'King Kong'

'Remakes are generally a bad idea.'

That's just the kind of sentence to throw out the window before seeing this film. Take all the awful remakes this year ('Bad News Bears,' 'Guess Who,' 'The Honeymooners') and try your best to forget them; this one will make it all right again.

When the original 'King Kong' was released in 1933, its state-of-the-art special effects drove the film. No one had ever seen anything like it. In that spirit, the visual effects in this film needed to drive it as well; and who better for the job than Peter Jackson, who stunned audiences with his vision for the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

Naomi Watts gives an impassioned performace as Ann Darrow and has a blood-curtling scream that would have made Fay Wray proud. She becomes the object of the ape's affection, without the racist overtones that ran through the original film.

To make the giant, computer-generated ape's movements as lifelike as possible, Jackson brought with him another 'Rings' alumnus, Andy Serkis, who performed the voice and movements for Gollum, another character done entirely with computer generated imagery (CGI).

The effects team deserves an Oscar this year for their work and Jackson should at least get a nomination for his direction; it is, in no uncertain terms, a fantastic movie.

Nothing is perfect however; please Mr. Jackson, for everyone's sake ' stop using slow motion.

'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'

It's almost certain that if you went to a Catholic elementary school, you've had at least some small encounter with C.S. Lewis' beloved book series; a tale of four children who find themselves in the position of having to save a magical world by way of Christian allegory is just too perfect for the parish school teachers to pass up.

Brought to life by director Andrew Adamson (of 'Shrek' fame), the film retains much of the charm that makes the books so unique. Much of this can be attributed to the spectacular CGI used both to create characters such as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and reveal the vividly brilliant landscapes of Narnia that, until recently, could only have existed in the mind of a child.

Apart from the special effects and whatever was given us by Lewis, much of the human contributions to the film leave something to be desired. Only Georgie Henley, who steals the show as Lucy, the youngest of the Pevensie children, and the White Witch, as played by Tilda Swinton, are noteworthy. Aslan being the story's God/Christ figure, Swinton's White Witch is portrayed with a ferocity so as to make is undeniable that she is his Satan.

While not on the level with its fantasy-epic brother, Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings,' it isn't meant to be. 'Narnia' has a charm that is more elementary and yet no less beautiful. The film has brought this classic realm of fanciful characters and unexpected heroism to yet another generation of ready-and-waiting fans.

'Rent'

After last year's stage-to-film disaster that was 'The Phantom of the Opera,' 'Rent' was at least a step in the right direction for the idea of a movie musical. Jonathan Larson's production is undoubtedly one of the best shows to come to Broadway in the last quarter-century and the brilliance of his musical score penetrates the film. In fact, one of the film's biggest downfalls is that the music wasn't used enough. Some songs are altogether absent from the film, others were turned into an awkward sort of dialogue that interrupted the flow of the film for those familiar with the music.

The film also had the problem of unintentionally revealing some of the problems inherent to the musical. For example, having the action of a film take place over an entire year creates continuity problems for viewers; the stage is able to manipulate time in ways that film, a more visually detailed medium, cannot.

A pleasant surprise however, was the Chris Columbus' direction of the film. Known for popular family flicks ('Home Alone,' 'Mrs. Doubtfire') in which his sometimes arbitrary and random direction wasn't a liability, he brought his best stuff to this film, often finding interesting ways to capture the realities of a group living with AIDS. At times very touching, this adaptation could likely have been done no better by anyone else.

'Capote'

Nobody liked Truman Capote. He was about as unlikable a man who ever walked in the literary circles of this country. He also happened to be far ahead of his time and one of the most gifted writers of the twentieth century.

The film tells the tale of Capote's time researching the brutal murder of the entire Clutter family in Kansas. The story would eventually run in The New Yorker and become the best-selling book 'In Cold Blood.'

Philip Seymour Hoffman brings the persona of Truman Capote to the screen in remarkable fashion. Capturing his affectations of speech and behavior, Hoffman pegs Capote in a way that few actors in bio-pics have managed.

Capote works on the book for six years, enough time for his friend and traveling companion, Harper Lee, to write, publish and watch the film adaptation of 'To Kill A Mockingbird.' The story completely consumes Capote and Hoffman captures his moral decline as he befriends (perhaps falls in love with) and ultimately betrays Perry Smith, one of the killers.

Hoffman is a sure-fire nominee for Best Actor when Academy Awards time comes around and this film is an absolute must see.

Photos Courtesy:

www.moviereporter.net

www.buecher.de

www.openfilms.ne

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