The king of DVD delivers again

You've got a few different kinds of DVDs. You've got older discs, which are usually pretty sparse. They'll have just the film, maybe a trailer and a couple of advertisements for other movies. Newer ones have a few things that come standard; there's always a special features section, usually deleted scenes, maybe a couple of storyboard galleries and some artwork and the perennially boring "cast and crew" filmography. Kind of disappointing. Nothing that really adds to the movie itself, anyway. Then you've got a Peter Jackson DVD.\nThese are like the tomahawk jams of the DVD world. The discs for his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy looked more like bookends than movies -- Jackson overloads, gives you a detailed look at what it actually takes to make the films and effectively doubles the viewing time of the actual feature. Cause, hey, if you're going to pay $30 to watch a movie, you may as well be able to justify it to yourself.\nThe recent DVD release of "King Kong" is no different. Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic was lavish, dramatic, three-hours-long and wonderfully entertaining when it was in theatres, and now that the special edition DVD is out, the total "Kong" experience is three-hours-longer. That's six hours on one movie. That's, like, a fourth of a day, man.\nWhile the special features lack the obligatory director's commentary and deleted scenes, it makes up for their absence in a lot of ways. The amount of shit Jackson and friends find to put on these discs is astounding. \nFirst, you've got an introduction by Jackson himself, and you'll need it since there's a lot to go over, especially in the "post production diaries," which cover every minute aspect of making a massive Hollywood feature. They're cross referenced by both date and subject, for easy viewing and there are roughly 50 or so little vignettes on every detail of the film's making. Curious as to how they built a ruined city on the edge of a Polynesian jungle? Lots of Styrofoam. They'll show you how.\nWanna know how they made a realistic looking 25-foot gorilla for the picture show? They dressed Andy Serkis up in a lightbulb suit and filmed him rolling around a sound studio for a few weeks. There's hours of this stuff. They left no stone unturned; every conceivable question is answered. And surprisingly, most of it's interesting.\nAfter the diaries, which are really the meat of the DVD, there's two documentaries: one titled, "Skull Island: A Natural History," which is a semi-historical farce about the flora and fauna of Jackson's imaginary playground, and another called "Kong's New York, 1933," which is what they'll probably end up showing bored Channel One high school students 10 years from now when they learn about the Great Depression. They're pretty standard, and nothing to write home about, especially after the diary section.\nAll in all, Jackson delivers again. The movie, unaltered, is still cool and the special features just make it a better. So yeah, man, that's good. Check it out.