The Surlaw Reviews - 7/1/21 - 2021 Mid-Year Update

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed May 14, 2014 3:42 am

Movie rules, I love it, I've got lots to say about it and this just scratches the surface. It was ten pages in Office so don't read it if you don't like words, thanks.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sun May 18, 2014 5:15 am

Godzilla (2014)

No real spoilers in this one. Movie ended up being not at all what I expected, but it's super good now that I've gotten over that.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Tue May 20, 2014 3:34 pm

Really liked this last review. I haven't seen the movie, and originally had no interest in it (I'm not a monster-movie fan, generally). But I really like some of the themes you highlight. Maybe I'll rent it sometime. I'm genuinely surprised at how you make the movie sound.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed May 21, 2014 12:19 am

Some nerds clocked in Godzilla's screen time and found that he's on screen for about 8 minutes total, so it's not an all out monster slug fest like Pacific Rim. It's definitely more about the smallness of man in the eyes of nature than it is about monster battles, but unfortunately the human on screen for most of the film is the blandest of all the major characters. Basically, the better an actor is, the less screen time they get. I'm not sure how that happened, even though it all still works out.

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Wed May 21, 2014 4:37 pm

The Wobbler wrote:Some nerds clocked in Godzilla's screen time and found that he's on screen for about 8 minutes total, so it's not an all out monster slug fest like Pacific Rim. It's definitely more about the smallness of man in the eyes of nature than it is about monster battles, but unfortunately the human on screen for most of the film is the blandest of all the major characters. Basically, the better an actor is, the less screen time they get. I'm not sure how that happened, even though it all still works out.

oh, so it's channeling the murazilla of the late 90s in the way that it has nothing to do with the title character for about 99% of the film.great. america needs to just not touch Godzilla, what they do is just abominable. Even back in the original movie where they "americanized" the film.
Though I've not seen the new murazilla, I'll probably wait for the inevitable home dvd release and rent it or something.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed May 21, 2014 5:00 pm

"nothing to do with the title character for about 99% of the film" isn't true at all even if he's not on screen the majority of the time. He's still completely crucial to both the text and subtext, and aside from that, the non-zilla monsters get plenty of screen time. That also applies to pretty much every Japanese Godzilla film ever made, too. Aside from a couple completely bonkers ones like Final Wars the majority of a Godzilla film is never monsters fighting, even ones like Destroy All Monsters where the whole selling point was "We've got a dozen monsters in this movie!"

america needs to just not touch Godzilla, what they do is just abominable.

It's really dumb to say this about a movie you haven't seen. G 2014 is a huge, huge step above the 98 movie and is a better movie than most of the Japanese ones from the last few decades. Certainly better than anything in the post-Godzilla 2000 series. It's completely in tone with and modeled after the mid-60's/mid-70's films, both in pacing and in the use of the titular monster. This isn't Americans not getting Godzilla. If anything, its biggest flaw is that it's TOO 1970 Godzilla.

I went into all of this in detail in the review posted up there that I assume you skipped if you think this is at all like the Emmerich film.

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Wed May 21, 2014 9:14 pm

I'm skipping the review until I can watch the film myself, first. And the classic films often had Godzilla in them about 8% to 25% of the films, depending on the film. He wasn't on screen all the time, but you were full aware of his presence. At least when it was important. Just the news of Godzilla only being on screen of this new movie only for 8 minutes total isn't something I'm looking forward to for a 90-120 minute video.

But I will give the movie the benefit of the doubt and take a chance when, like I said, it's available on dvd.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed May 21, 2014 9:51 pm

It's exactly the same way here.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:36 am

Resident Evil 6

I want to eventually write about all of the Resident Evils. Let's start with the most recent numbered one, which also happens to be one of the worst games I've ever paid money for!

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Fri May 23, 2014 3:29 pm

Question, are there flesh-eating zombies?

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri May 23, 2014 5:43 pm

Yes, that's the Leon campaign. They're not interesting.

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Fri May 23, 2014 6:37 pm

The Wobbler wrote:Resident Evil 6

I want to eventually write about all of the Resident Evils. Let's start with the most recent numbered one, which also happens to be one of the worst games I've ever paid money for!

I expected this, but it is still really unfortunate. I'm glad I didn't waste money on it though. I liked 5 okay but 4 was the last "great" one in my opinion.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:19 pm

I paid $10 for it and still felt ripped off so I feel bad for anyone who bought it at launch!

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:43 pm

Holy crap

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Mon May 26, 2014 2:21 am

You're right about Resident Evil 6 co-op, it's waaay better than single player. Can't count how many times I'd berate my brother for messing up a QTE and getting his head cut off, only to have the game switch the proper input the next time around and get my own head cut off. Good times! The weirdest part about the bullet spongey bosses is how it seemed like... it didn't matter if you hit the boss or not, sometimes. Like the game was just waiting for you to run low on bullets to advance to the next part of the script.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a corporate shake-down either. RE6 continues part of the story from the Wii shooting spin-offs Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles, and their co-op/gun upgrading/GIGANTIC MONSTERS approach seems to be exactly the angle Capcom took with RE6. The "Files" are what really confuse me. We went from George Trevor's haunting diary in the first game's remake, to an action figure of Jake riding a motorcycle in the 6th, complete with a button to make "Vroom vroom!" noises. What kind of games are these supposed to be now?