This past weekend was a movie weekend defnitely...I had to catch up a bit, so I caught Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, The Pianist, and About Schmidt. Some little thoughts...
I liked Two Towers a lot, more so than the first one. The little montage about viggo mortensen's character leaving Liv Tyler's elf character was touching...;(. I also thought it kicked ass when Theodin (sp?) was brought back from insanity by Gandalf, and he reclaimed the throne... I now have to read the books to find out what happens in the third part. My sister gave me the books for x-mas awhile ago, but never got around to it...
The Pianist was amazing. I had a read a short article about it the previous week. Somehow I managed to miss the part that said it was based on a true story. You can imagine my surprise when at the end of the movie the epilogue is thrown up on the screen and explains what happen to some of the characters. Spilman along with some cunning and a lot of dumb luck, makes it through the Holocaust physically intact. The film shows pretty accurately what a lot of Holocaust survivors must have seen. First the humiliation the Nazis put them through, then the inhumane treatment in the ghettos and the labor camps, and then the chaotic, random murdering officers and soldiers did. I can't imagine the toll seeing all that would have on a person. You really have to admire people who got through all that with some semblance of sanity...
About Schmidt. The film follows the life of a newly retired, recently widowed man, who starts questioning if his life actually matters now that most everything he identified with is gone. Very touching movie. The best parts are the narration provided by Warren's (Jack Nicholson) letters written to Ndugu, an orphan in Tanzania who he is sponsoring. I was moved, but my friend Jay was really moved, to the point of crying several times.
I liked Two Towers a lot, more so than the first one. The little montage about viggo mortensen's character leaving Liv Tyler's elf character was touching...;(. I also thought it kicked ass when Theodin (sp?) was brought back from insanity by Gandalf, and he reclaimed the throne... I now have to read the books to find out what happens in the third part. My sister gave me the books for x-mas awhile ago, but never got around to it...
The Pianist was amazing. I had a read a short article about it the previous week. Somehow I managed to miss the part that said it was based on a true story. You can imagine my surprise when at the end of the movie the epilogue is thrown up on the screen and explains what happen to some of the characters. Spilman along with some cunning and a lot of dumb luck, makes it through the Holocaust physically intact. The film shows pretty accurately what a lot of Holocaust survivors must have seen. First the humiliation the Nazis put them through, then the inhumane treatment in the ghettos and the labor camps, and then the chaotic, random murdering officers and soldiers did. I can't imagine the toll seeing all that would have on a person. You really have to admire people who got through all that with some semblance of sanity...
About Schmidt. The film follows the life of a newly retired, recently widowed man, who starts questioning if his life actually matters now that most everything he identified with is gone. Very touching movie. The best parts are the narration provided by Warren's (Jack Nicholson) letters written to Ndugu, an orphan in Tanzania who he is sponsoring. I was moved, but my friend Jay was really moved, to the point of crying several times.
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