King Kong

Yet another reason why I wish I could hop on a plane and visit the west, if just for an afternoon.

My only concern is that Jackson has gained so much power that like so many directors before him, has begun to cut his movies much too long with nobody willing to demand he overcome his impulses. It was evident in LOR, especially the last one (I went back and watched Return of the King last week and it is surprisingly better than I remember. The final 30 minutes or so were so gag-inducing that I forgot the great movie I had watched in the previous 2 hours), and with Kong at 3 hours I fear he still can't bring himself to snip the fattier parts. The first great director I noticed falling into this pattern was James Cameron on the Abyss. What could have been a great adventure flick was suddenly bogged down by a whole lot of deep nothingness.

Sometimes a good director needs a strong producer looking over his shoulder in the editing room.

Btw, speaking of the ending for Return of the King, am I the only person who thought the scene towards the end with Frodo waking in bed and all the characters rushing to his room was reminiscent of "The Wizard of Oz"? I half expected him to start telling them all about his amazing dream of going to munchkinland.