Ahhhh, it feels good to be backing up R.
A., very good.
I think I’m getting towards a way to share
PDFs that doesn’t involve emailing, though it will involve another website, and
I don’t know if they’ll claim ownership over our work etc. So I’m still working
on it, but I’ll hopefully be on top of it soon.
Speaking of being under things, R. A. your
sickness seems to have infected your blog post and the very act of me reading
it has caused me to become contaminated because I too, am now, under the weather.
I’m not quite bed confined, but my head feels like the machine from ‘Okami’ in
the Ezo Fuji Irwak Shrine that is
blasting out a storm so cold and so strong that it is freezing the nearby
village to death. I guess it doesn’t help that it is noticeably freezing
outside, but still, I have to blame someone for the common cold, so I’m blaming
you.
Something I found funny is that your idea,
R. A. of listing a daily favorite is quite nice, but that you managed to forget
to actually list one. Although maybe you were saving it until Andrew and I
agreed to this. It’s a nice idea, but every day is probably kinda steep. I, for
example, listen to the same album of soundtrack of music for a few weeks if not
months before swapping, and my favorite usually doesn’t change. I think we’ll
have to go through a few drafts of ideas before we put that one into action.
But on the topic of ideas:
PRESENT TIME!
Andrew, you emailed me a private link to
your song, and I don’t know whether to count that as having fulfilled the challenge
or not, since it was to post it up on the blog. But I guess it’s my job to make
sure you can do that, so I can’t really enforce consequences on you. It was a
short, simple, and funny song about how we don’t know the words to say in
conversations, and I think the bit at the end about how it’s easier to talk
over text cause we have time to think was very nice. Overall, funny, charming,
and I was singing it to myself in the car this morning, so good job. Like the
PDFs, I’ll find a way to put the song on the blog soon.
And now, finally, the section we’ve been
waiting for. King Kong.
1933 – Directed by Merian C. Cooper,
released by RKO Pictures.
What a groundbreaking masterpiece this was.
Every film made in the last twenty or so years that relies of visual effects
created in post-production, rather than practical effects while filming owes
this film the greatest of debts of gratitude. It will take more than the short
paragraph to sum up how unbelievable this film would have been to audiences at
the time. Looking back on it today, it is still quite good. I can marvel at the
visual side of it endlessly, but there are faults. The dialogue isn’t that
strong, and this doesn’t lead to great performances, though considering the
actors were performing largely against nothing, they do quite well. Kong
himself is a little mixed in my opinion. He had many moments of just uncanny
creepiness with his cartoonish expression, and I never fully liked him. I was
certainly on his side in the battle with the planes, but overall, I wasn’t sold
on him. So overall, an excellent film, visually phenomenal, narratively sound,
writing-ly iffy.
2005 – Directed by Peter Jackson, released
by Universal Pictures.
I didn’t actually realise that Peter
Jackson and crew started making this film before Lord of the Rings, and
continued making it basically immediately after finishing the extended edition
of Return of the King. But they did, and even though I’m sure Jackson and crew
were burnt out, tired, creatively spent, and wanted to just crawl into bed and
eat ice cream for a few years, they go right back on the horse, and produced
this film. With a huge budget, the best visual team in the world, some of the
best narrative adapters in the world, and a guaranteed epic scale to the film,
how did it do? Ehh…. It is very, very good, but it has problems. The slow
motion is too frequent and distracting, half an hour could indeed have been
chopped from the film, and the story was sometimes told very in-organically,
something that bugs me as a film writer. However, it is every bit as visually
flawless as you stated R. A., with not a frame being anything less than
outstanding. There were moments of melodrama ‘S-K-U-L-L- -I-S-L-A-N-D-‘… Really
Jackson? But they were countered by such wonderful moments of subtlty and
emotion (Darrow and Kong on the ledge at sunset) that I wouldn’t detract any
points for them. The dialogue is much better, feels organic and fits each
character. The characters themselves are all likeable and I especially enjoyed
Adrian Brody as a writer stepping out of his comfort zone and becoming the
embodiment of what he writes about. The real star is, of course (He is in the
title,) Kong. This is a brilliantly done portrayal of Kong. I have only
positive things to say, there is literally nothing that didn’t work about Kong.
He was simultaneously a fiercesome beast and king of the jungle, and a lonely,
compassionate figure looking for acceptance and love. The eyes, that is a work
of art. They never stop being the big eyes of a ape, but they yield such
endless emotion that it’s astounding. So yeah, on the whole a very good film.
Visually outstanding, dialogue and acting extremely strong, narrative was epic
but a little inorganic, slow motion was overused and the film a bit too long
with moments of awkward melodrama. Kong, perfect. Definintely a recommendation
overall.
Andrew, I look forward to your comments
tomorrow, and R. A., I hope you get well soon.
Favorite song at the moment – Dirty Paws,
Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is An Animal. Because it’s a fantastic song, and
makes me wish I could sing, that the band would bring out another album, and
that there was more music like it in the world.
Daniel Lyons.
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