[Groop] OT Kong Reviw-Spoiler Alert

[Eric Chun]

[De-lurk]

>I can't wait for it to come out on DVD, but I will follow Mark's sage 
>advise
>about DVD's in general and wait for a year or so when they will undoubtedly
>re-release the DVD with more extra stuff than was in the first one.

Eh?  Extras have already been released (and will most likely not be 
available
anywhere else).

http://www.kongisking.net/perl/newsview/17/1129303806

[Lurk]

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Gary Grossmann" <grossfamm at comcast.net>
To: <groop at groo.com>
Subject: [Groop] OT  Kong Reviw-Spoiler Alert
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 19:05:39 -0800



Hi Folks!

I know this is a little dated, but well, so am I.  First I should tell those 
of you who don't know that I am a huge King Kong fan. I can't tell you how 
many times I've seen that movie and if I had lived within a hundred miles of 
NYC, I would have been hanging onto Larry's coattails as much as possible 
this past fall. (Hmm. Groo & Kong; two unstoppable forces that cause mass 
destruction wherever they go and I'm a big fan of both. Coincidence?)

Well, I finally saw the new King Kong a few weeks ago and it was great!! I 
give it 4 out of 5 stars. Kong and the CGI stuff are absolutely amazing. And 
for the most part I liked the story alterations too. Larry is right. It is a 
different movie in many ways.

There were a couple of relatively little things I didn't like so it doesn't 
get the fifth star. I did not like what they did to the Carl Denham's 
character and I don't think Jack Black was up to the role in any event. I 
much prefer Denham as a reckless adventurer rather than the darker, greed 
driven character they gave Black to play. And he definitely did not have the 
theatrical aplomb or voice to pull off the final line of the movie. I also 
thought the brontosaurus stampede was way over done and just plain dumb. 
Everyone should have been killed. It made no sense that most everyone 
survived. Similarly, shooting the giant insects off of folks faces with a 
machine gun without so much as nicking anyone was pretty dumb too. And I 
agree with original movie makers (who shot a giant spiders in the ravine 
scene) that it brought the plot to a halt and didn't add anything. (That's 
why they cut it and just had everyone die when they fell.)

But that is relatively nit picky stuff. I loved everything else! For me the 
best parts of the film were the fight with the Tyrannosauruses 
(Tyranosauri?) and ALL of the scenes between Kong & Naomi Watts. Even when I 
was a little kid I thought it was silly in the original that after he saves 
Ann from being eaten, she's STILL trying to get away. Where's she gonna go? 
The least she could have done was figure Kong was her best bet until Jack or 
the cavalry showed up. And the battle between Kong and three (yes three!) 
T-Rexes was an amazing rollercoaster ride. Just fabulous!! And then at the 
end of it when Ann backs up behind Kong, now knowing that he will protect 
her, well, that's the kind of scene I can't get enough of!!

Another cool part of the movie was all of things Peter Jackson did for us 
hardcore fans who have seen the original dozens of times. For example, Kong 
kills the last T-Rex exactly the way he did in the original. There is a 
close-up scene of Jack & Ann running back to the village that is shot 
precisely like the original. Max Steiner's original score pops up all over 
the place. Jackson also very cleverly uses scenes and lines, and in one case 
even costumes, from the original, but in very different contexts.

I liked Ann Darrow's fleshed out back story in NYC. It was necessary because 
she's a more three dimensional character than what Fay Wray was given. I 
also enjoyed watching Adrien Brody discover his inner he-man. It was a nice 
alternative to the iconic tough guy in the original.

I can't wait for it to come out on DVD, but I will follow Mark's sage advise 
about DVD's in general and wait for a year or so when they will undoubtedly 
re-release the DVD with more extra stuff than was in the first one. And now, 
back to Groo.


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