File Review : "Godzilla Minus One"

It would have been hard for Toho Films to have messed this up. But they were committed to making more than just a monster movie, they wanted to make a movie that stood up against other genres. You do not have to be into Godzilla to enjoy this movie. Granted this is coming from someone who has been a fan of Godzilla for over 45 years. This has not made me like American films like the recent mess that is "King Kong vs Godzilla".  This movie stomps that film like Godzilla stomps through Tokyo. By taking it back to post-World War 2 they were wisely able to craft something with the feel of the period while making the most of the special effects of today, but not abandoning practical effects together. 

I feel like I need to watch a making-of-documentary to fully wrap my head around the movie. But that would be overthinking it. It is the best Godzilla design yet as it takes the massive scale of the creature and makes it make sense, even when it comes to his nuclear breath. Sure there are bursts of emotional exclamation that feel like they are from an anime, and there is also the lack of other big monsters for Godzilla to fight, which leaves him as the antagonist. The ex-kamikaze pilot who fills the role of the protagonist, feels like he could have stepped out of "Attack on Titan". But their humanity keeps you invested enough, though I might have asked for fewer humans and more Godzilla, but get why the story is told in the manner it is. 

I have not seen "Oppenheimer" but imagine this is a similar cautionary tale. It shows the costs of war, and Godzilla serves as the force of nature that is man's reckoning. No matter how cute the little kids whose lives hang in balance are, it is hard for me to root against Godzilla, the best I could do is similar to the destruction you see in Gaza, is a" you better get the fuck out of there and run to survive or your ass is about to get stepped on". I think the parallels drawn here are not intentional in that regard, but Godzilla represents the horrors that man brings on himself, this movie just personalized it. One of the best kaiju movies in recent memory even if it is just man vs the force of nature that is Godzilla. 

Film Review - "the Exorcist : Believer"

 The problem with horror movies is fans of the genre are so used to seeing low-budget movies with little to no studio involvement that anything with any money behind or studio push, becomes a case of the Emperor wearing no clothes. The plot holes or terrible scripts are ignored. When the truth is a well-written story does not require a big special effects budget.  This problem is compounded by the fact this is a distant sequel of sorts to The Exorcist. Which is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. In some ways, the fact this is an Exorcist movie for 2023 makes sense as to why the very concept of this movie does not work. If they had not tried to tie this into the Exorcist's legacy this might have worked better. 

It has been touted as a directed sequel to the 1973 film. But it's the 6th movie in this series, and a shits the bed in a manner that the main character actually does. If it is a direct sequel then we are talking about the first movie that involves Regan getting possessed by the demon Pazuzu. In demon lore, we know stories of a legion of demons possessing a man, and when cast out were sent into a herd of pigs that then leaped off a cliff. But that is not what is presented here. In fact, the laziness of the storytelling here only seems to make it known that two girls not one are possessed by the Devil, who seems to indicate that he is also the spirit that possessed Regan. 

If you are writing a movie about demonic possession knowing about the hierarchy of demons might help. If you think this is nitpicking then you are a fucking idiot and I do not care about your opinion, as it has all the substance of a fair, but let's continue for the people with a brain that might have noticed this glaring issue. Back to demon lore, the Devil or Satan is at the top of the heap and has too much going on to handle the day-to-day drudgery of possession so other demons like Pazuzu handle this, that is their job,.Working off the premise set by this movie the same demon from the first movie is possessing two girls, Now I am sure some studio dipshit was like it's about equality we will have a black girl and white girl both possessed by the same demon, since it will not discriminate. But that is like saying I am going to ride the bus and walk to work at the same time, even with the suspension of disbelief involved it makes no sense. 

So we are building a movie with a considerable budget that makes no sense. We are dragging Ellen Burnstyn and Linda Blair into a big-budget trash heap. The inclusive message continues to flounder as they drag multiple belief systems into the ritual of exorcism, which for a movie based on The Exorcist, the actual exorcism this movie builds up to is where the movie really begins to fall apart, The acting shows it's weakness, the effects are haphazard, like the portal that appears in the ceiling which looks like something from Diablo you need to click on to get to the next level. Once it got to what was supposed to be the best part of the movie found myself losing all interest, and moving to slowly power through this as it got unwatchable. 

It's a good thing the original movie is such a classic that is it bulletproof even with all its early 70s special effects because it has held up now 5 sequels, prequels, and additions that have all missed the mark in various ways. The only redeeming quality of this movie is it is not a remake of the original but another terrible sequel of sorts that is so poorly written it flushes all the movie spent on it down the toilet. My their mother suck cocks in hell.