HAL-98

Tolkien penned a classic that will be eternal. With anticipation and

skepticism I awaited the release of this movie. The former

animated versions were painful to watch. I never could understand

the compulsion to make Samwise to look like a toad. Jackson's effort has some flaws. I realize that his vision could not

match the visions of individual millions of fans of the LOR. My

admiration won out and I enjoyed the movie more than any movie I

have seen since Apollo 13. The casting was brilliant. I do wish the

dialog was more in line with the book, especially in the

confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman. Saruman's abandonment of the "white" in favor of the "rainbow" robe was

important in the book as Gandalf's "promotion" later in the book

reveals. The acting was good to great, with Sean Bean's protrayal as

Boromir stealing the show. I do not understand why he was not

nominated for an Academy Award for Supporting Actor. He seized

the essence of the character and ran with it. Arwen's role was

expanded in the movie whereas in the book she played a backround role. Liv Tyler was perfect for the role with her natural

elfish looks. Special effects were brilliant as expected and I eagerly await both

sequels.

Made at the tail end of the Hippy movement, this mildly entertaining little Sci-Fi piece had all the elements of that culture: evironmental paranoia, a quirky lead character( Bruce Dern), social relevance, and a message of extremism. I liked it more when it first came out, but on a recent TV viewing I thought this would be a perfect movie for MST 3000. It's just lame enough.

I enjoyed the first 3 Superman flicks. Even though Superman III

had its problems, at least it was entertaining, this cannot be said

for Superman IV. The script was lame and the action was so

boring that even it's target audience (the PC crowd) could not be

seduced into the theaters. It made it quickly to video and late night

movie channels where it can be useful as a sleep inducer. It's on my top ten turkey list.