Well the holidays have passed and I've not seen as many movies as I had wanted, but I did get to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, as well as, King Kong. Potter was very well done, well acted and as faithful to the book as it possibly could be in two plus hours. However, the strength of Rowlings books is from the relationships between the characters and that includes the antagonists, esp. Malfoy and Snape. The time contraints only allowed the story to focus on the TriWizard Tournament. The almost total absence of Malfoy and Snape makes me wonder how all of these movies are going to work together as a whole once all of them are made. The rush to get these movies on the big screen before the books have been completed may turn out to do a disservice to the adaptations.

King Kong was somewhat disappointing. I fully expected a movie that needed every second of those three and a half hours to tell it's thrilling tragic tale. After all, Peter Jackson with The Lord of the Rings had proven that he could make a blockbuster epic and not get bogged down in dazzling effects, instead keeping his focus on story and character. I was surprised to find this movie could be trimmed by a full hour. Unlike the more common opinion I've read, I don't believe the trimming should have come in the somewhat drawn out beginning. I actually enjoyed the fact that Jackson took his time, building up the anticipation and payoff of arriving at Skull Island...much like movies had been done prior to MTV (although he certainly could have made the boat trip leaner). My criticism is of the overlong, effects laden action sequences on Skull Island, particularly the Brontosaurus chase and the fight in the insect cave. These sequences garnered as much screen time as Kong's fight with the T-Rex's which was much more integral to the story. The equal weight given to these threw off the pacing of the film and took away from the development of the relationship between Driscoll and Darrow, and made the relationship between Darrow and Kong (though the movies strongest point) feel like the subplot.

Of course, when the movie works, and there are plenty of places it does...it really works. Andy Serkis as Kong is as nuanced and heart-rending as Gollum. With gestures, and facial expressions he conveys more emotion than really anyone else in the film. The work of Serkis and Jackson in this, as well as the Lord of the Rings, is where Jackson's contribution to the advancement of effects technology is really felt. Nobody has managed to bring such emotional depth to cgi characters.

I've taken a break from fantasy reading, moving on to some archaeology to help me with some ideas I've had for a fantasy series, and also an historical fiction novel, To the Last Man, by Jeff Shaara about The First World War. Every now and then I need to clear my palate. Since there was a string of releases from my favorite authors beginning in fall of 04 (Tad Williams, Jacqueline Carey, China Mieville, and Stephen R Donaldson), I've been immersed in fantasy. Once I'm back into fantasy I'm not sure what I'll read. I have some time to think on it.

I'm continuing with Rootlands, trying to write as regularly as possible. Its not easy, but I've actually been doing better. I'm usually too tired to write at night, but that seems to be changing...as it is almost 9pm and my brainwaves are still functioning.