This post will be full of randomness. You have been warned.
Godzilla (2014)
Released May 16, 2014, seen at Universal City IMAX on May 18, 2014.
I was very very excited to see Godzilla, especially after the recent previews showing epic scenes like the high-altitude jump with the red smoke trails into a devastated San Francisco or seeing brief glimpses of Las Vegas utterly decimated. What was going to happen? Why was Godzilla going to return, this time? And more importantly, was it going to be as terrible as the 1998 version?
Happily, the answer to that last question is no. Not by a long shot. This 2014 version is quite good and often very thrilling. You may have read reviews about it already but what a lot of them point out is that you don’t get a full view of Godzilla for nearly an hour into the movie. It’s a Jaws-like move and it really works, as the story being told in the first act is compelling and you anxiously await what will happen next. It also helps that the movie isn’t about us vs. Godzilla – instead we end up discovering there are a pair of bad-ass monsters ready to tear some shit up to get some radiation food. Godzilla is the balance. Sit back and enjoy.
Plus, I certainly enjoyed the sight of cute guys trying to save the world. The lead character, Ford Brody (that name….smh….) is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and he is quite a sight. A lot of people fault his acting, but I’m not here for that. Not at all. Just look at that pic. Mmm hmmm. Honestly, the acting really didn’t distract me -it’s not Oscar caliber but I don’t care. It wasn’t terrible either and won’t ever get confused with Showgirls. Ah, Showgirls, so bad it’s good.
Overall, Godzilla is a great monster and disaster movie with compelling action and wisely-paced reveals. I really liked watching it in IMAX and while the 3D was okay, it really didn’t add much to the experience. Catch it if you can before the next wave of movies comes in. X-Men: Days of Future Past is right around the corner!
Some more Survivor: Cagayan Thoughts
The final 3 last night were a bit expected, weren’t they? Nobody with any brain cells at all would want to let Spencer get any closer to the Final Tribal than necessary. Sure enough, once Spencer lost the Final 4 immunity challenge to a CRAZY come-from-behind Kass, it was inevitable. I was intrigued by Spencer’s scrambling and thought that perhaps it would convince Tony, but guess what? Tony’s not totally stupid. Reckless and impulsive, but not really stupid. So yeah, Spencer was gone. 
It was just when it got to the final challenge and Woo won just barely over Kass, that things became strange. Woo was going to the Final 2…..my reaction to that? Fuck. Woo’s the nicest guy around it seems, but an absolutely irrelevant Survivor player. There’s nothing there. Then it was all about who will Woo choose to take with him to the Final 2? Clearly, if you want a real shot at winning, you take Kass. Kass has made endless and needless waves and made enemies of nearly every juror. Some of the jurors may have gotten over it and still rewarded Kass with a vote since she really was playing (good? debatable), but Woo would’ve had a good shot at getting bitter jury votes. But no, he decides to “play by the tenets of Tae kwan do” and do the “honorable” thing and votes Kass out, bringing Tony to the Final 2. Ugh. The jury was predictably angry at Tony and dismissive of Woo in the Final Tribal, but they also basically knew that Tony deserved the win. And of course he would, and it’s hard to think of anyone in the jury that he shouldn’t have beat. Tasha, Trish, and Spencer could have been contenders, but no one else really had a shot. So congrats to Tony, a big shrugging of shoulders to Woo, and an amused eyebrow to Kass who just avoided a likely verbal smackdown at Tribal Council. That could have been epic!
Airing Dirty Laundry
Another great day in the world! Another time where all I want to say is concerning a great lesson I learned repeatedly in ROTC: praise in public, criticize (or bitch out, attack, vent) in private. Why is that a foreign concept to so many people? It really doesn’t seem that hard of a concept to grasp. You’ll get a lot more respect if the target doesn’t feel like they’re going to be humiliated at every bad move. Today’s public service announcement is complete.
Memorial Day Weekend
Yay for a 3-day weekend. It’s been kind of a long week!