King Kong enters the Oscar Race- Page 6

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/6/05 at 4:50pm

Oh--he is. Seen the movies. LOL

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 12/6/05 at 5:04pm

Well that's not fair - Wizards avatar is - um - missing!

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/6/05 at 5:08pm

And Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Aliens. So action movies can contain award worthy performances. I'm just saying.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/6/05 at 5:10pm

Which was directed by James Cameron, ironically. We've come full circle!

Pity about my avatar. That didn't last long, did it?

Updated On: 12/6/05 at 05:10 PM

[Dolly_Levi]

Posted: 12/6/05 at 8:34pm

At least I was able to feast my eyes upon it before it disappeared.

[etoile]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 2:34am

How did I miss this thread until now? And I'm not certain just what the point of the thread is but I've come to several conclusions.

I've never found Jerby to be fat, but always thought him adorable. Dame goes through periods of different degrees of lucidity. I guess that means Iris does also. Cheezedoodle is far superior and preferable to that outamydoodle person. Robbiej delights me in everything he post. Popculture never fails to make me inadvertently chuckle at things even I won't say, but still secretly think. And does anyone really give a flying fig about King Kong? Talk to me when there's a remake of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED and I don't mean by that Carpenter fellow.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 1:10pm

The review from the Hollywood Reporter is positive, but with reservations:

--------
"The gorilla is great, the girl terrific, sets are out of this world, creatures icky as hell, and the director clearly does not believe in the word "enough." The new "King Kong" from Peter Jackson is both the measure of what striking images the world's most imaginative filmmakers can now put onscreen with digital effects, motion capture, models and miniatures and the drawback to these very toys.

[...]

Watts is such a good actress that she can scream as well as Fay Wray in the original while vesting a B-movie character with genuine integrity and truth. Brody disappears from time to time but makes an effective counterbalance to Kong for the affections of Ann, a sort of Arthur Miller-ish intellectual wooing the blond actress. Black's filmmaker is fun but too shallowly conceived, making him little more than a collection of cliches about Hollywood insincerity and callousness."
-------

In contrast to the other reviews, the Reporter seems to believe that the first hour is the strongest.
Hollywood Reporter review

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 1:16pm

Variety gives KING KONG a rave:

-------
"The looming question, rather, was what could justify expanding a 100-minute classic into a three-hour-plus extravaganza.

The answer is that Jackson and his "Rings" screenwriting partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have elaborated nearly every aspect of the story, providing backgrounding, more thorough characterization, physicalization of events that were previously elided, and expansion of incident. From the vivid opening montage of Depression-era New York City, it's evident Jackson intends to paint on a very broad canvas that will include a thousand-and-one Kong-related details he's been storing up since childhood.

[...]

That the unlikely relationship at the movie's core comes so plausibly alive is a huge tribute to Watts. Ever-reliable thesp does her share of requisite screaming, but she makes Ann resourceful when she tries to amuse and distract Kong, bold in the way she defies him and open-hearted in her accessibility to her captor's plight, which is wonderfully expressed in the eyes and animated facial expressions. Ann Darrow is no Hedda Gabler, but Watts' expressiveness more than vindicates Jackson's decision to use a first-rate actress in the role."
---------------

Interestingly enough, the brontosaurus sequence which the Hollywood Reporter didn't like is labelled an "instant classic" by Variety.

Variety review

Updated On: 12/7/05 at 01:16 PM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 8:32pm

Munich is now atop the oscarwatch.com list--but for how long? Buzz for KK builds!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 8:52pm

I'm just surprised (and uber-excited) that there's any Oscar buzz for KING KONG at all. This certainly wasn't what I was expecting when they announced the production nearly two years ago. I think this will even surprising Jackson. A quotation from the press junket in New York:

Question: Should we plan an Oscar party?

Peter Jackson: I don't think so. I don't think these are the types of films that get Oscar attention. That was never the intention with Kong. I don't necessarily think that will be the case.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/7/05 at 9:26pm

A friend of mine who is an AMPAS voter saw this film yesterday and says he honest to goodness thinks its going to win the BEST PICTURE Oscar. He said it is absolutely superb - awesome -magical - heartwrenching etc.

I'm very much looking forward to this now.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 12:53am

from oscarwatch.com:

"EW Gives Kong an A - Calls Jackson the Best Filmmaker Working Today
Lisa Schwarzbaum was wowed by Kong (who wouldn't be?) enough to give it a solid A, with this opening paragraph:

There's a new king in town. He roams the jungle with unmatched strength, and when he prowls his territory, other creatures must bow to his awesome primacy. I'm referring, of course, to Peter Jackson, the New Zealand filmmaker whose thrilling reinterpretation of King Kong is one of the wonders of the holiday season. As a follow-up to his triumphant Lord of the Rings trilogy, the movie seals Jackson's reputation: He's the most gifted big-picture artist working today, a master of epics from a human-eye view who excels at employing 21st-century technological wizardry to suit the needs of ageless, personal storytelling.

And indeed, she's also in a Titanic state of mind:

Indeed, reliving those pleasures puts me in mind of Titanic, however imbalanced the weight of fantasy fiction versus that of historical fact might seem to be. In both pictures, the old world gives way to the new under duress (the ship and its prewar class system sinks, the untamed animal is defeated atop the swanky Empire State Building). And in both, the rush of pure, movie-going satisfaction is precious.

And the money shot:

But what resonates is the story, which is a very human tale of compassion, greed, loss, bravery, creativity, foolishness, and love. Something, as Carl Denham might have said, for everyone."

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:26am

Wow, I'm reading the EW review right now. It's a full-out love letter to Peter Jackson and KING KONG. I almost suspected it was ironic if it wasn't for the A grade. Schwarzbaum really, reeeally liked it.

I think a Best Picture nomination is now locked. The excitement mounts!

Updated On: 12/8/05 at 01:26 AM

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 1:35am

A short blurb from Oscarwatch.com:

----------

Is it the Ape's To Lose?

You know, the Oscar race is a funny thing. An organic, odd process that sometimes can call a winner early on and other times brings forth a big surprise no one saw coming. King Kong appears to be that movie this year. It is so big, so awe-inspiring, so emotionally moving, so witty - it's hard to imagine lots of people NOT putting it down as their number one film of the year. Sure, it is not in keeping with the politics of this year - the best films have involved, so far, some lofty political theme: Munich, Good Night, Syriana, Constant Gardener, Brokeback Mountain, even Cinderella Man had a darkness and a sadness about it. So here's King Kong, destined to make oodles of cash, the only film I've seen this year that I couldn't WAIT to go back and see again (I think happened with Titanic as well) and something fresh and new and alive. It defies all logic, of course. It's a remake, it's fantasy sort of. But I think it's the core love story, the aching, sad, beautiful, honest love story that will make people want to see it over and over. I could be wrong, of course, stranger things have happened. But wouldn't it be funny if the winner was announced, "and the Oscar goes to....King Kong?" We'll have to wait and see.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 3:30pm

Who would have thought?

Well this is one of the few films that is having a wide release internationally, so I'll actually get to see it next weekend! Hooray!

And I can watch Brokeback in February and Rent in March! Hooray!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:10pm

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone chimes in with a rave, announcing, "here is the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, heart-stopping movie epic we've been waiting for all year."

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/6137426/rid/8936747/?rnd=1134075672970&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

Meanwhile, KONG's current MetaCritic rating is 95/100 ("Universally Acclaim"). There are only seven critics there so far, but major players Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, Newsweek and EW are included (and they miscalculated Newsweek's, which was an all-out rave).

The folks over at Oscarwatch.com (who are surprisingly intelligent and well-versed, I just discovered) are peeing in their pants. Here's a blurb from another review posted:

Has there ever a big effects film as good as Peter Jackson’s King Kong? It appears to us now the way the 1933 version must have appeared to audiences: as something utterly breathtaking and new. Where Jackson goes with his, how he aimed higher and achieved more than the human imagination seems capable of with cinema as its mode of expression, is breathtaking. But it isn’t just a spectacle – like the mighty beast itself, Jackson’s film reveals a beating heart. Here is the true story of love and sex between males and females – nature in all of its grotesque beauty.

Even as a huge admirer of Jackson's work, I second Doxie's words: for a gorilla movie, who would have thought?! Oscarwatch's Sasha has this to say about KONG's Oscar chances:

King Kong (they have to be *FOOLS* not to at least nominate it - it runs circles around E.T. and Raiders and Star Wars, all blockbusters that were nominated)

Wednesday looks more and more attractive. I just hope all this impossibly-hot buzz doesn't ruin the experience for me.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:17pm

You bitches get Kong on Wednesday? Sometimes I HATE being in the UK.

[RobbO]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:24pm

just a reminder that EW also gave rent an A.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:25pm

I hope you see Kong and LOVE it, RobbO

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:28pm

Who would have thought? Poland gets KONG before the UK.

Is that a first?!?!?!?!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:29pm

just a reminder that EW also gave rent an A.

Eeeeeww, really? Yikes. Who was the critic?

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:30pm

SO not surprised. The UK really is the poor relation when it comes to film release dates.

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:31pm

Come on Popculture.

Poland gets RENT in MARCH!

[paradox_error]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:32pm

And Hotel Rwanda just opened.

The only things we get on time are the huge blockbusters. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the like...

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/8/05 at 4:37pm

The UK doesn't get Rent until Feb 17th......