Change Your Image
davidw-4
Reviews
Death Zone: Cleaning Mount Everest (2018)
Great film. Where's the follow-up?
Considering it was filmed by amateur "cinematographers" with Go-Pros, some of the vistas are absolutely stunning! Filmed in 2010 but released in 2018? Except for the sad loss of two participants-what has been happening? Is this an annual event? Has any other group performed a similar undertaking? Has the Nepalese government instituted a GI-GO approach to climbing Everest? Where's the corporate sponsorship to fund this, ad infinitum? How many more of the 150 bodies have been brought down? A must-watch, to be sure, but more follow-up, considering an 8 year delay, would've been appreciated.
King Kong (2005)
This is a retelling worthy of the credit line "Directed by Peter Jackson."
Right off the bat: This is great entertainment, worthy of your movie going dollars to enjoy on a big screen! Peter Jackson does it again! The lush look of the film rivals James Cameron's "Titanic." I was aware, however, of the CGI look of New York City and its 1930s skyline. For that matter, why did Peter Jackson feel it necessary to keep the story set in the '30s? The suspension of disbelief seems to work for the TV show "Lost" set in the present. The disbelief that a large island with strange creatures can exist "under the radar" and not detected.
Biggest surprise? Jack Black actually acted for most of the film! As funny and enjoyable as the persona of Jack Black is, it was nice to see him stretch (slightly) as an actor. When he was posing for a picture near the end of the film he let a little of that tenacious persona show through.
There is a lot of great CGI action in the film after they get to Skull Island. So much so, that by the time the finale comes along, the showdown atop the Empire State building, its almost anti-climatic. And the final line in the film? Even Lenny Briscoe, looking over his corpse-of-the-week could come up with something better. Maybe that's why the film is set in the '30s. When sentiment like that truly touched people's hearts.
Yes, I did like the film. Naomi Watts is great and Adrien Brody proves why he is always cast in period pieces. This is a retelling worthy of the credit line "Directed by Peter Jackson."