King Kong defines what it means to get your money’s worth. Now that’s movie making! Yes, it’s “just” an entertainment, but you try imagining an entertainment like that.

Peter Jackson (with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) is an incredible story-teller. The Skull Island segment is a non-stop 45-minute (30 min? 60 min? I wasn’t checking my watch) action sequence that’s brilliant in its choreography, visual imagination, clarity and articulation. As the twists twisted, I was laughing with glee at such barrelhouse film-making.

And it’s not just chest-beating and dino-bashing (much as I liked both those things). Jackson gets at the mystery of inarticulate connection in a way that the original did not. In fact, he gets at it in a way that few have.

So, no, not great art. But great entertainment.

March of the Penguins can’t help but be fascinating since the life cycle of emperor penguins is so unintelligently designed that it’s as close to fiction as facts get. The movie is awesome.

But…

First, it goes on too long. (I know that’s the usual complaint about King Kong, but I would only have cut a few minutes out of the final battle.) The penguins drudge across endless frozen vistas. The penguins huddle. Got it.

Second, it doesn’t answer some obvious questions, including: “How the hell did they make this movie?????” and “What would have happened if having humans around disrupted the penguins’ reproductive cycle?” (If an emperor penguin had set up a camera in our bedroom, I can guarantee you that we wouldn’t have had children.) Fortunately, there’s a “making of” feature on the DVD that does answer those questions and more, including how exactly the feathered comedians get it on. [Tags: KingKong MarchOfThePenguins movies films penguins IntelligentDesign PeterJackson]

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