Movie Reviews & More
King Kong (2005)
Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, and Andy Serkis, I won’t spend too much time reviewing the story of King Kong, by now you should know it, and if you don’t, just keep hanging out underneath that rock.
People go to deserted island, find King Kong, capture him, bring him back, show him off in New York City, he escapes his chains in rage for the woman he loves, and climbs the Empire State Building trying to swat down hostile fighter planes, and then plummets to his death.
The story isn’t too different, updated but still set in the early 20th century. Watts does an awesome job of acting on a green screen, never actually seeing a CG Kong. Brody is average, not relatable, and Jack Black, is Jack, you never believe he is anything else, and is probably the only reason I didn’t give this a full five stars. But, he does play a great seedy character, so maybe he was a good cast. Maybe it was Watts (Ann) and her love of a huge monkey.
I have heard that this movie was self indulgent, ran too long, had way too much exteraneous crap, was too much visually, and the story takes way too long to get going. This is what I say to all of these claims.
1) Self Indulgent. Yes, it was. Damn, Peter Jackson just spent possibly a decade of his life on Lord of the Rings. He brought those epic and detailed books to life on screen in a respectful fashion. This man gets to call his next shot, whether it was Garfield 2 or King Kong.
2) Ran too long, too much junk, too visually stimulating, the story spends too much time in New York City. I can’t argue that there was a lot of CG stuff in this movie. If you don’t like that, what the Hell are you doing at this movie? Really? The story is fun, but not a great character story, you should be going to this to see a huge monkey kick dinosaur and military butt and to love a damsel. If you like CG, this won’t run too long for you at all, every moment is a thrill ride. As for too much time in the beginning, well, I would just say I don’t know how I would have cut it down, you have to establish some of Ann’s character and what would make her almost love a huge ape.
The other thing I would say, specifically, is that some people I know didn’t like the Brontosaurus scene. I would say, that if you hold this up to the Jurassic Park movies, Kong takes those to the next level visually. Maybe the dinos toppling was a little silly, but believable and sadistically enjoyable to watch destruction of dino life. These scenes are so much more rich, with more on screen time with the T-Rex and a slew of other dinos that are more atmospheric in the Jurassic Park films. Give me a fight scene between a T-Rex and King Kong, or four of them. Do I think he could actually win that, probably not, he sure could survive a Rex bite without much more than a gash. But I do think that an ape with arms could waste a T-Rex that is practically helpless once on it’s side.
If you can’t tell, I loved this movie. Like I said, don’t go for the best story ever, you know the bill, it is kind of like Titanic, you know what will happen, you want to see how this director gets us there visually with today’s technology. I could watch this a ton of times, I would buy it, and I recommend it to everyone to see at least one, even if you form your own picky negative opinions.
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Jennifer Anniston, Jim Carrey, Catherine Bell, and Steve Carroll, this movie was classic the moment it hit the screen. Perfect role for Carrey to be himself, and a unique enough idea with the support of today’s effects to make it work. Carrey is a reporter who just can’t get ahead in his life, or so he feels. He gets the stupid news stories, and no one takes him seriously, and it seems that he always gets passed over for that promotion, or that next level of achievement in life. Anniston is the girlfriend who loves him for his strengths, and Carrols is the other young reporter looking to make anchor at the news station.
The coolest thing about this movie is how it actually does some probing of Christianity. What would it be like to be God, and what is our best guess of what is could possibly be like to be omnipotent, trying to rule over so many people, and how to watch over everyone safely and fairly.
Of course, it is funny. Carrey has his over the top parts, but you do get swept up in how much fun it could possibly be to be able to do anything you could possibly dream with the snap of a finger or with a gush of breath. I always laugh myself to tears when Carrey is in the background while his evil nemesis (Carroll) is on air delivering the news. He makes Carroll speak ridiculous jibberish, it is so childish, but so stinking funny.
I would argue that later in life Carrey has taken his over the top personality, and removed more of the stupid body type jokes, and it is more an essence of him. I do think he is an incredible talent, he and Robin Williams are two that come to mind when I think of actors who can just think of something funny on the spot, and he does just that in this movie. So, if you enjoy Carrey and his perfected humor now in later life, you will like this. He drives the movie, and does some good sincere serious acting as well, but if you loathe Carrey, obviously skip this one. If you can overlook him, see if and fantasize what it could be like, to be God. It really is fun.
Madagascar (2005)
I didn’t like this movie. I think that it did pretty good at the box office, but the three or four people I talked to either didn’t like
this movie, or it didn’t stick out in their minds. But I wouldn’t watch it again.
Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett, David Schwimmer, Ben Stiller and others voice the zoo characters who are looking to escape to the wild. Wandering around New York, and then eventually getting shipping out to have to make it on their own, the point in this movie never really comes out. It feels kind of like one big flashy empty gimmick after another, and not an ounce of me liked any of the characters. The animation was ok, there was a good amount of detail, but I think that the dance song routine on the island encompasses what this movie was all about. Making really young children laugh at the silliness, instead of developing characters with somewhat relatable plights, feelings, and needs. The best Disney movies did that, and I think this is one of those that just figured because it was 3d that maybe the lack of story would be overlooked.
I just wonder how much longer it will be before we as an audience are past the “wow” factor of 3d animation and demand more quality, helping suppress movies like this from ever making it to the screen.
Watch this for the visuals, but I don’t think anyone you know will ever come out of this crying, or with a day changing emotion of any sort.
Fever Pitch (2005)
My review of this movie is going to be highly bias, as a direct result of the awe that I have for the 2004 American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and Yankees, and beyond.
Starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, it’s a love story between two unlikely people, a local school teacher (Fallon) and a high paced business type (Barrymore). They end up going out, and all of a sudden it is a level playing field, she doesn’t act like a successful business person anymore, only her work interfers. I found that a little weird.
But basically, ever since he was little, he has had Red Sox season tickets. He splits up the games with three other people, and they go to every game. They are die hard. She gives some understanding because she is preoccupied with her job. In the end, he screws up and puts baseball first and she walks away. His father left when he was little, so the Red Sox are his blanket, his safe haven from the world and he just hides there when anything becomes hard. I must say, it was fairly convincing, and Fallon wasn’t obnoxious in this movie.
Eventually they get back together and it is happy ever after. But the best part of this movie, is it is all about the comeback that the Red Sox made against the Yankees in 2004, and they intertwined that history with this little love story.
A decently fun movie, and not too lovey without a fair amount of humor, I would recommend this to most people, and definitely to any of those baseball fans out there that are still left. If you loved that series you can relive it here in some fashion.
Elektra (2005)
I saw this, nervous that it would be stupid, but wanting to keep my streak together of seeing all new comic book related movies. It wasn’t bad for the reasons I thought it would be, but for different ones.
These were the reasons I thought it would be stupid. I didn’t think they would give a very good reason for how Elektra came back from the dead after the Daredevil movie. Reason 2, I don’t tend to like overly tough female leads in movies, infallible (etc etc). Reason 3, the previews made the special effects look stupid and unrelated. Reason 4, the previews made it look as if she was going to train some little girl to fight for some unexplained reason.
This is how the movie was good in those areas. Reason 1, they didn’t dwell on how she came back, they didn’t refer back to Daredevil, probably to scared to even be associated with it. You just have to believe in asian magic is all. Reason 2, Elektra was humble, lost, and imperfect. Almost too much, and I will get to that. Reason 3, The special effects were perfect actually. The Hand, a force of ninja fighter type people from the comic book, made a perfect transition. They weren’t feared as much for their fighting skills like they were in comic books, but for their special powers over disease, speed, and animals. The effects helped support this perfectly with the whole movie using sparring cable tricks. Reason 4, the girl actually is the whole focus of the movie, with special powers in and of herself. She is already trained. The girl is obnoxious and her father is the token love interest, but it is better than training her.
The main reasons that I didn’t like this movie that much, was that Elektra was a bit of a crying baby, almost too lost I thought, too vulnerable. I never thought I would say that, but she was really tough at most times, but it seemed like the unsure bit was only there to support an already weak premise. What would be a good premise that would resonate with today’s audience? That I can’t answer, it certainly couldn’t be what was in the comics, but I am not sure this worked either. And that was the other reason I didn’t like it and wouldn’t watch it again, the story didn’t hold me. I wasn’t involved in the character, and I can’t explain that any more, than I just wasn’t engaged.
If you are into comic books see it. Even though Jennifer Garner is more “athletic” looking than Elektra, all girls in comics have an unrealistic chest and to see her in a great translation of the actual costume is pretty cool. But otherwise, I don’t think anyone else will care that this movie even came out.
Stay (2005)
The general feeling I left this movie with was, something was missing. This was a short movie by today’s standards, only 99 minutes. I thought about The Sixth Sense while I watching it, there was a similar feel. Death always lingering around the corner but never manifested, a psychiatrist in bad clothing and a patient that is barely coherent, with a huge reveal at the end. However, there is such a lack of storytelling that in the end, as much as one may guess to understand, there are so many things that still don’t make sense and you leave feeling unfulfilled.
My initial reaction was to give this a much lower rating. The whole movie literally comes about in the last five minutes of the show. Starring a good cast of Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts, and Ewan MacGregor, the movie revolves around a young man (Gosling) who comes for help from a pyschiatrist named Sam Foster (MacGregor). Gosling declares he is going to kill himself on Saturday at 12 pm, and the drama begins. MacGregor becomes obsessed with this patient, and their lives become inseperable in this dreamscape of an environment.
My conclusion, that in the end, we see that as (Spoiler) Gosling is dying we realize the whole first part of the movie is the mind’s logical explanation for what is happening as he is dying, trying to grasp what is happening and making a more worthy cause of death then the present one. The effects in the movie are cool, they probably don’t add much to it, but for a visual person I enjoyed them a lot. But again, you leave without any true traditional storytelling, more with a gimic of trying to confuse you and nothing more, and you want some more truths.
If you want to be challenged, you may enjoy this. I would have given this a higher rating if I thought I would ever watch it again. I like it for being different, I just wish it would have been just a touch more traditional.
The Shipping News (2001)
Starring Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, and briefly Kate Blanchette, this is another doozie Sarah rented from the library. I must admit, I am starting to get this sick curiosity about the strange movies she digs up, and with such a cast so recently that I had never heard of.
I was into this movie at parts. It starts off pretty bad, Kevin Spacey gets it on with this woman (Blanchett) who obviously knows how to work a man to meet her needs. They have a child, and then she runs off and drowns when her boyfriend drives them off a bridge into the water.
Spacey is kind of a loser, a cross here between is role in Usual Suspects and American Beauty, less confidence, more limp. Spacey then has an unexpected visitor right at that time, an aunt he never knew who is coming to grieve his dad, her brother. Or so it seems.
They move to escape their past, and all sorts of weird things happen in the little podunk town they end up in. A family history of piracy, incest, and a house that is held down by steel rope. Right in the middle it starts to get good, Spacey seems more like someone who has finally found his way, he is interested in Moore, and he gets a job that gives him confidence. But then the movie takes an artistic turn, and ends with a blown over house, and some cheesey parrallel between a local newspaper and their lives.
Pass on this one. It isn’t even worth it if you really like Spacey. It is especially hard to watch the old aunt, (from the James Bond movies) as this bitter old confused woman.
