Posted on 12/17/2002 7:32:02 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I really have a hard time blaming the theater...it's tough enough to make a profit these days without being a multiplex, and besides, theyy have almost ZERO legal authority to actually do anything.
No, I'll stick to blaming the ones truly responsible...the parents of the little terrors.
LOL! Good idea! Like a soup mug!
He's gone to pick her up at the airport...I have little time, but really not much as I'm putting the finishing touches on the house.
Think about it...most folks are strangers nowadays, and wouldn't have a clue whose parents to call and tell. The theaters can't have ushers anymore because they would be unable to throw anyone out (and in some areas, they would be under threat of harm themselves). The persons who arwe affected can't do anything, because the kids and their parents would sue them silly, and besides, the owners are trying to make money.
Sadly, the situation has placed all power in the hands of the brats, with NO reasonable recourse from the adults, save to leave, in which case you miss the movie.
Isn't it sad to realize that even such a relatively brief time as eleven years seems like "a lot!" to our contemporaries?
Dan
I should note that our movie experience was very positive at our very pedestrian Lacey multi-plex. We arrived very early -- but we were going to the first showing of the day and had bought our tickets on Fandango. So we could walk right into the (very clean) theatre and choose our seats (it was about 1/4 full one hour before the movie -- and a total sell out a movie time). No waiting in line at any point. The crowd was a bit older than I expected,and watched the movie in a pleasant enthralled silence. And of course there was a healthy applause at the end.
Some parts I found very satisfying that I don't think I mentioned in my earlier posts: I was very impressed by the actress playing Eowyn. PJ doesn't have a multitude of important female parts to work with, so I think he puts extra care into those he has (well, he's a little overboard on Arwen here, but that's another matter). Eowyn's part was very satisfying to me, I can't find a single weak point in it...and I think this bodes well for her critical role in the next movie.
I went for the battle scenes (I'm a guy) and I was not disappointed in the least -- but what I didn't expect (and maybe should have) was the marvelous presentation of the smaller battle or pursuit scenes. The pursuit across Rohan was truncated of necessity -- but it was presented in a very convincing manner (I would have liked to see a little more finese and detail in Merry and Pippin's escape from the Orcs -- but here is where we will see something, I believe, in the Director's Cut DVD).
As we know, the Osgiliath scene never happened but its presentation on the screen was highly effective (and impressive) in presenting the viewer with the sense of the desperation and terror of Gondor.
I cannot compliment JenB enough on her insight regarding "why we fight", her post that I read before the movie. That concept was indeed the axis upon which the entire movie was built. And I thought that focus was very satisfying as well. It actually got me thinking along a new "path" in regards to the overall story -- something that I did not think the movie would do. Again Jen -- that was a magnificent take and IT DID enhance my appreciation of the movie.
I keep coming back (in my mind) to Frodo-Sam-Smeagol. It's hard for me to describe the sense of surprise and strangeness that I have in the aftermath of my viewing, I am a person who really enjoys battles and action in movies and who was going to this movie looking specifically for that presentation. And when I look back on the movie now, those are not my first thoughts or impressions -- it's the psychological and spiritual interplay between those three characters -- in the context of the ring which is also amongst them -- that makes this movie. The power and evil of the ring was not nearly as well portrayed in the first movie as in this one, and the interplay between those three characters are what brings out the true evil of the ring (and of Sauron, who is its master and yet its slave all at the same time).
Frodo was perfectly portrayed, I think. Sam was as near perfect as you can be -- with only his speech in Osgiliath as a small drawback (Sam is a fellow who would think those great thoughts in simple terms, but is not a fellow who would make a grand speech about those thoughts). Smeagol was masterful, with only a couple of "ET" looks that I thought were too much. The screen portrayal of his split personality was absolutely marvelous.
Faramir was a bit of disappointment, his thoughtful nobility was missing, and his character is more subtle than the one portrayed on the screen, I think. He's not quite the person here that Gandalf admires so much.
The portrayal of the Ents worked on the screen -- which is amazing. They too are more industrious and contemplative (and wise) than what we see here, but to make something this strange come off at all is astounding. What is shown is that the Ents represent the natural world rebelling against the effort to use nature as the fuel for the machinery of evil (and the evil of machinery!) They use nature as the means of defeating Saruman, their weapons are rocks and water, whereas Saruman tries to destroy them with axes and fire and the very unnatural Orcs.
Now aren't you unhappy you pressed me to elaborate on my WOOO HOOO, Overtaxed?? This is a ludicrously long post!
Me? I'm not unhappy....or make that happy (2 negatives = a positive, right?) with your long post!
I still think that a lot of the "why we fight" speech sounded too much like a summary of the movie so far. Maybe it was just because it didn't sound like Sam.
Yes. What was more cool to me was that my neighbor, who had not read the books since high school, had to borrow my copy last night because the movie captured her imagination so thoroughly. Her body language and facial expressions during the movie were of rapt attention and amazement throughout the three hours.
That was really cool.
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