Gary Kamiyawrites: Robert Zemeckis’ new film “Beowulf” gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “the sublime and the ridiculous.” Zemeckis took the oldest and most important text of our ur-language, and turned it into a 3-D Disneyland ride so cheesy he should have called it “Anglo-Saxons of the Caribbean.” Of course, there’s nothing new or surprising about this. Hollywood has been profaning history and literature since long before Cecil B. DeMille cast Charlton Heston as Moses. If the Bible isn’t sacred, why should the oldest poem in our ancestral language be?But the “Beowulf” travesty is especially glaring, because of the obvious contrast with another work that mined the same ancient field: J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” “Beowulf” isn’t just a bad, although visually spectacular, movie, it’s a huge missed opportunity. With enough imaginative audacity, Zemeckis could have created a mythical universe, one that finds the mysterious threads that connect the distant past to our time. Instead, he turned our shared cultural heritage into a cartoon. (This hasn’t hurt “Beowulf” at the box office: It was the highest-grossing movie in the country after its first weekend.) Beowulf vs. The Lord of the Rings
Month: November 2007
Kristin Thompson, author of ‘The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood’, writes: Back in September, Rick Porras joined me for a conversation and Q & A during my signing event for The Frodo Franchise at Barnes & Noble in New York. I’ve transcribed that now, and it’s full of wonderful information on the Lord of the Rings planning, filming, videogames, and so on. Rick worked in a wide range of capacities for Rings, and much of the material here has not come out in previous interviews. The transcription is pretty long, so I’ll be posting it in three parts. The first one is up now. Rick Porras Interview
Meghan S. Rodberg, Online Community Manager for Turbine, Inc. writes: Peer into the frightening fortress-city of Carn Dûm, built upon the slopes of the Mountains of Angmar by the Witch-king, who ruled with an iron fist. Though the Witch-king was driven out ages ago by an army of Elves and Men, rumours abound with stories that Carn Dûm stands poised to strike… Exploring Middle-earth: Carn Dûm
Magpie writes: Doug Adams, author of the CR liner notes, annotated score and upcoming book on the LOTR soundtrack, has devoted his latest podcast at Film Score Monthly to the Complete Recordings of the ROTK. In the 15 minute podcast he answers questions posed by fans about the CR-ROTK including; how film edits affected the music, what scene Arwen’s Song was intended for, a question arising from his talk at ORC re: a new Ring Theme and the difference in sound for ROTK’s score (than in the first two movies) . Continue reading “Doug Adams Podcast Available”
From traversecityfilmfest.org: Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, a massive “Lord of the Rings” marathon: for the first time ever in Traverse City, a back to back to back theatrical showing of all three director’s cuts of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy — on the largest screen in northern Michigan! Noon to Midnight! Five bucks a film or all three for $10. Trilogy Screening Marathon in Traverse City, MI
Rachel from WETA writes: I’m thrilled to be able to let you know that Weta Workshop will be working on adding special effects for the upcoming KISS show here in New Zealand.
Promoter Phil Sprey of Capital C: Concerts made the surprise announcement to an international group of entertainment investors over the weekend adding, “Being resident in Wellington, New Zealand is like living in the most creative spot on the planet”. “When we approached Richard and the team at Weta Workshop, they were very enthusiastic to add their design skills to the concepts we had in mind. Continue reading “KISS Rocks Wellywood…with WETA?”