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king kong

Ray Harryhausen

As mentioned here, finally the post about Ray Harryhausen—not before time, as his work loomed large in my childhood!

(I’m assuming everyone knows who Ray is, and what stop-motion animation is…)

Stop-motion is, of course, long since deprecated, especially since the wonders of CGI took over everything and made the world of cinema so much more entertaining and lovely. Maybe I’m being a little facetious. Maybe I just prefer the human touch and don’t feel shiny perfection is the be-all and end-all of everything. How old-fashioned!!

Ray, like everyone else who saw it as a kid, became absolutely obsessed with the original King Kong (1933) when he got to see it during its original run. The ground-breaking visuals in Kong (especially the stop-motion work) inspired Ray to pursue the field himself. Unlike everyone else, he actually got to meet FX pioneer Willis O’Brien, who became his mentor.

Kong was my absolute fave as a little kid (still is, really). Well, how could you not love this fella?

King Kong
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Hulk #182 (1974)

“Between Hammer and Anvil”

THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS!

Written by Len Wein. Pencilled & Inked by Herb Trimpe. Lettered by John Costanza. Coloured by Glynis Wein. Edited by Roy Thomas. Published in 1974 by Marvel Comics.

Summary: Stanley Kramer Meets John Steinbeck via the Outer Limits.

Let’s talk about one of my favourite comics. There are a few reasons why this is so: the Hulk was the first comics character I really bonded with, for one thing, and it was by accident. My nan used to buy me random comics when I was a little kid, and one of them was a Marvel UK Hulk book—which I doubt my mom would have ever bought me—and I instantly liked him. I already loved the original King Kong (1933), as well as all the Universal Monsters—I was definitely a Monster Kid. The Hulk was somewhere between Frankenstein’s Monster and Kong… today, I also see a lot of Lennie Small (Of Mice and Men) in him. And I do mean the 1970s Hulk—there are a number of spins on him, but the ’70s one is IMO the best.

Hulk #182 cover
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Random Film Comments

Films we’ve watched recently:

Wrong Turn… verdict: okay. I think I appreciated it being fairly WYSIWG, no hidden twists or ‘clever’ variations. There were some moments of genuine tension and suspense. Not an original bone in its body, and if you’ve seen Hills Have Eyes et al, why bother? Along similar(ish) lines, Cabin Fever seems to have had good reviews, so I’ll probably check it out whenever.

Wrong Turn 2003
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Favourite Films

A new Monday feature: Top Tens. For the next few weeks, anyway. This week I’ll try to list my…

TOP TEN MOVIES

Only about half of these movies would always make my list, no matter what; the rest is prone to change daily. Listed in no particular order…

01. King Kong (1933) Sentimental choice, of course—the four-year-old me who first saw this was spellbound. Today? It still it has a marvellous sense of wonder.

King Kong (1933)
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