Jackson's 'KING KONG' - 3 hours long (reviews merged)
12-03-05, 01:51 AM
#77
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"This gorilla of a film is blockbuster of the year"....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...4&in_a_source=
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...4&in_a_source=
12-03-05, 10:17 AM
#78
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Seems like a lot the reviews are more in the vein of semi-interviews. I wonder even if the movie has heart, critics will bash it because of its length? Bottomline: it's still a movie about a giant ape rampaging and fighting dinos.
12-03-05, 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Dr. DVD
Bottomline: it's still a movie about a giant ape rampaging and fighting dinos.
12-03-05, 07:32 PM
#80
DVD Talk Legend
That review also alluded as to what Kong did with his previous sacrifices. According to it:
FWIW, the 1933 version doesn't really portray Kong in that sympathetic a light with all of the carnage he unleashes in on the Natives and in New York. I wonder if this movie will water him down a bit, as it's hard to make a tragic figure out of somebody who bites people in two.
Spoiler:
FWIW, the 1933 version doesn't really portray Kong in that sympathetic a light with all of the carnage he unleashes in on the Natives and in New York. I wonder if this movie will water him down a bit, as it's hard to make a tragic figure out of somebody who bites people in two.
12-04-05, 01:20 PM
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I like gorillas, I think they are wonderful animals. and I hope this new Kong movie does not give people the false impression that gorillas are violent, nasty animals that eat people. Gorillas do not eat animals "like chicken wings", they do not bite people in two.
Gorillas in real life are large, docile and child like animals that spend most of their time sitting under a tree munching on leaves and roots (they are not carnivores!), giant silverback males have been observed playing with their small offspring, they are relatively gentle animals.
In captivity, female gorillas have befriended kittens and small dogs, fullfilling their maternal instincts by cuddling them and looking after them. Once a small child had accidently fallen into a gorilla enclosure and a large 400 pound male gorilla had been seen lumbering up and then stroking the injured boy.
I really hope that Peter Jackson does not depict King Kong, a gorilla, in an ignorant and non-PC way.
Gorillas in real life are large, docile and child like animals that spend most of their time sitting under a tree munching on leaves and roots (they are not carnivores!), giant silverback males have been observed playing with their small offspring, they are relatively gentle animals.
In captivity, female gorillas have befriended kittens and small dogs, fullfilling their maternal instincts by cuddling them and looking after them. Once a small child had accidently fallen into a gorilla enclosure and a large 400 pound male gorilla had been seen lumbering up and then stroking the injured boy.
I really hope that Peter Jackson does not depict King Kong, a gorilla, in an ignorant and non-PC way.
Last edited by Cancer Man; 12-05-05 at 05:01 AM.
12-04-05, 02:14 PM
#82
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Originally Posted by Cancer Man
I like gorillas, I think they are wonderful animals. and I hope this new Kong movie does not give people the false impression that gorillas are violent, nasty animals that eat people. Gorillas do not eat animals "like chicken wings", they do not bite people in two.
Gorillas in real life are large, docile and child like animals that spend most of their time sitting under a tree munching on leaves and roots (they are not carnivores!), giant silverback males have been observed playing with their small offspring, they are relatively gentle animals.
In captivity, female gorillas have befriended kittens and small dogs, fullfilling their maternal instincts by cuddling them and looking after them. Once a small child had accidently fallen into gorilla enclosure and a large 400 pound male gorilla had been seen lumbering up and then stroking the injured boy.
I really hope that Peter Jackson does not depict King Kong, a gorilla, in an ignorant and non-PC way.
Gorillas in real life are large, docile and child like animals that spend most of their time sitting under a tree munching on leaves and roots (they are not carnivores!), giant silverback males have been observed playing with their small offspring, they are relatively gentle animals.
In captivity, female gorillas have befriended kittens and small dogs, fullfilling their maternal instincts by cuddling them and looking after them. Once a small child had accidently fallen into gorilla enclosure and a large 400 pound male gorilla had been seen lumbering up and then stroking the injured boy.
I really hope that Peter Jackson does not depict King Kong, a gorilla, in an ignorant and non-PC way.
12-05-05, 04:57 AM
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You know in FOTR, the heroes were attacked by this big cave troll and despite the fact the cave troll tried to kill the Fellowship, the cave troll was still depicted as quite a sympathetic and childlike creature. Even Peter Jackson himself described the cave troll as this "big kid" that was not inherently evil as such, but fell into the wrong crowd (the Moria goblins).
I get the impression that Jackson would depict Kong in a similar manner, he would probably depict King Kong as this potentially very dangerous animal that flies into a rage whenever dinosaurs or humans provoke him. But when he is at peace he is this big gentle giant, that keeps himself to himself and spend most of his time moping around Skull Island bothering no one, like a small child left in it's playroom. It's only when dinosaurs attack him (to eat him) or when humans chase him (to use him as a freak show exhibit), only then does he fly into an all mighty shit fit and start smashing stuff real good. I wish Kong was depicted like that (and I don't want him eating any meat).
I get the impression that Jackson would depict Kong in a similar manner, he would probably depict King Kong as this potentially very dangerous animal that flies into a rage whenever dinosaurs or humans provoke him. But when he is at peace he is this big gentle giant, that keeps himself to himself and spend most of his time moping around Skull Island bothering no one, like a small child left in it's playroom. It's only when dinosaurs attack him (to eat him) or when humans chase him (to use him as a freak show exhibit), only then does he fly into an all mighty shit fit and start smashing stuff real good. I wish Kong was depicted like that (and I don't want him eating any meat).
12-05-05, 05:27 AM
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Middling review ... basically says its too long
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=12224
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=12224
12-05-05, 07:23 AM
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here is a snippet from another review:
Jackson can't resist turning every situation into harrowing drama and he does so with a deft touch. At times the action comes at the viewer in machine-gun quickness and at other times the tension is filled with thick and important silences that let characters and situations breath. The director's vision is almost without equal in film today. Jackson reaches for the stars time and again pushing every situation to its limit and almost all of the time manages to pull it off...
...King Kong delivers fast-paced, eye-popping life-and-death struggles that emote and entertain at the same time. The peak of this gut-wrenching action is Kong's fight with a trio of V-rex (T-rex with unique evolution) to preserve his life but above all, Ann's. It is brutal and beautiful and squeezes the breath right out of the viewer.
Jackson can't resist turning every situation into harrowing drama and he does so with a deft touch. At times the action comes at the viewer in machine-gun quickness and at other times the tension is filled with thick and important silences that let characters and situations breath. The director's vision is almost without equal in film today. Jackson reaches for the stars time and again pushing every situation to its limit and almost all of the time manages to pull it off...
...King Kong delivers fast-paced, eye-popping life-and-death struggles that emote and entertain at the same time. The peak of this gut-wrenching action is Kong's fight with a trio of V-rex (T-rex with unique evolution) to preserve his life but above all, Ann's. It is brutal and beautiful and squeezes the breath right out of the viewer.
12-06-05, 10:39 AM
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On Regis and Kelly this morning, Regis seen King Kong last night and he said it was "The most Spectacular Sensational Action movie he has EVER seen." He kept saying that during the movie, how good it was and how he has never seen anything like it.
12-06-05, 12:09 PM
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Not give too much away, but how come Skull Island is inhabited by Kong and other prehistoric creatures? Could there be any connection between the lost civilisation on Skull Island and the assortment of monsters and dinosaurs living there? From what I saw in the trailers and video game, Skull Island is pocked marked with loads of ancient ruins and structures, including the giant mega wall that protects the native's settlement on Skull Island's coast. Could the ancient culture that built the big stone structures also be responsible for the creation of the prehistoric wildlife?
And one of the bits I'm most looking forward too, is the bit where a large group of hapless explorers are trapped in a dark ravine and are attacked by gigantic spiders. In the original 1933 version of Kong, explorers are also trapped in a ravine and then they are promptly dismembered and devoured by lizards, spiders and scorpions. That scene was deemed to be so grusome by the audience at King Kong's opening premier, the film producers were forced to take that scene from the movie and those outaken scenes have never been seen since.
And one of the bits I'm most looking forward too, is the bit where a large group of hapless explorers are trapped in a dark ravine and are attacked by gigantic spiders. In the original 1933 version of Kong, explorers are also trapped in a ravine and then they are promptly dismembered and devoured by lizards, spiders and scorpions. That scene was deemed to be so grusome by the audience at King Kong's opening premier, the film producers were forced to take that scene from the movie and those outaken scenes have never been seen since.
12-06-05, 01:44 PM
#90
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Jeffrey Wells suprisingly enjoyed two-thirds of it:
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Rumble in the Jungle
I saw King Kong for the second time Monday morning (12.5), and I feel the same way I did after my first viewing Sunday night. About 110 minutes of this three-hour film (i.e., the last two-thirds) are rock 'n' roll and worth double the ticket price. And the finale is genuinely touching.
After Sunday night's screening at the Academy theatre I called the better parts of this monkey movie "damned exciting in an emotional, giddily absurd, logic-free adrenalized way."
And then I offered a limited apology to its creator, Peter Jackson. "You aren't that bad, bro," I said. "You got a few things right this time. The movie is going to lift audiences out of their seats. And I need to say 'I'm sorry' for bashing you so much because you've almost whacked the ball out of the park this time."
Almost, I say.
King Kong is too lumpy and draggy during the first hour or so to be called exquisite or masterful, but there's no denying that it wails from the 70-minute mark until the big weepy finale at the three-hour mark. Monkey die, everybody cry.
The emotional support comes from the current between Kong and Naomi Watts, who is pretty much the soul of the film. I was concerned that the tender eye-rap- port between them would be too much, but it isn't. It's relatively restrained and subtle and full of feeling.
And Andy Serkis' Kong performance doesn't play like any kind of "Gollum Kong" (which I fretted about a year and a half ago in this space), and in fact he creates something surprisingly life-like, or do I mean ape-like?
The good ship Kong starts out with a spirited montage (scored with a classic Al Jolson tune called "I'm Sittin' On Top of the World") that shows what Depression- era 1933 New York City probably looked and felt like on the streets. The recrea- tions of this bygone Manhattan are awesome, immaculate...CGI illusion at its most profound.
So the first ten or so minutes are fine, but then things start to get lunky and pokey and meandering, and the dialogue becomes increasingly stiff and speechy, and before you know it Kong is close to crashing on the rocks and suffering a gash in the hull.
It's very touch-and-go from roughly the 10 to the 65- or 70-minute mark. I was shifting in my seat and going "uh-oh." But things take off once Kong snatches Watts, and the energy stays high and mighty from there to the finale.
You can break Kong down into three sections...
(a) The draggy 70-minute first act, which is all New York set-up, character exposi- tion, the long sea voyage to Skull Island, tedious philosophizing and no action to speak of;
(b) the breathtaking, nearly 70-minute Skull Island rumble-in-the-jungle section, including the breathtaking dino-run sequence (an absolute instant classic that's likely to drive most of the repeat business in and of itself), Kong vs. the T-Rex trio, and the icky spider-and-insect pit sequence;
(c) the 42 or 43-minute New York finale with Kong on-stage, breaking the chrome- steel chains and escaping, trashing Manhattan, finding Watts, and facing planes and fate atop the Empire State building.
If I were a 14 year-old kid talking to friends about all of us seeing Kong a second or third time, I would suggest that everyone try to slip into the theatre after the first hour because who wants to sit through all that talky crap again?
Kong isn't better than Jackson's Heavenly Creatures because it's almost entirely about enthusiasm and has almost nothing to do with restraint (bad word!), but it's still the most thoroughly pulse-pumping, rousingly kick-ass film Jackson's ever delivered, and respect needs to be paid.
And I mean especially by someone who's been bashing the pud out of Jackson for the last four years or so, calling him an indulgent (and overly indulged), excessive, paint-splattering "wheeeeee!" director all this time.
Make no mistake -- Kong shows Jackson is still all of these things. But Kong is a movie with a big heart and a stupidly exuberant joie de cinema coarsing through its veins...during the second and third acts, I mean.
And even though Jackson has gone way beyond the point where he's able to show minimal respect for physics and could-this-happen? issues of logic and probability ...a point from which he'll never return...he manages such amazing visual feats and surges once the film takes off that all objections are moot. Even if some of the action scenes are cartoonishly wham-bam and ridiculous.
I'll get into this a bit more later in the week, but I felt I had to cop to the fact that Jackson has hit one deep into center-left field.
Jack Black's Carl Denham isn't at all bad (he's mouthy and slimy, but he doesn't reach for outright comedy), Adrien Brody inhabits the playwright-hero to sensitive perfection, and Kong's snaggle tooth is glimpsed only a few times and a non-issue.
Sometime next week I'm going to run a list of things in King Kong that make little or no sense (and it's a long list), but right now it's simply time to acknowledge that the parts of the film that get your blood racing and your emotions worked up work really well.
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/
POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Rumble in the Jungle
I saw King Kong for the second time Monday morning (12.5), and I feel the same way I did after my first viewing Sunday night. About 110 minutes of this three-hour film (i.e., the last two-thirds) are rock 'n' roll and worth double the ticket price. And the finale is genuinely touching.
After Sunday night's screening at the Academy theatre I called the better parts of this monkey movie "damned exciting in an emotional, giddily absurd, logic-free adrenalized way."
And then I offered a limited apology to its creator, Peter Jackson. "You aren't that bad, bro," I said. "You got a few things right this time. The movie is going to lift audiences out of their seats. And I need to say 'I'm sorry' for bashing you so much because you've almost whacked the ball out of the park this time."
Almost, I say.
King Kong is too lumpy and draggy during the first hour or so to be called exquisite or masterful, but there's no denying that it wails from the 70-minute mark until the big weepy finale at the three-hour mark. Monkey die, everybody cry.
The emotional support comes from the current between Kong and Naomi Watts, who is pretty much the soul of the film. I was concerned that the tender eye-rap- port between them would be too much, but it isn't. It's relatively restrained and subtle and full of feeling.
And Andy Serkis' Kong performance doesn't play like any kind of "Gollum Kong" (which I fretted about a year and a half ago in this space), and in fact he creates something surprisingly life-like, or do I mean ape-like?
The good ship Kong starts out with a spirited montage (scored with a classic Al Jolson tune called "I'm Sittin' On Top of the World") that shows what Depression- era 1933 New York City probably looked and felt like on the streets. The recrea- tions of this bygone Manhattan are awesome, immaculate...CGI illusion at its most profound.
So the first ten or so minutes are fine, but then things start to get lunky and pokey and meandering, and the dialogue becomes increasingly stiff and speechy, and before you know it Kong is close to crashing on the rocks and suffering a gash in the hull.
It's very touch-and-go from roughly the 10 to the 65- or 70-minute mark. I was shifting in my seat and going "uh-oh." But things take off once Kong snatches Watts, and the energy stays high and mighty from there to the finale.
You can break Kong down into three sections...
(a) The draggy 70-minute first act, which is all New York set-up, character exposi- tion, the long sea voyage to Skull Island, tedious philosophizing and no action to speak of;
(b) the breathtaking, nearly 70-minute Skull Island rumble-in-the-jungle section, including the breathtaking dino-run sequence (an absolute instant classic that's likely to drive most of the repeat business in and of itself), Kong vs. the T-Rex trio, and the icky spider-and-insect pit sequence;
(c) the 42 or 43-minute New York finale with Kong on-stage, breaking the chrome- steel chains and escaping, trashing Manhattan, finding Watts, and facing planes and fate atop the Empire State building.
If I were a 14 year-old kid talking to friends about all of us seeing Kong a second or third time, I would suggest that everyone try to slip into the theatre after the first hour because who wants to sit through all that talky crap again?
Kong isn't better than Jackson's Heavenly Creatures because it's almost entirely about enthusiasm and has almost nothing to do with restraint (bad word!), but it's still the most thoroughly pulse-pumping, rousingly kick-ass film Jackson's ever delivered, and respect needs to be paid.
And I mean especially by someone who's been bashing the pud out of Jackson for the last four years or so, calling him an indulgent (and overly indulged), excessive, paint-splattering "wheeeeee!" director all this time.
Make no mistake -- Kong shows Jackson is still all of these things. But Kong is a movie with a big heart and a stupidly exuberant joie de cinema coarsing through its veins...during the second and third acts, I mean.
And even though Jackson has gone way beyond the point where he's able to show minimal respect for physics and could-this-happen? issues of logic and probability ...a point from which he'll never return...he manages such amazing visual feats and surges once the film takes off that all objections are moot. Even if some of the action scenes are cartoonishly wham-bam and ridiculous.
I'll get into this a bit more later in the week, but I felt I had to cop to the fact that Jackson has hit one deep into center-left field.
Jack Black's Carl Denham isn't at all bad (he's mouthy and slimy, but he doesn't reach for outright comedy), Adrien Brody inhabits the playwright-hero to sensitive perfection, and Kong's snaggle tooth is glimpsed only a few times and a non-issue.
Sometime next week I'm going to run a list of things in King Kong that make little or no sense (and it's a long list), but right now it's simply time to acknowledge that the parts of the film that get your blood racing and your emotions worked up work really well.
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/
Last edited by B.A.; 12-06-05 at 01:56 PM.
12-06-05, 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
Hopefully this will launch a franchise:
KING KONG RETURNS
KING KONG FOREVER
and Joel Shumacher's KING KONG & ROBIN
I've got a bright shiny nickel, though, that says we don't see Kong until about the one-hour mark.
KING KONG RETURNS
KING KONG FOREVER
and Joel Shumacher's KING KONG & ROBIN
I've got a bright shiny nickel, though, that says we don't see Kong until about the one-hour mark.
12-06-05, 11:03 PM
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KING KONG review thread
Variety...
King Kong
A Universal release of a Wingnut Films production. Produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Co-producer, Philippa Boyens. Directed by Peter Jackson. Screenplay, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, based on a story by Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace.
Ann Darrow - Naomi Watts
Carl Denham - Jack Black
Jack Driscoll - Adrien Brody
Capt. Englehorn - Thomas Kretschmann
Preston - Colin Hanks
Jimmy - Jamie Bell
Hayes - Evan Parke
Choy - Lobo Chan
Bruce Baxter - Kyle Chandler
Kong/Lumpy the Cook - Andy Serkis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By TODD MCCARTHY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's the Return of the King all over again, and he's got a dazzling Queen. Almost too much of a good thing, Peter Jackson's remake of the film that made him want to make movies is a super-sized version of a yarn that was big to begin with, a stupendous adventure that maximizes, and sometimes oversells, its dazzling wares; but, no matter how spectacular the action, "King Kong" is never more captivating than when the giant ape and his blond captive are looking into each others' eyes. Universal and Jackson's B.O. haul in all markets is destined to be huge -- "Rings" or even "Titanic" huge.
Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 "Kong" was one of the sensations of its era, and Willis O'Brien's stop-motion special effects set a standard that went unsurpassed for decades. The 1976 Dino De Laurentiis remake wasn't as bad as its current reputation would have it, although the pic never took hold of the public imagination as the first one did and this one is likely to.
Given the extent of Jackson's accomplishment on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, there was never any doubt this "Kong" would excel in the effects department -- that its Kong vs. T-Rex battle would be one for the ages. The looming question, rather, was what could justify expanding a 100-minute classic into a three-hour-plus extravaganza.
The answer is that Jackson and his "Rings" screenwriting partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have elaborated nearly every aspect of the story, providing backgrounding, more thorough characterization, physicalization of events that were previously elided, and expansion of incident. From the vivid opening montage of Depression-era New York City, it's evident Jackson intends to paint on a very broad canvas that will include a thousand-and-one Kong-related details he's been storing up since childhood.
As richly rendered as all of this is, not all of it is necessary; Jackson's "Kong" plays more like a Director's Cut, with scenes that could easily be dispensed with or tightened. One cringes a bit at the thought of a DVD expansion of this version.
Still, what's up on screen is rarely short of staggering. Wisely sticking to the original early-'30s period, Jackson & Co. have adhered closely to Cooper and Edgar Wallace's grandly tragic story of a mighty beast brought to ruin by beauty and civilization. Crucially, the emotional content is just as potent as the enormously impressive visual effects, as Kong's sad solitude and embrace of companionship are conveyed with simplicity and eloquence.
Taking 70 minutes -- 70% of the original's entire running time -- just to get to Kong will be too much for some viewers, especially impatient youngsters. Leisurely though it is, the opening stretch does a solid job of welcoming one into the story, especially into the tough prospects faced by pretty struggling actress Ann Darrow (Watts) once her vaudeville show closes down. Facing similarly desperate straits is filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black), whose financiers want to shut down his new adventure-themed picture and who suddenly lacks a leading lady for it.
Carl's motto is, "Defeat is always momentary," and when he chances upon Ann, who believes that "Good things never last," he solves both their problems by spiriting her aboard a ramshackle tramp steamer bound for an unmapped island where Carl hopes to find the subject for his new production. Unlike the original, this "Kong" takes the trouble to flesh out passengers and crew.
Carl essentially kidnaps writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), a serious playwright enormously admired by Ann. In a droll move, Carl houses Jack in a large below-decks animal cage, and the scribe spends most of the voyage behind bars toiling on the scenario. Carl also brings along an assistant (Colin Hanks) and preening leading man Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler). The rusty bucket itself is staffed by the sure-handed Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), first mate Hayes (Evan Parke), learning-on-the-job youngster Jimmy (Jamie Bell) and heavy-lidded Lumpy the Cook (Andy Serkis, who also "plays" the title character that was animated around his movements).
Voyage takes long enough for romance to blossom between Ann and Jack (the latter no doubt spurred by the additional motivation of escaping his Noah's Ark-like quarters), for Jimmy to brandish his choice of reading matter ("Heart of Darkness") and for Carl to reveal their actual destination is fog-enshrouded Skull Island.
The place lives up to its name when, after a perilous arrival between soaring rocks, they go ashore to find countless skeletons at a bleak coastal fortress. In due course, the adventurers are surrounded by possessed natives both terrifying and terrified, the latter caused by whatever lurks in the jungle behind an enormous wall. Pic wastes some time by returning the crew to the ship after an initial conflict with the islanders, only to have them come back to see Ann captured and served up as an offering on the far side of the wall.
The 67-minute second act bracingly begins with something we've never seen before -- what it's like from Ann's point of view to be carried in Kong's hand as he bounds through the forest; Jackson shows her lurching about and the surrounding environs whipping past her eyes, helter-skelter. As her colleagues follow in pursuit, the pic becomes a veritable Creatures on Parade, as one sequence after another trots out ever-more dangerous giant critters.
The first of these, a Brontosaurus stampede in which enraged lumbering beasts roar right over the men in a tight ravine, is an instant classic. After an emotionally crucial break during which Ann both captivates and stands up to the 25-foot gorilla, she encounters a giant centipede and three T-rexes, all of which Kong must battle while dropping through a tangle of vines in a chasm.
As if this weren't enough (and it actually is), immediately thereafter follows the film's ickiest sequence, in which a succession of giant insects and arachnids, along with gruesome man-eating tentacles, lay siege to some unfortunates in a cave. Cooper and Schoedsack filmed a Spider Cave sequence for the original "Kong" and, deeming it excessive and extraneous, immediately cut it. One can see why.
For all of the excitement, however, Kong's status as the lonely old man of Skull Island is cemented in a touching scene between him and Ann on his craggy promontory, from which he can endlessly watch the beautiful sunsets and contemplate his status as the last of his breed (Jackson thoughtfully includes a glimpse of a giant gorilla skeleton at one point). Cradling a sleeping Ann, Kong is suddenly forced to fight one more battle, against some toothsome giant bats, which gives Jack time to rescue Ann, leading to Kong's eventual capture.
One detail Jackson decides not to clarify is how the beast is placed aboard the ship. Kong is next seen onstage in New York, the subject of a much-ballyhooed presentation by the vindicated Carl. As before, Kong escapes and runs rampant through the city searching for Ann. The Empire State Building climax is spectacular, dizzying, even vertigo-inducing. Kong's farewell to Ann atop the landmark's spire is a tad protracted, but authentically moving.
That the unlikely relationship at the movie's core comes so plausibly alive is a huge tribute to Watts. Ever-reliable thesp does her share of requisite screaming, but she makes Ann resourceful when she tries to amuse and distract Kong, bold in the way she defies him and open-hearted in her accessibility to her captor's plight, which is wonderfully expressed in the eyes and animated facial expressions. Ann Darrow is no Hedda Gabler, but Watts' expressiveness more than vindicates Jackson's decision to use a first-rate actress in the role.
In a part originally and once again highly reminiscent of "Kong" creator Merian Cooper, Black broadly projects the character's dominant canny and opportunistic traits but finds little else to add. Brody proves a good choice as the slim and lofty playwright forced into unaccustomed he-man heroics on Skull Island, although his role could have been sharpened with erudite asides, particularly during the worst of times. Supporting thesps are solid, but essentially all male human character development ceases upon Kong's entrance.
Opening reels views of Manhattan are breathtaking in their detail and sense of a recaptured past. Curiously, there's a more artificial feel to the areas depicted during the climax, at least until Kong ascends the Empire State Building, whereupon the perspectives are extraordinary.
One never knows precisely where Grant Major's production design leaves off and the work of the digital artists begins, but the evocation of Skull Island's forbidding landscapes and impossibly dense tangles of foliage are exceptional. Effects work of all kinds is of the highest level, credit for which begins with Jackson; special makeup, creatures and miniatures creator Richard Taylor; and senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri; and extends to the entire Weta Workshop and Digital staff.
Lenser Andrew Lesnie's work not only integrates beautifully with the effects but is highly flattering to the actors in classical Hollywood fashion. Score by James Newton Howard, a last-minute substitution for Howard Shore when his work was abandoned, is muscularly supportive.
Camera (Technicolor, Arri widescreen), Andrew Lesnie; editors, Jamie Selkirk with Jabez Olssen; music, James Newton Howard; production designer, Grant Major; supervising art director/set decorator, Dan Hennah; art directors, Simon Bright, Joseph Bleakley; set designers, Philip Thomas, Darryl Longstaffe, Barry Read, Christina Crawford, Miriam Barrard; costume designer, Terry Ryan; sound (SDDS/Dolby Digital/DTS), Hammond Peek; supervising sound editor, Mike Hopkins; supervising sound editor/sound designer, Ethan Van der Ryn; re-recording mixers, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Tom Johnson; special makeup, creatures and miniatures, Richard Taylor; special makeup, creatures, weapons and miniatures, Weta Workshop Ltd.; senior visual effects supervisor, Joe Letteri; digital visual effects. Weta Digital; associate producer, Annette Wullems; assistant director, Carolynne Cunningham; second unit director, Randall William Cook; second unit camera, Richard Bluck; casting, Liz Mullane, Victoria Burrows, John Hubbard, Dan Hubbard, Ann Robinson. Reviewed at the Arclight, Los Angeles, Dec. 5, 2005. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 187 MIN.
King Kong
A Universal release of a Wingnut Films production. Produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Co-producer, Philippa Boyens. Directed by Peter Jackson. Screenplay, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, based on a story by Merian C. Cooper, Edgar Wallace.
Ann Darrow - Naomi Watts
Carl Denham - Jack Black
Jack Driscoll - Adrien Brody
Capt. Englehorn - Thomas Kretschmann
Preston - Colin Hanks
Jimmy - Jamie Bell
Hayes - Evan Parke
Choy - Lobo Chan
Bruce Baxter - Kyle Chandler
Kong/Lumpy the Cook - Andy Serkis
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By TODD MCCARTHY
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It's the Return of the King all over again, and he's got a dazzling Queen. Almost too much of a good thing, Peter Jackson's remake of the film that made him want to make movies is a super-sized version of a yarn that was big to begin with, a stupendous adventure that maximizes, and sometimes oversells, its dazzling wares; but, no matter how spectacular the action, "King Kong" is never more captivating than when the giant ape and his blond captive are looking into each others' eyes. Universal and Jackson's B.O. haul in all markets is destined to be huge -- "Rings" or even "Titanic" huge.
Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 "Kong" was one of the sensations of its era, and Willis O'Brien's stop-motion special effects set a standard that went unsurpassed for decades. The 1976 Dino De Laurentiis remake wasn't as bad as its current reputation would have it, although the pic never took hold of the public imagination as the first one did and this one is likely to.
Given the extent of Jackson's accomplishment on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, there was never any doubt this "Kong" would excel in the effects department -- that its Kong vs. T-Rex battle would be one for the ages. The looming question, rather, was what could justify expanding a 100-minute classic into a three-hour-plus extravaganza.
The answer is that Jackson and his "Rings" screenwriting partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have elaborated nearly every aspect of the story, providing backgrounding, more thorough characterization, physicalization of events that were previously elided, and expansion of incident. From the vivid opening montage of Depression-era New York City, it's evident Jackson intends to paint on a very broad canvas that will include a thousand-and-one Kong-related details he's been storing up since childhood.
As richly rendered as all of this is, not all of it is necessary; Jackson's "Kong" plays more like a Director's Cut, with scenes that could easily be dispensed with or tightened. One cringes a bit at the thought of a DVD expansion of this version.
Still, what's up on screen is rarely short of staggering. Wisely sticking to the original early-'30s period, Jackson & Co. have adhered closely to Cooper and Edgar Wallace's grandly tragic story of a mighty beast brought to ruin by beauty and civilization. Crucially, the emotional content is just as potent as the enormously impressive visual effects, as Kong's sad solitude and embrace of companionship are conveyed with simplicity and eloquence.
Taking 70 minutes -- 70% of the original's entire running time -- just to get to Kong will be too much for some viewers, especially impatient youngsters. Leisurely though it is, the opening stretch does a solid job of welcoming one into the story, especially into the tough prospects faced by pretty struggling actress Ann Darrow (Watts) once her vaudeville show closes down. Facing similarly desperate straits is filmmaker Carl Denham (Jack Black), whose financiers want to shut down his new adventure-themed picture and who suddenly lacks a leading lady for it.
Carl's motto is, "Defeat is always momentary," and when he chances upon Ann, who believes that "Good things never last," he solves both their problems by spiriting her aboard a ramshackle tramp steamer bound for an unmapped island where Carl hopes to find the subject for his new production. Unlike the original, this "Kong" takes the trouble to flesh out passengers and crew.
Carl essentially kidnaps writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), a serious playwright enormously admired by Ann. In a droll move, Carl houses Jack in a large below-decks animal cage, and the scribe spends most of the voyage behind bars toiling on the scenario. Carl also brings along an assistant (Colin Hanks) and preening leading man Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler). The rusty bucket itself is staffed by the sure-handed Captain Englehorn (Thomas Kretschmann), first mate Hayes (Evan Parke), learning-on-the-job youngster Jimmy (Jamie Bell) and heavy-lidded Lumpy the Cook (Andy Serkis, who also "plays" the title character that was animated around his movements).
Voyage takes long enough for romance to blossom between Ann and Jack (the latter no doubt spurred by the additional motivation of escaping his Noah's Ark-like quarters), for Jimmy to brandish his choice of reading matter ("Heart of Darkness") and for Carl to reveal their actual destination is fog-enshrouded Skull Island.
The place lives up to its name when, after a perilous arrival between soaring rocks, they go ashore to find countless skeletons at a bleak coastal fortress. In due course, the adventurers are surrounded by possessed natives both terrifying and terrified, the latter caused by whatever lurks in the jungle behind an enormous wall. Pic wastes some time by returning the crew to the ship after an initial conflict with the islanders, only to have them come back to see Ann captured and served up as an offering on the far side of the wall.
The 67-minute second act bracingly begins with something we've never seen before -- what it's like from Ann's point of view to be carried in Kong's hand as he bounds through the forest; Jackson shows her lurching about and the surrounding environs whipping past her eyes, helter-skelter. As her colleagues follow in pursuit, the pic becomes a veritable Creatures on Parade, as one sequence after another trots out ever-more dangerous giant critters.
The first of these, a Brontosaurus stampede in which enraged lumbering beasts roar right over the men in a tight ravine, is an instant classic. After an emotionally crucial break during which Ann both captivates and stands up to the 25-foot gorilla, she encounters a giant centipede and three T-rexes, all of which Kong must battle while dropping through a tangle of vines in a chasm.
As if this weren't enough (and it actually is), immediately thereafter follows the film's ickiest sequence, in which a succession of giant insects and arachnids, along with gruesome man-eating tentacles, lay siege to some unfortunates in a cave. Cooper and Schoedsack filmed a Spider Cave sequence for the original "Kong" and, deeming it excessive and extraneous, immediately cut it. One can see why.
For all of the excitement, however, Kong's status as the lonely old man of Skull Island is cemented in a touching scene between him and Ann on his craggy promontory, from which he can endlessly watch the beautiful sunsets and contemplate his status as the last of his breed (Jackson thoughtfully includes a glimpse of a giant gorilla skeleton at one point). Cradling a sleeping Ann, Kong is suddenly forced to fight one more battle, against some toothsome giant bats, which gives Jack time to rescue Ann, leading to Kong's eventual capture.
One detail Jackson decides not to clarify is how the beast is placed aboard the ship. Kong is next seen onstage in New York, the subject of a much-ballyhooed presentation by the vindicated Carl. As before, Kong escapes and runs rampant through the city searching for Ann. The Empire State Building climax is spectacular, dizzying, even vertigo-inducing. Kong's farewell to Ann atop the landmark's spire is a tad protracted, but authentically moving.
That the unlikely relationship at the movie's core comes so plausibly alive is a huge tribute to Watts. Ever-reliable thesp does her share of requisite screaming, but she makes Ann resourceful when she tries to amuse and distract Kong, bold in the way she defies him and open-hearted in her accessibility to her captor's plight, which is wonderfully expressed in the eyes and animated facial expressions. Ann Darrow is no Hedda Gabler, but Watts' expressiveness more than vindicates Jackson's decision to use a first-rate actress in the role.
In a part originally and once again highly reminiscent of "Kong" creator Merian Cooper, Black broadly projects the character's dominant canny and opportunistic traits but finds little else to add. Brody proves a good choice as the slim and lofty playwright forced into unaccustomed he-man heroics on Skull Island, although his role could have been sharpened with erudite asides, particularly during the worst of times. Supporting thesps are solid, but essentially all male human character development ceases upon Kong's entrance.
Opening reels views of Manhattan are breathtaking in their detail and sense of a recaptured past. Curiously, there's a more artificial feel to the areas depicted during the climax, at least until Kong ascends the Empire State Building, whereupon the perspectives are extraordinary.
One never knows precisely where Grant Major's production design leaves off and the work of the digital artists begins, but the evocation of Skull Island's forbidding landscapes and impossibly dense tangles of foliage are exceptional. Effects work of all kinds is of the highest level, credit for which begins with Jackson; special makeup, creatures and miniatures creator Richard Taylor; and senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri; and extends to the entire Weta Workshop and Digital staff.
Lenser Andrew Lesnie's work not only integrates beautifully with the effects but is highly flattering to the actors in classical Hollywood fashion. Score by James Newton Howard, a last-minute substitution for Howard Shore when his work was abandoned, is muscularly supportive.
Camera (Technicolor, Arri widescreen), Andrew Lesnie; editors, Jamie Selkirk with Jabez Olssen; music, James Newton Howard; production designer, Grant Major; supervising art director/set decorator, Dan Hennah; art directors, Simon Bright, Joseph Bleakley; set designers, Philip Thomas, Darryl Longstaffe, Barry Read, Christina Crawford, Miriam Barrard; costume designer, Terry Ryan; sound (SDDS/Dolby Digital/DTS), Hammond Peek; supervising sound editor, Mike Hopkins; supervising sound editor/sound designer, Ethan Van der Ryn; re-recording mixers, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Tom Johnson; special makeup, creatures and miniatures, Richard Taylor; special makeup, creatures, weapons and miniatures, Weta Workshop Ltd.; senior visual effects supervisor, Joe Letteri; digital visual effects. Weta Digital; associate producer, Annette Wullems; assistant director, Carolynne Cunningham; second unit director, Randall William Cook; second unit camera, Richard Bluck; casting, Liz Mullane, Victoria Burrows, John Hubbard, Dan Hubbard, Ann Robinson. Reviewed at the Arclight, Los Angeles, Dec. 5, 2005. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 187 MIN.
12-07-05, 07:50 AM
#94
DVD Talk Legend
While not formal reviews (those will come next week with the official opening) the NY Daily News has published "teaser-reviews":
From Jack Mathews:
Peter Jackson's "King Kong" doesn't open until Dec. 14, but people leaving a trio of preview screenings at an upper West Side theater yesterday were ready to yell it from the rooftops - or, if they could get there, from the top of the Empire State Building:
This ape rocks!
At three hours - divided among exhilarating action sequences, raucous humor and romance of both human and bestial variety - the latest version of the classic 1933 beauty and the beast story feels less like a remake than the original film revived, expanded and pumped up on steroids.
Its color, soundtrack and physical landscape are spectacular and its computer-assisted effects deliver a Kong so realistic you can smell his breath in the back row of the balcony.
Unlike the makers of producer Dino De Laurentiis' dreadful 1976 contemporary remake, Jackson and his co-writers from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy have gone back to the original story and its Depression Era setting. There are new characters - especially on Skull Island, where Kong is the least abnormal creature stirring - but it follows the '33 storyline as faithfully as a tick on a dog's tail.
That means we tag along with egomaniacal film director Carl Denham (Jack Black), down-on-her-luck actress and imminent ape-bait Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to uncharted Skull Island and return with them and their captive Kong for a disastrous stage show on Broadway.
"King Kong" will further Jackson's reputation as the leading visionary among fantasy filmmakers and it restores the Empire State Building to the stately glory of its past.
From Jami Bernard:
Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is the most thrilling, soulful monster picture ever made. At last, it can be said without irony - I laughed, I cried.
Oh, how I cried. The sequence in which the 25-foot beast and Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), the blond actress he adores, slide together on a frozen pond in Central Park is one of the most innocently romantic moments ever put to film.
"King Kong" is also scary. And funny. It's everything people have ever wanted from the movies - action, romance, surprise, plus every monster menace you can buy for a budget north of $200 million. In addition to a roaring, snorting Kong, there's a stampede and deadly pileup of prehistoric dinosaurs, plus spiders and creepy-crawlies of every degree of bloodthirsty.
In short, it's brilliant.
The gorilla of the original 1933 horror pic and its campy 1976 remake was occasionally to be pitied - poor thing, in love with a screeching blond! But this Kong is an awesome creature: magisterial, melancholy, tender. When he loves, he loves completely and selflessly. Ann Darrow is a lucky woman.
Kong turns in the most moving performance of the year, even if it's against the rules to give an Oscar to something that's equal parts CGI, movie wizardry and the facial expressions of Andy Serkis, the actor who made "Lord of the Rings'" Gollum so devilishly complex.
Jackson slips in clever, sneaky commentary on the nature and ethics of the entertainment biz, particularly the film industry - whose box-office "King Kong" is poised to conquer the minute he's let loose in theaters next week.
From Jack Mathews:
Peter Jackson's "King Kong" doesn't open until Dec. 14, but people leaving a trio of preview screenings at an upper West Side theater yesterday were ready to yell it from the rooftops - or, if they could get there, from the top of the Empire State Building:
This ape rocks!
At three hours - divided among exhilarating action sequences, raucous humor and romance of both human and bestial variety - the latest version of the classic 1933 beauty and the beast story feels less like a remake than the original film revived, expanded and pumped up on steroids.
Its color, soundtrack and physical landscape are spectacular and its computer-assisted effects deliver a Kong so realistic you can smell his breath in the back row of the balcony.
Unlike the makers of producer Dino De Laurentiis' dreadful 1976 contemporary remake, Jackson and his co-writers from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy have gone back to the original story and its Depression Era setting. There are new characters - especially on Skull Island, where Kong is the least abnormal creature stirring - but it follows the '33 storyline as faithfully as a tick on a dog's tail.
That means we tag along with egomaniacal film director Carl Denham (Jack Black), down-on-her-luck actress and imminent ape-bait Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) to uncharted Skull Island and return with them and their captive Kong for a disastrous stage show on Broadway.
"King Kong" will further Jackson's reputation as the leading visionary among fantasy filmmakers and it restores the Empire State Building to the stately glory of its past.
From Jami Bernard:
Peter Jackson's "King Kong" is the most thrilling, soulful monster picture ever made. At last, it can be said without irony - I laughed, I cried.
Oh, how I cried. The sequence in which the 25-foot beast and Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), the blond actress he adores, slide together on a frozen pond in Central Park is one of the most innocently romantic moments ever put to film.
"King Kong" is also scary. And funny. It's everything people have ever wanted from the movies - action, romance, surprise, plus every monster menace you can buy for a budget north of $200 million. In addition to a roaring, snorting Kong, there's a stampede and deadly pileup of prehistoric dinosaurs, plus spiders and creepy-crawlies of every degree of bloodthirsty.
In short, it's brilliant.
The gorilla of the original 1933 horror pic and its campy 1976 remake was occasionally to be pitied - poor thing, in love with a screeching blond! But this Kong is an awesome creature: magisterial, melancholy, tender. When he loves, he loves completely and selflessly. Ann Darrow is a lucky woman.
Kong turns in the most moving performance of the year, even if it's against the rules to give an Oscar to something that's equal parts CGI, movie wizardry and the facial expressions of Andy Serkis, the actor who made "Lord of the Rings'" Gollum so devilishly complex.
Jackson slips in clever, sneaky commentary on the nature and ethics of the entertainment biz, particularly the film industry - whose box-office "King Kong" is poised to conquer the minute he's let loose in theaters next week.
Last edited by marty888; 12-07-05 at 07:56 AM.
12-07-05, 03:55 PM
#95
DVD Talk Legend
That Variety review was rather full of spoilers, man!
Okay, I know we all know what happens, but it's all about the execution (no pun intended) and how it happens in this case. Of course it's nice to know to take all of your pee-pee breaks in the first hour or so.
Okay, I know we all know what happens, but it's all about the execution (no pun intended) and how it happens in this case. Of course it's nice to know to take all of your pee-pee breaks in the first hour or so.
12-07-05, 04:24 PM
#98
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
From www.timesonline.co.uk (the London Times)
"Monster Movie"
King Kong
(Five stars)
YOU’RE Peter Jackson. Your previous movie, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, scooped 11 Oscars. Your international box office tally is up there somewhere round the $3 billion mark.
So what do you do next? A low-budget ghost story? A Rings spin-off? No, you plough more than $200 million , including a hefty chunk of your own fortune, into a three-hour remake of a camp 1933 classic with B-list actors, a bucket-load of computer effects, and a giant gorilla. That Jackson’s King Kong upgrades the now hammy original with wit, heart and humour is a pleasant surprise. That it does so by reinventing the action blockbuster, in form and emotional impact, is nothing less than an act of cinematic alchemy.
The opening sequence sets the tone — a montage of Depression New York that skips from impeccably realised CG cityscapes to portraits of the homeless and the dispossessed. It’s here that we find our heroine, the actress-waif Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts).
Darrow is doomed. “Every time you reach out for something you care about,” observes an acquaintance, “fate comes along and snatches it away.” She joins the Pacific Ocean expedition of adventure movie director Carl Denham (Jack Black) because of an interest in the work of playwright and fellow passenger Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody).
Driscoll, Denham and the rest of the voyagers on board the SS Venture (destination: Skull Island) are drawn with equally quirky brush-strokes. The narrative pacing, especially in these early scenes, seems leisurely — 55 minutes elapse before we catch a glimpse of the island. For a three-hour movie this could seem like padding, yet these scenes are simply a measured intake of air before one of the greatest dizzying sprints in cinema history.
Once we hit Skull Island everything changes. Jackson picks up his own movie and spins it wildly into a visceral frenzy of hyperkinetic action — one that simply refuses to stop. There are killer zombies, gunfights, random executions, and human sacrifices aplenty.
Then Kong appears, snatches Darrow, and he’s gone. Brontosauri stampede, then raptors attack, then giant insects, then giant slugs. And still Jackson refuses to pause, even for a second. Some of the scenes are grisly and dark, but they’re gone in a flash. Some of the effects are slightly ropey, but you don’t care. There are more dinosaurs. Three T. Rexes versus Kong, with Darrow in the middle. Then giant bats, then more guns, and more chasing, all the way back to New York, to the Empire State Building and to a morbid appointment with destiny.
Of course, the real star here is Kong. This Kong is a breathtaking testament to the power of cutting edge hyper-realism. Yet the real genius here is not in the realisation of Kong’s loping walk or expressive features but in his simple scripted character. Like Darrow, he is an outsider in his own environment.
What Kong craves from Darrow is not a chance to see her naked, but simple human companionship. So the queasy racial and sexual subtext (Kong as the libidinous native) that plagues the original and all subsequent Kong tales is eradicated. What we are left with is an outstanding film imbued with childlike wonder, both at the mysteries of human intimacy and at the seemingly limitless possibilities of the medium.
King Kong
(Five stars)
YOU’RE Peter Jackson. Your previous movie, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, scooped 11 Oscars. Your international box office tally is up there somewhere round the $3 billion mark.
So what do you do next? A low-budget ghost story? A Rings spin-off? No, you plough more than $200 million , including a hefty chunk of your own fortune, into a three-hour remake of a camp 1933 classic with B-list actors, a bucket-load of computer effects, and a giant gorilla. That Jackson’s King Kong upgrades the now hammy original with wit, heart and humour is a pleasant surprise. That it does so by reinventing the action blockbuster, in form and emotional impact, is nothing less than an act of cinematic alchemy.
The opening sequence sets the tone — a montage of Depression New York that skips from impeccably realised CG cityscapes to portraits of the homeless and the dispossessed. It’s here that we find our heroine, the actress-waif Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts).
Darrow is doomed. “Every time you reach out for something you care about,” observes an acquaintance, “fate comes along and snatches it away.” She joins the Pacific Ocean expedition of adventure movie director Carl Denham (Jack Black) because of an interest in the work of playwright and fellow passenger Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody).
Driscoll, Denham and the rest of the voyagers on board the SS Venture (destination: Skull Island) are drawn with equally quirky brush-strokes. The narrative pacing, especially in these early scenes, seems leisurely — 55 minutes elapse before we catch a glimpse of the island. For a three-hour movie this could seem like padding, yet these scenes are simply a measured intake of air before one of the greatest dizzying sprints in cinema history.
Once we hit Skull Island everything changes. Jackson picks up his own movie and spins it wildly into a visceral frenzy of hyperkinetic action — one that simply refuses to stop. There are killer zombies, gunfights, random executions, and human sacrifices aplenty.
Then Kong appears, snatches Darrow, and he’s gone. Brontosauri stampede, then raptors attack, then giant insects, then giant slugs. And still Jackson refuses to pause, even for a second. Some of the scenes are grisly and dark, but they’re gone in a flash. Some of the effects are slightly ropey, but you don’t care. There are more dinosaurs. Three T. Rexes versus Kong, with Darrow in the middle. Then giant bats, then more guns, and more chasing, all the way back to New York, to the Empire State Building and to a morbid appointment with destiny.
Of course, the real star here is Kong. This Kong is a breathtaking testament to the power of cutting edge hyper-realism. Yet the real genius here is not in the realisation of Kong’s loping walk or expressive features but in his simple scripted character. Like Darrow, he is an outsider in his own environment.
What Kong craves from Darrow is not a chance to see her naked, but simple human companionship. So the queasy racial and sexual subtext (Kong as the libidinous native) that plagues the original and all subsequent Kong tales is eradicated. What we are left with is an outstanding film imbued with childlike wonder, both at the mysteries of human intimacy and at the seemingly limitless possibilities of the medium.
12-07-05, 07:47 PM
#100
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Entertainment Weekly just gave it an "A", too. (Another one of Liza Schwarzbaum's reviews, I can't stand her meandering pretentious "dear diary" style, but still, looking forward to the flick.)