Go Ape for Kong: Skull Island
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.
MOVIES
Big Release on March 10: Kong: Skull Island
Big Picture: We’ve been lost here before — an island in the South Pacific “where myths and science meet.” Only Skull Island replaces the Smoke Monster with King Kong, and Hurley and John Locke with John C. Reilly (sporting the beard of the year), and John Goodman. This Kong franchise reboot finds a surveying team — including Tom Hiddleston (Norse god vs. Ape god) — mapping a mysterious island by dropping hightech explosives on it. They quickly run into a local resident whose BIG trouble. The island even has its own “Others,” followers of Kong (the requisite clichéd, nearly-naked, painted tribesman). It turns out Kong doesn’t smile much, but he’s a relatively benevolent ruler (like Queen Elizabeth, only with more hair and fewer hats).
But he’s not a fan of people who drop bombs on his home. And for good reason. The blasts wake up giant “skull crawlers,” scaly, manylegged beasts that slumber beneath the island’s uncanny soil. Soon it’s essentially Man & Monster vs. Monsters.
BTW: Kong looks like a cross between Harry from Harry and the Hendersons (1987) and Caesar from Planet of the Apes — if such a creature subsisted on a diet of steroids and growth hormones.
Forecast: Shake Kong’s paw, this one looks like fun. I’m hoping the movie ends with the team relocating the ape king to the mainland to rule America. At this point, that would be a massive leadership upgrade. TV
Big Events: Amy Schumer: The Leather Special Comedy (March 7, Netflix); Kicking and Screaming (March 9, Fox)
Big Picture: Cheer up! Spring is almost here. Plus, there’s a new standup special from the leading lady of comedy. Schumer’s The
Leather Special leaves no stone unturned as she turns the raunch meter up to 11. Meanwhile, Kicking and
Screaming is a new reality survival competition that pairs outdoor, survival experts with “pampered partners,” and strands them in a remote, untameable paradise. It’s like watching the popular kids from high school humiliated on national TV. (I would actually have been excited about this show if it had been set on Skull Island).
Forecast: Schumer is always funny, whether in leather or not. Plus, her standup sure beats the mockumentary I keep seeing on TV about a brainless, amoral, narcissistic blowhard who becomes U.S. president. (I keep changing the channel, but it seems to be on every network).
MUSIC
Big Releases on March 10: The Shins (Heartworms); Hurray for the Riff Raff (The Navigator)
Big Picture: The Shins fifth studio album is their first since 2002, and long overdue. Few indie rockers can so effortlessly blend joy, sarcasm, witticism, melody and lush instrumentation. Frontman James Mercer also produces most of the tracks. The song Name For
You is all about female empowerment (inspired by the singer’s trio of daughters), while songs like Fantasy Island and Dead
Alive sound like they should be on the Kong: Skull Island soundtrack. (Speaking of, I’d hate to see the size of the big ape’s heartworms). After their addictive folkand-blues soaked breakthrough in 2014, the Riff Raff rock out, navigating in new directions. Alynda Segarra’s lyrics are infused with social-justice messages.
Forecast: You’ll be shouting, “hip, hip, hurray” for this Riff Raff. Another Shins success will finally lead to long-awaited (by me) copycat bans like Femur, Tonsil, Clavicle and Lateral Cuneiform Bone.