Curses, foiled again!
So, yesterday I had a hankering to hear the Dickies song You Drive Me Ape, You Big Gorilla. Knowing I was going to be driving for three hours or more to drop Kate off with her dad (and driving alone for most of that), and knowing our local Flexcar only has a cassette player, I prodded Pramas to see if he had the Dickies on cassette, which being a good old-school punk, he did. Except Flexcar thwarted me by swapping out our usual car for a newer Hybrid model, equipped with only a CD player. Curses!
On the spur of the moment, being footloose and Kate-free this weekend, we decided to see Peter Jackson's King Kong last night when I got back to town. I sat down to write up my thoughts on the movie this morning, getting all of my links and references ready, when I see that Pramas has beaten me to the punch. Not only that, he stole my post title! Double curses!!
Anyway, I have to say that I'm pretty much in agreement with Pramas on the issue of the film. I've read Ken Hite's thoughts and tend to agree that the movie works better for me as a tragedy rather than a love triangle. My esteemed colleague at Grubb Street and I agree that Jack Black was excellent as misguided villain Denham. The casting of Black was a huge turn-off to Ray and the thing he expressed frustration over the most often in the lead up to release, and I doubt there's anything in Black's performance to change Ray's mind, but I thought enjoyed his take on the character. Most of all, though, I agree with my friend JD from over at Folded Space when he complains that the movie is bloated and the scene he uses as prime example of the worst aspects of the movie is the same spot where Jackson lost me: the stampede. Says JD:
Preach it, brother! As that ridiculous scene progressed, I kept thinking to myself, "Oh god, when will this end?!" By the time we get to the scenes of bugs, squicky and toothy ooze creatures, or multiple t-rexes I was completely disengaged. The computer renderings were beautiful but the action so completely unbelievable and excessive I just kept thinking, "Oh you've GOT to be kidding me!" Two hours in I couldn't wait for the story to end. By the time they got to New York, I just wanted it to be over, no matter how expressive Kong's GCI face or how many hairs on his head we could count ruffling in the wind.
On the spur of the moment, being footloose and Kate-free this weekend, we decided to see Peter Jackson's King Kong last night when I got back to town. I sat down to write up my thoughts on the movie this morning, getting all of my links and references ready, when I see that Pramas has beaten me to the punch. Not only that, he stole my post title! Double curses!!
Anyway, I have to say that I'm pretty much in agreement with Pramas on the issue of the film. I've read Ken Hite's thoughts and tend to agree that the movie works better for me as a tragedy rather than a love triangle. My esteemed colleague at Grubb Street and I agree that Jack Black was excellent as misguided villain Denham. The casting of Black was a huge turn-off to Ray and the thing he expressed frustration over the most often in the lead up to release, and I doubt there's anything in Black's performance to change Ray's mind, but I thought enjoyed his take on the character. Most of all, though, I agree with my friend JD from over at Folded Space when he complains that the movie is bloated and the scene he uses as prime example of the worst aspects of the movie is the same spot where Jackson lost me: the stampede. Says JD:
The next five minutes are a dizzying mess of visual effects: flailing brontosaurus legs, snarling meatasaurus teeth, falling rocks, etc. As our heroes race along beneath the mammoth creatures, avoiding death by inches again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again, the viewer grows numb and disinterested.
Preach it, brother! As that ridiculous scene progressed, I kept thinking to myself, "Oh god, when will this end?!" By the time we get to the scenes of bugs, squicky and toothy ooze creatures, or multiple t-rexes I was completely disengaged. The computer renderings were beautiful but the action so completely unbelievable and excessive I just kept thinking, "Oh you've GOT to be kidding me!" Two hours in I couldn't wait for the story to end. By the time they got to New York, I just wanted it to be over, no matter how expressive Kong's GCI face or how many hairs on his head we could count ruffling in the wind.
Wow. This was exactly my experience with King Kong. It was like Peter Jackson said "It's just like the original Kong - but this one goes to 11!"
I'm waiting for the editor's version, 90 minutes including commercials and previews.