Father Geek here with the current report from Latauro and his vast AICN staff. Yeah, all the extended versions of LOTR in one sitting that's something! I was lucky enough to catch one of those scare theatrical screenings of the extended "Fellowship", followed by the extended "Towers", followed by the premiere of the general release "Return"... that was outstanding. Annnd I've seen the new extended "Return" in the screening room at PEDAZO CHUNK here in Austin... "Heaven!" Buuut I need to talk Harry's sister (my darling daughter) into putting all three extendos together on that great 15 foot wide screen they've got at their DVD shop afterhours sometime during the holidays. The sound is incredible and the images bright and crystal-clear, and since there are NO plans to release an extended "Return" in theaters that will be my best bet to mimic a full theatrical extended "Lord of the Rings" experience...
We'd all be heroes if we stopped using petroleum.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
AICN-DOWNUNDER
Earlier this year, a close friend of mine confessed to me that he'd not seen any of the LORD OF THE RINGS films. It wasn't a huge confession, the guy's not big on films that aren't European and depressing. Still, I knew his housemate was a fan and I was surprised he hadn't been forced to watch it until now. "Don't watch any of them," I said. "Wait until the Extended Edition of RETURN OF THE KING comes out, then let me show them all to you in one go." He was intrigued - also impressed that I maintained AICN-D movie title formatting in every day speech - and agreed.
So, yesterday, a group of us cleared the day and sat down to watch the Extended Editions of all three films start-to-finish over the course of hours on my house's wonderful Dolby 5.1 sound system.
Despite the inevitable brain melting that goes along with such a feat, it was incredible. To watch the journey from beginning to end in its complete form was something I'd been wanting to do for the past four years. It's quite a different experience to watch LOTR all the way through in one sitting, and puts quite a different spin on everything.
My friend's reaction? The response from a person who'd not seen anything of the films, and had just seen the Extended versions all the way through in one hit? "Yeah, that was pretty good." When I pressed for more: "Props to Peter Jackson." It doesn't sound like much, but it's glowing praise coming from this man.
Tomorrow morning in the wee hours I leave on a much, much, much-deserved holiday with my Girl Friday by my side. When I get back, I'll finish compiling the AICN-Downunder Annual 2004, and let you know exactly what buzzed my trumpet this past year.
In the meantime, have the best and safest holiday possible, see lots of films, argue about them with friends, and see you soon.
NEWS
* They started with theonering.net, switched to kongisking.net, now it looks like fanzacs.com will soon be registered. Xoanon has picked up a rumour floating around that the next Wingnut film after KING KONG will be a big WWI epic focussing on the ANZACS. That stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, with the superfluous "S" acting as a plural-maker. This would gel somewhat with some conflicting rumours, particularly the classic that PJ's mysterious BAR-COUGH would be a zombie movie (true) set in WWI (false). Big shout-out to the X-man for the info.
* The Film Finance Commission has granted funds to theatrical documentary HUNT ANGELS. The film is about Rupert Kathner and Albert Brooks, Australian filmmakers from the 1930s and 40s. The duo, who were completely below-board, spent their time avoiding police and investors whilst following their dream of making films at home. While I'm looking forward to seeing the film, I can't help but feel I've worked for these guys in the past... maybe their descendants...
* The Office of Film and Literature Classification will hold its Review Board hearing for NINE SONGS on January 17. NINE SONGS was refused classification because of the "unsimulated sex" it contained. For the record, other films such as ROMANCE and INTIMACY have contained unsimulated sex and have still been released in this country. KEN PARK has not. If you want to have some impact on the debate, write to oflcswitch@oflc.gov.au. Write in. Raise your voice, as Hilary Duff might say. If you think that you won't make any sort of difference, remember that the vast majority of these censorship debates have been started by organisations such as the Australian Family Association campaigning various Attorneys-General. Take two seconds out of your day, write an intelligent, respectful letter, and see what happens.
AWARDS AND FESTIVALS
LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS
On December 11, the LAFCA awarded Australian DoP Dion Beebe ACS with an award for Best Cinematography. Beebe won for his work on COLLATERAL, which was shot on HD.
CLERMONT-FERRAND INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
EVERYTHING GOES has been selected to play at the festival this coming January/February. The Australian short stars Hugo Weaving and Abbie Cornish, the latter of whom recently starred in awards-grabber SOMERSAULT.
BOX OFFICE
Someone was telling me recently that the makers of SAW shopped it around to every funding body in the country, each of whom rejected them before the US ponied up the cash. Meanwhile, we got UNDER THE RADAR and A MAN'S GOTTA DO. I will say no more.
Annnnd the B.O. winners are...
- 1. OCEAN'S TWELVE
- 2. CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS
- 3. TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
- 4. THE POLAR EXPRESS
- 5. SAW
RELEASED THIS WEEK
Daniel Auteuil picks up Jose Garcia's cigar with an umbrella, David O. Russell hires two existential detectives to figure out why Jude Law is in a film every week, Jude Law forgets to wait a week, and Gael Garcia Bernal plays revolutionary Bob Marley (at least, I assume so, all I had to go on was the T-shirt).
This week's new releases include:
- APRES VOUS
- I HEART HUCKABEES
- LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
- THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
NEXT WEEK
- Stan Lee creates a new comic based on David Goyer
- Steven Spielberg reveals that WAR OF THE WORLDS will feature a new sub-plot involving a search for Weapons of Planetary Destruction on Earth
- Robert Zemeckis announces plans for a new WIZARD OF OZ, in which all the sets and fantastical creatures will be release, but Dorothy will be CGI
