Godzilla In Name Only
Here is the origin of the acronym G.I.N.O. In case you do not obssess over Godzilla movies on the World Wide Web, the 1998 American Godzilla from TriStar is often referred to as GINO for Godzilla In Name Only.
I coined it in a post to alt.movies.monsters usenet newsgroup May17, 1998 after seeing a press sceening. A shorter version later appeared in print in G-FAN magazine, but here is an extract from my original review of the 1998 American Godzilla movie.
"...If it were a True or False question "This Monster is
Godzilla (T) or (F)" I would have to say FALSE! I call this GINO © (Godzilla
In Name Only) ..."
If you've got the nerve for it, here is the entire post:
1. OtiGoji
May 17 1998, 11:00 pm
Newsgroups: alt.movies.monster
From: otig...@aol.com (OtiGoji) - Find messages by this author
Date: 1998/05/18
Subject: I Have Seen Godzilla (*SPOILERS*) it's long
Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original | Report Abuse
I was all ready to post my subjective views, but Aaron J. Smith just sent all the
pertinent details in the JMM News List. Well, I agree with just about
everything the woman reported to him, however, I really liked it. But then, I
like Giant Critter Pictures.
So, since this newsgroup spoiled the movie for me, let me spoil it for you!!
SPOILERS: read on only if you want to see details of this Godzilla
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Let's get this ambulation mode straight. It never walked or ran on all four
legs. It pulls itself out of a hole once, and it crawls in its burrow on its
front legs, but on the surface it never does.Not once! Just about other every
rumor I accidentally read seemed accurate, except for the nonsense from Stevie
Z. (I even think there was monster urination taken out or changed -- see if you
get the same idea in a scene that almost called for urine. I'll come back to
this after more people have seen it.)
The picture of the "maquette" from Barry's Temple is identical to a scene in
the movie, the building in the movie is a little bit bigger. The infamous
real/fake FOTL drawing is identical to a scene in the movie. IDENTICAL I tell
you!!
The photo from the toy show is the monster.
My views on this movie:
THE GOOD: Excellent spfx and photography, all the visuals are great the monster
and monsterlings were excellently designed and animated. Some big scenes had
maybe a few too many helicopters.
The sound is excellent, try to see it in a theater with good sound system. The
story is as good as I expect from a Giant Critter Picture and the pace was
good, much less jarring jumps in time than Deep Impact, for example. There were
(as I predicted) many references and tributes to older monster movies. King
Kong was over the whole thing in spirit. A direct tip of the hat to Ray
Harryhausen, a whole lot of "Beast From 20K Fathoms," a lot of "Them,"
"Alien(s), obviously J.Park and more. I liked the espionage/special ops
sub-plot, too. Importantly, the pace kept the story going, and it seemed to get
better as it got near the end.
THE BAD: The story had some preposterous leaps of faith, there was a lot of
disbelief to suspend. (At the end I had to remember that my car breaks down if
I hit a pot hole, but that taxi!! Such a taxi, I've never seen!!!!) The
scientific explanations were as muddled as any Giant Critter Picture but I
think they intended that ambiguity. I guess they finally decide Godzilla is a
new species.
Patillo tried to do a good job, but... and it looks like Broderick didn't even
try to do more than say his lines for the first hour. He did not try and he did
not do a good job. (My main man Harry Shearer, however, was very good and I
look forward to seeing him in the Truman Picture.) The music was mostly OK, but
way off in a few spots. Ifukube was sorely missed.
THE UGLY: The screenplay! The horror! THE HORROR! The dialogue is just, just
pfft! Nuttin' honey! I think parts of it were supposed to be funny, I gave up
trying to figure out the intent of the banal inanities. Is more of this what we
are going to get? I wasn't too fond of the trite mundanities of Titanic, even
though I liked that movie too. The dialogue was just awful, but I wasn't there
for P. G. Wodehouse on Masterpiece Theater.
Special requirements:
Breath: well it appears to be a little power ray-like, but not the radioactive
breath Godzilla has.
Roar: it's there but diminished and he makes a lot of different, good
vocalizations. (Admit it. Didn't you get a little tired of Godzillas three
basic roars?)
Fins: They are there but diminished.
For these reasons, If it were a True or False question "This Monster is
Godzilla (T) or (F)" I would have to say FALSE! I call this GINO © (Godzilla
In Name Only) but I still enjoyed it a lot and plan to see it several more
times. (Tonight was free, Thanks Sony/Columbia/TriStar & Centropolis: I even
wore a shirt and tie over my Gojira '54 b/w T-shirt) I will keep an expence
account on how much I spend. Oh, I decided not to get a T-shirt. Maybe a
toothbrush or more Reeces Pieces.
One more thing. The monster's design was the Stout-a-saurus! I swear, with the
exception of the diminilshed dorsal fins, it was identical to the model of
Stout's monster I saw. I hope Stout has copyright protection!
Whew, I'm exhausted. Gotta get ready for the midnight show Tuesday.
[GINO © OtiG...@aol.com Enterprises]
OtiGoji
"Everyone remaining in the city was on a 'watch and wait' basis.
The wait was not a long one."