Have a Lethal Gremlins French Connection Christmas: 21 non-holiday holiday movies

Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong certainly isn’t perfect. Aside from a badass and an effectively squirmy scene with , Skull Island feels more like a video game than a movie, and did we really need the mentor subplot between the first mate and Jamie Bell’s stowaway? Luckily, things pick back up once the action shifts Stateside, especially when Kong goes on his iconic rampage through the Big Apple. Unlike the original, however, there’s a quiet moment for the giant ape and Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) between his escape and his last stand atop the Empire State Building. When he comes across a frozen pond in Central Park, he can’t help but get a little playful with his potential mate (as primates are known to do), sliding across the ice and tumbling into snowbanks as Darrow’s terror gives way to laughter. While many have dismissed the sequence as silly, it deepens the bond between the two characters, a bond that ends up being essential for the final line of the film to ring true. Also, the image of Christmas trees twinkling against the New York skyline captures the magic of winter in the city, exuding Yuletide comfort for gorilla and human alike. [Dan Caffrey]