Friday's entry got shafted because of problems with Blogger, but no worries 'cause I'm back, baby, and I'm ready to rock your world.

Ahem.

Thursday night I caught the last showing of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Oslo's best (and biggest) cinema. I actually don't think I've written anything about the movie yet, although I did see it on opening day, and once again just prior to Christmas. This time around, we had (arguably) the best seats in the house (row seven, dead centre), and with a fully packed theatre it was a great way to wave FOTR goodbye...until the extended version appears on DVD in November. At which point I'll probably see it way too many times, especially the Moria-sequence.

It's hard to write anything intelligent and original about the movie. So many people have said so much already, and my comments would be entirely superfluous. Suffice it to say, it was my favourite movie of 2001, and I'm counting the days until The Two Towers opens (December 18th). And it was just as good this time around as it was the second time I saw it...perhaps even better. I noticed more of the details (and, unfortunately, also some of the few minor flaws; always a problem with watching movies again and again), and I was able to enjoy it without being completely overwhelmed.

On Friday, I received a new batch of DVDs including, funnily enough, the only Peter Jackson movie I've never seen: Forgotten Silver, a made-for-Kiwi-TV "mockumentary" profiling a fictional New Zealand filmmaker responsible for, amongst other things, the first sound movie, the first colour movie, and the invention of the close-up. Nothing groundbreaking, but good fun for movie geeks like myself. I also saw Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, just to balance out all the brilliance of Peter Jackson, and it was surprisingly funny. I generally enjoy Kevin Smith's work, but I didn't like his last flick, Dogma (great idea, poor execution), so I was skeptical. Fortunately, he proved me wrong, and showed that when it comes to verbal comedy (and clit-jokes) Kevin Smith is the man. Great DVD, too, with plenty of additional material. Worth getting if you liked Clerks and Mallrats.

On Sunday (yep, it was another big movie weekend for me) I saw Say Anything and Session 9. The former is, of course, Cameron Crowe's classic comedy starring John Cusack and Ione Skye. As sweet, romantic, and funny now as it was thirteen years ago. The perfect sunny Sunday afternoon flick. The latter is a "psychological chiller" (that's what the box says) set in a real-life mental institution near Boston, MA. It's actually pretty scary, although not nearly as shocking and surprising as the filmmakers obviously intended it to be. You can pretty much see where it's going, but who cares? It's atmospheric, well written and acted, and good horror flicks are few and far between. Recommended -- although if you're as chicken as I am, you'll want to see it together with someone else.

I also saw episodes of The Sopranos and South Park yesterday, so I did spend waaay too many hours in front of the TV. Oh well. That's what Sundays are for. Right?  ¶ 12:59