'Rings' in the new
What were once voices are now hobbits
By Todd Leopold
CNN
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One of many stirring scenes from "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
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ON CNN TV
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"Eye on Entertainment" talks about the weekend's happenings on CNN's "Live Today" between 10 a.m. and noon EST Thursday.
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(CNN) -- "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
Let me say that again.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
Need I say more?
The final chapter in Peter Jackson's movie version of the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy is now in theaters, and if the first two films are any guide it will be one of the biggest movies of the year in every sense of the word. The battle sequences are still spectacular, the acting is still dramatic, and the movie provides a rousing exclamation point to all that has come before.
Eye on Entertainment offers a salute.
Eye-opener
From a business as well as an artistic standpoint, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy may be unprecedented in movie history. Before the first frame of the first film was shown, New Line Cinema (like CNN, a division of Time Warner) had taken a huge gamble and given Jackson the money and the free rein to make the entire trilogy.
The first movie, "The Fellowship of the Ring," could have been an artistic disaster. The first movie could have been a commercial bust. The first movie could have made the succeeding two the world's biggest celluloid albatrosses, and brought down a good part of the New Zealand film industry and quite a bit of Hollywood.
Instead, it was an incredible success on every level, and the two succeeding films -- "The Two Towers" and now "The Return of the King" -- have only built on its foundation. (Read Paul Clinton's reviews: "Fellowship," "Towers," "Return.")
Jackson managed to pull off an amazing artistic achievement. Usually, films loaded down with computer-generated effects -- and "Rings" has tons of them -- lose the human element. (Heck, even epic films without computer-generated effects tend to lose the human element.) "Rings" could have been just another comic-book extravaganza, appealing to 17-year-old boys and nothing more.
But Jackson knew he was making a movie. He had a good script, he drew fine performances from his actors, and he kept everything in perspective.
Now observers are talking Oscar. It's a long shot. Oscar usually doesn't honor fantasy films for anything more than their special effects. But, as "Death of a Salesman" character Linda Loman said in vastly different circumstances, "Attention must be paid."
On screen
• Marching into the "Rings" wake are two vastly different films: "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Calendar Girls." The former is Julia Roberts' new film, a tale of a bohemian art professor arriving at straight-laced Wellesley in the early 1950s and shaking up the girls going for their MRS degree. The latter, which opens in selected cities, is based on the tale of some middle-aged British women hoping to raise money for charity -- and did so by posing nude for a calendar. Both open Friday.
On the tube
• In "The Christmas Shoes," a workaholic attorney learns the real meaning of Christmas. Which means he can't overcharge his clients or spend his nights sleeping among depositions. The rerun of the popular holiday movie, starring Rob Lowe, Dorian Harewood and Maria Del Mar, airs 9 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS.
Sound waves
• The original soundtrack of "You Got Served" (Sony), featuring B2K, comes out Tuesday.
