Film 95

Having recently gotten hold of a copy of the new(ish) version of the King Kong Movie, I appear to have shown my true, somewhat grumpy, old man credentials.

A friend at work had been pushing me to watch, as he considered it to be a great film and as I am quite a Peter Jackson fan - from Bad Taste through to the Lord Of The Rings, I was looking forward to it.

I suppose I can blame the "pressures" of fatherhood - and general sleep deprivation - along with Peter Jackson insisting on making incredibly long films, to the fact I ended up having to watch it over two nights.

The work colleague was a little concerned at me not having the stamina to manage it in a single sitting - not to mention the fact I hadn't even seen the all new Kong! But he knew the second half with its great host of dinosaurs and insects and giant bats, not to mention the whole climatic building climbing airplane smashing finale.

And it was great. Really good, and impressive , and well, quite long. I was definitely nodding. I knew I had to get up early, and hadn't had much sleep the night before.

Once he'd got up the tower and he was throwing punches at the bi-planes, I was just willing him to get a move on, take a jump and hit the deck - allowing me to get to bed. Just a couple of years ago I'd have mocked someone for saying that! I guess I really am getting old.

Another thing that I noticed - what is it with long films? Why do they always have loads of slow motion bits? (Braveheart springs to mind...) Surely they cut out the slow motion and we could all go home a bit quicker. As to Kong - I'm not even going to mention the ice rink scene.

I am definitely with Mark Kermode point, which I think was in turn quoted from Tony Scott - There isn't a film in the world which wouldn't be improved by losing half an hour and adding an exploding helicopter.

Look me in the eye and tell me that Gone with the Wind, or Citizen Kane wouldn't benefit?

I mentioned that I would be writing about my experiences of King Kong in this blog tonight, and I even got mocked for that - mentioning how it would be like watching Film 2005! So grumpy old man I guess I will have to stay, only watching films on DVD when they are under a fiver!

Anyway, it's getting late, I'm off to find my pipe and slippers!