Very Long Post
New Years. In the afternoon of New Years Eve I took my parents to see King Kong for cheap. I don't think it quite ousted Finding Neverland from its place as best movie of the year (I need to see Finding Neverland again soon to decide) but it definitely came in a close second. I was totally blown away, and that is a very rare thing for me in a movie. Firstly, I was very deeply moved by the love story between Kong and Ann Darrow. That scene (here be spoilers) on the ice in New York had me with tears in my eyes, I was that moved. Just to establish how powerful it was - I do not cry in movies. Never. They are generally not realistic enough as a storytelling medium for me to enter very deeply into the hearts of the characters, and the stories themselves are rarely moving enough to move me to tears. However Finding Neverland succeeded in making my eyes moist, and King Kong – if my parents hadn’t been beside me, I probably would have cried more. That ice scene particularly was so beautiful and so deeply moving (to me)…
For the most part, the characters were extremely well portrayed by their host actors, and I was almost totally sucked into their lives – becoming a part of the movie rather than just observing from a seat (if that makes sense). I thought Adrien Brody in particular was very good as Jack Driscoll. I was also caught up in the love story between Jack and Ann and also touched by the love (in a mentor, fatherly kind of way) that Hayes (first mate – black guy) had for Jimmy. Also the action! Once it starts it never lets up! The massive battle between Kong and the three T-Rex’s had me spellbound. Had it been done by most other directors it would probably have appeared tacky, deliberately overdone (with three assailants), an action scene just for the sake of action. However it did not seem overdone to me at all, particularly after the build up of the Diplodocous(?) stampede, and in the context of the love that Kong had for Ann. From the trailers I had been led to believe that there was only one dinosaur, but no – three attacked one after the other. And the fight was very well choreographed – the dinosaurs entered and retreated from the fray in sequence – one would go out of the picture – say knocked down the crevasse by Kong, then it would be back in the action again when Ann lands beside it.
The story itself was also, of course, superb. It had the required depth to it, with each character having their own story that built up the story as a whole. Jack Black was great. My respect for him as an actor has gone up a lot, having seen him act a role like Carl Denham as well as he did. He had always been just one of the Comic Quartet – along with Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Vince Vaughn - pretty much just a comedy show on screen, but he is actually a very good actor, particularly given the fact that he’d always wanted to be a comedian instead of an actor.
I give this film 9.2 out of 10. The missing 0.8 is because there were a couple of shots (and only a couple) where it was obvious the actor was in front of a blue screen. There was also a short shot where it was obvious that Ann was a CG figure. They destroyed the quality a bit. However the creatures and environments were extremely realistic (of course they would be – it’s Weta Workshop!). There were also a couple of other reasons for the missing 0.8 – e.g. Jack Black had a couple of flat lines towards the beginning, but on the whole it was incredible. Maybe it did beat Finding Neverland after all…
Anyway. Back to New Year’s Eve. After the movie I went to Raymond’s party and had a great time J. Thanks Raymond! It was great to see everyone again – with work I haven’t been getting out much. Then at about 10:30ish I went to the second party (I’d been invited to 2 and didn’t want to say no to either) with a few friends from work. It was smaller than Raymond’s but a little wilder. I have some interesting photos of one of the supervisors just slightly off her head… :P
There was also this hilarious thing on TV around midnightish or shortly before or shortly after (I can’t remember which) (it might have been the MTV awards) but they had a spoof of Revenge of the Sith where Anakin Skywalker deliverers some very different lines from the movie! {Edit: It was a spoof done by Jimmy Fallon on the MTV 2005 Movie Awards} The bit I saw was near the end, on Mustafar, the lava moon. There was a bit with R2D2 and a pepsi can that I didn’t quite catch (I was more preoccupied with feeling the need to throw up after having WAY too much juice at once) and that was followed by something totally hilarious (judging by the laughter) that I didn’t catch at all, but then I caught a bit just after Padme runs off the ship and does the whole “You’re braking my heart” thing. In the real movie it goes like this:
PADME: Anakin, all I want is your love. ANAKIN: Love won't save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that. PADME: At what cost? You are a good person. Don't do this. ANAKIN: I won't lose you the way I lost my mother! I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I've done it for you. To protect you. PADME: Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can. ANAKIN: Don't you see, we don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be. PADME: I don't believe what I'm hearing . . . Obi-Wan was right. You've changed. ANAKIN: I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me. PADME: I don't know you anymore. Anakin, you're breaking my heart. I'll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can't follow. ANAKIN: Because of Obi-Wan? PADME: Because of what you've done . . . what you plan to do. Stop, stop now. Come back! I love you. ANAKIN: (seeing Obi-Wan) Liar! PADME turns around and. sees OBI-WAN standing in the doorway of the Naboo Cruiser. PADME: No! ANAKIN: You're with him. You've betrayed me! You brought him here to kill me! PADME: NO! Anakin. I swear ... I ... ANAKIN reaches out, and PADME grabs her throat as she starts to choke. OBI-WAN: Let her go, Anakin. ANAKIN: What have you and she been up to? OBI-WAN: Let her go! ANAKIN releases his grip on the unconscious PADME and she crumples to the ground. ANAKIN: You turned her against me. OBI-WAN: You have done that yourself.
In this version, in the whole “At what cost? You’re a good person” right through to “You’re going down a path I can’t follow” Anakin is explaining something about how they can settle down, have kids, etc. He’s got all the plans worked out and can’t understand why Padme won’t go along with it. Then he sees Obi-Wan, it goes something like this…
ANAKIN: (seeing Obi-Wan) Obi-Wan! What are you doing here! Obi-Wan – are… are you wearing my bath-robe?!PADME turns around and. sees OBI-WAN standing in the doorway of the Naboo Cruiser. PADME: No! ANAKIN: [Something about Padme and Obi-Wan and Anakin’s bath-robe I think]PADME: NO! Anakin. I swear ... I ... ANAKIN reaches out, and PADME grabs her throat as she starts to choke. OBI-WAN: Let her go, Anakin. ANAKIN: [Something I can’t remember] OBI-WAN: Let her go! ANAKIN releases his grip on the unconscious PADME and she crumples to the ground. ANAKIN: What’s that on my bath-robe? Are those barbeque-sauce stains?? Obi-Wan have you got barbeque sauce stains on my bathrobe?!OBI-WAN: You have done that yourself.
Then they get ready to fight, and Anakin (in the real movie says something like “you will try” in response to a challenge from Obi-Wan) says something about “I warn you Obi-Wan I’m extremely good at back-flips” then they fight and Anakin spectacularly backflips into the lava and burns up. Yeah. It was hilariously funny at the time.
Anyway that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a story. If it’s night time, turn off all the lights so the computer is the only source of light, then read this story.
3 guys were out on a roadtrip when the car broke down. Luckily there was a house near by so they pulled in and asked if they could stay there while they fixed the car as it was likely to take a couple of days. The old man who lived there was fine with that as he had a couple of spare rooms in his 3 story house. Anyway, he took them on a quick tour of his house. “This is the ground floor, this is the floor I live on. I sleep down here, and you can have your meals down here in the kitchen with me. I’ll cook you dinner each night.” They were fine with that, so then he took them upstairs the next level. “This is the floor you’ll be sleeping in – see here’s a spare room you can use” he said. The guys were perfectly happy that so they brought in their stuff and settled in. Then he took them to the top floor. At the top of the stairs was a locked door. “I don’t want you going into this room” said the old man, “as this is the room my daughter died in when she was a girl”. The guys, again were quite happy with that and said so. Anyway, that night they had an amazing dinner and settled down to sleep. About 2 in the morning, one of the guys awoke, hearing creaking noises in the room above him – the room the girl died in. Curious, he went up the stairs to investigate. The door was still locked, so he looked in through the key hole. He was surprised to see a girl dancing over by the open window – the wind catching in her long, very blonde hair. He went to bed puzzled, and managed to get to sleep in spite of the noises from above. The next day he forgot all about it and they all worked on fixing the car.
That night, after another good meal, they all went to bed, but the same guy woke again at 2am again, hearing the noises from upstairs again. So up he went, and saw the girl through the keyhole again, dancing by the window, with her long blonde hair billowing loose. He thought ‘I really must ask the old man about this tomorrow” and went back to bed, puzzled. But he forgot the next day, as they were so preoccupied with the car. But that night, the last night they would need to stay there, he woke up and heard the noises upstairs again. Still just as curious, he went back upstairs to have a look through the keyhole. But all he could see this time was redness. Just bright red. Nothing else.
Even more puzzled than ever, he went back to bed, and the next morning he asked the old man, “tell me, what did your daughter look like?” “Well,” said the old man “she had long, blonde hair and bright red eyes…”
For the most part, the characters were extremely well portrayed by their host actors, and I was almost totally sucked into their lives – becoming a part of the movie rather than just observing from a seat (if that makes sense). I thought Adrien Brody in particular was very good as Jack Driscoll. I was also caught up in the love story between Jack and Ann and also touched by the love (in a mentor, fatherly kind of way) that Hayes (first mate – black guy) had for Jimmy. Also the action! Once it starts it never lets up! The massive battle between Kong and the three T-Rex’s had me spellbound. Had it been done by most other directors it would probably have appeared tacky, deliberately overdone (with three assailants), an action scene just for the sake of action. However it did not seem overdone to me at all, particularly after the build up of the Diplodocous(?) stampede, and in the context of the love that Kong had for Ann. From the trailers I had been led to believe that there was only one dinosaur, but no – three attacked one after the other. And the fight was very well choreographed – the dinosaurs entered and retreated from the fray in sequence – one would go out of the picture – say knocked down the crevasse by Kong, then it would be back in the action again when Ann lands beside it.
The story itself was also, of course, superb. It had the required depth to it, with each character having their own story that built up the story as a whole. Jack Black was great. My respect for him as an actor has gone up a lot, having seen him act a role like Carl Denham as well as he did. He had always been just one of the Comic Quartet – along with Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Vince Vaughn - pretty much just a comedy show on screen, but he is actually a very good actor, particularly given the fact that he’d always wanted to be a comedian instead of an actor.
I give this film 9.2 out of 10. The missing 0.8 is because there were a couple of shots (and only a couple) where it was obvious the actor was in front of a blue screen. There was also a short shot where it was obvious that Ann was a CG figure. They destroyed the quality a bit. However the creatures and environments were extremely realistic (of course they would be – it’s Weta Workshop!). There were also a couple of other reasons for the missing 0.8 – e.g. Jack Black had a couple of flat lines towards the beginning, but on the whole it was incredible. Maybe it did beat Finding Neverland after all…
Anyway. Back to New Year’s Eve. After the movie I went to Raymond’s party and had a great time J. Thanks Raymond! It was great to see everyone again – with work I haven’t been getting out much. Then at about 10:30ish I went to the second party (I’d been invited to 2 and didn’t want to say no to either) with a few friends from work. It was smaller than Raymond’s but a little wilder. I have some interesting photos of one of the supervisors just slightly off her head… :P
There was also this hilarious thing on TV around midnightish or shortly before or shortly after (I can’t remember which) (it might have been the MTV awards) but they had a spoof of Revenge of the Sith where Anakin Skywalker deliverers some very different lines from the movie! {Edit: It was a spoof done by Jimmy Fallon on the MTV 2005 Movie Awards} The bit I saw was near the end, on Mustafar, the lava moon. There was a bit with R2D2 and a pepsi can that I didn’t quite catch (I was more preoccupied with feeling the need to throw up after having WAY too much juice at once) and that was followed by something totally hilarious (judging by the laughter) that I didn’t catch at all, but then I caught a bit just after Padme runs off the ship and does the whole “You’re braking my heart” thing. In the real movie it goes like this:
PADME: Anakin, all I want is your love. ANAKIN: Love won't save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that. PADME: At what cost? You are a good person. Don't do this. ANAKIN: I won't lose you the way I lost my mother! I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I've done it for you. To protect you. PADME: Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can. ANAKIN: Don't you see, we don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be. PADME: I don't believe what I'm hearing . . . Obi-Wan was right. You've changed. ANAKIN: I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me. PADME: I don't know you anymore. Anakin, you're breaking my heart. I'll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can't follow. ANAKIN: Because of Obi-Wan? PADME: Because of what you've done . . . what you plan to do. Stop, stop now. Come back! I love you. ANAKIN: (seeing Obi-Wan) Liar! PADME turns around and. sees OBI-WAN standing in the doorway of the Naboo Cruiser. PADME: No! ANAKIN: You're with him. You've betrayed me! You brought him here to kill me! PADME: NO! Anakin. I swear ... I ... ANAKIN reaches out, and PADME grabs her throat as she starts to choke. OBI-WAN: Let her go, Anakin. ANAKIN: What have you and she been up to? OBI-WAN: Let her go! ANAKIN releases his grip on the unconscious PADME and she crumples to the ground. ANAKIN: You turned her against me. OBI-WAN: You have done that yourself.
In this version, in the whole “At what cost? You’re a good person” right through to “You’re going down a path I can’t follow” Anakin is explaining something about how they can settle down, have kids, etc. He’s got all the plans worked out and can’t understand why Padme won’t go along with it. Then he sees Obi-Wan, it goes something like this…
ANAKIN: (seeing Obi-Wan) Obi-Wan! What are you doing here! Obi-Wan – are… are you wearing my bath-robe?!PADME turns around and. sees OBI-WAN standing in the doorway of the Naboo Cruiser. PADME: No! ANAKIN: [Something about Padme and Obi-Wan and Anakin’s bath-robe I think]PADME: NO! Anakin. I swear ... I ... ANAKIN reaches out, and PADME grabs her throat as she starts to choke. OBI-WAN: Let her go, Anakin. ANAKIN: [Something I can’t remember] OBI-WAN: Let her go! ANAKIN releases his grip on the unconscious PADME and she crumples to the ground. ANAKIN: What’s that on my bath-robe? Are those barbeque-sauce stains?? Obi-Wan have you got barbeque sauce stains on my bathrobe?!OBI-WAN: You have done that yourself.
Then they get ready to fight, and Anakin (in the real movie says something like “you will try” in response to a challenge from Obi-Wan) says something about “I warn you Obi-Wan I’m extremely good at back-flips” then they fight and Anakin spectacularly backflips into the lava and burns up. Yeah. It was hilariously funny at the time.
Anyway that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a story. If it’s night time, turn off all the lights so the computer is the only source of light, then read this story.
3 guys were out on a roadtrip when the car broke down. Luckily there was a house near by so they pulled in and asked if they could stay there while they fixed the car as it was likely to take a couple of days. The old man who lived there was fine with that as he had a couple of spare rooms in his 3 story house. Anyway, he took them on a quick tour of his house. “This is the ground floor, this is the floor I live on. I sleep down here, and you can have your meals down here in the kitchen with me. I’ll cook you dinner each night.” They were fine with that, so then he took them upstairs the next level. “This is the floor you’ll be sleeping in – see here’s a spare room you can use” he said. The guys were perfectly happy that so they brought in their stuff and settled in. Then he took them to the top floor. At the top of the stairs was a locked door. “I don’t want you going into this room” said the old man, “as this is the room my daughter died in when she was a girl”. The guys, again were quite happy with that and said so. Anyway, that night they had an amazing dinner and settled down to sleep. About 2 in the morning, one of the guys awoke, hearing creaking noises in the room above him – the room the girl died in. Curious, he went up the stairs to investigate. The door was still locked, so he looked in through the key hole. He was surprised to see a girl dancing over by the open window – the wind catching in her long, very blonde hair. He went to bed puzzled, and managed to get to sleep in spite of the noises from above. The next day he forgot all about it and they all worked on fixing the car.
That night, after another good meal, they all went to bed, but the same guy woke again at 2am again, hearing the noises from upstairs again. So up he went, and saw the girl through the keyhole again, dancing by the window, with her long blonde hair billowing loose. He thought ‘I really must ask the old man about this tomorrow” and went back to bed, puzzled. But he forgot the next day, as they were so preoccupied with the car. But that night, the last night they would need to stay there, he woke up and heard the noises upstairs again. Still just as curious, he went back upstairs to have a look through the keyhole. But all he could see this time was redness. Just bright red. Nothing else.
Even more puzzled than ever, he went back to bed, and the next morning he asked the old man, “tell me, what did your daughter look like?” “Well,” said the old man “she had long, blonde hair and bright red eyes…”
posted by David | 1:51 am
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