The Great Ape: Review for Peter Jackson's "King Kong"

Peter Jackson, famous for the Lord of the Rings films, makes films that are very faithful to, not only the original of what it is based on, but also to his vision of what it should be. King Kong is not exception to this band of greats. Naomi Watts plays Ann Darrow, a hopeful starlet for the new adventure film by Carl Denham. Jack Black plays Carl with surprising ease and skill, considering he is more of a comedic actor. Black not only plays Carl, who is somewhat of a wannabe film maker who's denied every chance to film a film by those evil producers, with seriousness, he plays him as somewhat of a mad scientist and conniving con artist. Black's charisma and comedic timing works with the character very well. While trying to film on location on a mysterious Skull Island, the crew of Carl's film decides to explore the island, only to find carnivorous bugs, dinosaurs, and a giant gorilla. Carl's screenwriter is the famous Jack Driscoll, who writes plays and begins to fall in love with Ann. Driscoll is played by Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for The Pianist. He is fine, but he doesn't really stand out. The real emotional relationship in the film is between Ann and Kong (Andy Serkis, who made the movements for Kong and LOTR's Gollumn). Kong finds Ann fascinating, considering he hasn't seen a human before. During one of their first encounters, Ann bangs her fist against her chest as a sign for "beautiful" towards the end of the film, when the two are on top of the Empire State Building, bangs hiss chest. That is so beautiful and the way Jackson portrays this misbegotten love story is fantastic. This is probably the best remake I have ever seen in my life. The emotion of the original film lingers. The visual effects are excellent and the sets very well made, though I ponder why in many period films, they make the cars in such bright, fluorescent colors. Naomi Watts is absolutely ravishing and acts fantastically in this film. Her protests against the fighter pilots killing the already bullet riddled Kong are heart wrenching. This performance deserves a standing ovation, because it is the visual effects and Watts's performance that make the story of the tragic love story. The facial expression is so real on Kong. My heart breaks every time when Carl says, "It was beauty that killed the beat." The most romantic and the saddest films I've ever enjoyed watching. This is one of my favorite films of all time.

Grade: A+

Phone "Ring": Review for "The Ring" and "The Ring Two"

Sure, they may not be the greatest in horror, but they are the road less traveled these days. It's more Gothic horror than slasher. The film started a trend of Japanese remakes. The Ring was based on Ringu, The Grudge later released was based on Ju-On:The Grudge, and Dark Water based on the Japanese film of the same name. The Ring is about a killer video tape. The tape is filled with horrible images and after the tape is finished, your phone rings and a mysterious voice says "You will die in seven days.". The girl in the video tape is Samara, the child done wrong by her adoptive parents. She was dumped into a well. The film gets around to a teenage girl who, after seven days, is killed in a gruesome way by Samara. New mom Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts in both films) is a reporter in Seattle. She decides to investigate the film's mysterious path. When finally solving part of the mysterious tape's existence, she copies the tape. Which leads us to The Ring Two. Rachel's son, Aiden (David Dorfman) is possessed by Samara, which makes Rachel track down Samara's past, before being adopted. The Ring Two was directed by Hideo Makato, who directed the original Ringu and Ringu 2. Both films have their flaws, but I personally favored The Ring. It was smarter and better written. Well played out, too. Overall: Grade: B Stars: 3.5/5 The Ring Grade: B Stars: 4/5 The Ring Two Grade: B- Stars: 3/5 The Cursed Video Grade: A Stars: 4.5/5