"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

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The midnight showing tonight, December 26th begins the films run and will end the three part trilogy to world critical acclaim -- even Roeper who wasn't impressed by the first film praised the trilogy for working upwards, each part was much better than the first part (which still was nominated and won several Oscars, with Ian McClellan walking away with the Screen Actor's Guild award as Gandalf). Ebert and Roeper compared it to "The Matrix" which worked backwards as most sequels do -- the last film was the weakest of the three. Can anyone every get a studio to ever finance a trilogy again to be filmed at one time? Although the Extended Versions are not Director's Cuts but sequences filmed expressly for the DVD version, all of the initial filming took place in just over a year's time. With the success of the first, however, both "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" were polished up. Roeper especially noted that the special CGI effects were the most seamless of any film he'd ever seen, specifically Shelob (altough giant spiders have shown up in many films, this one has a personality!) I'm writing this after seeing a preview of the film and all I can say is it is definitely an astounding achievement. The characters are finally fully defined (well, that also happened in the books) and the Hobbits are given finally given a primary purpose in the story (which happened in "The Two Towers" in the book more so than the middle part of the filmed trilogy). If you can suffer the lines or go to a matinee, you won't be disappointed if you love fantasy. It will be an impossible task to top this as the finest fantasy film every made and one of the best films of the last ten years (well over ten hours in the final extended versions on DVD).

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Mrs. cav is dressed like an elf, and attending the midnight screening in T.O. tonight with our houseguest, who also dressed as an elf. Our guest isn't as pretty as Mrs. cav, but she has magnificent blonde hair, quite elf-like.

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My first viewing is 12 o'clock tomorrow, high noon - Wednesday the 17th!!!!!!!!!

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Good choice, BillW -- a matinee should be a bit better as far as lines. Don't know where you're located -- I know at the Newport Center here in Orange Country there will still be lines starting at 12:00 noon!

Well, cav -- how come you're not going as Gandalf...or maybe Aragorn?

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Tickets are pre-bought Laughing

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What Bill said, regarding why I'm not going at all. I'll see it eventually. I loved the first two installments already, but it's simply a matter of $$$ and not really wanting to be surrounded by LOTR maniacs. 3000 people are here right now for the convention. Aragorn, btw, would just be wrong. Mrs. cav has a big crush on Viggo, so no matter how much I dress up, it just wouldn't be the same in her mind. Talk about a buzzkill. Laughing

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I think I would dress up a certain part to look like Viggio Cool

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Sword or codpiece Bill?

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Perhaps a fake nose?

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If you could match the eyes, errrr - make that eye, I think you would have her spellbound Exclamation

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Elvis Mitchell's glowing review in the New York Times:

REVIEW OF THE RETURN OF THE KING

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I read one review that has already stated it is by far the best picture of the year..........

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As AFI gave both FOTR and TTT best picture nods, I think the Academay voters which are sans the film critic and historians will likely give the third part the award. I don't frankly see anything standing in its way. "Seabiscuit" is a great movie goer's feel good movie but it plays somewhat fast and loose with the actual history and the nature of the real characters(I bought the book to fill me in).

"Mystic River" will definitely be one of the five nominees. Any opinons on any others? We're still awaiting those in the wings for Christmas release for consideration.

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I've already heard from Mrs. cav that despite the fact that she is catching the screeing of the new LOTR tonight, it is not in THX, and if she doesn't see it again this week in THX, she will die. Rolling Eyes

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Our local Krikorian is not THX certified sound either but with digital sound, it's rather moot (I've been unable to really tell the difference). I suspect THX is a marketing scheme that really didn't catch on as barely any theaters adopted it -- the basic difference is an upgrade of speaker systems which is the crucial link.

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Just finished seeing "Return of the King" and was very impressed. The three movies together are an awsome compelation - the best series ever made.

As with the other films, there are at least 3 or 4 changes and or omissions I would have liked to have seen in the movie - one I considered extremely important. But, I was still very much entertained.

I found the sound to be significant, don't know if it was THX or not. I paid close attention to it and will once again have to expend money to get the sound track. But, the sound special effects were great.

Battle scenes were very impressive, again. A++++ movie in my book (which combined with $7.50 will get you a seat in the local theater - $5.00 fo the matinee Smile

)

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Apparently the theatre where the screening was was neither digital, nor THX, just stereo.

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My kid went to a 1:00am showing last night and no report yet.

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A theater with no digital surround? Surely that can't be.

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(In fact, I don't even think they distribute any films with an analog soundtrack any longer.)

Did they also show it on a bedsheet?

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"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

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