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king kong


Gifthorse

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Just saw King Kong, pretty kickass movie. Best special effects I have ever seen.

 

I know it is annoying that all hollywood can do is remake old stuff, but they really did this one good. The aboriginee people are very scary looking too. I wonder, where did they all go??

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Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it once I return to the states in January. But unfortunately at that time it will probably only be playing the $ theaters with CHEAP sound stytems. :P

"Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7

 

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Originally posted by flagshipmile:

"...I know it is annoying that all hollywood can do is remake old stuff, but they really did this one good."

Important detail: this was NOT a Hollywood production, so, like the LOTR trilogy that Peter Jackson did, IT DIDN'T SUCK. Hollywood generally sucks.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I dunno what happened to the native population of Skull Island (the movie never shows what happens to them), but I'd be willing to bet that Denham's crew and probably didn't let many of them live...

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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We are going to go see King Kong tonight. I'm a little worried that the fact that it's too long and the beginning is fairly boring might detract from it too much. From what I hear, those are the reasons that it isn't meeting expectations in the box office.

 

PJ makes great movies since he got away from the splatter movies. I'm hoping King Kong holds up. I'm also looking forward to him making "The Hobbit" which he says he will do next. Apparently Ian McKellen has already told PJ that he would play Gandalf again.

 

I hated the 70s remake of King Kong. The special effects were terrible. The animatronics just weren't up to the task (too jerky). And I can't stand Jessica Lange or Jeff Bridges (except for the Big Lebowski).

Born on the Bayou

 

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Originally posted by LPCustom:

[QB] I'm also looking forward to him making "The Hobbit" which he says he will do next. [QB]

AFAIK, the next two projects will be: a film based on the Halo PC Game and an adaptation of something called "The Lovely Bones". He's already signed on the dotted line for those.

 

Actually, the splatter stuff was pretty clever too. Well, PJ is pretty clever. My favourite pre OTRs would have to be "Heavenly Creatures", "Hidden Silver" and "Meet The Feebles".

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Originally posted by Pappadopalus:

I'm still in love with Jessica Lange from the 70s remake.

Her, in those short, short, SHORT!!! cutoffs...and that revealing top... :o

 

Oh...Jeff Bridges is one of the "cooler" actors...IMO...

...and I liked him in the 70s Kong movie.

As far as the less-then-perfect animation in the 70's movie...well, to me, it works a lot better that just dull, boring C-gen shit you get today with all movies!

 

I am so sick of C-Gen effects! :rolleyes:

 

Oh...in the 70's version...Jeff Bridges kinda' suggests what will happen to the natives of Skull Island once Kong is gone...

 

"A year from now, they'll all be alcoholics with no imagination." (or something similar to that). :(

miroslav - miroslavmusic.com

 

"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."

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Yes, it's a long film. But it's a good long film; a loving homage, if you'll forgive the cliches abuse, to the original and first.

 

It gets a little obvious at times that they were looking over their shoulders at the Jurassic Park films; but their Kong is a good Kong. Hey, that's all that matters, giving up some good Kong, right?

 

(Note the blurb of dialog where Jack Black's Denham is talking about signing-on "Fay", and he's told that she's off somewhere doing a picture for R.K.O.... !!) :D:cool:

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Lilly, Denise & I went to see it last weekend.

 

I really liked it, and except for Lilly (6 years old) we didn't find the hour long setup boring at all. Interesting is the right word.

 

The rest was good, though I didn't buy some of the extended fight scenes with the dinosaurs. Without giving anything away, I'd say self preservation would have consumed the dino's attentionat times they were still attacking. I think those who have seen the movie know which part I'm referring to.

 

Oddly enough, though Denise and I enjoyed it very much, we both said afterward that it's not a movie we'd want to see again.

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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I'd go see it with someone who hadn't yet but really wanted to (so I might). Other than that, though, I'm not likely to go out of my way to catch it in the cinema again.

 

Admit it, Neil- in the parts that you refer to, didn't you get a delicious sense of gratuitous violent satisfaction (and a reaction of "y'haditt comin'!") when the King really got down to seriously Kongin'-out on said dinos? ;):D

 

Truthfully, it's kinda hard to say just how quickly a big, small-brained, salivating predatory dino could shift motivational gears in such a hypothetical situation...

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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If you haven't seen the movie, I'm trying not to give anything away, but you may not want to read the following paragraphs.

 

My point was that being held precariously off the ground by inanimate objects leads an animal to attempt escape to the safety of it's natural environment. (In this case, terra firma. ;) ) I don't buy the continued attempt to get the girl whilst hanging virtually helpless in mid-air. Especially with Kong jumping around attacking the other T-Rex. I lost a bit of my ability to suspend disbelief of the obvious fantastic, unreal situation. The same was true of the stampede. I couldn't see anyone surviving that scene. Those were, perhaps, the most disappointing scenes in the movie.

 

I did like the idea of the T-Rex fight. But I wasn't impressed with the execution.

 

Actually, as long as you have me harping a bit, who else that's seen the movie thinks our heroine would have survived the trip from the sacrifice site to Kong's ledge? It looked like an extreme case of shaken baby syndrome. Her neck would've snapped long before he stopped moving.

 

Maybe that's why, though I did enjoy the movie on the whole, I'm not keen to see it again. The action scenes in many cases seemed implausible, even as fantasy. Kinda loses some of the mystique, IMO.

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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I know, I know, but it was just a 'roller-coaster ride', that's how I took all that, for the most part. (Yeah, the stampede-survival was asking quite a bit, though... )

 

And, yeah, I wondered a little myself about her really rough ride as a brush-deflecting palm-pilot, as it were...

 

Good thing he wasn't in the 'burbs, he woulda taken out every mailbox, flamingo, and lawn-gnome in sight with her! OUCH!! :freak::D

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

Lilly, Denise & I went to see it last weekend.

 

I really liked it, and except for Lilly (6 years old) we didn't find the hour long setup boring at all. Interesting is the right word.

My wife won't go and see it with me.

I want to take my 7 year old son (he wants to go too). I just don't know if it's appropriate for him or not!?

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Originally posted by flagshipmile:

It is a very violent movie. I wouldn't take any child under 11 to see it, but every kid is different.

I would lean towards that. My son wouldn't be able to handle that. He's quite mellow.

Things like Jurassic Park are a bit much for him.

 

Thanks for the opinions guys!

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Just saw it. I was worried about the three hour length but it flew by, wasn't bored for an instant. I loved it. Took my 9 year daughter, she loved it too, although she'd rather Kong swam back to his island with the blonde!
www.myspace.com/darcyhoover
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Ok, here is my review.

 

Loved the film, very entertaining, would not see it again however. The main reason is the extended and laborsome shots of the main actress's and Kong's faces. I mean a lot of them. I mean like 10 seconds and more on the same face. Like over and over and over again. Like he's an ape already, she's a human, anything more than the longing looks is not going to happen. At least 30 minutes of these close up shots, did I mention over and over, could have been cut from the film.

 

And one more thing, who's gonna clean up all that monkey on the street?

 

Amazing graphics, the dinosaurs actually may have been better than Jurassic Park. But they ran out of dialogue long before the film was over.

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Personally I hated Jurassic Park because the characters were so dumb.

 

The scene with the 2 smart kids in the crashed jeep. He cant turn off the flashlight which attracts the dinosaur. Why cant he just aim it down? Who wouldn't think of that when a dinosaur wants to eat you and the flashlight won't go off. Those kinds of things made me hate that movie even though it had great effects at the time.

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That's the thing though...with C-Gen...

 

Eveyone uses C-Gen for "effects"...but...C-Gen really isn't an effect...IMO.

It's more like super-high-Q cartoons intermixed with live footage.

It really can be a YAAAAAWN in many movies because it is so obvious.

If the story/characters/acting/music is real good...I can get past the C-Gen cartoons.

 

Even though you could easily tell real from fake in the Rings trilogy...it was generally acceptable because the story was quite good.

 

I'm still holding final opinion on the new Kong movie 'til I see it...but, it's pretty much a predictable story. We know what's going to happen...right? So the only glue in the movie ends up being the friggin great C-Gen??? :rolleyes:

 

Same thing with the follow-up Jurassic movies. The second two were OK...but after the WOW-factor of the C-Gen work in the first Jurassic wore off...IMO...it became MORE obvious in the second twoand left me flat.

 

I really hate it that moviemakers rely more and more on C-Gen to "make" the movie.

You can't even see a decent explosion or car wrecks anymore...it's all faked with C-Gen!!! :(;)

miroslav - miroslavmusic.com

 

"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."

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Originally posted by miroslav:

I really hate it that moviemakers rely more and more on C-Gen to "make" the movie.

You can't even see a decent explosion or car wrecks anymore...it's all faked with C-Gen!!! :(;)

Yeah, except for the fact that the original King Kong depended rather heavily on the Special FX of its time. So it's only natural for the remake to be pretty effects laden too.
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But again...IMO...C-Gen is nothing more than glorified cartoon animation...and NOT a special FX.

 

Building REAL sets...doing REAL explosions...using REAL models...and working with the cameras and the film...that's something different than just letting a computer generate all of the scenery...the motion...the action...etc.

 

When used very sparingly C-Gen is OK...but lately, most action/fantasy movies rely TOTALY on the C-Gen...otherwise, there would not be a movie.

 

So...rather than really work hard to set up a cool FX or a complicated sequence of real action shots...

...they now just skip over it, and leave it up to the geeks and their computers.

 

That's film making...??? :(

 

See...the problem I have with C-Gen...is that no matter how good they make it...no matter how hard they try...

...it always looks 2-dimensional to me.

But with real sets, etc...even though you may not be able to pull of something complicated as you can fool people with C-Gen...at least whatever FX you do pull off, they are usually 3-dimensional, and work with the rest of the 3-dimensional, live stuff. :thu:

miroslav - miroslavmusic.com

 

"Just because it happened to you, it doesn't mean it's important."

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Originally posted by miroslav:

Building REAL sets...doing REAL explosions...using REAL models...and working with the cameras and the film...that's something different than just letting a computer generate all of the scenery...the motion...the action...etc.

Well, the original King Kong included a sh!tload of grainy rearprojections, a six inch rubber gorilla and a couple of lizards shot in closeup. With the results we have all seen... :) And then a lot of 50's films copied that stuff. It was just as bad back then.

 

 

I think the problem is that we sort of expect everything to be bluescreen or whatever it's called. We're a bit too jaded. But I DO remember the first few times I saw the new generation CGI stuff and either didn't realize it was fake (and occasionally wondered how much all those extras cost!)

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with CGI, it's us that's jaded.

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I thought it was truly crap as did my girlfriend who directs films. What a remarkably stupid film lacking in story, lacking in acting and most importantly lacking in direction.

 

Since I've just shat on this work which everyone else seems to have enjoyed, I think I should say what films in the last year that I have found to be good.

 

Maria Full of Grace

 

Crash

 

The Syrian Bride

 

were three very good films in my opinion. Then again, you may think otherwise. De gustibus non est disputandum.

 

Cheers,

 

Alan Tomlinson

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Originally posted by FormerOceanwaySlave:

I thought it was truly crap as did my girlfriend who directs films.

Well, thank you for that. Next time I'm about to foolishly waste my money on a film by a director whose work I love and respect, I'll PM you so you and your girlfriend (who directs films) can set me right.

 

Thank you very much for pulling me out of my benighted state, I shall remember you in my will.

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I tend to be able to enjoy some films that I still wouldn't think of as high art masterpieces; it's kinda like food, there's sophisticated fine cuisine that can amaze and expand ones appreciative horizons, and there's good eats and comfort foods that hit the spot...

 

I tend to really strongly dislike most of what Hollywood cranks out, especially the alleged "blockbusters" that prance out "big names" like John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Demi Moore, Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Nicole Kidman... puke, puke puke. And all of these "bigscreen" adaptations of bad television series... RRRRAAAAALLLLLPPPHHH!!!

 

The original King Kong and its ensuing iconic mythological status on the backdrop of the collective modern mind just leaves many wanting more. And the Japanese appearances and that pathetic '70s remake didn't do much but stir more want. So it's easy for me to be kinda low-brow and lax in my critical appraisal of Peter Jackson's take on Kong. Look at it this way... it coulda been waaay worse!

 

In all seriousness and sincerity, Alan- how would you and your girlfriend have made a better King Kong? What would you have done differently? Or is there no real answer, would Kong fall short for you as material to begin with?

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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