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Reviews
King Kong (2005)
This is truly a family epic
King Kong. Does this name ring a bell? It should, as it is a trademark, for more than seven decades now, all over the world. It started at 1933, when the King hits the big screen and automatically becomes a classic, even more........it becomes a legend!
The 1976 King Kong, with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lang leading the cast, arrives as a late remake not to revive the legend, but to adjust it in the 70's. The contemporary character of this movie and the lack of vision from its creator, brought it out of date, very soon after it was released. The mind of the audience was still haunted from the original dark and dramatic tale of Kong, even if he was just a cheap puppet with an obviously fake, frame to frame, movement.
Peter Jackson, the director of the 2005 movie, dreamed of recreating the original story with the respect and tenderness that deserved. Before even the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy he was determined to shoot the authentic remake, step by step. That was his way of paying tribute to his favorite and the most popular monster flick ever made world wide. The Original King Kong created a whole genre and started a new era of film-making. Peter Jackson had already that in mind, when he finally stepped up to the challenge of making his own version of the "8th wonder of the world". The results? Well let me express my most humble opinion. Every cine fan, familiar with the previous work and style of the talented New Zelander, would presume that Jackson's project would be a detailed CGI, Special FX pandemonium with every technical aspect of it covered graciously and without any sign of faults or mistakes.......and they'd probably be right. This 3 hour monstrous creation was, on technical terms, a masterpiece. But was that enough?
I'm really a fan of Jackson and his movies. But i wanna be as honest and objective as possible. After some hundreds of fantasy and action flicks and a lot of retro movie nights, its difficult for me to simply digest a movie for its laborious cover and its state of the art cinematography. I'm searching behind all these for purposes, hidden meanings, watertight scenarios and 3-dimentional characters. I try to put everything in its true perspective. So.... Peter Jackson's King Kong was well worth the admittance price of a cinema viewing. Even the 20 $ price for a Village gold class theater. Its worth seeing it on DVD or even buying it for your collection. In short terms its a win\win situation for pure cinematic thrill. BUT was this a masterpiece with the wide perspective of the term? I have to say NO. The main reason for saying that is simple.I enjoyed the 1933 version more than this one....not a lot more but...more. Maybe i have the thing for old b&w flicks...maybe i like cheesy, out of date special effects i don't know. The truth is that first of all i couldn't handle, the enormous length of this movie, too well(i had no problem doing that in lord of the rings trilogy). Is it possible to get tired by a true masterpiece whatever its length is? In the other hand i couldn't feel the chemistry between Naomy Watts and Brody. Was there any? Was it me or Kong looked and acted a bit more human, than supposed,at times? Anyway there is definitely something( or maybe a collaboration of little things) in this movie that prevent me from voting more than 7 out of 10 for it. It is totally enjoyable and i encourage anyone who haven't already seen it to harry up and do that.....But, really, can anyone that already watched it once, watch it again?(after a short period of time of course) .....Personally i can't.
I epithesi tou gigantiaiou mousaka (1999)
Attack of the Greek B-Movie
I'm not going to analyze anything from the script.....i can tell you though, its as lousy as it can be. But that was what director mr.Koutras(former musician) wanted to achieve in the first place. The idea was to make a hilarious b-movie based on some classic flicks right back from the 50's. But the fun part is that he totally distorted and humorised every piece of fact that used from that period of sci-fi cinema.The movie is fast paced, totally enjoyable and became an instant cult from the moment that was released in Theaters all around.
You know , small budget really takes the creator's capabilities a bit further cause of the pressure to conclude as fast and as cheaply, the movie, as humanly possible. Thats why Koutras made an effort to produce something not as corny as a 50's or 60's sci-fi b-flick, but faster, more up to date and definitely funnier than any other cult, b-movie film that came out. I think that this director is making fun of everyone and he enjoys every last minute of it. The good thing for this film is that the actors surprisingly followed the director's guidance and felt free to express their true selfes ,without having to worry about how the movie gonna look to the sci-fi audience that will see it.Finally, One thing i can say for sure...... that, i had a heck of a good time watching it.
Unbreakable (2000)
M.Night making fun of the movie audience
This is a movie that you easily erase from your cinema memories. The worst one of the three that the director from India M.N.Shymalan gave us. Not that the others are masterpieces but this one really knocked me out of my seat. The problem with this guy is that he insist at the absence of visual effects in his films. This would be fine with me if he didn't insist of making sci-fi movies. Why didn't he try Bollywood? At least people wouldn't waste any money on craps. What else can you describe a movie that presents us the ultimate fight between good and evil, using absolutely NO visual effects to back it up. I mean the script refers to a guy with superhuman powers battling a master villain. Any usaspected person would fall for that, but be worn......all you gonna see is people talking to people(and above all with lousy actoring). The clistophobic atmosphere that sometimes comes forward isn't enough to save this film from any trushcan's bottom. And just one question.....I read somewhere that this flick costed about 80.000.000 dollars to shoot. WHERE DID THESE MONEY GO?
The Sixth Sense (1999)
First of a kind
This was the first Shymalan's flick and i have to say that he made a good work creating a dark environment which is essential for a thriller. I guess the end was also a bit unexpected which gave some points on the project. Thats all with the positive side of the film. I'm afraid that the negative overcomes the positive easily. When i first saw this film i thought it was OK. I gave the creator the benefit of the doupth since it was his first movie and all.
This changed rapidly after watching his second movie.You see i didn't like the first one, i didn't liked it at all, but i convinced myself i didn't hate it cause i thought the director, as a first timer, having a low budget to work with he presented at least a honest effort to the public. Later on, after i watched Unbreakable and realized that this was the way that M.N.Shyamalan really wanted to direct i let myself free and expressed my true opinion.
This movie sucked as his second one. The budget of the flick wasn't small(we are talking about 60.000.000 dollars) and the absence of the visual F\X wasn't something of a trick to cover the absence of money in production. The Matrix was shoot with the same amount of money and you can see where the money went. Here nothing really happens. The action is slow, the acting is just tolerable and the script was a bit boring except the very original ending. This is one of the few ghost stories that i've seen with absolutely no visual effects(the others were mostly b-movies and low budget cults which by the way i enjoyed more). I don't want to get into details but i've also noticed some mistakes-gups in the script which, i'm sure, most of the people that have seen this film also noticed. The only thing that's annoying for me is the money that this film gathered at the box office, which were a lot. Watching all of Syamalans films makes me believe that he tricks people to watching them. He selects catchy topics for his movies and then he plays a game. The game is shooting the movies using minimum f\x trying to gather maximum people at the cinemas. I can say that he does this with success but i think that he is already a castaway in the minds of the true Sci-Fi of Horror fans. Don't take me wrong, i'm not into senseless use of CGI effects which can turn a movie in a video game(see Van Helsing) but when the topic is from the world of fantasy the director should add effects and substance creating a unique result.
Anyway i believe that people who haven't already seen the "Sixth Sense" should probably do it but i "sense" that this will be a one way ride and probably will never watch it again......I sure didn't.
Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)
One of my three all time favorites
Do you like Kaiju and classic sci-fi flicks?Then you've definitely watched this one. For the few who already hasn't only one suggestion......hurry up and buy it.
I'm not going to complain about the quality of the DVD release or the dubbing in English. For a Godzilla movie of this magnitude, this sounds a bit pointless. For me this film is the top of all the monster flicks. I,d also like to have it uncut and subtitled but i feel privileged and lucky just to own it in a DVD copy. That way i could watch it as many times as i want without damaging the movie. Now i'm even thinking of buying a second copy just to replace the first one in case something happens to it.
I first watched it at a summer theater when i was young and from that point i fell in love with it. I own all of the Godzilla films since i am a Godzilla maniac but this one surpass every other one, easily. Inoshiro Honda's best movie ever and Ifukumbe's best soundtrack ever.
The story in a few words is the following: Human race confined all the monsters in monster-island using some kind of transmitters with creates an invisible barrier surrounding the island. Aliens with bad intentions are setting them loose and afterwards they control them. Their primary orders are the demolition of every major city in the world. Later on humanity find the way to set the monsters free from the alien control and turn them against the Alien invaders. At that point the aliens have no other choice than to summon the space monster Ghidrah and set this party on fire.
As you all monster-movie lovers probably assumed by the story above, hell breaks lose on earth and we all can be the front watchers of this titanic rampage!! Godzilla saga Definitely at its best moments.The only movie i expect and hope to throw this 1968 flick from the top of my list is Toho's upcoming Godzilla last project, "Godzilla: Final Wars".
I feel the need to express my gratitude to Inoshiro Honda and his crew for making these kind of films(anyone seen "Mysterians" or "Battle in outer space" knows exactly what i'm talking about),which allow you to feel young again and send you on a fabulous journey throughout the boundaries of your imagination. Thanx Inoshiro, you'll always have a special place in our hearts.