Mulholland Drive

David, God dang it!

I think this set some new kind of record, about 4 minutes in I had meathooks firmly implanted into me, I was that hooked and it dragged me through a wild and amazing trip. I'm not even sure how to summarize it beyond, a young lady named Betty moves to L.A. to become an actress and meets a woman named Rita who has memory problems after a bad crash and they try to piece together her memories, but there's quite a few characters and bizzare situations to recount and it gets a tiny complex. The last 25 odd minutes get very strange and only proceed to get more out there the closer you get to the end, culminating in a true and pure David Lynch ending. I loved it, it got my mind gears running at full speed and I feel fairly confident I actually understood what it was all about. Granted the movie is a burning venomous critique of the Hollywood system and showbusiness, backroom deals with shady people, good talent is overlooked for more attractive stars, but it makes it outrageous with assassins and dreamlike sequences that really only made me way more interested to see where this was going. And David summed it up perfectly for his main star, "Naomi knocked this thing out of the park." I can't believe she was snubbed an Oscar, this woman man. This woman was outstanding, and the chemistry between her and Laura Harring was nothing short of mesmerizing. Yeah yeah, they have a love scene and lesbionics occurs, move along move along. It's a very charming frienship they have and when it proceeds to a romantic relationship it feels well earned and lovely. And yeah, Laura Harring what a stunningly beautiful woman who can knock your socks off with her acting, and the best part for both of them is the performance evolves and deepens the further we go along. I heard tale this originally was conceptualized as a TV series and more so a Twin Peaks spinoff TV series which explains a small bit. I've only seen a grand total of 30 seconds of Twin Peaks, but it does seem to fit that strange and otherworldly environment. It's intriguing to watch and it sets this mystery up flawlessly in the beginning and you want to know as much as our main characters want to know, but it doesn't give you answers. That is your conclusion that makes the ending what it is. I had two thoughts but as we were ramping toward the ending it quickly came down to my second guess, zipper on the lips for that, go see it. It's great. To see David shift and mold this from a failed TV pilot to a cinematic odyssey is amazing, and what a way to go out this week! 4 stars, 9/10! I'm considering a fair bit to watch Twin Peaks at a later date and get reviews out for that, my interest grows more and more to finally see it but we got a while before the next batch of TV reviews. Next week my favorite time of the year, Marvel. Yaaaaay......

King Kong (2005)

Not as long as I remembered it.

Many people question the fact is the new King Kong better than the original, and to that I say this, without a doubt. It fixes many problems with the last movie in every respect. Now some might say that's not fair, film has grown so much since the 30s and the technology available of course could do so much more. Now I don't hate the original and I'm not just saying the effects are better, oh no, everything is better. The acting, the editing, the cinematography in general, just every little issue I had with the 1933 version has been rectified. Ann goes from just a screaming woman to a more developed and enjoyable character, Carl Denham played by Jack Black is an interesting casting choice but by God he goes all in with it and really rocks in this movie, the music is terrific with individual themes for the main characters and Kong himself, the film is beautiful to look at in some places, and yes the special effects are phenomenal. Andy Serkis doing motion capture for Kong is mindblowing, the dinosaurs look terrific, the island itself seems vast and dangerous, and New York in the Great Depression really cement the visual appeal for me. I could not find much wrong with this movie mainly because it fixes many of the problems from the original. Like I said, Ann is now something more than just a screaming Fay Wray, she is an entertainer who travels to the island and when she meets Kong at first the screaming is in full force, but it's after the genius T-Rex fight that she warms up to him and you can tell she genuinely gives a damn about the big ape. Hell, my favorite scene in the entire movie is not the fight with the T-Rex but afterwards when Kong takes Ann to his home, hardly a word is said and yet you can feel so much. Film is a visual medium and that scene alone tells a story perfectly without saying or even really doing anything. I might even be so bold as to say, this is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. Now while some people question Jack Black as the director in the movie, I roll with it, he is very eccentric, harboring on obsessed to make his movie even when his crew starts dying, he just has this sort of....like, back stabbing, manipulative, sort of megalomaniac thing going on and I like that much better than Robert Armstrong as the director in the original. In terms of the natives on Skull Island, this takes it to a whole new level. Gone are the lavish costumes and almost sort of regal feel to them, now they are bloodthirsty, terrifying, and dangerous people, it doesn't feel like a racial stereotype it feels like a cannibalistic tribe! It's unbelievable! If I had to describe this film in one word I would call it, supplemental. It is not an update to King Kong like the 70s one, it takes place in the 1930s, and feels like a more elaborate and detailed version of the original. Everything has more depth and meat to it, and yes the movie clocks in at over three hours long, but I never really noticed. Man whenever I first saw this it felt like an eternity for the movie to end, and I watched Lord Of The Rings on an almost regular basis at that age but it felt just so long. But now, I get by it much easier. Just whenever I compare the original to the remake, the remake is the much better film! How many times can you say that in your lifetime? Every aspect, every detail, every action is done so well! I wish this movie had sequels like every other frickin' King Kong movie! The original had Son Of Kong, the greatest movie brawl in history King Kong Vs. Godzilla (Suck on that Civil War you hacks!) had King Kong Escapes where he fought a robotic King Kong, the 70s King Kong had the outrageous King Kong Lives, but this one couldn't?? Betrayal!!!

Well people it's speculation time, Kong Skull Island hits theaters tomorrow but here are my predictions and thoughts on it. I think it will be great. The movie looks like it's set in the late 60s, early 70s. Don't believe me? Well let's see, the girl uses a camera (a very old camera) that uses real film, not even a self respecting hipster would use that, the slightly disturbing Vietnam vibe when they drop bombs on the island out of helicopters (Oh hi Apocalypse Now! Funny seeing you here!), they use a legit projector, you know with physical slides in it, and the ever so slight image of a Nixon bobblehead!! Fraking what?! And they use the song Bad Moon Rising which was released in.....1969. I rest my case. Now people might be saying, "Dude this Kong is going to fight Godzilla from the 2014 movie, how could it be the 70s or the 60s? He'd die before the present day!" well apes, specifically gorillas can live long lives, upward to 60 years, and since Kong isn't exactly a normal ape, I'd dare say he can live to be over 100 in human years. So I'd say he can live long enough for the rematch. Which is also safe to say, he won't die at the end, hell he probably won't even leave the island. So I'm expecting lots of monster fights, good acting, an entertaining story, and the good news is the king is back.

St. Vincent

Sorry I could only get you one review this week, but I am making up for it next week by reviewing three movies and I got almost all of June planned out. So here's St. Vincent.

You wouldn't think a movie about a crotchety old man who does hardly anything good through the whole movie would tug at your heartstrings near the end but it does. So St. Vincent is the story of a new kid Oliver, who has just moved in next door to his neighbor Vincent, and they start spending time together and the boy learns good life lessons, but through the wrong ways. For instance, he learns the bad and good side of risks and going for broke at the horse races. Now when I first heard about this movie I just thought it was going to be a funny movie with Bill Murray in it, but it surprisingly has a hell of a lot of heart! This is not a film you will forget, it is such a good movie and deals with real human problems and I do mean real. A mom just got divorced, is raising a child on her own, has to work late to get more money, the kid gets picked on by a few bully's, he learns to defend himself, as I stated he learns life lessons, Vincent's wife is going to be kicked out of the nursing home she lives in, Vincent has lots of debts to pay off, but the film does it sometimes with comedy. The humor is great, but it's real. The comedy for the most part is solely from the dialogue. The film has damn good emotional moments, both upliftingly happy and depressingly sad. Those are the movies that I love best, where you think it's just a simple movie but then you watch it and realize there is so much more to it than that, which makes it better. St. Vincent is a real gem of a movie, with great real characters, huge amounts of emotion and heart, and is funny to boot. Give it a watch, and judge for yourself.

So tune in next week where we cap off spring with some movies from a certain highly acclaimed Japanese director.