Movie Review: King Kong (2005)

Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis
Directed by: Peter Jackson (LOTR)

the highly hyped and critically acclaimed remake of the 1933 quintessential monster movie delivers on almost all levels.

[mild spoiler alert - read accordingly]

Plot: having not seen the original, i can only compare it to the various spoofs and homages paid to the classic through cartoons and such references. King Kong is an epic story told in three acts. the most recent movie to follow this formula was Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World. act 1: backstory, narrative set-up. act 2: island fun. act 3: new york, new york. the less patient may complain of the length (3 hrs 7 min) and the various points of monotany (chugging boat gears) that perforate an otherwise action-packed film. The movie seeks to cover almost every genre known to film. set in mid-Depression 1933, the first act touches on the harsh times (after watching Cinderella Man all the Depression references were pretty easy to pick up), framing the desperation and climate of a populace in need of distraction. There are dashes of vaudeville schtick (i kept thinking of those vaudeville guys on Family Guy) and mild romance to provide that distraction, but they are inevitably brushed aside for the things that matter (i.e. dinosaurs). at the outer core lies the whole monster horror/thrill/suspense/action ride where you can turn your brain off for a few minutes and enjoy senseless adrenaline. at the heart of the movie is the relationship between beauty and beast: Ann Darrow (Watts) and Kong (Serkis). where the original played up a certain amount of sexual tension between Darrow (Fay Wray) and a rapacious Kong, Peter Jackson recreates a more touching relationship (not physical touching -- heartstring pulling touching). other (actual) critics have touched on this aspect, wondering why that part was 'tamed' and Peter Jackson deftly addresses it early in the movie when Jack Black's character Carl Denham is pleading his case before a panel of movie executives. one of them asks if his movie will have boobies (since people only watch movies with boobies), and Denham calls him an idiot.

Visuals: breath-taking. from glittering cityscapes to towering jungles, King Kong is definitely worth the price of admission. the cgi is improved in comparison to the LOTR movies. Kong himself is beautifully crafted, based on actual gorilla specifications and animated with life-like precision by Andy Serkis (Gollum/Smeagol) after he spent two months studying gorillas in Jane Goodall fashion. the cinematography is gorgeous throughout, but gets a bit melodramatic towards the end. but since it's 1933, that's probably an intentional tribute.

Dialogue: having not seen the original, i cannot exactly tell if they followed the same script in this remake. however, the intonations and diction was anachronistically 21st century. dialogue definitely took a back seat in this movie and i think i could have watched it deaf and still understood everything.

Soundtrack: epic, as characteristic of the only Peter Jackson films i've seen. the tracks were evocative and spot-on. there isn't much else to comment on as i wasn't really paying attention to it.

Characters:
Carl Denham - this character is Jack Black's first crack at a 'serious' protrayal and i thought he did an outstanding job of it. as a desperate movie producer in search of 'the big one' (film, that is) Denham coerces those closest to him into a dangerous expedition all for the perfect film. Black's best scene is his Super Saiyin moment. his true allegiances are shown in counterpoint to the supposed monster.
Jack Driscoll - Adrien Brody plays a sensitive screenplay writer and third-wheel to the Ann-Kong relationship. his acting is above average -- emotive and all that -- but his nose sort of steals each scene.
King Kong - gorillas are usually considered ugly in my books and only cool under certain contexts (such as smashing stuff). this latest incarnation of King Kong is easily the most life-like, not just because of technological advances. the mannerisms and physical acting spoke volumes of Kong's inner lonliness and his jealous protection of that connection to Ann.
Ann Darrow - Naomi Watt's performance has opened my eyes. first to her striking resemblance to fellow Australian Nichole Kidman; second to her screaming skill. she doesn't say much so most of the acting is done facially. Watts does a brilliant and beautiful job (considering a lot of her screentime is spent with the computer generated and not physically present Kong) and now i have a huge crush on her.

Overall: watch this movie, plain and simple. the only failing really is the dialogue, which is uninspired and boring (it ain't no gilmore girls -- closer to smallville in terms of melodrama).

* * * * 3/4

Rufus Wainwright - Across the Universe

words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
they slither while they pass, they they slip away across the universe.
pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind,
possessing and caressing me.

Jai Guru Deva, Om

nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.
nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.

images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
they call me on and on across the universe.
thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box,
they stumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.

Jai Guru Deva, Om

nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.
nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.

sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing
through my open mind inciting and inviting me.
limitless, undying love, which shines around me like a million suns,
and calls me on and on across the universe.

Jai Guru Deva, Om

nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.
nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.
nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.
nothing's gonna change my world,
nothing's gonna change my world.

Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva...

"The Real Old Testament"

The Real Old Testament - more clips

Canadian Men's Olympic Team Announced

and like every other arm-chair coach, i must put forth my ideal lineup given the roster submitted by Team Canada:

Goal: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Marty Turco

Defense: Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Ed Jovanovski, Scott Niedermayar, Chris Pronger, Wade Redden, Robyn Regehr

Forward: Todd Bertuzzi, Shane Doan, Kris Draper, Simone Gagne, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Martin St. Louis, Joe Thornton

Reserve: Bryan McCabe, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal.

in goal, the decision is fairly easy: go in alphabetical order. Brodeur and Luongo both have a wealth of international experience and were pretty much shoo-ins. Turco has earned his spot on this roster and will likely get at least one game in if Brodeur's knee acts up.

the defense pairings will be quite impressive, with each pair featuring a smooth skating puck carrier with a nard-nosed basher: 1) Niedermayar/Pronger 2) Redden/Regehr 3) Jovanovski/Blake

the forward lines are fairly straight forward with one intent in mind -- scoring:
1) Gagne/Sakic/Iginla - speed and skill is the name of this line's game. both Gagne and Sakic can weave their way in to make the plays. Iginla is strong along the boards. All have proven that they can finish plays.
2) Nash/Thornton/Bertuzzi - this is the power line. with a collective height of 18'10" and weighing 653 lbs. this line is HUGE. Thornton has existing chemistry with Nash from last year's stint in the Swiss League. Bertuzzi has something to prove, so he might as well muscle open shooting lanes for Nash and Thornton.
3) Staal/Spezza/Heatley - this is like line 1: redux. speed, skill and dexterity. Spezza's on-ice vision is only magnified by wingers who can pull away from defenders and finish plays. All three are capable snipers and you'll probably see their names bunched near the top of the scoring list at the end of the season.
4) St. Louis/Richards/Lecavalier - the Tampa Bay Trio round out my forward lines. with more speed and more skill. Richards is a very good two-way player and if the other two concentrate on a very agressive forecheck this could possibly be the least physical, but highest scoring checking line ever.

as you can see, i've forgone the traditional score-score-grind-check lines and opted for the score-smash/score-score-score lines because our defense is huge, backed by at least two goalies that can really handle the puck (Martin and Marty) and one that thrives on being shot at (Luongo). should we come up against a team with one or two razzle-dazzle lines (sweden, russia) then Doan, Smyth and Draper can be slotted in as a genuine checking line to shut them down.

caption challenge #1!

below is an excellent picture (excellent as defined by me).
please send in possible captions, via comment, by next saturday, december 24, 8:00pm.

we'll start off with an easy one:

JONATHAN HAYWARD/CP PHOTO

Calvin and Hobbes - Nov. 21, 1993

i learned a lot today

poor stefanie lawton. shannon kleibrink's third just happened to be a billion times better than yours (kasner). however, props to gushue.

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while watching curling!

a) people actually trip over rocks and fall! it happened last night! she walked into the opposing team's rock and took a small spill. i don't know the official ruling on that, so i looked it up: canadian curling rules

b) hog lines are wired underneath the ice with detectors coinciding with circuitry found in the handle of each rock. lights on the rock will light up if a hand remained on the rock handle as it passes the near hog line to indicate a delivery fault.

c) even curlers have sports psychologists, to deal with the mental rigours of competition. hee!

d) the hottest canadian curler is jennifer jones, skip of the 2005 canadian national team

My November Will Be As Good As Keanu's Acting In Sweet November General

a) PSCD01 debate project
[.] edit and compile and print the debate position paper
[.] debate and refute (tuesday november 8, 7:10 pm)

very interesting. the debate itself was okay. good thing no one cares.

b) ASTB21 mini-project
[.] compile and edit the slideshow presentation
[.] compile and edit the report on volcanism and tectonics in the solar system
[.] present (tuesday november 15, 2:10 pm)
[.] assignment #4 (tuesday november 22)

yay grade 5 level knowledge.

c)ENGB42 essay
[.] on The Stone Angel. i still don't think i have a thesis. (tuesday november 22 24)

i should probably start...

d) ENGB03 response essay
[.] passage analysis (wednesday november 23)

almost done...

e) ENGB02 research essay
[.] annotated bibliography (monday november 21)
[.] on Poor Things. i still don't have part of a thesis. (monday november 28 december 5!)

longest essay ever written (by me)

f) ETP seminar
[.] November 30, 7-9pm B340 (don't forget to attend this time)

g) Christmas celebration play
[.] plot Act I [.] script
[.] plot Act II
[.] plot Act III
[.] plot Act IV

h) Aletheia winter camp
[.] registration form (friday november 25)

winter elections have no winners, only whiners and weiners.

prior to our last federal election in 2004, i took a gander at the political platforms of our major parties (click title link). as we will soon be having another, i thought i'd take a break from essay writing and exam studying to take another gander. now i have two ganders. the liberals don't mind two ganders marrying, but the conservatives do.

the Liberal Party: fronted by the embattled Paul Martin, the federal finance minster who didn't notice 250 million dollars being funnelled into adscams in Quebec.

it's been 12 years of liberal rule and they've been an entertaining bunch. the 2004 election resulted in a minority government for the red team and this most recent term featured much hilarity in caucus.

a) Mississauga-Erindale MP, Carolyn Parrish
this outspoken minister's big mouth against both Bush and Martin led to her firing from the Liberals in november 2004. her anti-Bush sentiments, while echoing the opinions of a lot of informed and uninformed Canadians alike, were out of line. Martin's attempts to beseech more tact in regards to our southern neighbours only resulted in her pretty much telling him and the party to "go to hell." she retained her seat in Parliament as an independent and has since stepped down from politics after the government was voted down a few days ago.

b) Newmarket-Aurora MP Belinda Stronach
on the proverbial eve of a possible government overthrowing in may 2005's federal budget voting, Belinda Stronach, daughter of Magna Corporation founder Frank Stronach and York University drop-out, crossed the floor to join the Liberals, swinging the budget vote narrowly in favour of the minority government. citing irreconcilable differences with party leader Stephen Harper, his bedmate, Le Bloc Quebecois, and certain party policies, Belinda Stronach dumped the Conservative Party two years after helping form the party and a year after vying for its leadership. In doing so, she also dumped her then boyfriend Peter MacKay, deputy leader of the Conservatives. She was immediately promoted to human resources minister by Paul Martin. The Newmarket-Aurora riding is predicted to be one of the hotly contested seats this coming election. Many who voted for Belinda the first time around when she won narrowly by 689 votes are still smarting from her treachery.

like i said: hilarious.

that aside, the Liberal Party hasn't really changed. they remain the safe, and ironically conservative vote as they try to not rock any boats. embroiled in the controversy of the sponsorship scandal, Liberals would love to avoid controversies at all cost, but they just keep popping up.

internally, as a throwback from Martin's finance minister days, the Liberals like to whittle away at the country's huge debt with budget surpluses.
internationally, the Liberals are still safe and conservative, occasionally butting heads with the States on trade issues (softwood lumber, cattle), so they're goody-goody, but not very ambitious in pursuing any particular courses of action. this laissez-faire attitude has perplexed most people, most notably Bono Vox of U2 on the humanitarian front.

their 2006 campaign will probably follow the same winning formula that we've seen for so many years now, tax-cuts and happy promises that will somehow get accidentally swept under the rug. and time permitting, they will probably demonize Stephen Harper, just like the Republicans did to John F. Kerry.

the Conservative Party, formerly known as the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance (formerly known as the Canadian Reform-Alliance (formerly known as the Alliance and Reform parties) Party) Parties: lead by Stephen Harper, who just can't seem to find an identity.

The Conservative Party is was the official opposition party of Canada. Harper, and by extension the whole party, plays this role to the hilt and insists on contradicting everything Liberal and red. i'll bet he hates strawberries. backseat grumblings indicate that if Harper loses this election (that he finally had the cajones to call himself), he will be ousted from party leadership.

where Harper goes, the party follows. the Conservatives have lost a lot of credibility (at least in my opinion) because of Harper's 'leadership'. he leads about as well as i can keep 4-4 time (not very well). he doesn't actually lead, per se, but rather waits for the Liberals to do something, and then tries to contradict it.

they recently offered to cut the GST to 5%. but then they proceeded to explain their math and that was much less appealing.

the New Democratic Party: Jack Layton, puppet of Olivia Chow.

when i first saw Jack Layton with his wife i immediately thought, "Oh no! Yoko Ono!" i have no empirical basis for this opinion, but i've decided to keep it because it makes me laugh. thus, i believe that Olivia Chow is the actual party leader of the NDP. since no one would vote for a woman (let alone a Chinese woman) after Kim Campbell's short-lived tenure as PM, Chow needed a white, male puppet. too bad no one voted for her in her own riding. she certainly is more strong-willed and assertive than Harper.

the NDP was suddenly thrust into the spotlight in the previous government when they held the swingvotes. the Liberals needed the NDP to vote for them on key issues which gave the NDP a substantial amount of sway - the little big man on caucus.

NDP policies are centrist and they try to be a voice for the common wo/man, rather than for the bigshot businesses like the Liberals and Conservatives. but since the businesses are bigshot no one really listens to the NDP unless they really HAVE to.

Le Bloq Quebequois: Gilles "so serious that i can't make fun of him" Duceppe.

the Bloc have followed their gameplan for many decades. hate Canada! separate!
in a vain attempt to garner votes Duceppe vowed to form a Quebec national hockey team (brodeur, luongo, theodore, lecavalier, st. louis, lemieux, gagne, briere, bergeron, briesbois, desjardins). of course IIHF only recognizes actual countries in their tournaments. at least this idea has put the Bloc on people's minds, fruitless as it may be. worth the laugh.


in any case, i stand by my previous stance:

you got me

tagged by sharon

5 random facts

1) hoimin is a reference to the mouse in the short cartoon "Herman and Catnip" from "Huey and Friends". the mouse was named Herman and he had three nephews (just like Daffy Duck and Toucan Sam) who all had severe linguistic disabilities. everytime Catnip trapped them they'd squeal, "uncko hoimin! uncko hoimin! catnip's got us! help! help!"

2) i was a relationship counselor in grade 8 and made business mainly by causing the ruckuses myself.

3) i wanted to be a birdwatcher back in grade 3. when i realized the utter lack of financial gain, i ditched that dream for becoming an astronomer. then a baseball player. then a comic book artist. then a paleontologist.

4) my earliest childhood memory was of my first trip to hong kong in 1986. i kissed my aunt's dog (i think it was a black lab.), in a spontaneous display of joyous affection, right on the nose just as he greeted me when the door opened. i acquired a lip infection as a result. however, i do not recall the flight on which i walked up and down the plane aisle charming my way to bits of cheese from other passengers, but i apparently did so and was good at it.

5) i had the biggest crush on this girl named jessica. she had hazel eyes and luscious, curly brown hair -- easily the prettiest girl in grade 1. we were usually the first ones to finish our handwriting assignments (grade 2 stuff!). one time i barfed in the hall after an assembly and she was the one who wrapped a jacket around me and patted my back. in grade 2 she taught me how to braid her hair, but i got in trouble for doing it during story time and had to sit a two-minute time-out staring at the paper towel dispenser. we were split up into different classes in grade 3, after which i changed schools and never saw her again.