Kong: Skull Island (2017) film review

Year: 2017
Running Time: 118 minutes
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Writers: John Gatins (story), Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly (screenplay)
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, John Ortiz

Kong: Skull Island is now showing in cinemas everywhere and is distributed in Australia by Roadshow Films.

King Kong gets yet another turn on the remake wheel with Kong: Skull Island- an alternate story with astounding special effects and impressive cast who are let down by the mediocracy of it's unintentionally comedic screenplay.

Set in 1971 with a striking visual resemblance and hero-worship of Apocalypse Now, Kong: Skull Island  sees a group of scientists and soldiers make their way into uncharted territory in the South Pacific where several planes have gone missing. It does not take long for the group to realise that they have been fooled and instead sent on a deadly mission to a place where prehistoric terrors rule the roost and the giant Kong is the king.  

It is impossible to make a King Kong film in this day and age on a minimal scale. With the advances that are continuously being made in CGI in cinema, we must accept the inevitable, which is that we are going to see more and more remade action films, particularly ones involving giant monsters such as Kong and Godzilla. So it really isn't a surprise that another reimagining of King Kong has been produced whether it was actually needed or not.

Therefore, with the days of making B grade action films or monster story sequels on a shoe string budget gone, Kong: Skull Island has not surprisingly been blessed with a $185 million budget and done wonders with it. The film is a spectacular visual extravaganza which features a larger Kong than we have ever seen before and he is an extremely impressive creation. Kong's island is inhabited by a number of primeval creatures who are all lifelike and terrifying thanks to the fantastic CGI employed in this film. The action sequences which feature these monsters are especially awe-inspiring visually, yet a little lack-lustre when slotted into the story.

Visually, Kong: Skull Island is everything a blockbuster should be. It's an incredible shame that it's screenplay cannot support it's weight. Unlike it's exterior, the script is of B-grade quality. The dialogue is clunky, predictable and, for the most part, unintentionally funny, as is the case with many of the events in the film. When you are not belly laughing at the lunacy of some of the scenes in the film (such as the Skull Crawlers and the camera flash), complete boredom sets in. Unfortunately this plagues Kong: Skull Island right from the very beginning when you are hoping that things will become more exciting once they actually reach the island. But no.

The screenplay does however, pay homage to the original King Kong story with such inclusions as Kong being restrained by chains and Brie Larson's Mason Weaver being the beauty who tames the beast. Yet, this is the only similarity the female heroine shares with Fay Wray's Ann Darrow in 1933 and again when Naomi Watts played her in the Peter Jackson remake in 2005. Mason is a stronger female character than her predecessors and Larson brings to her a raw, but spellbinding quality with her natural wit and charisma. However, the film as a whole is a waste of her talents, as it is for Tom Hiddleston also. Considering Hiddleston is given top-billing, he is actually given very little to do and a terrible lack of character and character development.

And it's an action movie....needs a bit more sass, wit and entertainment...of course Samuel L. Jackson MUST be part of the cast! In recent times, Jackson has just became a caricature of himself and his mutters of "mother f**ker" and "bitch please" are so sub-standard for any film that he is in that it does not have the desired impact in Kong: Skull Island nor makes him seem as bad-ass as he once did. His performance is just so over the top Jackson-esque that it just encourages one massive eye-roll.

Despite the overwhelming temptation the filmmakers must have felt to use the CGI now available to us, Kong: Skull Island really did not need to be made and it's mediocrity says this loud and clear.

4.5/10

Trainwreck (2015) film review

Year: 2015
Running Time: 125 minutes
Director: Judd Apatow
Writer: Amy Schumer
Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, LeBron James, Colin Quinn, Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Bayer, Ezra Miller

Trainwreck opens in Australia on August 6 and is distributed by Universal Pictures. Now showing in the United States and opening in the United Kingdom August 14.

Trainwreck is unapologetically funny with it's witty and uncompromising screenplay brought to life by a superb cast driven by Amy Schumer, but it also surprises with it's depth of human relationships. Amy (Schumer) is living the life, or so she believes. She has a great job at S'nuff magazine where she is up for a promotion and has a different love of her life every night who she says goodbye to before they are able to wake up the next morning with her. When she meets Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader) on a work assignment, she is perplexed to discover that she may have met her match...the thing that she was brought up to believe was only going to lead to unhappiness and being trapped for the rest of her life.

Trainwreck breathes new life into the romantic-comedy and breaks through the stereotype of this being a female audience dominated genre. The wonderfully witty script (also written by Amy Schumer) celebrates the world as a place where not everyone wants the same things out of life and love while at the same time seeing the comical value in the differences. Although the screenplay is not entirely airtight, it is forgiven due to it's comedic value as the laughs come at a rapid pace in every scene with no lapses in humour including in the more serious scenes. While there are many a sexual joke, there is also much well-timed general and situational humour that doesn't rely on tired and uncreative methods to get one laughing.

However, despite Trainwreck containing many a crude sex joke which may not be to everyone's taste, the film also has a great deal of heart and says a great deal about the dynamics of family. Amy and Kim (played by Brie Larson) are almost polar opposites as sisters which comes down to the fact that their parents were seemingly complete opposites and while Amy idolised her father (Colin Quinn), Kim idolised her mother. The two take after the parent they worshipped and in Amy's case this includes the worst parts of her father. From the first scene we see this where Amy listens to her father's views on marriage and we then see her living up to this view herself in her 30's. She is even aware of what these negatives are and hates these aspects of him, but without even realising it replicates his bluntness, negativity and addictive nature, particularly to vices such as alcohol and sex. It would seem that Gordon is the original trainwreck with his adoring daughter mimicking his behaviour, which can often happen in children.

Amy Schumer may well be the fastest rising star in comedy this year and Trainwreck gives one a valid understanding of why. Not only is her script hilarious, but she shines on the screen in a performance that is natural and heartfelt. When she is hilarious she is hysterical and when she is emotional she is heartbreaking. She is the perfect comedic leading lady for the present and regardless of the fact that the role was written by her for her, she is believable and has an effortless sense of comedic timing. While her Amy may not always be completely likable due to her self-destructive nature, she is still a character one loves to watch.

Schumer is surrounded by a superb supporting cast who raise plenty of laughs themselves. Bill Hader is completely endearing and immediately likable as Aaron. His dead pan sense of humour works so well in Trainwreck as it makes his delivery of humorous dialogue unexpected and catches one by surprise. His on-screen chemistry with LeBron James, who plays himself is superb and also hilarious. Brie Larson almost sneaks under the radar as Kim, but still gives a solid performance and Tilda Swinton is almost unrecognisable as Amy's difficult boss, Dianna, but shows that her wonderful acting ability also extends into comedy. Watch out also for a hilarious cameo by Leslie Jones and cinema veteran Norman Lloyd.

Trainwreck has a fantastic awareness of self and may well be the best comedy released in 2015 so far. Amy Schumer is the leading lady which cinema-goers have been yearning for and here she proves why she is fast becoming a household name.

8/10