MAN IN SUIT MAN IN SUIT MAN IN SUIT

[filkertom]

Two different flavors, actually. First, Iron Man opens this weekend. Preliminary reports indicate it's pretty good.

Second, I got a couple of beloved movies on (cheap!) DVD yesterday from Amazon -- the Toho Master Collection editions of Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro-Monster (known stateside as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero). Restored, remastered, both original Japanese and U.S. editions, and wonderful tacky fun. Ghidorah is the movie that got me into MST3K years and years before MST3K ever existed -- there's a fantastic scene where Godzilla, Rodan, and baby Mothra sit down and have a conversation about whether or not they should join up to fight Ghidorah, and in the film it's translated by the Mothra Twins but I used to put my little sister into hysterics with our versions of what they were talking about....

What are your favorite giant-monster movies? I could name several, including the fairly recent one that some of you still may not know is a giant-monster movie. Assume that one, the two above, the original Godzilla, the 1933 and 2005 versions of King Kong, War of the Gargantuas, Jurassic Park (and, yes, I did just open it up for dinosaur flicks, go wild)....

Comments

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

One word...

"THEM! THEMMMMMM!"

Always had the soft spots for the big bugs.

(Though let's not talk about the copy of Night of the Lepus that is on my shelf...)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Them and The Deadly Mantis are pretty darn cool. The Beginning of the End doesn't quite work for me, but it's got its moments.

Small-bug movies, though... eugh. The only one I ever truly liked was The Naked Jungle. Phase IV was kinda all right. The Swarm and every other bee movie... bwahahahha.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Well, and at least Kingdom of the Spiders had Shatner cheese...

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

Beginning of the End wasn't that great, but it was set in Central Illinois, it involved the University of Illinois Experimental Plots (go Morrow Plots!) and you could see the mountains of Gilman as you went past Chanute Air Force Base.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

What I absolutely like the most about Them was that enough firepower could bring them down. It always irritates me when things are impervious to bullets. (See: Brig. Lethbridge-Stewart).

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Is that before or after Van Morrison went solo?

(And can anyone picture Van singing Iron Man?)

[ericcoleman]

The original Godzilla, the original cut, is great. I need to watch it again. The recent Kong is very good, but you do need to hear Tripod's song King Kong. Look and see if it's on You Tube (I can't from work).

I haven't seen War Of The Gargantuas in years, but I loved it then.

Still, the original Kong is the best, period. No other giant monster has had the personality and wit of O'Brien's creation.

I do have to go out on a limb, and this may not be a popular choice. I really like the Ferris Bueller Meets Godzilla ... it's wonderfully goofy.

And Cloverfield doesn't get the credit it's due. I've watched bits of it again and it's awfully good, not a classic, but very good.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Original cut, indeed. One of the things about it is that it's 100 minutes long. The US edition added 20 minutes of Raymond Burr looking horrified, and the final cut there is 80 minutes. So that means forty minutes, two-fifths of the damn film, hit the floor. No wonder it never really made sense.

And Cloverfield is the movie I was obliquely referring to above. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's basically The Blair Godzilla Project. I mean that in a good way.

[ericcoleman]

Oh yeah ... duh ... I'll let you know when I get here ...

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

I always loved the original Godzilla vs. Mothra AKA Godzilla vs. The Thing (a title that used to confuse me as a kid because I was a Marvel Comics fan).

Gotta love the Mothra Twins going around telling everyone "You must return the egg!"

There's also an incredibly silly scene where the military goes after Godzilla with gigantic nets, flown in by four helicopters each holding up one corner. I remember at one of my bad movie parties this scene starting up to a reaction of "Yeah, like THAT is gonna work!".

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's the fourth of the Toho Master Collection I have. Don't know that I need to get any more. Although Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster are tempting.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

It's more of a giant bug movie, but I've always been most fond of "Tarantula" with that brief debuting bit of Clint Eastwood at the very end! :)

[bosswriter.livejournal.com]

My two favorites are Rodan and Them,

Rodan because it was the first monster movie I remember seeing in a theater and it scared the crap out of me.

Them because the story just fascinated me and the effects looked cool to a 10 year old.

[madamruppy.livejournal.com]

Anything by Toho Studios. I am also a rebel because I LIKED the baby Godzilla movies. So there, I'm not ashmed. I have a boxed set of Godzilla movies but it isn't all of them - but a girl can dream.

[wildcard9.livejournal.com]

Oh boy! Time to drag up the memories of Creature Feature Double Feature from the Saturday afternoons of my youth. Let's see:

Original Godzilla - yes, with Raymond Burr spliced in. It was one of the few that I first saw that took it all deadly seriously.

Gamera - the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movies. I never saw the original Gamera movie until very recently, but those three were shown often and were just fun (a giant monster that was the hero? Now that is a change of pace). For some reason, anything other than these Gamera movies were never shown locally, I didn't even know until a few months ago that there were actually 8 movies in the series.

Godzilla vs the Smog Monster - cheesy camp that I just find fun fun fun to watch. Of the "Godzilla Vs" movies I saw back then, this was my favorite.

Voyage Into Space - a compulation of the first episode, last episode, and various fights from other episodes taken from the TV series Johnny Socko and his Giant Robot. Yes, I am talking about Old Sphinx Head. I never knew this was from a TV series during those years, I only ever saw the movie. This is one of the few monster movies I wanted on VHS back then. I recently found bootlegs of the TV series so will finally enjoy seeing all of the stuff that was cut out for the movie. I heard there is also a follow-up anime called Big Robo with these characters, something I should track down as well.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

The original Gamera's have a place in my heart, as for some reason the local UHF stations were I grew up didn't play Godzilla movies but they did play Gamera movies... plus, the MST3K versions are hilarious. "Cornjob!"

The remake of the Gamera movies is pretty good, better IMO than some of the later Godzillas, but frustrating too. The trilogy should be a quadrilogy.

Anyone who think Cloverfield isn't a giant monster movie needs to get out more.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

I'm all about Gamera too since childhood. Not sure why, I guess the local stations ran more of those than Godzilla. MST3K versions were an instant hit at my house, obviously.

Gamera! Gamera!
Gamera is good to eat
He is full of turtle meat
We are eating Gamera!

[elisabeth.livejournal.com]

Bigger. Meaner. Turtlier.
Gamera is and always has been my favorite. When you have a rocket turtle, what else is there? As for the recent Godzilla films, I still maintain that (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399102/) is a really fun film. It seems to have split the kaiju fans down the middle; nobody thinks it was 'ok', they either love it or hate it. Don Frye is hysterical in his uber-serious camp. :) I adore the older films, though. I've got copies of everything I could get my hands on, filling the holes with VHS tapes scavenged from yard sales down through the years.

In the end you have to ask yourself:

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

1. Jurassic Park. Jeff Goldblum, bringing hotness back.
2. Jurassic Park II. Jeff Goldblum, still hot.
3. Ghostbusters. WHAT?! IT COUNTS, DAMMIT!
4. Mega-snake. I can't not watch.
5. Frankenfish. Um, ditto.
6. The Blob. It eats a CITY. It's giant enough.
7. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Stop judging me.
8. Anaconda. SNAKE-CAM!!!!!!
9. The Crawling Eye. Nnnnngh.
10. Cloverfield. "I don't feel so good..."

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Ghostbusters -- Oh Yeah!

I've seen a smarty party on one of the Doctor Who boards photoshop an "Adipose" alien baby onto the scene where the Stay-Fuft Man first rampages down the street. Sweet!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I have an irrational fondness for the original Mothra. Because, hey, giant freakin' butterfly!!! And she's one of the only female monsters I can think of, complete with babies. Mommy monster!!!

[gavroche42.livejournal.com]

Yes, Iron Man is good. I saw a sneak preview.
Not sure if anyone would consider is a spoiler, but: Gurer vf ab pbbxvr ng gur raq bs gur perqvgf. Fb vs lbh'er abg rawblvat gur zhfvp gung nppbzcnavrf gur perqvgf, naq unir shyyl erpbirerq sebz gur rawblnoyr nsgretybj bs frrvat n terng zbivr gung unf n graqrapl gb xrrc bar va bar'f frng bhg bs zrer nccerpvngvba. Bapr gung srryvat unf cnffrq, be vs lbhe oynqqre vf shyy, qba'g jbeel nobhg trggvat hc naq yrnivat gur gurngre. Lbh jba'g zvff nalguvat.

(rot13.com)

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

That is something I needed to know, thank you.

[gavroche42.livejournal.com]

I may have spoken inaccurately.

Some news reports suggest that I was wrong.

To save everyone the trip to Rot13, the version of the movie I saw had nothing at the end of the credits.

But reports from Australia are that their movie did.

Whether the Sneak Preview reel I saw is the same Americans will see in the theaters this weekend and afterwards? I have no idea.

So unfortunately, I am unable to save anyone's bladder, because I don't know for sure if what I saw (or didn't see) will match what you will see.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

If it's like the end of Cloverfield ( where in I told an entire theatre of people that I had been told there was "something supposedly cool at the end", and was lucky to make it out alive ) I will drive to the director's and producers' homes and kick them in the groin.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

No idea what the title is, but there's a radioactive dinosaur devastating London. I still remember the scene where the ashes of the slaughtered troops who'd tried to oppose it were kicked in passing by the fleeing, panicked mob.

OK, I was maybe ten when I saw it, but it was pretty damn scary back then.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

THE GIANT BEHEMOUTH. It scares me that I know stuff like this.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Ghidrah (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rClVzC0ua_E) was one of my favorite monster movies when I was a kid.

Which reminds me that when I was little, people could not pronounce my family name, even though it was a perfectly phonetic Irish name. They ended up calling us Rodan. So our family became Mr. & Mrs. Rodan and the 7 Little Rodans.

[mythdude.livejournal.com]

I loved Cloverfield for the fact that it experimented and did something different, but my all time favorite is probably Godzilla vs Biollante because I had a tape of it as a kid. XD

I get to see Iron Man tonight which will rock!

[shikyrie.livejournal.com]

I never saw many "Giant-monster" movies, so I guess I'll have to go with the "Jurassic Park" movies. The only "King Kong" I've seen is the 1976 (?) movie in which he climbed the WTC towers.

[malada.livejournal.com]

Monster Zero! It's got: Giant monsters! Space Aliens! A nerd with a killer sound weapon! Cheesy story! What's not to like?

-m

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Godzillia vs Megalon the MST3K version!

Tom Servo: I know I should be excited and scared and all, but all I can think of are sweaty Japanese guys. ... In those rubber suits I mean.

Crow (as football announcer): Either Godzillia is breaking the laws of physics or he's tossing around an empty rubber suit!

[ifics.livejournal.com]

Monolith Monsters for a good bad monster movie. Good ones include Jurassic Park, King Kong etc...