There are some reviews which have to be written, namely LotR:Trotk, X:WP-FIN, BH and LIT. Did I mention I like acronyms ;) ? Must be a fan-thingie… anyway, LotR… is “Lord of the Rings: The return of the King” (which shall hereafter only be referred to as Lotr3 – what’s with movies whose acronyms are almost as long as the title?), X:WP… “Xena: Warrior Princess – Friend in need”, BH “Bollywood Hollywood” and LIT “Lost in translation”. CONTAINS SPOILERS, be warned!

Movie of last week was “LotR3″:
One number – 201. That’s the duration in minutes, and that’s exactly 111 minutes too long for me. I’m not really anti-Tolkien but I’m also not really pro-Tolkien, so from a simple moviegoer’s pov, this movie is way too long. There are dozens of scenes which could have been cut or shortened without harming the plot (Frodo’s final goodbye, the battle scenes, the subplot with the crazy king [forgot his name], Eowyn’s lost love for Aragorn…).
I’m sure there is material for another two movies but in this case, I’m strongly against an apt representation of the book. The book has like over a 1000 pages, you can never even dream of tranferring the story by the letter from paper to screen- it’s not possible because these are two different media with completely different ways of expression. How Peter Jackson thinks he can do that is beyond me but I guess you really have to be obsessed to spend three or more years of your life on something like that.
I’m not saying the movie is bad but it would be so much better if Jackson had had the courage to drop even more subplots and streamline the story. The potential is certainly there, especially Tolkien’s endeavors at creating a new language are very impressive. I’m just a little angry that apparently nothing is an achievement enough when it hasn’t been turned into a movie .greedy:.
LotR3 looked good like usual, had impressive music and most of the actors were good giving even some of the cheesier lines depth. However, I totally loathed Elijah Wood who in my opinion has nothing in his favor than his blue eyes. He constantly wears one expression throughout all three movies, namely eyes wide open and thus OLing, no matter if Frodo is happy, sad, scared or tired.
We also saw too little of Legolas (and the one bigger scene we saw him in, it was painfully obvious he was computer generated), and I would have preferred seeing Saruman again after he has been built up as the second villain in the first two movies. Logical glitches like Gollum appearing again though he fell from a cliff or simple plot holes like Arwen’s miraculous recovery plus overly obvious use of CGI made me not really like LotR3. The movie is definitely of A category and there are far worse, but I think it’s not worth all the hype – 2 out of 6 Meeps.

Movie of the weekend was “Bollywood Hollywood”:
a mixture of romantic comedy and a true Bollywood movie that needs time to get used to. For Western audiences, the characters’ habit of suddenly breaking into song seems very strange, especially since they are singing in Hindi. However, I have developed a certain liking for them because even if I don’t know what they are singing, the songs themselves have a melody and beat that is very appealing. The plot that is intertwined with the songs isn’t very original – a rich Indian man has to marry an Indian girl to make his family happy. When he can find none, he hires a girl to pose as his bride, which works just fine at first. But then her past and mutual feelings interfere…
In some of the scenes, I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed be laughing or not – the hero’s dead father and finance float as ghosts under the ceiling, and “funny” subtitles comment on the events on the screen. All in all, I give “Bollywood Hollywood” 3 1/2 out of 6 Meeps, and the extra half star is because Lisa Ray has very nice eyes ;) .

Finally, I’ve also watched Xena: Friend in Need. Though XWP is supposed to be something like a lesbian classic, I have so far only watched maybe a handful of episodes from the first season, and now the series’ finale. Though the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle is done quite nicely, I don’t think I can get used to all the pseudo-fighting, the cheesy effects, skimpy costumes, Xena’s war cry or for that matter, Lucy Lawless’ “acting”. The story was very strange with ghosts from the past and several layers of existence which overlapped sometimes and sometimes not. About the controversial ending in which Xena chooses death to save the 40,000 souls: if the writers had wanted, they would have found a way to let her stay alive. But for series finales, death is the only option it seems… and there is always the possibility of a spin-off “Gabrielle the Bard”, with Gabrielle traveling through ancient Greece and talking to Xena’s ashes on the way :P . Well, I would even watch it because from what I’ve seen so far, Renee O’Connor looks pretty cool. I still have to find out the name of the actress who played Akemi, and let me tell you I would watch any spin-off with her, too ;) !
And about the “kiss” at the end: in my eyes, it truly is a kiss and not just transport of water. But it’s really very cowardly not to label it correctly – it’s the last episode, what did they have to lose?

I almost forgot “Lost in translation”! Apparently an artsy movie judging by the size of the cinema… plot wise there is actually not really happening very much: an aging actor (Bill Murray) travels to Japan to shoot a commercial there. He is stuck in the hotel because he doesn’t speak Japanese, and while he kills time in the hotel bar, he gets to know a young woman (Scarlett Johansson) who is also lost in Japan. The both spend some time together, talk about their problems and then the actor flies back to America. That’s about it, but on the way we are experiencing one cool karaoke scene and though one wouldn’t necessarily expect it, lots of funny jokes. On the Meeps scale, 4 Meeps.