Well I went Wednesday Morning to the Matinee to see Peter jackson's King Kong.
What a movie.
However, I would like to mention something I observed I at the beginning of the film.
When The principle characters arrive and board the Tramp Steamer "Venture" and proceed to goeth forth to seek out the hiding place of the elusive Skull Island, they pass through the ship and in one of the holds, is a bunch of cages for lions, tigers, monkeys, etc.
Apparently the Captain of the ship is a big game hunter for circus and zoo animals and in the back of the hold in one scene, one such cage stands out from all the rest.
On this cage, it says, "Samaran Rat Monkey."
Anyone here see the connection?
Anyway, The 1930's look of New york citry is magnificent. So are the special effects (CGI) of the dinosaurs. The scene of the Brotosaura and Raptors make Steven Speilberg's, Jurassic Park Dinos look like they came form the Mickey Mouse Club.
Naomi Watts is very sexually attracked to her captor Kong And shows her love for him while grapping onto the subconscious Stockholm Syndrome while in his Company.
She dances for Kong, Does Cartwheels, Flips and Acrobatics and even Juggles for the Kong in appreciation of him , on several ocassions, saving hew life. And before climazing with his ultimate sacrifice to sve her, She and Kong do Ice-Butt swirlley's on the l Ice in a Pond in Central Park and then She actually climbs up the top of the Empire State Building ()2 different levels of height) to look once more, one last time, into his dreamy eyes
The movie is three hours long.
There are also man-eating grasshoppers, that is they eat man, not about a man who eats grasshoppers.. There are also Creepy Bats and vaginal looking Bantas from the Return of the Jedi who also grace Kong Island.
Unfortunately, Jackson did not use the Pdeteradactyls or the giant spioder, although there are spiders roamingt the jungle.
He also had Kong fight three dinosaurs rather than the one klike in the original movie.
Still it is a masterpiece.. cannot wait for the extended version this summer with a half hour more of action.
boomer2
ah! the rat monkey! Braindead is an old favourite of mine...
"I kick ass for the Lord"
...Kong sounds cool.
hehe yeh the rat monkey is a reference to as psilly sez, one of peters older movies, braindead, a nice splatter movie!
the story goes, rats came off a ship and raped the little monkeys, rat monkeys were thus born!
did you spot the peter? hes featured in all his movies thus far and i dont thin he would intent to stop now...
yup, down here in the land of kong, we got all sortsa crazy animales running round..escaped from the set.. nah not really, i wish tho...
Sounds like this movie is great! I cannot wait to see it, just gotta come up with some play cash and right now this time of season is bad for such things for me. I still gotta go see Harry Potter GOF. :lol: Thanks for the report boomer. Greatly appreciated.
Visionarybear said,
Quotethe story goes, rats came off a ship and raped the little monkeys, rat monkeys were thus born!
Actually it is a litrtle different.
The Rat monkey was captured by a few hunters on the region of Samara near borneo. It was put in the zoo in New Zealand in the movie and when the star of the film's mumsy goes to the zoo spying on her son with a girl, she gets to close to the cage and the monkey bitres her, infecting her with a rare zombie blood disease which eventually infects many of the locals, including the priest who does some karate fighting and later tongues another
victem of the infection which turns into one of the bloodiest scenes ever recorded on film
boomer2
aye, but the story of the rat monkey is as the bear sez.
what isn't said in the movie is that the rat monkey was an excellent swimmer, and so was his sperm, he jerked in the ocean one day and the little blighters went about penetrating all sorts of poor creatures. there have since been reports by ninja submarine pirates of having their ships attacked by violently sexual giant rat monkey squid.
ANother point o interest. The movie is Dead Alive, not Brain Dead.
boomer2
(//http://web.syr.edu/~cjbryzgo/monkey%20smile.jpg)
i had a good time watching king kong. one thing i found funny after the movie, was asking my parents what they felt about it.
when my mam and i mentionned to my dad that we had tears in our eyes for king kong, my dad asked "when?"..aparently the big monkey's eyes had not touched him at all.
now, i admit that i am a sensitive one, if left alone watching movies, i can cry at the most miscellenous scenes, if they they are done well. woupsy.
of course, when watching movies with others, i handle myself, and do the "i am a tough cookie" type thing.
tears.....
anyhows.....here is some thoughts on the movie.
===================================
I went with mam and dad to see King Kong, the latest version of a classic version of the beast versus beauty theme.
the movie was touching. I'd most likely would have balled tears if i wasnt in a movie theatre surrounded by others. The movie was 3 hrs long, which i personally think could have been just as well done in 2 hrs. eventhough the movie did not get boring at any points, and is a distracting way to spend 3 hrs, it still does feel that its 1 hr too much of pure eye candy.
by eye candy, i mean its pure special effects. special effects can be cool, but as candy, too much of it leaves an extra sweet taste in the mouth which is not always pleasurable.
yet, i did not find any boring moments in the adventure.
King Kong was truly moving, his eyes reaching the big monkey in each of us, eyes behind which hides a tender and sensitive beast, misunderstood and alone.
The indegenous of Skull islands were scary as can be, with ugly mouth full of rotten teeth, skulls all over as jewerly and obvious primal violence traits. The moment with the boat crew being lost in the depth of a ravin, and being attacked was a perfect image of hell. Playing with some of humans deepest fears, as the insect world takes over, with slimy noises and attacking buggs.
all in all a good distracting moment, during which we forget that it is a 3d generated monkey, the effects being stuningly beautiful, the island, a wonderful rendition of a primal land, the skies, heavenly... as Anne says:
"It's beautifull"....
i was disapointed, tho i shoulda known seeing as every film i've watched in the cinema for the past two years has been crap.
i thought there was too much of that schmaltzy cheese that passes for emotion in jacksons recent movies. i also just felt limp by the end of the whole thing, almost completely drained and unfulfilled.
the scene with the bugs is badass, probably about the best bit of the movie for me.
i'm probably being unreasonably harsh because it cost me £7 and i'm pretty broke at the moment. but if you're expecting something different from your average blockbuster type ride of a movie, you won't get it.
just my opinion.
and my mate who i saw it with.
Monkeys are so missunderstood.
hey boomer, the title of the movie is most definitely 'braind dead, not dead alive... are you watching a origional dub vers? ive never seen it under anyother title personally...
but yes that is the story of how the rat monkey came to be in the zoo to bite the main charaytors mother, not how the species came to be ;)
and an interesting note is in brain dead, the movie is set in wellington but when they go to the zoo its as you say, the auckland zoo...
It is only eye candy - no message or lesson or personal development to take away.
An emotional and irrational attraction by a woman for a creature.
And a doomed fate for a creature taken out of its native environment. Big shock that displacement leads to trouble.
I left rather empty and asking what was the message that this film ever tried to have? None that I could tell. Some displays of heroism. Like we have never seen heroism before?
ALthough exciting while playing, it is a yawner after it is over.
Hey Visionary Bear,
Here is the cover for the DVD Widescreened edition of Dead-Alive. I also have the VHS which has the same title and image on it. ALso when you type Peter jackson's movies, the film comes up as Dead-Alive.
Anyway, here is the front and cack of the DVD. yuo can enlarge the screen image by placing the moouse itn he lower tight hacd corner of the image.
(//http://mushroomjohn.com/asiaposts/dead-alivedvd1abc.jpg)
and the back (I have 3,000 dvd's and vhs tapes).
(//http://mushroomjohn.com/asiaposts/dead-alivedvd2abc.jpg)
boomer2
Braindead was the original New Zealand title of the film. The American and Western Version is called Dead-Alive.
Here are some Amazon.com Revi8ews of Dead Alive.
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QuoteEditorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential video
The grossest movie ever made, this quintessential splatter film details the tender story of a henpecked boy, his overbearing mum, and a nasty little Sumerian rat-monkey that turns people into voracious zombies. In lesser hands, this ne plus ultra viscera-fest would be so disturbing as to be nigh-unwatchable, but the incredible energy and imagination of director Peter Jackson makes it a first-class guilty pleasure, with plentiful helpings of gallows humor (the scripture-quoting, kung-fu-dispensing priest is a highlight) and a taboo subtext that Sigmund Freud would have loved. Essential viewing for gorehounds and anyone else with a high tolerance for flying entrails. The director would later tone down the gore (but not the manic enthusiasm) for the sublime Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners. --Andrew Wright
Amazon.com
Peter Jackson proves that if gory is funny, then excessive gory is downright hysterical. As our hapless hero wades through an ankle-deep puddle of blood and entrails, brandishing a lawnmower like a portable Cuisinart at the climax of this zombie-fest, you'll either be screaming with laughter or fleeing in disgust. Timothy Balme stars as the shy mama's boy Lionel, whose controlling shrew of a mother (Elizabeth Moody) starts rotting away, literally, with a vague supernatural disease. Mother dies... read more
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4 out of 5 stars As Outrageous as Advertised, November 20, 2004
Reviewer: General Zombie (the west) - See all my reviews
As you likely know, if you're reading this, Dead Alive is fairly widely regarded as the goriest movie ever made. Having not seen every movie ever made I'm not prepared to declare it as such, but it's certainly the goriest movie I've ever seen. By far. To give you a bit of perspective, I would say Day of the Dead and Riki-Oh probably come closest of the films I've seen, and Dead Alive has got to be at least 5 times gorier than either of those films.(And that's probably a conservative estimate) This fact alone should make it mandatory viewing for anyone interested in Horror films.(Of course, this isn't actually a horror film; I don't think it genuinely tries to be scary even once. But, the gore-comedy is primarily of interest to horror fans, naturally)
As one would expect, this film has it's roots in Re-Animator and the Evil Dead films, but it manages to find it's own style and tone. Evil Dead II was wildly over-the-top and energetic while Re-Animator was pretty subdued and deadpan much of the time. Dead Alive, directed by the now highly famed and lauded Peter Jackson, is somewhere in between, certainly not as controlled as Re-Animator, but nowhere near as flat out weird and kinetic as Evil Dead II.(at least not from beginning to end.) And yeah it's pretty funny, though perhaps the majority of the non-gore related humor tends to fall flat. It's also more purely good-natured and fun-loving than any of those films.(Perhaps this is related to their New Zealand accents) I don't know if it's necessarily better than any of those films, it's a tough call, but they're all in the same league, and fans of one ought to like the others.
Inspiration is frequently in short supply in the non-zombie related scenes, but their are enough zombie scenes that it doesn't matter too much. The characters are extremely broad caricatures, including the cute, naive love interest, the dorky, buttoned down hero, the evil controlling mother and the conniving, greedy and chauvinistic uncle. Naturally characters don't matter a whole helluva lot in this film, but, for what it's worth, both Paquita and Lionel are reasonably likable as the protagonist. The film ain't much on plot either, as it's pretty much just a series of comic scenes involving Lionel's attempts to keep the zombie outbreak a secret, and then their collective attempts to simply destroy them. Personally, I find this structural format to be perfectly fine. The less plot the better, when it comes to this sort of film.
The gore is so ridiculous and over-the-top that it's hard to imagine how anyone could be offended by it, though it is quite gross at times. The gore itself particularly reminds of the original Evil Dead, as it emphasizes goo and moistness, and the zombies look fairly reminiscent of the demon-possessed individuals from that film. Although the gore isn't nor is it trying to be realistic, the execution is often more professional and well done than I would've anticipated. Going into too many specifics would be terribly time consuming, but their are a few things that demand pointing out. The single best gore effect would have to be towards the beginning of the film, when the nurse gets her head ripped off. (most of the way, anyway) And, the much famed lawnmower massacre towards the end of the film is classic, and has some surprisingly nicely done effects to go along with the sheer over-the-top insanity of the scene.(The effects I'm referring, in specific, to some of the shots of the limbs getting shredded into nothingness) And, the stop-motion animated sumatran rat monkey is quite fun as well.
Yeah, this movie is pretty great. Not quite the all time highpoint in gore, in my mind, however. I think that Riki-Oh is funnier on the gore front, and am more impressed by some more serious films that display more realistic gore. But Dead Alive still does what it does very well. --This text refers to the DVD edition
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8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3 out of 5 stars CAMPY...TWISTED...OVER THE TOP..., June 26, 2005
Reviewer: Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
This New Zealand film is directed with wild abandon by Peter Jackson, who would find fame and fortune with a later and better effort, the critically acclaimed "Heavenly Creatures", and with the spectalular, award winning, "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Of course, even the best directors have to start somewhere. This is a sort of campy, darkly comedic, horror film that suffers from an excess of gore that is extreme and over the top. Notwithstanding this, it has moments of actual promise that eventually simply succumb to the director's excesses.
The story is a simple one and takes place in the nineteen fifties. In Sumatra, there is a highly unusual creature called a Rat Monkey that looks exactly as it is named. When one is spirited out of the country, despite the outrage of the local natives, it is the beginning of the end. Unbeknownst to its handlers, a Rat Monkey bite transmits a virus that makes a zombie out of the bitten entity. Upon arrival in New Zealand, the Rat Monkey is placed in the local zoo.
Meanwhile, a local mama's boy, Lionel (Timothy Balme), meets the luscious Paquita Maria Sanchez (Diana Penalver), whose ancient crone of a grandmother (Davina Whitehouse) had recently predicted that Paquita would be meeting the love of her life. The only problem is that in the Tarot cards her grandmother read, it appears that Paquita's erstwhile lover is surrounded by death.
Paquita, sure that Lionel is the one, does everything possible to ensure that Lionel takes her on a date. Unfortunately, Lionel lives in a mansion with his rich, domineering Mum (Elizabeth Moody). So, when Paquita and Lionel go to the zoo on their first date, dear old Mum arranges to catch up with them at the zoo, only to find herself bitten by the Rat Monkey. Soon after, Mum finds herself a member of undead.
Lionel calls for Nurse McTavish (Brenda Kendall) to come and tend to Mum, as to him she appears to have fallen strangely ill. After a run in with Mum's teeth, Nurse McTavish finds herself among the undead, as well. Initially, Lionel has the situation under control, keep the bodies of the undead tranquilized and tied up in the basement.
When, however, his mother is finally declared officially dead and a funeral is arranged , his sleazy , lecherous Uncle Les (Ian Watkin) comes out of the woodwork, looking for a share of Lionel's inheritance. When he goes to the mansion in which Lionel lives, he discovers the undead in the basement. So, he blackmails Lionel. Uncle Les promises not to notify the police that Lionel has seemingly dead bodies in the basement. In return, Lionel promises to turn over his mother's mansion and fortune over to Les.
Unfortunately, Les then throws a big party at the mansion, while the undead are in the basement. When the undead get out, all hell breaks loose, as they start biting and eating everyone, creating hordes of new undead, which Lionel and Paquita must battle in order to survive.
There are some very funny moments in this campy, offbeat film. The problem is the gore is so over the top that it becomes tiresome. It is certainly not scary. There are some excellent performances by the cast. Elizabeth Moody is wonderful as Mum, and Ian Watkins is quite funny as Lionel's Uncle Les. Diana Penalver is excellent in the role of the winsome Paquita, and the rest of the supporting cast is more than adequate for the roles in this film, which consist mostly of letting oneself be torn asunder by the undead.
This is a totally over the top film that has the makings of becoming a cult classic. It is worth a rental for those for whom too much gore is simply not enough. --This text refers to the DVD edition
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Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5 out of 5 stars GORE, GORE AND MORE FUN, December 14, 2005
Reviewer: P. Rendon "SIXX" (Bogota , Colombia) - See all my reviews
WHAT A GREAT MOVIE I JUST BOUGHT IT AND I WAS AMAZED, WHAT A FUN MOVIE LOTS AND LOTS OF GORE AND HUMOR JUST AS MUCH.
VERY FUN MOVIE.
NICE TOUCH IT ALL BEGINS IN KING KONG'S ISLAND, VERY NICE TOUCH PETER. --This text refers to the DVD edition
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5 out of 5 stars EDITIONS DIFFERENCIES , December 10, 2005
Reviewer: Anton Ilinski (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews
I guess everybody knows this masterpiece of gore and guts by early Peter Jackson (which, by the way, appears here in a cameo as an undertaker's assistant). And it already occupied its niche in every hardcore horror fan's heart. What I have to say relates to the edition itself. If you have an opportunity to choose, pick British "Braindead" edition instead of American "Dead Alive" one. It's available on amazon.co.uk. Because "Dead Alive" edition is cut, while the British is not. The essential differences are the following:
1. In "Dead Alive" after Lionel agrees to let Les have the money and the house, a dead guy is breaking free from the cellar. In "Braindead" one of the guests lets him out and gets a punch in the head.
2. In "Dead Alive" there's a scene missing where Lionel is hitting that same zombie with a bottle of whisky and then pouring its content into guy's throat.
3. In "Braindead" the scene is present of a guest being chased by two zombies.
4. In "Dead Alive" the scene is missing of a priest and a nurse impaling each other on a pitch fork, after that they continue to have sex forming kind of a power-tool.
5. In "Braindead" there're approximately 16 seconds of extra gore in lawnmower-carnage scene.
6. "Dead Alive" is also missing a scene where Paquita and her friend are attacked by legs of a guy torn apart. They grab a leg each, rip them apart in turn and start using them as weapons against incoming zombies.
There are many editions of "Braindead" on the market but most of them don't have any bonus features. Editions that have some, have minor extras as different trailers and filmographies, but no documentaries or commentaries. So as we wait for Peter Jackson to take a directorial time-out and help releasing some special "Braindead" edition with loads of extras, I'd advise you to buy the British one. Many editions are uncut, for example German, Dutch and Japanise, but I think British is much more easier to get :) --This text refers to the DVD edition
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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4 out of 5 stars Awsome ! Real name: Braindead., November 21, 2005
Reviewer: Fran (Salzburg, Austria, EU) - See all my reviews
Crazy, gore over the top, gross, real trash but awsome fun with scenes such as: taking baby zombie to the park, the kung-fu skilled catholic priest whose warrior shout: "I kick ass for the Lord!" will remain in the records of motion-picture history, the bulb-lightened zombie head, the lawnmower zombie massacre (a change from Tobe Hooper's chainsaw!) and so much more of likewise madness. --This text refers to the DVD edition
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5 out of 5 stars Yes, Gross but cool!, November 15, 2005
Reviewer: Butterfly "Amber" (So Cal) - See all my reviews
Fact: This movie used THE MOST fake blood EVER! (its a fact, look it up!)
Opinion: Grosser than probably anything I have seen! (and I've seen my share)
You have to watch the Unrated version (so I've heard) because of all of the gorry scenes the rated version chops up the storyline into little pieces and you dont get the whole picture (or movie)
Very cool! Im a 20 year old girl and me and my 23 year old boyfriend, LOVE this movie!
WARNING: do not watch if, You cant watch ER (the tv show) without getting sick. It is 10, no, 50 times worse than watching a marathon of ER.
basically if you dont like seeing blood, fake or not, DO NOT WATCH! everyone else is fine.
If you start watching it and dont like it at least fastforward to almost the end (the final blood scene) when the main character kills the zombies with...(now why would I tell you? that would be giving away the ending!) thats the best part in the whole movie!
-yeah Im a little weird!
boomer2