Holy lack of updates, Batman!

I’ve been a very busy little writer this week, and consequently the blog has fallen by the wayside a little bit. On the plus side, you’ve all had a good solid week to follow my advice and go find yourselves a rare 1856 edition of the Arabian Nights. It shouldn’t have cost you more than a few thousand dollars. That’s good, we’ll all be on the same page now.

On a completely different tack, King Kong is absolutely brilliant. This review by Walter Chaw - my favourite film critic - completely sums up my feelings on the film. I had in fact seen and loved the first film, but I feel Jackson’s singular vision actually surpassed it. If ever a beloved film needed a remake, this was it. It’s that enduring, iconic image of the ape atop the Empire State building, clutching the blonde heroine while being buzzed by fighters. That image is etched in my mental encyclopedia next to the entry for ‘Cinema’. So it’s good to know that the Kong story will live on with a new generation of cinema-goers. Make no mistake: This is a remake of love.

With The Lord of the Rings and now Kong, it’s become clear that Jackson has the amazing ability to micromanage every fine detail of a film while simultaneously staying focussed on the core story. And it obviously helps that he seems to have an amazing team of writers, production crew and visual effects people all working together as one. He’s got a team going, and he’s not afraid to use them. I say: Long may WETA reign.

In fact, I’d even be prepared to commit Nerd Seppuku by claiming the unclaimable: Kong is better than LotR. It’s tighter, cleaner and stronger in almost every way. Definite Film of the Year material.

Speaking of which: As the year end approaches and I look over my top films list for the year, I notice that at least four of the very highest-rated (Serenity, King Kong, Sin City, Batman Begins) are genre films, and all are adaptations. Funny that.

Then I notice that a lot of my low points are also genre adaptations/remakes: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, War of the Worlds, Star Wars Episode 3.

Coincidence, cosmic alignment, or evidence of Hollywood’s growing lack of originality? You decide!

NOTE: If you like comics, you might be interested to know that I’ve started occasionally contributing to this blog. It’s a fan blog, open to many contributors, with the noble mission of talking about comics without utilising snark, sarcasm, hate, vitriol or bile. A difficult task, indeed.