Pogue's movie reports:...It just seems like that kind of a day. Just back from seeing COLD MOUNTAIN, which I enjoyed. It was nice to see Jude Law play someone who is not necessarily cold and distant for a change and lots of nice vingettes. All very well-performed. Rene Zellewegger exceptionally good. CM is certainly better than Minghella's butt-numbing English Patient was.
Caught RETURN OF THE KING earlier this week and generally enjoyed it. Note: Other than the Hobbit, I have never read Tolkien, though I've owned the books since they first came out. But as I was watching the movie, seeing the next "battle to end all battles" or Frodo being seduced by the evil power of the ring yet again or Samwise (the true hero, for my money) saving Frodo from his ill-advised decisions one more time and keeping his bacon outta the fire and generally carrying his hobbit butt all through the movie, I did find it a little long and repetitive. I mean after Gollum has yet another dialogue between himself about "his precious", you want to say "I got the idea already, press on, shall we?"
I was also reminded of a story about Tolkien...
Apparently he and his university cronies would occasionally gather and read excerpts from their latest work...One day Tolkien began to read from his epic-in-progress and a stentorian voice was heard to groan in the back of the room, "Oh...not another fucking elf!" At one point in the movie when yet one more time CGI minions spread across a interminably vast widescreen battlefield, I leaned over to my wife and whispered, "Oh...not another fucking epic battle."