Month: April 2022

Continuing my foray into humankind’s exploitation of other creatures is this one-sided documentary on the grotesque mistreatment of orcas at marine parks, especially SeaWorld. It is hard to imagine what SeaWorld’s response to the details of the documentary would be other than captive orcas bring in money, but the film does suffer from being rather blatant propaganda. Regardless it is effective and lays down many questions as to what value utilizing intelligent animals for the enjoyment of less intelligent humans offers the world.  

I don’t know if I’ve just seen too many adaptations of the story or if I’ve actually seen this version before, but this was exceptionally familiar. Regardless, upon this watch, I realized that other than some smoother special effects in later editions, the others don’t actually improve upon the story. The 1930s time period is perfect for the spectacle of unreflected pillaging of foreign lands and then garishly exhibiting the plunder despite plenty of warnings on the folly of both. I appreciate practical effects so much more than computerized special effects and there is plenty on display here, especially when the expedition is on Skull Island. Kong looks a bit too cute and friendly in closeup, but that aids in humanizing the poor creature.   

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has described this as Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers. During a war with an invading alien race, Tom Cruise is a public relations officer for the military who is forced into combat after angering General Brendan Gleeson. During his first mission, he’s squirted with alien blood which causes him to reboot back to the same day any time he is killed. It’s a surprisingly entertaining bit of sci-fi adventure, making great use of Cruise’s charm and advancing age paired with Emily Blunt as a somewhat unlikely super soldier, that manages to maintain a level of humor amidst its high stakes.