tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post7999907912594211493..comments2023-09-29T03:53:50.724-07:00Comments on jason | re | campbell: They really can do anything on the Big ScreenAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14865607115402870492noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post-86214875475232098922005-12-15T16:51:00.000-08:002005-12-15T16:51:00.000-08:00I dug this movie like you can't even believe, ...I dug this movie like you can't even believe, Jason. The original had a great idea and really compelling themes, but had special effects which, while state of the art shortly after New Mexico became a state, were roughly the same level of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (picture the original stop motion Kong and then picture the Bumble). It was also hampered by some of the hokiest dialog ever to grace a major Hollywood picture, not counting any movie starring Nicholas Cage or Ben Afleck. In fact, the dialog in the scene where they're filming on the boat and the Bruce Baxter character recites his lines as he re-wrote them is taken directly from a conversation between Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll in the original that was delivered in total seriousness, not as comedy which is how Peter Jackson filmed it this time. Furthermore the natives of skull island, as you pointed out were downright disturbing. When the members of the crew were being placed on the rock I honestly wanted to look away from the screen, something that has not happened to me in a long, long time if you don't count Titanic. The vision of the natives in the original showed up in Jackson's version right down to the music, but this time they were used as joke Vaudevillian musical number when Kong is brought back to New York. I, just like you, had already seen King Kong. Many, many times, in fact. <br><br>Story-wise I was expecting nothing new. I knew that they would go to Skull Island. I knew that they would encounter a giant gorilla. I knew that there would be all kinds of wacky flora and fauna on the island to make it even more dangerous (though apparently not as dangerous as the world we have created for ourselves - Kong could survive in the former, while the latter took his life in less than 24 hours). I knew that Kong would be captured and brought back. I knew he would break free and raise hell. I knew he was going to climb the Empire State Building and that he would get all shot to pieces and then take a 100 story digger off the top rope. What I did not know is just how freaking great it would all look. <br><br>I guess I gave up a lot of hope that I would be able to enjoy the thrill I remember from my childhood of movie viewing some time ago. I honestly don't expect to see original visions and stories on the screen like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Dark Crystal, The Last Starfighter, Enemy Mine or any other movie which blew me away long before I went through puberty. When I want to experience an original story or vision, I tend to pick up a book nowadays. I did not see a movie this entire year that was not either a sequel, an adaptation, or a remake. <br><br>I went into Kong not expecting to be told a great new story. I went in expecting to be told a great story I already knew, but this time by a better storyteller. I got what I was expecting.tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05409029710929131959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post-88183164320216354142005-12-15T17:34:00.000-08:002005-12-15T17:34:00.000-08:00Shoot, I also forgot to throw in a ranting complai...Shoot, I also forgot to throw in a ranting complaint that there is now a re-make of Creature From The Black Lagoon in production. Bastards! So far the best re-make of a Universal monster movie has been The Mummy. What's that tell you?tedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05409029710929131959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post-28527716313051312452005-12-16T17:55:00.000-08:002005-12-16T17:55:00.000-08:00Have you seen the preview for M. Night's new m...Have you seen the preview for M. Night's new movie? I have no idea what the movie is about. And I think it's great. The trailer doesn't give it away...it just makes me want to go see it. Go figure!Tim Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14723626867347817127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post-23583600047726217322005-12-19T11:19:00.000-08:002005-12-19T11:19:00.000-08:00right back atcharight back atcharebecca mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10392748225186885140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4598000692924480398.post-55764377805374746932005-12-21T14:40:00.000-08:002005-12-21T14:40:00.000-08:00I went to Kong, not because of my childhood nastal...I went to Kong, not because of my childhood nastalgia of the other King Kong movies or because of my love for pre-historic beasts battling, but because "it looked cool" (yes, shallow). However, I left thinking that this movie was well worth the $80 I paid to see it. On my scale: easily a full-price theatre movie.<br><br>Something about T-Rex jaws being ripped open by a giant Silver Back just gets the testosterone pumping in my system.Dwayne Hiltyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15487661182563908820noreply@blogger.com