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THE WOMAN IN RED - REVIEW

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A 1984 remake of French comedy Pardon Mon Affaire , The Woman In Red was directed by and starred Gene Wilder as a man struggling with a mid-life crisis who is tempted to have an affair with Kelly LeBrock's young model despite being happily married. The Woman In Red is a comedic look at the difference between love and lust as everyman Teddy Pierce (Wilder) first encounters the woman of his dreams as she spontaneously re-enacts that iconic Marilyn Monroe flowing dress moment and, from then on, he finds himself spiralling down into a succession of clumsy, embarrassing and very funny misjudged attempts at wooing Charlotte (LeBrock). In the vein of some earlier Woody Allen comedies or Steve Martin's The Lonely Guy , the main character's story is told to us through his eyes but we also get to step back and witness the absurdity of his actions through some enjoyably silly sequences. Gilda Radner also appears in the film as Teddy's colleague who mistakenly believes he is

KING KONG (1976) - REVIEW

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Long before Peter Jackson took on the iconic beast, John Guillermin tried his hand at a King Kong movie and, although it didn't exactly shake the world upon its release, how does it hold up looking back? Can man-in-King Kong-costume outdo CGI Kong? Actually... In terms of the King Kong character and how bad you feel for him come the inevitable downer ending, I'd probably give the point to this movie. Where Jackson's mega budget motion-captured Kong was given far too many moments to be cute and likeable, this admittedly faker-looking Kong is more akin to the 1933 classic's depiction: very much monstrous but also subtly innocent. Which means that, by the time the surprisingly violent and bloody end scene happens, it should hit you pretty hard. It's refreshing to re-watch this one post-the 2005 version as it makes the latter's flaws stand out a little better. The recent film just tried too hard to get to that dramatic ending (see the random ice-skating sc