(Peter Jackson, US/New Zealand/Germany 2005, 187 min., DCP)
As his follow-up to the Best Picture-winning Return of the King, Peter Jackson tackles this re-make of the Great Ape, thirty years after the last one. Focusing on the adventure aspect of traveling to an uncharted island and the new biological discoveries it holds, Jackson’s version strips out much of the dialogue to center the action, owing a great debt to silent film, and The Lost World in particular. His 21st century version of 1930s New York is more immersive, making full use of computer animation to re-create and expand upon the “modern” world Kong is brought back to. James Newton Howard’s score has its share of action-oriented horns and drums, but it also gives Kong a voice in his more tender scenes by accenting strings and piano.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | Cape Fear (DCP)
The Art of Music in the Movies Florida lawyer Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) is assailed by a fearsome voice from his past, Max Cady, a man he'd once put away. Mitchum plays Cady as a creature completely molded of evil, death in a Hawaiian shirt.
Film Screenings | Wall-E (DCP)
The Art of Music in the Movies With almost no dialogue for its first forty minutes, and only 862 total words of dialogue in the film, Wall-E depends nearly entirely on its score and soundscape. Thomas Newman’s score helps to develop the relationship between Wall-E, a trash-compacting droid abandoned on a desolate Earth, and EVE, an advanced probe droid sent to the planet to scan for signs of life.
Film Screenings | King Kong (DCP)
The Art of Music in the Movies As his follow-up to the Best Picture-nominated The Towering Inferno, John Guillermin tackles this re-make of the Great Ape, forty years after the original. Conforming to the style of the time, this version is a disaster spectacle, with large sets, complicated rigs, and a mixture of miniatures, inserts, suits, and makeup to achieve its effects.