"Kong: Skull Island" Review (Spoilers)
Apr. 9th, 2021 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, The Flash, Supergirl and Clarice.
Kong: Skull Island
It certainly had more interesting human characters than the first Godzilla. So I probably liked it a little better.
That being said, I think I was put off by some of the violence. A lot of people died in the Godzilla movie too, but most of that was because of buildings destroyed and you didn't actually see the people dying. Here you see a guy getting ripped apart in mid-air. Frankly the PG-13 rating was a total joke and another sign the MPAA is unfathomably corrupt. It's rated PG-13 because Warner Bros bought that rating. An independent film with that exact level of violence would have been rated R easily, with no room for negotiation. It's a sickness at this point.
Weird fact: For the first time that I can remember, Samuel L Jackson is the guy playing the most annoying character in the film. In Packard's defense, I suspect the character would have been a hundred times even more annoying than that if anybody else but Jackson had played him.
Notes I took about the differences between Godzilla and Kong:
-The producers of this film showed Kong in some quiet and peaceful moments. Frankly the Godzilla producers should have thought to do this too.
-Unlike Godzilla, Kong actually notices people. That's good or bad depending on if he's attacking or saving them.
-Kong can actually use tools. Just that fact alone gives Kong an edge for his upcoming Godzilla fight.
-I suck at recognizing scale but it DOES seem to me that Godzilla is much larger. Godzilla is still in the running as far as I'm concerned.
I hated Cole's death. I mean he intended to go out a self-sacrificing hero and that lizard made it pointless instead. I hated that.
John Goodman's scientist was quite a character. John C Reilly was fun too.
Pretty good. But things got so gory by the end that I was exhausted. But hey, at least John C Reilly got to go home! ****.
Deleted Scenes:
The first scene is done to make Packard a little more likable and sympathetic. I like the scene where the guy is amazed that computers are now small enough to be able to fit an entire unit on a helicopter. ***1/2.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier "The Whole World Is Watching"
Yikes!
Great episode title in hindsight.
I've made up my mind. I don't like John Walker. And that was even before the murder. Sam would have settled the entire thing with Karli peacefully if he wasn't such a tool.
Lemar offering the opinion that powers only make you more of the person you already were is good writing and foreshadowing. That was clearly deliberately telegraphing the ending to have that opinion come from him, and very well played by the writers. Excellent stuff.
Ayo snapping up one of Bucky's arms strikes me as the dirtiest of moves.
I loved watching Zemo looking at the formula and you have no idea what he's thinking. And then he just starts stomping and destroying as much of the serum as he can see. I am about to pay Zemo the highest compliment I can give a person: He is interesting.
Great stuff. Should have aired this first. *****.
The Flash "The One With The Nineties"
I liked it. I liked the stuff with Chester and his father, and I liked Cisco naming the new Speed Forces. Iris's hair was a scream, and so was Frost's hippie look.
Barry doesn't seem to happy with Nora sleeping over. Think Iris misread that.
I like dinosaurs. I'm not made of stone.
A lot of the 90's pop-culture references and phrases were either too soon or too late. A bit sloppy there.
But I still liked it. ****.
Supergirl "A Few Good Women"
That was purely awful. How awful? I am legitimately upset after watching that. Riverdale level of upset. My blood is boiling.
Courtroom stuff on Berlanti shows is always SO bad and SO incompetently written it makes me question everything about the writers and the people involved in producing this show. Are the writers as stupid as this episode hints they are? Or do they merely think the audience is dumb enough to buy this? I can't tell which is worse. Either way, I think the writers of this episode do not belong working in television. There are plenty of other talented writers they are taking away good jobs from. This is not something we as an audience should ever tolerate. And Berlanti has been coasting with incompetent writers for years. Sometimes (like on Riverdale and Titans) it gets SO bad I see red. I saw red this episode too.
And Jon Cryer remains the single worst Lex Luthor that was ever cast, live-action or animated. And his beard is cr*p. It's like Donald Trump Jr. and Ted Cruz's faces took a dump on each other.
Thin ice, Supergirl. Not the place you want to be in the last ever season. 0.
Clarice "Ugly Truth"
Case of the week was super creepy.
The reason Murray is always looking at porn is a brilliant one. I always pegged him for a lech and it's very interesting that isn't it at all.
Krendler is in a lot of trouble.
Good episode. ****.
Kong: Skull Island
It certainly had more interesting human characters than the first Godzilla. So I probably liked it a little better.
That being said, I think I was put off by some of the violence. A lot of people died in the Godzilla movie too, but most of that was because of buildings destroyed and you didn't actually see the people dying. Here you see a guy getting ripped apart in mid-air. Frankly the PG-13 rating was a total joke and another sign the MPAA is unfathomably corrupt. It's rated PG-13 because Warner Bros bought that rating. An independent film with that exact level of violence would have been rated R easily, with no room for negotiation. It's a sickness at this point.
Weird fact: For the first time that I can remember, Samuel L Jackson is the guy playing the most annoying character in the film. In Packard's defense, I suspect the character would have been a hundred times even more annoying than that if anybody else but Jackson had played him.
Notes I took about the differences between Godzilla and Kong:
-The producers of this film showed Kong in some quiet and peaceful moments. Frankly the Godzilla producers should have thought to do this too.
-Unlike Godzilla, Kong actually notices people. That's good or bad depending on if he's attacking or saving them.
-Kong can actually use tools. Just that fact alone gives Kong an edge for his upcoming Godzilla fight.
-I suck at recognizing scale but it DOES seem to me that Godzilla is much larger. Godzilla is still in the running as far as I'm concerned.
I hated Cole's death. I mean he intended to go out a self-sacrificing hero and that lizard made it pointless instead. I hated that.
John Goodman's scientist was quite a character. John C Reilly was fun too.
Pretty good. But things got so gory by the end that I was exhausted. But hey, at least John C Reilly got to go home! ****.
Deleted Scenes:
The first scene is done to make Packard a little more likable and sympathetic. I like the scene where the guy is amazed that computers are now small enough to be able to fit an entire unit on a helicopter. ***1/2.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier "The Whole World Is Watching"
Yikes!
Great episode title in hindsight.
I've made up my mind. I don't like John Walker. And that was even before the murder. Sam would have settled the entire thing with Karli peacefully if he wasn't such a tool.
Lemar offering the opinion that powers only make you more of the person you already were is good writing and foreshadowing. That was clearly deliberately telegraphing the ending to have that opinion come from him, and very well played by the writers. Excellent stuff.
Ayo snapping up one of Bucky's arms strikes me as the dirtiest of moves.
I loved watching Zemo looking at the formula and you have no idea what he's thinking. And then he just starts stomping and destroying as much of the serum as he can see. I am about to pay Zemo the highest compliment I can give a person: He is interesting.
Great stuff. Should have aired this first. *****.
The Flash "The One With The Nineties"
I liked it. I liked the stuff with Chester and his father, and I liked Cisco naming the new Speed Forces. Iris's hair was a scream, and so was Frost's hippie look.
Barry doesn't seem to happy with Nora sleeping over. Think Iris misread that.
I like dinosaurs. I'm not made of stone.
A lot of the 90's pop-culture references and phrases were either too soon or too late. A bit sloppy there.
But I still liked it. ****.
Supergirl "A Few Good Women"
That was purely awful. How awful? I am legitimately upset after watching that. Riverdale level of upset. My blood is boiling.
Courtroom stuff on Berlanti shows is always SO bad and SO incompetently written it makes me question everything about the writers and the people involved in producing this show. Are the writers as stupid as this episode hints they are? Or do they merely think the audience is dumb enough to buy this? I can't tell which is worse. Either way, I think the writers of this episode do not belong working in television. There are plenty of other talented writers they are taking away good jobs from. This is not something we as an audience should ever tolerate. And Berlanti has been coasting with incompetent writers for years. Sometimes (like on Riverdale and Titans) it gets SO bad I see red. I saw red this episode too.
And Jon Cryer remains the single worst Lex Luthor that was ever cast, live-action or animated. And his beard is cr*p. It's like Donald Trump Jr. and Ted Cruz's faces took a dump on each other.
Thin ice, Supergirl. Not the place you want to be in the last ever season. 0.
Clarice "Ugly Truth"
Case of the week was super creepy.
The reason Murray is always looking at porn is a brilliant one. I always pegged him for a lech and it's very interesting that isn't it at all.
Krendler is in a lot of trouble.
Good episode. ****.
