Kong: I took Stephen's advice and went and watched the new King Kong trailer.

Having seen both the original and then the very uneven re-make (with Bridges and Lange), this re-re-make may be the best of them all. Kong, for me, has always been the saddest of stories, which is why, perhaps it is so compelling. He's not some mindless alien, dinosaur or serial killer wearing a mask; he's just a giant version of a gorilla -- our first cousin, biologically speaking -- one that has real emotions to convey, if only we would listen. And who isn't a sucker for a blonde in a white dress?

This version, smartly, takes it back to the 30s, before satellites, GPS and stealth bombers. Let's face it, if somehow there was an unchartered island with a giant ape (and dinosaurs) running loose, together with aboriginal tribespeople, it would be bought by Disney and you'd have a Kong mug on your desk before you knew it.

More to the point, if the movie was set in "modern day," Kong would last about 6 seconds before he had about 10 hellfire missles exploding him into so many fur coats. So, kudos to Jackson for putting the story where it belongs, temporally.

Watching the trailer, it was the first time that I was able to watch CGI and forget I was watching a bunch of polygons being framed at a staggering rate. My mind was telling me that Peter Jackson must have found real giant apes and dinosaurs somewhere and got them to work for scale (and not this kind -- har har). In any event, if Jackson pulls this one off, he deserves every award they have to give. The man is simply not afraid to re-imagine the icon.

I'll see it for sure, but I reserve the right to cry.