King Kong Trailer

[BD Jones]

I sitting here working on some music, and the TV was on the Sci-Fi channel (I work better with random noise in the background) when the trailer for the new King Kong movie premiered. It looks really cool. Finally, we might have a decent remake of a great classic.

 

[Feraud]

I just saw it too.
Did you think Jack Black's hat had some taper going on? I thought the trailer was o.k. It played too quick to get a good look. The cgi dinosaurs reminded me of Jurassic Park.
I like the original a lot. I will be in line to see this on opening day.

Anyone else see it?

 

[gobler]

If you missed it.

Well if you missed it here is the link.
http://www.volkswagen.com/vwcms_publish/vwcms/master_public/international_portal/en/home.html

Cheers,
Jeff

 

[scotrace]

WOW!

Looks FANTASTIC! WOW! Can't wait to see it.

I remember being really hot to see the 70's version, and being really let down. Wouldn't the original animators of the '33 version be amazed at what is possible today?

 

[ClintonHammond]

I lack faith in Peter Jacksons ability to handle this

 

[MK]

.

I think it could be amazing.

I am very pleased that there are a number of films lately that are set in the golden era.

 

[Rumpled Fedora]

Kong is lookin' good.
Let's just hope it doesn't disappoint. I'll just have to wait and see!

 

[Feraud]

I am very pleased that there are a number of films lately that are set in the golden era.

I agree! Golden Era films are always weclome.

 

[scotrace]

Just one Reservation

I associate Jack Black with roles in which is is pretending to act. Shallow Hal, etc. Bad, bad, bad. So I wonder if he can pull it off. If he can, it'll transport him to a different level in Hollywood, to be sure.
But Jackson has a way of putting unexpected actors in key roles. Vigo Mortensen as Aragorn, for example. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
It'll be thriller of a film, I'm sure. Jackson, above just about anyone out there, can pull this off.

 

[Feraud]

I associate Jack Black with roles in which is is pretending to act.

Well acting is just that, acting. The actor pretends to play a character. Personally, I like Jack Black's comedies. They are not Shakespearian or Woody Allen style writing but funny for what they aim for.

I believe most actors can do a good job with a good script, directing, and editing, etc. It takes a group of professionals to make a good movie. Peter Jackson has proven himself as a filmmaker. As the director of Dead Alive some might have written him off as too "campy" to tackle a stories like Heavenly Creatures or Lord of the Rings. He did it, and quite well.

Give Jack Black a chance. With Jackson's direction he might surprise you.

 

[mmarosy]

The big "publicity" question with this is will it be the movie that ends Hollywood's slump this year. I wonder how a movie released in December can bring us out of a year-long slump.

I heard Bruce Campbell on a radio show the other day. He was asked if he ever gets a stigma being know as the "top B movie actor". His reply was that in his thinking Hollywood "A" pictures have become the "B" fare. He threw out Bewitched and Dukes of Hazzard as prime examples of retreads of 'washed up 70's shows' that he'd be 'rushing out to see'.

I definitely see his point and agree with it. Hollywood needs to look inward to get itself out of a slump, not rely on one picture to do it.

To get this back on track, I am really looking forward to this film. King Kong has long held my imagination ever since watching (and waiting for it to come around again) on the daily "4:00 movie".

Mike

 

[MK]

.

There is a web site that is a video diary of the production that is very cool. I don't have it on my PDA. I will post it when I am at the office.

Jackson is a great guy to have direct Kong. It is odd to choose New Zealand to create a 1930's New York, but that is where his resources are. Also having Weta create the giant ape is wise. My colleauge make-up effects artist Gino Acevedo did all the computer painting of Gollum because the computer guys couldn't pull it off. He is a major gorilla freak. He is pouring his heart and soul into this. It won't be a guy in a bear suit.

 

[Feraud]

Hollywood is not in a slump, it is the slump!

Hollywood is doing what is expected of it. Making money. This is not bad, Capitalism is great. My complaint is this attitude tends to stifly creativity of those who need to work in the system where creativity should flourish. Everyone has to pay bills and if working on a Dukes of Hazzard remake will earn money then people will do it. This mentality leads me back to the Jack Black comments I made earlier. This 'dumbing down' of creativity out of fiscal necessity leads to terrible scripts and bad acting.

I do not expect art or insightful commentary and rarely see it from a Hollywood production. Some artists are able to work within the system to create good work. The majority of Hollywood fare is cheap, formulaic nonsense for the masses.

If we are apart from this group we have to look elsewhere for the quality.

I am hoping that King Kong is a masterpiece. When I was a kid, the local television stations used to run King Kong, Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young every Thanksgiving. My dad made the family watch it every year!

 

[scotrace]

Coming From a Different Perspective.

Good films, great films, can shed light on our own lives in unexpected ways, and get us talking and exploring ideas from a different perspective. Great films are also art; visually, audibly, through the masterful telling of a great story, etc. A great actor doesn't appear to be pretending. Jack Black has always struck me as university drama department level. But that is my own opinion.
I'm cheering for Jack Black to do well and take his career to a new level. We'll see.
Some well made, great films make money. But I agree that the two are sometimes separate categories. I expect "Terminator III" to make money, but it may not be a "great" film. I expect "American Beauty" to be a good or great film, but perhaps not be a blockbuster financially.
There is no doubt Weta will move the bar in visual effects again. This is one film I'm anxious to see this year - can't think of another offhand. Last year, it was "Polar Express" that our family was excited about seeing. This year, it's King Kong. In 2006, look for "The Da Vinci Code" to make a lot of money due to book sales and big names. Will it be a great film?
Hollywood has up years and down. It just seems like one of those years when there's not a lot to get excited about.

 

[Dr. Shocker]

I can't wait to see what he does with it but after such brilliant movies like Meet The Feebles and Bad Taste how can you really go wrong......oh wait how can you go onto making millions on Tolken

 

[ClintonHammond]

"brilliant movies like Meet The Feebles and Bad Taste"

Those, and everything except LOTR were horrible... That's why I have no faith in Jacksons ability to pull this one off... his track record speaks for itself...

 

[jake_fink]

Peter Jackson: The Only Man for the Job

I love Jackson's earlier films, I think he's one of that rare breed of film maker who is smarter than his material without being condescending, whose films represent a love for film and for what he does even when they are cheap antipodean gore-fests. Heavenly Creatures is a beautiful film, and if you haven't seen Forgotten Silver, you all should. It's a mock-documentary about the search in New Zealand for the sets used by a forgotten, early film genius. It plays with classic images and stories from the early days of cinema (the Odessa Steps sequence from Potemkin, Griffiths Intolerance, the burying of Demille's original 1923 Ten Commandments sets in the desert..). Great stuff.

Even the Lord of the Rings films, which were, I thought, far too long and amazingly silly (so I'm not into elves or Enya...) were extraordinarily well-crafted and left me feeling I'd witnessed the real dawn of a new style of film making. If earlier CGI techniques were cartoonish and lacked weight, volume, density, whatever it is that makes an object look like an object and not an image stacked on another image, Jackson's combination of miniatures and CGI were entirely convincing, and the battle scenes were truly thrilling.

I can't think of anyone better for the remake of King Kong. I don't know whether the world really needs a remake of King Kong (at least it will mean the original will be released on DVD), but if they have to do it, they might as well do it right. If the trailer is anything to go by(just look at those glimpses of NYC circa 1933!), Peter Jackson is doing it right.

 

[Wild Root]

I saw the trailer yesterday and it looks cool. It will not top the original in any way, but I'm sure it will kick any other copies butts to death.

Root.

 

[Hondo]

I just saw the trailer and it looks to be a good film, two of my favorites, Naomi Watts and Jack Black, plus Adrien Brody makes an excellent cast.
Just wonder if Kong will get the "hots" for Naomi :cheers1:
I enjoyed the orginal and Jessica Lange's breakout version.
This film also has great period (1930?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s) costumes and sets for those into styles

Coming December 14th

Kingkongmovie