I've decided to smash The Two Towers and Return of the King into one post. And I've made my own tower out of paper with my friend Stephen in honor of the movie. Ok maybe we just had a lot of creative energy.
First off, everything I said in the last post's "the-movies-are better" rant (that is the theaters) went wrong with my viewing of The Two Towers. Everything went wrong this time! My Fellowship screening was like a romanticized movie-going experience.
It was the kind you imagine when you're dressed in a tux and you are dropped off in a round about driveway by a limo driver. You escort your date to the movie, and you are seated by an usher in the absolute perfect spot. The lights go dim, and your beloved film begins. A small dog brushes past the other movie goers' feet and hops lightly onto your lap allowing you to pet him through the duration of the film. Fairies fly in and bring you popcorn, polar bears slide in with Coca Cola. Too far?
I appreciated the seeing the Fellowship because of the cinema lovers. This time Marcus and I went to Century Rio 24, the giant multi-plex in town that almost always delivers. We got there at about six thirty. Apparently too late.
I knew this, I had foreseen it.
We found a seat just in time near the front row. I was trying my best to be positive. But there were silly people to my right laughing at everything that loosely and vaguely resembled an innuendo. So, they were simply being stupid, because obviously there is nothing in Two Towers that comes close to such a notion. These people did not appreciate this film. I was LIVID! ANGRY! PIST even.
All in all, the Two Towers was great to see again, and the extended scenes added so much depth and detail. The transition between the end of Fellowship and the beginning of Two Towers was seamless with the additional scenes.
For the next film, Marcus and I decided to go to Cottonwood Mall on the Westside of town again. We had seen Fellowshp in that theater and managed to find perfect seats even though we had arrived just in time. We hoped to relive the perfect movie going experience with Return of the King. We got there about a half hour early this time and found some seats in the absolute perfect spot and enjoyed the heck out of it.
As the film started, the danger and the evil of the ring, which was not as much of a focus in the two towers, was apparent again with the opening scene of Smeagol turning into Gollum. This sort of ties all three films together. You feel the suspense and the mystery of the Fellowship and you understand Gollum a lot more from The Two Towers. Meanwhile, Gandalf and company are given a grand entrance as they walk through Fanghorn Forest into Saruman's country to deal with this wicked wizard.
As I've said before, Return of the King sort of ties up the first two films nicely. Fellowship has a tone of mystery and suspense where everyone is trying to figure out just what the ring is about. It is solely about the ring, with the Two Towers, the ring becomes something that is important, but is put aside for Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and King Theoden of Rohan to show their true courage. This is when it becomes a war film. The The Return of the King brings back the mystery and suspense of Fellowship while maintaining the obvious War Film quality of Two Towers but on a grander scale. This viewing helped me piece all of the films together and finally see them as one.
As I was watching Return of the King I realized that, as a whole, Lord of the Rings is the best film ever made. And I was watching it in theaters again. This was it. Wow.
I mean it has everything you need in a film. Love, War, Fantasy, Violence, Monsters, Beautiful people. Plus it doesn't rely on special and visual effects to tell a great story even though it is filled with oodles of CG trolls, wargs, and monsters. (For those who don't know CG is computer gernerated.)
Lord of the Rings has it all. A film like this will likely never be made again. Here's to the best in cinema.
ON OUR PAPER TOWER:
I came up with this amazing paper stacking technique which isn't that complicated or difficult to discover if you have extra construction paper and you have little to do.
You simply fold the paper like a fan and cut it to make strips. These stack beautifully. We spiraled it upward and made it taller in the center. I was super happy with the result.
It was fun to make, hopefully more pictures coming soon.
