I know we’re all taking off for the holidays, but the failure of major entertainment reporters to step up and face the reality of the Great Middle-American Ho-Humming of King Kong is amazing. This is a hugely surprising story and….zzzzz. Joseph Jones , a reader, says he “saw King Kong last night at an AMC multiplex here in Tampa. We arrived an hour prior to the show, expecting a line (I remember arriving an hour before a showing of Jurassic Park back in 1993 — and still ending up near the back of the line and in dreadful off-to-the-side seats) but we were the first ones there. We were let into the theater a half-hour before the show, and, by this time, there were maybe 10 people. By the time the show started, there were plenty of empty seats…still. I can’t say I share your enthusiasm for the film — I found that first hour pretty much intolerable, the second hour ok, and the third hour fantastic. Yet, by that time, I was grateful for this bombastic flick to finally end. Audience reaction seemed good but not great. I overheard the group behind me saying that they’d enjoyed other films this year more (Batman Begins was mentioned as a preferred film). My companion commented that while there was some truly amazing stuff in the film, there was also a lot of bad stuff in the film. I imagine word-of-mouth is going to be mixed.”