King Kong Movie

I've stopped watching TV. I was TV shows, just not when their originally aired. This means that I don't really get a chance to see all the commercials and previews for the new movies that are coming out. I don't really miss this, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a great example. I knew nothing about the movie before I watched it. It worked out extremely well in that situation. So I was thinking about it the other day, and I figured that this was a great thing!

To make my point, I'll just say that I had no idea that Peter Jackson had remade King Kong until it came up in my Google Entertainment News RSS feed in FeedDemon. Well, I'm shocked. King Kong is a classic and I really think it shouldn't have been messed with. I say that, but at the same time I was fairly impressed with his adaptation of Lord of the Rings. For those movies I was very excited, and just as skeptical. Overall, I'd have to say I was impressed, but the movies were not without their problems.

So this Newsweek article on MSNBC comes through my aggregator and I'm shocked. Needless to say, I'm fairly excited about this King Kong movie. But, at the same time, I'm even more skeptical. Will this be even more of a Hollywoodized version of a movie? It might just be with information like this --

"Now is probably a good time to mention that Jackson's epic, $207 million remake of "King Kong," is a surprisingly tender, even heartbreaking, film. Like the original, it's a tragic tale of beauty and the beast. Unlike the original, which was 100 minutes long, Jackson's version is a Kong-size three hours."

$207 million is a lot of money. More than likely 75% of that was used for post-production work on special effects. And going from 100 minutes to 3 hours?! That's outrageous! Couldn't Jackson keep it to a length where you don't have to get up twice to go to the washroom after that monster Coke? And then you have to leave the theatre, after 3 hours, not being able to feel your butt or your legs. Are they going to have ushers to carry you to your car?

The big shock of this movie is this --

"Black, meanwhile, is the surprise pick. Jackson and Walsh first thought of him during the Christmas holiday of 2003, when their two young children watched "School of Rock" no fewer than 25 times. What caught their eye was Black's talent for playing "an obsessive, rascally character," says Jackson."

I can't believe they would pick Jack Black. I think Jack Black is great. I like all his movies. I've watched them all a bunch of times. But to cast Jack in an epic like this? That might just be suicide. He's not known for his range of characters, that's for sure. He is known as a zany, crazy, loveable goofball. I'm not sure if that role will fit into this movie. I hope it does.

I guess I'll have to wait to see how the movie turns out. I'm liking the idea, but dreading what might be poor execution. I think it might be time to kick Peter Jackson in the ass and get him making "The Hobbit". Now that's one movie I know will be good and can't wait for!