There will probably always be a new King Kong movie every few years, the last King Kong came out in 2005 and was a remake of the original King Kong that came out in 1933 and the second remake that came out in 1976. The new movie Kong Skull Island is not a remake of the original story of King Kong but rather a series of events that happen on the Island that Kong inhabits and unlike the 3 previous movies, Kong is not removed from his Island to become a side show and then wind up on the top of the Empire State Building or the former World Trade Center. This movie occurs entirely on Skull Island, and it involves the special effects that are not quite as good as the 2005 version. Despite this, the special effects are impressive, but not as impressive as the 2005 version, regardless of the improvements in computer technology in the last 12 years. What stands out as better in this latest version is mostly the acting of Samuel L. Jackson and mostly the close-ups of his face, as he stares down Kong during several battles that occur not only with Kong but other creatures that Kong shares the jungle with. Some flaws in this movie include the opening helicopter scene where Kong knocks several helicopters out of the sky very easily so you would think that most of the rest of them would go out of their way to avoid this huge animal but instead, one by one, about 10 helicopters are destroyed by Kong and fall to the ground, killing the majority of the inhabitants on board.

After this, the story follows three different landing parties, one with mostly military, another with one isolated soldier and the third with civilians. For the remainder of this movie, there is not much of a story, other than the survivors being attacked and killed by huge lizard-like creatures on the island while the remaining survivors trying to find each other. One unusual twist on this Kong Skull Island idea is one of the surviving groups discover a World War 2 veteran who crashed landed on the island 28 years earlier as the time period of this movie is 1972. John C. Reilly plays the World War 2 pilot and provides some comic relief in this movie as people are being attacked and killed on a very frequent basis. Like most movies like this, it is all about the special effects and not much else. There are several big stars, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, John Goodman, John C. Reilly and of course Samuel L. Jackson and they were hired to bring in more people to the theaters who might not necessarily be big fans of movies like this.

See this movie for the special effects and action scenes, but there is not much else here as far as a unique story. I give this movie only a mild recommendation.

King Kong (Extended Version)

King Kong – Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)

King Kong (1933)

In September 2000, the first reality TV show was released about 25 people who were on an Island and competed to be the last person not voted off the show. This one show, that had its debut on CBS in 2000 changed the entire course of Television history and what followed were many mostly bad reality shows for many years. “Joe Millionaire” and “Average Joe” stand out as two of the worst. There were some good shows, like “American Idol”, “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Voice” stand out as a few of the higher quality reality shows that lasted. In almost all of these shows, the concept was always the same; voting someone off the show every week until the winner is finally chosen. After about 5 years of this, there were almost no good situation comedies or drama series on television anymore. One wondered how television actors were ever able to find a job during all these lean years where producers only cared about the bottom line and the production costs of all reality shows were far less than any situation comedy or 1-hour drama. Around 2009 and 2010, things started to change with great long term comedies including the Big Bang Theory and Modern Family and Parenthood, which was the first top notch family drama show to debut in many years. Now, in my opinion, after 17 long years, with the first season of “This Is Us” about to end next week, things have finally come full circle for television, because when a show this good and groundbreaking comes around, everybody else tries to copy it or parts of it and TV producers finally realize that great writing and quality is ultimately what will make money and not low production cost reality shows.

There are many great things about This Is Us, starting with the writing and the great story ideas and the fact that for the first time in probably any drama show the concept of having multiple timelines where we follow the lives of a family while in their childhoods, adolescence, adulthood and old age. This is an idea so great, it’s a wonder that nobody thought of it before. The writing and acting for this show are outstanding but the standout actor is Sterling K. Brown and he seems to be in his mid-40’s and seemed to come out of nowhere as one of the best actors I have seen in many years. He also starred in “The People vs OJ Simpson”, playing Chris Darden and has already won an Emmy for that role. While looking at Brown’s credits, that date back to 2002, it is very obvious that this man has paid his dues as an actor for many years before finally getting his lucky break. Having great ability in anything is one thing, getting the opportunity to prove that ability it is entirely something else. I admire Sterling K. Brown’s acting ability but his perseverance for many years to prove that he is a great actor is even more impressive.

One great scene from this week’s show was when Brown’s character decided to finally quit his job which had dominated his life with high stress and long hours for 8 years. His father had died, and the CEO of the company he worked for sent him a card and a box of pears. It turns out that Brown’s character almost died of a pear allergy that his boss knew about and this gift and the terse typed card he received was the last straw. This one subtle scene and Sterling’s acting when he quit his job was one of the best depictions of the outrage that so many of us try and survive when we work for other people. This scene was so good in fact, that it will probably give Sterling K Brown another Emmy award for best actor in a drama series.

Time will tell if This Is Us has permanently changed the face of television but in my opinion it has. If you have not seen this great new TV show you owe it to yourself to see the entire first season when it comes available on DVD.

The first thing I found most amazing about this mostly religious movie is how much the critics on Rotten Tomatoes disliked it, at only an 18% approval, even though the audience ranking was 88%. It is true there are things to dislike about this film but it is very far from a bad one, regardless of your religious beliefs. As anyone would know from the trailer of “The Shack” you know it is about the abduction of a very adorable young girl and the extraordinary pain her father goes through after she is abducted. Of all the things that can go wrong with raising a child, having them taken from you by some disgusting animal and then either never found or killed are at the very top of the list. One wonders how anyone could ever hold a job or even sleep again, after going through a horrible event like losing a child through an abduction by a known child kidnapper. Another movie or documentary related to this issue could be stories about people who have gone through a nightmare like this and somehow found a way to survive. Most of us would never recover from something like this, I know I wouldn’t. Under these extreme circumstances, any chance of a return to any kind of a normal life would be impossible.

The process of casting this movie must have been a difficult one because the producers found a young girl played by Amélie Eve to play the abducted child in this film, and she is far and away the cutest and most adorable child I have ever seen in any movie. Her childlike cuteness makes watching this movie that much more agonizing both before the abduction happens and afterward when her father, mother and older brother and sister try to go on with their lives without her. With a child as special as this one, any parent would be constantly keeping a watchful eye, but the horror with a life reality like this is that you cannot always be aware of where your child is 100% of the time and as is depicted in this movie, the father’s temporary distraction was more than justified.

The recent great movie “Manchester By the Sea” is another movie about the overwhelming grief over the loss of a child but the difference with this film is that it tries to rationalize the grief and anger at God by using 3 religious muses who visit with the father of the young girl, Mack Phillips, played by Sam Worthington at a remote shack in the woods where the young girl’s dress was found after she was taken. The 3 muses are played well by Octavia Spencer,
Avraham Aviv Alush and Sumire Matsubara, but the problem with their presence in this film and what they say to the grieving father in the shack is that their answers to his questions about God and evil and why things are they way they are in the world, come off more like riddles out of a fortune cookie than anything that makes any real sense. Perhaps the screenwriter wanted people to come up with own conclusions to questions that really have no real answer that could ever satisfy anyone who has gone through grief and loss to this degree. For me what I took from all their comments about God and real life is, “if God is in charge of all the good things in the world, what makes any of us believe that he would have any control over all the evil in the world”.

A huge flaw in this movie was at the beginning where Mack Phillips is born into a family with an alcoholic father and there is a huge event that happens after several scenes of extreme abuse of his father towards him and his mother. This major event is then never discussed or referenced ever again for the entire remainder of this film, that also includes all of the conversations with the 3 muses as Mack tries desperately to get past his anger towards God and his grief. This is very obviously a gigantic flaw in this movie and I am at a loss that this large of a glaring omission could have been left out of this film. Despite this flaw, I thought this movie was very well done and I do recommend it.