Sunday, March 26, 2017

Kong: Skull Island

During Himself's Spring break, we decided to go to the movies to see Hidden Figures, the movie about the African-American women mathematicians during the early years of  NASA. The movie was playing at a theater north of the city and waiting for the electrical inspector to bless the wiring for the solar panels, meant we wouldn't make the show time. Our fall back movie was Kong: Skull Island

As a kid, I loved the 1933 King Kong and the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. I don't remember seeing the movie on the big screen just on our old, black and white, RCA television.  Same goes for the 1949 classic Mighty Joe Young. To me, these are the real Beauty and the Beast stories, and I was mesmerized by the stop-motion.

I rated Skull Island meh. There was no story. Well, a thinly veiled attempt when Kong rescues the female photographer, and she pats Kong on the nose. Most of the movie is taken up with CGI special effects of Kong and stuff being blown up. Entertaining as that might be, the pyrotechnics went on ad nauseam.

I also thought Kong walked too upright until I saw a YouTube clip of Ambam, a silverback gorilla walking upright. Art imitates life, I suppose.

I made Himself wait until the end of the credit roll because I had a feeling there would be an Easter egg. Sure enough, seems that movies nowadays have to be made in multiples. It looks like remakes of the Japanese monster films like Godzilla (though that's been remade a ton of times), Mothra, Rodan. and maybe some others I can't remember won't be far behind.

So, a good way to kill an afternoon, but we probably should have saved the money and waited for the movie to hit Netflix.

18 comments:

  1. Someone I know liked this movie, so I guess it is all about your taste. I saw Hidden Figures and just loved it, so I would say, too bad you missed that one. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Hugs-Erika

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    1. Perhaps, I was hoping for the WOW factor I got when seeing the classic.

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  2. I remember the first time I saw King Kong too! Yup, small screen B&W TV at a friend's house. I was riveted to my seat!!! :0

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  3. The '33 Kong walked upright too-- the thinking was that he was some kind of "missing link" between man and ape. As a prehistoric ape he should have some type of difference between a modern gorilla.

    I saw it, rated it a meh plus, wish there were actual dinosaurs on the island.

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    1. It's been so long since I've seen the '33. I couldn't remember if he walked up right or on all fours. You don't think the size difference is enough to distinguish a prehistoric ape from a modern gorilla? (-;

      what? you didn't like the 2 legged thingy which looked like the CGI budget ran out? :-D I just got a hazy flash, but in the orginal, didn't Kong have a fight with a dinosaur? Maybe you'll get your actual dinosaur in the next movie.

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  4. Go to see Hidden Figures, you have earned it. I loved it:)

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    1. Will probably have to wait until it makes it to Netflix.

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  5. I wanted to see Hidden Figures, especially since I was a math and statistics major in a previous life. But I NEVER wanted to see Kong. I've never seen any of them, so why would I want to see this one? It seemed rather boring from the promos I saw, so I hope you get to see Hidden Figures and let me know what you think of IT.

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    1. If you were to watch any of them, then I'd recommend 1933 King Kong classic. Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation, was way ahead of its time.

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  6. I always found the Kong movies to be depressing. Why couldn't they just leave the poor guy on his island?

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    1. Hmmm, maybe they could spin the story to show how Kong actually protected the island from other monsters.

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    2. I like that idea! I agree with Sandra, I always found the Kong movies depressing too!

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    3. It's just a matter of perspective

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  7. CJ I'm worried about you! Did you watch the movie? They DID spin it so that Kong is actually the protector of the island, which is why the natives worship him.

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    1. :-D I did watch it. But c'mon, be fair. The writers/producers briefly touched on that aspect. It would have been more helpful if there was more backstory and less pyrotechnics. I meant maybe the film should have been written from Natives point of view. Or maybe from Kong's point of view before the search and capture team arrive on the island and begin blowing things up. Maybe Kong could have had a battle with the dinosaurs you longed to see in the movie. Maybe the dinosaurs were eating the villagers and Kong comes to the rescue. Then we could see the how and why the Natives worshipped Kong.

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