King Kong -- 2005 -- PG-13

King Kong is a remake of the famous 1933 RKO film of a giant ape who takes a woman who was sacrificed to him and is subsequently captured and taken to New York where he climbs the Empire State Building and is shot down. Peter Jackson's follow-up to The Lord of the Rings epic is also an adaptation of pre-existing material, and while faithfulness is likely maintained to the original, the material appears to have flaws that not even the masterful scriptwriting team of The Lord Of The Rings can save.

The execution of the material makes it crystal clear that Peter Jackson knows what he is doing behind the reins of the film. The plot is followed logically and every major even happens for a sure reason so nothing runs out really unexplained. The special effects are top notch and the acting is good as well...but this film is not the near flawless perfection of Lord of the Rings.

I found multiple points in this film worth cutting out, but on the whole it worked rather well for me (the run time was over 3 hours). I liked the characterization of Kong himself and the relationship between him and Ann. Their relationship, which is mostly shown with little dialogue, is absolutely touching to watch as they go through their trials. It is this relationship that really takes the film up several notches on the ladder of great films because it is so well done. When the Empire State Building comes, you are just glued to the screen because that whole scene is all about Kong and Ann.

I felt that the other characters were mostly well-rounded, although there was a fair amount of the gratuitious 2 dimensional death fodder. I also think some of the subplots were unnecessary such as the kid, Johnny or whatever his name was. 

The most glaring thing about the film that was just unbelievable (if you were paying attention) is Ann Darrow running full speed through the jungle BAREFOOT! The was one rickety bidge but she crossed it barefoot wthout so much as a cut on her perfect little feet. 

I also felt that some of the actions were unnecessary and a little unbelievable. I mean, seriously. No matter how gorgeous the woman is, are you going to risk a freakin' crew to go back in there and try to rescue her from bloodthirsty natives? And even if you do that, are you going to trudge through an overgrown jungle to try and rescue her from an overgrown ape? And when the brontosauruses started running, I had to ask, why didn't they step back into the jungle out of the path of the beasts? After all, they just came out of the jungle onto that little road to start with. Sure, it made a cool sequence to watch, but it could have been easily avoided.

However, the three T-Rexes vs. King Kong? Wow. That was seriously cool. It also served an awesome purpose of solidifying the Ann/Kong relationship.

Definitely could have been shorter without any loss to story or character, and some of the plot hiccups were probably a result of the original material that was never changed when it was reenvisioned. These hiccups are ultimately forgiveable due to the awesome characterization between Ann and Kong as well as that killer T-Rex vs. Kong sequence that runs for a good 15 minutes without letting up. Overall, I enjoyed it and will probably actually buy the DVD when it comes out.

King Kong -- 1933 -- NR

This film was an array of clever special effects, especially in combining live action with maquette stop motion animals.

The story follows a filmmaker who has a map leading him to a secret island. Once there, his star is kidnapped and given to an overgrown ape. 

Kong, himself, is portrayed as a monster and is hardly playing the "beauty and the beast" storyline they tried to imply. Ann was constantly afraid of him throughout the film. There was really no connection between them as she screamed EVERY SINGLE TIME she saw him. There was a romantic subplot between Ann and Driscoll, but it seemed to move too fast to be very believable. I understand WHY it moved that fast, but it didn't help. 

Other things that were a bit of a bother: Jack Driscoll managed to climb down a vine and just the right time: right before everyone died, saving himself alone...and then Denham reveals he escaped too. How? So it seems the main characters are allowed miraculous, if a bit unfeasable, escapes. Jack and Ann take this leap off a high, high, high cliff and manage to survive their dunk into the river...about 6 inches from the cliff side -- sorry, folks, there'd be rocks there. And of course, Ann Darrow was cool with running through the jungle barefoot.

The final determiation of the film was that "beauty killed the beast." That is really hard to swallow in this version of the film. 

These are more or less nitpicky things in a film that delivers a horrific monster story with cutting edge special effects (for 1933), and it is likely the plot was crafted around delivering these effects. I will grant, however, that the film was fun to watch, easy to follow, and had its share of great moments. Kong on the Empire State Building is a legendary shot. For at least the sake of momumental films in history, I recommend.

Killers -- 1997 -- R

Ok, this was a low budget thriller about a group of people who go into an abandoned warehouse for the purpose of buying drugs that they can resell for a profit. The bad news is once they get in there, the actual owners of the drugs show up and want to take the theft that the original seller committed out of everyone's butt.

For a fast paced action thriller, the characts are fairly decent. They're simplistic enough to understand quickly and allow the plot to move along. There was some suspense to be had here, and a lot of those moments were done very well. The lead, Heather, had a decent character arc moving from little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly to being a backup for Ellen Ripley in case the aliens finally get her (to clarify, that was an expression; no aliens here).

I do like simplicity, though, and this one had it. One location to hold all the action. The warehouse was a big maze with 5 floors up and a basement below, not to mention a few flights of stairs and a slew of rooms. This space was used very well, and they even remembered to post a guard outside, albeit one with cancer and coughing fits.

There are a few moves that I found annoying such as multiple opportunities for one person to finish off another and the opportunity is blown. I understand that not everyone can be killed THAT quick, but when the opportunity is deliberately thrown, it just comes off cheap. I also found it odd that the bad guys are searching rooms from the ground up, but when the good guys are found, instead of going down to where it has been searched, they go up to where it hasn't.

I caught some weird continuity errors in the ending, but when I watched the deleted scenes and saw the full alternate ending (2), the case of the missing gun and missing pants was solved.

I will confess that until I watched the deleted scenes with the commentary, I missed the "journey" from man to animal that the two main characters took. That was an enlightening perspective on the whole thing. I'm beginning to think I'm watching these movies too quickly, but then again, when am I going to find time for a second viewing?

In the end, it was a good little movie with a simple but engaging plot long with a deeper and more profound meaning behind its simplicity. Like anything, it is not without its faults, but if you just want to kick back and watch something, it works.

Pulse (Kairo) -- 2001 -- R

This is the Japanese version of the film that has been remade into an American version and I'm not sure if its out yet or not.

I was rather concerned early on when we were going through mundane tasks such as installing an internet browser complete with entering the serial number in that this movie might run a bit slow. Well, it was definitely a slow burning fuse and a very cerebral flick, as a lot of Japanese horror tends to be.

We get introduced to two people and their immediate cirlce of friends. One is a girl working in a plant shop who has a friend with a side job of programming or something. She goes to his place to get a disk, and he hangs himself just before disappearing into a moldy spot on the wall.

The other is a economics student who installs the internet for the first time (hooray, dial-up!) and is immediately logged onto a video site promising to interact with the dead. This site figures somewhat prominently into the backdrop of this weird plot and multiple videos of the dead are displayed depending on how many monitors they happen to have. Of course, this flips out the student guy, and he usually turns off his computer after a few minutes.

The plant girl slowly loses her friends to their own moldy spots on the walls after they enter a forbidden room, which is a room that has been sealed off by red tape. Anyone who goes into this room and interacts with a ghost will become a moldy spot. The student guy has the same experience, but he befriendsa computer girl who tries to help, but ends up being sucked into the ghostly world via the dead video sites, which apparently have much the same effect as the forbidden room.

Getting lost? Well, it does its best to keep the film moving along despite the relative confusion. We do eventually get a decent explanation of what's going on and it slowly affects everyone in the world until student guy and plant girl are the only ones left and they meet up. Student guy looks for computer girl and in a fit of total randomness,they decide she must be in an abandoned factory. ?!

But here's the part that really gets me. Once the two main characters hook up and go off gallavanting together to find all the answers, they split up on several occasions. "Wait here. I'll be right back." No no no no no no no! You're in situations where sticking together keeps each one of you safe from the freaky stuff going on. If I never hear the phrase, "Let's split up," in a horror movie again, I'll die a happy man.

Of course they find her there, and she reenacts one of the things we saw earlier on the video site. It's Japanese horror, so it's no secret that everyone is totally screwed so it's not much of a spoiler to say it doesn't work out too well for anyone here.

The main pair of characters are pretty well developed through their interactions with their friends, and their friends get developed both before and after they die...or rather, become moldy spots.

In all honesty, the film does build a really creepy atmosphere, and while it's not a scary film, like a lot of Japanese horror, you're bound to be at least a little creeped out by the goings on in this one.

King's Row -- 1942

Another film I watched primarily due to it having Ronald Reagan in it also finds itself ensconsed in the era it was made. An amusing point I found while watching this one was a moment where a pair was walking down the street and a pole crossed between them. The male immediately dipped back with a "whoops", ran back around the pole to the correct side and said "bread and butter." I might have missed this joke had I not seen a Popeye cartoon only days before where Popeye was complaining about Olive Oyl being superstitious and not going out on Friday the 13th. Well, at the tale end of the episode, the punchline was Popeye and Olive walking down the street hand in hand, and a pole crossed between them. With a "whoops," Popeye walked back around the pole with a "bread and butter." Ah, the culture of old...

Anyway, this film is about a small town by the name of King's Row where our characters live. We have an aspiring doctor (Parris) who is in love with the little girl down the street (Cassie). We also have the rich kid who is a no goodnik (Drake) in his own right, and the girl from the wrong side of the tracks that they hung out with as children (Randy). They all grow up and all find trouble in their young adult years. Cassie lives with her father, a doctor, who keeps her mother locked away in an upstairs room. Well, mother eventually dies, but the father starts locking Cassie up as well. When Parris gets older, he studies with her father and learns about psychiatry, eventually going to Vienna to study this new field. Drake ends up losing his family fortune in a banking embezzlement and working in a train depot while living with Randy and her father and brother. When Parris comes back to town, he wants to stay in Vienna, but goings on at home envelope his full attention, and he is forced to try and set things right in King's Row before he can consider whether he wants to return to Vienna or not.

I know that was a short, somewhat confusing synopsis, but this is a film that endeavors to introduce and fill out every character to the point that we get at least a glimpse into most of them and understand where they're coming from. There are a lot more subplots within this narrative that I could scarcely touch on without spoiling something as one plot point flows into another with absolute fluidity.

I will say the movie does get a little confusing now and again because I was trying to keep up with everything, but it's also a case of "wait and see" and once you allow the movie to clear up it's own points, it's very understandable and very satisfying to watch.

Knock, Knock -- 2007 -- NR

Ah, after a good weekend of watching such movie masterpieces as Patton and Thelma and Louise, why in the name of all that is good would I put down a review for a movie like Knock, Knock? It's a straight to video horror flick, with almost no redeemable value. Wouldn't a review of Mystic River be more enlightening? Probably not. You already know it's good. And besides whining about the "what are we going to do?" scene in Thelma and Louise, it was all good, too.

So let's talk about Knock, Knock. To start with, let's insert standard horror synopsis here: homicidal maniac goes around killing teenagers for undisclosed reason. Good. For the high points of the blood-lusting, there was lots of gory killings, and one scene of completely gratuitous, above-the-waist nudity. But from there, let's go into the more nitty-gritty aspects.

The plot follows an investigation of the killings of teenagers as they are left alone in various places. The killings are occasionally creative, but the scenes all happens a little too quick to be scary or suspecseful, so while we know what's going to happen every time one of them is left alone, there is not fear factor in any of them. While it's not a slice and dice on every occasion, most of the dirty work happens between scenes after we're graced with the point of death. While this serves to add some mystery, it grows tiresome after awhile, and we're wondering why after 30 years, they can't at least use some of the effects from Friday the 13th so we can get a view of the hack-n-slash.

But more along my forte, let's talk plot. Here's where the movie fails even more miserably. It's the believability factor. The killings are happening to the children of a group of miscreants who killed or almost killed some kid in a fire while they were in high school. This means that this group all had children at exactly the same time. They also all stayed in town (well, all except one), their kids are all "pretty", and they all followed in their parents' popularity. The chances of all of that happening in the real world is infinitessimal. Can it happen? Sure. But all of them deciding to have children at exactly the same time, or in a couple year span? No, don't think so.

Then there's the obligatory "let the star have a trap that gives them a chance of escape." After all, the killer wiped everyone else out almost immediately upon confrontation. For the last one, though, he knocked her out, carried her outside her own house, dumped her in a coffin (still alive), and then set the coffin on fire. While this does fit the plot, it doesn't fit the rest of the killer's characteristics. Just too much of a stretch.

When it comes to characters, there was nothing to write home about. We get a backstory about the main washed up detective and the incident that started it all, but that's about it. We meet the victims long enough for them to die, and to top it, the story doesn't even really focus on them. And pretty much every scene with the slow janitor runs boring. A guy playing with dolls doesn't warrant a 3 minute scene. Sorry.

This one was a goner from the script, and would have been a far more interesting film if it had taken an approach more similar to It, and focused solely on the miscreants committing the crime in the past and present. They still could have wiped out the children and preserved the whodunit aspect, if they wanted to, but to focus on the cops in a horror movie is a poor choice and took us out of the story entirely.