I'm making the most definitive list of favorite movies ever.

For every year, I'm listing every movie I've seen and compare them all to each other asking one question; Which movie do I like more. Movies that score in the 80th percentile or higher, advance to the next round: Favorite of the Decade. After each Decade is done, an All Time list will be formed.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Movie: King Kong & Zathura (and Sky High)

(Note: Yet AGAIN, no comics of note have bothered to hit the shelves... well none on my pull list... depressing.) Oh, I guess it's time to blog about the big movie of years end... yay... I'm tired actually. I didn't get much sleep, I was at the midnight showing, it wasn't that crowded, but nicely near-full... why, well, when we got out the road conditions were horrible with snow and rain. No biggie.

--- That was all I wrote the morning AFTER seeing King Kong. ---

I dragged my heels on what to write about this movie since unlike a professional critic, I'll admit when I'm not sure. To friends, I've mentioned my likes (mostly the human cast, including Kong) and trivial bitches about the selection of the Dino cast. To cut to the chase there, Skull Island needed some stegosaurus action, and though the bat things do supply a rationale for how Kong deals with biplanes, I still would have preferred a pterodactyl. Ya, ya, Spielberg kinda took some of the air meant for those sails with the Jurassic movies. Big deal. Star Wars has space ships, should those be skipped in a Flash Gordon movie? We can take multiple scoops of the same, here's proof; network TV still exists and Rocky 6 is on the way.
I loved King Kong when I was a kid, the original most, but even the 76 version, and the Japanese versions. I wear my love for Star Wars on my sleeve, I'd be an evangelical Jedi if I didn't think they were kind of weird with the "No Love" rule and the baby abductions. But, my 12 inch Chewbacca figure got his bandoleer taken off and was King Kong to me, and the Chewbacca figure and all the other little figs... the scale worked out well. My father was 1 when the original came out, I was 1 in 76, my son is 3... There's a generational connection to Kong to me....

Interesting Side story: Turner Classic Movies was showing King Kong (`76) the night we went to the midnight showing. Aeighty Aight, my family and I were watching it, killing time until AA and I went to the movie. My daughter and I were going to U2 the next night, so my wife decides that she'll take our son to Kong that night. He couldn't go to the midnight showing with his sister since Wehrenberg Theaters hates small children after the sun goes down. 'Sokay Wehrenberg, the Galaxy is ugly (when was it designed 1984?) and your Imax is almost a waste, and I give you plenty of money regularly. Anyway, my son was begging, the next day, to NOT see King Kong. He loves Kong, but he thought that mommy was taking him to see the Jeff Bridges version... poor Flynn... After multiple reassurances, he agreed to trust mommy that she wasn't going to take him to the "Bad Kong". He loved the movie.

I did too... I guess. It's a good movie... I'm just blah on it.. right now. But, I'm kinda blah about a lot of things... Though, I'm almost hoping I see Munich on the 25th rather than Kong again. I know I'm growing to hate going to the movies... People suck, and so so does driving, waiting bites and wanting a DAMN SODA breaks me. For just under $7 you can get a box of 28 bags of Act II popcorn at Sam's. That's a bag for every day in February!

Other thought; Peter Jackson makes the best fantasies about places I'd never want to be... but they're bad places. His Skull Island is the worst place on Earth, one of the worst habitable environments ever in a movie. Not would I ever want to live in Middle Earth... Unless I were an elf. That might not be too bad...

Damn, I dwaddled so long to Blog about Kong. I had mixed feelings about the movie. It's great, but, Kong's a downer story... and the music was forgettable. Maybe I'm just down on another year gone by... And that I saw....

This movie sucks like Monica in the oval... and stinks like an old wet cigar wrapped in a fishy odor to boot! It was a TEDIOUS BORE. Why? Well, as a sequel to Jumanji, we know they're in NO DANGER... As a family movie, If those were my kids I'd be suicidal at what total whiny dicks both wastes of space were. The kids should have tossed the script back and played themselves, there's hints of them being more interesting people than the cardboard they were forced to play. I won't bitch forever about this thing... We saw it at the cheap show, but my 3yr old, who loved Kong, was BORED. BUT, there is redemption... Like Hitchhikers (So much worse than this flotsam) They used people in suits over CG, since some big chunk of net-holes think CG stuff is bad, like they're living in 1999... Only the Purple one is expected to be that. Anyone who looks at Kong, or the actors in Episode 3, and say CGI looks fake... Watch Zathura, and remind yourself of bad rubber aliens. Not Greedo good... think.... Lemme get a picture... Since I NEVER saw a still of the LIZARD men from Zathura, and I LOVE lizard men aliens. I really Do, If the Lizard men had been cool, I'd be raving about the movie since a cool Lizard man, like Bossk washes over a movie like the blood of Christ. Galaxy Quest level was what I was hoping for... Not much to ask?

This!!! is what they gave us!!! And that photo is nicely lit and retouched... They look no where near that good in the movie, Bossk and Greed had much more movement... Hell The GORN was a better lizard man. Can't even get a Fucking Lizard dude right 20 some years after V was on TV. Even ENTERPRISE knew what was up... Zathura is a DVD you'll buy for people you just don't like, but don't hate enough for Monster in Law or Guide....

On a positive note, I also got to see Sky High. That's good stuff, but, BUT, make sure the Incredibles is washed out of your eyes, since it LOOKS a lot more real, and well, rent Sky High for like a buck, it... It's good, don't get me wrong, but it.... you'll take this in a bad way, but I gotta be honest, if I had taken the family to a $50 trip to the movies, I'd be pissed and hate it....
Sky High feels like a TV pilot. It almost looks like one. It doesn't look good enough to be on Sci-Fi, but Galactica sets a high bar there... If it weren't fun, it'd probably be lame.

So, here's ending the year on 3 forgettable movies... Yes, I called Kong forgettable... it's a tribute piece... a 200 million dollar homage... remakes either eclipse or fall out of memory. King Kong did it's best thing before we ever saw it, it got the original out on DVD, and you know Peter Jackson would probably agree.

Well, I'll try to post before years end... maybe I'll get to see Munich, Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck...