A fax came across my desk today from Disney Publicity, with Peter Travers’ 2001 Top Ten List on it. I couldn’t believe my eyes, however, when I saw what the #1 movie is… you guessed it: Lord of the Rings!! This is a huge development! I frankly wasn’t expecting this kind of critical response, and Peter Travers is a very well-respected critic. This list will be in the December 27th end-of-the-year double-issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands on Dec. 7th. Here is Peter Travers complete top ten list…
1. Lord of the Rings
2. Ali
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Shrek
5. Vanilla Sky
6. Moulin Rouge
7. Black Hawk Down
8. A Beautiful Mind
9. A.I.
10. Ocean’s 11
Here is another confirmation of this through Ringer spy Beorn Jr.:
Hi, this is my first spy report to a website so I’m sorry if it comes out sounding all strange…. I am just SO excited by this news. I believe what my source tells me, but who knows until we really see it in print?
My friend (who was one of the people working with New Line) told me that Peter Travers, prominent movie critic for Rolling Stone magazine, had seen a very early screening of “Fellowship of the Ring” over a week ago….. like way before anyone else did. He was so blown away by it that he declared it BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR.
And that’s not all…… the early Oscar buzz has started to change a lot since the screenings this week! People are reacting with more and more enthusiasm so that now New Line is beginning to realize what they’ve got on their hands! Looks like a whole big campaign for Oscar voters will soon kick in.
I double-checked with my friend who is a director and he said it’s true, Travers’ praise of the film will soon be out in Rolling Stone. Can you imagine the other large critics from Time, Entertainment Weekly, and of course Roger Ebert doing the same thing? What will happen next??!! I can’t wait to see this movie even more!!! Maybe we finally will have a fantasy movie that will rock the critical establishment and bring Tolkien the due praise he deserves for writing the greatest story ever! 🙂
Beorn Jr.
