Kong
King Kong is pretty good. It could have done without most of the first hour (it really drags until they get to the island) but the fight sequences with the dinosaurs are fantastic. Most of the effects are pretty good. Kong himself is consistently convicing. When he's picking up or tossing around tiny humans, they are consistently unconvincing. Also the "stampede" scene wasn't very believable. But overall, pretty impressive effects. All of the human actors are decent, except for Jack Black, who is as intolerable as always. (I haven't liked him in anything but High Fidelity, and I probably would have hated him in that if I'd seen him in anything else first. He only ever plays the same dickhead.)
Tags: firstperson, movies, reviews
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21 Responses:
I think King Kong was a smashing 1:45 long movie. It had the same problem that the LOTR trilogy had... I don't care enough about the story to take enjoyment out of obsessive cinematography. Much like I don't care about how beautiful New Zeland is, I also don't really care about how a starlet and a monkey can have eye sex so convincingly.
I thought the "buzz" was that Jack Black wasn't playing the same dickhead in this movie (ie, he was actually attempting to act).
Damn, almost tricked me.
I personally disagree that he is playing the same dickhead in King Kong. I mean, he's playing a dickhead, but it is distinct from his usual zany asshole.
I dunno, I saw him mugging for the camera with that zany almost-crosseyed thing he does a number of times. I think it was the same dickhead, or perhaps just the grandfather of that dickhead.
Yeah, I guess he still did some of his mugging, especially in the pre-departure part of the film... It wasn't as pronounced as his Tenacious D or "generic ben stiller film" appearances, but I guess I see what you mean...
That said, I always thought his dickhead-ness went beyond his facial mugging and extended to his mega-absurd behavior and spasms, his over-enunciated dialogue, and his penchant for foolish plot (puppy-punting in Anchorman, for instance).
I get a kick out of it sometimes, but I can see where it would annoy people.. And I didn't see alot of that in this film...
He did REALLY blow the final line of the film though... I guess Peter Jackson originally wanted to have Fay Wray deliver the line but she died before they were able to make it happen..
gee, you're the exact opposite of most of the critics. they complained that while the first hour or so of the movie was nice, the entire "human story" was lost in a hour of special effects for their own sake.
of course, these are the same critics who chastized the "plot" of the Matrix films. they forget that Kong, just like the Matrix, has always been just a basic plot line to act as a justifiable vehicle for the effects. its meant to be a roller-coaster ride, not a Jane Austin drama.
Seriously! If I'm going to see a movie about a giant fucking gorilla rampage -- and a remake at that -- I'm there for the explodo; the hand-wringing is completely secondary.
Though the first-hour bits weren't bad, modulo Jack Black. They just could have kicked up the pace a little.
I liked Ellis's take on it:
"King Kong -- which, I remind you, is a film about a monkey who wants to fuck a white girl -- cost at least $207 million. Savour, for a moment, the stark fucking obscenity of spending more than $200 million dollars on that. Satellites circling Mars right now cost less than that."
Link? :-)
Of course, the difference is that more people are willing to pay money to see a film about a gorilla who wants to fuck a white girl than to have a sattelite orbit Mars and do some kickass SCIENCE!
'cause white girls are hawt!
I refuse to see this movie.
I saw the trailer with King Kong holding the woman and fighting the dinosaur, and I just turned to my friend in the theater and said "I don't even know where to begin describing what's wrong, anthropologically, with that scene."
I'm curious what your thoughts are on Bareback Mountain... assuming you'll see it...
Has everyone been making the same joke on the title of the gay cowboy movie? You'd think they would have considered that when naming the movie.
I think they did it on purpose... hoping the stupid fags would think it was a porno.
except for Jack Black, who is as intolerable as always
Thank you for confirming my opinion; I don't really think he's funny, he's more annoying than anything else.
Annoying is often mistaken for "Zany" I guess.
Utterly unrelated response, but I figured you'd appreciate the following: Canadians can have group sex in clubs - top court.
There's room for a line here about civil libertines, but I'm so not touching it.
I had a lot of problems with the fact that every bone in her body wasn't broken the way Kong was throwing her around. A broken neck at least.
Also, it's pretty fucking cold and windy up there on the Empire State.
Either way, shit like that wasn't enough to make me dislike the movie. The dino fighting was spectacular.
Movies were better before photoshop.
...you're watching a movie about a giant gorilla worhsipped by savages on an island no-one noticed, that fights dinosaurs, and you're concerned by the finer points of how much punishment an actress can take being the unrealistic note of the film?
Yes, exactly.
stop seeing all the movies you were supposed to go see with me when i go home.
at least we'll still have gay cowboys, right?
My main issue was with the CGI humans too - they were too 'rag doll' really.