The boys and I went to see King Kong today.

It's a LOOONG movie - just over 3 hours. We all exercised good bladder control. An intermission could have been a good idea.

According to an article in Wikipedia, this is the most expensive film ever made in terms of number of actual dollars spent, which is put at about $207 million.

I remember going to see the previous remake from 1976, which was a modern take of the tale, where Kong climbed the World Trade Tower, and Jessica Lange was the woman in his life.

Anyways, this movie had 3 parts - Part 1 took place in New York during the depression and on a boat, which introduces the characters, Part 2 took place on Skull Island with Kong and all his friends, and Part 3 saw us back in New York for the finale, as well as a bizarre romp on the ice between Kong and Ann Darrow. 

Our verdict - well the boys are undecided. They liked the film, but felt it went a bit too long. The blogosphere has similar feelings.

king kong

[listening to: Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head - Gorillaz ]
4:47:13 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

Following the success of "My Favourite Book", the ABC went back and polled it's viewers for "My Favourite Film".

IMHO, the Top 10 reflects a major Gen-X bias, which is a good thing ;)

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Amelie
3. Blade Runner
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Donnie Darko
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Princess Bride
9. Gone With The Wind
10. Fight Club
11. The Sound of Music
12. To Kill A Mockingbird
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey
14. Casablanca
15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
16. American Beauty
17. Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
18. Monty Python's Life of Brian
19. Lawrence Of Arabia
20. Apocalypse Now
21. Cinema Paradiso
22. Doctor Zhivago
23. The Matrix
24. The Castle
25. Singin' in the Rain
26. A Clockwork Orange
27. The Blues Brothers
28. Withnail and I
29. Life is Beautiful
30. The Godfather
31. Moulin Rouge
32. Some Like it Hot
33. Lost in Translation
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
35. Local Hero
36. The Third Man
37. Brazil
38. Serenity
39. Breakfast at Tiffany's
40. A Room with a View
41. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
42. Dead Poets Society
43. Harold and Maude
44. The Big Lebowski
45. The Wizard of Oz
46. Out Of Africa
47. Picnic at Hanging Rock
48. The Usual Suspects
49. Cabaret
50. Forrest Gump
51. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
52. The Piano
53. Pirates of the Carribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
54. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
55. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
56. The City of Lost Children
57. The African Queen
58. Love Actually
59. Strictly Ballroom
60. Wings of Desire
61. Raiders of the Lost Ark
62. Babette's Feast
63. The Fifth Element
64. Spirited Away
65. Aliens
66. It's a Wonderful Life
67. Napoleon Dynamite
68. Rear Window
69. Romeo And Juliet
70. Dirty Dancing
71. Kill Bill: Vol 1.
72. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
73. Trainspotting
74. Muriel's Wedding
75. When Harry Met Sally
76. The Great Escape
77. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
78. Gallipoli
79. Lantana
80. Garden State
81. Sin City
82. Chariots of Fire
83. The English Patient
84. This is Spinal Tap
85. Chocolat
86. Fargo
87. Look Both Ways
88. Goodfellas
89. Aliens
90. Grease
91. All About Eve
92. Citizen Kane
93. Stand By Me
94. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
95. Mulholland Drive
96. Back to the Future
97. High Fidelity
98. The Thin Red Line
99. Being John Malkovich
100. Dead Man
     

[listening to: Crazy Frog - Axel F ]
9:48:28 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests

The SMH posted a recent article featuring the Top selling DVDs of all time in Australia. It's an update to a similar list from earlier in the year. I hilighted the DVDs we owned on that list, so in keeping with the tradition, here's the update - I score 33 out of the 40.

1. Finding Nemo
2. Shrek 2
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. The Fellowship of the Ring
5. The Return of the King
6. The Two Towers
7. Shrek
8. Monsters Inc
9. Gladiator
10. The Incredibles
11. The Lion King
12. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
13. Shark Tale
14. The Fast and the Furious
15. The Matrix
16. Star Wars trilogy box set
17. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
18. Troy
19. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
20. Four Weddings and a Funeral
21. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
22. Meet The Fockers
23. Matrix Revolutions
24. Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones
25. Matrix Reloaded
26. Love Actually
27. The OC Season 1
28. Robots
29. Lilo and Stitch
30. XXX
31. 8 Mile
32. Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace
33. The Day After Tomorrow
34. Ever After
35. The Last Samurai
36. Spider-Man
37. Indiana Jones box set
38. Ice Age
39. Gone In 60
40. Seconds Bridget Jones's Diary

[listening to: Wave a White Flag - Elvis Costello ]
1:26:54 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests • TV

It feels like only yesterday I took my boys to see the third Harry Potter movie, when it's time to see the next installment.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a lot darker than the previous 3 movies, but I found it a lot more enjoyable. It had the epic story of good versue evil, as well as the story of the coming of age of three, as the gang gets ready for the Yule ball and have to get a date for the dance.  As the summary from IMDB says:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire takes us deeper into the characters' minds and the darkness of the Wizarding World. At the Quidditch World Cup, Voldemort's followers gather and wreak havoc. Then, at Hogwarts, a legendary event takes place. The Triwizard Tournament! The Goblet of Fire judges who gets in and who doesn't. On the fateful night, three champions are selected. But then the Goblet spits out one other. Harry's. These two major events point to the return of Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore and the other teachers sense it, but it is inevitable. And Harry is no longer safe at Hogwarts. This fourth installment is the most dramatic, and also the scariest. Let me just say that all does not necessarily end well...

As we left the theatre, I pondered the mythology of Harry Potter. The good versus evil theme is pretty uniersal, but it feels to me like Star Wars. I wonder if Harry is Voldemort's son? 

[listening to: Alison - Elvis Costello ]
1:03:57 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Geek • My Interests