Author: andy

So, first off, if you’re sitting there reading this and haven’t seen “King Kong” yet, get up off your ass and go see it ’cause it’s one of the best movies of the past few years and seeing it on TV won’t do it justice…

Now, on with it then… I was a little worried about this movie for a few reasons. First of all, I really liked “Lord of the Rings” and wasn’t sure how Peter Jackson would do with a different movie entirely. Secondly, on TV, the previews looked impressive, but the digital effects looked slightly fake… Finally, the movie’s 3 hours long. That’s a long time to sit through a movie. And what could Jackson possibly fill up the movie with when the original, which he was basing his story on, was closer to half that?

Well, my fears were shortly laid to rest. This movie was incredible in every way. The effects looked awesome on the big screen; only the scene where the crew was chased by dinosaurs was relatively fake looking, but it still worked. Actually, it was crazy how real Kong looked in all the close-ups between him and Naomi Watts (and there were a ton). Also, it was definitely a long movie, but it still felt generally right. There were a few points early on where there was some character development that I didn’t feel was necessary (between crew members…most of which ended up dying…), but I dealt with it. And Jackson certainly stayed true to the original. There were quite a few scenes where I thought, “Hey! That’s exactly how they did it in the original…but damn, that looks better…”

The movie really brought out emotion throughout. The scene with the giant insects made me cringe throughout…the fight between Kong and the three T-rex’s was exciting, and the whole last 30 min spent with Watts and Kong was extremely sad…knowing what has to happen in the end, that is.

So yeah, basically, “King Kong” was just about perfect. How often can you say that about a remake? The movie had top-notch acting and dialogue, it had funny parts, it had exciting parts…and the ending was really sad… There was foreshadowing and even some social commentary thrown in. A damn fine flick that you all have to see.

Spend the $7 for a ticket and 3 hours at the movies. It’s well worth it.

So I went and saw “Aeon Flux” yesterday… The Wehrenberg Theater chain ran a deal yesterday that gave you a free movie ticket if you brought 3 cans of food for donation, so I saw the movie on the cheap…

Anyway, I didn’t think it was that terrible. I mean, it wasn’t a particularly awesome movie, but there are certainly worse movies out there (…”Battlefield Earth?”). I think I would consider it to be most like a somewhat little-known movie called “Equilibrium,” starring Christian Bale. It was a decent movie with a good story and a few decent actors…but mostly bad actors. The fight scenes weren’t quite as impressive as I would have liked to see, but were passable nonetheless.

So it goes with “Aeon Flux.” Charlize Theron was good and her fight scenes were well-choreographed…but could have been better. The effects were good, but not awesome. The story itself was relatively creative, yet somewhat confusing (it all became more understandable late in the movie). On the other hand, the movie was interesting and held my attention throughout and the ending wasn’t entirely unbelievable. It even had an amount of social commentary involved, which is always welcome. Personally, I’ve never seen the original anime series that appeared on MTV in the early 1990s (which, I’m told, was equally confusing), but the movie was still entertaining.

So yeah, overall, the movie could have been better…but it sure as heck could have been a lot worse… If you go see it, don’t expect anything awesome; just buy some soda and popcorn, sit back, and let your mind stay open. If you expect an Oscar winner, you’ll be disappointed.