Lord of the Rings Continued (The One Tower)

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.

Fellowship of the Ring AGAIN?!

Forget Netflix. The Movie Theater Still Matters

That's right, I prefer the babies crying, people telling you to shut up because of your geeky giddiness, people reading subtitles for their children. I would rather sit in a room full of respectable film appreciators who enjoy the cinema-going experience. I prefer that over sitting in a room by myself wondering which instant netflix movie I'm gonna let buffer while I wait for my tea kettle to boil. Going to the movies never felt so good.



I don't prefer the occasional drunks that wonder into Century 14 downtown Albuquerque multiplex, but that's beside the point.

Earlier this spring I discovered that The Lord of the Rings film series would be released to movie theaters again this year. My personal nerdometer rose to an all-time high. My friend Marcus said, "We'll be going to that one, right Andres?" I agreed, and--I don't know why I am surprised--but it has been the best experience I've had at the movies all year--Aside from making fun of the poor choices in Thor with my friend Jessie and witnessing the remains of a popcorn-induced vomit in the little boys room at Anchorage's multiplex.


Me Disappearing as a result of the ONE RING.

At least with Fellowship of the Ring you know that you aren't going to want your money back at the end of the night. Other movies like Thor, X-Men, Pirates, etc. They're pretty decent and they are fun and feel-goody and all that summer movie nonsense. They've got the explosions and pretty people. Fellowship has the pretty people (basically all of them) and great special effects of course, but the film is about much more than that. With the re-release of Lord of the Rings, or LOTR as we geeks like to abbreviate it, at least you know that your movie going experience will be worthwhile.

This was my second favorite viewing of Fellowship. The first time I saw it was obviously my favorite experience. It was great to be in a theater full of appreciating fans who are there to see it for maybe the 50th time. There is this positive energy you feel when everyone is enjoying the same thing you are--a great community experience. The film never looked and sounded better than this as far as I can remember. Peter Jackson isn't so much like George Lucas--that is he doesn't try to sell his movie anyway he can find a way to and in every format. (Lucas now wants to make his Star Wars into 3D, really Lucas?) Jackson is reasonable, a great artist and businessman when it comes down to it. This was a "rare" event as he called it.

Though the girl next to me told me to shut up, I knew it was because she was wanting to enjoy the film and I wasn't too offended because I knew we were being obnoxious with our giddiness. When the child was having the subtitles read aloud to her, I thought she was probably seeing it for the first time and I was glad that she was! What a special moment. I just wish her mother wouldn't have read the poetic lines so monotone and matter-of-factly. Imagine: "I love you Aragorn" (or whatever the line is) spoken by your least favorite college professor behind you.

I teared up at least three times in this viewing. The obvious ones:

• When Gandalf dies.
• When Borimir dies.
• When Sam and Frodo share that moment at the end. (Sam nearly dies.)
• That's right, 'dies' is in red. Perhaps a reference to Legolas' line in The Two Towers?
  

The Not-So Obvious reason I teared up:

• When the movie began and all of that amazing cinematography came and went in montage, it's enough to make a grown up fan-boy throw a slumber party even at 23. (Am I really getting to re-experience this masterpiece?)

Stuff I was surprised by this time around:

• The amount of times frodo falls. (When stabbed, in Moria (at least 2 or three times), when being chased by wraiths and he jumps onto raft, when Borimir tries to take the ring, off the historic platform at the climax of film when he takes ring off.
• How many close-ups Peter Jackson chooses to use and how far in he goes. I forgot how intimate the scenes between Arwen and Aragorn are, that is how close the camera gets to them. I'm not uncomfortable by this, it works great! Jackson likes to get in really close to his characters eyes.
• All of the helicopter shots. I am always surprised by it every time I see this film. Fellowship has the most and the most beautiful of the three. It's a regular tour of New Zealand's country side--the country has to give Jackson and crew credit for bringing in so many tourists looking for things like Gollum and cave trolls. It's beautiful cinematography.
  

I never appreciated the extended edition of this film probably because I have never seen it in theaters before or in its full context. (I would often go through the films and watch the added footage.) I had some doubts about spending this money to go see a film I had already seen before. But truthfully I have never seen this film in theaters. I've seen its shorter version before. This one is better and I am glad I am going to all three parts of it.