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Reviews
King Kong (2005)
Girl Meets Gorilla. Action Ensues. Gorilla Meets Pavement.
This film is worth seeing but was a disappointment for me. I hope the future director cut for DVD goes against the trend of adding scenes. This could be a much better film shortened. I don't mind seeing longer films if there is the need for the length. Peter, do the world a favor by crafting your film for new classic status by tightening this effort.
I think the most annoying paradox of this film is that so much effort and talent was channeled to create realism through CGI. WETA rules! Serkis should have motion and emotion captured several of the other characters. Weta worked magic with the Serkis contribution. His work is worthy of an Oscar nod for best actor.
The film seems comic book action story-boarded to death and reality goes out the window. Too many people survive impossible scrapes with the critters. Can matter occupy the same space at the same time? Come on! It is too tight, too amusement park action ride.
Let's see, winter in New York and Ann and Kong atop the Empire State Building behave as though they were on Skull Island in the South Seas, spaghetti straps and all.
What's with the indigenous people of Skull Island? This is an area where the script could have been worked more. I found the treatment of the inhabitants racistly consistent with the original 1933 film. These people, unlike anyone else in the film seemed to find a way to live for centuries with the dangers behind the wall.
Environmental savvy seems to lack also in this version. Why would Kong choose to hang right next to the vicious bats that attack and what's with the bad bug convention only at the bottom of the crevasse? Too many species in too small a space. In my world bugs are everywhere.
I could go on but I won't. See the film and post your thoughts here. At its core it is girl meets gorilla, action ensues and gorilla meets pavement but it was Jackson's execution that killed the beast.
Mary White (1977)
A Young Life Well Lived
On November 18, 1977 everyone in Emporia tuned in to watch "Mary White", the made-for-TV movie about our hometown girl. That year was the only time I saw the work, but it stayed vivid in my mind. So, recently for a gift to myself, I bought the DVD of this movie filmed in my hometown.
From the beginning we know Mary dies. This film dramatizes what the White family, Emporia and, perhaps, the world lost. Because of her father's editorial fame and by her 16th year, Mary had dined with presidents, chatted with literati and consorted with the social thinkers of the day, all in her own home. She was bright, self-actualizing and a champion for doing the right thing. Then in 1921, she dies. Her father grieves in the only way he knows, through the press; and the world comes to know of Mary White, so much so that 56 years after her death, this work was filmed. Mary White was a remarkable young woman, and she is played superbly by Kathleen Beller.
The made-for-TV movie takes some dramatic license with the facts, has period gaffes and seasonal continuity problems (it was filmed in the spring); but, on the whole, is an inspiring and poignant portrayal of a teenage girl with a social conscience and the courage to work for change. I can only think of what contribution Mary would have made as an adult. Would her contribution have eclipsed her father and brother?
The William Allen White home is now an official site of the Kansas State Historical Society, open to the public. Many of the scenes in this film were shot within and on the grounds of Mary White's home.