#kong: skull island review

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (January 21-27, 2024)

Godzilla Minus One made awards show history in both Japan and the U.S. this week. Its Oscar nomination for best Visual Effects is the first of the series (Godzilla [1998], Godzilla [2014] and Godzilla vs. Kong were previously shortlisted) and the first for any Japanese film. Small wonder Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, and their team went berserk when the nomination was announced. The other nominees are The Creator, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Napoleon, and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. According to IndieWire, The Creator has the edge, but Minus One could very well win. And while it naturally made less headlines in the Anglosphere, Minus One also picked up a whopping 12 Japan Academy Film Prize nominations, exceeding Shin Godzilla's 10.

Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color is now in North American theaters. I was intrigued enough to make it my fourth theatrical viewing of this movie, but in the end it did basically strike me as a gimmick. Godzilla Minus One was shot digitally with sets designed for color, so making it actually look like a film from the 40s was always going to be an uphill battle. Even with the regrade, there wasn’t a ton of contrast in most shots, and some of the scenes taking place at night were quite hard to see. Still, apart from the Odo Island massacre, I found the Godzilla scenes as gripping as ever.

Thanks to Minus Color, Minus One made $2.6 million this weekend, crawling back into the box office top 10. Its total in the U.S. and Canada now stands at $55 million, third among all foreign-language films released in the U.S.

Brush of the God, Keizo Murase's directorial debut after a lifetime in movies, is finally complete. It'll play at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March (link contains more images), and hopefully travel overseas very soon. Murase will also receive an Association Special Award at the Japan Academy Film Prize.

Clover Press shipped out copies of Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett to Kickstarter backers, myself included. It's an excellent art book, and there are plenty of deleted and altered scenes mixed in with more familiar sequences. Believe it or not, Bennett drew the panel above for Kong: Skull Island—they considered having James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) flash back to an encounter with King Ghidorah in Vietnam. Not sure how that would've worked, as Ghidorah is generally not one to lie low for a few decades, but it's the first I've ever heard of it being considered. I'm hoping to post some more scans soon. Here's the order link.

Minecraft social media accounts teased a crossover with the Monsterverse, in what's likely to be the most high-profile of the Godzilla x Kong video game collaborations. The Mobzilla mod was created over 10 years ago, so this is long overdue.

The big toy news this week was Titanic Creations revealing the digital sculpt for its Yongary figure. This guy's had even less figures than Gorgo - I can only think of one, and very few of them were made - so expect massive demand. New Godzilla toys were also on display at London Toy Fair, both at the Playmates booth and among the plushies made by an unknown company.

[liquidsludge]

Just watched this gem of a movies

What did yall think?

[i-didnt-hate-it]

I didn't hate Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, honestly it was awesome!

I just got done watching it so I'm still digesting it, but here are my initial thoughts. Any potential spoilers will go under a break.

I went into GxK that it would be similar to GvK and the other Monsterverse films: big monkey hit big lizard, big lizard breathe laser, big monkey block laser with big axe, and so on. And don't get me wrong, it definitely was all that, all pro wrestling but with big monsters, but in a cooler way than what I thought. I'm still trying to figure out what all made GxK more than what I was expecting, but I think this is the main bit.

In today's media, there seems to basically be two options. Either you make a show on streaming, which means your seasons are too short so you have to sacrifice character to plot. Or you make a two to three hour long movie, which uses a big budget to explain either characters or concept, hopefully with something of a plot to tie it together.

But GxK is a secret third thing. Worldbuilding. Adding to lore. Letting the landscapes they paint and the creatures that inhabit them speak for themselves. There were long stretches of screentime where the titans weren't necessarily fighting, they were just doing their thing, exploring their worlds.

Now obviously we need some humans to A, be able to connect to the story some, and B, know what is actually going on. Because while I would love a completely dialogue kaiju movie, the concepts and gimmicks of the Monsterverse just get too convoluted to figure out without Exposition Lady.

I can confirm that Legendary realized that the less human characters they have the better. The cast was relatively small, and while character development was minimal, they did make me feel some feelings toward some of the humans. But they made the right call not giving them too much of the story. What is this, Godzilla Minus One?

It's not, and if you can go into it knowing that it isn't even close to being the same movie as Minus One, and just watch it as a fun Monsterverse entry, I think you'll love it. The music is great too, better than GvK, imo. VFX were awesome too.

Okay, now for some spoilers, just random extra thoughts:

Godzilla really did the OMG MOTHRA!!! thing from that one meme! And I did too tbh, our Queen is back and beautiful as ever!

I love how it wasn't an instant father/son connection between Kong and Mini-Kong (I don't remember his name). Kong tried to help him out a couple times, but then gave up after MINI KONG TRIED TO KILL HIM LIKE MULTIPLE TIMES! Like come on, this little guy is just chaotic. But like they actually had growth in their trust and relationship, it wasn't just like "me big, you little, I dad now".

Scar King was actually a lot cooler than I was expecting. Shimo/Shimu whatever her name is did not have as big a role as I was expecting, but I'm glad she's okay.

Shout out to Mothra for stopping her boyfriend from killing Kong, helping them in Hollow Earth, and then just chilling when they all went to Rio. She said, "you guys got this, right?"

When I saw there was another hollow earth inside Hollow Earth, I'll admit I had a bit of an eye roll. But they explained it away pretty well.

SCOTTISH GUY THAT SAID SHIT IN STAR WARS. Alex Ferns is literally the same character he was in Andor.

I love how they imply that they basically imply that the Iwi had something to do with building the pyramids in Egypt by having the portal thing open RIGHT NEXT TO THEM. Made a cool setting for the fight, too.

At this point, I have no idea how big the Coliseum actually is.

Last thing, for now. For having top billing, Godzilla wasn't in it as much as I thought he might be. I think Legendary is realizing that if you have a character like Godzilla who can just level up his powers instantly to take on anything, and just kinda does his own thing, you've gotta limit that screen time. Since Kong is kinda humanoid, it's easier to empathize with him and thus add character development. Godzilla can only convey so much emotion that most humans can relate to (obviously Shin and Minus convey a lot of emotions, but anyway). Godzilla is in the movie, but Kong is more of the star. Honestly the world of the Hollow Earth and the Iwi people and their history are almost as much of the focus.

[oneofusnet]

Screener Squad: Skull Island SKULL ISLAND SERIES REVIEW Where do monsters come from? Under the bed? From the deepest darkest places of the human mind? The Sewer? Netflix presents King Kong’s animated feature Skull Island created by Brian Duffield. Charlie (Nicolas Cantu) and his bestie Mike (Darren Barnet) are on an oceanic expedition led by Charlie’s dad Cap (Benjamin… Read More »Screener Squad: Skull Island read more on One of Us

[noeljpenaflor]

[paleobeastentertainment]

JURASSIC JULY WEEK 4: King Kong (2005)

Leave it to Peter Jackson to take one of the most popular and iconic films in cinematic history and give it one of the best remakes to date. That's not to say that this film is equal to the original in any way, it has it's fair share of flaws such as its runtime, a few over-the-top moments that conflict with the film's tone, and characters that are setup with no real payoff. However, I feel like this movie has everything that defines Peter Jackson as a filmmaker- his wacky and playful side, his sensibilities for emotional storytelling, and definitely his love of creatures and monsters. When it comes to remakes, the filmmaker attached should have a level of appreciation for the original without preventing him/her from making their movie work as its own work of art and Peter Jackson accomplishes all that. Andy Serkis as Kong ranks among one of his best roles, capturing the primitive rage that has defined him and also the hidden longing for companionship that he desires above all else. The rest of the cast is alright for the most part, although they are not the best written. Skull Island feels like it has a life of its own outside of the movie, and has to this day remained one of the best developed locations in the lost world gene (although I feel Skull Island in the video game counterpart was way more so). Despite its flaws this is definitely one of the best remakes out there.

[zeromaster]

The Frozen Empire Strikes Back? | #GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire Review Featuring Mittens!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGkOL_rQecE&list=PL1NLLK2KxV_AfFgHi61hcPhjOr9MIleyC

[guywithbeer]

इस तरह के और वीडियो के लिए यूट्यूब पर सदस्यता लें

#skullisland #tvseries #समीक्षा #netflix #animation #kingkong #action #adventure

[dispatchdcu]

King Kong: The Great War #2 Review

King Kong: The Great War #2 Review #kingkong #kingkongthegreatwar #thegreatwar #kong #comics #news #art #info #NCBD #previews #reviews #Amazon #dynamiteentertainment #dynamitecomics

Writer: Alex Cox Art: Tommaso Bianchi Colors: James Devlin Letters: Taylor Esposito Publisher:  Dynamite Studios Price: $3.99 Release Date: July 5th, 2023 King Kong: The Great War #2 continues the story of the shipwrecked survivors of the UB-184 submarine fighting for survival on Skull Island, where they have to battle the elements as well as the monolithic monsters of the island, hoping to stay…

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (June 18-24, 2023)

The big news of the week, of course, was Netflix finally releasing Skull Island, the first new Monsterverse story in over two years. It's a surprisingly standalone piece, with no Monarch and minimal references to Kong: Skull Island, and going off his Twitter, creator Brian Duffield largely prefers to let the work speak for itself. I have quibbles with some of the creature designs—not enough florafauna!—and the characters can be too flippant about their life-threatening circumstances, but overall I had a good time. Annie's a great character—think Saeko from Son of Godzilla as a bloodthirsty teenager—and the obligatory Titan nemesis is a cut above most of the Monsterverse's original creatures.

As for its future, Season 2 is already written and recorded, but won't happen unless Netflix sees big enough viewing numbers for Season 1. I'm frustrated by that, especially given how many loose ends the season finale had, but it's pretty typical stuff from the company.

Dismal news about the American Shin Ultraman Blu-ray/DVD from Cleopatra Entertainment: they didn't bother to include translations for the ample on-screen Japanese text. That was enough for me to cancel my preorder; I tend to be pretty tolerant of the various unforced errors by the companies releasing this stuff, but that level of laziness (the translations already exist!) just renders the discs pointless in my eyes.

Toho is crowdfunding another Showa suit replica for a character's 50th anniversary this year... Jet Jaguar! If successful (or semi-successful, like last year's Gigan campaign), it'll feature in a new short film to premiere on November 3, as has been tradition since 2020. Interesting that they went for Jet Jaguar over Megalon; I suppose he'd be cheaper to produce, and the largest film studio in Japan seems hellbent on hamstringing these wonderful little shorts.

Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #1 is out. Hard to judge it so far as it's mostly setup.

In other news related to Godzilla vs. Megalon's 50th, Bandai will release a Movie Monster Series figure of the 1973 Godzilla (MegaroGoji) on July 28 as a Godzilla Store exclusive. Pretty big news, as they've only released figures of the tweaked '74 and '75 suits previously, and those were back in 2003 and 2004, respectively. NECA didn't get to this one either.

[johnryansullivan]

Films and Shows I Watched in 2022 - The Rewatched List

Films and Shows I Watched in 2022 – The Rewatched List

The Matrix: Resurrections I rewatched The Matrix: Resurrections because I was incredibly disappointed on the first viewing. I spent a week thinking about the film, wondering if I was mistaken and being harsh with my opinion. I read interviews with everyone involved, watched interviews with Lana Wachowski and I was moved by her statements concerning why she made this film. I felt like a bad…

[swapauanon]

It's really frustrating looking for positive reviews of Godzilla Minus One that don't just dunk endlessly on the Monsterverse.

Like...

Godzilla's creators are fans of the Monsterverse. The Monsterverse Godzilla is part of their official Godzilla lineup.

And then claiming there's no symbolism in the Monsterverse films, as if King of the Monsters didn't have humanity removing a scary apex predator from the ecosystem and unleash a dangerous invasive species at the same time, resulting in an ecological disaster with long-lasting consequences.

Or the fact that Kong: Skull Island (not a Godzilla movie but it was included among the films getting dunked on so I'm doing the same) is set in the immediate aftermath of the Vietnam War and provides some social commentary on what war does to soldiers (with the main human antagonist being a soldier who COULDN'T move on from the war).

Plus, if Godzilla being an antihero instead of a villain is your problem: Japan did it first.

In fact, Godzilla's been an antihero/lesser evil for most of his cinematic history.

[monarch-afterdark]

Titan History: Kong

Welcome once again to Monarch: After Dark, the digital gateway between you and the organisation dedicated to understanding and navigating this troubled new world we live in.

Apologies for the lack of communication in recent weeks, Monarch has been hard at work collecting data and collaborating with global governments through the most recent Titan crisis, including the disposal of deceased Titan remains and the best course of action to take with Godzilla in his new resting place.

That said, today's communication will be going over a Titan who has been surging in popularity across the globe over the past few years; the undisputed king of the Hollow Earth, Kong.

(Pictured above: Kong approaching an Apex Cybernetics research facility on Skull Island, circa. 2017)

Monarch Database File: Kong

Monarch Designation: Titanus Kong

Height: 337 feet

Weight: Unknown

Nature: Unknown

Behavioural Classification: Protector

-----

Until recently, Kong was believed to be the last of his kind. Born during a climactic final battle between his parents and a horde of Skullcrawlers (ravenous amphibian predators on Skull Island), Kong grew up in an isolated world filled with danger at every angle. Growing up to become the guardian deity of Skull Island, Kong was held in great reverence by the native Iwi tribe that lived on the island. His species, designated Apus giganticus, were also known protectors of the Iwi, fighting off the Skullcrawlers and other threats until their last breath.

During his centuries on the island, Kong fought a variety of creatures, from the Mire Squad and Sirenjaws to other Titans such as the mysterious Kraken or night-bringer Camazotz. However, in 2021, a storm generated by Monster Zero fused with the perpetual storm surrounding Skull Island and plunged it into chaos. Three years later, in 2024, Kong was removed from the island as the key to a daring plan to uncover a Hollow Earth energy source to stop Godzilla. The two alpha Titans clashed twice before setting aside their differences to take down Apex Cybernetics' rogue superweapon, Mechagodzilla.

Currently, Kong now resides in the Hollow Earth alongside a newly-freed tribe of his speices, an orange ape-like Titan which he seems to have adopted as a son, and the ancient ice Titan Shimo.

(Pictured above: Monarch officials reviewing recovered footage of Kong from the doomed 1973 expedition to Skull Island, circa. 2019)

While Kong's exact origins are unknown, research conducted within the Iwi settlement appears to place his birth somewhere in the 17th Century, making him perhaps the youngest Titan on record. However, his entangled history with Monarch began much later, in 1973.

In a time where Monarch was on its last legs and facing the possibility of being shut down, founding figure William Randa and geological advisor Houston Brooks lobbied to piggyback on a Landsat expedition to Skull Island. With a military escort courtesy of the Sky Devils squadron, the team dropped seismic charges on the island to map the bedrock beneath the surface. Unknown to them at the time, their charges awakened the Skullcrawlers living in thermal vents beneath the island and incurred Kong's wrath.

Kong swiftly destroyed the Sky Devils' helicopters, leaving the survivors split into two groups. One, including Brooks, encountered the Iwi and stranded WW2 pilot Hank Marlow, where they learned about Kong and his history with the Skullcrawlers. A second, including Randa, embarked on a mission of revenge driven by Colonel Preston Packard.

(Pictured above: Kong battling the remnants of the Sky Devil squadron after being lured into a napalm trap, circa. 1973)

After being lured into a napalm trap by Packard, Kong was initially helpless to battle the recently awakened Skull Devil, the last of the adult Skullcrawlers that had a hand in wiping out his family centuries prior. Recovering quickly, the two beasts engaged in a brutal encounter. Following some assistance from the expedition survivors, Kong triumphed by tearing out the Skull Devil's innards, avenging his parents in the process.

His next major sighting occured in 1993, but without a Monarch presence on Skull Island at the time, this is pending investigation. According to witnesses, Kong did battle with a large underwater Titan (designated 'Kraken'), after being coaxed to the island's coast by Annie, a young girl stranded on the island for years with a strange dog-like beast as a companion. After exchanging many blows, Kong ultimately killed the Titan by tearing its body in half.

In 1995, Aaron Brooks (Houston's son) led an unauthorized expedition to Skull Island, as he felt unsatisfied with leaving protection against the Skullcrawlers to Kong alone. During their stay, mythographer Walter Riccio experienced vivid visions of Kong's origins, under the influence of an Iwi medicinal drink. When Riccio destroyed the wall to the Iwi village, Kong stepped in to vanquish the Mother Longlegs swarm that seized their chance and killed Riccio before communing with Aaron and the Iwi.

(Pictured above: Artistic rendition of Kong tearing the "Kraken" Titan in two, based off eyewitness testimony, circa. 1993)

In the following decades, Kong was largely left to his own devices as the island's guardian. Though Monarch teams briefly assisted him in 2015 with a crisis involving the unknown organisation Janos Biotech and the island's Snarehunter population, and Kong himself kept a horde of Skullcrawlers that attempted to leave the island in response to Monster Zero's 'alpha call' in 2019, no major events really transpired between 1995 and 2021.

In 2021, as mentioned previously, Skull Island was plunged into chaos when one of Monster Zero's residual storms merged with the storm system surrounding Skull Island. When darkness fell, the bat Titan Camazotz emerged and battled Kong for dominion over the island. Thanks to a daring pilot triggering a sonic boom to disorient Camazotz, Kong was able to prevail, though he was ultimately unable to save his home.

Three years later, and the artificial habitat Monarch built for Kong was unable to hold him much longer. He was reluctantly taken to the sea and transported to Antarctica's Outpost 32 (now rebuilt as a Hollow Earth station), though not without attracting Godzilla, who destroyed the naval fleet transporting him and almost drowned the ape. Following the acquisition of an axe left in the Hollow Earth by his ancestors, Kong and Godzilla clashed again in Hong Kong. While Godzilla prevailed through sheer power, Kong refused to submit to his rule.

(Pictured above: Kong leaping onto Godzilla's back from a building after staging an ambush, circa. 2024)

After being revived by an exploding H.E.A.V, Kong jumped in to stop Mechagodzilla from executing his organic counterpart. Setting aside their differences, the two Titans teamed up to take down the mecha. A blast from Godzilla's atomic breath charged up Kong's axe, and he was able to deal the finishing blow by hacking Mechagodzilla to pieces and holding its severed head in triumph. The two Titans regarded each other one more time before parting ways.

Which brings us to the present. While much of what transpired is still being compiled to our databanks, it is known that Kong returned to the surface on three different occassions. The first was to have an infected tooth removed at a Monarch facility, the second was in Egypt to coerce Godzilla into assisting him, and the third was a two-on-two battle in Brazil between Kong and Godzilla, and Shimo and the "Skar King", evil ruler of the Kong tribe in Hollow Earth.

-----

And there you go! An up-to-date account of Kong's history in the modern world, intertwined with Monarch from the 1970's. Currently, Kong is enjoying life down in the Hollow Earth, and as the world should do, this is where we leave Kong's story be, until the world needs him again.

Until next time,

Monarch: After Dark

[jimquisition]

You might have heard of this game. It’s been compared unfavorably to Gollum. It’s the one that launched in such an incomplete state that placeholder JPEGs were used in cutscenes. It deserves every bit of hate it’s gotten, for it is a con.

I’m not without sympathy for the studio that developed Rise of Kong. By all accounts, they were underfunded and rushed by a publisher whose entire MO is to squirt out cheap unfinished crap. Even so, I have to question the thought processes of the studio itself because of the weirdest artistic decision I’ve seen in a while…

[agentnico]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) review

Someone should call child services, as Kong uses a baby monkey as a weapon and flails him around like a whip, using the poor little fella to bash against incoming enemies. Granted the little chap is durable, but like….. I’m sorry, this movie is ridiculous. Like I can’t even!

Plot: Godzilla and the almighty Kong face a colossal threat hidden deep within the planet, challenging their very existence and the survival of the human race.

2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong holds a special place in my heart in that during COVID-19 it was one of the first and only films to come out during lockdown. I recall sitting in my living room suffering from high depression (I mean, who wasn’t at that time, am I right??) and I stuck on the Godzilla vs Kong film with low expectations……and I had the greatest time ever. By no means was it a masterpiece. It’s even far away from being a good film, but at that time when I was cinema-deprived and life was in a constant state of limbo, a big trashy Hollywood blockbuster with two massive CGI monsters beating the living crap of each other was exactly the entertainment I needed.

In cometh Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Naturally we’re no longer in a pandemic so the WOW factor is gone, and also Godzilla Minus One only recently came out reminding us that Godzilla can be sophisticated when need be. That being said, am I opposed to seeing some ridiculously over-the-top kaiju brawls for absolutely no other reason other than Hollywood wanting to throw money against the wall and seeing what happens? Yes. Look, from the set-up the whole thing doesn’t make sense in the first place. I get it is fantasy and suspension of disbelief is required, but it’s a giant walking nuclear power plant that holds the title of king of the monsters against a bloody monkeh. I don’t care how cool or likeable Kong is, if we’re being realistic he’d get smushed just by touching Godzilla. Like, ain’t that lizard boi radioactive?? Last time I checked radioactivity is pretty fatal. Kong should have developed multiple forms of cancer since the 2021 film, I’m just saying. But again, that’s if we’re thinking logically, however as we’ve learned from these MonsterVerse movies, logic isn’t a word that exists. So let’s enjoy the lizard and monkeh for what they are - bring it on!!

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is exactly what you expect it to be… in the last 30 minutes. The first hour and a half is actually a casual sequel to Kong: Skull Island, with Godzilla a fleeting cameo just getting up to random shenanigans, with every appearance lasting no longer than 5 seconds. I’m serious, Godzilla to this movie is like Scrat is to the Ice Age movies. If you recall the little saber-toothed squirrel hardly ever connects to the main plot-line of those films, and instead is only obsessed with getting his stupid acorn. Same with Godzilla, he fights random kaijus just cause. He takes naps in the Colosseum just cause. He eats nuclear plants for breakfast just cause. He turns Barbie-level pink just cause. His entire role in this movie is just cause. Otherwise this is through and through a King Kong movie. Not that I’m complaining, if you want to make a somewhat engaging and emotionally resonant narrative (as if this movie has a plot!), it’s easier to focus on Kong as he has the baggage of being lonely and wanting to find a home and more of his kind, so there’s something there to work with. So we spend most of the movie wit Kong as he explores Hollow Earth that’s discovered from the previous film, and I quite enjoyed all that. Does the movie need to be 2 hours long? Nope, as the whole Hollow Earth story-line is dragged out so much when in fact all that happens could have easily been told in the size of a short film. Essentially nothing much happens is what I’m saying. Like the whole thing is a set-up for the inevitable and highly anticipated final showdown that we’ve all paid for.

About the final showdown - it’s so dumb. I mean the whole movie is dumb, but the final battle breaks any last remaining realm of reason and turns into this crazy bonkers monsters v monsters smashy-bashy bonkers beat ‘em up, and it was absolutely fantastic! Again, I fully admit the stupidity of it all, but watching this movie’s finale in a crowded theatre with everyone cheering, laughing, clapping and howling alongside all the CGI madness that is thrown at our faces - it was awesome! I’d give the final 30 minutes a 10/10 score easily, as it is exactly what we want from a Godzilla and Kong movie. Godzilla spears Kong through a pyramid and then immediately follows that up with a suplex. That right there is cinematic genius!! The rest of the movie is fine and has its moments, but is just a meandering set-up for that ending.

This being a MonsterVerse movie naturally there are also some human characters that we are forced to care about. Like I give a f***, gimme me more lizard and monkeh!!! I want them here, and I want them now! To be fair the producers must have listened to the audience feedback as there is much less human stuff in this movie. There’s a useless sub-plot with Rebecca Hall and her adopted daughter that was so boring and generic and was the dullest part of the movie. Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens are a delight though, providing some enjoyable comedic tongue in cheek, with Stevens especially excelling at the one-liner quips. Nice also to see Stevens teaming back up with director Adam Wingard, the two having previously worked on the wonderful indie thriller The Guest. Honestly if you have not seen The Guest you’re missing out big time - a delightful slice of action horror with a fantastic atmosphere that sucks you in with a dash of dry black comedy edge.

Speaking of Adam Wingard, he’s evidently a good match with these goofy Fast & Furious-level silly monster flicks. He directs the movie using a fun colourful visual palette, with some fantastic sci-fi set pieces, and Hollow Earth is reminiscent very much of a Jules Verne-type adventure locale, very much in the vain of a Journey to the Centre of the Earth, or a Mysterious Island. There’s also a strong 80’s retro vibe to the movie with the techno-synth music score from Junkie XL that had strong Thor: Ragnarok feels to it. I must say through all its stupidity, visually the film is really cinematic and looks awesome on the big screen.

I had a solid time with Godzilla x Kong, especially with those last 30 minutes. Satisfyingly entertaining blockbuster fast-food. It does get a while to get there, and also the movie is fit with so many plot holes and inconsistencies, and also it really did feel like the writers were making things up as they were going along, but I don’t care. This was never intended to be high calibre award worthy filmmaking. It’s only a monkeh, standing in front of a radioactive lizard, asking him to fight together. Really entertaining and super fun. Best part was when it was revealed that Kong could talk and screamed “it’s KONGIN TIME!!’

Overall score: 6/10

[airyairyaucontraire]

I'm having a look at Monarch Legacy of Monsters (I feel like there's a bunch of "better" stuff I'm supposed to be watching before this but I have no real attachment to whether I'll like it so it's easy to start)

I understand from reading a review that the character Billy in the past timeframe with Young Kurt Russell Who's Really Kurt Russell's Son Gosh What A Chip Off The Old Block is supposed to be the younger version of the character John Goodman played in Kong: Skull Island (a movie I really enjoyed). I just feel like his character suffers from being beside the Russell père et fils collab because he looks and sounds nothing like John Goodman. Nothing at all. Literally only "white guy with brown hair" level of resemblance. John Goodman has a very distinctive voice, but they didn't cast for someone who could sound like him even if he didn't look much like him (I would easily forgive not looking much like him provided that he sounded like him). John Goodman also has a pretty recognisable nose, with a downturned tip, and this dude's nose isn't shaped like that at all. Lots of things about people's faces change with age but nose shape doesn't. A good nose (even prosthetic) and voice could have anchored the performance!

Kentaro looks like Japanese Adam Brody. Now there's a surprise resemblance!