The GODZILLA Film Discussion Thread

[Kabukiman]

Best buy has Gojira on Blu for $12.99 this week!

 

[MaulFan]

Carlton Cards / American Greetings has another ornament this year, it's from Gojira, when he eats the train.

 

[Kabukiman]

I love that ornament!

Now the question is to buy before Christmas at full price, or wait until after Christmas for the discount, but risk missing out?

 

[MaulFan]

Usually, kinda funny, they'd have it discounted already on their site, but they don't seem to be doing commerce on their website anymore, I've only found them on eBay, Hallmark is more abundant than Carlton Cards so I'm just going to buy from eBay and save the hastle of hunting one down, I'd rather not miss out, I've gotten every one so far.

 

[MooMooEgg]

Best buy has Gojira on Blu for $12.99 this week!

From the reviews I've read, it seems like the Blu disk isn't very good. Bad transfer from the previously released special edition DVD, and it only comes with the Japanese version of the films (yeah, the American version isn't so great, but it's always nice to have both).

I think I'll keep my DVD version and wait for a full clean-up and remaster before picking up a blu-ray version.

 

[MaulFan]

Maybe this is my BR ignorance, but really, how improved could BR really make a 1954 B&W film? Shouldn't it essentially look about the same as the best DVD?

 

[Kabukiman]

Maybe this is my BR ignorance, but really, how improved could BR really make a 1954 B&W film? Shouldn't it essentially look about the same as the best DVD?

Film is higher definition than DVD, so if the HD transfer is from the film, it *should* look better. Though after reading MooMooEgg's comments, I'm going to have to look at some reviews on this...

 

[MaulFan]

I can understand some movies being better with BR, but a movie as old as Gojira, I can't imagine how much you could really pop that image up, I mean they've all got those little black and white specs from the film and everything, just seems like anything older than like JAWS and you're not working with a picture quality where BR and standard DVD differ too much.

 

[MooMooEgg]

I can understand some movies being better with BR, but a movie as old as Gojira, I can't imagine how much you could really pop that image up, I mean they've all got those little black and white specs from the film and everything, just seems like anything older than like JAWS and you're not working with a picture quality where BR and standard DVD differ too much.

It all depends on how damaged the original film is, how it was shot, and how much care is taken in the restoration. Have you seen the Blu of Casablanca? It looks fantastic and almost clear as day. The same goes with the Blu-rays that the Criterion Collection has released. The Seventh Seal (1957) looks AMAZING on Blu-ray. No, it doesnt look like Wall-E, but it's amazing how clear and sharp the picture quality is for such an old film.

 

[MaulFan]

Well, I've never seen any BluRay film, I just figured that movies older than a certain age just never had the raw material to boost up with the technology.

 

[Natrix]

Well, I've never seen any BluRay film, I just figured that movies older than a certain age just never had the raw material to boost up with the technology.

That is one reason why Blu isn't taking off. They need to try to educate people more about how older movies can still have massive improvements over DVD based on the original film resolution. Too many people thing 1080P HD resolution is the end all be all and if a film isn't filmed in "HD" that a Blu Ray version is worthless. A lot has to do with if the original is cleaned up and remastered as well.

 

[MaulFan]

That is one reason why Blu isn't taking off. They need to try to educate people more about how older movies can still have massive improvements over DVD based on the original film resolution. Too many people thing 1080P HD resolution is the end all be all and if a film isn't filmed in "HD" that a Blu Ray version is worthless. A lot has to do with if the original is cleaned up and remastered as well.

Well I know films don't have to be shot in HD to be improved, the JAWS DVD blew me away with how nice it looked compared to VHS and I'm sure the BR will too.

I'm talking about stuff frome like 60's back, when the filming was really old and the picture quality was limited just by the tech at the time, it's hard to imagine that there's much raw material in those films to boost, I'm sure whatever can be is, but I just can't wrap my head around it, I'm open to it being done though, just surprised if it is.

 

[Natrix]

Not to derail the thread too much but since we were talking about old movies on Blu Ray here are some great examples on how good an old movie can look on Blu Ray when done properly:

How The West Was Won...46 yr old movie.

 

[Reinhardt]

Not the most fair comparison as they just remastered the DVD of How the West was Won as well - it looks much much better than those DVD stills.

 

[Natrix]

Not the most fair comparison as they just remastered the DVD of How the West was Won as well - it looks much much better than those DVD stills.

True but the main point of my post was to show how an old movie can look on Blu Ray when done properly not how it compares to an old DVD. There are a lot of factors involved but they can hold up to any new film on Blu Ray and can still be sharp, colorful and clear. I just included the DVD shots that were in that original comparison from the AVS Forum. The remastered DVD version still won't be as sharp, clear or colorful as a Blu Ray. Blu Ray (if done right) will give you the closest representation to the original film including film grain.

A poorly done Blu Ray (which there are plenty of) can look no better than an upconvered DVD as well.

I will remove the DVD pictures since it isn't relevant to the discussion.

 

[jnmx2000]

o man, this thread brings back memories lol I remember when I used to own all the trendmasters figures. 10 inch, 6 inch, man those were the best toys as a kid. I remember being at one of the g fest when I was a little kid too, some ten years ago. holy crap, I even used to subscribe to G-Fan lol those days are now gone, I only have three 6 inch figures left. Varen, Megalon, and Baragon. anyone remember those trendmaster figures?

 

[MaulFan]

I still have Trendmasters figures in my collection, my 4" Godzilla broke but I still have the 10". I got rid of most of them, now I just have a Bandai figure for every G suit ever made and then some, much better products.

 

[devilof76]

The Bandai 50th Anniversary gashapon dioramas were a good start towards having a representation of every suit. I have the first set and they were amazing for 3" figures. Unfortunately, there were only two sets so they fell far short of a complete run.

 

[MaulFan]

The Bandai 50th Anniversary gashapon dioramas were a good start towards having a representation of every suit. I have the first set and they were amazing for 3" figures. Unfortunately, there were only two sets so they fell far short of a complete run.

Those sets, as well as a series called Concepts (which so far is only 4 figures) are sculpted by artist Yuji Sakai, who I learned of from talking with Les, his representations of Godzilla are the best and most accurrate i've seen.

This is a 12" Gojira sculpted by Sakai, I also have the 4 inch he did for Bandai's Cocept Works series as well as the 1962 and 1995 suits from that set. He did all of those dioramas, I have both Gojira dios from the series as well as the 1985, I wish he'd do a 1985 4 inch figure, that and the 1954 are my 2 most favorite suits so anything well done of them I'm up for.

The Bandai memorial box was a great way to capture every suit in 6 inch form, I already had about 1/3 to 1/2 the figures in it, but some I didn't and snagged and some were made just for that set, like 1985, which I picked up as well.

 

[devilof76]

I was just looking into figures from the second gashapon set and I'm crying that I didn't get them when they debuted. There's only one seller offering them on ebay right now, and none are going for less than $20 a piece. He has 1995 for $70. They're not even MIB.

As for the memorial box, look at this: https://cgi.ebay.com/Bandai-Godzill...in_0?hash=item3ef8a8f6a6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14