the kong

don’t hate me… but i didn’t love “king kong.” i liked it, a great deal, but that’s extent of it. let me say that the effects were awesome; king kong in particular was amazing. yeah, the dinosaurs were great, too, but it just made me think of “jurassic park” (how can you help it?). the bugs were oh-so-effective and creepy, but rather reminiscent of… dammit, i’m sure becky will be able to help, because i forgot the name of the spider character in lotr.

naomi watts was excellent as ann darrow, but my sister and i were of the same opinion about there being far too much screen time devoted to long, quiet, loving stares into the kong’s eyes. granted, they can’t hold a conversation… but still.

jack black’s character was a disappointment. his portrayal as a sleezeball was carried off sucessfully… but something just didn’t fit. maybe because he’s more silly (think, “school of rock” or “shallow hal“) than sleezy, i dunno. i fully hoped and expected him to die, but alas, that did not happen. how awesome would that have been if the kong ate him on stage!

did anyone pick up on the fact that golum was in this movie? real name, someone? he was one of the ship’s mates, and died thrashing in the bug scene, eaten in various sections by those worm-like creatures (reminiscent of “star wars” and “dune”) in the bog. i think it’s his lips that give him away (because the facial hair and one closed eye disguised him somewhat).

anyhoo, where was i? oh yeah… what the hell was with the tribe? i didn’t get them at all. i haven’t seen any of the other kong movies, so maybe there’s nothing more to be gained about them… but i just found them wholly confusing and unappealing. at first they appeared to be in hiding, but then they started killing everyone for no reason. why didn’t they take prisoners and offer all of them as sacrifices? ah, but just the gorgeous woman would do. which brings us to the point that the only reason the ship returned to the island in the first place is because a gorgeous woman – scantily clad – was in danger. if that had been me, i’d have been s.o.l. but i digress… the whole trance with rolling eyes and shaking bodies further perplexed.

another thing – when the film crew in the movie first came upon the tunnel lined with skulls, why casually walk through like it’s just another set? i think that was the first hint that maybe they should hightail it outta there. the next clue, you ask? all the sticks… sticking out of the ground with skeletons and various remains scatter throughout. if it were so ancient, as jack’s character pointed out, i don’t think they would have been thus preserved.

someone – was it nikki? – mentioned how cool it was that kong was both gentle and powerful at the same time. mm-hm. i know this movie isn’t realistic to begin with… but the fact that he could be fighting off – four? – dinosaurs at the same time and not crush a woman’s body is ridiculous. and while he was running, surely her neck would have been broken. still – it was interesting!

my sister said that some of the earlier versions of this movie came out when bi-racial couples were a prevalent concern, and that the theme revolved around the relationship between that of a black man and a white woman. hm. interesting. in any case… when kong and ann are on top of the tower, after what seems like the last attack by the planes, kong sets her down for – i think – the last time. he turns away – in defeat, despair? – and i immediately thought to myself, they always decide “she’s not worth it.” hehe.

i didn’t cry… but i teared up at the end. i was upset for the poor creature – the fact that they captured him in the first place, and for mere monetary gains. and because of this the city was destroyed, people killed… and they were forced to kill kong himself. at least he was in the arms of his “lover”… or, er, she was… in his hand. in any case, the scene where he dies is a touching, if upsetting, one.

eh… peter jackson disappointed me. but when lotr is the standard, what can be done? the love story between the two people was somewhat touching, but underdeveloped, so the redeeming aspect is the special effects. when effects carry a movie, it’s no longer a sucess, in my book.

afterthought:
usually peter jackson has a small role in the movies he directs – a man coming out of a store and passing kate winslet’s character in “heavenly creatures,” and one of the barbarians on a ship in “lotr.” did he have a role in this one?

War of the Worlds – what a disappointment

i have been refraining from renting movies from blockbuster since i have a netflix membership (only $9.99/mos for one movie at a time, unlimited rentals), but since we got chinese for dinner, and it’s right next door, i figured, “why not?”

what an utter disappointment. i was so… disappointed. i had to agree with this rather honest and simplistic [partial] netflix review by a fellow member:

I wish there [was] more [explanation] of the ships/aliens attacking Earth and why they ground up the bodies and spit em out (although there was a theory by Tim or Tom that it was fertilizer) when they could just level everthing with one point of the laser.WHY????What was the purpose? What were they growing???? Why didn’t they see that there was no protective shield around the top of the machines? Surely with all that shooting and missile launching they would have hit one up there. It took Mr. Cruise to decide that if the birds can sit on it then there must not be a shield in that area?? What is with the ending??? Why is his ex-wife and her family so CLEAN and NEAT with all the chaos going on around them? Come on!

hehe. i like the “WHY????” the part about his family being so “CLEAN and NEAT,” that’s so true! that was my first reaction to seeing them at the end. were they the only ones unaffected? my sister mentioned having seen it a while back, and she said something along the lines of it being an interesting character study – what comes out in people under those desperate circumstances. but i didn’t really find it interesting at all; it pissed me off.

some more observations:

The magnetic field made it so cell phones and watches don’t run. Even flashlights fail at the start. Yet, in the same scene someone is using a camcorder to film the alien machine and another guy is using his cell phone to snap a photo! Did the writer forget he just showed these items don’t work 3 minutes earlier??? While “normal” cars don’t run (unless the solenoid has been replaced), every Army vehicle runs!… Dakota Fanning appears a very mature 10 year old at the film’s start. Then suddenly she does a Sybil and spends the rest of the film screaming at the top of her lungs like a silly 4 year old.

i have to admit, i noticed the camcorder being used, but didn’t think to be like, “hey, that’s not supposed to be working!” which is weird, because i like to find flaws like that in movies. the writer above mentioned no gas lines or watermains breaking… but there were some pipes that broke, so that wasn’t entirely correct. it’s true, though, the devastation would have been more disastrous.

i, too, found rachel annoying – i tried not to judge because, after all, i’ve never been in an ”end of the world” situation… but her screaming did grate on my nerves. and the son… typical moody teenager, and even though everyone around him is dying, he’s still arguing with his father! it would have made more sense if he had died, but that’s just my opinion. there was no real explanation for the whole shebang (most of which took place in a basement – ho hum), and little was left to the visual imagination.