Luis Buñuel’s erotic puzzler Belle de Jour is the other major mainline release, and even if you hate the film (jerk) you’re gonna want this thing on your shelf. Also on tap are Francesco Rosi’s A Moment of Truth, and a Blu-ray upgrade of Soderbergh’s Traffic, the latter of which I’m not even going to review. I mean, I just saw this movie called In Time, and the moral was “Life is short, don’t waste it revisiting Traffic.” And that was a smart movie.* Okay, these reviews are a little late, so let’s get down to business before this before Criterion announces a Mothra box set. Be sure to visit the Criterion Corner Tumblr for a forthcoming review of this month’s other excellent release, an Eclipse Series dedicated to the documentary work of Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin. *In Time is not a smart movie. CLICK OVER TO MOVIES.COM TO READ THE REVIEWS!

REVIEWS OF CRITERION’S JANUARY 2012 RELEASES!

What do Godzilla and Catherine Deneuve’s character in Belle de Jour have in common? They’re both controlled by men in suits (hold for laughter). You know, try not to think about that one, too much. Criterion likes to start the year off on the right foot, and in 2012 that foot is stomping all over Tokyo. Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla kicks off this year’s roster in a big bad way, presenting a gloriously deluxe package of a film that some viewers might be surprised to discover is extremely worthy of the Criterion name.

Luis Buñuel’s erotic puzzler Belle de Jour is the other major mainline release, and even if you hate the film (jerk) you’re gonna want this thing on your shelf. Also on tap are Francesco Rosi’s A Moment of Truth, and a Blu-ray upgrade of Soderbergh’s Traffic, the latter of which I’m not even going to review. I mean, I just saw this movie called In Time, and the moral was “Life is short, don’t waste it revisiting Traffic.” And that was a smart movie.* Okay, these reviews are a little late, so let’s get down to business before this before Criterion announces a Mothra box set. Be sure to visit the Criterion Corner Tumblr for a forthcoming review of this month’s other excellent release, an Eclipse Series dedicated to the documentary work of Godard collaborator Jean-Pierre Gorin.

*In Time is not a smart movie.

CLICK OVER TO MOVIES.COM TO READ THE REVIEWS!

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CRITERION CORNER GIVEAWAY!!! 

GODZILLA EDITION

hey there. it’s been a while since i’ve randomly given stuff away, and that doesn’t jive well with my philosophy that love and / or readership should be shamelessly bought. so in honor of the 2012 and the impending doom of our civilization, i thought i’d offer a chance to bring home everyone’s favorite world-destroyer, GODZILLA! MMMRAAAHHHWWWFFFF!! (that’s how Mothra told me to spell Godzilla’s cry, but you can’t ever really trust that guy).

THE PRIZE: 1 Criterion DVD or Blu-ray (your choice) of Ishiro Honda’s GODZILLA. 

TO ENTER: just “like” and / or Re-blog this post. each note will count as a separate entry, so every fellow blogger can therefore submit a maximum total of 2 entries.

giveaway will be closed at 12 P.M. EST on Friday, 2/3/2012. 1 winner will be randomly selected from the notes. so the odds should be okay if not super awesome, but someone’s gonna get something sweet for nothing.

good luck, and thanks for reading!

UPDATE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.

“Monsters are tragic beings; they are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, they are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy.”

GODZILLA director Ishiro Honda. 

this quote is synonymous with Honda’s legacy… so far as his wikipedia page is concerned, these were the most important words he ever spoke. they’re lovely and sure, they concisely capture the spirit of the films for which he is best remembered, but one of the reasons i’m most pleased with Criterion’s new GODZILLA blu-ray is that the bonus material finally offers a proper glimpse at a man who used world-destroying monsters to become one of Japanese cinema’s great humanists. 

Criterion Addresses Potentially World-Ending GODZILLA Controversy so the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone ever has just maybe happened to us (or not?): Criterion has adorned their lavish new GODZILLA release with an image of “Millennium Godzilla,” and not the original King of Monsters as seen in the 1954 film. maybe. either way, the fans are revolting (you said it, they stink on ice). famine… plague… chelsea handler… all terrible, but truly this is the worst evil to have ever visited our civilization. one fan likened it to “putting Daniel Craig on the cover of DR. NO.” fortunately, Criterion has taken it upon themselves to answer the pitchfork-carrying hordes: “Artist Bill Sienkiewicz used the original, ‘54 Godzilla as reference for his artwork, but all of the renderings are nevertheless, in the end, Bill’s personal vision of the creature, albeit one that is Toho approved. We can see why some viewers consider it to be more akin to the 2002 incarnation of Godzilla because the back plates seem more sharp-pointed and jagged than the curved tips of the ‘54 original, for example, or the tail tapers more to a point, but those plates don’t exactly mirror the ones from the 2002-3 monster either. We pushed Bill to address Godzilla as a force of destruction, an elemental being, to step away from a rendering that would be purely literal and fetishistic in detail, and think he came up with a terrific interpretation. This is also why there is color in the packaging art. Although the movie is a beautifully-photographed B&W work, we kept leaning towards the elemental aspects of fire and water and wanted the color palette to evoke that.” so… there ya have it. will they stick to their guns, will they include a note in future printings, or will they scrap this design entirely making this release something of a collector’s item? only time will tell. somewhere, Mothra is pleased. 

Criterion Addresses Potentially World-Ending GODZILLA Controversy

so the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone ever has just maybe happened to us (or not?): Criterion has adorned their lavish new GODZILLA release with an image of “Millennium Godzilla,” and not the original King of Monsters as seen in the 1954 film. maybe. either way, the fans are revolting (you said it, they stink on ice). famine… plague… chelsea handler… all terrible, but truly this is the worst evil to have ever visited our civilization.

one fan likened it to “putting Daniel Craig on the cover of DR. NO.”

fortunately, Criterion has taken it upon themselves to answer the pitchfork-carrying hordes:

“Artist Bill Sienkiewicz used the original, ‘54 Godzilla as reference for his artwork, but all of the renderings are nevertheless, in the end, Bill’s personal vision of the creature, albeit one that is Toho approved. We can see why some viewers consider it to be more akin to the 2002 incarnation of Godzilla because the back plates seem more sharp-pointed and jagged than the curved tips of the ‘54 original, for example, or the tail tapers more to a point, but those plates don’t exactly mirror the ones from the 2002-3 monster either. 

We pushed Bill to address Godzilla as a force of destruction, an elemental being, to step away from a rendering that would be purely literal and fetishistic in detail, and think he came up with a terrific interpretation. This is also why there is color in the packaging art. Although the movie is a beautifully-photographed B&W work, we kept leaning towards the elemental aspects of fire and water and wanted the color palette to evoke that.”

so… there ya have it. will they stick to their guns, will they include a note in future printings, or will they scrap this design entirely making this release something of a collector’s item? only time will tell. somewhere, Mothra is pleased. 

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Polish GODZILLA Posters

(bottom left poster is for Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, bottom right is for Son of Godzilla)

soooo jazzed that Godzilla is now a pertinent subject to a blog about The Criterion Collection. cause i would never blog about something that wasn’t at least tangentially related to Criterion… isn’t that right, shameless Why Cookie Rocket post from August? 

anyway, i had wanted to re-blog these from Sam Smith’s tumblr (if you don’t follow him, you should really follow him), especially because that dude sorta knows from good graphic design, but tumblr is dumb and wouldn’t allow me to add photos to his original post.

so to recap: these Polish Godzilla posters are awesome and holy hell i can’t believeGodzilla is actually coming to The Criterion Collection next month. Sam Smith’s tumblr must be followed. and tumblr is dumb. good talk.

(via MonsterBrains)

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JANUARY 2012 CRITERION RELEASES ANNOUNCED!

this is gonna be super brief as i’m running around like a madman today (but unfortunately, not like a Mad Man, as that would require much more dapperness than my current sleep schedule allows). tidy month for Criterion, as January 2012 will see them adding only three titles to the Collection, but all big ones. also arriving is the forever-rumored Jean-Pierre Gorin Eclipse Series. huzzah!

#593 BELLE DE JOUR (dir. Luis Bunuel) 1967

perhaps the greatest Bunuel film that had yet to be inducted into the Collection, this release is gonna be a doozy. loaded to the gills with features and topped off with some of the most fetching artwork to have ever graced a dvd / blu-ray / thing. 

#594 GODZILLA (dir. Ishiro Honda) 1954

MAN-IN-SUIT.MAN-IN-SUIT.MAN-IN-SUIT.MAN-IN-SUIT.MAN-IN-SUIT.MAN-IN-SUIT.

the fact that this exists is kinda shocking and sublime. the fact that it looks like it does is just… they should have sent a poet. a mecha-poet.

#595 THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (dir. Francesco Rosi) 1964

haven’t seen this one (though it’s already up on Criterion’s Hulu page), but i love me some Rosi and men getting horribly gored by bulls, so despite the simmering disappointment that Almodovar’s TALK TO HER is *not* in fact heading imminently joining the Collection, i’m still mighty excited. that being said, not sure i’m wild about the cover, which captures the pivotal event in question in a blur of drama.

BLU-RAY UPGRADE:

#151 TRAFFIC (dir. Steven Soderbergh) 2000

just what my blu-ray collection needs: more topher grace.

Is GODZILLA stomping his way towards the Criterion Collection? so criterion just posted this on their facebook page, and my occasionally functional japanese tells me that this says “GO-JI-RA.” or as we like to say it: GODZILLA.  GODZILLA *was* streaming on Criterion’s Hulu page, but it seems to have mysteriously vanished. without getting too far ahead of ourselves, it seems like Criterion is teasing an official, mainline GODZILLA release on DVD & Blu-ray. either that or they’re just messing with us for their own sadistic amusement. but, um, probably the former.

Is GODZILLA stomping his way towards the Criterion Collection?

so criterion just posted this on their facebook page, and my occasionally functional japanese tells me that this says “GO-JI-RA.” or as we like to say it: GODZILLA. 

GODZILLA *was* streaming on Criterion’s Hulu page, but it seems to have mysteriously vanished. without getting too far ahead of ourselves, it seems like Criterion is teasing an official, mainline GODZILLA release on DVD & Blu-ray. either that or they’re just messing with us for their own sadistic amusement.

but, um, probably the former.