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One Ring To Rule Them All
Yes, I've seen it. I have already seen it twice actually. Hope you enjoy my review. This issue also marks the beginning of my early 2002 movie preview. I'll give my two cents on the movies being released in the next four months. Today, we begin with January 2002. In my next column, Hollyfeld will review The Shipping News.
My Review of The Fellowship of The Ring
I had been waiting for this screening for months. The biggest movie of the year by a landslide. New Line Cinema has invested a lot of money in The Lord of The Rings that it cannot fail. Shot for 15 consecutive months in New Zealand under the careful eye of Peter Jackson (The Frighteners). We finally see the first chapter in a giant size saga that will unwrap every Christmas for the next three years. The saga begins with The Fellowship of The Ring...
In the land of Middle-Earth, the evil overlord Sauron has awakened from a 3000 year-old coma. To achieve world domination he needs his precious ring which he lost three millennium ago. The ring is in the possession of a hobbit (a good ole vertically challenged man) called Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). On his 111th birthday, he decides to pass his ring to his nephew Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). The mystical wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) tells Frodo he must destroy the ring or else the land will fall to darkness. Destroying the ring is a bit complicated. The ring can only be demolished by throwing it in the lava of Mt. Doom in the land of Mordor. Before you can yell ROAD TRIP, Frodo, three of his Hobbit friends and Gandalf embark on their mission to destroy the ring. Along the way they're threatened by dark riders, orcs, trolls etc... They also enlist humans Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) the dwarf. Together they form The Fellowship of the Ring.
Let's throw the flowers first. Peter Jackson did a dazzling job directing this film. I have never seen anything quite like it. It's stupifyingly magnificent and obliterates any preconceived incertitude concerning this endeavor. Visually sensational with a very nicely written script, it works perfectly. There will be a great injustice if Peter Jackson is not nominated for a Best Directing Oscar. The first half of the movie is the best 90 minutes of film in 2001. It's brilliant. The first fifteen minutes which explains the ring's origin and how Sauron lost it is one of the greatest openings of any movie. To fully enjoy the movie, make sure your theater has THX sound. I can't imagine seeing the movie without THX.
The film has an effective cast with no real standout beside Ian McKellen. His Gandalf is great and he'll probably be nominated for an Oscar. The hobbits were okay. Elijah Wood was allright, way better then I expected. Viggo Mortensen is very good. He doesn't steal the show like Hugh Jackman in X-Men, but does an impressive job setting up his character for the next installments. Ian Holm and Christopher Lee have glorified cameos. Both are great. Liv Tyler is in this movie for ten minutes and it's perfect. Cate Blanchett's Galadriel is freaky but in a good way.
I have a few problems with this movie: It's too long. I began to be bored at the end of the second hour. It starts to drag a little in the third hour. Unfortunately to be faithful to the book it meant a longer length. It hurt the film a little. Some members of the fellowship were seriously underwritten. Legolas and Gimli are window-dressing while Pippin and Merry are comedic tools only. I didn't care for the fellowship, I only wanted to follow Frodo, Gandalf or Aragorn. Sauron might be the villain but the movie is split between two henchmen. The amazing and incredible Dark Riders or the boring Orcs. The ringwraiths are unbelievable while the orcs are bland. As for cinematic value, the ending is terrible. Extremely bad, but of course we have to follow the book's finale. A regular moviegoer, with no background of LOTR, will definitely be a little disappointed with the ending. A trailer for The Two Towers could have saved some dignity to the conclusion.
A Must-See movie event that nobody should miss. Beautiful beginning to an astounding trilogy that will rock the movie world.
January 2002 Movie Preview
This preview won't include A Beautiful Mind, The Shipping News or Blackhawk Down. These movies will open within the next two weeks and are serious Oscars contenders. Here's the rest of a very weak January:
Impostor
This movie has been postponed for a year and a half. Like the abysmal Texas Rangers, Miramax finally decided to dump this movie. An interesting cast with Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio and Mekhi Phifer. A sci-fi plot that sounds a lot like The One or The Sixth Day. (Two Gary Sinise for the price of one) There must be a reason why it languish in release date hell? I know, It Sucks! (January 4th)
Orange County
MTV Films (A division of Paramount) has tried releasing successful teen movies in January ever since Varsity Blues in 1999 and last year's blockbuster Save The Last Dance. This time we get the first feature film with Colin Hanks as the lead. The son of you-know-who has done a few supporting gig, a TV role (As Alex on Roswell) and a guest appearance on Band of Brothers. He's talented enough but nowhere near his famous dad. The trailer for this movie is hilarious, showing glimpses of a very deep supporting cast. (John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase and Catherine O'Hara) My only real problem is Jack Black. He can be hilariously good (Shallow Hal) and awfully bad (Saving Silverman). Judging from the trailer, it looks more like Silverman then Hal. Hopefully I'm worrying for nothing. If this movie works, look for Jake Kasdan, the director to become the next big comedy helmer.(January 11th)
Kung Pow! Enter The Fist
The director of Ace Ventura 2 goes Kung Fu. This project that mixes an old Kung Fu flicks with modern day scenes sounds incredibly stupid. If you've seen the trailer, I can only offer my sympathies for suffering through even that much. For what it cost, I'm sure they'll make some money back though. Avoid this one at all costs...(January 18th)
Snow Dogs
Almost cried seeing the trailer for this film. With this movie and Rat Race, Cuba Gooding Jr.'s movie career is OVER. Such a talent gone to waste. Another Disney crapfest, let's move on.(January 18th)
The Mothman Prophecies
DeadPool's pick for movie of the month. This thriller will scare audiences, I'm sure. A very good plot dealing with a reporter (Richard Gere) investigating sightings and bizarre visions in West Virginia. He's helped by a local cop (Laura Linney) and starts to believe in what he's discovering. The movie is based on a true story which is pretty hard to swallow. A very good script, that I enjoyed tremendously. I adored Mark Pellington's previous directorial job on Arlington Road. Good supporting cast with Debra Messing and Will Patton. This movie won't disappoint us, I can prophetize it.(January 25th)
A Walk to Remember
Fresh off his cameo in Ocean's 11, Shane West goes after the minister's daughter, Mandy Moore??? The Britney-wannabe does her leading lady debut in what looks like an awful piece of garbage. Almost threw-up during the trailer when I had to painfully sit through it. It will disappear like other Whatever it Takes or Get Over It did.(January 25th)
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
