The Canuk Movie Critic
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
I recently walked in to Burger King and noticed they had a special new
promotion going on. It was the Lord of the Rings onion ring combo. To some
this might seem like a pretty cutesie idea, but personally, it seemed more
to me like one of the first signs of the apocalypse, but enough about that.
I went to the Toronto opening of The Lord of the Rings last night. J R R
Tolkien's first part of the trilogy is brought to life after a long time
of
filming in New Zealand. It stars Elijah Wood ("Free Willy" kid), Sean
Astin
("Goonies" kid) and some other weird looking guys. After a pretty
God-awful
year for movies, this one shows that we shouldn't give up quite yet. If
you're not a "fantasy novel" geek, you'll still like this movie. It's
packed
with some of the best effects and stunning battle scenes ever. This movie
might even carry the power to turn trekkies into hobits, time will tell. All
in all, it's an adventure definitely worth checking out.(Directed by Peter
Jackson, 3 hrs.)
(Out of a possible six-pack of beer, it easily deserves five beers)
OCEAN'S 11
11 dollars I could have spent on beer, 11 times worse than I had hoped, 11 weeks 'till you can get in on video. (Save your cash!)
(2 Beers out of 6.)
SOME GOOD VIDEOS:
In my opinion, some of the best videos out there are documentaries. Here are
three of the best.
AMERICAN MOVIE: a fascinating and hilarious glimpse at a couple of
'burn-outs' chasing their dream of making a slasher movie. Directed by
Chris
Smith.
FAST, CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL: I saw this at the Toronto
International
Film Festival a few years ago. It might be hard to find, but worth looking
for. It's a look at 4 different people with extremely odd jobs, each
person
seems to walk the fine line between genius and insanity. Directed by Errol
Morris.
(5 beers)
DR. DEATH, THE RISE AND FALL OF FRANK A. LEUCHTER JR.: This is another
Errol Morris documentary. He originally wanted Leuchter to be part of
"Fast,
Cheap & Out of Control" but later decided that this guy was so messed up,
he
deserved his own movie. Leuchter is an electric-chair salesman who's
controversial research on WWII gas chambers asks the question, is he
evil, dumb or crazy? You decide.
(5 beers)
JUST ONE MORE THING, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE DON'T RENT AMERICAN
SWEETHEARTS. To me this might be the worst movie of the year. Billy
Crystal
is about as funny as a genital wart, everyone is miss-cast and the script
is awful.
(Beerless)
