The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is obviously a middle movie. It's a little bit grueling, but they're on a long journey. It's still interesting, and it definitely leaves you wanting to see how it all ends. 

I actually saw The Two Towers a week after the first LotR movie, so it was a nice continuation of the story. I pretty much have the same thoughts about this one as I did about the first one. I like hearing all the language, and seeing how they represent everything. Liv Tyler makes a pretty good Elf. They changed a lot more things in this movie than the first one. I didn't think they were necessary changes this time, either.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I really liked seeing Tolkein's book "come to life," to be cliché, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't agree with some of the changes they made in the plot, but they did a great job visually. It does seem a bit dated, but so do the books.

I've wanted to see LotR since it came out, but I wanted to read the books first, and I didn't do that until a couple years ago, and by then I didn't have time to watch old movies anymore. I tried to read The Hobbit, and either it was the most boring book I've ever read, or it was one of maybe two books that was so terrible I didn't finish it; I can't remember which. Either way, I won't be seeing that series (and it's not supposed to be good, anyway).

I feel like an unusual amount of memes came out of this series, like "one does not simply walk into Mordor." And that wasn't even a big line in the movie. Why did it become so popular?

This movie has a weird look to it, like it was shot on old-school film, and it has a weird old-school fantasy vibe to it in general. But so did the books -- they were written in 1937-49, after all -- so maybe they were going for authenticity. The opening part in Hobbiton reminded me of Willow.

Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York follows the proud tradition of Charlie Kaufman movies that I don't enjoy. His characters are always unlikeable, and I can't get invested in them. There are a lot of things about it that could be funny if it weren't so depressing as a whole. I can appreciate it, but it's resoundingly not my thing.

2008 seems like a long time ago. It was only seven years. Maybe anything before 2010 registers as "a long time ago" for me. Charlie Kaufman is not my favorite writer. I could appreciate Being John Malkovich, but I didn't like it. I found the characters to be really unlikeable, which was the same problem I had with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I generally hate surrealism, and that movie is pretty out there. Plus if you don't like the characters, it's just really hard to be invested in what's going on.

It's All Gone Pete Tong

It's All Gone Pete Tong (which is about a DJ who goes deaf, if you haven't heard of it) is one of my favorite movies. It's not super deep, but it is funny and good-natured.

It's All Gone Pete Tong is one of my favorite movies, and I don't care if it is unrealistic and simple. This was either the second or third time I've seen it. Paul Kaye's eyes are so striking, and I love Frankie's whole "Ibiza" look. There are so many great lines in the first half of the movie.