about me

Practically imperfect in every way. Start with a lot of silliness. Mix in some insecurities and a handful of awkwardness. Add a pound of naivety, innocence, and child-like wonderings. Blend well. Half-bake and top off with a sprinkle of imagination and dollop of dreams. It’s the recipe for me!

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quote of the day

  • "Moral of the story: Do not look at the gap. The gap is the mind-killer. Remember how Wile E. Coyote never fell down until he saw the chasm? It’s just like that." --Taylor "Tei" Lindstrom, Rogue Ink

dumbass quote

  • "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps. And I believe that our education like, such as South Africa, and, the Iraq, everywhere like such as. And I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., or should help South Africa, and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children." --Caitlin Upton, Miss South Carolina Teen 2007

kids say...

  • Jacob: "I need to operate on my frog, but first he needs some amnesia."

copyright

Copyright © 2004-2005 Kerrie Lee. All rights reserved.

Normally, I Enjoy Adventure Films (or How To Overuse Indents)

December 18, 2005

Rather than post a lengthy response on my last entry, I thought I would go into detail about why I didn’t like the new King Kong movie.

  1. Dialogue with no other purpose than to tell the audience something about a character.I don’t like being treated like I’m stupid, and I didn’t feel the dialogue revealed necessary information.

    2. Old Guy: “Your life has been difficult, and I know it’s led you to being unable to trust anyone, Annie.”

    Or…

    Denham: “You’re the type of girl who…”

  2. Characters who are unnecessary, melodramatic, and cliche and the awful dialogue that goes with it.

    3. Mr. Hayes: “Jimmy, you shouldn’t be stealing stuff. You should go and get yourself educated.”

    Jimmy: “But I am Mr. Hayes. Look, I even checked this book out from the library.”

    Later when they’re going into the jungle.

    Mr. Hayes: “No, Jimmy. You stay here. It’s too dangerous for you.”

    Jimmy: “But I wanna go and help Miss Darrow, Mr. Hayes. She needs our help.”

    And even later when Jimmy secretly follows the group.

    Mr. Hayes: “Jimmy, I told you to stay back.”

    Jimmy: “I’ll be okay, Mr. Hayes. Just pretend you didn’t see me.”

    Mr. Hayes: “You just be careful.”

    And later when they’re poking around a giant cave making scary sounds.

    Mr. Hayes: “If anything happens, I want you to run Jimmy.”

    And OF COURSE something happens.

    Mr. Hayes: “Run! Jimmy, run outta here!”

    Bad stuff happens to Mr. Hayes.

    Jimmy: “Noooooo!”

  3. Not enough build up of the relationship between Ann and Kong. Ann only “trusts” Kong when her life is in danger. I could almost hear the dialogue in her head: “Dinosaurs or gorilla? Hmm. I think gorilla.” Sure, they watched a sunset together. I never felt like Ann cared for Kong.
  4. Not enough build up of Kong. I liked the three main human characters very much. I never felt like I knew Kong though. I never felt like I could trust him, so I questioned it when Ann suddenly trusted him.
  5. Two hours of chase scenes. Or darn near two hours. I’d guess it took something like 30 minutes to get to the island. Then there was a bit under 2 hours of action/chase scenes, during which we get two short 5-10 minutes of interaction between Kong and Ann. Another chase scene where Kong is captured. Cut to the city. The last 30-45 minutes wrapped up the city scene and the ending.
  6. Willing suspension of disbelief can only go so far. There were too many parts where people should have been dead, bloody, or unconscious. Watching Ann with Kong, I could only think of shaken babies.

    7. Stuff I liked. Again, I really liked the three main human characters. The CG was mostly good (except during the action scenes with Kong and any human.)

Overall, I think the weakness of the movie was that it lacked subtlety. Rob and I were both really looking forward to this movie. We were both disappointed, but Rob was much more generous than I was in his review. And really, I normally do like this kind of movie. It wasn’t as bad as I originally portrayed it, perhaps. But it fell way below my expectations.

CATEGORY: Daily

4 Responses to “Normally, I Enjoy Adventure Films (or How To Overuse Indents)”

  1. Fyse Says:
    December 18th, 2005 at 8:22 pm

    Ah, I see. Oh well, at least it was only 3 hours of your life! I’ll go see it at some point soon, no doubt, and will blog my impressions of it too. Out of interest, did you like the Lord of the Rings trilogy? I seem to remember you mentioning them at some point, but can’t recall what you said.

  2. Whimsy Chick Says:
    December 19th, 2005 at 3:19 pm

    LOVED The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think that may be part of the reason I felt disappointed with King Kong. I expected something better.

    I really do normally like this sorta thing. Star Wars, Batman, Narnia, Harry Potter… they’re my favorite type of movie. King Kong wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped.

  3. Ozzilyn Bean Says:
    December 21st, 2005 at 9:43 am

    I haven’t seen Kong, but reading your post, I kept thinking, “Yep, sounds like Peter Jackson/Lord of the Rings.” There were some truly horrible moments in that triology, too. For example, at the end of Fellowship when what’s-his-face is getting pelted with arrows and the two hobbits are just standing there, staring, and what’s-his-face keeps yelling in slow motion, “RUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN!” Yes, why don’t you?

    I read the triology after seeing the movies, and I was very happy to see that all the stupid parts (like the above) were added in by Jackson and not part of the original plot.

  4. Janet Says:
    December 21st, 2005 at 8:41 pm

    Movies today are not all that unlike the stories my third graders writing. They all need more character development and DETAIL to make their stories come alive.

    Oh and Hollywood needs to come up with some original ideas too.

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about this blog

It’s the spark of an idea that hits me unexpectedly. It’s the silly wonderings I have after a whirlwind of thoughts. It’s about creativity, inspiration, and imagination. But sometimes, it’s just about eating noodles.

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