Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by G1G4N_27 »

Godzilla vs. Biollante is one of my top 10 Godzilla Films. It also has one of my favorite songs in any Godzilla movie.

*Cue Bio Wars*
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Zarm »

G1G4N_27 wrote:Godzilla vs. Biollante is one of my top 10 Godzilla Films. It also has one of my favorite songs in any Godzilla movie.

*Cue Bio Wars*

Ohhhhh, yeah... 8-)
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by KaijuCanuck »

There’s something really operatic about this movie. So many incredible musical tracks, both original and classic. Watching this film almost feels as much like going to a concert where a band plays both their new stuff and their greatest hits.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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KaijuCanuck wrote:There’s something really operatic about this movie. So many incredible musical tracks, both original and classic. Watching this film almost feels as much like going to a concert where a band plays both their new stuff and their greatest hits.
I was playing the soundtrack on my computer at work one day and a co-worker actually asked "What opera is that from?" :lol:

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Shobijin »

Saw this for the second time, and it finally clicked. One of the best Godzilla movies of all time.

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by LegendZilla »

I will always have a soft spot for this particular movie. It certainly did not deserve to be the flop that it was. In my honest opinion I think that the negative response from Japanese audiences when this movie first came out is the primary factor as to why so many of you have issues with the Heisei series today. They whined, bitched and moaned that Biollante was not a classic monster like Mothra or Ghidorah and after Kawakita worked his ass off to help create a film objectively good effects for a Godzilla film at the time, he was demoralized to no end. He was hurt inside that he resorted to alcoholism to drown his sorrows and I think we all know how that turned out for the rest of the kaiju films he worked on.

So there you have it, at the end of the day it is not Toho themselves who are to blame for the quality of the 90's films, it is inflexible and picky crybaby fans first and foremost.

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

LegendZilla wrote:I will always have a soft spot for this particular movie. It certainly did not deserve to be the flop that it was. In my honest opinion I think that the negative response from Japanese audiences when this movie first came out is the primary factor as to why so many of you have issues with the Heisei series today. They whined, bitched and moaned that Biollante was not a classic monster like Mothra or Ghidorah and after Kawakita worked his ass off to help create a film objectively good effects for a Godzilla film at the time, he was demoralized to no end. He was hurt inside that he resorted to alcoholism to drown his sorrows and I think we all know how that turned out for the rest of the kaiju films he worked on.

So there you have it, at the end of the day it is not Toho themselves who are to blame for the quality of the 90's films, it is inflexible and picky crybaby fans first and foremost.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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I think "Delusional" should be a new forum post rank.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Terasawa »

That’s revisionism. Tomoyuki Tanaka decided to go with the classic monsters, and Biollante was a “flop” because it was rushed out. This is described pretty well in a recent interview with Ed Godziszewski that you can find online.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

Yeah Biollante barely had any advertising done for it. IIRC the soundtrack was done in the last two weeks before it was released.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by LegendZilla »

Mr_Goji_and_Watch wrote:Yeah Biollante barely had any advertising done for it. IIRC the soundtrack was done in the last two weeks before it was released.
What prevented Toho from being more active to promote this film?
Last edited by LegendZilla on Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Zarm »

I thought the music was composed before the film was shot, as suites, and edited into the final product afterward?
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by Rhedosaurus »

I really do like this movie. Biollante is a very original monster and quite powerful. I do wish the final battle between her and Godzilla had been longer, but that's about it. I really like how it establishes how the Heisei series has a far more solid continuity. The plot, story, special effects, music, monster designs, and the theme are all top notch. It's one of my favorites.

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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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I wanna love this movie, but I just can't get into it. The only characters who interest me are Gondo, the Saradian agent, and the Super X2 pilot. Godzilla looks great, but his scenes are mostly boring. There are some great shots during Godzilla's rampage, but that's just about it. Aside from his confrontation with Gondo, it's just Godzilla slowly walking around for a long period of time, which gets boring after a bit. I would find his battles with the Super X2 exciting if it wasn't remotely piloted, but since the pilot isn't actually in it, there are no stakes, and therefore I don't care to watch Godzilla get his breath redirected at him over and over again.

Despite all that, Biollante herself was thankfully handled very well for the most part. Her sudden entrance during the lab shootout was excellent and is actually probably my favorite scene in the film (that and the Godzilla drawing scene). Her props for both forms look absolutely magnificent. Her rose form looks so creepy and weird, I love it. Biollante’s fighting tactics are far more engaging to look at than Godzilla's are. Using her vines to wrap around and impale Godzilla is very fun to watch and that shot of her charging is absolutely incredible. The camera shaking really does a lot to demonstrate how god damn heavy she is. It’s very unfortunate that both fights were cut way too short. The effects really are great in this film (except for when it looks like Godzilla's atomic breath is coming out of the side of his mouth).

Godzilla is honestly my biggest problem with this one. If he was handled better, and if the human scenes were more interesting outside of the shootouts and Gondo just being a rad dude, I'd probably love this film as much as everyone else does.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by MechaGoji Bro7503 »

Dr. Professor wrote:I wanna love this movie, but I just can't get into it. The only characters who interest me are Gondo, the Saradian agent, and the Super X2 pilot. Godzilla looks great, but his scenes are mostly boring. There are some great shots during Godzilla's rampage, but that's just about it. Aside from his confrontation with Gondo, it's just Godzilla slowly walking around for a long period of time, which gets boring after a bit. I would find his battles with the Super X2 exciting if it wasn't remotely piloted, but since the pilot isn't actually in it, there are no stakes, and therefore I don't care to watch Godzilla get his breath redirected at him over and over again.

Despite all that, Biollante herself was thankfully handled very well for the most part. Her sudden entrance during the lab shootout was excellent and is actually probably my favorite scene in the film (that and the Godzilla drawing scene). Her props for both forms look absolutely magnificent. Her rose form looks so creepy and weird, I love it. Biollante’s fighting tactics are far more engaging to look at than Godzilla's are. Using her vines to wrap around and impale Godzilla is very fun to watch and that shot of her charging is absolutely incredible. The camera shaking really does a lot to demonstrate how god damn heavy she is. It’s very unfortunate that both fights were cut way too short. The effects really are great in this film (except for when it looks like Godzilla's atomic breath is coming out of the side of his mouth).

Godzilla is honestly my biggest problem with this one. If he was handled better, and if the human scenes were more interesting outside of the shootouts and Gondo just being a rad dude, I'd probably love this film as much as everyone else does.
I was just watching this, and yeah these are pretty close to my thoughts as well. I felt like all the military scenes dragged on a little bit, and I could care less about the SX2.

I also felt like some of the acting and dialogue was stale, but it got better towards the end. The whole Saradia subplot was very interesting, but I honestly believed the film was juggling too much. From the Saradia subplot, to the whole SX2 thing, Biollante w/ Dr Shiragami, Miki being a physic, the ANEB, and Godzilla himself feeling a little weird.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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MechaGoji Bro7503 wrote: I was just watching this, and yeah these are pretty close to my thoughts as well. I felt like all the military scenes dragged on a little bit, and I could care less about the SX2.

I also felt like some of the acting and dialogue was stale, but it got better towards the end. The whole Saradia subplot was very interesting, but I honestly believed the film was juggling too much. From the Saradia subplot, to the whole SX2 thing, Biollante w/ Dr Shiragami, Miki being a physic, the ANEB, and Godzilla himself feeling a little weird.
Glad to know I'm not the only one, haha. I agree, it's definitely overstuffed. The film would be sacrificing my favorite scene this way, but maybe they should've gotten rid of the whole ESP thing and made Shiragami just a delusional old man who thinks his daughter's soul is alive in Biollante when it's really not.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by MrGoji1999 »

Dr. Professor wrote:I wanna love this movie, but I just can't get into it. The only characters who interest me are Gondo, the Saradian agent, and the Super X2 pilot. Godzilla looks great, but his scenes are mostly boring. There are some great shots during Godzilla's rampage, but that's just about it. Aside from his confrontation with Gondo, it's just Godzilla slowly walking around for a long period of time, which gets boring after a bit. I would find his battles with the Super X2 exciting if it wasn't remotely piloted, but since the pilot isn't actually in it, there are no stakes, and therefore I don't care to watch Godzilla get his breath redirected at him over and over again.

Despite all that, Biollante herself was thankfully handled very well for the most part. Her sudden entrance during the lab shootout was excellent and is actually probably my favorite scene in the film (that and the Godzilla drawing scene). Her props for both forms look absolutely magnificent. Her rose form looks so creepy and weird, I love it. Biollante’s fighting tactics are far more engaging to look at than Godzilla's are. Using her vines to wrap around and impale Godzilla is very fun to watch and that shot of her charging is absolutely incredible. The camera shaking really does a lot to demonstrate how god damn heavy she is. It’s very unfortunate that both fights were cut way too short. The effects really are great in this film (except for when it looks like Godzilla's atomic breath is coming out of the side of his mouth).

Godzilla is honestly my biggest problem with this one. If he was handled better, and if the human scenes were more interesting outside of the shootouts and Gondo just being a rad dude, I'd probably love this film as much as everyone else does.
I can where you are coming from, and I won't deny that this film can very overbloated at points, the Godzilla scenes being boring is a criticism that I remember being pointed out by Steven Scrivello from Kaijusaurus Podcast as well, something I didn't thought when I was watching the film, and yeah, the military scenes can be a little dragged-out, but I still love this film even with its flaws, this along with G84 and GvsKG are the only films of the Heisei Era I really like (I used to love Destoroyah years ago, but rewatching it many times, outside of Godzilla's death it didn't age well to me). With that said, I respect your opinion as well, and you have some good points about this film as well! :)

BTW, I forgot to mention I still really like the OST for this film, specially this masterpiece of a music :lol::

Last edited by MrGoji1999 on Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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MrGoji1999 wrote:
I can where you are coming from, and I won't deny that this film can very overbloated at points, the Godzilla scenes being boring is a criticism that I remember being pointed out by Steven Scrivello from Kaijusaurus Podcast as well, something I didn't thought when I was watching the film, and yeah, the military scenes can be a little dragged-out, but I still love this film even with its flaws, this along with G84 and GvsKG are the only films of the Heisei Era I really like (I used to love Destoroyah years ago, but rewatching it many times, outside of Godzilla's death it didn't age well to me). With that said, I respect your opinion as well, and you have some good points about this film as well! :)

BTW, I forgot to mention I still really like the OST for this film, specially this masterpiece of a music :lol::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlyVD6YnQ-I
It's funny that you brought up Steven. I actually once a brief conversation with him on Twitter about our criticisms of this exact film. :lol: Also Bio-Wars is a total banger.
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

Post by MrGoji1999 »

Dr. Professor wrote:
MrGoji1999 wrote:
I can where you are coming from, and I won't deny that this film can very overbloated at points, the Godzilla scenes being boring is a criticism that I remember being pointed out by Steven Scrivello from Kaijusaurus Podcast as well, something I didn't thought when I was watching the film, and yeah, the military scenes can be a little dragged-out, but I still love this film even with its flaws, this along with G84 and GvsKG are the only films of the Heisei Era I really like (I used to love Destoroyah years ago, but rewatching it many times, outside of Godzilla's death it didn't age well to me). With that said, I respect your opinion as well, and you have some good points about this film as well! :)

BTW, I forgot to mention I still really like the OST for this film, specially this masterpiece of a music :lol::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlyVD6YnQ-I
It's funny that you brought up Steven. I actually once a brief conversation with him on Twitter about our criticisms of this exact film. :lol: Also Bio-Wars is a total banger.
That's really cool! I remember him saying that he thought that this film is way too overrated in a post on Twitter about Unpopular Kaiju Movies Opinions, saying that it has an interesting premise that falls apart once Godzilla shows up on the screen. I didn't agree with him, but I can see why he dislikes the film. Him and Renzo are some of the few Kaiju podcasts that I still rewatch to this day!

Agree, Bio Wars is such a LITTY and RAUNCHY banger that it fits with every single film or show! :lol:
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Re: Talkback: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

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MrGoji1999 wrote:
Dr. Professor wrote:
MrGoji1999 wrote:
I can where you are coming from, and I won't deny that this film can very overbloated at points, the Godzilla scenes being boring is a criticism that I remember being pointed out by Steven Scrivello from Kaijusaurus Podcast as well, something I didn't thought when I was watching the film, and yeah, the military scenes can be a little dragged-out, but I still love this film even with its flaws, this along with G84 and GvsKG are the only films of the Heisei Era I really like (I used to love Destoroyah years ago, but rewatching it many times, outside of Godzilla's death it didn't age well to me). With that said, I respect your opinion as well, and you have some good points about this film as well! :)

BTW, I forgot to mention I still really like the OST for this film, specially this masterpiece of a music :lol::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlyVD6YnQ-I
It's funny that you brought up Steven. I actually once a brief conversation with him on Twitter about our criticisms of this exact film. :lol: Also Bio-Wars is a total banger.
That's really cool! I remember him saying that he thought that this film is way too overrated in a post on Twitter about Unpopular Kaiju Movies Opinions, saying that it has an interesting premise that falls apart once Godzilla shows up on the screen. I didn't agree with him, but I can see why he dislikes the film. Him and Renzo are some of the few Kaiju podcasts that I still rewatch to this day!
They're actually the only kaiju podcast that I really like. No disrespect to others, I'm just picky with my podcasts. I'd love to do my own kaiju podcast some day.
Bio Wars is such a LITTY and RAUNCHY banger that it fits with every single film or show! :lol:
I sure would like to DAB to that song! No diggity!
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