With the exception of Godzilla and Godzilla x Biollante, they have the entire Heisei period. It goes in order of Godzilla X Ghidorah, then Mothra, then MechaGodzilla, then Space Godzilla, and finally Destroyah. If you want to watch a bunch of films with continuity, Heisei is for you, as each film builds off the last. I kind of have a love/hate view of this particular era. One the one hand, the character designs for the suits are very detailed and the monsters look amazing for the most part. Unfortunately, because of the size and complexity of some of the suits, they're not as animated as in other eras. For example, in Godzilla x Ghidorah, you'll never see Ghidorah walking. The "science" behind a lot of the stories is shoddy as heck. Time travel, genetics, nuclear energy. Ugh. It's bad.
Then again, scientific accuracy was never a big concern. Kind of like the special effects. Sometimes they're embarassingly bad, even in the more recent Millenium series. But I think, maybe that's the charm, because everybody who makes these films cares much more about telling the stories first and visual realism comes second. It adds to the charm of these movies. Dubs take away. I don't know about the others, but at least for the Heisei films I'm gonna jump through today, they all seem to be TriStars releases, so there's no Japanese voice track available.
Know what I've never seen? The Rebirth of Mothra trilogy. I like Mothra. I should get my hands on a copy of that shit.
Realism. You want unrealistic and campy, that's what the Showa era is for. For the most part, it's all men in rubber suits pulling off pro-wrestling moves on each other. It's freaking awesome. Godzilla x Megalon is a personal favorite of mine. You got Godzilla and Jet Jaguar (an Ultra-Man Rip Off) beating the crap out of Megalon, a giant cockroach from an ancient undersea society, and Gigan, a space-cyborg monster with freaking scythes for hands.
If you only have a passing interest in Godzilla and wanna check him out, I'd recommend almost anything from the Millenium Era. With the exception of Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla and Tokyo S.O.S., there's no continuity, so each film is a stand alone. Godzilla 2000 is probably the best. Don't watch Megagurius, it's beyond awful. Probably the only one worse than that is Godzilla Raids Again. Unless watching two hand puppets pretend to bite each other is your thing, then totally watch Godzilla Raids Again.
I still haven't seen Shin Godzilla. I need to get a copy of that. I hear it's a trip.
Legendary Godzilla was cool too.
Dude. Let me know if you watch any and what you think. My personal recommendation is to just give the original '50s one a watch. It's a little campy, yes, but it also comes across as very serious and it's just a very well put together movie. If you want something more modern, Godzilla 2000 is hard to beat.
Man. I'm geeking out right now that you're enjoying Godzilla, seriously. The original film does have some slow points and I think that's one of the biggest criticisms I've heard about it. Which, when you take that for face value, that actually kind of speaks for how well the film really is done, doesn't it? You're like the fifth person in my life who I've told to see the film and say "No, it's really good. Trust me." Only to have you come back and say "Oh wow. You're right. That was pretty decent." I have so much to say. Where to begin? If you were actually able to watch Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla x King Kong, you'll actually be able to watch almost any Godzilla film and enjoy it. While I personally think watching them all in order is a bit of a trek, (though I literally over the course of two days watched all of the Heisei films on Hulu in order), if you do do that, you'll get to see how the character has evolved over the years. For the Showa Era, as the franchise goes on, Godzilla will become less of a monster to be feared and starts becoming a protector of Japan/Earth. The suits change to make him look friendlier and the films will tackle other issues such as pollution, bullying, what have you. I promise you that color balancing gets better much quicker as the films go on, and the special effects get cooler and weirder and more creative. You'll also pick up on things here and there, like for instance, to save money Toho would recycle shots for films, so they'll re-use footage for two different films like Godzilla X Gigan and Godzilla X Megalon and you can see how sometimes when they bring suits out of storage for a second film there's notable wear and tear from a previous production. One of the things I'd recommend, after (or even during) you finish a film, look up the goofs and trivia for it on websites like IMDB. You'll find some pretty cool stuff. You'll also find that as time goes on, Godzilla gains and loses new powers all the time. Flight. Psychic abilities, what have you. A lot of people really like the Heisei era, for it's continuity, but it's probably my least favorite era. Like I said before, the monsters look FANTASTIC all throughout that era, but a lot of them are very limited in motion and to make up for that, you're gonna get beam battles galore. Everything might look better than the Showa era, but some of the energy and enthusiasm seems to be missing. The Millennium Era is probably my favorite. Favorite suits, favorite stories, just fun all around. I also think it strikes the right balance between special effects and monsters just going at it. Just trust me when I say, Godzilla X Megagurius is a bit of a mess and Godzilla: Final Wars is only fun if you're willing to turn off your brain. As an aside, one of the best things about watching all these films, is because they're all pretty dated now, you get to see trends in technology and fashion and cars and such evolve right before your eyes. It's a little something extra that kind of makes shit fun. Dude. Yeah, keep watching and if you wanna talk Godzilla shout me out and I'll totally join in on you. If I were to offer two bits of advice, it'd be first maybe don't try to watch the entire franchise in order, for fear of you getting bored or tired of it. Jump around. Most of the stories are self contained and continuity doesn't matter that much for Godzilla. Second, and more importantly, there are two American Godzilla films. There's the Matthew Broderick one from the '90s which is Godzilla in name only. It's basically a whole movie about a giant lizard playing hide in seek in New York City from a military that couldn't find its own butt if they were drawn a map to it. If it was named anything else, it'd be a decent Kaiju film, but for something carrying the name of Godzilla, it's disappointing. The 2014 film though? IT'S KICK ASS! Watch it on the biggest screen with the best sound you can get. Sadly, Godzilla actually only shows up a bit here and there in the movie, but when he's on screen, SHIT IS EPIC! Watch it once, then wait a few months, and watch it a second time. For some reason, the movie is better on the second watch. Godzilla is awesome. /rant
Invasion of the Astro-Monster/Godzilla X Monster Zero ended up being a real treat for me because I didn't ever see the movie until after I saw episodes of The Rebel on television. Nick Adams is the actor that plays the American in the movie and in The Rebel he's a man named Johnny Yuma roaming the country side with a sawed off shotgun doing cowboy shit. The entire time I watched Monster Zero, I couldn't help but imagine Nick Adams character was an astronaut Johnny Yuma. You're starting to get to the point where the Showa era starts to let loose a bit more and have more fun. It's honestly been so long since I've seen either Godzilla X Ebirah or Son of Godzilla that I don't remember much of either. They're all fun in their own way though. Lots of people really enjoy Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla X Hedorah just because they're pretty wild departures from your regular films. So, out of curiosity, do you have a favorite monster yet?
Thanks. I've spent the majority of the morning in bed, with the dog curled up next to me. That shit's better than chicken soup. I think I'll name the afternoon the same way. SPEAKING OF DOGS AND GODZILLA. I wanna name my next dog "Dog." Short for "Dogzilla." It's gonna be something small, but still manly, tobe all deceptive about the name. "My dog is named 'Dog.' It's short for 'Dogzilla.' He's a total beast . . . Mastiff? No. He's much more fierce than a Mastiff. He's some kind of corgi/yorkie/beagle mix. A total beast."
I'm a bit sick myself. I seem to be on the recovery side but still sick. My cat kept an eye on me last night. He's a good boy, even if it means he's in the way when I'm trying to get comfortable. My last two cats have been named for scientists. I still feel a little bad that my girl cat is named for a boy scientist. I feel like there's a karmic need to balance that in the future. I'm thinking "Poppy," the nickname of Frances Northcutt, an Apollo-era engineer and first woman in an operational role in NASA's control center. Straying a bit of the topic of Godzilla at this point.