Paul writes: Andrew O’Hehir, film critic on Salon.com, has run a series of four posts on why the LOTR films got so much critical acclaim at their launch, but appeared on none of the top-films-of-the-decade critics lists of people he knew.
In his words: “To be clear, I’m genuinely not pimping any particular ideology. I enjoyed the films immensely, and wrote a rave about “Return of the King” for Salon at the time. But I can barely remember them today, feel unsure whether I’ll ever watch them again, and still don’t regret leaving them off my own personal decade-end list. Then again, this isn’t about my dumb-ass list, or Stephanie Zacharek’s, or anybody else’s; this was about the fact that when I reached out to 60 or 70 filmmakers, critics and bloggers I know, in search of entries for our Films of the Decade series, not one of them suggested Jackson’s colossal trilogy as a personal favorite. So something’s going on here, and these responses are helping me figure it out a little.” 1 2 3 4
Idril Celebrindal writes: Just wanted to let you know that Salon.com named Cate Blanchett and Brett “Figwit” McKenzie as two of the sexiest men alive in 2007! Cate gets a nod for her turn as Bob Dylan in “I’m Not There” while Brett’s nom comes from “Flight of the Conchords.”